Chapter 12.
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After school on the day of the All Hallows' Ball, Rebecca sat on the stairs underneath the basement window of her room, in her black kimono with lavender trimmings, waiting for Becky. She'd hardly slept at all the night before. When she'd been practicing cheering with her sister every day, she had successfully avoided thinking about the ball. But ever since her final performance as a dancer, dread had swallowed her whole. She kept trying to keep the facts straight in her mind.
"The All Hallows' Ball is tonight. It is at my house. Yami Muto is my date. I am head of decorations." Rebecca thought.
Every single time, Rebecca would forget where she had begun and have to start over.
Finally she gave up. She just couldn't face reality; it was like trying to look at the sun. At least Becky was sneaking over to do all the decorating. Suddenly Rebecca heard a tap on the glass. Rebecca pulled aside the curtain and opened the window with both of her hands.
"Hiya!" Becky said, thrusting an enormous cardboard box into Rebecca's hands.
"What's this?" Rebecca asked.
"What do you think?" Becky answered. "More decorations!"
Becky climbed inside, dragged in another huge box, and pulled the window shut behind her. They dropped the boxes on the landing, and then Becky led her sister down the stairs.
"You don't look so good." Becky said.
"Thanks." Rebecca replied sarcastically. "Maybe I'll call in sick."
"You wouldn't dare!" Becky exclaimed.
"Why did I agree to this?" Rebecca muttered. She tossed Becky a can of Pale Beauty with her right hand.
Becky shook the can. "We should really start buying this stuff in bulk," she said thoughtfully.
"As if." Rebecca answered glumly.
While Becky sprayed her arms, Rebecca said. "My grandfather's raring to go." she said. "This is like the most A-positive thing that's ever happened to him." she tried to sound as resentful as possible.
Becky pulled on a black tank top. "I know." she said obliviously. "I'm so excited."
Rebecca sighed heavily. "I wish I didn't have to go tonight." she thought.
Becky looked up, almost like she could hear what Rebecca was thinking. "Rebecca, in a few hours you're going to a dance with the boy you've always wanted. Can't you see? It's your night to shine!" she said.
"I don't want to shine." Rebecca said sulking.
"Too late." Becky said.
"You already do." Rebecca said then shook her head. "But I didn't do any of this."
"And I didn't go to cheerleading practice." Becky countered. "We're a team, Rebecca. We did this together. That doesn't make it less good." she grinned.
"In fact, it makes it even better." Rebecca said then nodded and tried to smile.
"The only thing you have to do tonight." Becky continued. "Is have fun. I'll take care of the rest."
Rebecca took a deep breath. She knew her sister was right.
"The All Hallows' Ball is tonight. It is at my house. Yami Muto is my date. I am head of decorations." Rebecca blinked.
"Want to see my dress?" Rebecca asked tentatively.
Becky smiled. "Obviously!" Becky stretched and stretched, but she couldn't quite reach the corner of the stone arch to tack up the last cobweb.
"Allow me." Rebecca's grandfather called from down below.
Arthur Hawkins marched over to another ladder and slid it into place next to hers. Becky had been decorating the upstairs ballroom with Mr. Arthur Hawkins for the last few hours, but she still could not get over him. Arthur looked to be in his mid 40's despite being an old man, had blonde hair, green eyes, and blonde mustache. He spoke in a British accent. He wore a tailored dark suit jacket over a flowing white dress shirt and long black dress pants. Becky thought of her own adopted father in his short-sleeved plaid polyester shirts and cringed.
"Thanks." Becky said as Mr. Hawkins pinched the corner of the web from her fingers. He hung it gracefully. Then he spun around and leaned back against the top rung of his ladder.
"Shall we admire your work?" Mr. Hawkins asked.
Becky looked over her shoulder and took in the enormous ballroom below. The vampire anime poster on the stone walls were illuminated by tiny spotlights. Round black tables dotted the room, tombstones rising from them evocatively. Bats hung at all levels in the air. In each corner of the room, there was a huge coffin lined with dark purple satin that overflowed its sides luxuriantly—a special last-minute touch of Mr. Hawkins's. Becky had filled each one with party favors, like plastic fangs, temporary neckbite tattoos, and extra bats. Becky felt like cheering. Everything looked awesome!
"Now that is the sort of smile." Mr. Hawkins mused. "I have rarely seen on your face."
Becky tried to stop grinning, but she couldn't.
"So, Rebecca." Mr. Hawkins said. "You have said nothing of your date."
"You mean Yami?" Becky asked nervously as she climbed down the ladder.
"Ah, Yami I wondered when you would reveal his identity." Mr. Hawkins remarked.
"Oops." Becky thought.
"Tell me what is he like?" Mr. Hawkins continued.
Becky didn't know how to answer. "In a world that is so open to you," Mr. Hawkins mused. "You need not always keep the contents of your heart closed."
"He's really cu—" Becky stopped herself. "Handsome." she finished.
"I am sure." Mr. Hawkins said.
"And . . . romantic," Becky added.
"Oh?" Mr. Hawkins said then his green eyes sparkled.
Becky remembered something her sister had said. "The way he asked me to the ball was really . . . sweet." she said.
Rebecca's grandfather smiled. "I am glad for you, Rebecca."
Becky suddenly felt weird talking about Yami this way. He wasn't her boyfriend, after all. She glanced at the enormous clock above the ballroom entrance.
"I should go get ready," Becky said.
Mr. Hawkins nodded. "Yes, of course." he said.
Outside the ballroom, Becky descended the enormous staircase to the first floor. She was walking past the front doors on her way to the basement when she was stopped in her tracks by the momentary booming of a pipe organ. She was about to continue on her way when the organ music rang out again, the same brief ornate musical phrase as before.
"Rebecca?" Mr. Hawkins called down the stairs.
"Can you answer the door please?" Becky said hesitating, took a deep breath, and opened the front door. Before her stood the Hirutani's gang, grinning like idiots. Becky silently noted that their ill-fitting tuxes didn't make them look any less greasy.
"Hey, Hawkins." one said.
"What are you guys doing here?" Becky asked. "The ball doesn't start for another hour."
"We, uh, brought a guest," one of them replied.
They pushed forward a 14 year old boy Becky hadn't noticed at first: Caswell Francis. Becky knew him from math. He was wearing a gray suit with a red bow tie, and brown shoes, and his blue hair over black hair in bowl cut style with one long blue hair from the top of his forehead and green eyes.
"Hi, Rebecca. Thanks so much for having me." he said with formal politeness then he gestured to Hirutani's gang. "These guys said you had more than enough punch, and it's going to be quite a party."
Becky narrowed her eyes and turned to the Hirutani's gang and closest to her.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" The Hirutani shrugged, and Becky led him down the hall.
When they were just out of earshot, she spun around. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"We brought our decoration—our human!" the Hirutani said, bouncing up and down on his toes excitedly. "You know, like an hors d'oeuvre," he continued with a guffaw.
"That means snack." Becky knew by now that there was only one way to handle Hirutani's gang behavior. She marched back to the front door, the boy scurrying after her, and went right up to Caswell Francis. "I'm sorry, Caswell, but I'm afraid these boys misled you. Nobody can come tonight without an invitation. We're already over capacity."
"But—" Caswelland a few of the Hirutani's gang began.
"No buts." Becky said decisively.
She glared over Caswell's shoulder at the Hirutani's gang. "It's a safety issue." Then she turned back to Caswell. "Sorry," she said as nicely as she could. "These guys should have known better. Maybe next time, okay?"
Caswell nodded like he understood. Then he raised his eyebrows and said hopefully, "I should tell you I'm a really good dancer. I took classes for my older sister's sweet sixteen." He looked at Becky expectantly.
"That's nice." Becky said.. "The boys will escort you back home now." And then she added, speaking very slowly and looking each of the Hirutani's gang right in the eye, "And I'll see you at school on Monday, Caswell."
Nobody moved.
Becky bore down on the Hirutani's gang with Rebecca's death glare.
"Let's go." one of them sulked at last.
They all turned and shuffled off down the hill, Caswell trailing behind.
Becky shut the door and smiled to herself. Like Rebecca said, they weren't as scary as they smelled! Rebecca anxiously studied her reflection in the mirror that hung on an open door of her wardrobe.
She straightened her dark, wine-colored, velvet strapless dress and turned around to inspect the thin satin ribbons crisscrossing her bare back. Her blonde hair fell around her face in straight lines, and pearl earrings hung from her earlobes. She was just applying her Midnight Merlot lipstick when she heard someone coming down the stairs.
"Hello?" she heard her sister whisper. "Rebecca?"
Rebecca pushed the wardrobe closed.
Becky stared.
"Do I look okay?" Rebecca asked in a worried voice. "You—you look . . ." Becky said stammering. "Unbelievable!" She walked over, still staring.
"Really?" Rebecca asked, glancing nervously in the mirror again.
"Really!" Becky cried, circling her. "Yami is going to be floored!"
"I hope so." Rebecca said.
"I know so." Becky said firmly.
Rebecca couldn't help smiling. She pulled on a pair of long black evening gloves and looked at herself one last time in the mirror.
"I look drop-dead." Rebecca decided.
"I'd better put my own clothes back on and I've got a ball to go to." Becky said, grinning.
"Not so fast." said Rebecca, barefooting it over to her bed, which was piled high with clothes, papers, and pillows. She rummaged through the mess, throwing clothes aside, until she emerged with a black box tied with a pink ribbon that she handed proudly to her sister.
"What's this?" Becky asked, shaking the box.
"A thank-you gift." Rebecca answered.
Becky untied the ribbon. "For what?" she asked.
"For the last three weeks," Rebecca told her. "For Yami. For tonight. For being my sister." She shrugged. "For everything. Just open it."
Rebecca watched Becky's face as she reached into the box and took out a black baby tee. On it, the word "bunny" was printed in bubbly fuchsia letters, followed by a tiny sparkly bunny.
Becky gasped in delight. "I love it!" she exclaimed.
The doorbell rang. Rebecca's heart leaped as she glanced at the clock by her bed. She guessed it must be Yami, arriving early for pictures. Becky read her mind. "Where are your shoes?" she asked.
"Shoes?" Rebecca asked grinning. "As if!" She hurried to lace up her best pair of high-heeled boots. Becky was tucked behind the suit of armor in the hall. Before she went home, she wanted to see Yami's face when he arrived and saw Rebecca in her ball dress.
Rebecca had said it was okay for her to watch for a few minutes, as long as she stayed out of sight. If Becky looked through the gap between the breastplate and the arm piece, she could just see the front door. She watched as Rebecca opened the door and Yami entered. He was wearing a black floor length cape over his tuxedo and a textured white shirt with a white bow tie. His spiky tri-colored (crimson, black, blonde, and blonde fringes) shown.
"Rebecca, you look beautiful!" Becky heard Yami say.
"Thank you." Rebecca answered demurely.
From under his cape, he produced a flower: a single black rose, the type of black it is jet black. Rebecca took it and smiled as she looked at Yami. They looked at each other dreamily, and the moment was so romantic that Becky thought they might kiss, but just then, Mr. Hawkins appeared.
"You must be Yami." he said, descending the grand staircase. He looked impeccable in a black velvet tuxedo.
The doorbell rang again, and in rushed Akiza, wearing a beautiful short red dresss with long white gloves and red high heels. She was also lugging a huge camera bag and a tripod.
"Sorry I'm late." Akiza panted.
She stopped in her tracks and looked Yami and Rebecca up and down.
"Wow, you two look killer!" Becky watched as Akiza took pictures of the perfect couple.
In every single shot, Rebecca did the one thing that Becky liked to think she'd been responsible for teaching her to do. She smiled— and not a close-lipped Goth smile but a bright dancer beam! When Rebecca and Yami, Mr. Hawkins and Akiza had left the hallway, Becky slipped away down the staircase, back to Rebecca's basement window. She needed to go home and get some rest. After all, cheerleading tryouts were in less than twenty-four hours, and Becky needed to be ready for anything—especially if she was going to go head to head with Bulla Briefs.
Rebecca and Yami sat with the rest of the planning committee at table in the center of ballroom. Carly raised a glass of cherry punch and shouted over the din, "To Rebecca, who seriously surprised us!"
"You're not kidding!" Akiza cried, flashing Rebecca a knowing smile from where she stood. She lifted her camera and snapped a picture.
Rebecca almost felt herself blush as she shyly clinked her glass against everyone else's.
"I had a lot of help, too." Rebecca said.
"Miss Hawkins." a voice boomed.
It was old Mr. Bolt Tanner, one of the chaperones, extending his right hand.
"This is the best All Hallows' Ball I have ever attended, and I have been at all 202 of them." He planted a cool kiss on the back of Rebecca's hand. "You look smashing." he said.
Rebecca let her eyes wander on around the ballroom. Becky really had done a killer job. People were marveling at the vampire anime posters on the walls and cardboard cut outs, and some were from table to table having their friends take pictures of them with different anime vampires, and tombstones. Everybody looked element and mysterious, just like in the anime series.
Suddenly, the room grew quieter. Rebecca saw one of Hirutani's gang members standing in the center of the dance floor, a pale hand raised over his green hat and glasses head to silence the crowd. In his other hand, he held a black microphone with his right hand.
"Oh no!" Rebecca thought. "What are they up to now?"
"Good eeevening," the boy with the greep hat and glasses said, doing the lamest old-time vampire-accent imitation Rebecca had ever heard. "I vant to invite you all onto zee dance floor for zee first dance."
Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. Hirutani's gang was the DJ!
Yami stood up. "Come on." he said, taking Rebecca's right hand. "It's the first dance."
Rebecca shook her head. "We don't dance, remember?" she asked.
Yami's eyes sparkled, and he leaned closer to her. "That's why they call it the first dance, Rebecca." he said.
As Yami led her onto the dance floor, his cape flowing around him, Rebecca felt everyone's eyes on her. She saw people looking her up and down admiringly, and, at the edge of the dance floor, she even spotted her grandfather, beaming.
Yami stopped right in the middle of the dance floor. Rebecca put her head on his shoulder, and the song began. She closed her eyes. "
"I better not be dreaming." Rebecca thought breathlessly.
Morning.
Rebecca woke up the next morning and pushed open her coffin. She hadn't dreamed any of it. She and Yami had danced all through the ball and then kissed each other. And afterward, they'd stayed up until one o'clock in the morning talking on the front porch.
She couldn't wait to call Becky and tell her all about it. After all, none of this would have happened without her.
"Wait a minute." Rebecca thought, glancing at the clock. Becky's got Dance Team tryouts this morning!
Rebecca suddenly had a killer idea. She leaped out of bed and threw open one of her wardrobe doors. She would surprise her sister by supporting her from the bleachers during tryouts!
A half hour later, Rebecca was marching through the front hall of Domino High School wearing the pinkest, most supportive outfit she could muster: a gray Domino High sweatshirt and a Domino High baseball cap pulled down over her hair.
She floated past her own reflection in the front hall display case. She almost looked like a dancer, with her school spirit costume.
As if on cue, a high-pitched voice called, "Becky!"
Rebecca looked up to see Bulla Briefs charging down the hallway, decked out in her Dance Team uniform.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, Becky!" Bulla complained.
Rebecca almost corrected her, but then she thought better of it and pulled her cap farther down over her eyes.
"Ms. Barnett told me to tell you that tryouts have been moved to the football field." Bulla yelled. "The chess team is using the gym or something!"
"Really?" said Rebecca perkily.
"You'd better get out there!" Becky said haughtily. "Ms. Barnett won't like it if you're late!" and, with that, she hurried away down the hall.
"Oh, my goodness. I have to find Becky right away." Rebecca thought. "Or she'll miss tryouts!"
She whipped out her phone and dialed Becky's cell, but there was no answer. She glanced at the clock on the wall: 11:21. That meant Rebecca had only nine minutes to find her sister.
Rebecca ran to check the girls' locker room. The only people she found inside were Alexis and Rio, decked out in full-on dance mode.
"Hi, Becky!" they said in unison.
Rebecca spun around without answering. She ran back to the other side of school, and checked Becky's locker nothing. She ran on to the science hall bathroom-also nothing. The situation was starting to seem grave. Rebecca tried Becky's cell phone that didn't work, she tried her sister at home.
"Hello?" Becky's adopted dad said.
"Hi, Mr. Hopkins, it's Rebecca, Becky's friend from school." Rebecca explained.
"Well, good morning, Rebecca. What can I do for you?" Mr. Hopkins asked.
"Is Becky there?" Rebecca asked panting.
"'Fraid not." Mr. Hopkins answered. "The dance team tryouts are right about now."
"Right." Rebecca said sheepishly. "Thanks." She ended the call and slumped against the bathroom counter.
Her sister was nowhere to be found. Rebecca glanced at the screen on her cell phone: 11:25. Only five minutes left to go.
"This can't be happening." Rebecca thought with a shake of her head. "Not after all Becky and I have done."
She pulled off her hat, and spun around to face the mirror. In her locker there was a can of spray- on tan, which Becky had accidentally left in Rebecca's bag after their first switch. Rebecca thought she could put her hair in 2 pigtails and make it to the field before it was too late.
"But what if somebody notices that there are two Becky's running around school?" Rebecca thought wondering. "It's a risk I have to take." Rebecca decided.
Rebecca ran to her locker, grabbed the slightly spray-on tan, and dashed back to the bathroom. Then she quickly applied the spray, and was tying her hair into 2 pigtails when she realized that she didn't have arm warmers.
"Ms. Barnett will freak!" Rebecca thought.
Rebecca threw open the door to one of the stalls and saw two rolls of toilet paper sitting on the back of the toilet and wrapped them around her arms. "They're not the greatest arm warmers in the world." Rebecca thought. "And I probably won't get away with this, but it's the best I can do."
Rebecca charged onto the sports field, but the only people there were two jocks tossing a football back and forth. There were no dancers in sight.
Rebecca looked around, confused. "Excuse me." she said. "Do you know if cheerleading tryouts are supposed to be here right now?"
"In the gym." one of the boys grunted, looking bemusedly at Rebecca and her toilet arm warmers.
And all at once, Rebecca understood what had happened. Bulla had lied, hoping that Becky would show up in the wrong place and miss tryouts.
"The fiend!" Rebecca thought.
She hastily tossed a roll of toilet paper to each of the boys and ran back toward the gym, thinking what a stroke of luck it had been that she hadn't reached Becky on her cell. As she ran, she chanted to herself through clenched teeth. "When you're up, you're up . . . when you're down, you're down . . . when you're messing with my sister . . . you're upside down!"
Rebecca stood outside the gym door and peeked in through the window. Sure enough, there was Becky, dancing her heart out at the center of the group. Bulla Briefs cheered beside her, the peeved look in her eyes belying the fake smile on her face.
Becky pushed through the door of the Burger World and rushed to the back of the restaurant, where she spotted everyone waiting for her in Rebecca's booth. Sitting across from Mai and Akiza, Yami had his right arm draped around Rebecca's right shoulder.
Becky couldn't contain herself a moment longer. "I made the team!" she shouted before she'd even reached their table. Everyone in the diner spun around to look.
"Oops." Becky thought.
Her friends burst out laughing.
"I made the team!" Becky said again in an exaggerated whisper.
"Congratulations!" Rebecca cheered.
Mai and Akiza clapped.
"Rebecca said you were deadly at tryouts." Yami told her.
Akiza held up her right crossed fingers. "Can we call you captain?" she asked.
"Not this year." Becky admitted. "Bulla's captain. But that's only fair, since she's been on the squad the longest."
"And she's so great at telling people what to do." Rebecca added.
"Exactly." Becky grinned. "Anyway, it just means I'll be able to spend more time with my friends!" she looked around the table at Mai, Akiza, Rebecca, and Yami. She felt really happy.
The waitress appeared. "What would you 2 like to order?" she asked.
"Chicken Sandwich with fruit salad?" she asked.
"You bet." Becky replied, smiling. Then she announced to the table, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go change." After all, she was still wearing her dance uniform, and she was dying to get Rebecca alone. She winked at her sister meaningfully.
The moment Rebecca followed her through the bathroom door, Becky said, "How did it go last night?!"
They debriefed as Becky took off her Dance Team outfit and put on her new favorite baby tee. When Rebecca told her about the first dance with Yami and the kiss they had together, it nearly took Becky's breath away.
"This is the best weekend of my life." Rebecca finished.
"I feel the same way!" Becky agreed.
"I think our biological parents would be seriously proud of us." Rebecca said.
"I just wish we knew them." Becky thought with a pang.
"Let's make a pact." Rebecca suggested.
"A vampire pact?" Becky asked.
"No." Rebecca said rolling her eyes. "A pact between us. A sisterhood pact."
Becky understood dancing, dating, the ball-it had all been fun, but there was something more important.
Rebecca took her necklace off and pressed her emerald ring against the one on Becky's left index finger. "We pledge to be there for each other." she said.
"Day or night." Becky put in solemnly.
"In darkness and light." Rebecca went on. "We pledge to stick-"
"Together." Becky finished for her and then she reached out to hug her twin sister. And as Rebecca hugged her back, she knew that they both had tears in their eyes.
End of Chapter 12.
And End of Switched.
Please review.
No Flames.
Sequel will be coming soon.