So....another chapter, it took me a while, sorry for that. I tried to heed the advice to "bring it up a notch or two" - well, make that half a notch, but still! :-) Thanks again for your very nice feedback, you really made my day again!

Chapter 4

Emily. So that's her name. Instead of ratting her out to her bitch of a sister, she'd covered up for her. Why? It's not as if she'd deserved it after going all berserk on her and probably ruining her shirt for good. Naomi sneaked another glance at the two red-heads. Their resemblance seemed to be limited to their faces, height and the striking hair-color. Their outer appearance couldn't have been more different. Whereas Katie's clothing bordered on slutty-style, Emily's outfit seemed almost plain in comparison. Her voice was low and husky as if she'd recently been cured of a sore throat while Katie tended to express herself with an unmistakable loudness. 'I've never not had a boyfriend since I was seven.' She'd almost laughed out loud on this one. Jesus. 'Take a number if you wanna fuck me!' would have been similarly appropriate.

"Alright, that's it for today. See you on Thursday, and don't forget to work through the first section of the script."

Damn it, she hadn't even noticed that the lesson had flown by while she'd been lost in thought. Most of her fellow students had already stuffed their belongings into their bags and were now making a beeline towards the exit, eager to get a head start for lunch.

"God, Emily, would you get a move on? Danny is already waiting!" Katie moaned impatiently. 'Danny? I bet that's her latest conquest.' Naomi thought while she packed her bag in slow-motion.

"Don't let me keep you." Emily replied, still fumbling with the papers that lay scattered on her desk. "Go ahead, I'm not hungry anyway."

"Whatever." Katie shrugged as if she couldn't care less and left without another word.

Okay Naomi, it's now or never. She slung her bag over her shoulder, inhaled deeply and approached the redhead carefully.

"Look….erm….." Naomi paused to take another deep breath and bit her lip nervously. The other girl looked at her expectantly but remained silent. Well, at least she didn't take a punch at me or run away or something like that. Yet. So better hurry. "You probably think I'm some kind of lunatic or the greatest bitch ever, but…."

"I don't."

"….I'm really sor-….what?"

"I don't." Emily repeated simply, keeping a straight face.

"You…don't. Well…that's great, actually, because…erm…." Fucking hell, what is it with this girl?

"We're twins. And I'm the nice one." Emily added with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "I take it you got us mixed up." she continued and motioned with her head towards the crumpled piece of paper she still held in her hand before she chucked it into the bin.

"Too bad I ruined your shirt then." Naomi replied with a rueful smile, relieved about the other girl's reaction.

"Yes, that's a shame, but I guess you already made a plan how to make it up to me." the redhead countered with a mock frown on her face.

"Erm…" If she was a guy I'd probably think she's flirting with me. "Well…sure. I don't know….as coffee seems to be our binding element…what about a coffee at Barney's? I'm paying, of course."

"Sure." Emily replied, smiling.

"Oh, and your shirt, I'll take that too. To the dry cleaner's, I mean." She brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face and tucked it safely behind her ear. "Not right now, of course…later after you…you know…changed." she added hurriedly, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. Jesus Christ, Naomi, what's the matter with you? If she didn't think you're a total moron earlier, now would be a good time to start.

"Don't worry about it. I don't like it that much anyway." Emily said after looking down at herself. "Okay, that's a lie, but at least it's not my favorite." she conceded with a mischievous smile.

"No, it's nice…was nice. I mean…." Naomi bit her tongue, hoping she'd stop herself from blubbering on like an idiot. Why the hell am I complimenting her on her fucking shirt?

"Thanks."

"Okay…erm…see you tomorrow then? I've got lectures until two o'clock…so…would half-past be okay for you?"

"I'll be there." Emily replied, grabbed her belongings and headed towards the door where she turned around again and gave her a small wave before she finally left.

Fucking hell, what was that? The girl had left her flustered somehow. She seemed…nice. She had something about her the blonde couldn't quite grasp. Strange. Naomi shook her head once, suddenly aware that she was standing all on her own in a now very empty class room, and left hurriedly. She went down the stairs and left the building through the back entrance which opened into a park-like yard. She'd been positively surprised as she'd first seen the university's premises. Whereas her former university consisted of a couple of randomly scattered smog-grey blocks of houses and a smallish cobbled courtyard which was usually littered with discarded cigarette ends, the University of Bristol seemed like heaven in comparison. The high-ceilinged Victorian buildings were neatly arranged on a wide-stretched grassy terrain, connected by gravel paths, with wooden benches and tables positioned under huge maple trees and birches.

Naomi stepped outside and squinted into the sun, glad the usual shitty British weather seemed to take a break for a couple of days. She flopped down under a tree, her back resting against the trunk, and lit a cigarette. Nice. She closed her eyes and listened to the distant chatter of some of her fellow students. The quiet humming of her muted mobile phone seemed like an unwelcome intruder, especially as she already knew who was calling without checking the caller-ID. She tried to ignore the sound and blew a cloudy smoke into the air. Her phone stopped vibrating, only to start again a couple of seconds later. Damn it. She retrieved the phone out of her bag. "Steven calling". Surprise, surprise. She pressed "Reject Call" and flicked through her call log. Seven missed calls and two text messages. "Call me. S." Delete. "Please Naomi, we have to talk about this." No fucking way. Delete. Which part of "It's over." didn't he understand? And what else was there to say?

She took another deep drag from her cigarette and stubbed it out before it could burn her fingers. She knew he felt like shit right now and that he wanted answers – answers she just couldn't give. How do you explain to someone that you fell out of love with him? That you can't stand being with him a minute longer although he didn't do anything wrong? She couldn't even explain it to herself. It just happened, and that was that. Truth be told, she wasn't even sure if she'd been in love with him in the first place. He'd made her laugh and he'd been easy to be with, at least when he hadn't felt the need to impress his idiot buddies, he'd even made her feel secure sometimes. But love. Wasn't it supposed to be a bit more than that? Perhaps she just wasn't into that "butterflies doing somersaults in my stomach"-bullshit. Who believed in that anyway?

She fumbled in her bag for another cigarette. She knew she sounded like a cold-hearted bitch right now, but there was nothing she could do about this whole fucked up situation. At first she'd felt sorry for him, guilt-stricken because of the obvious pain she'd caused him apparently out of the blue, although her feelings had been spiralling downwards for a while already before she'd finally cut the cord. She could still see his shocked expression as she'd finally blurted out the words she'd repeated over and over in her mind like a mantra. After his first bout of anger about her 'betrayal' had subsided, he'd sworn that he wouldn't let go, that he would fight for her until she changed her mind. What was there to fight for when the ship had already sunk to the ground? His persistence had flattered her at first, but that feeling had only lasted shortly and transformed into annoyance pretty soon when his clinginess seemed unbearable to her. She looked up as she felt a presence beside her.

"You've got a cigarette?" It didn't really sound like a question, more like a statement. Naomi studied the lean girl with the curly brown hair which reached over her shoulders. She simply nodded and offered her the packet.

"Thanks." She inhaled deeply and sat down beside the blonde. Minutes passed without either of them saying another word, they just sat side by side, staring into space.

"So. You're the new one then." the other girl finally said, and again Naomi wasn't sure if an answer was required. "Katie already hates you, that's a record." She smiled an enigmatic smile that seemed to be her trademark. "Too bad you roughed up the wrong twin, though."

"Shame." Naomi agreed.

"I'm Effy."

"Naomi."

The other girl fixed her gaze on the blonde again. "That's what I've heard."

I hope you liked it and would be happy about any kind of feedback!