The morning sun seemed as large and as lonely as ever and it sort of reminded Effy of herself in a way, no matter how bright it shone, in the end it was always alone. Elizabeth Scott or Effy as she adamantly preferred to be known as, couldn't help but stifle a yawn as she scaled the back part of her family home. She had been out on one of her frequent late night excursions and was only now returning home. Effy hadn't intended to stay out all night but it had just happened and now she was rushing home before anyone in her family noticed she was gone. Glancing at her wristwatch Effy couldn't help but sigh as she was cutting it rather close as it was going on half 6. She needed to get a move on as she still had a full day ahead of her which included going to school. Normally Effy tried to get home earlier but she had gotten distracted and she need to hurry if she wanted to get back inside without her family had noticed she was gone. Effy allowed herself to scoff at that thought, as she had been doing this for months and had yet to be caught. Her dim-witted parents had yet to realise that Effy spent more time sneaking out of the house then she was actually in it and that was the way Effy liked it. However, Effy was facing a minor dilemma as it had been easier to sneak out of the house than back in as she couldn't use the front door. Effy had to come back in, the way she had come out and that was via her bedroom window. It would have been an easy task if it wasn't for Effy's gym bag and skateboard, however Effy didn't tend to go anywhere without her trusted skateboard as it was main source of transportation. Upon finally reaching her bedroom window, Effy tossed her bag and skateboard in first before climbing through the window trying to make as little sound as possible. The last thing she needed was to get busted because she fell through the window. Thankfully she got through the window in one peace and Effy's bedroom looked exactly the way she had left it. This could only mean that her parents hadn't thought to come and check-up one her and discover that she had pulled a Houdini act.
"Where the hell have you been?"
Effy almost jumped out of her skin as she hadn't noticed that anyone was in her bedroom until she heard her brother's voice. Looking to her left Effy found Nathan, her twin brother who was barely three minutes older than her and he had a face like a sour lemon. Christ! It was way too early for Effy to be dealing with whatever pissy mood that her brother was in. Nathan was sitting in the old worn leather armchair that she kept in the corner of the room for when she liked to read a good book. However, she doubted that he had been doing much reading. Effy couldn't help but roll her eyes as she didn't know what Nathan's problems was, as there was no way he was pissed about what she was doing. He had been well aware of Effy's frequent late night trips ever since the start summer and not one had he ever said anything about it. So why the hell did he suddenly care about what she got up to? It's not like either of them cared about each other, Effy and Nathan may be twins but they were pretty much two strangers who lived in the same house. They were as different as day and night.
"Clearly I've been out, but what do you care?" Effy spat in annoyance as she really wasn't in the mood to be having some pissing match with Nathan, she was tired and hungry as hell. If Nathan wanted to continue this once Effy had showered and guzzled down two cups of coffee and a bagel than she was more than to carry on trading barbs with him. But not right now. Effy needed to pull herself together first for the day ahead. "I had to cover for you last night as dad almost found out that you weren't here..." Nathan angrily stated and Effy scoffed in a dramatic manner as she walked across the room towards her dressing table and began looking for something to remove her make-up.
"Yeah right! That would mean dad would actually have to pay attention to anything I do which he never does. I could leave the state and dad probably wouldn't notice unless somebody pointed it out to him and mom is busy being a workaholic as per usual so I highly doubt that I was remotely close to being busted Nate. Nice try though, but you'll have to do better than that." Effy scoffed as she went about removing her nose piercing, her parents didn't exactly know about it and if they did they would most likely freak out about it. Well Effy assumed that her parents would be bothered about it but then again maybe not, as she was the self-proclaimed black sheep in her house. Nathan was the golden child who got all the attention whilst Effy was the spare child who came as an unwanted bonus with Nathan and generally flew under the radar and dealt with her parents every few days at best. Hence why she was able to lead two different lives without anyone except Nathan knowing and even then he didn't know the extent of it.
"Well… Dad was actually paying attention for once last night Lizzie." Nathan sneered and Effy grimaced as she hated being called Lizzie, sure her name was Elizabeth but nobody had addressed her by her full name. To everybody here in Tree Hill, she was just Effy Scott although Nathan had this bad habit of calling her Lizzie, especially when he was in one of his fowl moods. It never used to be this way, it used to be a twin thing between Effy and Nathan, Lizzie was the nickname that only Nathan could call Effy. He tended to use it whenever she was sad and needed to be cheered up but now Nathan just tended to use it when he was pissed off with her.
"What did you do this time?" Effy demanded as she went to her chest of draws and started rifling through her drawers looking for something suitable to wear as she carried on her conversation with Nathan. She knew full well that couldn't go downstairs in the clothes that she was wearing, her dad would lay an egg if he caught sight of Effy in all her short skirt and fish net tights glory. Effy was already dealing with one uptight priss, she really couldn't' deal with another one on so little sleep.
"Why is this about me?"
"Are you freaking kidding me? Everything in this house pretty much revolves around you, always has and always will. The only other thing that takes top priority in this mad house is basketball. Nothing is ever about me Nathan, it's all about you! It's because of that I can get away with coming and going as I please as dad is so caught up min micromanaging your life, that pretty much forgets I exist. The only times dad every checks in on me is to make sure I'm still alive and not bringing shame to the family name. But that only tends to happen when you managed to royally screw up and dad decides to shift his focus to his next closest child in proximity. Now I know for a fact that dad had no clue as to what I get up to, so what did you do Nathan?" Effy retorted, her dry response easily rolling off her tongue as this wasn't the first time she had this conversation with Nathan. It most certainly wouldn't be the last. Effy had also managed to make a sly reference to the older brother they never talked about. Lucas Scott. The not so secret and somewhat abandoned love child of their father, who had managed to knock two women up in such a short span of time. Lucas was only 100 days older than Effy and Nathan, but that's all she knew about her eldest brother as they had little to zero contact with him. In the Scott house, it was like Lucas didn't exist. But outside these four walls, the whole town knew of Dan Scott's love child.
"Me and some of the guys decided to have a little after party to celebrate last night's victory and we may have borrowed a school bus." Nathan wearily began and Effy just watched in amusement as her brother tried his hardest to avoid making any eye contact with her. His blue eyes avoiding Effy's matching ones and it only indicated to the younger Scott that her brother had done something that she probably wouldn't approve of.
"Let me guess? You got busted? You are such a toolbox Nate, it's unbelievable that we're actually related at the best of time." Effy interrupted with an amused grin on her face as she could quickly see where this was going, no wonder Nathan looked so pissed. He was probably in a heap of trouble that he couldn't talk himself out of. Although Effy wouldn't admit this out of fear that Nathan would think she was starting to mellow out or going soft; Effy was kind of impressed. It took balls to steal a public school bus especially since it drew a lot of attention itself when being driven around late in the evening. But given how well Effy knew her brother, she knew very well that there was possibly some alcohol involved and she didn't condone drink driving. Effy wasn't even going to bother asking Nathan about the driving situation as she could already tell that he was in a testy mood and if she kept pushing her luck, the two of them would get into an argument. As much as Effy loved to berate her brother when given the chance, she didn't feel at the top of her game for a verbal insult match with her beloved twin.
"Like you can talk Effy! You're always sneaking out and doing stupid stuff."
"Difference is I don't get caught."
"Well at least your ass isn't getting hauled off to Principal Turner's office this morning along with the entire team." Nathan grimly replied and Effy couldn't help but nod in agreement as she made it a point to avoid being sent to the principal's office more than five times in an academic year. They were only at the start of their junior year and already Nathan had beaten Effy's previous record in regards to how long into the school year it took for her to be sent to Turner's office. Effy's record was two weeks. This day had barely began and already it was sucking some serious ass, Effy was going to have to survive the entire school day on caffeine and sheer will alone and somehow figure out a way to get around her father's inevitable snooping.
"Good thing that this is your problem and not mine! But thanks for somehow managing to drag me into this Nate! Dad's going to be hovering around for the next few days which means I've got to be pretend to be bambi until he gets bored and moves on." Effy replied letting out a rather loud yawn as she pulled out an old lacrosse t-shirt and some sweat pants which looked like something she would sleep in. She noted the scowl that Nathan was sending her way which wasn't anything new, this was typical behaviour between the Scott twins. The only thing Effy knew about her relationship with Nathan was that the two of them knew about each other was how to antagonise the other. Back and forth the two of them went, pushing each other's buttons and making it abundantly clear that they didn't like each other. For everyone's sanity, they tended to give each other a wide berth and interacted only when necessary. The closest they got to having an actual relationship was no ratting on each other about the not so well behaved antics that they both got up to. Other than that? The only things that Nathan and Elizabeth Scott shared was the same dark hair and blue eyes, along with a bathroom. Apart from that they practically lived separate lives that matched the separate and individual people that they both were.
"I don't need your smart ass comments Eff."
"Of course you do Nathan, now turn around so I can change and assume my alter ego." Effy ordered, motioning for her tall, dark and lanky brother to turn around. Nathan barely had his back turned to her before Effy started to remove her clothes, quickly discarding the clothes she had been wearing all night and changing into her t-shirt and sweatpants comment. It was quite an easy feat for Effy as it seemed like she spent more time changing clothes than she did wearing them as she always had somewhere to be and each place required a different outfit. Plus there were different clothes for her alter ego 'the sweet and snarky daytime Effy' and whole different kind of wardrobe for her real self. Over the last couple of months Effy had learnt that the only way her parents weren't going to pick up on the fact that she was sneaking out all the time, was if she did nothing out of the ordinary. So she would go up to her room and wait forty minutes or so before leaving and when she came home, she'd remove any trace of what she had been doing, put on pyjamas and make it look like her bed had been slept in. That was all before Effy went down to join her family for breakfast. Effy had the whole thing down to an art.
"So where exactly have you been up until a few minutes ago? Better yet… What the hell do you go when you sneak out for all hours of the night Lizzie?" Nathan questioned and Effy could afford to laugh as her brothers concern for her was laughable. Effy knew that her brother didn't actually care where she went or what she was doing. She had stopped being someone of importance to Nathan a long time ago. Nathan was so arrogant and self-centred that if she died tomorrow he wouldn't even notice. Until maybe a month later or when he needed something for her.
"You can turn around, I'm done."
"You never answered the question." Nathan questioned as he turned back around and Effy could feel her eyes rolling around in the back of her head. There was no way her brother was dumb enough to think that she would actually answer that. Effy went to a considerable effort to make sure that her private life remained private and there was no way she saw telling Nathan. He probably had the biggest mouth in the whole state. The only reason he hadn't ratted Effy out yet was because she had a whole lot of dirty on him. It was the fear of his dirty little secrets coming out that kept Nathan quiet.
"Like you care and even if there was some part of you that actually cared about what I was getting up to, I'd be more worried about Turner suspending your dumb ass Nathan than worrying about what I was getting up to." Effy wearily replied, pulling her dark hair up into a messy bun before rubbing at her eyes. God she was exhausted and yet going to bed was not an option for her, the day had to go on, so rather reluctantly Effy wordlessly left her room and headed down to the kitchen where she found her father, the Big Bad Dan Scott drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper.
"What happened to you last night? You disappeared after the game." Dan questioned without even a simple morning greeting but Effy was more than used to it. Her dad's life revolved around basketball and getting Nathan to succeed where he failed; playing college basketball. Effy, personally wasn't obsessed with basketball like the rest of her family, in fact she actually hated it. There was a possibility that Effy would have liked basketball if it wasn't for the fact that it practically ran her family's life and because she was pretty vocal about her dislike for the game, it resulted in her being ignored by her family for the most part. The only reason why Effy went to the games was because she was a cheerleader, if it wasn't for that she knew her dad would drag her to the court out of family duty.
"I came home straight after and studied for a bit before going to bed, I was asleep by quarter past ten." Effy casually lied as she could spot her father attempting to subtly roll his eyes when he thought she wasn't looking. Because of her lack of interest in basketball Effy was deemed not as important as Nathan or even relevant. Dan Scott paid his daughter no attention and Effy returned the favour because all he saw her as was a quite and boring Plain Jane who was ever polite and always did her homework, went to bed early and never got into trouble. To her parents Effy was the quite good girl who could and would do nothing wrong. It was the way Effy liked things, especially when her father fell for her countless lies which was way too easy for Effy these days. She spent more time lying to her father than she did talking to him and that was the way Elizabeth Scott liked it.
