Amazed

6

"Today was really fun. Thanks for taking me here, Gray," I said, as him and I walked along the shore.

The sun was slowly sinking behind the horizon, causing the sky to turn into an array of pinks, red, and purples. The sunlight made the waves sparkle. The view in front of us looked as if it belonged on a postcard.

"You're welcome. Thanks for coming," he said.

We walked in silence, listening to the waves crashing against the shore, and the laughter and squeals of children as they played in the water for the final time today.

A pier loomed ahead of us; supported by huge wooden poles anchored in the sand leading into the sea. It partially blocked the setting sun.

"Follow me," Gray suddenly said, grabbing my hand and dragging me with him.

I followed him underneath the dock, in between the supports. An outcropping of rocks blocked us from the rest of the beach's view.

"This is pretty cool," I said, looking around.

"I know right. It's mine and Ethan's little getaway spot. We come here a lot to clear our heads and think," he explained.

"Nice."

"Can we make another promise?" He asked.

I grinned. "Sure."

"This can be your spot too, but you have to swear not to bring anyone else here. Alright?" He stuck his pinky out.

"Alright." We shook on it.

"Why do you need a getaway though?" I asked.

"Well, things are pretty rough here, with school and the fans and all that," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're not really liked in school. People are always picking on us and picking on the people who hang out with us. Ethan and I are all each other have, really. Also the fans get a little crazy sometimes."

"Why don't people like you?" I was curious now. I sat down on the sand, and patted the spot next to me. Gray sat down, and began his story.

"People like to make up their own stories about us. It varies from person to person, but no one cares to ask us about it. Ever since preschool, we've been different. We never did what every kid wanted to do, and we kind of stuck with each other more than other kids. They even threw a Halloween party for the class, and guess which two kids weren't invited." He paused, took a breath, and continued.

"We play a lot of sports, and Ethan and I are both naturally good at them. We even made it to Madison Square Garden for a wrestling competition, and won. People got jealous and it got to the point when the parents were starting to pick on us. They would spread rumors about us, so other parents wouldn't let their kids around us either. Our mom says it was because they were jealous. Cameron was starting to get bullied as well, and the boys in her school would physically bully her as well. It wasn't a good time for us, so we moved. Cameron found friends, but the jealousy thing continued after the move. We started getting picked on again, and it sucked for the longest time." His voice cracked.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Gray, you don't have to continue if you don't want to."

"No, I've got to get this off my chest. I'll be fine," he said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I held onto his hand for support. The twin's story was breaking my heart.

"Then we started getting on social media. Our vines started picking up, and we started to become popular. At first, people liked us, thought we were cool for making vines. Then we got really popular and then people, from our school, started commenting and saying that we were stupid and dumb and all this other stuff. We tried to ignore them as best as we could, and it worked for awhile. But then we were going into high school.