Chapter 1~ Rooftops
Sammy double checked that everyone was asleep before she climbed up to the rooftop.
It was a simple process really. Although she had the smallest room, she also had a small cushioned bench against her window that she could use to boost herself up and out of the house. The roof to the left was practically flat, and ironically located just above her sister's room. With years of athletic and flexibility training to keep herself thin, it was easy to swing her legs over to it with a well timed jump. Then, with her hands still located on the edge of the window, Sammy would push out, forcing herself into a standing position and fully outside.
It was the last summer night before school started up again. Only a few minutes before she had finished both her sister's and her own summer assignments, which included two book reports, a full outline of a biology experiment on a topic of choice, and a history project about the civil war that they would be presenting in class the next day. Sammy had written out flash cards for her sister's presentation, knowing full well that she wouldn't use them, instead batting an eye lash at the teacher so he would 'forget' she hadn't gone. However, if she didn't have the notecards, Amy would throw a fit, claiming that there was no point in having the project if she couldn't even present it.
Sammy sighed, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the roof while she ran a hand through her wet hair. Contrary to popular belief, neither her or her twin's hair was naturally straight. Rather it was so wavy that it was practically in curls, and they spent twenty minutes each every day making sure that it was all straightened out before school. Instead of the usual cheer uniform like outfit, Sammy was wearing an american flag sweatshirt in a pale color pallet, faded high-rise jean shorts and white vans. An outfit like this, both comfortable and cute, was what she would prefer to wear all the time. Instead, she wore the same barely-there skirts with tight crop tops and white heeled boots that Amy gave her every day, matching her own outfit. While she used to think Amy was just being nice to her, she had come to realize that the only reason her sister did this was so that she could brag about how she wore it better.
The young blonde tightened her fists, willing herself not to cry. She was done with this. She was done with the constant need to gain her sister's acceptance. No matter how much she loved her sister, her sister would never give a shit about her. The worst thing was that she couldn't hate her. She would always love her sister, and cherish the rare few moments in their childhood where Amy was actually nice. She was naive to think that little girl was going to come back to her. She was gone. This Amy was here to stay.
The familiar scent of smoke drifted its way over to Sammy who frowned. Her next-door neighbor, Duncan, must be smoking again. He only did that when he was upset, which was a lot more recently.
A few moments later, Duncan himself walked out onto the balcony that was connected to his room. He nodded to her, giving her slight acknowledgement before letting the top of his body hang over the rim, exhaling the smoke from his lungs towards the ground. Sammy glanced down as well, staring at the twenty-foot grassy patch between their houses. As kids, She, Amy, and Duncan used to fight about who got to play that area all the time. Some days it belonged to Amy and Sammy's shopping mall, and some days it belonged to Duncan and his mob. As they got older, it was either Amy and Sammy's tanning spot (the light hit it just right, despite the two houses that closed in on it) or Duncan's graffiti wall in which case he had it for two days; one to spray paint, and one to scrub it all off.
"Are you ready to go back to that hell-hole tomorrow?" A deep voice suddenly asked. Sammy's head snapped up to Duncan, who was staring at her expectantly. She was surprised. On the off chance that they were both out at the same time, it was unspoken rule that they didn't talk to each other.
"Uh... yeah. I just finished mine and Amy's assignments actually."
Duncan rolled his eyes, tossing the stub of his cigarette down two-stories to the ground. Without pause, he pulled another one out of a half-empty pack.
"Still following the bitch around?"
"She's not a-" Sammy stopped herself. There was no point in defending her. Amy really was a bitch. "Yeah... I guess I am." She suddenly felt ashamed of herself.
"It's pretty pathetic." Duncan said bluntly, lighting the new cigarette. "Why don't you just tell her off?"
"It's- it's not that easy." The blonde answered, her words breaking as soon as she said them. In response, Duncan waved his and towards her like he was showing off a car.
"You're doing it now, aren't you? Just start doing it all the time."
The gears in Sammy's head turned. What she was wearing right now Amy would never be caught alive in. It was 'unflattering' and 'straight off a hobo' she would say. That's why Sammy hid them in a draw with the rest of the cloths that she had bought when she was able to sneak off to the mall by herself so Amy wouldn't find them. She could make enough outfits to last the week, and go shopping this weekend if she really wanted to do this. The more she planned it out in her head, the more excited she got.
"You'll also have to change your hair." The other teen added off-handedly. A look of horror washed over Sammy's face.
"What, why?!"
"You look like her fucking clone." Duncan responded, studying her. A smirk raised on his slightly chapped lips. "A little bit of dye and we could turn you into a purple pixie."
"NO!" Sammy answered quickly, clutching her hair. Without being straightened, it just barely passed the tips of her shoulders. She wove her fingers into it, thinking. While she absolutely refused to dye it, perhaps shortening it wouldn't be that bad. "But... I guess I could cut it."
"Catch."
Before she had time to respond, an object was flying towards if. If it wasn't for the moon shining brightly overhead, Sammy never would have caught what Duncan had thrown. She caught it with both hands, studying the object.
"Is this a pocket knife?" She asked, feeling slightly appalled. Laughter filled the air.
"Second luckiest I own. Use it for your hair."
"Or I could use scissors." She shot back, tucking the knife in the pocket. She knew she would be using it. Duncan, knowing the same thing, continued to smirk. They sat in a comfortable silence again, Sammy thinking about how she could do her hair and Duncan finishing his smoke. For the second time that night, he broke the silence.
"You have Howard this year, right?" He asked. Mr. Howard was the U.S. history teacher at their high school. Duncan, being in the grade ahead, had already taken the class last year as it was a requirement for juniors.
"Yeah, the AP class."
"AP or honors, he's still a douche." Duncan ranted. "He fuckin' took my nose ring."
"Which one?" Sammy joked. "The septum or the stud?"
"Stud, I flipped up the septum." The blonde giggled at that.
"Maybe, you should add a piercing you your list of changes, eh?"
"I'm good." Sammy amended quickly. When it came to physical pain, she was kind of a wimp.
"Suit yourself." Duncan answered slyly. He stretched his arms over his head, exposing a bit of his toned stomach as he yawned. As he dropped his arms, he tossed his second cigarette over his shoulder and onto the lawn.
"Goodnight Sammy." He called, heading back into his room. He never looked back, leaving Sammy in a kind of daze as he closed the balcony doors.
That was the first time in five years someone hadn't called her Samey.
About five minutes later, Sammy swung herself back into her own room. She headed straight into the bathroom, fiddling with the pocket knife as she went.
The lights flickered on, humming faintly as they did so. Sammy walked over to the mirror, where an almost perfect replica of Amy stared back at her.
She smiled, mouthing a little 'goodbye' as she flicked open the pocket knife. The light caught it just right, making the blade gleam. With steady hands, Sammy gathered all her hair in one hand and used the other to raise the blade to the end. Her goal was to take of four to five inches, giving herself what she hoped would be a cute wavy bob. Before she could talk herself out of it, she slashed the knife through her hair.
Short strands of blonde lazily floated down to the floor. Sammy gasped, taking in her new look. She couldn't believe she had just done that! Her short hair fell gently against her face. It was now just barely longer than her chin, and although it was a bit choppy, the waves did look very cute on her. Her large blue doe eyes seemed to pop more than they ever did. She also noticed that it brought more attention to her lips rather than her chest. Experimentally, she took a bobby bin out of the top draw and twisted her bangs, clipping them loosely by her ear. She grinned largely at her appearance. Maybe her hair wasn't completely even and it was a completely one-eighty from what she normally would have done, but she loved it. And as she grinned, a small dimple appeared on the right side of her face, another thing the loved about their appearance that Amy hated.
Sammy studied her face closer. She had wiped off the winged eyeliner that Amy had made her start wearing with her all last year before, and she liked the way she looked now. Maybe tomorrow she would add just a bit of eye liner to her lower lid and mascara so people could see her blonde eyelashes. But other then that, she wouldn't do anything else. No more foundation or smokey eyes or blush. Maybe she would have a few red blotches and small bumps, but they made her feel more real.
She hadn't felt real in a long time.
Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Sammy ran back into her room and dropped to her knees in front of her dresser. She opened the bottom two draws, taking out all of her jeans, shorts, tee-shirts and sweaters that she loved. She tossed them all onto her bed and began sorting through them. Despite it being one in the morning, sleeping was the last thing on the bubbly teens mind. She started matching shorts with sweaters, jeans and shirts, tall socks and shoes and even jewelry. She had beanies and hair clips she never wore, putting those in as well. She even had a dress that wasn't tight against her skin!
Half an hour later Sammy finally exhausted herself, and she crawled into bed, still wearing her shorts and sweat shirt. Her last thoughts were how excited she was for tomorrow.
When Sammy's alarm clock went off at six thirty that morning, she grinned, not a single thought in protest as she got out of bed. School didn't start until eight ,but Sammy only had the bathroom for half an hour before Amy would start her hour long process. Rather than go for the straightener that she always used, Sammy took out a curling iron that was still in the box. She had bought it at the beginning of freshman year in the hopes of curling her hair for the homecoming dance. Amy was quick to shoot her down, saying she would look like a Goldie Locks wanna-be. Embarrassed, Sammy had hidden it in the bathroom closet. Today, she popped it open like she had wanted to do all those years ago and plugged it in for the first time. As she waited for it to heat up she began to do her eye makeup. She grabbed her charcoal colored eye liner and applied it for the first time to her bottom lid, making her eyes water, then applied a heavy coating of mascara. Already she looked different from what she normally did, but she liked this look better. Figuring the curling iron was done, Sammy grabbed a piece of hair and twirled it around the heated metal, holding it in just long enough to change her gentle waves into a playful lose curl. She did this to the rest of her hair and clipped her bangs back again with a red bow for the final touch. She finished just in time to get out before Amy would see her.
Sammy grabbed the cloths that were on the end of her bed and laid them out in front of her. She slipped out of her old cloths and changed quickly, humming disney tunes under her breath. Her new outfit consisted of a lose gray sweater that she tucked the front of into another pair of high waisted light-wash shorts. She wore knee high black socks that were the same material as tights along with her only other pair of comfortable shoes, red high-top converse. For jewelry, she added a few bracelets to her wrists and along dream catcher necklace she had gotten for her birthday. Since Amy didn't have the same one, she never wore it. But now, it complimented her nicely. Sammy slipped her iPhone into her back pocket and skipped down the stairs.
Her parents, she knew, were already at work. They co-owned a large clothing company and were already preparing their daughters for a modeling life on the run way. Secretly, Sammy didn't want to be a model, but she also didn't want to disappoint her parents. Well, her father really. Her mother had been disappointed in her the second she was told that she was having twins and Amy had been the first to be born.
As she dug into her cereal, Sammy almost choked when she was startled by a strangled scream.
"What the hell are you wearing and what the hell did you do to your hair?!" Amy screeched. "That is not what we picked out!"
Sammy swallowed her food and stared down her sister. She was wearing a tight dark red skirt with a white crop top that had a pair of red lips across her chest and was still see-through enough to see her black lacy bra underneath along with white strapy heels. Her nails were all painted red to match.
"I decided to try something different." Sammy answered, trying to ignore her sisters murderous glare.
"WELL YOU LOOK FUGLY! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ANYONE TO RESPECT YOU WHEN YOU LOOK LIKE THAT SAMEY?! THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL YOU ARE GETTING IN THE SAME CAR AS ME!"
Sammy whimpered. God, Amy's voice was like nails on a chalk board. Did she sound like that? Her appetite was gone now, Sammy pushed the bowl away from her and got up from the table. She didn't say a thing to her twin as she grabbed her backpack and headed out the door.
"Where the fuck are you going?" Amy sneered. Sammy flinched at the swear. She hated swear words. She honestly believed they were unnecessary.
"I'm going to walk to school." She answered. She slammed the door behind her as she slipped outside, blinking away tears. Changing had been a terrible idea. She should have stayed the way she was.
"Holy shit, Sammy is that you?"
Sammy blushed slightly, recognizing the voice. She turned to a startled looking Duncan and laughed awkwardly.
"Uh, surprise?"
"Damn." He muttered, still standing at the edge of his driveway by his car. Sammy remained her spot, fidgeting.
"Does it look okay? Because I'm starting to think that this whole idea was stupid. I mean, I can go change really quickly-"
"No!" Duncan interrupted quickly. "I mean, you look fine. And are you walking to school?"
"Yeah. Amy doesn't want to be seen with me if I look this fugly." She sneered the last part in the same way her sister would, acting exactly like Amy. Duncan chuckled.
"Well I for one wouldn't mind being seen with you. Do you wanna ride?"
A ride? With Duncan? The last time the two of them had a decent conversation before last night was years ago, back when they were both in middle school. Sammy thought about saying so, but Duncan had already grabbed her arm and was dragging her towards his 2002 Audie A4.
"Come on, it wasn't really a question. We have to get to school before Courtney or she'll get pissed at me again." He spat bitterly. He opened the car door like a gentleman, and then pushed Sammy into the seat like a barbarian. As he walked to the drivers side, Sammy recalled what she knew about Courtney. She didn't know the girl personally, but she did know a loose version of her history with Duncan. They had met at a shitty summer camp between the summer of seventh and eighth grade, and had started out hating each other. Eventually, Courtney kissed Duncan and they started dating, but broke up at the end of the summer because they were going to different schools. Half way through ninth grade Courtney transferred to their high school, and she and Duncan where on again off again for two years. Then in eleventh grade Courtney claimed to have 'had enough' and refused to even talk to Duncan anymore. His friend Gwen had gone through something similar with her boyfriend Trent, and the two started a 'friends with benefits' thing. At some point over the summer, Duncan and Courtney must have gotten back together, although he didn't seem very happy about it.
"Do you want you're pocket knife back?" Sammy asked after a minute of silence. At this point, the two teens had spent so many nights silently aware of the others presence but not talking that awkward silences seemed impossible. They didn't feel awkward spacing out around the other, because that's what they had always done.
"Nah, you can keep it. If I really need it you can throw it back."
"Isn't it your luckiest knife?" Sammy asked in confusion. Duncan chuckled.
"No, it's my second luckiest. My first is this beauty right here." As he was driving, the teen took one hand off the wheel in order to reach into his pocket and pull out another pocket knife. This one was a shiny red color with a black skull on the handle. Sammy marveled at it.
"Well okay then, but it goes on the record as a gift."
"Retractable gift."
"Fine."
Small talk continued between them along with some silences until they reached the high school. Duncan pulled into the parking lot and swerved into his spot, not slamming the breaks until the last minute. Terrified, Sammy looked over at him and was thrown off by the content look in his eyes. The fear of Duncan soon turned to a fear of rejection by the entire school, which he noticed when the girl next to him wasn't even attempting to reach for the door let alone unbuckle her seatbelt.
"Come on, we'll be late." Duncan sighed, clicking the seatbelt off for Sammy. She gulped.
"Yeah, but what-"
"You look cute, okay?! No one is going to say anything bad. And if they do, fuck 'em."
"Right. Okay. Yeah. All be fine." Sammy whispered to herself, getting out of the car with a slight blush. She slung her backpack on and walked with Duncan onto the school grounds. They both made their way over to the four tables that had been set out front to hand out schedules to each of the grades.
"Well, this is where we split. Thanks for the ride this morning." Sammy smiled up at Duncan, trying to put the gratitude she felt in her expression. He smirked, ruffling her hair.
"Anytime kid. Except for every day the rest of this year."
"Haha." She rolled her eyes, swatting his hand away. "How nice."
"I'm not nice. Remember that." He let that hang in the air as he walked away. Sammy shrugged and made her way over to the Junior table to grab her schedule. She audibly groaned when she realized that she had Howard as a homeroom teacher alone with no idea whether or not Amy was in the same one.
She noted, as everyone else in the courtyard surely had, that Courtney had found Duncan.
"Hey Baby!" She squealed, rushing over to him. She kissed him roughly for a few seconds before backing away, either not noticing or ignoring that fact that Duncan was barely responding. Sammy walked past them with her head held high, trying to feel more confident than she looked about her official debut as Sammy.
"Did I see you giving Samey a ride to school?" Courtney hissed, glaring at the girl as she walked past. Duncan rolled his eyes.
"Her name is Sammy."
"Excuse me?" Courtney asked, raising her voice slightly. A few people turned to look, and Duncan figured now was as good as any to tell all these idiots what Sammy's real name was.
"Her name is Sammy, not Samey. It's short for Samantha."
"I don't care how name is pronounced!" Courtney sputtered. "I-"
"Bye Callie!" Duncan waved, walking away from her. Her face went red with fury.
"Duncan! Don't you dare walk away from me!"
He should have walked away a long time ago.
A/N: So, I wouldn't say this is the weirdest paring ever, right? It's not something I would have shipped when the show was on, nor would I if the two of them were put on the same season together. What inspired me to start writing it is that I was reading another story earlier for Samey, and it got a bit more into (if extremely exaggerated) the idea of Samey being a shadow not only to Amy but the rest of the family. And while it seemed a lot of characters from TDPI were trying to help her, no one really UNDERSTOOD what was happening to her, and were blinding agreeing that they knew how Samey felt. I figured that if anyone would understand the feeling of loss and rejection in family it was Duncan, who comes from a long line of policemen and women. However, unlike Samey, Duncan is straight and blunt with people. I thought to myself that maybe he could teach Samey how to do that, and thus the idea of a relationship between them was born. It's a bit difficult to write Samey without Amy, but you'll have to let me know how I'm doing! On a final note, I did not draw the cover photo. I found it on google images.