Twin Trouble

The Hooper Family

It was a bright sunny morning when Mrs Hooper peeked into her daughters' room. Both of the twins were still in bed.

Melanie and Tabitha Hooper looked so similar that only a few people could tell them apart when they were wearing the same clothes. However, it didn't really matter since the girls rarely dressed alike.

The twins both had straight chocolate brown hair, sparkling sapphire blue eyes, tan skin and light freckles. However, they dressed very differently.

Melanie loved pink, princesses and anything to do with music. She wore pink dresses, blouses and skirts. She wore dainty shoes and put bows in her hair.

Tabitha was active, sporty and tomboyish. She rarely did her hair, either having it loose or in a ponytail, though she would have her hair in braids for fancy events, which was usually done by Melanie. She wore T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers most of the time. She was also super messy and disorganised.

It was only when Mrs Hooper was going to leave the room when she realized that something was fishy. Melanie loved sleeping in on weekends and holidays, but Tabitha was always up early. She went into the room and went to Tabitha's side, which had clothes all over the ground.

Sure enough, when Mrs Hooper threw back the covers, it was revealed that Tabitha had placed pillows in her bed to look like she was still sleeping.

Mrs Hooper went to her only son's room, and sure enough, she found Tabitha having a playful wrestling match with Tristan.

"Tabitha, we talked about this!" said Mrs Hooper. "You could hurt your brother if you do that!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that Tristan likes rough games, right Tristan?" Tabitha asked her cheeky eight-year-old brother.

"Yeah!" said Tristan. "If a girl can do rough things, I can too."

"Tristan, I told you a million times that this isn't about gender. It's about age," said Mrs Hooper. "Tabitha couldn't fight like that when she was your age."

Tristan gave a cute little pout. He took after his father, with messy black hair, fair skin and brown eyes. His older twin sisters looked like their mother.

Mrs Hooper may seem strict sometimes, but she was a caring woman who loved her kids. It wasn't easy raising four children. Well, now only three since one of them has left home.

The Hooper parents thought that they couldn't have kids when they got married, so they adopted an infant girl and named her Pearl. But whatever doctors' examinations they had taken must be mistaken, for they had Melanie and Tabitha when Pearl was four. And then they had Tristan seven years after that.

Pearl was very insecure about being the only adopted child, though she loved her siblings. She was a serious, studious girl, who was determined that she would get a job and repay her parents for raising her. However, that meant that she had little time for fun. She was now studying at a university on a scholarship and had a part time job as a waitress.

It had been hard for the Hooper family to have any time for Pearl, but then Mr Hooper had an idea. They would move to the same town Pearl was studying in so that they would be closer to her.

Today was the day of the move. The twins were worried because they had to switch schools.

"I'm scared," Melanie told Tabitha as they packed. "What if no one likes me?"

"I won't let that happen," said Tabitha.

Melanie was very insecure. She had yet to come out of the closet. Her family was well aware of her sexuality, but she pretended to be straight in public. It was kind of sad.

"Don't worry girls," said Mrs Hooper. "Think of the move as an adventure! And I believe that the new house is a bit bigger, so you two can have your own rooms! Isn't that exciting?"

The twins had often complained about having limited space in their room and no privacy loads of times, but this was very surprising. But they tried their best to think positive.

After saying goodbye to their old house, the Hooper family set off to their new house. They wondered what it would be like.