Chapter 1

"Psst! Picture!! Can I see your homework?" My (twin) sister, Acacia, whispered. Okay and my name isn't picture either. It's Drew. Someone started this crap about 'drew a picture' so I became Picture.

"Fine. Here, but hurry up." I passed it across the aisle. Acacia and I are actually identical twin sisters. We used to look exactly alike. Both about 5' 9", slender, and with long dark brown hair. Now, Acacia dyed her hair black, cut it to below the shoulders, and spikes it like crazy. I left mine long, but bleached it pure white, with the long Dutch bangs across the front. The only thing now the same is our pale skin and the deep black eyes.

We sorta act the same too. Smart, but inattentive, kinda lazy, have ADHD, and are Dyslexic. I'm the more klutzy one, and the more Dyslexic. Both good artists. I don't do school sports, but Acacia does. She does track-and-field, softball, and soccer. I take fencing, aerial acrobatics, and horseback riding. We're both in Art Club, and both take mixed martial arts. We thought we were unique already……..

"Miss Andrews!" our teacher, Mrs. Newman called out.

At the same time our heads snap up. "Yes, ma'm?" we say simultaneously. She sighed angrily.

"I meant Drew." She said exasperated.

"Yes?" I said just as annoyed.

"Solve number seventeen 'B'." I looked at the board. It all looked like squiggly lines and random numbers and shapes.

"Ma'm? I can't read it." I said embarrassed.

"What?" she stared into me. God, I hate this woman. And I hate math class.

"I- I'm Dyslexic." I mumbled.

"See me after class. You too, Acacia. Scott? Do you have the answer?"

"$32.36." he replied as I laid my head on my arms.

"Correct. Now…" as she started talking again I felt like I was falling away… I pulled my head out of my hands, and looked around. I was in an ancient, what looked like, Greek palace. The columns, and people wearing togas, all of it. And I could see water over a balcony. Standing up, I realized that I was wearing a dirty once-white toga and with thick chains around my wrists and ankles. A soldier was leading me towards a man who seemed like the king. I was forced to my knees as he commanded "Execute the prisoner!" I turned to see another soldier walking towards me with a very evil looking long sword.

"No! I didn't do anything wrong! PLEASE SPARE ME!!!" I keened.

"Drew?! Wake up! It's okay!" I felt someone smack me across the face. I opened my eyes on the floor with Acacia kneeling beside me. I had tears streaming down my face. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I turned my head and threw up all over Mrs. Newman's shoes. Oopsie. After a while I stopped crying and barfing enough to sit up. I couldn't stop shaking, though.

"Drew, it was so scary. All of a sudden you started shaking, like you were having a seizure, and you fell to the floor and started screaming. I slapped you, and yelled your name over and over, but you wouldn't wake up. I was so scared."

"I was a prisoner. They were going to execute me. I feel really sick. Can we go home?" I asked, looking up at Mrs. Newman. She nodded.

"Yes, let me go call your parents."

"Mrs. Newman, we can walk home, it's not that far." Acacia said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's only two or three blocks. We'll be fine."

"Can I have a bottle of water?" I asked. I still was shaking, and nauseous.

"Yes, you may. I'll go get you one, and a janitor."She said looking pointedly at the large puddle of barf, and at her shoes.

Acacia and I walked out of the classroom and to our lockers. She got her black backpack and threw some notebooks, a reading book, and a few pencils into it while I opened my locker and pulled out my checkered messenger bag. I tossed a notebook, three reading books, some random pieces of paper, and a sharpie into my bag. I also looked at my reflection in the small mirror in my locker. I really looked sick, even paler than usual, almost greenish. I pulled a hair tie off my wrist to pull my hair into a messy bun.

"Urgh…." I moaned, sagging against the lockers. Acacia looked at me worriedly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanna go home." Mrs. Newman walked back down the hallway carrying a bottle of water. She handed the water to me.

"How do you feel?" she asked me.

"Okay." I replied.

"Bye girls. Hope you feel better, Drew."

"Thanks." And we walked out of the school and onto the busy Manhattan street. We walked to the nearest subway station and boarded a train to Brooklyn. We walked across two streets and walked into the bottom floor of our apartment. Running up the stairs, we passed an old lady and a young man with a little girl. Up two more floors, then into our apartment.

I walked to the couch, and laid down on it, and Acacia walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Pic, Alice and Dad are at the deli."

"Kay!" Alice is our step-mom. We actually never knew our real mom. She didn't die or anything, just, she left. She and Dad didn't even get married. Alice is really nice though. We both love her, but never got into the habit of calling her 'mom'. I grabbed Acacia's purse and found a pack of gum. I pulled out two pieces and popped them in my mouth.

"Hmm. What kind of gum is this?" I asked.

"I don't know. Some kind of 5 gum. Wait, what!?" she walked over and saw me holding her purse. "Git your own gum!!" she yelled at me. I started laughing, and tossed her purse at her head.

"You know, I just realized something." I said.

"What?"

"I think I'm allergic to high school." I said laughing.