Mismatched

Chapter Four

Tuesday morning I walk downstairs to grab a banana before leaving for school and I noticed Ivy already sitting at the counter, fully dressed, finishing some juice.

"Took you long enough," Ivy gripes at me. "Let's go already!" She jumps off of her seat and heads for the front door. Normally she would still be in her room primping, so naturally I am frozen in shock when Bryony walks up behind me.

"Was that Ivy just now?" She asks, snapping me back to reality.

"Yeah. Apparently we're taking too long." I tell her. I grab another piece of fruit and hand it to Bryony before pulling my messenger bag strap over my head. "Are you ready?" I ask and she nods.

We walk outside where Ivy is leaning against our car shaking her foot with impatience while she taps away at her phone. I mentally roll my eyes as Bryony unlocks the doors.

"Hurry up!" Ivy says as she climbs in the car. "I don't want to miss seeing them."

"Seeing who?" Bryony asks.

"The new students from Kennedy." Ivy scoffs, like we're idiots.

Bryony and I just look at each other, both telepathically saying, really?!

When we arrive at the school, Ivy jumps out of the car as soon as it is placed into park and disappears into the crowd of bodies in the student lot. There is a noticeable increase of people this morning. About half are walking toward the admin building and the others to the court yard.

"Looks like our guests have arrived." I mutter to myself as Bry and I weave our way through the bodies. When we reach our lockers I quickly exchange my books but Bryony is having issues with her locker.

"Is it stuck again?" I ask as she attempts to open it again.

"Yeah. I should tell someone in the office. This is getting ridiculous." She replies as she pulls and tugs the locker door.

"Need help?" I offer.

"No, no. I got this." She waves me off and changes the position of her hands and tries again while I wait patiently next to her. "Almost.... Got it..." She bends her knees and leans back, allowing her body weight to free the door but she looses her balance and starts to tip backwards. Before I can reach her to stop her fall, a body appears behind her, stopping her decent. Her back hits them with a soft 'ooph' from her lips. She quickly regains her footing and turns toward her savior.

"Oh goodness, I'm sor-" She starts but her apology is interrupted by a deep, irritated voice.

"You again? Do you make it a habit to run into people?"

I walk around Bryony's shoulder to take a look at who had the audacity to speak to my sister this way and see two guys, both about our age. The first one is about half a head taller than us, with pale blonde hair styled neatly out of his face. His emerald green eyes are wide with surprise and he wears a kind, almost embarrassed smile. His arms are out as if to catch Bryony if she falls again. Standing just to blondie's left is none other than the jerk from yesterday. He's wearing another long sleeve black shirt and the same scowl but now it's directed at Bryony.

As I clear her shoulder, I lock eyes with the jerk and cross my arms in annoyance. His eyes flicker to me, almost bored. But suddenly they open wide and jump between Bry and me with some confusion before mentally it finally clicks.

"Well if it isn't my new bestie!" I announce with no lack of sarcasm. "Never seen twins before?" I ask him. "There's no need to stare, it's not that uncommon." He remains silent but I notice a tick in his jaw and his dark eye brows lower before he plays with his lip ring with his tongue. I turn my eyes away from him, dismissing him, and focus my attention on blondie.