The Other Twin

The hour passed by slowly, and Kayla couldn’t help but glance back every few minutes or so. Nick might have had a less favorable air around him, but something about him just fascinated Kayla. She wanted to see the dip of his shoulder, the movement of his arm as he wrote down the notes. She wanted to see the smile that pulled on his lips, as his partner whispered something and she wanted to observe the wrinkles that formed when he was thinking about a question.

All this she noticed about Nick in the first class. She had little idea of how she actually did that, because truth be told, she only spared him a few glances. But, in those glances she noticed more about him, than she did about any other person. In that hour, she had memorized his face, so similar, yet so different in comparison to Nate.

When the bell finally rang, she had almost nothing written on paper, and her mind was floating somewhere up high, without any intention of coming down. In a daze she began to get up, but on her way up, she bumped into someone.

The person let out a low curse, and didn’t offer a hand to steady her, like Nate had done first hour. After regaining her balance, Kayla slowly turned around.

“I’m so so-” her world basically froze as she stared into light blue twinkling eyes. Seeing her lose her words, Nick lifted up an eyebrow, but that did nothing to encourage Kayla to resume speaking.

“It’s alright, just watch where you’re going next time,” Nick said, his voice coming out slightly lower than Nate’s and it had a magical effect on Kayla.

She twirled down into the clouds even more, as Nick’s voice practically wrapped around her. She tried to think, tried to say something, but all she was able to do was open and then slowly close her mouth. It was as if standing near Nick immobilized her.

“Will you let me pass, or are we going to stay here all day,” Nick asked, in a slightly annoyed way. The unfriendliness of his voice, snapped Kayla of her daydream and she stepped out of the aisle.

“Yes, sorry, Nick,” Kayla said, as he passed. The name froze him in place and he slightly turned around to face her.

“I’m Nate, new girl,” Nick responded in an even tone, his voice sending shivers down Kayla’s back. Seeing Kayla befuddled, a satisfied smirk pulled onto Nick’s face and turned around to resume his exit. Kayla watched him, more carefully than she intended.

“Of course you are,” Kayla mumbled as Nick was opening the door. She didn’t even finish, when Nick’s head snapped to her and angry blue eyes focused on her. He couldn’t have heard her, but the annoyed look in his eyes, made Kayla believe that he did. After giving her a glare that was somewhat too long for Kayla’s liking, Nick briskly walked out of the room.

Snapping back to reality, Kayla pushed her binder into her backpack and walked out of the classroom.

“Hey, beautiful,” Chris’s failed attempt at a sexy voice brought Kayla to a stop. She turned around slowly and faced the boy. The smoke eyed expression that he was trying to make caused her to laugh.

“Don’t ever say that again,” Kayla said, chuckling slightly, “Not unless you want to scare every girl away from you.”

“Fine,” Chris shrugged his shoulders, “How was biology? I take it your first hour in biology was difficult, because Nick Rei walked out looking as if he was about to murder someone.”

“What?” Kayla was confused, “He was probably just angry with me for bumping into him.”

“And then practically embarrassing yourself by not letting him pass?” Chris chuckled. His light attitude made Kayla laugh too.

“Yeah, I guess,” Kayla answered, in between gasps of laughter, “He sounded annoyed when I wouldn’t get out of his way fast enough. And then he sent a death glare my way when I called him Nick instead of Nate. That boy is nothing like his twin.”

“You might not believe it, but they’re more like each other than they’re not. No one else in this school has noticed the switch between the twins. I wonder how long they will continue with their rouse. Honestly, it’s getting boring.”

“That’s true,” Kayla sighed, “Wait, how do you know that they haven’t noticed.”

“Because if anyone else had, they would have already told Sarah that she was kissing the wrong Rei brother. And as you can probably tell, she wouldn’t have taken it so well, but since she is smiling, I guess she didn’t figure it out yet.”

“How do you know that she isn’t throwing a tantrum in another part of the school?” Kayla asked, looking up at Chris.

“Because she is right behind us,” Chris told her, making an awkward motion to point out Sarah.

Kayla turned around and sure enough there was Sarah. She was holding hands with Nate, who was looking around the hallway, presumably looking for escape. Once his eyes snapped to Kayla, he gave her a weak shrug as an act of recognition and then returned his gaze dutifully to his brother’s girlfriend.

“Look where you’re going,” Chris tsked at her, pulling her away before she hit a broad back before her. Light blue eyes, loathingly focused on her for a 3rd time today.

“Sorry, again,” Kayla said, as a nervous chuckle escaped her, “I’ve been bumping into you quite a lot, guess it’s fate doing its work.” The moment those words were out of her mouth, Kayla clamped her mouth shut, putting a hand over it. However, that gesture wasn’t able to erase her words, and Nick’s eyes narrowed at her.

“Fate has nothing to do with this, it’s just your clumsiness. But then, who would expect anything different from a pup,” Nick growled out, “Make sure this doesn’t become a habit of yours. I really hate girls bumping into me.” Kayla’s mouth practically fell open and she wanted to retort something that would sure ruin whatever peaceful relationship she could have with this person.

“Of course, she won’t,” Chris hurried to tell Nick. He discretely jibed Kayla in her side and motioned her to keep quiet.

“That’s good, Flea. Keep your new pup in line,” Nick answered. Kayla’s fist ached to punch him, and throughout the years she had gotten good at squeezing her emotions shut. But at this moment, she was ready to lose it. How dare he call her a pup - what was that even supposed to mean?

“Yes, Nick. We will be going,” Chris told him and before Kayla could retaliate to an insult that she didn’t quite understand, Chris pulled her into an empty classroom.

“What are you doing? Let me go. I’ll punch that son of a -”

At this, Chris’s hand shot to cover her mouth.

“Shut up,” Chris practically ordered her, “What do you think you are doing? No good will come out of your rivalry with the richest kid in this school. No one has Nick for an enemy, because if they do, they don’t live very long to see the rivalry through.”

“What do you mean, live?” Kayla asked, when Chris finally released her.

“I meant they don’t stay long in this area,” Chris muttered, not meeting Kayla’s eyes, “Anyways, please stay out of his way. Your will be better off without him thinking of you as an enemy, because the Rei family is brutal to their enemies.”

“But-”
“And stay away from Nate Rei, too. He might act towards you with kindness, but he is still a Rei and that means between anyone and his twin, he will always side with his twin. So, if Nick decides you’re his enemy, you’ll have Nate for an enemy, too.”

“Sounds to me like you’re bent on seeing the Rei family as bad. What did they do to you?” Kayla asked, finally calming down enough to process that punching Nick was a terrible idea.

“That’s not something I’m going to tell to a random girl,” Chris said, and realizing how that sounded he added, “No offense, of course.”

“None taken,”  Kayla answered, although she was hurt. She had never had friends, always sticking to a loner status. It played in her favor most of the time, because her godfather’s work prompted them to move a lot. But for some reason the first day at this school, which was ironically named the Wolves Quarter, she felt different. This was only her first day, and she already felt as if she had known Chris and Nate forever. Damn, she already felt as if she had known Leera forever, and she had yet to have a normal conversation with her.

So, turning away from Chris, and exiting the classroom, Kayla’s heart for some reason began to beat faster. He probably didn’t mean to hurt her, but damn if she didn’t feel as if though her first attempt at friendship had stabbed her in the back.

She turned around to look at Chris.

“Where is the math wing?” She asked him in a quiet voice.

“Go straight ahead, and then turn to your left when you reach the wall,” Chris told her.

“Thanks,” Kayla said curtly, nodding. She then turned away.

“Look, Kayla, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Chris told her back.

She left without replying, because there was nothing she could say to make their relationship feel better. There was nothing she could say, to explain the unreasonable feeling of betrayal she was feeling at Chris’s words. And as she went to her Calculus class, there was no reasonable explanation for why she thought that both Nick and Nate would be in that class. But she did, and with each step, she became more and more certain.