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Chapter 1
The new kid in school, that’s me. I hated my dad for taking the job that put me here. I hated my twin brother Ty for not wanting to walk in with me on the first day because Ty was too cool for me.
We weren’t like other twins. We weren’t close anymore. Ty became popular in seventh and eighth grade when his athleticism which Dad says came from him took him to State.
He played first base in baseball. He was the quarterback of the team in football. Here we are sophomore year, turning sixteen soon. Ty’s going to be even more popular; the pretty, boy in the new school. I watched the girls’ heads turning as he passed by them while my brother was oblivious.
Dad had dropped us at the corner by the sidewalk, late for work. Ty climbed out and rushed ahead. The rubber soles of his white sneakers crashing against the concrete as he made his escape from me, his sister. The shy twin. Not outgoing at all. The introverted, nerdy girl with square glasses afraid to smile.
His blonde hair was perfect in every way. He was tall and beginning to build muscles from working out with our father who pushed and pushed Ty to be something that I thought Dad always wanted to be. Ty was almost as tall as Dad at six feet even. I was five feet ten. We were not small.
Our mother was tall too. I was lanky where Ty had begun to fill out. While I was done growing, my twin was not. I wrapped my hoodie around me and peeked over my shoulder at Dad’s retreating car wishing and wanting to be anywhere but here.
I let the tip of my ponytail slide between my fingers and cascade down the front of me wanting to hide my face behind it. Where Ty was blonde and looked like Mom, I was dark haired and looked like Dad. Our eyes were the only similar feature, icy blue. We were fraternal twins as different as different could be.
My brother disappeared inside, and I followed the path that he had taken. I pushed my glasses up my nose and pretended that the other students weren’t looking at me with as much curiosity as they had Tyson, as I made my way to the front door.
I slipped inside and saw the office to the right. I also saw the back of my brother Tyson Andrew Gardener the second. He wasn’t a junior. Dad wouldn’t have a junior but that is exactly what he was. Dad’s clone if not in looks then in personality, while I was the misfit of the Gardener family.
I wasn’t sure where I belonged in my clan. Mom was tall like me and willowy but where I saw myself as plain my mom was beautiful. She was athletic like Ty and Dad. She played tennis several times a week to keep her figure and she made several trips to the salon for one of her many treatments. Facials. Mani, pedis. Hair coloring to keep her blond perfect not a gray in sight for Kat Gardener.
Dad was All-American in football in high school, but he wasn’t good enough to make the college teams. In Ty, he saw potential. He saw height, and a rocket for an arm that would get Tyson on a college team where Dad wasn’t just quite good enough.
Ty was a solid B student. I was a straight A student with a four-point grade point average. I wanted to take college courses starting my junior year. Mom said, “That’s great honey.” Then she turned to Ty to listen to his latest accomplishment on the field of sports.
Was I neglected? Hardly. I had everything money could buy. Was I ignored? Sometimes. My brother was the golden child while I was the bookworm. Not so much appreciated in the Gardener fam. Glory came with blood and guts on the athletic field. I had no athleticism. Not a drop. Ty got it all.
Tyson was checking in, so I waited. Better to not piss him off by standing so close that people might think we were related. I waited in the hall until he was finished.
Then he turned and our eyes met for the briefest of seconds. Ty skirted around me without acknowledging me when he exited the office. I could say that it didn’t bother me, but I would be lying. It hurt when other kids bullied me for being a nerd. It crushed me when Ty pretended that I didn’t exist.
I went into the office and gave the lady behind the desk my name. “Abigail Gardener.”
She looked over her glasses at me then she looked at the door that Ty had just vacated.
“We’re twins,” I explained.
“You look nothing alike,” she declared.
“Fraternal,” I said as if that explained it all. It explained nothing. We had shared a womb for nine months. Ty and I were close until seventh grade. He was my big brother if only by thirty-seven minutes. Then nothing. Our relationship ceased to exist, and I still didn’t understand why.
Two years later, here we are in Podunk town Ohio where I know no one. I missed my old friends. My grandparents. We left everyone behind. Tyson will be fine. He makes friends wherever he goes but me? I’m worried about me. What will happen to me?
Chapter 2
Mrs. Collier, the secretary in the office had given me a schedule and a map to follow. First period was English. I had only one class with Ty. Last period gym class. Now, of all the classes to put me with my athletic twin brother, gym class was not the one where I wanted to be with my athletic twin. The gods were playing a joke on me.
I sat in the middle of the room in English. Not the front, not the back but the middle. Kids looked at me and I smiled and lowered my eyes. I can’t say that the smile was returned. I was a freak, an oddity in the school. Not really but I felt like one.
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sp; A big kid, taller than my brother slid into the seat beside me and leaned over. “Hey gorgeous, what’s your name?”
I blinked a few times and looked around. He couldn’t be talking to me.
“I’m talking to you, beautiful. Behind those glasses are some amazing eyes,” he whispered.
“I’m Abby,” I said keeping my voice low.
He smiled and kept staring at me. I was sure this was a prank. “You’re new. No duh, you’re new. I’m Cal,” he said, extending his hand to me. I stared at his long fingers that were beautiful, tanned and strong. I took his hand and shook it.
“Nice to meet you.” Mom had taught us manners if nothing else.
“I think I’m going to like English this year. I bet you’re smart.” He was eyeing me up and down. “Want to tutor me?” Cal asked.
School had just started. How did he know he needed a tutor already? I didn’t get to ask that question because the teacher called order in the classroom and Cal had to face front and stop talking to me.
