When the sound of a phone ringing stirred her from her sleep one lazy Sunday morning, the last thing Sammy was expecting was to be greeted by the one person she never wanted to talk to again, but alas, Amy's voice was what she heard when she answered with a groggy "hello?"

"Hello, Samey," Amy spat. Her voice was deeper, more coarse, and significantly more tired sounding than it was last time Sammy had heard her sister's voice, but the way she spat the hateful nickname was unmistakable.

Sammy frowned and found herself wide awake faster than she wanted to be. "Amy? How'd you get this number?"

"Nice to finally talk to you too, sis," Amy said in an accusing tone. "How's your life been since you abandoned me?" The force with which she said those last two words were as if she was spitting acid. Sammy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Amy, before I explain to you why I didn't actually abandon you, I want to know how you got a hold of me."

"I have my sources. And by sources, I mean a psycho fangirl who is very easy to persuade. Now speak. Why did you just disappear like that?"

Amy was, of course, referring to about seven years prior. At that point, Amy and Sammy had been going to the same college, much to Sammy's despair. Going into the experience, Sammy dared to hope that Amy had changed and was going to stop taking credit for and overshadowing everything Sammy did. Unfortunately and in a completely expected turn of events, Amy's old habits turned out to be etched in stone. A year after starting college, Sammy had turned to a student councilor for advice on the situation. The older, more experienced woman had told her that maybe it was best to leave her sister's life entirely and pursue her goals on her own. "It will be hard to completely erase her from your life, I know," she had said. "You did grow up with her and I understand it will feel like cutting off one of your toes, but look at it this way: if your toe's infected and cancerous, maybe it's best to cut it off."

So Sammy took the councilor's advice and one night, left the college, making sure not to leave a trace behind in the deepest, darkest night she could remember in her life.

Finally, she decided she knew where to start explaining what happened to Amy. "Look, Amy, it's time you learn the truth. I left because, frankly, I couldn't handle it anymore."

"Couldn't handle what?" Amy asked.

"You. I just...couldn't handle you anymore."

"Me?" Amy's voice raised an octave. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sammy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and felt herself starting to tear up. "It means I didn't want to deal with you anymore."

Amy was silent for a moment before finally speaking up. Her voice was hurt, and she sounded like she was about to burst into tears. "You didn't want to deal with your own sister? But...why?"

Sammy blinked hard before explaining. "Our entire lives up to that point was nothing but you manipulating me and taking credit for my ideas and I needed my space. I needed to find somewhere I would be appreciated for my ideas and as my own person. I needed to be Sammy, not Samey."

"Yeah?" Amy supplied spitefully. "And how'd that work out for you?"

Sammy recapped the events of her life since that point with a nostalgic smile. "Well, when I left college, I immediately started looking for jobs so I could find a place to live and get settled somewhere before I decided what to do with my life. I got a barista job and managed to get myself a nice apartment. My manager saw I needed help finding a new school, so she was super supportive of me while I looked. I went to college again and well, to make a long story short, now I'm a cheer coach for a high school, and later this week, we're going to a big state-wide cheer competition."

"I see," Amy said shakily. "And how are those brats treating you?"

"They're really good to me, actually!" Sammy said. "They're very clever and respectful boys and girls. And the one of them is neither, but that's a different story."

Amy sniffled. "Do you remember what we used to talk about?" She asked, barely keeping her voice from wavering.

"About being twin cheer coaches?" Sammy asked. "Yeah, I remember."

"And how much fun we said it would be to coach young cheerleaders together?"

"Yeah..."

Amy sniffled again. "So you took all that and just did it without me?"

"Well, yeah," Sammy replied. "I couldn't take you with me to where I am today."

"Why the hell not?" Amy demanded. Her voice had gotten louder.

Now Sammy was getting angry. "You know damn well why!" She snapped. "You know if you were here with me, you'd be taking all the credit for my good ideas and pinning all of your mistakes on me. I was never anything to you but the one to take the falls for you, and I couldn't take it anymore."

Amy was so silent, Sammy wondered if she just hung up. Before she could check, Amy sobbed on the other end. "Th-that's not true."

"You know it's true, Amy. You didn't deserve for me to take you with me and that's that. Now stop your alligator tears. I know you're faking it. I bought self help books that taught me how to spot an abusive relationship, and everything about how you treated me fit those books to a T."

"No it did not!"

"Change of subject: but what happened once I left?" Sammy asked, hoping for a distraction.

"Don't you accuse me of that shit and then change the subject!" Amy growled.

"No, really. I want to know. And the we'll get back to that." Sammy was surprised at her own calmness in the midst of finally standing up to the biggest obstacle she had ever scaled.

"Well if you have to know," Amy explained. "I got kicked out. I was so distraught by you leaving that I flunked out."

"Distraught? Or did you not do the work since I wasn't there to do it for you?"

Amy roared in frustration. "Fine! Fine, you got me. I didn't do shit, because you were my homework do-er and without you I didn't know jack shit! I got kicked out and now I'm working a dirty, sweaty strip club and barely scraping by and it's all your fault!"

"See what I mean now?" Sammy asked, concealing a gasp at the news of Amy having to work in such a filthy place. "You couldn't get by without me. You relied so much on abusing me that without me, you fell apart. You have no one to blame but yourself." Suddenly, her surprising calmness broke and Sammy felt tears start streaming down her face. "Amy, I-I'm sorry to hear about your situation, really, but...I couldn't do it anymore. I just couldn't do it..." Sammy sobbed out loud for a moment before continuing. "I wish I could help you, but there's a voice inside my head telling me never to get involved with you again. I'm sorry." Before Amy could say another word, Sammy hung up and buried her face in her pillow. Her phone was not to be touched again for at least an hour, as Sammy lay there, sobbing silently into her pillow. Finally, she dragged herself out of bed and stood in front of the full body mirror that was the door to her closet. She hadn't changed out of her barely-there tank top and short shorts that made up her sleepwear, and it hung on her muscular, yet curvy body like sparse drapery, barely clinging to her strong shoulders and wide hips. It wasn't concealing much, but it didn't need to due to her living alone and having just got out of bed. She sighed and looked her reflection in the eyes.

"I did the right thing," she told herself. "Amy was hurting me my whole life. She was—" Suddenly, her phone started ringing from the bed, interrupting her train of thought. She checked the screen to see the same number that was on it when she woke up, so she ignored it completely. She went back to talking to herself. "Amy was ruining my life. I couldn't keep it up." Her eyes welled up once more, but she gulped and pushed the tears down. "I'm sorry Amy...but it was the right thing to do. It's not my fault she ended up where she did." She nodded at herself before taking her tank top off and throwing it to the side. She looked at her topless form, poked one of her breasts and sighed, imagining her own body in the skimpy clothing Amy no doubt had to wear every night. She suppressed another pang of guilt before turning and making her way to her dresser. She opened the top drawer and grabbed her favorite sports bra. "I need to get my mind off things with a workout. Yeah, that's what I'll do."

Twenty minutes later, Sammy walked into the local gym in her workout gear and a duffel bag on her shoulder. She looked around at everyone exercising and chatting and found her eyes landing on a friend she definitely didn't expect to make when she first started visiting the gym. The tall, dirty blonde girl looked back at her and smiled smugly, as she did before jogging over.

"Hey, what's up, workout buddy?" The girl asked as she plunged her hands into her grey hoodie's pocket.

"Hey Jo," Sammy said with a weak smile. "I'm glad you're here. I need a good stress relieving workout. Think you can supply?"

"I absolutely can!" Jo replied.

The next couple of hours were spent recapping the story to Sammy's fellow reality show contestant (though she didn't know they had that in common) and when she was thoroughly worn out and Jo was equally caught up, they parted ways at the entrance to the gym. Jo patted her back. "You did good today, Sammy."

Sammy smiled. Jo never used a person's actual name, so Sammy was terrified that learning of an age-old nickname would change how Jo addressed her. Hearing Jo use her actual name after being mortified of being called Samey again caused Sammy to tear up a bit and bring Jo in for a hug. Jo awkwardly returned the hug, but not before complaining about how sappy it was. "Thank you, Jo." Sammy said.

Jo responded by using a word Sammy never thought she'd hear come out of the taller girl's mouth. "I think that's what friends are for, so don't mention it. Seriously, don't mention it. Nobody can learn I'm going soft and making friends."

Sammy laughed. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks, now can you, uh, let go of me?"

"Give me a second and I'll think about it."