For that summer I regressed back to being a six-year old as we would spend our days playing and swimming in the lake by our house without a care. Patrick and I spent nearly all of our time together, frolicking about as we built a tree house and a swing just outside our place, and then on some nights we would set a pitfire close to the edge of the water and huddle close to it as we gazed at the brilliant stars above us in the summer sky. Several days a week we made the drive to Lake Arrowhead where Coach Keiko got us both to speed on what we now called Acro, and while the training was difficult I knew it was what I wanted. Surprisingly Patrick also took to it quite well, as learning the basics of tumbling seemed easy for him.
For the most part it was Patrick and I that whole time, spending time together playing and talking and even taking naps together in a hammock strung between two trees in the warm sun. The weather was comfortable enough that I spent practically the whole season wearing nothing but either swimwear or leos (of which I had started a new collection) and thoughts of the horrible events that brought us here were finally fleeing far away, or at least they seemed to.
But Patrick still had part of his life far away, and the twice-daily calls continued throughout the summer. If there was another advantage to having Miss Keiko as a coach it was being able to learn a bit of Japanese while we had our sessions and with my brother as a tutor that became much easier than I'd ever thought. After a few months I was at the point with the language when Patrick was on the phone with Rei that I could understand bits of what they were saying to each other. Lots of things said between the two of them like "I miss you," and "I'm cold" despite the warm weather, I knew the pain of their separation despite all of Patrick's efforts to feign that everything was "cool."
At some point that pain got almost unbearable for him, and then Rei's school had their summer break and Patrick was promptly off to Japan for a couple of weeks. It was the second trip abroad he had taken since we came to Maine and the lake house, and while I didn't want to be without my other half I also knew I wasn't the only person in the universe that he loved. I couldn't be selfish and hold him down with me, although I wanted to at times.
School was coming up for us here in the States. Early on Patrick and I had decided to try our luck with an actual school instead of continuing our education at home. As both of us had grew up in isolation from others our age, we were curious just what that world of other kids would be like. Parts of anticipation were combined with outright fright inside of me, as I wondered how I'd take to being one among many and especially coming out of the blue as an unsocialized outsider. So in the two weeks while Patrick was away I did everything I could to mentally prepare for high school, even resorting to watching television shows about "typical" student life just so I could figure out what to expect.
Finally Patrick made it back from Japan in the third week of August and the look on his face told me everything about this trip: he returned practically beaming radiance. He walked in through the front door wearing a T-Shirt emblazoned "SURF JAPAN" along with beach shorts and flip-flops, and his skin was tanned about three shades darker than his normal pale color. It was quite a surprise to see him that way.
"What did you do?" I asked just after I embraced him. "You look like you lived at the beach!"
"We practically did," he said breathlessly. "We spent a week in Okinawa, I just love that place. Here!" Grabbing his phone he then showed me images of the trip and I was treated to a stream of photos taken of the beautiful scenery of the Ryukyu islands with white sand, palm trees, and crystal clear water. From the pictures he took It really did look like paradise. There were also lots of photos of his friends in Japan, the other EVA pilots and their classmates (and pet penguins), all looking just like a bunch of kids of vacation having fun in the surf, sand, and the nights afterwards. Needless to say on Patrick's phone there were also lots of images of one pilot in particular…
"Here, look at her!" Patrick called out to me, anxiously swiping on his phone screen to get to the image he wanted. I then saw Rei, standing in front of the beach and wearing an orange-colored bikini. She looked pretty, just tilting her head and giving a slight smile for the camera as her red eyes shined brightly. I also couldn't help but notice that Rei didn't look like she had an ounce of fat on that lithe body of hers.
"She looks cute," I commented and Patrick nodded emphatically. "That was her first ever two-piece," he let me know.
"So, um, did you get your grubby hands on her, then?" I asked Patrick with a smirk.
"Don't put it like that!" He protested. "Hey, I'm not just some horndog, you know!"
"Sure," I nodded, knowing perfectly well that my brother must have had some epic make-out sessions with his blue angel while he was there, given all of his frustration that I had watched him bear over the last couple of months. I kept paging through the rest of the photos until running across another one, this time of Colonel Katsuragi, only this photo was very unexpected: she was also wearing a candy red two-piece swimsuit with sunglasses and a lemonade in her hand, but her belly was very large and rotund. "Wait, is that Colonel…Misato?"
"Yup," Patrick confirmed. "Nearly eight months pregnant, and she's not colonel anymore."
Life really was moving on it seemed and not just for us. In a way it was a relief for me, seeing the other EVA children also learn to change and relax. But I still had big hurdles to climb and I couldn't help but feel I was behind everyone else. "Was that all you did?" I asked Patrick.
"Mari finally got out of the NERV hospital," he told me, "but now off to some therapy place far away. She still can't walk."
"She was lucky to be alive at all," I told him.
"Yeah, we all still hope for the best," he said to me, finally getting more serious. "Just gotta keep positive, that's all."
"Ready for school?"
Patrick's eyes drew a complete blank.
"School," I reminded him. "You know, it starts next week."
It took a few seconds for Patrick's brain to catch up. "Oh, shit," he finally said. "I'm not even ready!"
Good. At least I'm not the last one to get on track.
Our choice of school was limited by security needs, as our original idea of going to a "plain old" American public high school were dashed nearly immediately both by the Alliance and the others who managed my "house arrest" sentence. It was a peculiar situation, as still-capable EVA pilots we had to have our identities protected wherever we went, while as a convicted felon the other students had to be "protected" from yours truly, as if I were going to hack into the school's mainframe and then steal any Evangelions that might be around. I didn't say that it made sense.
At least my sentencing conditions allowed for school, just as long as it wasn't within fifty miles of NERV First Branch (where Unit 04 had been recently relocated). So with public school out of the question due to the secrecy and resources needed, we were given the choice of any private school that could manage the security and was still reasonably close to the lake house. There was only one: Chamberlain Academy.
Chamberlin was in Berwick, which was a small town on the southern border of the state and about a half-hour drive by car from the lake house. Lake Arrowhead was an hour away, which meant our daily commute would go from the house to Chamberlin, then after school was done we would be taken directly to Lake Arrowhead for our now daily Acro training, and then back home. While I loved the lake house, it also felt good to at least get out and go somewhere else for a change as because of the house arrest situation I had only been to Lake Arrowhead and nowhere else since last April.
The school was advertised as being "college prep" and also as a place that was somewhat exclusive and traditional, enough to require its students to wear uniforms. Immediately thoughts came up of stuck-up rich preppie girls in pleated skirts trying to haze poor newcomers in the bathrooms while they smoked and bragged about their $1,000 Louis Vuitton handbags and ski vacations to Switzerland. Or maybe I shouldn't have watched Clueless or Heathers as part of my pre-attendance research. Heck, I'd settle for Dead Poets Society. When I asked Patrick about this, he suggested that perhaps X-Men was the actual film I should research about private schooling. He was no help at all here.
In any case August 28th came and we were on our way, bundled in the back of a large black SUV driven by several burly Alliance security guards (who were an ever-present, if not that noticeable presence around us) on the road headed south. We were both dressed in the school's uniforms, which for me consisted of a blue blazer, blue and red-patterned plaid skirt, and white collared blouse with a bow tie that matched the skirt's pattern. I also wore black loafers and short blue crew socks (which were to my chagrin required). The school also ruled against students wearing makeup, so I could only put on lip gloss and sneak in a little eyeliner, although modest earrings were okay. Patrick wore the boy's version, with blue slacks and a straight tie that matched the plaid pattern. It was probably the most dressed up I'd ever seen him as, and I certainly didn't mind seeing my brother look nice and not spattered with pine needles and mud with his hair messed up like he often was back home. But he was just as nervous and uncomfortable as I was as we sped into the unknown on that cloudy morning.
That first day was a bustle of going from office to office to get us registered and into classes. Maria had come with us to help with the school office, and before too long we were assigned a class schedule and lockers. We also changed our last names to maintain our anonymity, picking "Fletcher" because I thought it would be somehow easy to remember. Then came the bell of the first period and we were off to our homeroom, the first time in my life I had ever actually entered a schoolroom with other kids my age.
I won't go through all of the boring details but suffice to say my first school experience wasn't a disaster, I probably spent most of my time sitting at desks and listening and soaking in the whole experience of being in a class. But hopping from one period to another didn't give me much opportunity to meet anyone. That happened after the fourth period of the day when we got lunch break.
Finding my locker for the first time, I ran the combo and opened it, finding this blank space with grey metal walls. That intrigued me strangely, as I thought at least someone would have put in a note or some sort of instructions. Of course, at NERV that's exactly what they'd do: we were an efficient, military-like organization and as a pilot I was well-taken care of with dozens of staff to support me. But here I was just little old me. In a way I welcomed it, but I knew it was going to take some getting used to this.
Patrick got a locker right next to mine naturally, and he wasted no time spinning the lock and thrusting in his books. From his backpack he promptly dug out photos, banners and a variety of stickers. and within a couple of minutes he had already impressively personalized the locker with pictures of me and of Rei and his other friends in Japan.
Distracted for a moment by my brothers' interior decorating expertise, I didn't notice the person underneath us until I felt them bump into me. I hadn't realized that there were lockers on the bottom row as well as the top, and I found myself nearly knocked over by another student who was rushing to get to his own locker just below mine. As I looked downward I saw a dark-haired boy who looked Asian, with glasses wearing a school uniform crouched below me. Startled, he looked upwards and it was then when I notice where his eyes were suddenly fixed. My hands immediately shot downwards to push my skirt between my legs.
"Yikes!" I screamed. "Would you mind?!"
"S-s-so sorry," he nervously stammered. "I swear I didn't mean to look up like that!"
He tried to get up off the floor but Patrick beat him to it, quickly grabbing him by the collar, lifting him up and pushing him against the row of lockers. "Trying to get a free show, huh?" He told the boy with a narrow, killer glance.
Patrick stood a good six inches taller than this boy, and was certainly a lot more muscular. It didn't take much of his strength to pin the other student to the row of lockers. "I totally swear to God I didn't know she was there!" the boy squelched in fear. "Really!"
"Jason," a voice called out. "Leave the new guys alone, jeez!" Both Patrick and l looked from behind and saw two girl students walk up towards us. One girl was Caucasian with blue eyes and reddish-blonde hair which was worn loosely to the shoulders, and who was about an inch taller than me. The other was of dark completion and looked Indian or South Asian with deep brown eyes and straight black hair that was worn long.
"Sorry," the strawberry blonde-haired girl said to me. "Fan Boy there gets a little excited at times. Is he bothering you?"
Patrick turned to me, still pinning a terrified Jason to the lockers with his left arm. "Is he?" Patrick asked me.
This wasn't the way I wanted to meet friends at my new school. "Just let him go," I instructed Patrick, and he promptly let his grip loose, Jason immediately sliding downwards with a whimper.
The other girl then gave me a smile. "Hi, there. I'm Linda Pulaski. I'm the sophomore class president." She motioned to the group of us standing there. "They told me you're transferring in and I wanted to at least say hello." She offered her hand and I gladly accepted it.
"Hi, I'm Erin," I said to her, happy to at least make one contact here quickly. "And this is Patrick."
"Oh, hi," she said, looking delighted to meet my other half. "Your boyfriend's pretty strong."
I giggled a little. "He's not my boyfriend," I clarified it for her. "We're twins, actually."
"Really? You guys seem pretty close for siblings," Linda commented. I wondered a bit why she said that but then I realized why: when we entered the school this morning Patrick and I held hands. It actually wasn't unusual for us to do that, I mean we spent a lot of time together not to mention we were in pretty close body contact as we trained for Acro. After over four months we were very used to being physically close to each other, but I hadn't realized just how noticeable it was until just now.
The darker girl turned to Linda. "You know what?" she suggested, "let's call them 'Twincest.'" Linda's eyes brightened up. "That's a great idea!"
Oh great, my new classmates have already thought of an unflattering nickname for me. I blushed in embarrassment at the suggestion, and so did Patrick.
"We're just kidding!" Linda helpfully clarified, trying to relieve the situation. "Relax, we're not stuffy like some places. Chamberlin is a pretty good school so you're lucky to be here."
As we talked I kept looking at the shorter, darker girl next to Linda and couldn't hep but wonder who she was, she seemed so familiar. I thought about that girl who nearly moved in next to us when I was six back at Second Branch and wondered….
"Excuse me," I asked the darker girl, "your name's not Nadia, is it?"
"Um, no," she told me. "It's actually Arjuna. Do I look like a Nadia?"
"You kinda do" I told her honestly. I guess having her turn out to be that girl from long ago would have been one coincidence too far for me.
Linda looked downward at the boy below, who kept to himself behind his locker door. "Hey, Jason. Stand up!" Jason promptly popped upwards, this time keeping a safe distance between him and both Patrick and myself.
"Uh, Hi" he awkwardly offered his hand to me, this time bowing his head in his own embarrassment. "I'm Jason Zheng He." This time I took his hand, and politely shook it.
"Nice to meet you, Jason" I sad to him. He didn't say anything in return, but just shook mine until we both released our grip.
"If you need anything computer-wise," Linda told me, "Jason's your guy. That is when he's not going total fan boy over something."
"So can I call you 'Okaku'?" Patrick asked Jason with a smirk. The boy's attitude suddenly shifted into excitement. "You know that word! You know what it means?"
"I know a lot more Japanese too," said Patrick. "So long as you're not interested in the color of my sister's panties I'm sure we can get along."
I promptly gave Patrick a good whack on the head for that one. "Ow! What was that for?" I ignored the protest and turned back to the more normal people in the conversation.
"So where are you guys from, anyway?" Linda asked.
"Nevada," I said. "California" Patrick said simultaneously. Both of the girls looked very confused.
"You're not both from the same place?" Arjuna curiously observed.
Realizing that we were in danger of revealing a little too much about ourselves, I quickly tried to steer the reply ahead of Patrick. "We…went to different schools…kinda." I offered.
"But yet you're super close," Linda tried to figure out what we meant and I struggled to figure out how to pull us out of this mess. "It's a really, really long story," I offered.
Patrick then spoke in a loud whisper. "Actually it's a really big secret!"
"What is?"
My brother looked around, trying to see if any other students were listening. Then he told the others. "Don't tell anyone but the truth is…we're both Evangelion pilots!"
I about died right there. We were never supposed to reveal that we were EVA pilots to anyone who didn't need to know it, and that pretty much included anyone at this school, students or staff. Linda looked at us blankly for about five seconds and then suddenly burst into laughter.
"Oh, I like you. You're funny!" said Linda. "Come on, let's get some lunch and I'll show you two around."
Practically frozen in fear of having our true identities be discovered, I turned to Patrick and saw him smile and wink at me. It was then that I could finally let my breath out, realizing that I didn't need to take any of this too seriously. All my fear melted away and I found myself walking among new friends as we made our way down the school hallway. Everything looked like it was going to be alright.
I spent the next two weeks in a blissful buzz of activity as I got to know the school and everyone in it. Linda and Arjuna were a good pair of guides and within that time I had made dozens of acquaintances, most of whom seemed like they were pretty decent kids with wonderfully normal lives. Patrick also didn't seem to have any trouble making friends, although he seemed less excited than I was about our new school. As far as school itself went I felt challenged more by the whole routine of classes and homework and getting used to the workload, but nothing there seemed out of reach. My prior education at Second Branch was at least at the same level or better than I was getting now, and I didn't feel I was behind my classmates anywhere. So school proved a fun experience, at least so far.
That's not to say there weren't bumps in the road. I selected a computer programming class as one of my six courses and found it was miles behind what I had learned at NERV-2 from my father. Perhaps the teacher was embarrassed when I did offer to teach the class and demonstrated that I knew much more than he did, and by the next day I was re-assigned to a completely different class that had nothing to do with computers.
More importantly, the court-ordered restrictions on my schedule now had a bigger impact. Over the summer Patrick and I had Acro five days a week, but now Patrick needed to go to Cambridge every few days as EVA-04 was being loaned back to the USA for research and he was needed to operate it. Because I wasn't allowed to join him either I needed to return home immediately after school or find something that was qualified as "educational." When I asked Arjuna about any type of "after school-school" that was around, she suggested the local college prep cram program that she took, which seemed to me deathly long and boring. Linda took dance after school however, and I figured that was more my speed and I probably needed to work on toning up my muscles anyway. So I ended up with ballet lessons twice a week on the days Patrick went to First Branch.
The worst of it was that my sentencing conditions also applied to weekends and because there's no school I was restricted to either the lake house or our gymnastics instruction at Lake Arrowhead. I was allowed to go to church, and often did on Sunday mornings along with Maria at a small nearby chapel, but that was all. Over the summer I hadn't worried about it because the lake house was still new to us, but now I really was grounded just when I needed to be working on those new friendships I was making.
It was at the end of two weeks at the school when that invisible tether that I was hooked up to snapped back, and it wasn't a good feeling at all. I was at my locker at the end of fifth period and both Linda and Arjuna came up to us while Patrick and I were getting ready for the day's last class and then our drive back.
"Hey, Twincest!" Linda called out to us both. By now we'd gotten used to the cute name and didn't really mind.
"Hey, Linda," I replied, happy to see my new friends again.
"Just wanna let you know, I'm having a big hang-out at my place on Saturday afternoon. Can you make it?"
Both Patrick and I looked at each other, and knew we'd have to decline. He knew I wasn't happy about it either. "Can't do it," he spoke for the both of us. "Got gym this weekend."
"You guys do that every day?"
"Well, we're trying to go into competition, so yeah, actually,"
"Oh, come on?" Linda protested. "You can't make it on the weekends at least? You guys are the busiest people I know."
"Sorry," I told her regretfully, "We're kind of tied up at home."
"Ah, too bad. Everyone's going to be there! Come on? You can't make an exception for at least one weekend, can you?"
I could tell Linda really wanted us there, and I felt back to have to keep turning her down. This was really wanted I wanted for myself too, just to "hang out" with kids my own age and be like them. "I'm sorry," I told her. "I'm also kind of grounded too, so I'm not allowed out on the weekends."
She playfully punched me on the shoulder "It's not like you're in prison or anything! Anyway if you can make it, call me, okay? Bye!" The two of them walked off, waving to other students in the hallway as they went. I just stood there and looked at them go.
"Don't let it get to you," Patrick encouraged.
"I know but, it's kind of what I wanted too," I told him sadly.
Patrick closed his locker door and looked at me with a more serious expression. "What I mean is that don't let this school get to you. We're only here for another six months."
What Patrick meant was that my earlier promise to him was still in effect. Once my one-year sentence was lifted he would be returning to Japan and I would be joining him, and that all of this new school experience would simply be a short-term thing. At first I didn't think it mattered as much, but now finally in grasp of what I had wanted for so long it did and at that moment I hated him for it.
"Easy for you to say," I scowled as I took out my school backpack from the locker. "At least you've got friends." I slammed my locker door and walked away.
That weekend was slow and difficult. Our Acro training had gone well past the basics and we were now into complex jumps and flips for our pairs routine. While I took to it like anything else I did with my customary skill and grace, Patrick now struggled a lot more to catch up. I got dropped a few times on Saturday and that didn't help matters with him. Angry, I took it out on my brother on the ride home and we didn't speak to each other well into Sunday, our one true day off at the lake house. Instead I spent the afternoon just sitting by myself at the boat dock and contemplating how sucky I felt. Dinner didn't go well either and we fought again over Maria's baked pork empanadas.
By Monday I was having second thoughts about our partnership and wondering that if we couldn't make it work on the floor if I needed to ask Miss Keiko to dissolve our team. It's not like Patrick did this for himself anyway, as he seemed too tied into that satellite phone of his to think much of our life together here in the USA and not in faraway Japan. I was so frustrated with the matter that I had forgotten what day today was. The two of us spent the ride to school in silent hostility, perhaps having a serious fight with each other for the first time since we met.
School that day seemed strange too, as everyone I knew including the two girls were "cool" with us. I guess we really were missed at that party at Linda's house and because of it we were socially demoted as well.
For his part Patrick duly noted there was a rift between us and he finally made efforts to close it. Monday afternoon came and without saying goodbye to anyone at school we promptly piled in our security team's black SUV for the hour ride to Lake Arrowhead. Once at the old high school we stripped down into our gym outfits (often worn under our school clothes just to save time changing) and then he was a new man on the spring floor, focused and attentive. After our two and half-hour lesson we were much more in sync with each other, and he didn't drop me once no matter how challenging my dismounts were in leaping from his shoulders. We had a good session, and at the end I warmed up and finally gave my sweaty brother a big hug in reward, which was a great relief to him.
As Maria waited to take us home, Miss Kekio bid us good night, wishing us "Happy Birthday!" at the end. It was then when it hit me like lightning. I was so caught up in my inner turmoil I had forgotten my own birthday.
"Oh my God!" I told Patrick. "Did you know?"
"Of course," he said calmly.
"I've been so busy with everything that…" I said with complete embarrassment," I was supposed to get you something!"
Patrick didn't seemed bothered by it, and in fact was smugly confident. "Well, I got something for you. When we get home."
The ride back was filed with anxiety. It was our first birthday together! But I had completely forgotten everything. What was I going to get him? My mind scrambled with how this would go.
We returned to the lake house and I rushed in the front door, wanting to hurry up to my room to go and look for something, anything that I could make up as a gift. When I opened the door however I was met with yet another surprise, one that literally shouted "Surprise!" at me as I came inside.
"Happy birthday to you," the kids in front of me sang, "Happy birthday to you…" I looked around and there were a dozen students from Chamberlin, including Linda, Arjuna, and Jason in the front, and they were all singing and holding a cake with fifteen candles lit on top.
I turned around to see Patrick coming through the door with the smile of a Cheshire cat on his face. He had planned this all along, I now knew.
"Happy birthday dear…TWINCEST!" Linda shouted in glee as everyone else laughed. "Happy birthday to you!"
"Oh my God, everyone's here!" I cried out happily.
"Oh my God, look at you!" said Arjuna. "Is that what you wear after school?" Jason didn't say anything but simply had a glassy-eyed expression as he gawked at me. Of course I hadn't changed back from my gym clothes and here I was standing in front of everyone wearing nothing but a long-sleeved green leotard and plastic slippers. Patrick had on just a tank top and green shorts and Linda went straight to him as he stood by me.
"You guys look awesome! Like real heroes, not just plain ol' kids!" Linda said as she playfully punched Patrick in the arm. From that gesture and the way she looked at my brother I somehow got the impression that she might be more interested in him as something beyond schoolmates.
"Well," I said to everyone, still excited and not even minding being underdressed. "Why…how…did you get here?"
"It's his fault," Arjuna said as she pointed to Patrick. "We tried to set up a party for you on the weekend but he told us you why you're really unable to come out of the house."
"Yeah," said Jason, "I didn't believe it at first, but I hacked the school's computer and confirmed it."
Puzzled, I turned to Patrick. "What did you tell them? I thought we weren't supposed to tell anyone that we're…"
Patrick quickly put a finger to my lips."… in the Witness Protection Program."
"Yeah," confirmed Linda. "So we get it. If you're stuck at home on weekends, then we'll all come out here to see you!"
I looked at Patrick, this time nearly with tears in my eyes. This was his gift, finding a way for me to still make new friends even with all of the restrictions I had. He knew me better than I had realized. I threw my arms around my twin, happy to have someone like him in my life.
"Hey you two," Linda called out, "stop making out and blow out the candles before they set the cake on fire!" The two of us broke it off and went to the cake, each of us quickly making a silent wish before blowing out the fifteen candles in unison. But truthfully I got my wish even before the flames had gone out.
This was a chapter I had wanted to write for some time, sort of a "what if" for both Erin and Patrick on how they try to settle into something of a normal life back in America. It's about as much of "Slice of Life" as I'm going to get with these stories, and serves as a resolution to some of Erin's initial growing-up pains earlier in the story.
We are blazing away on the story now, trying to finish as much as I can before the end of the year. And, we got some EVA-action winding up in the next couple of chapters so stay tuned.