The Other Twin

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

*Sister Switch*

"Sister Switch." 

Those two words - meaningfully mumbled under breath this morning at the table - were the reason why I was spending my lunch period half dressed in the abandoned girls' bathroom. "Karyn pass me your pants!" In any other situation the demand would've been perceived as nothing but absurd by others, which was only more incentive for me to loudly knock on the side of the stall to get my point across.

"Wait up." Karyn called back, followed by the sound of unzipping and quiet grunting which I imagined to be from the effort of my sister's haste in undressing herself. Accompanied by the roaring silence of the bathroom, I hugged myself to keep from feeling so exposed, despite the extra precautions Karyn had taken by not only locking the bathroom door but also shoving an empty trash can under the knob to ensure no one could enter. The Broken sign on the front of the door also helped.

"Karyn!" I bit out when the chilly air, coupled with my inner paranoia, became too unnerving.

"Sorry!" She cried, hastily tossing over her clothes in a bundle over the stall.

"You owe me so much for this." I grumbled separating the untidy bunch to don them on. I slipped my arms through the sleeves of Karyn's gauzy white blouse before sticking my legs through the black jeans in record time.

"I know." Karyn's muffled reply came, relaying a note of apology. I'd been more than surprised this morning when she'd first uttered our secret code at breakfast, thinking that I had lapsed into a doze and misheard. Sister Switch was a phrase we'd made up in fifth grade - and though it was terribly cliché - it was our way of telling each other we needed to change places and take on each other's identity.

Taking advantage of our twin alikeness, Karyn and I had perfected our system through several occasions that lasted us though middle school for things like tests, presentations, fitness exams and whatever else I needed Karyn to sub in for me and vice versa. It was always a liberating experience for me, with a certain thrill factor that came from many instances of close calls and being caught a few times when we'd first started experimenting with the idea.

We had stopped though, right at the start of freshmen year, when the novelty of it was lost on Karyn who grew more interested in being Karyn, not her sister.

"Pass over your shoes." Karyn instructed, sliding her sparkly silver flats under the stall for my red Converse. The icy tiles momentarily stung under my bare feet, making me hop from foot to foot; everything about this particular bathroom seemed so uncomfortably cold. Leaning down, I slid my feet into the flimsy material of the shoes and stepped out at the same time as my sister.

The uncanny effect always hit me with awe, very much likened to looking as a mirror; dressed in my jeans and graphic tee, the only flaw keeping my sister from completely looking like me was her side ponytail. Reaching the same conclusion, Karyn pulled out her scrunched and held it out to me as she used the other hand shake out the blonde strands.

"Here." I accepted the hair tie and swiftly finger combed my hair while attempting to tame it draw it back into the hairstyle. Karyn left me to better inspect her reflection in the mirror, leaning forward in concentration. "We need to switch necklaces." I nodded in agreement, swiftly unhooking the clasp of my diamond studded T charm and exchanged it for her similar K necklace - a result of that one time in seventh grade when our science teacher caught me taking a test for Karyn and mom got us these to label us (the alternative was tattooing our names to our foreheads). 

"I think that just about covers it." I decided examining the very Karyn-like reflection staring back at me from the mirror. Even I had trouble telling is apart when we switched places.

"Not yet," my sister interjected, holding up her polka dot patterned makeup bag. "I wear a lot of makeup." I wrinkled my nose at the sight of the cosmetics she was already laying out, no doubt to later smother on my face in excess amounts. I'll never understand the appeal to makeup the way Karyn and Beth do.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?"

"Calculus test." She replied simply, pulling out a tray of eye shadow in various shades. "Mr. Choi's been raining down on us with non stop tests and... Taryn I just can't keep up." Her eyes stretched into twin pools of distress, "If I fail another test dad says he'll make me quit soccer."

"You couldn't study?" I asked skeptically.

"We're talking Mr. Choi. He's impossible!" Karyn fumed with a scowl. "It's not bad enough that we move on to another unit every week, but two days before he tells us we have a fifty question test. And his tests as so, so freaking hard." I moved over to pat her sympathetically, Mr. Choi had quite a reputation for driving his students nuts. I knew first hand from taking Trig with him last year.

"Fine." I consented tilting my face for her to apply the make up.

"I should've just transferred to a different class at the beginning of the year." Karyn muttered darkly as she unscrewed a bottle of lip gloss.

I chuckled, "You couldn't have transferred even if you wanted, they don't just change your classes for not liking a teacher." She grunted but said nothing, busily swiping my lids with eyeliner and dusting my cheekbones with blush. "Stop moving so much."

"It tickles." I whined, "And I don't want my eyes to get stabbed."

"I won't stab your eye." Karyn reiterated in a scoff, "This actually helps to highlight them and enhance their color." I snorted and rolled my eyes but obliged by staying still and keeping my eyes firmly closed. After a few moments of concentrated dabbing and dusting, Karyn finally stepped bak to examine her handiwork. "What do you think?"

I turned to look over the need result, staring for a moment before dropping my jaw in surprise. "Whoah." Any initial doubts I had before instantly vanished; I looked exactly like my sister. She grinned approvingly, stowing away the tubes and cases inside her bag to erase any evidence of our presence. "We have like six minutes before the bells rings."

"Okay." I tossed a final glance over my shoulder before scurrying inside my stall to make sure I hadn't dropped anything. When I decided it was all clear I walked back out to see Karyn moving the trash can away from the door so we could exit. "Thanks again for doing this for me, most of the things should be from Unit 10, but I wouldn't put it past Cheap-Shot Choi to sneak in some problems from Unit 11." She informed.

"No problem, I just had a test on Unit 11 last week so I know I the material pretty well." Karyn nodded.

"Awesome." She pulled back the door, "I'll leave first, remember to meet me at your locker so we can switch back -"

"- Karyn," I interjected bemusedly, "aren't you forgetting something?" Karyn stared at me in confusion, waiting for me to elaborate.

I held up my black bag and nodded to her one, "Designer Gucci bags really aren't Taryn's style."

***

"Room 202, Room 204..."

I muttered the room numbers as I passed them, wandering from door to door while students headed to their classes. I watched them enviously, at least they knew where they were going. In her haste to leave, Karyn hadn't gotten a chance to explain where and what her seventh period class was. All I knew was that she had Choi's exam eighth period and the class before was somewhere on the second floor - supposedly.

On top of being lost, I couldn't help feeling fake, which I attributed to being rusty and out of practice since we hadn't switched for two years. Still, I couldn't help thinking that any minute someone would see through my disguise and judge me to be Taryn, a poor substitute for Karyn. I abruptly stopped walking and glanced upward at the clock, noting that I had two minutes before the bell rang. Chewing my lip, I pulled back the flap of Karyn's bag to rifle through her folders in search of a schedule of some sort.

When my search yielded zero results - other than uncovering several packs of gum and lip gloss - I slumped against the wall in defeat.

"Karyn, hey!" Out of habit, I was about to reply my usual: no, you got the wrong girl, I'm Taryn, before catching myself and looking up. Remember, you are Karyn Hart. Karyn is confident. Confident Karyn. The approaching two girls were members of Karyn's usual crowd, the white-blonde was Ivy and the other, I knew right off the bat to be Hannah.

"Oh, hey... Ivy." I greeted while mustering the enthusiastic smile to match hers. So much for being confident. I turned to Hannah, forcing myself to be civil - Karyn didn't kinda sorta hate Hannah like me. "Hannah... hi." Ivy and Hannah chorused their own hellos, either unfazed by my sheer awkwardness and buying the whole Karyn act or simply ignoring it. I was relieved, regardless.

"What're you still doing out? We have to get to English." Ivy reminded . Figuring the two were in the same class as Karyn I nodded, "And um, where is that?"

"Next door over." Hannah pointed out in a duh tone. I swerved towards the door, reading the plated 208 to memory in case Karyn and I ever needed to switch places again. "Oh yeah."

"Well let's go and read some more about Shakespeare and his fascination with dead people." Hannah hooked an arm through mine with Ivy taking the other side. "Yay, English." I cheered weakly as the dragged me inside. Ivy abruptly stopped, "Karyn," she eyed me carefully. A thousand scenarios dashed through my mind, instantly focusing on the one rule Karyn and I always fell back on if ever found out: deny everything.

"I don't -"

"Did you touch up your makeup last period?" My protests died in my tongue and I felt my muscles relax.

"Ah - yeah, yes." I nodded my head, "Yup."

Ivy's face broke into a broad grin, "No wonder it looks so perfect. I messed mine up in Phys Ed."

"Same old Karyn." Hannah chimed in, earning a laugh from Ivy and a weak chuckle from me.

Thankfully the rest of the period continued without incident and English went by fairly smoothly. I didn't peg my sister to be the participating type, deciding to lay low and take notes while nodding to whatever the teacher said. When the bell rang to signal next period, I was one of the first to leave, my mind in last minute test prep mode. Mentally reviewing functions, I almost didn't hear the faint, "Karyn!", from behind. I slowed my pace to turn back and see Hannah coming after me.

"You didn't wait up."

"Sorry, I err, forgot." Hannah rolled her eyes as she fell in step beside me.

"Look! It's one of the Spring Formal posters." I followed her pointed finger to the bright green paper taped against the wall reading in black bold letters: Junior Formal! I skimmed through the details, dismissing the event as little importance and continued walking. Hannah on the other hand was so fascinated with it that she ripped the flyer off the wall and tucked it into her bag. "I can not wait for Formal this year!"

"Uh-huh." I said uninterestedly. From how I saw it, Formal was just a chance for all the kids in my grade to spend an excessive amount of money for dresses and limos to flaunt in front of everyone else.

"I already know who my date is."

"Yeah?"

"Gavin Adams!" She squealed.

"W-what?" I suddenly faced her with wide eyes.

"I mean he hasn't asked me yet," she admitted twirling a lock of hair, "but I know we'll be going together." Unsure of what to say, I pasted a smile on my face and nodded. The end of the hallway never seemed so far. "You know what, why wait? I'm gonna go ahead and ask him instead."

"Why Gavin?" I finally asked in exasperation since she was not letting the subject go. Secretly I was glad that Gavin's foster parents didn't let him date, otherwise it would be awful seeing him go out with Hannah. Hannah slanted a look of disbelief at me. "Pluh-eeze Karyn, you of all people know that I have more than a little crush on Adams." She smirked, "You even said yourself we'd be a good couple." 

"Forget that. There are so many other guys out there and-and, why even bother with a relationship? You're a strong independent woman, you don't need Gavin." Hannah cocked an eyebrow at my lecture, "Says the girl who has Scooter. Plus, I can't go to the Formal alone, can I?"

I quickly backtracked. "No, but why not go with friends or someone else like, like," I racked through my brain, "Dale Lexington."

Hannah snorted in response, "Really Kari? Isn't he with your sister?"

"No way," I denied immediately, "Taryn and Dale are never gonna happen. She can't stand Dale. Again, I say: independent woman, don't need no man." She shot me a blank look, giving me enough reason to drop the subject all together and speed walk inside Mr. Choi's room.

"We'll good luck on the test!"

"What test?" She called back.

I didn't make sense of her question until I entered the classroom. Instead of the formation of separated desks that I had expected for the exam, the desks were arranged in a table of four. I scanned through the rest of the room with a foreboding feeling, there was no pretest atmosphere; no one looked nervous or scared and there was hardly any trace of a Calc exam. The biggest indication: there was work on the board.

"What?"

Mr. Choi stepped away from the board and wiped his chalk dusted fingers on the front of his jeans, fixing his plaid shirt as he did so. He straightened and nodded when he caught sight of me, "We'll what're you waiting for Karyn, get to work. Derivatives will be on the test tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I parroted in confusion. "Isn't the test today?"

Mr. Choi squinted at me, "Karyn you of all people should know it's tomorrow, you campaigned for it to be scheduled in a later date." He left me to answer a question from another student as a growing sense of confusion overtook me. Tomorrow. If the test was tomorrow, them why did Karyn have us switch today?

***

I'd been tricked, yet again. And while this was in no way surprising n or new, what worried me most was what Karyn was doing dressed as me.

My worries lent me the energy needed to bolt up the stairs two at a time to the sixth floor where my locker was. Something was about to happen, call a gut instinct or intuition, but all the clues pointed to it. I broke through the stair doors out of breath, a mess of sweat and smudged make up.

It didn't matter.

Ignoring the open stares and annoyed glares from the people I elbowed past, I thundered down to the end of the hallway, my eyes fixated on the blocks of blue ahead. In Ellington, each locker was color coded according to a specific grade, yellow for freshmen, green for sophomores, blue for juniors and purple for seniors. But because it was the last class or the day, all the grades were out and milling around, clustering together in groups to head home or an after school club, making it all the more difficult to navigate down the crowded halls.

After several hasty "sorry"s and apologetic looks in response to some rude ones, I succeeded in getting to the allotted area for juniors. I wildly looked around and caught sight of a familiar blonde head I instantly recognized as Karyn's. A circle of people had formed around her and Dale and by the looks of it that was exactly what she wanted. My stomach turned.

Nearing their vicinity, I heard Dale loudly profess his love for me while my sister nodded adoringly. No. I watched in horror as Dale ended his declaration by saying, "Taryn, will you be my girlfriend?"

Karyn glanced around, soaking in the attention, and grinned. "Yes. Yes I will be your girlfriend." A chorus awwws and congratulatory whoops broke through the air as everyone walked forward to clap Dale on the back and hug Karyn. I stood frozen in horror, unable to react to what had just happened. I scanned the crowd with sinking dread; they all thought Dale and I were... a couple.

Only I saw the dark haired teen at the edge of the crowd stare at Karyn for a long moment before turning on his heel and walking away without a second glance.

***

Author's Note: 

I know what you're all thinking: WHAT THE FUDGE CAKES DID YOU JUST DO???? I hear your pain my lovely readers, but don't worry, things will work out for our favorite two (Taryn + Gavin = 4eva). Lol.

On different news, check out the new cover! Allhumdulilah <3 It's been lying around in my iPod for a month now and I really wanted to post it along with the new chapter; so I hope you guys liked both! Dedicated to @saadiyaa17 because she commented something real sweet TWO MONTHS AGO and I only saw it yesterday. Sorry about that -_-

As always rememeber to VOTE and COMMENT, or else Taryn will end up with Dale forever, Gavin will join the army and be shipped off to Siberia, Hafsa and Beth will become astronauts and live on Mars and Preston will become a merman.

<3