So, here's the next chapter as I promised. Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted or favourited the last one! I'm so grateful for every single one of your comments. Apologies for the lack of Finchel in this chapter but it was getting really long. I promise there's going to be a lot more of Finn and Rachel soon! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Disclaimer: Neither Glee nor The Parent Trap are mine
Ariella jumped as her roommate ran across the cafeteria, calling her name.
"Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day!"
"You were looking for me? What for? To criticise my singing some more? Well, excuse me, but I'm fed up of your ridiculously snide comments." She couldn't help but let the angry remark out.
Eva huffed slightly at her roommate's assumption. She couldn't believe she was actually going to try and make it work with this girl.
"Actually, no." she looked up at her roommate's face, which now showed an expression of slight confusion. "But seeing as you seem to think that's all I can do, I have to tell you that you really need to work on your high F sharps. They sounded utterly disgusting when you were practising earlier."
Ariella's confusion turned to anger. "Oh, yeah? Can you do anything other than insult people? You really are quite the little controllist, aren't you, Eva Berry?"
"For your information, controllist isn't a word. And, yes, I may be a little controlling, but at least I don't go round stealing other people's spotlight despite the fact that their talent is clearly far superior to mine. Why don't you just go back to your stupid dad in stupid England and sing your stupid songs where I can't hear you?" Eva's anger began to get the better of her as Ariella's words stung her. She felt tears forming behind her eyes at her words. Why couldn't anybody see that she was just trying to help? All anyone ever thought of her as was some insulting, overbearing diva with a big voice.
"You're being completely ridiculous!" Ariella threw her hands up in the air. "You just can't deal with the fact that somebody just might be as talented as you. You've spent your whole life with your perfect Broadway mom singing your silly perfect songs and you can't deal with the fact that maybe there's someone else who can come in and compete with your talent."
The volume of their shouting match had escalated until almost everyone in the room was staring at them. As they stood, glaring at each other, neither of them noticed the whispers that were flying around the cafeteria:
"Woah, are they related?"…. "They sure look similar"…. "Are you nuts? They're from different continents!"…. "But look at them!"
They two brunettes stood, Jewish nose to Jewish nose, almost exactly the same height. Two pairs of cinnamon eyes stared at each other; two pairs of full lips hurled insults back and forth between them. Were it not for Ariella's bangs and Eva's slightly longer hair, it would have been almost impossible to tell the two apart.
Suddenly, they were being held at arm's-length from each other by the senior camp officer. She spoke seriously, her voice carrying through the virtually silent room.
"Miss Berry, Miss Hudson. We do not condone this sort of behaviour here. This camp is a place where everyone comes to enjoy themselves and each other's talent, not a place for diva fits and ridiculous arguments. Henceforth, you two are banned from participating in any of the activities and will be confined to your cabin until you have learned to resolve your differences and are able to work with each other maturely and sensibly."
Her strong hands guided them out of the doors of the cafeteria, away from the stares of their fellow campers, all the way back to the cabin. She ignored their equally angry protests and threats, turning to them to say "There will be someone along to check on you and deliver your breakfast at 10am tomorrow" before shutting the door, leaving Eva and Ariella alone in the room.
Eva threw herself down on the bed, her anger giving way to tears which she rubbed furiously at. What was her mom going to say?
Ariella kicked the bedpost on the opposite side of the room, attempting to relieve some of her anger. The pain, however, just seemed to make her tears begin to fall faster.
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Eva clutched her stuffed monkey to her chest as she rolled over in bed, still sniffling slightly. The moonlight shone through a gap in the curtains, illuminating the clock on the wall which told her it was nearly midnight. The events of a few hours previously still ran through her mind, preventing her from being able to sleep.
A rustling movement from across the room drew her eyes to the occupant of the other bed, whom she could just make out looking up at the ceiling.
"Ariella?" she whispered hesitantly.
Ariella moved again, turning to look at her.
"What?"
Eva took a deep breath, remembering her mother's words from earlier that day.
"I-I'm-I didn't mean to- Your F sharps are pretty good, actually." She admitted.
Ariella was silent.
"You were right," Eva continued. "I am controlling. And, well, I guess I'm just used to being the most talented. But… you're actually really talented too, you know."
Ariella sighed a little before replying. "I didn't mean what I said about you. I don't really think you're just insulting and controlling. You're amazing. You just sometimes need to appreciate other people a bit more, too."
Eva smiled, gaining a little more confidence. "That's what my mom says. I told her about you today. She said you must be talented if you could tie with me. She and my uncle used to fight all the time until they learned to accept and appreciate each other's talent and she told me to do the same."
"She sounds nice. I'm sorry I insulted her earlier. I know she's wonderfully talented. My uncle lives in New York and he's been to see her perform before." Ariella whispered back.
"I'm sorry I insulted your dad, too," Eva replied. "I bet his band's good. Maybe I could listen to their songs tomorrow?" she suggested.
"Yeah, I have them on my ipod."
"You know, Ariella?" Eva asked. "Maybe we could get along better if we knew more about each other." She crawled out of bed, digging around in her bedazzled suitcase until she found what she was looking for. She took the blanket off her bed and spread it on the floor, throwing her pillow down on top and sitting on it, patting the space next to her.
Ariella smiled as she clambered out of bed, bringing her own pillow down to join Eva.
"Do you want a cookie?" Eva offered, holding out a packet of Oreos.
"Thanks. I love Oreos!" Ariella took one and began to nibble it.
"So…how come you've come to camp over here? Isn't England like a billion miles away from here? "
Ariella giggled. "Actually it's more like 3000. You live in New York right? How far away's that?"
Eva giggled too. "I have no idea actually. But nowhere near that far! Anyways, you didn't answer my question. Why didn't you go to camp in England?"
"They don't really have summer camps like this back home. And my dad thought it would be a good idea for me to come seeing as I love performing so much. He's from Ohio originally but he's lived in England since just after I was born. I guess we had to move because of the band or something. He doesn't really talk about living in Ohio very much. Grandpa and Grandma still live there though."
"So it's just you and your dad at home then?" Eva asked.
"Yeah," Ariella turned round and pulled her phone out of her backpack. "That's his band. You can't see him very well because he's behind the drums at the back." She pointed, "I took it at their last rehearsal before I came here. Sometimes he lets me play his drums too. We do everything together; he's like my best friend. My friends from school think it's really strange but I've always been that close to him. What about you and your dad? What's he like?"
Eva shrugged slightly as she replied. "I don't have a dad. It's just me and my mom at home. She never even mentions my dad so I've never really wanted to ask. I guess Uncle Kurt's the closest to a dad I have."
"You have an Uncle Kurt too? That's so weird!" Ariella said.
"Well, he's not really my uncle," Eva amended, "He's mom's best friend from high school. He's not even related to me but I've just always called him Uncle Kurt since I can remember."
Ariella took another cookie out of the packet and started to eat it. The girls sat in silence for a few seconds.
"How old are you?" Eva broke the silence.
"Nearly 12. It's my birthday on 29th August actually."
Eva almost choked on her Oreo at Ariella's reply.
"No way! That's my birthday too!"
"Ooooh, spooky!" Ariella laughed.
She yawned slightly and stretched.
"Hey, look. It's already one o'clock. I suppose we'd better try and get some sleep," she suggested, brushing Oreo crumbs off her pyjamas and throwing her pillow back onto the bed.
Eva clambered back into bed with her cuddly monkey, snuggling down under the covers. Despite the time, she still didn't really feel tired.
"Did you ever know your mom, Ariella?" she asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.
"No; she never lived in England with me and my dad, I don't think. The only thing I know is that she was really beautiful. But we never talk about my mom. It's the only thing I've never been able to speak to my dad about. I do have one picture of her though."
"Can I see it?" Eva asked curiously, "I'll show you the only picture I have of my dad if you want. It's only half a picture really. I wish I had a proper picture but someone ripped it right down the middle ages ago."
Ariella flung back the covers, suddenly far less sleepy.
"You're kidding, right?"
Eva stared at her as Ariella grabbed her suitcase and began tossing things out of it, rummaging through until she grabbed something from the bottom. Holding it to her chest, she came overto where Eva was now sitting up in bed.
"This is the picture of my mom. I've had it since I was a baby. And it's always been ripped too… right down the middle."
Eva jumped out of her own bed, flinging clothes out of her own suitcase until she found what she was looking for. Clutching the photo against her, she took a deep breath.
"Okay, one the count of three we're going to show each other our parents' photos," she decided. Hesitating for a second, she reached out and took Ariella's hand.
"One, two…three."
Their voices spoke in unison as they turned the pictures simultaneously and both let out gasps of surprise.
Eva covered her mouth with a shaking hand as she held out the picture of her father to touch its other half.
For the first time in 11 years, the two halves of the photo connected, showing Finn and Rachel onstage at Nationals 2012, their senior year.
"That's my dad," Ariella whispered.
"That's my mom," Eva whispered.
"So my dad's your dad…?" Ariella spoke, uncertainly.
"And my mom's your mom," Eva completed the sentence.
"And we share the same birthday…" Ariella trailed off.
"But, that makes us…"
"Twins." They whispered the word at the same time.
Eva looked up at her sister, eyes shining.
"I have a twin sister," she smiled, throwing her arms around Ariella and letting the joyful tears flow down her face.
Their pictures of Finn and Rachel fell to the floor. But somehow, even as they fell, the separate halves stayed attached to each other, as if they had been apart for too long and were clinging to each other, rejoicing in the picture's completion.
So they've finally found out that they're twins! But what does that mean for Finchel? Reviews will help to speed up the posting of the next chapter :D
Thanks for reading!
