Living next door to Mr Popular

Family reunion

River's P.O.V
"What?!" Brooke said as she looked at me in disbelief, "I'm sorry" she said as she began to close the door "but I've think you've got the wrong house"
"No" I said as I wedged my foot on the door "I haven't, please wait, let me explain" I pleaded as she began to shut the door more forcefully,
"Get your foot out of my door" she shouted as I reached into my pocket to pull out a photo,
"Look" I said as I passed her the photo "these are you parents, right?" I asked as she looked at the photo and let go of the door looking at me suspiciously "now look at what there're holding, two babies, one is me Annalise the other is me."
"This could be anyone" she said as she looked at the photo "this could be anyone" she said as she handed me the photo,
"Fine" I said as I reached back into my pocket to pull out a piece of paper, "this is my birth certificate, look, look at the writing in the corner, 1 of 2 babies, twins 1 boy and one girl.
Parents: Amelia and Benjamin Parker
Names: Annalise and ..."
"River. Oh my god" she said as she took a step back and looked back at me, "come in, I'll call Lise, I mean Annalise" she said as she opened the door and finally let me into the house.

Annalise's P.O.V
"Sorry,sorry" I said as the whole class turned to look at me as I pulled out my ringing phone, I looked at the caller ID and saw that that Brooke was calling me, I walked out of the class into the corridor as the teachers glare burnt a hole into the back of my head, "Brooke, what is it, what's wrong?" I asked as tried to keep up with the lesson from outside the class
"Uhmm" I heard her say on the other end of the line "I uhmm"
"Come on Brooke I don't have all day" I sighed,
"Look," she said as she took a deep breath in "something has happened at home, when can you get back home?" She asked,
"I don't know" I said as I ran my hand through my hair, "my class will be over in about 30 minutes, why what's wrong Brooke?" I asked as I began to wonder what could cause Brooke to call me out of the blue,
"Just get here as soon as you can okay? It's important"
"Okay, I'll see you soon, bye" I said as I walked back into class and sat and thought what I should expect when I got home.

Brooke's P.O.V
"So" I sat as I sat a cup of coffee in front of River "you were adopted, where your adoptive parents nice?" I asked as I looked out of the window hoping to see Lise's car in the drive, River nodded,
"Yeah," he said smiling "they were nice, well my adoptive dad was my mum had always treated me a bit differently to my siblings, and now I know why" he said,
"Oh" I said awkwardly "you had siblings?"
"Two older brothers, but we didn't get on" he said as he looked at the floor, as an awkward silence followed
"So what made find out you were adopted" I asked as I took a sip of my tea, "and what made you find us?" I said as I finally got an insight into his life before today,
"Well, I applied to have a copy of birth certificate" he said as he pointed at the certificates in the table "and contacted the agency and they then led me to you, well your old house, I then had to track you down here" I nodded in understanding as I wondered what could be taking Lise so long to get here
"So what about your parents?" I asked genuinely curious "aren't they annoyed that you've found us?" I asked as he laughed a bitter laugh,
"They probably would be of they could" he said, "they died 1 year ago, they died in a car crash."

Annalise's P.O.V
I parked my car in the drive way to find a strange car that I didn't recognise, I unbuckled my seat belt and walked up the house and let myself in,
"Brooke" I called as I hung my coat up "Brooke where are you?" I called as I walked into the living room to find Brooke sat with a dark haired boy on the sofa, "hello" I said as I took in his appearance "hello, who are you?" I asked the boy,
"River" he asked as he stood up and shook my hand "River Tomkins"
"Oh" right I said as I looked between River and Brooke "what was this emergency then" I asked Brooke,
"Well" she said as she looked at River "this actually has to do with River, not me"
"Well" she asked looking at him "what is it then?" She said as she sat down on the sofa, River scratched the back of his neck,
"I'm your twin."
As soon as the words left his mouth I started to laugh, his face changed to confusion,
"Get out" I said as I stood up,
"What" he asked in confusion and shock,
"Get out" I repeated "I don't have a twin, you're lying, what you want money?" I asked as I took money out of my purse and handed it to him "now get out" I said as I opened the door, River stood up and Brooke sat him back down,
"What are you doing?" I asked in disbelief "he's lying"
"No" Brooke said as she picked up some papers "you need to read these and listen to him because he's telling the truth" she said as she shoved some papers into my hands, I looked down to see a photo of my parents holding two babies.
"What is this"'I asked as I looked between River and Brooke "who are the babies?"
"It's you and River" Brooke said as she pointed at the babies,
"No" I said as I felt tears pooling in my eyes "mum and dad would've told me" I said as I looked at the other piece of paper, as I came to the end of the paper a tear slid down my face as I looked up at River who was looking at me hopefully. I walked towards him and wrapped him in a hug as he let out a sigh of relief, I pulled away from him and smiled, "I can't believe I have a twin."

Brooke's P.O.V
Annalise walked up to River and hugger him, she pulled away from him smiling "I can't believe I have a twin" she said as he smiled back, she pulled away from him and turned to me,
"I need to call mum and dad, we need to talk to them" she said as she took the laptop and set up Skype, "Brooke, River, come here" she said as she pressed the call button.
"Hi girls" my mum said as my parents faces appeared on the screen "oh, who's this?" She asked as she spotted River,
"this" Annalise said as she wrapped her arm around River's shoulders and River waved awkwardly at the webcam "is my twin. This is River." Lise said as our mothers face paled and her and our dads eyes widened in surprise,
"What--" they said
"You heard" Lise said as her face hardened "now I'm giving you the chance to explain, so explain yourselves."

Annalise's P.O.V
I took Rivers hand in mine as my parents took a deep breath in and began to explain themselves,
"We" my mum said as she took in Rivers appearance and a tear slid down her cheek "we had you, when I was 22," she said as she turned to look at my dad,
"We were so young" he said as he ran a hand through his hair "we barely enough to get by ourselves and now we had two babies as well, we just couldn't cope" he said as he and my mother shared a sad look,
"What" I said "so you just chose of on us to keep?" I asked in disbelief at my parents,
"Yes" they replied as I heard River take a sharp breath in "we couldn't cope with two, so we had to make the decision to let one of you be adopted" my dad said as he looked at River and me, "you were such a restless baby Lise" he said looking at me "you probably missed river, but you wouldn't l sleep, eat or settle. Then Brooke came along" he said as he turned his attention to Brooke "and you were so much happier, probably because you had someone to keep you company."
"I don't believe this" I said as up I hung my head in my hands "you've kept this from me for 19 years, I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this" I said as I looked at the sadness in their faces after hearing these words.
"We knew that River would go to a good family--" my mum tried to explain as tears slid down her face,
"And that makes it okay does it?" Brooke piped up "you took them away from each other, you gave way your son"
I heard someone clear their throat and tuned to face River,
"I--" he said as he looked down at his hands "I forgive you" he said as as my mouth hung open in surprise at his words
"Thank you" my mum said as she wiped the tear off of her cheeks,
"But" he continued "I don't want to meet you, at least not now" he said as he ran his hand through his hair "I need time to get my head around this"
"Yeah" I said as I put my arm back around his shoulder "we need time, don't call us back" and with that I ended the call.