Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jen, in a frantic motion, walked up to me. Her hips swayed in time with her footsteps. With her hands on her hips, she stopped in front of me.

“What is it?” I snap, annoyed by her presence.

She smiles flirtatiously ignoring the hostile sound of my voice.

            Jen and I have lived several blocks away from each other since our adolescent years and since that’s a do-able distance, she stalks me every time she gets the chance. Along with other girls on this block too.

“I was wondering if I can ask you a favor.” She narrowed her eyes saucily at me.

“No.” I say immediately.

I turn to face my car.

Her face fell briefly but then lit up again.

“It’s not one of my usual favors, I swear. It’s actually concerning something else�"

“I don’t want to hear it.” I interrupt.

“It’s my sister and she�"

I cut her off again.

“You have a sister?” I say distractedly as I rounded to the trunk to toss in my baseball equipment.

“Yeah, she well�"

“If she’s anything like you, I rather go to hell.”

“Oh please, she’s and I have nothing in common. We�"

“You’re talking too much. I need to get to school. I’m thirty minutes late.”

“Yeah.” She continues. “That’s the thing. I need you to�"

“Need me to do what?”  I yell slightly.

“To drive her.” Jen says “She enrolls at our school today and I can’t drive her because I already have plans.”

“Plans to do what?” I seethe.

Her face turns devious.

“Jealous much?” she flips her hair dramatically. “I knew you had a thing for me.”

“Shut up, no.” I scold. “Back to your sister. Why do I need to drive her, is she a freshman or something?”

“No, we’re fraternal twins.”

My eyes widen.

“No, Hell no, no way.”

I turn to open my door frantically.

“There is no way I’m tolerating another you. Do you hear me? No way!”

Jen smiles.

“Oh come on, I said we were fraternal. We look and act nothing alike but I’m the better of the two trust me.”

“It’s not happening.” I tell her defiantly, already inside the car door.

“Have a nice car trip with your sister.” I call out. “And sorry for the ruination of your plans.”

I knew better than to think Jen would give up so easily, so I wasn’t really surprised when she climbed up onto my car lid, just pissed.

“We can play the hard way.” She cooed.

I groaned inwardly.

“Get off my car!”

“No, I’m in dire need of attention.”

To prove it, she made herself comfortable and laid on her back. She purposely stuck her foot on my window to get a rise out of me. She knows how I hate unnecessary glass stains.

“This is not funny.” I yelled.

She starts to laugh boisterously.

“On the contrary. I find this quite amusing.”

“You do, do you?” I step angrily out of the car. “Get off, now!”

She laughed again and rolled onto her stomach. Propping her head up on her elbows, she fluttered her eyes at me.

“Please?” she begged.

“Jenny!” I fumed.

“Please?”

“Get off!”

“Please, please, please?”

She puckers her lips trying to appeal innocent, but that was hard to comprehend when she was intimately coddling with my car.

            Fed up with her in general, I gave in for the sake of my sanity like always.

“Don’t you ever come to me for favors anymore Jenny, I mean it!”

She nodded vigorously and jumped off my car.

“You’ll change your mind soon enough, but for now she’s waiting for you on my porch steps. Hurry your late.”

With that said she struts away from my violated car, back to whatever asylum she came from. I roll my eyes.

            Reentering my car, I start the engine. I try to stall as I drive the short distance from my house to Jen’s but the destination is inevitable.

I pull up onto her lawn. Just as Jen said, a girl sat waiting on the door steps with jeans, a tank and a pair of Chuck Taylor’s. To match, a pair of dark sunglasses covered her eyes. Smart. It's too hot today to be outside without shades. I should have grabbed mine, I thought.

            I step out of the car. The girl turns her head sharply in my direction as my door slams shut.

“Jen?” she called out. “Is that you?”

I look around, thinking that Jen had popped up but she hadn’t. It was only me and the girl on the lawn.

The girl looked around frantically.

“Hello?” she called out again.

I look around again. Nothing. I clear my throat.

“Um hey.” I answer. “Your insane sister sent me to drive you.”

Her face settled in my direction.

“And you are?” her voice was timid but I heard.

“Claude.” I answer.

The girl nodded.

“Esme.” She replied.

I walk closer to her on the steps, curiosity getting the best of me. I try to find similarities from this girl to Jen, but as I got closer, the difference between them is incredible.

“So… your sister tells me you two are fraternal.”

Esme smiles faintly.

“No, she just says that to make me feel better. I’m really adopted.

My cool demeanor slips a little.

“Oh um, that’s cool, I guess.”

Esme shrugs.

“I guess.”

The world is quiet. After minutes pass by, I break the silence.

“Shall we go?”

Esme nods slowly but doesn’t move as I head back to my car.

“You coming?” I yelled back once realizing she wasn’t following.

“Um… yeah.” She replies softly.

I turn back to my car and slide into the driver’s seat, waiting for her to approach.

Esme stood unsteadily and reached for her bag. She turned to face me.

“Hey Claude?” she asked.

“Yeah?” I called over.

She started to walk.

“What has Jenny told you about me?”

Esme stops halfway, waiting for an answer.

“Um just that’s you were sisters and that you need a ride.”

I look over to see that she was closing the gap between us again. Her hand taps the door before opening it.

“Is that all?” she glides in.

“Yeah.” I say beside her as she closes her door and reaches for the seat belt. “That’s all.”

She nods in acceptance and I took that as cue to start the engine.

“So…” I start again as we pulled out of her driveway. “Did you, like, transfer schools or something?”

I glance over at her. Now that I was closer to her than in comparison to when we were on her lawn, I could actually make out that she was, well… hot.

            Esme’s raven black hair reflected orange from the beaming sun. The tangle of locks that fell like little waves frame her oval face. She was pale and flawless unlike many tan blonds and brunet girls we have around here. Also, even though her eyes were disguised by those sunglasses, her long eyelashes were incomparable.

And if the rest of her compares, whatever her eye color, I bet they’d look absolutely stunning.

            Caught up with drooling, I barely realized she answered.

“I was home schooled, until now. That’s why I’m foreign.”

I nod distractedly and warn myself not to let my undetectable hormones get the best of me.   

“Cool.” I take a deep breath and look straight ahead. “Schools just right around the corner.”

Esme nods.

 “So it is.”