Chapter 2: Twins

The next day, Randy's father drove him to school on the way to his software engineering job. At first, the two rode in an awkward silence, until Randy's father broke the silence one minute and three seconds into the drive.

"So about you taking the car out yesterday..." Randy's father started to say.

"I can explain! I was running out of time, and there wasn't time to ask for a ride... And you and Mum weren't home for some reason so..."

"I'm sorry your mother and I weren't there, we had an unexpected engagement, but you would have had time to ask for a ride if you'd rung someone on time. You didn't, because you wanted to drive to school"

Randy just sat there in an uncomfortable silence. He couldn't deny that.

"You know, I'm not angry with you."

"You're not?"

"No. I get that you want to grow up, and think you can do many things that society says you can't. I also feel that way sometimes."

"That you want to grow up?"

"Don't push it. Some people are fit to do things other people their age aren't. I noticed you managed to drive to school without killing anyone. But still, you've got to follow the law." Randy's father said this almost sadly, as if he wished he were above the law.

"Yeah..." Randy sighed. "I'm sorry".

"Good." said Randy's father. "You'd better be".

Later, in a maths course at school, Randy found himself working with Jennifer on a project despite his best efforts. Jennifer asked if Randy would work with her. Randy was too polite to say no. The project involved some homework, so Randy called his mother (with his bad old phone) and told her he'd be working at Jennifer's house.

When the two of them got to Jennifer's house. Jennifer's mother greeted them at the door. She was an ordinary looking woman with dark hair. She amicably invited Randy in and Randy and Jennifer sat down at a table to work. Randy was surprised at how intelligent Jennifer was.

"You're doing it wrong," Jennifer said, correcting Randy's calculations and grinning smugly.

"Am I now?" Randy said, a little dismayed. He wasn't accustomed to anybody besting him in intelligence.

The two of them worked in this fashion until evening came. When they were done, Randy walked to the entrance of the house, this time seeing that Jennifer's father had arrived home. The man had looks similar to Jennifer, but they looked a bit better on him.

"Oh hello. Are you a friend of Jenny's?" he said.

"We're working on a maths project together" Randy replied.

"Good luck on that then" Jennifer's father said brightly.

As Randy walked out the door he muttered to Jennifer "You go by Jenny?"

"Only at home" Jennifer replied. "But you can call me that if you want" she continued shyly.

"No, that's okay" Randy replied, then seeing Jennifer's face fall "Well, if you like".

Randy said goodbye to Jennifer and headed home. The next day, Jennifer nervously came up to him and asked him to the dance. Randy thought about it, and then resigned to going with her. He had been looking forward to the dance, and it would be embarrassing to go alone.

"Alright then" he said.

Jennifer squeaked with delight. Just then, however, Harmony came up to them.

"Randy. My Dad won't let me go with Dean, so I can go with you now." she said.

Jennifer looked horrified.

"Oh... I'm sorry Jenny, but..."

"No, it's alright."

"I suppose we're on then" Harmony said carefully.

"Yeah..." Randy replied, embarrassed to be hurting Jenny's feelings like this. Nevertheless, he was glad to be going with Harmony instead.

The next day, Randy asked Harmony to work with him on a project for a science course. She agreed, and the two of them worked together that day at Harmony's house. Harmony's mother was at work, so no one was in. Randy found that Harmony too was quite intelligent and she corrected more than a few of his errors. "Wow" he said at one point.

"Think I'm smart do you?" Harmony said smugly.

"Yeah, just like Jennifer!" Randy replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Not that you're not as smart! I don't even like Jennifer!"

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"No. Erm... I'm sorry".

"That's alright, I suppose. Jenny is fairly smart after all. Just don't insult her, or me for that matter."

Randy agreed, but the incident embarrassed him and made working together a bit awkward. Towards the end of their session together, Harmony's bedroom door opened and someone stuck his head in.

"Hello Harmony. I came to pick up your Mum but thought I'd ask how you're doing. Oh, hello."

"Hello..." Randy said awkwardly.

"I'm fine" said Harmony nonchalantly. "This is Randy Tyler. We're working on a project together."

"Randy Tyler... Any relation to Rose Tyler?"

"Yeah" replied Randy. "She's my Mum. You know her?"

"Yeah, she's an old friend of mine. She's brilliant!"

When the man left, Randy looked quizzically at Harmony and said "That's your Dad?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"He looks exactly like Jennifer's Dad."

"Oh, does he? They're twins." Harmony didn't seem too sure about that though.

When Randy arrived home and ate dinner, his mother asked him what was wrong.

"Nothing..." Randy replied mournfully.

Randy's father looked at him and said, "That's not true."

"I think I offended Harmony" Randy confessed.

"How?" Randy's mother asked.

"I said she was smart like Jennifer, then I said I didn't like Jennifer. Jenny is her cousin."

"That's not so bad. She'll get over it," said Randy's father flippantly. Speaking of which, do you have a date for the dance?

Something that always frustrated Randy about his father was how he always seemed to know what he was thinking no matter how skillfully Randy tried to hide his emotions.

"Erm, yeah. I'm going with Harmony."

"Really" replied Randy's father skeptically.

"Well, I was going to go with Jennifer, because Harmony was going to go with someone else at first, but then Harmony said she could go."

"Ah. Who was Harmony going to go with?" asked Randy's father uneasily.

"Dean Masters," Randy replied.