Author's Note: (Upcoming) videos for characters canon and original, can be found on my Youtube channel via the link on my profile.
There's Blood On Your Lies
"Mulligan!" Emma called as the ball hit the net, face-palming herself.
"That was so not Mulligan!" Yasmine protested, tossing her long blonde hair back. "When it comes down to it, you just simply can't spike for shit."
"Well, I'm calling it," Emma declared, scooping the ball back up, hiding her annoyance with offhandness.
"Moon, was that Mulligan?" Yasmine demanded, not letting it drop, sauntering over to their piled-up beach bags and towels as she spoke.
Unsure, Moon shrugged her shoulders, darting a frightened glance at Emma from where she was sitting on the hot pink folding chair. Emma caught the look, feeling that now familiar swirl of envy and unease she felt whenever she was near Moon. The other girl had moved to Encino a couple of months back, Moon's exotic beauty, complimented by her Californian boho style, utterly eclipsing Yasmine's glacial charm. She easily outshone everyone else with her long dark ringlets and full lower lip which lent a sinful edge to her air of innocence. Feeling under threat, Yasmine had consequently decided to divide and conquer by making Moon her protégé, rebuilding Moon in her image.
Now the long dark ringlets were poker straight and sported golden highlights, Moon's hippie chic subdued and more subtly expressed thanks to Yasmine's restrictive influence. But despite the popularity and perks that came with being part of the in-crowd, Moon's nervous manner hadn't improved any, her confidence always under a cloud. However, she was more than happy to follow where Yasmine led, and Emma was starting to feel edged out. Yasmine was supposed to her best friend, but this summer, Yasmine seemed more like her enemy, always attempting to play Moon and Emma off against each other.
"Well?" Yasmine pressed, peering over the top of her heart-shaped sunglasses at Moon, over-plucked eyebrows arched dramatically.
Moon swallowed hard, darting another anxious glance at Emma. "It wasn't Mulligan?" she hazarded, wincing as she wound a lock of hair around her finger.
"Damn right it wasn't," Yasmine snorted, casting aside Emma's monogrammed pink towel and matching beach bag before doing the same to Moon's stuff.
"Do you mind, Yazz!?" Emma snapped, stalking over. "You're messing up my shit!"
"Sor-ray," Yasmine said sarcastically, piling it all up into a messy pyramid instead.
"Fighting over me, ladies?" Kyler drawled as he swaggered over, Brucks trailing at his heels. Both boys were bare-chested, their wet hair slicked back, Brucks taking a selfie of himself pulling a macho pose against the backdrop of sea and sky.
"In your dreams, Ky," Yasmine said, rolling her eyes.
Kyler just smirked before draping his arms around Emma's shoulders, pulling her against him. "Up for a game?" he asked, toying with her pink bikini strap. "Boys versus girls?"
Emma pulled herself out of his hold, irritated. Ever since she had made the mistake of making out with him at Moon's sweet sixteen, he thought he had permission to invade her personal space whenever he felt like it.
"What's up with you?" Kyler frowned, confused.
"Nothing," Emma muttered, glancing over at where her family were sitting further down the beach. Her mom was fussing over her little brother Anthony whilst her twin Samantha sunbathed, dressed in her usual hideous navy swimming costume. As per usual, her father had his all-seeing eye fixed upon her. Even at this distance, she could see the tell-tale crease between his brows, employing what she and Sam used to call his sensei-sense to assess the situation.
"Oh, Big Daddy Daniel's watching," Kyler said, following the path of her stare. "Should I be scared?" he teased, tugging on Emma's plait, making her jerk her head away, even more irritated now.
"Yeah, man, Chuck Norris is in the house," Brucks said distractedly, striking another posturing pose. "You better watch your back or he'll kick your ass never mind the competition."
"Is your dad really a karate expert?" Moon asked, brow furrowing. "Or is it just, like, a gimmick?"
"It's not a gimmick," Emma snapped, rounding on Moon.
"Okay, I was just, like, saying," Moon protested, holding her hands up. "I didn't mean anything by it."
"Don't say anything about my dad," Emma retorted, "especially when your own mom is more out there than freaking Spock."
"At least Moon's mom lets her have a life," Yasmine countered coldly, "unlike some parents I could speak of." She raised her eyebrows pointedly, reducing Emma to silence, everyone else looking awkward.
Emma stood there, clenching her fists, fighting her now usual reflex impulse to deck Yasmine. Yeah, Daniel LaRusso was pretty uptight when it came to his daughters; nobody knew that better than Emma. Their mom tried to rein him in, but that didn't stop him from personally checking if there was any alcohol in the punch at every school dance he chaperoned or turning up at nine pm on the dot to pick her up from parties. He had taught his daughters karate when they were kids so they could take care of themselves, Daniel a strong advocate of self-sufficiency, but now they were on the edge of adulthood, everything had abruptly changed.
When it came to dating, her dad went to a whole other level of embarrassing, even more than their gran had done with him, and she had actually driven him on dates. No boys were allowed the house without an adult present and doors had to always be left open so they could be seen at all times. With great discomfiture, he had expressed the old-fashioned view he hoped his daughters would wait for marriage; that they should keep all physical contact to kissing and nothing else, and even that was barely acceptable in his eyes. He was paranoid about the perils of them having their own technology and stalked them on social media, lecturing them on the dangers of sharing nudes and other explicitly personal content. What annoyed the hell out of Emma was that she wasn't pulling any of that shit and Sam was too much of a nerd to try.
"God, it's Porky Pig," Yasmine complained, ruining Emma's reverie, "can this day get any worse?"
Emma glanced up, only to see Aisha Robinson, Sam's best friend, crossing the sand towards her. Inwardly cursing, Emma forced a smile on her face. She wasn't exactly Aisha's biggest fan either, but it was more to do with the fact the other girl bored her to death with all her techy talk. But as usual, Yasmine had to take it too far, constantly commenting on Aisha's weight and dodgy fashion sense to the point it became abuse.
"Hey, Emma," Aisha said with some difficulty, clutching her chest, "do you know where Sam is? I was running late and missed where I was supposed to meet up with your family."
"They're over there," Emma said, pointing at where her dad was still watching them, whilst ignoring Yasmine's dramatic eye-rolls behind Aisha's back.
"God, I really need new glasses," Aisha sighed, shaking her head. "Thanks for the heads-up. You coming to the beach club later?"
"Yeah," Emma said abruptly, her dad having made sure she was, since she'd been skipping out of spending time with her family as much as possible.
Aisha just nodded, before waving goodbye and making her way over to where Emma's family was, Sam getting up to hug her.
"Thank God that's over," Yasmine said with another eye-roll. "How am I supposed to work on my tan when she's blocking out the sun?"
Brucks sniggered, whilst Moon managed a weak smile, but Kyler was watching Aisha and Sam, brow creasing.
"Y'know, I still can't believe you and Samantha are twins," he then said, turning back to Emma and looping his arm around her waist, "you're nothing alike – it's as if you're two different people."
"We are two different people," Emma snapped, pushing him off her, "we're not one homogenous identity."
"How come you're not identical though?" Brucks frowned, finally putting his phone away. "I thought twins were always identical."
"Identical twins are monozygotic or some shit," Emma said impatiently, "me and Sam are dizygotic twins."
"Okay, maybe you and Samantha aren't so different after all," Kyler further teased, tugging on her plait again, making Emma jerk her head away for the second time.
"Samantha's a total dweeb," Yasmine complained, "she doesn't even electrolysis. Remember last summer when she walked around with that patch of peach fuzz above her upper lip and we kept calling her Hitler until she cried?"
"Yeah, and Emma punched Saul," Brucks sniggered again, fist-bumping Kyler. "And then she punched his big brother and made him cry."
"I thought that was hot," Kyler admitted, making Emma pull a pained face, preferring to forget any of that had ever happened and her part in it. But Kyler mistook her meaning, making him hastily backtrack. "No, I meant I thought you were hot," he elaborated awkwardly, running his fingers through his damp hair, "I mean, like, you are hot. Your sister would be pretty cute too if she had like a makeover or some shit. Plus you're twins, so that makes you even hotter. "
"Two for the price of one," Brucks said sleazily. "Total orgy, man."
"Shut up, Brucks," Emma said dangerously, fists clenching on reflex. Again, she always tried to avoid ever thinking of last summer, the thought making her burn with shame. She had stood back and let her so called friends slag off her sister until the day Saul had taken it too far, spray-painting a swastika on Sam's back.
Seeing the situation was spiralling, Emma had confronted him, Saul making out she was an uptight bitch. He had then goose-stepped in front of her, making everybody laugh, only for Emma to suddenly deck him. She had also decked his brother when he'd came creeping round for karma. Their dad had then phoned her dad, griping about his boys being beaten up by a girl, Daniel admonishing her that karate was not for offense, Emma not explaining her actions, knowing it would only get her into even more trouble, Sam mercifully staying silent.
"C'mon, man," Brucks objected, "hot twins - it's the ultimate three-way fantasy" –
Emma's fist collided with his face, busting his nose, blood pouring everywhere. She reeled back, balancing on the balls of her feet, having the disorientating feeling of deja-vu. Moon screamed, her hand flying to her mouth in horror, Kyler looking like he was going to be sick, having a weak stomach. But Yasmine kept her cool, blue eyes burning into Emma, her gaze then sliding past her, a small triumphant smile touching the corners of her crimson lips.
"What the hell, Emma!?" a voice cried, making Emma whirl around, only to see her furious father bearing down on them.
"I'm bleeding," Brucks said incredulously, clutching his nose with one hand whilst staring at the other, his fingers covered in blood. "I'm like actually bleeding!"
"No way," Daniel said grimly, stooping down and snatching up Emma's towel, only for something to fall out of it. Moon gasped, now almost biting down on her knuckles, whilst Yasmine's attention was all on Emma.
As Daniel then picked the object up, Emma stiffened, shock shooting through her. It was a joint, but it wasn't hers. She never touched that kind of shit, her sins limited to only drinking on the sly sometimes. Not that it mattered, the devastated look on her dad's face damning her without words. It was like he'd already expected this to happen. In vain, she turned to the others for support. Yet they avoided meeting her eye, Brucks now bawling about bleeding to death, but Yasmine merely raised a mocking eyebrow.
"Don't look at me, honey," she said coolly, "I'm always on at you not to smoke that shit."
Emma opened her mouth, only to close it again, jaw tightening. Instead she stared her dad down, knowing he had already pronounced her guilty. In that moment, she finally realised she would never be good enough in his eyes. She didn't feel a part of his family and she never would because she couldn't be the good girl daughter he dreamed of. She just simply wasn't Samantha.
Trick or treat, what would it be?
I walk alone, I'm everything...