Oh my gosh, guys, guess what! I had a Gracie incident today! I was running and I ran into the locker room door, like, hard. And as soon as my coach made sure I was okay and I was standing up (on shaky legs), I'm like, Whoa, this is what happened to Gracie! Just thought I'd mention that…

Devin moved through the empty hallways of the high school, keeping an eye out for a flash of black curls. Just as he'd been about to enter the history classroom, he'd heard a high-pitched giggle he'd recognize anywhere-- his sister's. It wouldn't have bothered him, but he knew for a fact that her fifth hour class was on the other side of the school. And Gracie wouldn't be late for class.

So now he was skipping history to find her, because there was a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Since that one giggle, he hadn't heard her again, but he knew she was somewhere close. They'd always had some sort of twin intuition thing going on.

Devin tugged on his cap, pulling it down enough to cover his earlobe, and readjusted his books in his arms. Skipping class was nothing new to him, but Gracie freaked out if she was five seconds late. She'd always been a strong student, a Daddy's little girl, and beautiful enough to be the apple of every boy's eye. And Devin, well, had a report card full of Cs and tended to fade into the background, although many a teenage girl had flirted with him.

Another loud giggle broke the silence around him, echoing in the hallway, and Devin stopped in his tracks. He turned to the left and saw the closed door of the janitor's closet, and then another muffled giggle found its way to his ears.

It clicked right away. Devin threw his books down, slamming them on the tiled floor, and marched over to the closet. He grasped the door's handle and threw it open.

Inside was that asshole Markus, sitting on an upside down bucket with Gracie perpendicular in his lap. Their arms, Gracie's left one free of a cast for only a few days, were tight around each other while they totally sucked each other's faces off.

As soon as she saw Devin, Gracie was disentangling herself from Markus and leaping up, holding a hand over her heart and using her other to smooth her mussed hair. But he'd seen enough.

"I thought I told you to stay the hell away from her," Devin barked, stepping up to Markus. Both boys were tall for their age, so they were eye to eye.

"Devin, stop," Gracie begged.

"Why don't you stay out of it?" Markus asked, and reached out, shoving Devin. He shoved back, and just like that, it was on.

The boys wrestled on their feet for a minute, ignoring Gracie's protests, but then Devin got a hold of Markus' wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. At that point, Gracie lunged forward and, with much trouble, pulled her brother off of her boyfriend.

"Markus, go to class!" she commanded while struggling to keep a hold of Devin. Markus hurried out of the closet, shouting a quick "I love you" over his shoulder. Once his running footsteps faded from earshot, she released her brother. "Devin, I cannot believe you."

"Grace, you have to listen to--"

"No, you listen to me. Markus made a mistake, but I'm giving him a second chance! And if you even think about telling Mom and Dad, I'll break every bone in your body."

"I'm not telling Mom, but only because she doesn't need the stress. But you better believe I'm telling Dad."

"Devin, please." Gracie was pleading now, tears shining in her eyes as she clasped her hands together. "Please don't say anything. Daddy will try to keep us apart. He won't understand. I love Markus. And he loves me."

Devin took a step forward, but she took a step back. "If he loved you, he wouldn't have cheated on you."

"He realized his mistake. He loves me. Stop trying to be the big, scary older brother and leave me alone!"

Before he could say another word, Gracie pushed past him, hard, and hurried down the hallway. Devin stayed in the janitor's office for a moment, staring at the supply shelves, before sighing and pulling off his knit cap so he could run his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair.

Now to decide whether to tell Dad.

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After school, Devin checked up on Mom, who was in the bathroom throwing up, and then parked himself by the front door. As soon as Dad walked in, he was telling him about Gracie and Markus. Because even if Gracie wouldn't listen to him, she wouldn't dare go against Daddy's orders.

Around four, when he'd been sitting in the foyer for about an hour, Gracie came in and sat beside him, a cocky look on her face.

"What are you doing?" Devin asked.

"I'm not stupid, you know," she said. "I know what you're doing."

And so they sat together for another hour, Devin doing homework and Gracie's fingers flying across the keys of her cell phone as she texted her friends and probably Markus.

At five o'clock sharp, the usual time for their dad's arrival, they heard a key turning in the lock and exchanged a glare. When Dad opened the door and stepped inside, the strap of his laptop case over his shoulder, both the twins were looking up at him.

"Um… hey," he said, looking at them funny. "What are you guys doing?"

"I'm keeping my dear brother company while he does his algebra homework," Gracie said sweetly, patting Devin's arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

Dad raised his eyebrows, easing the door shut behind him. "Right…"

When he turned away from a moment, Devin nudged Gracie off his shoulder, and she scowled at him before plucking the knit cap right off his head.

"Give me that," he growled.

"Why should I?" she taunted, scrambling up and holding it above her head. Devin stood, too, and tried to grab it, but she kept jumping out of his reach. "I think this would be great blackmail, if you know what I mean. Don't you think, Devin?"

Their dad watched them for a minute, and then shook his head as he headed into the kitchen. "I don't think I want to know."

Haha. This is totally the kind of dad I picture Fang being.

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