Chapter 1.
The annoying buzzing of her alarm clock shook her Amy from her sleep. She groaned and smacked her hand against it, managing to hit the button without looking. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she went to open the window, though she stopped in her tracks when she saw rain pounding against the glass. Shivering, she went into the bathroom to change into something warmer. She grabbed a brush and tried to comb through her frizzy red hair as she headed down the small hallway of her apartment, following the bitter smell of something burning. She saw her twin brother Darell trying to make toast for both of them …very unsuccessfully.
"Hey sis" he said as he pulled the two black pieces of bread from the toaster. He flashed Amy a sheepish smile and threw the charred bread in the trash. Even though they were twins, the two looked absolutely nothing alike. Darell had black hair, green eyes, and was already almost a foot taller than Amy was. Amy suppressed a grin as she opened the pantry and shoved a box of Captain Crunch into Darell’s hands.
"This may be a bit easier for you to handle" she said teasingly. Within minutes they were sitting at the table, eating the cereal dry straight out of the box. It had only been two years since their Dad had left, and when he did they were faced with a choice. Go to an orphanage and risk being split up if they ever got adopted, or rent an apartment and go to school, keeping the abandonment quiet. Ever since then, they had rented a small apartment in Virginia under their father's name, worked two jobs each, and attended a nearby public school. It was hard, but they got by.
Amy looked up at the clock, which read 7:50. They had to leave for school soon, but were reluctant to because of the pouring rain outside. After delaying their departure for as long as possible, they pulled on their shabby raincoats and trudged out into the pounding rain.
Drenched and shivering, they arrived at their small public school a few minutes later. They went to their homeroom and sat in their normal spots at the back of the room. A moment later their teacher, Mrs. Taylor, walked in. Amy and Darell both liked her, she was sweet and she understood their…situation. She pushed her glasses up on her nose, her deep brown eyes twinkling in excitement.
"Class! We have a special surprise for you today! The headmaster has finally accepted my request for a trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts! Were leaving today!" Clapping, laughing and excited chatter filled the classroom. It was odd that the school randomly scheduled a field trip without sending out permission slips or anything, but everybody was too happy to question it. About a half hour later, after rangling thirty chatty, excited kids onto the bus, the 10th grade class was on their way to the museum.
"Where are you gonna go first?!" Krystal asked Amy on the bus, brushing some blue streaked hair out of her eyes. Krystal was a bit of an oddball, she didn't get good grades and was always up to some kind of mischeif, but she had a good heart, and she was Amy and Darell's best, and only friend. Amy squinted at the brochure, trying to decifer the letters through her dyslexic eyes.
"How about the greek exhibit? It looks really cool!" Darell said, actually able to read the pamphlet because his eyes were normal.
"I'd rather see the Romans! Those Spartan guys are hot." Krystal said, almost singing the last word. Amy glanced at Darrel to see a flicker of jealousy in his gray eyes. He had told her about his crush on Krystal a couple weeks before, though Amy had guessed it from the beginning. Krystal however, was a little less attentive due to her ADHD, and never really seemed to notice, though to Amy it seemed very obvious.
"Well, they'll probably be in the same place, maybe you guys can be buddies." Amy said thinking she would finally be successful at setting the two up. However, when they got to the museum, Krystal immdeiatly linked arms with Amy and dragged her off to the Roman exhibit, leaving Darell to find his own partner.
The two girls walked through the museum for a half hour, looking at the statues and paintings that depicted the life of the ancient Romans. They eventually made their way over to the greek exhibit, where Amy compared the statues and pictures to people in their class.
"Hey, that one looks like you!" Krystal exclaimed as they passed a painting of the gods sitting in the clouds. She pointed to one crouching down by a fire while the rest of the gods and goddesses seemed to be having a party. Amy tilted her head, looking at the small profile in the corner of the page. She didn't see the resemblance other then the hair colour, the woman's round face and almond shaped eyes actually reminded her more of her brother's then her own.
"It looks more like Darell to me." She said, still examining the goddess.
"Nah, its much too pretty to be your brother." Krystal said, chuckling. Amy was glad that he wasn't around to hear that, though she was starting to wonder where he was.
