Chapter 2: Breaking the news

Lottie's POV

Walking to school was quieter than usual. I think that Phil was letting what I had told him sink in, and since he was the one who did most of the talking, I suppose it made sense.

Personally, I wasn't complaining. I had been up longer than I normally do, and in consequence, my head felt like someone had hit with a sledge hammer, hard. Phil looked about nine, watery blue eyes wide, black hair windswept into a crazy hairdo.

This probably meant that people were going to make snide marks about how he was poorer than them, you know, with crumpled clothes and all.

"Do you think Dan knows?" Phil asked me, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Um…" What did I think? Did I think that Dan had been told?

"Honestly?" I said, trying to be as truthful as I could. "I don't know."

Yes, people, that really is what I thought. Imaginative.

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean that if he has been told, he might not want to share something that personal with his friends…"

"Even us?"

"Even us." I confirmed. "But, on the other hand, he might not have been told, because he parents might not want him to be wondering about his mysterious older brother, to protect him. You know, because they actually care about him?"

"Yeah, I know." Phil thought silently for second, before asking the question of truth.

"So… should we tell him?"

Truthfully, I wasn't sure. Since neither of us knew if he had been told, or not, we weren't sure if;

He did know, and then explain why he didn't tell us

He didn't know, and then find out some awful truth as to why his parents would hide something like this or

There was some big misunderstanding, and we had got this whole thing wrong.

Shamefully, I admit that I was kinda hoping that it wasn't option C, that would be way to boring.

"I think we should tell him," Phil blurted out, obviously not meaning to, as he quickly covered his mouth to stop anymore of his thoughts escaping.

"I mean," he said, trying to hurriedly to explain himself. "Dan… he has a right to know… and this is his brother! …and if…"

"Phil, I think you're right."

"And, what did you say?" He stopped blabbering and looked at me as if I had just told him that the sky was pink in Japanese. (We don't know Japanese)

"Phil, I agree with you, we should tell him."

The whole fact that I had just agreed with him seemed to explode his brain somehow, and looked like some sort of dazed fish.

By this point, we had reached the school gates and hear the school bell going off. Teenagers were lining up into something that resembled a lightning bolt, and Neither of us could spot Dan in the masses of people. I looked at my watch and was disappointed to see that we had no time, what so ever to tell him until break.

"Keep your lips zipped until break, Ok?" I warned Phil, as he made his way to his form room, and as I made my way to mine.

He nodded, then added, "Idiot, I am in none of his classes, you are! I anyone should keep their lips sealed, it should be you."

"I swear I won't."

"I'm telling! You swore."

With that final note, he did a two finger salute, before, entering his classroom. Sometimes, I swear, I was born about a decade before him.

Dan's POV

I was already at my seat, before Lottie walked in. Weird. Normally, I was the straggler who walked through the doorway of doom, head bowed, all shameful.

Anyway, I wasn't complaining. She plonked herself into the seat next to me, and I grinned at her. She grinned back, but for some reason, her smiled didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Charlotte Lester?"

The teacher read out unenthusiastically, face set in a bored expression, twiddling his red pen between his fingers.

Lottie didn't answer. Now she was staring of into space, probably lost in her thoughts, which was kinda strange, as that never happens.

I elbowed her.

"Hmn? Oh, um, here sir," she called out, without correcting him that her name was Lottie, not Charlotte. Now she was creeping me out. I looked more closely at her. Her poker straight black hair hadn't been brushed. Her pale blue eyes had dark bags under them. Her skin seemed paler than usual, making the light spray of freckles on her nose stand out.

She hadn't even put any make-up on, AT ALL. That never happens. I was starting to get worried now. Lottie brought out a book, probably trying to act casual, but failed, when she started reading it upside down.

"Hey, Lottie, you ok?" I whispered, because if she really thinks that I haven't noticed her weird behaviour, she must have lost a few brain cells.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine." She whispered back, and gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

The trouble with asking Lottie these sorts of questions is that she is so good at lying, her tongue could have been made from silver. I decided to believe her, even if I wasn't completely sure.

"By the way, your book is upside down," I whispered to her, and turned it the right way round.

Lottie gave a small laugh. "Thanks. I'm so tired, my head is spinning slightly."

"What, you stayed up even more than usual?"

"Not exactly. I was looking for something.

"Did you find it?"

"I don't know yet."

Way to be specific, Lottie. Besides, she would tell me what's up sooner or later. We always did. Well, I know that I always did. Then again my life is not the most interesting life ever. My mum cooks. My dad works, and goes away on long business trips. I'm an only child, so nothing to tell about any brothers and sisters.

The bell rang, and I jumped out of my thoughts, and back to reality. Pity, I always preferred my crazy thoughts than reality. I swung my backpack on, and Lottie shouldered her handbag.

"See you in maths!" she said, gave me a little wave and walked out the door. Sometimes I wish, just for once, that she wouldn't leave me alone wondering what on earth she was thinking. It sure would explain a hell of a lot.

Maths and Science passed relatively quickly, so as soon as the bell went of signalling for break, I cornered her.

"Okay, Little Miss Secrets, now would be a good time to explain what the fucking hell is going on! You've been acting really weird ever since you walked through the door!"

It's true. In both Science and Maths, I've had to elbow her to answer her name in name call. She didn't raise her hand once in either lesson, and in Science, she almost caused a fire accident from the Bunsen burner. Lottie, normally, pays attention so closely, you would think that she was trying to memorise the teachers exact words.

She sighed, and scanned the crowed like she was looking for someone.

"Wait for Phil to get here, and I'll explain."

"Why the hell should we wait for Phi-"

"Because I promised him that I would wait, now shut up."

I was fuming. Why should we wait for Phil! I mean, sure he's her twin, and our best friend, but she is holding back from me something that could be big, just because "she promised Phil." I mean what the fuck!

We (thankfully) didn't have to wait long, because Phil came bounded towards us pretty much 10 seconds after Lottie told me to shut up, which was good timing, as I was pretty ticked off.

"So," Phil panted, trying to desperately catch his breath. "Have you told him yet?"

"No, she hasn't!" I cried. "Seriously, guys, what is going on!"

The two exchanged looks, which was annoying, as it was like they were having a private conversation without me. Before I could butt into their little eye communication thing, Lottie held up her iPhone.

"I found this on an ancestry website last night," she said quietly, and pressed it into my palm. I frowned, and held it up.

It was an ancestry website, like Lottie had said, and had my family tree on it. Okay, I thought. Why was Lottie looking through my family? And then I saw it. Something I wasn't expecting to see. A line leading of my parents, which only meant…

"You have a brother!" Phil almost whispered, like he was in awe or something.

"We weren't sure if you knew or not, so we decided to tell you because we thought you had the right to know and all, soooo yeah."

I looked back at the iPhone screen. There was no denying it.

"How do you know that this isn't some big mistake?" I asked, thinking of reasons to explain why it had printed that I had an older brother.

"There could be some other guy called Dan Howell…"

"I checked every family website I could," Lottie answered. "I wasn't going to tell either of you until, I checked at least three other websites, and I checked seven. It really is true, you have an older brother."

Oh.

I scratched my head.

"So what do we do?"

The twins looked at me like I was talking gibberish.

"Huh?" Phil asked, his face twisted into confusion.

"Well, I have to find him!" It was mad. The twins were looking at me as if I was out of my mind, when I have just found out that I have a brother. I am going to look for him.

"Well, we could ask your mum to help us…" Lottie began, before I butted in.

"Are you mad? She'll freak! Look, can we find away to find my big bro, without bringing my mum into this. Could we ask your parents to help us?"

Lottie shook her head.

"They ignore us daily, it's not like they're going to leap up at the chance to help us… wait…" She paused, as if a great idea had suddenly formed in her head.

"What," I asked suspiciously, because her plans tend to be really devious.

"I want to know, I want to know!" Phil jumped up and down like a little kid.

Lottie smiled evilly and triumphantly at the same time,

"I think I have a plan to get your brother back without either of our parents knowing," Lottie swiftly turned on her heel, and headed indoors. With a quick exchange of confusion, Phil and I raced after her.