Ready? Not Really.. (Fem USUK) •IN EDITING•

Maddie

To be a hundred percent honest, I had no idea what to expect when I unlocked my sister's door with the spare key.
Maybe she was doing drugs and had a stash of cocaine in the closet? Or maybe there was a stack of porn magazines under the bed? Actually, nevermind. Alice had one of those. What if I found a gun and it turned out my twin was actually a serial killer? Or what if-
"You know we're just standing out here very suspiciously," Alice reminded me, glancing over to the side. A few girls dressed in preppy clothes were watching us, frowning. I shook my head.
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I'm just really confused as to what Amy would be hiding." I twisted the doorknob and opened the door.
Alice shrugged, just as clueless as I was, if not more. "Let's find out, shall we?"
We stepped into the room and closed the door behind us immediately. Amelia's room looked the same as it always did: messy yet comfortable. Her beanbag chairs were pushed against one wall, and a pile of dirty clothes was in one corner. The bed wasn't made, as Amelia clearly just woke up and didn't bother to at least pull the sheets back into place. I didn't know where to start.
"I'll take the bed, you take the closet," I suggested to my friend. Alice wrinkled her nose.
"I'm somewhat frightened as to what could possibly be living in her closet, considering the condition of the bedroom." But Alice trudged over to the door anyways, visibly cringing as she opened it. I watched over her shoulder for a second before I started searching the bed.
My sister was a dork, to put it lightly. She had bed sheets with patterns of little beakers and calculators and glasses. I'm pretty sure she had had them since the sixth grade, and it was a little endearing to think that she never changed. I looked under her comforter. Nothing. Under the sheets. Nothing, either.
"Christ!" Alice exclaimed, voice slightly muffled by the clothes she was surrounded by. I turned to see what she found. "She has a candy bar in here that expired two years ago!" Alice was holding it by the very edge of the wrapper, her eyes huge and eyebrows drawn together.
I rolled my eyes. "I've seen worse from her." If anyone represented the whole 'opposites attract' thing, it was them two. I could only imagine how much Amelia would get yelled at for her clutter if they ever moved in together.
Scratch that, when they moved in together.
I smiled and watched Alice shift through Amelia's shirts. Her face had softened as she rubbed the fabric of one of the t-shirts between her fingers. Even I was surprised that she had managed to stay in love with my sister for so long. Growing up with Amelia was difficult enough as much as I loved her, and I wondered sometimes what exactly it was that Alice saw in her. Beauty? Personality? They complimented each other, of course, but I don't think they thought of each other like that quite yet. For them, it was a crush that they were too embarrassed to talk about. For outsiders, they were polar opposites that managed to find each other in such a crazy world, and it was as if they had been destined to be together.
Alice eventually stiffened as if she realised what she was doing and went back to checking every coat pocket. I sighed and turned back to the bed.
It was next to impossible to hide anything in the 228 square feet of the issued dorm room, and if anything was in here, we'd have to have found it by then.
I got on my knees and looked under the bed. Just a few unmatched socks and an empty soda can, not to mention a couple of big dust bunnies. I heard a sigh.
"This is stupid," Alice said. "What would she even be hiding? Amelia isn't the type to do drugs or drink or anything."
She had a good point, but I knew better. "I know my sister, Ally," I argued. "Something isn't right. She got weird when I asked if I could talk to her in her room last week." Alice opened her mouth to say something, but I kept going. "I slept over in her room, too, this weekend, and she kept looking really anxious every now and then. She's never been able to lie very well, and I can tell that's exactly what she's doing."
Alice's shoulders sagged. "I'll check the bean bags." She went over to the chairs and unzipped the covers, digging in the stuffing for anything out of the ordinary.
I had looked everywhere on her bed. Now if I were Amy, I'd have hidden something close to where I can access it because she's a lazy ass and, if she had to hide anything, she would want it nearby just in case.
But nothing was there.
I sighed in frustration.
I checked everywhere! The sheets, blankets, pillowcase, pillow stuffing, underneath, and-
I slipped my hand underneath the mattress. It took a minute before my fingers brushed against something hard that was pushed all the way against the wall. I frowned and grabbed at the thing. It was relatively small, and felt almost like a box. Wait, the edges were rough. A book? Why would she hide a book? I pulled it out and glanced over my shoulder before I actually took a good look at the cover. Alice was still looking for the in question with her back turned to me. I sat so that I could see if she turned to face me again.
And that's when I recognised it.
The childish, faded unicorn adorning the hard surface, mane flowing and mouth curled into a cartoonish smile.
It was the damn journal.
What the hell?
My heart pounded as I opened it to a page that was clearly marked with a straw wrapper.
So apparently, Amelia thought it would be a grand idea to fill my room with two trillion fucking roses.
Imagine how great that went.
She's gotten a bit kinder. She smiles a lot more. I don't know how I could ever live without that smile.
I couldn't believe her. I could not fucking believe her. How could Amelia have the nerve to put Alice through so much stress and then go through her personal life-?
"Found anything?" Alice asked, scaring me out of my thoughts. I shoved the book into my jacket without even thinking. She turned around right as I put my hands back in my pockets.
Do I lie to protect their weird romance? Do I tell the truth and restart the fighting?
"Not really," I blurted. Lying, it is. "Just some dirty socks and whatnot. Maybe I was just being paranoid in the first place."
Alice looked unconvinced. "Are you sure? You were pretty worried..."
"Yeah! I'm sure!" I wanted to go find Amelia right now and smack her with the damn journal. I plastered on a smile. "She's old enough to take care of herself without me. I might've just imagined her acting weird, that's all."
She raised her eyebrows. "If you say so, Maddie..." Alice stood back up and stretched. "I suggest we just leave. Amelia will be back sooner or later, and this really isn't the best way to run into her."
Oh, how I'd have loved to run into my twin at that moment.
"Yeah, you're right," I said. "You go on ahead. I'm just gonna put everything back the way it was."
Alice frowned. "I don't think she'd even notice..." But she left anyways, the fear of getting caught going to her head.
I pulled out my phone as soon as she left and texted Amelia.
You: you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do
Ames: the fuck? u ok, mads?
You: I'm just peachy. Now why do you have the book?
Ames:
You:
Ames: oh
Oh, indeed.