Hey guys! Hope you've all had a good week, and happy (almost) Fourth of July to those of you in America. Thanks to everyone who reviewed XOStarbrightXO, Cookiedoodles168, morethanjustastory, Demigod18, and LadyAnj, this story would seriously be nowhere without you guys supporting me and encouraging me to write more, so thank you!

This chapter ended up being a bit longer than I thought, but it's necessary to the plot so I hope you guys like it and don't find it too long.

...

Kadence exhaled and looked at the small phone in her hand, gathering her courage. They'd all been released from the safe rooms an hour ago, with the instructions to stay in their rooms while the guards and palace security checked the rest of the palace. Of course the moment the officials were gone most of the girls had left, going to their friends rooms to feel safer. Kadence had gone to London's room, along with Aurora, Sera, Amara, Shevonne, and Priya. The girls were sitting there, huddled together on London's giant bed trying to get over the attack, when Amelia opened the door and walked in.

On seeing all of the girls there she'd rolled her eyes, "For heavens sake, don't you know what stay in your rooms means?"

"We're sorry," Seraphina said, ever the diplomat, "We just wanted to be together after the attack, it felt better than just cowering in our rooms."

"That may be, but it sure makes my job of finding you more difficult."

"Why do you need to find us?" Amara wondered.

Amelia exhaled heavily, the stress evident on her face, "With all of the cameras and media here for the Selection, news of the attack has gotten out. The public is panicking and I'm sure you're all shaken up as well. We thought you may want to call your families to let them know you're alright." She gestured at London with a small phone, "Miss Banks?"

London had shook her head adamantly, insisting that there was no one in her family she wanted to speak with. Amelia had nodded before leaving the room, in search of Colleen so she could call home.

It was only after Amelia had left that Kadence realized she hadn't spoken with her father once since the Selection had started. She was suddenly desperate to speak with him. There was no way she could wait for twenty other girls to go first.

It was as if London could sense the desperation in her friend. She'd jumped up, dug through her bag, and emerged with her cell phone. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, but she locked eyes with Kadence and an understanding passed between the two.

"Do you want to use my phone?" London asked.

Kadence was so overcome she could only nod, holding the cell phone in her hands like it was a precious jewel.

She'd made her way back to her room, planning out exactly what she'd say. But now that she was ready to call, she was unsure. She knew she had to call her dad's cell phone because she had no clue where he was. He might be in the apartment in Fennley or he could be anywhere around the country on business. It had been nearly two weeks since she'd spoken with her dad and he hadn't been too thrilled when she'd left. Maybe he didn't even want to speak with her. Kadence stared at the phone again, as if the answers she was looking for would drop out of the sky. She waited another minute, steeling herself for whatever would happen, and then she dialed.

...

He answered on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Dad?" The girl asked, brown eyes alight.

"Aria?!" He practically yelled, "How are you sweetheart? It's so nice to hear from you, I can't believe you didn't call sooner. We heard about the attack, are you okay?" Aria listened as her father's tone went from thrilled to worried in three seconds.

She couldn't help but laugh at the pure relief of hearing his voice.

"Calm down, dad. I'm fine," her smile dimmed a bit, "the attack was scary but everyone's okay. It wasn't that bad actually."

"That's good, but you know I'm a worrier. I probably won't feel better until I see you for myself."

Aria gave a light laugh, "Well that probably won't be for a while. Or maybe it'll be really soon, I honestly have no idea."

"Are things not working out with you and the prince?" her dad asked.

Aria's cheeks burned and she was glad her father couldn't see her. This was a topic for her mom, not her dad, "Oh, you know," she said with a nervous laugh.

"Um, yeah," her father said and Aria got the feeling he was just as embarrassed as she was, "Boys!" he called and Aria could picture him trying to corral the terrible two as they flew around the house, "your sister is on the phone, don't you want to speak with her?"

Aria heard a loud crash and pulled the phone away from her ear, knowing that one of her brothers had dropped it.

"Ari?" a voice called.

"Hey buddy!" she said, not sure which of her brothers was on the line, "What have you been up to lately?"

"I joined a soccer team after you left. We had a game today and I scored two goals!"

Aria knew then that she was talking to Liam. He was the more athletic of the two while Josh leaned more toward music and reading.

"Wow, so are you the MVP now?"

He snorted at her, "No! I've only played in two games."

"Well keep at it and you'll be the best soon enough. I expect you to go pro someday."

He laughed, "Maybe."

"Liam, give me the phone," Josh whined in the background.

"Stop being a baby, Josh, I'm talking to Aria."

"I wanna talk to her too!"

Aria listened as her father intervened and eventually the phone was passed to Josh.

"Hey, Joshy. How are you?"

Arias could practically hear his eye roll, "Don't call me that."

She laughed and listened as he started talking.

...

"Hey, dad," Kadence chirped when he answered.

"Kady?" he asked incredulously, not entirely sure if it was her.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I haven't called sooner. Things have been crazy here."

He chuckled, "I don't doubt it, but I'm glad you called."

"Me too. I have so much to tell you. The palace is amazing, really unbelievable, and all, well most, of the girls are so nice. And I got to see the ocean on the drive here. I've never seen it before, it was so pretty. I really want to visit it sometime, I'm hoping I'll get to go sometime during the Selection but I don't know. Have you ever been to the ocean?"

"Yes, Kadence, several times. I'm sorry I never took you there. There's a lot of things I should have done but didn't, including what I'm about to tell you. It's something I probably should have told you a long time ago, but there was never the right time and even now I'm not sure, but you need to know," his tone was serious and he started rambling. Kadence knew her dad well enough to know that he rambled when he was nervous. It also meant he was stalling.

Kadence felt the pull of dread in her stomach as she waited for her dad to finish. But he never did. He just kept rambling. He was talking about her as a little girl and all that she meant to him.

"Dad, just spit it out. I can handle it, whatever it is. I'm not a kid anymore, I'm almost eighteen."

He sighed, "I know, Kadence. It's just hard. I still think of you as my baby girl, and that's never going to change. But you're all grown up now and I need to accept that. When I wasn't looking, you grew up. Without a mother, with just me raising you I'm surprised you turned out alright."

Kadence rolled her eyes. He was stalling again, "Dad," she whined, "just tell me."

"Alright, Kadence. I think it's time. Of course I'd rather be doing this in person but we don't have that choice." He trailed off again.

"Dad!" She said sharply.

"I'm sorry I took so long to do this, but the rebel attack made me realize that something could happen to you and I shouldn't have put this off. You need to know this, Kadence."

"Dad, what are you talking about? I'm so confused, would you just tell me."

He sighed, "We need to talk about your mother."

It took a moment for Kadence to process the words. Her mother had always been a taboo topic in their house and Kadence had learned at an early age not to mention her.

"My mother?" She whispered, shocked.

"Yes, Kadence, and not just your mother. We also need to talk about your sister."

...

After Aria had spoken with her little brothers, her father was back on the line.

"So, dad, where's Syd? I was hoping to talk with her."

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, she's not here. You know her, always out. I think she's with Will right now. But I know she'll be sorry she missed your call. She really misses you and I know she was sad you haven't talked with her yet."

Aria groaned loudly, "I completely forgot! I've written her like three letters, I just keep forgetting to mail them. She's probably so upset."

Her dad laughed, "She's fine, but I'll be sure to let her know about the letters and she'd probably appreciate if you sent them."

Aria laughed too, "I know. First thing tomorrow, I promise," then Aria grew serious again, "What about mom? I can't wait to talk to her."

Her father was silent on the other end and for a minute Aria thought Amelia's cell phone had disconnected. But then her father sighed.

"She's not here, Aria."

"What? Is she okay? Did something happen? Do I need to come home?" With each question her voice got higher and higher, filling with panic.

"Aria, calm down, everything is okay. Everyone is fine, you can stay at the palace. I'm fine, your mother is fine, everything is alright."

Aria's panic calmed a bit but she was still confused, "Well if she's not at home, then where is she?"

Her father sighed and Aria could tell he was debating whether or not to tell her, after a long pause he spoke, "She's in Fennley."

"Fennley? Why on earth is she there? That's on the other side of the country, what could she possibly be doing?"

There was another pause, but not as long as the last one, "She's with your father. He lives in Fennley."

"My father?" Aria was outraged, "Tom, you are my father, she should be with you."

"Aria, you know what I mean. She's with your biological father. She's been there all week."

"Why?" Aria demanded, "That man wanted nothing to do with us for seventeen years, why is she with him? He never cared when we were homeless, living on the streets. He kicked us out without a backward glance, why does he care now? Is it because I was Selected? Because now I'm famous and he wants to use that? Well he can't. I want nothing to do with him."

"Aria, this is something you need to talk with your mother about. I've never met the guy and I don't know much about him. She's the one who can explain things to you."

"Well that would be great, except she's not here to explain them!" Aria said, still worked up.

"I have the number for the guy she's staying with. Your mom gave it to me when she left so that I could stay in touch with her. You should call her, she can explain things to you."

"Maybe I don't want to talk to her right now. Maybe it's not okay that she's off with the man who left us to die! He didn't care about us at all, we could have been dead for all he knew and now he wants us back. Maybe I'm not ready to take him back! He can't force me to accept him!"

"Aria, it's not my place to get involved here. This is between you and your mom, but before I give you the number I need you to calm down."

"I am calm!" she shouted in the least calm way possible, then took a deep breath and slowly said, "I'm calm, you can give me the number." She forced herself to slow down and breathe as she walked over to her desk and grabbed a pen.

Her father read the number to her and Aria jotted it down before telling him goodbye and disconnecting the call. She looked at the phone, knowing she was taking up more than her fair share of time. She should just go give the phone to Azura, but she had to know. She looked at the number again and dialed.

Aria sighed in relief when her mother answered the phone and not the strange man who actually owned the phone. However her relief was short lived and soon overshadowed by her anger at her mother.

Aria hardly let her mom get out a greeting before she was bombarding her with questions, demanding to know what she was doing in Fennley and reminding her of everything they'd endured without that man. The years of being homeless, hitchhiking from place to place, never knowing where their next meal would come from. Doing any miscellaneous job her mother could find, just to earn enough money for basic necessities. All hardships they'd dealt with without Aria's so-called father. All things that had disappeared when Tom entered their lives.

"Aria!" her mother said, exasperated, "Would you at least listen to me before you start yelling. You don't know what happened so you have no right to lecture me."

"Of course I don't know what happened!" Aria exploded, "That's because you'd never tell me, no matter how many times I asked."

Her mother sighed, "I know, Aria, and I'm sorry. If you promise not to interrupt then I'll tell you now."

Aria paced the length of her room as she thought. Her thoughts warred between wanting to hear the story and wanting to give her mom another piece of her mind. Finally she said, "Tell me what happened."

...

"I'm sorry, my what? It sounded like you said sister but I must have heard you wrong because there's no way I have a sister and you never told me, right?" Kadence said, growing more panicked.

"You heard me right, Kadence. You have a sister."

"Since when?" she demanded, "Why didn't you tell me about her? How long have you known?"

Her dad sighed, feeling guilty at the hurt in her voice, "There's a lot you don't know and I should have explained it before you left, but I have to do it now. I don't even know where to start," he trailed off than said, "what do you want to know?"

Kadence thought for a minute, aching to ask about her sister but instead said, "Tell me about my mother."

He laughed wistfully, "I don't even know where to begin."

"A name would be nice," Kadence suggested.

"Of course. Her name is Stephanie Benoit."

"What?" Kadence asked.

"Benoit," her dad repeated, "Stephanie Benoit."

"But that's. . ." Kadence trailed off, she was going to say impossible or crazy, but was it really? Benoit was Aria's last name too. It had to be a coincidence there was no way it was what Kadence was thinking.

"We were so young when we met," her father continued, oblivious to her epiphany, "so naïve. We didn't know anything, but we thought we did. We thought we were in love, I always thought we'd be together forever. I thought we had years together, but then we found out that your mother was pregnant. We had to get married right away, to avoid anyone knowing or Stephanie would have been thrown in jail. What should have taken us years was done in weeks. Love can't be forced, Kadence. You can't stifle it and expect it to stay the same. Which is what we tried to do. We rushed into a marriage when we didn't even know each other. Things were hard, but then you were born and they got better. We didn't fight as much and I really thought it could work out, but it didn't last. Soon enough everything turned into a fight, neither of us was happy. It wasn't a good environment to raise you girls in, and when you were two, your mother asked for a divorce. I wanted her to stay, but I knew that would just make all of us more miserable. We got divorced and then she left, taking your sister with her. It was the agreement we came up with, I got you and she got your sister. I tried to offer them money and help them out, but Stephanie was alway so stubborn and she refused any help, and eventually we lost touch.

I never thought I would see her again, and to be honest I was both terrified and hoping that it would happen. For the first few years I was always worried that she'd come back and try to take you away from me, but she never did. Then one day, out of the blue, I got a call from my mother. Her and Stephanie had always been close and she told me that Stephanie was getting married. She gave me Stephanie's contact information so that I could talk with her. I wasn't going to try and stop the wedding, I respected Steph's choices, but I did want to know what had happened to my other daughter. I called her and we had a long talk, I told her that I wanted to know what happened to my daughter and she was just as curious about you. We made plans to meet and then a few weeks later you and I went to Waverly for the first time. Do you remember that, Kadence? I was scouting a new location for a franchise and you came with me. You always told me I was crazy for putting my restaurants on opposite sides of the country, but I think it makes more sense now. I wanted to see more of my other daughter. Whenever I would go to Waverly Stephanie and our daughter would come eat at the shop so that I could see her. And," he paused, getting choked up, "she looks just like you, Kadence. I wish I could have gotten to know her, but I know you two will get along great."

"Wait, wait wait," Kadence said, "just stop for a second, I need time to process this." She sat down and let his words sink in, thinking about everything he'd told her, "So you've seen my sister? Has m-mom," her voice stalled on the word, "ever seen me?"

"Tons of times, Kadence. Once we got back in touch she'd come out at least once a year, I'm sure you've served her in the restaurant several times. She wanted to talk to you but both of us thought it would be best if we kept things they way they were. You were already in your teens when Stephanie wanted to tell you. You were almost grown and you were happy. Her daughter was happy too. We didn't see any reason to stir things up and risk hurting either of you. Neither of us ever imagined that you'd meet on your own, and now. . . well now we're not sure what to do."

"What do you mean? We met on our own? Do I know my sister?" Kadence had a guess as to who he was talking about, but part of her refused to accept it until he said it outright. Part of her was hoping she was wrong.

"I don't know for sure if you've met, but I can't see any way you haven't. And she's not just your sister, Kadence, she's your twin."

...

After her mother finished speaking, Aria was left speechless, a rare occurrence for her.

"Aria? Are you still there?" her mother asked, a worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah," Aria said, "it's just a lot to take in."

"I know, honey, and I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to find out this way."

Indignation flared in Aria's chest, "Oh really? Then how was I supposed to find out? Obviously it wasn't you just telling me, like a normal person, because you've had seventeen years and you never once mentioned that I have a twin! It's not that hard, just 'Hey, Aria, you know how for a while you thought you were an only child, well you're actually not, there's this other person out there who looks exactly like you!'"

"I know you're upset, Aria, but you don't need to get snotty with me. If you can't be civil then I'll just hang up and you can call back when you're ready to act like an adult."

She snorted, "You're telling me about acting like an adult. You've been keeping secrets from me since the day I was born! Is there anything else I should know? Am I actually a triplet? Are there any other long lost siblings I should know about, maybe a brother?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm but Aria didn't even feel bad, she was too angry.

"Aria Grace you watch your tone!" Her mom snapped, "I was going to talk with you about your sister but I don't think you can handle it right now."

"Oh my gosh, mom, of course I can handle it. What I really want to know is why you decided to tell me now. You waited seventeen years, why tell me now when I'm three thousand miles away from home?"

"I thought you needed to know now. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out for yourself, that's pretty much the whole reason I decided to tell you."

"Figured what out?" Aria asked suspiciously.

"Who your sister is," her mother answered.

Aria racked her brain trying to figure it out. She glanced out into the hallway, looking for clues, and her gaze landed on Kadence's closed door across the hall. She felt an instinctual pull in her gut. She knew. She knew exactly who her twin sister was.

"It's Kadence, isn't it?" she asked quietly, "That's why you're telling me now, because you have no other choice."

"Yes, she's your sister. I know this is hard for you, Aria, but I'm here if you need me. Any questions you have, anything you want to know, just ask me. I shouldn't have kept this from you for so long. And Justin is here for you too, you know. He already knows Kadence and he wants to get to know you too. He's sad that he missed out on so much in your life, and he wants to make up for that. He's here right now, I know he'd love to talk with you."

"Well maybe I don't want to talk to him. Maybe I don't want him in my life. I already have a dad, I don't need two. He let me go and now I'm letting him go."

She slammed her thumb on the end call button before her mother could respond. Aria knew her mother would just make her see reason, and she didn't want to be reasonable, she wanted to be angry. Her whole life had been a lie and she wasn't going to let anyone force her to accept the truth now. She'd figure it out in her own time, when she was ready, not when everyone else thought she should be.

Slowly, she lowered her arm, still holding the phone. Now that she wasn't talking to her mother she was much calmer and felt her anger drain away, leaving her exhausted. All she wanted to do was curl up in the gigantic bed and sleep. She'd think about everything else in the morning.

She walked over to the door, ready to give Amelia's phone to the next girl so she could take a nap.

...

"So I'm not an only child? And Aria's my sister?" Kadence asked for what felt like the thousandth time, "Aria Benoit?"

Even though it had been what Kadence was thinking, she still couldn't wrap her mind around it. The girl who had lied to her, tormented her, made her think she was crazy, was actually her sister. And not just her sister, her twin sister. Kadence looked at her closed door, where directly across the hall was Aria's room. Kadence wondered if Aria had learned the truth yet. She wondered if Aria would even care.

"Yes, Kady. She's your sister. By some miracle you both were Selected, so I guess you were just destined to meet. Stephanie and I shouldn't have tried to keep you apart. Now that you know the truth it's up to you what you want to do with it. I don't know how you feel about Aria, but whatever you two think about each other, you are sisters, you're not alone, Kady."

"I know," she told him, "it's just crazy. I always thought it was just me and you, but now I find out I have a twin."

"Not just a twin, Kadence. Stephanie wants to get to know you. She's seen you growing up and now that you know about her she wants to be a part of your life."

"She does?" Kadence whispered, awed.

"Of course she does. You're her daughter. She's actually here right now, if you'd like to talk with her."

Kadence was stunned. Within the last few minutes her family had doubled. It was a lot to take in, but Kadence was so happy she couldn't keep the grin off of her face. She'd never be alone again. She had a family who could be there for her, people she could turn to who would accept her, just as she was, unconditionally.

"Okay," she breathed in answer to his question.

She heard a bit of static as the phone was jostled around but then a woman's perky voice answered and Kadence finally said the one word she'd only dreamed of, "Mom?"

...

So not my best work but I've been planning this scene for a while and just couldn't get it to come out quite how I wanted. Let me know what you guys thought about this chapter and what happened. Which twin is your favorite? I know most of you said Kadence early on, is it still that way?

Next chapter will be more dates so make sure to vote in the poll because there's a tie right now for second. London is winning but she already had a date so the second place girl will get a date, so get your votes in.

As always, leave me a review and let me know what your think, good or bad.

Until next time!

~Jen