Soooo this is my newest MC! I won't have a strict uploading schedule - I have a lot of other things going on - but this idea would not leave me alone. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review!

…

APRIL

The fact that I'm an identical twin is typically the first and sometimes the only thing that people notice about me.

Me and Anna aren't the type of twins who were forced to embrace our identicalness as kids and therefore resented it once we got older. Our mom was definitely obsessed with dressing us the same (I'm still convinced she mixed us up as infants and we've been living our entire lives with the wrong identity) but we never hated it. We loved it. In elementary school, our favorite hobby was confusing people until Anna got glasses. After that, we'd still trick them, but her version had to be pretty spotty to do it.

She's my sister, but with an upgrade. One who almost has an exact copy of my DNA. We always used to say that meant if one of us commits murder, the other one would take the fall until we figured out what to do. I'm not sure why we thought we'd eventually drift into a life of crime. Maybe it seemed inevitable with how mischievous we were as kids.

We used to call each other 'clones.' When she wanted to get under my skin, she'd say I was created to use as spare parts for her, just in case she got sick and needed them. That would always make me cry, but crack our older sister, Audrey, up. I think Anna said it for the first time when we were seven. It's a pretty odd thing for a seven-year-old to say, but she's always been smarter than me. I had no clue what it meant at the time, but I knew I didn't like it and that's all that mattered. I also knew that Audrey was laughing with her and at me, which is still usually the case. And I still hate it.

It's hard for Anna and I to be physically apart. It's possible, we're not that weird, but neither of us particularly like it. So, we knew by middle school that we'd end up at the same college - and that we did. We go to the University of Maine, one state away from our hometown of Salem, Massachusetts (yes, that Salem), while Audrey is off flaunting how smart she thinks she is at Cornell.

We're in the middle of our sophomore year, me and Anna, and packing up to go home for winter break. We still live on campus but not in a typical dorm - we share a room, but there's a small kitchen and living room attached to make it feel like something of a tiny apartment. At least, it gives us a little extra space. And that comes in handy, because my boyfriend, Jackson, is over here more than he's not. And not only does he usually eat us out of house and home, he takes up a lot more room than he thinks he does. He's tall, lanky, and muscular; always sprawled out over some piece of furniture. I've never known a single person more relaxed than he is. About everything.

"Anna, will you pack for me?" he asks, sitting on the floor in the bedroom Anna and I share.

Anna has her suitcase open on her bed, half of it already meticulously organized. The other half is empty as she stands in front of the closet, leafing through sweaters. She looks over her shoulder and gives Jackson a funny look, snorting before she says, "No way. Do it yourself, lazy."

"Babe, she called me lazy," Jackson says, tipping his head up to look at me where I sit on the bed above him. He wraps his arms around my shins and I laugh, rolling my eyes.

"You are lazy," I say, bending forward to speak right into his ear.

"Yeah, can't even do your own hair," Anna notes, raising her eyebrows as she brings a few sweaters to her bed.

"It's not that I can't," Jackson says, patting my knees. "It's that she does it better."

Right now, I'm twisting his long curls and placing gel at both the roots and the tip, trying to give him the twist-out he asked for. I'm not sure how it'll turn out - it's only my third time doing it - but he insists I do it well. And I enjoy it. I love working with his hair whether it's short or long, and he loves the feeling of my fingers on his scalp. It's a win-win. Plus, he never complains that I'm too heavy-handed like Anna and Audrey do when I style them.

"Well, you're a very good client," I say, dipping three fingertips into the gel. "Except you don't pay me."

"In money…" he says, and I nudge his side with my heel.

"Sunny, don't you think that you should get packing?" Anna asks, carefully placing a pair of shoes at the bottom of her bag. "Aud's gonna be here to get us in an hour."

"Eh," I say, separating a new section of Jackson's hair with a wide-toothed comb. "I'll be fine. I can just wear what you bring."

"No," she says. "I'm packing my clothes."

"I don't mind."

"I do," she says. "I wanna wear my clothes. There won't be enough if we're both getting them dirty. Just pack your own bag."

I hold up my gel-covered hands after twisting another curl. "Kinda can't," I say.

"So, pause him," she says.

"He's art," I say, going back to work. "You don't pause art. Can you just pack for me, please? When you're done? It doesn't have to be anything special. Just what I usually wear. Please?"

"Ugh," she says, and from that syllable alone I know she's given in. "You owe me."

"No, you owe me. I did your Socrates essay two weeks ago."

"It was a one-pager."

"But I still did it, 'cause you asked me to. So, this is fair."

"Oh, whatever," she says, pulling my suitcase down from a shelf in the closet. It's the same as her purple one, but pink.

I lean forward, fingers still meticulously working on Jackson's hair. "I always get what I want," I say with a smile.

"Just gonna end up wearing my clothes anyway," Anna mumbles, taking a few of my shirts off their hangers.

"Maybe you should just gain a ton of weight so I can't," I say.

"Maybe you should," she says, shooting me a look.

"Valid point," I say. "But it would kinda defeat the purpose, since I'm the one who wants to wear the clothes in the first place."

I get where she's coming from. We share a lot of things, down to the dorm we live in. Down to the bedroom. Half the time, I can't remember what belongs to me and what belongs to her, or which of us it belonged to originally. Our clothes, books, shoes… everything, mostly, blends together to create an inventory we both take from. I honestly don't mind it, but Anna gets annoyed. I think her frustration stems from a stint in sixth grade where we tried to share the same boyfriend. Ben Wallace, who we both kissed (he and I shared ours under the bleachers and he and Anna behind the blue slide), but he broke up with us because he thought he was just dating her, and when he was with me, I acted crazy. He was a nerd, so was she, and I was too loud and liked to draw on his arms with pen. Last time I checked, that wasn't a crime and still isn't. Even now, I give Jackson little temporary tattoos and he doesn't mind. But whether or not it was legal didn't matter; Ben didn't like the 'April' side of Anna and therefore told her she (we) was a dumb girl and he didn't like kissing her (us) anyway. It sat with her for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if she still thinks about him. She holds onto things like that, emotions and the way certain situations make her feel. Her brain is a sponge for feelings. And in typical twin fashion, it's one of the biggest reasons why I love her but it's also one of her most annoying traits.

A while later, after Jackson's hair is twisted and air-drying and everyone's suitcases are packed, Anna's phone chimes with a text. "Aud's here," she says, standing up. "We should go down and meet her."

"Yep," I say with a long sigh, putting my slides on. Jackson gets up from the floor and winds his arms around my waist, then lifts me up to get me out of the way. I laugh and swat him, saying, "Get your hands off me."

"Yeah, right," he says, not bothering to tie his laces.

"You smell good," I say. "I love that gel."

He ducks his head nearer to my nose and I squeal, then Anna grabs my arm to get my attention. "Please don't start shit with Audrey," she says.

"What do you mean?" I say, eyebrows furrowed. Jackson slips behind me to grab his hoodie, then tosses Anna and me our respective coats.

"Oh, come on," she says. "Don't play dumb. Don't start a fight just because you're bored."

"I do not do that," I say. "And I never start them. She says stuff that she knows will piss me off. And she says it for no reason! Just to make me mad."

"I just don't wanna spend the whole ride to Salem tense," she says.

"She's not wrong," Jackson butts in, as his head pops through his sweatshirt. "It's so awkward when you guys fight."

"You should be used to it by now," I say. He's been around since middle school.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean it's pleasant," he says. "Just be nice."

"Yeah," Anna says. "Be nice."

"It would help if she were nice first," I grumble, zipping up before grabbing my suitcase. "And how come she only texted you? We have a group."

"I don't know," she says.

"Since when do you guys even text individually?" I ask, growing more confused as we trek down the hall towards the elevator.

"I don't know. We just do sometimes."

"What is there to even talk about?"

"School," Anna says.

"I guess," I mutter, still mulling over the idea. I can't imagine holding a conversation - even over text - with Audrey for more than a few minutes. She's so bland and predictable. I don't push the subject further, though. I plan on doing my best not to be argumentative towards my oldest sister in the car, if that's what Jackson and Anna want. I'll be on my best behavior - but that doesn't mean Audrey will, which means I have to be ten times stronger than I am. Sometimes, she brings out the worst in me. For some reason, I always fall for it and let her.

When we get down to the taxi lane, Audrey is waiting in her Honda CRV - the car she's had literally forever - but something is different. There's a guy in the passenger's seat, a guy I've never seen before. "Who's that?" Jackson asks.

"No idea," I say, then nudge my sister. "You know?"

She shakes her head. "Uh-uh."

I open the back hatch and throw my suitcase in, then Jackson lifts both he and Anna's inside. "Who's the guy?" I ask, and Anna elbows me with wide eyes. I know that look. It means: be nice. "You just didn't tell us you were bringing someone. Now, we're all gonna have to shove in the back seat."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Audrey says as we get in the back, spinning around just as the guy does. "This is Noah." She makes quick eye contact with him. "My fiance."

"Wait, what?" Anna says, eyes wide.

"You're engaged?" I say.

"Shit," Jackson murmurs.

"Why?" I say, cutting in. "You're not even 25. We've never even met him. You didn't even tell us you were dating anybody."

"Yeah, 'cause we talk so much," Audrey snaps.

"Apparently you and Banana do," I say. "And you didn't tell her."

"Well, I wasn't ready to," Audrey says, glancing between us both. "I knew you guys would freak."

"I'm not freaking," Anna says. "But you can't just not tell us that you got engaged. Do Mom and Dad know?"

"Yeah."

"God," I say. "Why? You never answered me."

"It's nice to meet you both, by the way," Noah says, offering a smile. I give him a strange look in return. He puts me off. There's something weird about him. I don't know what it is, but it's something.

"Yeah," I say.

"God, April, can you be civil?" Audrey says. "When are you gonna grow out of being a brat?"

"Okay, me not being a brat isn't the issue right now. Why did you get engaged so freaking fast? What are you doing?"

"This isn't like you," Anna adds.

"Yeah, it's really not."

"Maybe, if you guys would chill-" Jackson begins, but I cut him off.

"There's no chilling," I say, planting a hand on his thigh. "She sprung this on us out of nowhere."

"We got engaged because we're in love," Audrey says, glancing at Noah.

I narrow my eyes. "Okay…"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course not," Anna answers. "It's just so… fast. What happened to Bradley?"

"I told you," Audrey says. "We broke up. He didn't want kids like, ever, and that was it."

"You guys were really cute together," I note.

"No, he was a jerk," Audrey says. "And the whole kids thing was a deal-breaker."

"Wait," Anna says. "Are you pregnant? Is that why…?"

"Holy shit," I say, then look to my twin. In the silence that follows, we both know she's right. I look back to Audrey's face to find her ashen. "You are. You are pregnant."

"Well," she says, pressing her lips firmly together. "Getting engaged seemed like the right thing to do, given the circumstance."

"The circumstance!" Anna exclaims.

"That's one way to put it," I comment.

"Well," Audrey says again, clearly flustered. Jackson has gone mute beside me, probably mortified. "It happened. And we want to keep it. We love each other, and it feels like a good next step."

"Check, check, check," I mutter. "Checking off the list. God, that could never be me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" my oldest sister asks, catching a tone. "Why are you such a bitch?"

"I'm not," I say. "It's just that… you're so young. Mom and Dad let you go to Cornell while me and her had to go to UMaine. And you're just gonna like… get pregnant and get engaged?" I shake my head. "I'm just saying, that would never be me."

"I should never have told you," she says, facing forward. Instantly, Noah reaches for her hand, but both are on the wheel. He touches her knee instead, rubbing circles with his thumb. Audrey sniffles - I made her cry. This is one of the few times I hadn't meant to; I was just stating how I feel. I could've been even more honest, too. Told her how stupid and short-sighted she's being for throwing her college years at an Ivy League away. But I kept that in. That should count as progress.

"Come on, Aud," I say, monotone. "I mean, yeah… a baby is cool… I'm not trying to be mean, but like… now?"

"Yes, now," she says, shifting the car into gear. "I'm not changing my mind. So, maybe you could stop judging me. That would be great."

"Sunny," Anna says through gritted teeth, elbowing me in the ribs.

"Sorry," I mumble back, shrugging. Then, I say it louder - to Audrey. "Sorry."

"Whatever."

The ride home is uncomfortable, to say the least. Three-and-a-half hours - two of which are completely silent, because my phone dies and both Jackson and Anna have fallen asleep. I do my best to join them, leaning my head on Jackson's shoulder while curling against him, but sleep doesn't come. I close my eyes and pretend, though, listening in on Audrey and Noah's conversation.

"She didn't mean anything by it," Noah says quietly.

"Yes, she did," Audrey responds. I still hear leftover tears in her voice. I feel bad, but not bad enough to patch this up. She has to know I'm right. After me and Anna found out we had to go to a school that we counted as second best, we knew it was because Audrey had gone first and chosen the most prestigious, expensive school she was accepted to. Our parents have always put a little more faith in her, at least academically; she was the one that was going to do great things. They had to give her the platform to get started. And now, she's going to ruin it. It should have been me and Anna at the school we wanted, not her. Nothing is ever good enough for her. It's always onto the next, where the grass is greener. "You don't know her. She totally means it. She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Noah says.

He's right. I don't hate her. A strong distaste, maybe. But hate is a strong word, and I'm surprised she used it. I mean, I guess we do argue all the time and I avoid her like the plague because she's a bore, but I don't hate her.

"You still feel good about it, right?" Audrey asks.

"Of course, I do," he says. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," she says. "I think so. I wasn't expecting them to celebrate or anything, but being happily surprised would've been nice."

"What about Anna?"

Audrey makes a noncommittal sound. "She and Sunny share a brain. That's how it's always been. Guaranteed she feels the same way, she just has a filter."

"Well, it doesn't matter what they think," Noah says, and I hear him patting her leg. "All that matters is what we think."

I roll my eyes behind my eyelids. This guy is a perfect match for Audrey.

When we get home, there's snow all over. There was snow in Maine, too, but it's deeper here - it goes above my ankles when I step out of Audrey's car. "I should've worn my boots," I say, staring at the un-shoveled path to the front door.

"I got you, baby," Jackson says, coming up behind me to wind an arm around my waist. He picks me up easily, carrying me like a football to the porch while I laugh loudly. He grabs the suitcases and helps Anna through the snow, too, then Mom and Dad appear.

"Everyone's home!" Dad shouts, arms out wide. "Bring it in."

Me and Anna go first, wrapping our arms around him tightly as he kisses our heads. Mom pats our backs and gives us kisses on the cheek once we pull away, and we fall into a hug with her, too. "Aud brought a guy home," I say.

"I know," she says.

"You do?" Anna says.

"She told us," Mom says. "Why do you sound angry?"

"It's weird," I say, leaning into her.

"Be nice to your sister," Dad says. "Audie! Come see your old man."

Noah lingers on the porch steps as Mom gives Jackson a huge hug. "There's nothing weird about it," she says. "You always bring Jackson."

"That's not even close to the same," I say. "He's like, part of the family."

"Well, Noah will be, too," Anna says. "Soon."

"The more the merrier!" Mom says.

"Is Noah staying for Christmas?" I ask Audrey as we walk inside.

"Is Jackson?" she volleys back.

I take his arm protectively. "His mom travels. He always stays with us for the holidays."

"If he gets to stay, there's no reason Noah can't."

"I never said he couldn't," I grumble, clutching my boyfriend's arm tighter. "We're gonna go upstairs."

"Don't forget about the picture," Anna tells me under her breath, so Mom and Dad won't hear.

"Oh, yeah," I say. We have plans to remake a childhood picture - one where Anna, Audrey and I are in the tub as toddlers - to give to our parents for Christmas. "Yeah, just come get me when you're ready."

When the door shuts to the guest room - where Jackson and I sleep when he stays over; Anna gets the room she and I used to share - I collapse on the bed in a huff. Jackson sits next to me and picks up my head to rest it on his thigh, smiling as he looks at me. "What's up, drama queen," he mutters, tracing one eyebrow with his pointer finger.

"They stress me out so much," I say. "We've been here for like, five minutes, and I already want to go back."

"You'll be fine," he says. "You just have to get used to it again."

"Yeah, the constant water torture of Audrey's voice," I grumble.

"Stop," he says, his voice turning serious. "Let it go."

"She annoys me. And either way, she already thinks I hate her."

"Well, don't you?" I shake my head no. "You make it seem like you do."

"Well, I don't. But she's a try-hard. And a know-it-all. Things always have to go her way and she always has to get the last word. It's always been like that. Remember, in middle school? When you were over and playing in the treehouse with me and Banana and she started that huge fight? Dad didn't let us up in the treehouse for the fricken rest of the summer."

He chuckles softly. "Pulling receipts from 6th grade. You're reaching, babe."

"But you know what I mean!" I say, laughing as I pull his face down to mine. "Come here. Let's stop talking about my sister for one sec."

He presses his lips to mine in a sideways kiss, cradling my jaw as he does. "Mm," he says, losing the sound in my mouth.

"We don't have time now," I whisper, overlapping his other hand that's found its way to my chest. Though my words tell him no, my fingers squeeze around his, encouraging him.

"Promise me for later," he says, swiping a thumb over my nipple, which is so insistent that it's pressing through the fabric of my bra and shirt.

"Mmm… maybe," I say, smirking.

"I read my horoscope today," he says, buttering me up. I'm always reading stuff about his sign out loud - Libra sun, Aries moon, Scorpio rising - as he pretends to listen.

"You did?" I say, between kisses.

"Yeah," he says, sliding one hand down my stomach to slip inside the front of my pants. "It said tonight, I'm supposed to fuck you."

"Oh, shut up," I say, trying not to laugh - and failing.

He cracks up, loud and boisterous. "Gullible ass," he says, snapping the waistband of my panties underneath my jeans. "Did it lie, though? Tell me it was wrong. The second moon in Mars, take a left at the Little Dipper, then a U-Turn at Venus… or some shit… said I was gonna fuck you tonight. So, it's gotta happen."

"Wrong."

He blows a raspberry on the side of my neck, making me shriek. Then, he says, "Lies."

...

After dinner, when Mom and Dad are in the den watching TV, my sisters and I gather in the bathroom with the biggest tub. Jackson has his phone out, ready to take the picture, and we're trying to fit our adult bodies in the same positions they had been in at two and four years old.

"I haven't worn this swimsuit since 8th grade," I say, plucking at the material. It's purple and faded on the butt. Luckily, that part won't be photographed.

"I have a bikini somewhere," Anna says, equally as uncomfortable. Her bathing suit is the same as mine, but blue.

"Toddlers don't wear bikinis," Audrey says, in a one-piece that fits her perfectly fine that I'm sure she brought with her. It's black; the plainest thing I've ever laid eyes on. Mine and Anna's are from Land's End, but we were 13 when Mom forced us into them. Audrey bought hers willingly at 24, probably from the same place. There's a difference.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm not a toddler anymore," I say, then cover my chest with my hands. "I have boobs now, and-"

"Heyo," Jackson says.

I shoot him a look. "And they're currently being compressed."

"You'll live," Audrey says, already exasperated.

"Where's Noah?" Anna asks, trying to get her legs to fold under her. "He didn't wanna watch this shit show go down?"

"I told him he shouldn't," Audrey says.

"He should get an idea of what he's in for," I say, yanking my foot out from where it got stuck. But in the process, I end up kicking Audrey in the ribs.

"Ow!" she exclaims, knocking into Anna as she recoils.

"Hey!" Anna says, shoving Audrey away so she hits me.

"Stop!" I say, shouldering her in return.

"Guys, quit!" Jackson says. "Jesus Christ."

"Can we just take the picture?" Audrey says.

"Should we put water in the tub?" I ask.

"Oh my god, no," Anna says, then laughs.

"True. I'd be tempted to drown you," I tell her. She flips me off.

"Okay," Jackson says, peering at the original photo that sits on the sink. "Aud, you're like… smiling so big your eyes are closed. Super big, cheesy smile. Right at the camera. Anna, you're sitting there looking stunned with your thumb in your mouth, staring at April. And April, you have both arms above your head, mouth wide open. I think you might be laughing."

"Probably," I say.

"Okay, let's do it," Audrey says.

"Should I really put my thumb in my mouth?" Anna asks.

"Yeah," Jackson tells her. We try and pose, but Jackson looks at the picture he took with an unsure expression. "Uh…" he says.

"What?"

"Well, I don't know. Let's try again."

"I feel dumb," I say.

"Well, right now… you look dumb," he says.

"Thanks a lot."

"Yeah, seriously," Audrey says. "Mom and Dad will love it, no matter how idiotic we feel."

We try and pose again, but it's still not good enough. We must take 100 pictures, but nothing is right. We're all reaching our breaking point - this isn't as fun as the internet made it seem. "Jackson!" Audrey says. "Just take one more and call it good."

"Hey, don't be mean to him," he say, lowering my arms from the position they've been in for what feels like hours.

"I'm sick of this," she says.

"It was your idea."

"Guys, stop," Anna says.

"She's bitching at my boyfriend," I say.

"Audie, chill," Anna says.

"You always take her side," Audrey says.

"We're twins, that's how it works," I snap.

"Yeah. I'm aware."

"God, you are so annoying!" I say.

"Sunny, stop!" Anna says.

"What did I do?" I say, letting my voice rise.

"I'm sick of this," Audrey says, moving to stand. "Just use a shot we already took. I'm done."

"Aud, no," I groan. "Jeez. Come on."

"Well, if you're just gonna keep starting shit, no."

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. Just like always."

"I'll stop. Just come back."

"No. I don't want to."

I give her a firm yank, and she ends up toppling back into the tub, successfully crushing both Anna and myself. At first, we all lie there stunned, but then - instead of getting angry - we all burst out laughing. Loud and raucous, I laugh with my sisters like I haven't in forever. We can't catch our breath, and whenever we all lock eyes, we just laugh harder. My stomach hurts and tears are streaming down my face, and soon Jackson can't help but join in, too.

"I got a great shot," he says, wiping his eyes, doubled over as his shoulders shake.

Then, Noah appears, looking confused as ever. "What in the world is going on?" he asks, and that only makes us spiral further.

…

After the rest of the house is asleep, Jackson and I are in the guest bed, doing the one thing my mom and dad said we couldn't. Dad already wasn't crazy about the idea of us sharing a room, but Mom told him that was silly. We've been together for the better part of six years, and he has to know what we do by now. He said yes, he's aware, but he doesn't want it happening under his roof. I'm pretty sure all of us knew his words didn't mean much, but we let him think they did.

"Sunny," Jackson says, using the shortened version of the nickname I've had since childhood - Sunflower. When Anna and I were 4, I grew quick - tall and skinny with a big head, like a sunflower - and stayed taller than her for a good while until she caught up. "I love you."

He's sweaty, but it's my favorite way to have him. My skin glides over his as I press myself close to his chest, feeling our hearts hammering in tandem as we come down. "I love you more," I whisper, wrapping my arms around his head.

He kisses me hard, slipping his tongue into my mouth. I relish the way he tastes and the way he touches me. It's my favorite thing in the world. "Not possible," he says.

"Yes, it is."

"No," he says, weaving his fingers through my hair. "Also, turns out my horoscope was right."

"Debatable."

"I fucked you, did I not?"

"More like I fucked you."

"I like that," he says, chuckling. "Hey. While I was taking the picture of you three stooges, you know what I was remembering?"

"Hmm."

"When Anna asked me out freshman year."

"Oh, god…" I say, hiding by pressing my face against his neck. "Don't."

"Come on, it's funny," he says, and I hear his smile.

"We were pathetic."

What happened in freshman year was this: I realized that, Jackson, my best friend since the beginning of middle school, started to feel like more than that. I was seeing him differently. His voice was changing. He didn't look like a chubby-cheeked little boy anymore. His fingers were long, his hands were big and knuckled, even his Adam's apple was different. I was noticing so much about him. I was even dreaming about him. When I told Anna about it, one night in the dark in our room, she told me that it was so totally obvious. I had a crush on him. We talked all night, only realizing how long we'd been at it when the sun came up.

I couldn't get him out of my head, no matter what I did. The thoughts distracted me from school, from my friends, and I started acting like a real freak around him. I wasn't normal me anymore because he wasn't normal him. I was sure there was no way he could feel the same, but I also felt like I'd die if I didn't find out. I was too chicken, though. So, Anna volunteered to take off her glasses and pretend to be me when asking him out. It was the perfect plan.

It was easily the most stressful day of my life. I waited outside the school in our normal place, expecting to see my twin come out celebrating. But instead, she was downtrodden and morose. He said no.

I was heartbroken. I didn't know what to do. I had lost my best friend and my crush in one fell swoop because of my stupid feelings. I avoided him like the plague, even actively running away and fleeing at one point, because of how embarrassed I felt.

But then, a week later, he finally caught up with me outside the locker rooms after school let out. He took my hand and gave me the clumsiest kiss in the world - our noses bumped together as did our foreheads - but it was my first one. Probably the best first kiss I could've asked for.

"Not pathetic," he says. "I knew it was her and not you asking. You guys must have thought I was really stupid."

"No," I say, laughing. "We just thought we were really sneaky."

"Well, you're not," he says, running his fingers up and down my back. "I could pick you out of a crowd of a thousand twins. 'Cause you're mine."

"I know," I say warmly, meeting his eyes again. I smile sweetly, thumbs on the apples of his cheeks.

Then, interrupting our moment, the door comes open and I hear Anna's voice. "Sunny?" she says. "I need to talk to you." Then, her eyes adjust to the darkness - she can see Jackson and I are lying in bed naked. "Oh," she says, quickly backing up.

"Uh…" Jackson says, pulling my body closer to cover himself.

"Sorry," Anna stammers, sidestepping out of the room. "I… uh, it can wait."

The door closes again, and I giggle with Jackson's arms firm around me. "I swear," I tell him. "She's gonna be a virgin forever."