Kim Sato stared out the window of the coach as it travelled to their destination. Twenty one kids from her year group were going on an end of year trip to some castle place in Wales for a week. She supposed it would be fun as the coach pulled into the grounds and they could see the castle in the distance. There were some people standing outside of the castle.
Sakura Harper stood in a group with some of the other kids in her class. They were on an end of year trip to some castle up the back end of nowhere. The teachers didn't seem to understand that they were city kids through and through. The sound of a coach pulling up made the Cardiff teenagers watch as kids their age jumped out of the coach and got their bags from the boot.
The forty two teenagers stood in their groups. Cardiff and London. Welsh and English. West and East. The people in charge explained that the trips were used for cross-border schools so that they could meet up and hopefully make some new friends. They lined the students up and divided them into dorms of eight people. Four from Cardiff and four from London. However when they had lined up; Kim had been separated from her friends and ended up standing beside a Welsh girl that she didn't know. The female councillor reached them and smiled.
"You two can share the final dorm together. We can't exactly spilt up twins now can we?" she asked.
Kim and Sakura looked at each other.
"We're not twins." Kim said.
"I haven't seen her before in my life." Sakura added.
The woman looked embarrassed. "Nevertheless there are no more dormitories. If the girls would like to follow me, I will take you there. Boys will follow Ryan." The woman said and led them away. Kim and Sakura looked at each other.
"I'm Sakura Harper." Sakura said as she offered her hand.
"Kim Sato." Kim replied as she shook Sakura's hand.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the castle they were staying at before having their dinner and hanging out with friends before they had to go to bed. That night a powerful storm kicked up and Sakura couldn't sleep. She got out of her bed and paced around the room trying to tire herself out. In the darkness, she stumbled and swore as her foot collided painfully with a skirting board. Kim sat up in her bed, she couldn't sleep either.
"Are you alright?" Kim asked.
"Ouch! Yeah I'll be alright." Sakura said feeling her way to Kim's bed and sitting down on it massaging her toe.
"Can't sleep either? I hate storms." Kim said.
"Me too. This is the first time I've properly been away from my dad apart from sleepovers. Don't tell anyone but storms scare the heck out of me." Sakura replied.
"They don't exactly make me feel easy either. We could do something to pass the time because I won't fall asleep now." Kim said.
"That was sorta funny earlier when the woman thought we were twins." Sakura said.
"I know right. We hadn't even met before. Then again," Kim slipped out of bed and groped for the light switch before pulling out a mirror from her bag. "We do look alike. If you pulled your hair back, we'd be identical."
"When's your birthday Kim?" Sakura asked.
"May the twenty ninth." Kim replied.
"That's my birthday." Sakura smiled.
"What's it like in Cardiff?" Kim asked.
Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "It's alright I guess. It's just a city you know? I've lived there since I was a baby with my dad. He's a doctor. What's London like, whereabouts do you live?"
"I live in Chelsea with my mum. She's a computer hacker." Kim replied.
"Isn't that illegal?" Sakura asked.
"Not what my mum does. She's a freelancer and all these big banks and companies use her to test out their systems. If she can hack into them then they aren't good enough. Mum then creates a strong defence system for them. She's excellent at all that stuff my mum is. What about your mum?" Kim asked.
"My parents split up when I was a baby. I don't really remember her and I've got my dad. I have a photo of her from their wedding day. Dad got rid of the rest I think. I know she was beautiful. She's the one that gave me my Japanese heritage. What about your dad?" Sakura asked.
"Same story. They split up when I was a baby and I have a photo of him from their wedding day. She's hidden the rest somewhere. Mum's Japanese too." Kim said.
"Isn't this a bit weird to you? We look almost identical. We have the same birthday. Both our parents are divorced and our Japanese heritage comes from our mother." Sakura said.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kim asked.
The look on Sakura's face told her the answer. Simultaneously the girls rooted in their bags for the half picture of their abandoned parent which they took with them to the trip. The Welsh and English girl stood facing each other and holding the half of a photo clutched to their chest.
"On the count of three." Sakura said and they counted together before handing the other half over to the other girl. They gasped.
"That's my mum!" Kim whispered.
"That's my dad!" Sakura breathed.
"That means that we're sisters." Kim said.
"Kim, it means we're twins." Sakura said and they wrapped their arms around each other. Of all the odds in the world and they were reunited. Neither of them realised that the storm was over.