"Bethany Leigh Hamon! Get your butt down here. Right now." I looked at my twin sister, and she rolled her eyes.
"What did you do this time Beth?"
"I'm not sure. Guess I'll find out when I get down there, huh?" I said with a smile. I rolled out of bed and ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I knew my parents would be. I jumped into the chair crossed leg, and blew a piece of hair out of my face. "What's up?"
"What's up is that you are failing three of your classes!" my mom said waving a piece of paper I assumed was my report card.
"Ohhhh…so that's what this is about." I said.
"Well, of course. What else would it be about?" my dad asked.
"Um…" my mind went back to the sneaking out, the boys, and the beer. I smiled. "Nothing at all, this is the only thing I've been worried about and I'm working really hard to bring my grades back up." I guess by seeing this you'd never be able to guess that I used to be the child that never got into any trouble and got straight A's. I bet you'd also never be able to guess that my twin sister Paige was failing all her classes, but never got into any trouble. We weren't good kids. Not by a long run. We just never got caught, well not until recently anyway.
"Well, bring them up or your going to be in a lot of trouble." my mom said.
"Kay." I said and got up to leave, as I was about to walk out the door. I heard my dad say "Why can't she be more like Paige?" The made me upset, more than anything. To me this was the biggest insult. I had people call me a slut, whore, bitch. Those I could deal with. But that. That killed me. I wasn't Paige that's why. And Paige, to be honest had done things even I had never done.
But I won't go into that. That'll come later. I ran back upstairs and jumped back onto my bed.
"That was fast." Paige said looking up from her phone.
"It was just about grades."
"JUST about grades?" I rolled my eyes.
"It was about grades, and how I need to bring them up."
"That's what I thought you said. Really Beth? Why can't you just keep the damn things up?"
"Straight A's are kind of hard to come by when your out almost ever night."
"No, they're not! I'm passing all of my classes and I go out almost more than you do."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Want me to help you?"
"Pass? No."
"Why not?"
"Because if I'm going to do something badly, I'm going to do it badly myself."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Okay Paige."
"You going out tonight?" she asked quietly.
"I don't know yet. There aren't really any good parties tonight, it being a Thursday and all."
"What? You don't have any hit and runs to take care of tonight?" my face turned red with embarrassment and anger.
"Paige, stop acting like you've never got drunk, never had sex with a complete stranger, stop acting like you've never had sex period."
"I have sex with my BOYFRIEND, Kyle. Whom I've been dating for almost a year now."
"And if you don't start using condoms, you're gunna wind up pregnant." Fuck. She was not supposed to know I knew that. About two weeks ago I asked Kyle, Paige's jock-smart-hot boyfriend for a condom and he told me that they didn't use condoms because one, it felt better. And two, they loved each other that much.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing Paige, go to bed."
"Who the fuck told you that?"
"Nobody told me that, I was just joking."
"Bethany Leigh Hamon. I will fucking kill you. No, I won't have to because you'll be dead, kicked out, or pregnant and fucked over soon, so why don't you just get the fuck out my life?"
I know at this moment I should be crying or surprised, but this actually happens almost every night. I guess it comes from being twins. We tell each other almost everything and would put our lives on the line for each other, but when it boiled down to it, we couldn't stand each other.
"Actually, I do have a few things I need to take care of. I'll be back later." I felt her watching me as I stuck my slim body through the window. I climbed down the vine thing conveniently put there, I always thought that if anything, I could make a good movie sneaking out. I tried to figure out where I could go, almost eleven thirty, after curfew, on a Thursday. Alex's. The one place I could always go. No matter what. His mom was never home and his dad left when he was two. The house was ours for the taking. To be honest, there was quite a lot of me in that house. In the shower, on the couch, in his bed, in her bed, just about everywhere. I called him up.
"Hey Alex." I said when I answered.
"What's up?"
"Paige kicked me out, I'm coming over, that cool?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." I loved when he tried to act like he didn't care, it was so cute.
"If you don't want me to, I don't have to." I said smirking.
"No, no. I want you to come." he said quickly.
"You sure?" I said teasing him
"Yeah, Beth. I'm sure."
"Kay, I'll be there in a few." I put the phone in my pocket and ran into the woods, the shortcut to Alex's.
~Alex~
I walked in the front door, knowing it'd be open for me, just like it always was. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle then headed into Alex's room.
"Hey." he said with a smile. That smile. That smile made all the difference. The world could be ending and the last thing I would want to see was Alex's smile. It made everything okay again. I had no idea why, but Alex's smile was the only one that did that to me but I had no romantic feelings for him. He was my best friend, other than Paige of course. I didn't have many friends, but Alex was definitely one of them. A friend with lots of benefits, yes. But the cool thing about Alex was he was okay with not doing stuff, sometimes we just watched a movie, or fell asleep.
"Hey."
"So, what's on the agenda for tonight?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.
"On my period, so a movie sound good?" I said, expecting the twinkle to go away.
But it didn't. As he said, "Yeah, which one?" his eyes continued to twinkle. And that's what I loved about Alex.
"Monster's Inc." I said smiling.
"Again?" he asked laughing. Alex and I watched Monster's Inc a total about a hundred times. It was our movie, he was the first person I watched it with, he was the only person I'd watch it with, and he'd be the last person I'd watch it with.
"Of course." I said with a smirk. Alex shook his shaggy hair out his face and laughed as he put Monster's Inc in the DVD player. Then he hopped back onto the bed and I snuggled up to him.
"You smell good." I said.
"I always do." he said. "Oh, and by the way, thank you for that amazing hello kiss." I looked at him and smiled. I leaned up and gave him a kiss.
"Thanks! How'd you know I wanted that?" he asked smiling.
"Shut up." I said laughing, "The movie's on." Alex played with my hair as we watched the movie and as he did I fell asleep in his arms.
I woke up a few hours later to see Alex had fallen asleep too. I watched him for a minute, he looked like an angel sleeping. A perfect angel. I nudged him so he'd wake up. He blinked a few times, looked at me, and smiled.
"I had a dream about you." he said whispering, still half asleep. He looked like a little kid, half asleep, and I smiled at his innocence. "You lived with me, and you told me you loved me. I think we were married, it was nice." he said as he drifted back to sleep.
I let him sleep for a little longer then woke him up again.
"Hey love." he said when he woke up for the second time.
"Hey, I gotta go home." That's when his twinkle went away.
"Why?" he whined.
"Because, we have school tomorrow." I said smiling.
"You gotta go?"
"I have to. I'll see you tomorrow though." I said as I got up and gave him a kiss.
"You really are my best friend Alex." I said.
"Yeah. I know. Love you Beth."
"Love you too Alex. Love you too."
I climbed into bed trying my best not to wake Paige, but as I moved I hear her stir and I know I haven't succeeded.
"Hey." she whispers.
"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." I whisper back.
"It's okay." she pauses, as though she might not say what comes next. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier, it was pretty fucked up." I smiled.
"Yeah, it was. But, hey, we're sisters, we fight, it's what we do." Paige laughed.
"Yeah, it is. I love ya Beth."
"I love you too Paige, good night."
"Good night." she said, she yawned and fell back to sleep. I texted Alex, told him I was inside and safe, like I always did, put my phone on the charger so it could have battery for tomorrow and then fell into a deep sleep.
I awoke to my alarm beeping. I reached my hand out, trying to turn the loud beeps off so that maybe, just maybe I could get a little extra sleep. But my hand couldn't find the button, no matter how hard it tried. I rolled over and turned the alarm off and then looked around the room. Paige was in the mirror doing her make up, already dressed for school. She looked at me through the mirror.
"You better get up Beth, you got ten minutes."
"Which is exactly five more minutes than I need."
"Get up." she said.
I sighed and pretend to think it over. "Fine, but for me, not for you." I said smiling.
"You're retarded, now get up and get ready or you're gunna be late." I get up and go to the bathroom so I can take my morning piss and change my tampon.
"Every morning you say I'm gunna be late, and nine times out of ten, I'm not late." I said pulling on my school clothes, after I get out the bathroom .
"Yeah, well. Ten times out of ten, I'm on time."
"Congratulations." I'm at the mirror now, doing my two minute make up deal, I know I'll fix it later in first period, so perfection is not what I'm looking for.
"Shut up." Paige says as I finish my make up and start to put my hair into a messy bun.
"Okay, so I've been up five minutes and my make up is done, I'm dressed and my hair will be done like now."
"And?"
"And…you've been up for like thirty minutes and did the exact same thing." I looked at Paige, I knew this wasn't true. Not by a long shot, Paige's hair was straightened and her make up was perfect.
"Okay, not the exact same thing, but close." I said. Paige rolled her eyes and she headed downstairs, I took one last look in the mirror, grabbed my schoolbag, turned out the light, and followed her down the stairs.
At school, Paige and I hardly see each other. I think Mom set it up that way, when we were younger. That way we didn't rely on each other, and I thank mom that. Paige and I don't have the same classes, the same friends, we're not 'the twins' here, we're Paige Hamon and Bethany Hamon. I stood at my locker looking into the mirror I had put into it. "Boo!" I heard someone yell. I turned around, startled to see Logen, one of my best friends.
"Hey asswipe." I said smiling, I turned back to the mirror.
"So, what'd you do last night?" she asked as I inspected a spot on my chin that seemed to be breaking out.
"Went hung out with Alex." I said.
"I thought you were on your period." she said, reminding me I needed to grab a few tampons.
"I am." I said, looking through my locker for a tampon. "We watched a movie."
"Aw!" she said. Logen had this theory that one day Alex and I were going to fall deeply in love. I for one, thinks she's insane.
"Yeah." I said, still looking for a tampon.
"I really don't understand why ya'll aren't going out."
"Because, Logen. We don't like each other like that. He's like my best friend." I said, beginning to doubt there were any tampons in my locker.
"With lots and lots of benefits." I sighed.
"Yes, with lots and lots of benefits, Lo. You have a tampon I can borrow?"
"I have a tampon you can have, because I don't really want it back." she said digging in her bag.
"Thanks." I said holding my hand out. After a minute of digging she produced two tampons.
"No problem. Hey, you better get your ass to class. You can't be late again."
"Yeah, yeah. I know." I said. I gave her a quick hug and then we headed our separate ways. About half way down the hall, I heard Logen's loud voice yell, "I love you Bethany! I'll see you at lunch!" I rolled my eyes at my friend's dumbness, but I turned around, waved and yelled "I love you too Logen!"
A few more steps and Alex was by my side, just as he always was. Some kind of way, Alex and I had three out of my four classes together.