Chapter Two
We showed up at the school overwhelmed with the hardware supplies.
"Screw two trips." I muttered. Scott smiled the best he could with the tape in his mouth. He said something. "What?" I asked. He shook his head. A can of paint fell. He started to kick it but stopped. He went to pick it up when a bag fell. He picked that up and we continued on our way until the tape fell out of his mouth. The vice principal, Thorne, stopped it by using his foot. He picked it up.
"Hi, Mr. Thorne. How are you, sir?" Scott asked. Thorne threw the tape at him. Scott went to catch it but all of the other stuff fell. "Whoa!" he caught it. "Thanks." He bent down to get all of the other stuff together.
"Whoa, what an arm." Thorne said. "Aren't you going to help him?" he cocked an eyebrow at me. I cocked an attitude.
"Can't you see my arms are full?"
"Thanks, Mr. Thorne. Appreciate it. Go to hell." Scott muttered. Thorne glared at me and left. Scott looked at me. "You gotta watch your anger, Stephie. That's what got you in trouble last week, remember?"
"Yeah, well. That bitch deserved to get punched." I snapped. We made our way to the stage when Scott dropped something. I groaned and glared at him.
"Sorry." He muttered. He scrambled to pick the can up and we made our way onto the stage.
"...What was that?" someone snapped. The theatre teacher.
"Sor... Sorry, sir. That was us." Scott said as we walked onstage. And, glaring at us was the slut, Pamela Wells.
"What do you want from me, hmm? What do people want from me? I am merely trying to rehearse, hmm?"
Yeah with the worst actress anyone could ask for. I rolled my eyes.
"Uh, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Scott said. "We've got the stuff that you ordered."
"Wait," the teacher stood. "Are you from the hardware store?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Yes sir."
Scott and I spoke at the same exact time.
"Uh..." Scott was stealing short glances at Pamela.
"Ah." The teacher started our way. Scott looked at Pamela finally.
"Uh, Pamela, excuse me, um... Are you going to the party tonight? Because, uh, if you are, I'd like to give you a ride."
"The paint... My paint. A can of cocoa, a can of mauve, am I right?" the teacher walked up to us.
"Uh, right." Scott answered and then he dropped everything. He looked at his hands and hid them. "Stephie," he whispered. "Your hands. They've got brown hair on them."
I looked down, squeaked, and copied my twin, all of my things falling as well.
"Kirk, how was my reading?" Pamela asked.
"Uh, uh, beautiful, darling. Very sensual." Lolley got up onto the stage. "I'm still in pain. Thank you."
"Uh, you're welcome." Scott said as Lolley left. He looked at Pamela again. "Listen, about tonight, I mean, I'm serious. I'd like to take you. Uh, I... I've got a van."
"Oooh, super cool." I teased.
"Shut up, Stephie."
Pamela rolled her eyes.
"Hope your acting's better than your hook shot, boy." The tall kid from the game came in. Pamela looked at Scott.
"I already have a ride." She walked over to the edge of the stage.
"Or maybe you were just acting like a basketball player."
"He just delivers hardware, Mick. Along with that sister of his." Pamela told Mick.
"Well, maybe he should get back to delivering it. Come on." He helped Pamela down, which made her laugh, and then kissed her. They laughed as they left. Scott pulled his hands out of his pockets but they were normal. Mine were too.
"I said mauve not turquoise!" Lolley thundered.
"Uh, Mr... Mr. Lolley..." Scott started as he picked everything up. I copied suit and the tape ran away again.
Later
We were at home eating dinner. Dad had his place at the front of the table, Scott on the end and I was on the right hand side of him.
"Dad?" Scott asked. "Uh... What'd you say if I said I was thinking of quitting the basketball team?"
My fork fell and my mouth hung open for a second before I covered it. "What?" I asked. "Scott you didn't tell me about this."
"Well, I figured I'd ask Dad about it."
"Quitting the team?" Dad asked.
"Yeah."
"That's pretty drastic, isn't it? I mean, you're not the worst player they've got. You know, your mother always said you could do anything you want to."
"Yeah, I know. I was just thinking of doing something else.
"Like what?"
"School play."
"Well, theatre has its place, I suppose." Dad started.
"Scott. No. They've already got enough bad actors as it is." I joked.
"Well, jeez, thanks Steph." Scott glared.
"Stephanie." Dad said in a stern tone. His voice didn't rise. Dad never really raised his voice to us. If we did something that was along the lines of beating someone up, going a little too far on the teasing, he'd get stern with us but not yell.
"Sorry, Scott." I said.
"But what about your commitment to the team, to the school?"
Scott and I looked at each other then at Dad. We spoke at the same time. "Dad... Has anything ever happened to you that was so weird?"
"Maybe it's time you, Stephie, and I had a little chat." Dad said, wiping his mouth with the napkin.
"Hey, Mr. Howard, how's the king of the nuts and bolts?" Stiles asked walking in. He took something off of Dad's plate, threw it into the air, and then ate it.
"Stiles, nice shirt."
"Hey, thanks." Stiles looked at us. "Come on, we're late."
Scott and I got up and walked over to Stiles.
"Boof going with you?" Dad asked.
"Well, she's gonna be there." I answered.
"Uh, yeah, I don't know how she's getting there." Scott said. Stiles got impatient and pointed dramatically to the door. God, he was so freaking cute. "Uh, it this okay?"
"No, don't worry about it, I'll get it." Dad said.
"You sure?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Go ahead, have a good time. Be careful."
The three of us left the room. Scott and I noticed something on our skin.
"Come on!" Stiles said impatiently.
"Hey, hey, listen, Stiles." Scott said. Stiles stopped and looked at us. "Do you know anything about a rash that's going around?"
"Yeah. Has anyone said anything?" I asked.
"Why, you goons looking to catch something?" Stiles asked us.
"No, I'm serious." Scott said.
"No, but I heard Mr. Murphy, you know, the shop teacher?" Stiles put on his sunglasses.
"Yeah?" Scott and I said.
"Got his dick caught in a vacuum cleaner."
I started laughing. "Oh, my God! How did that happen?"
"I heard he was vacuuming naked. You know how weird he is."
Stiles chuckled. "Forget we asked." He said and we left.