In the basement of the school, down the hall from the indoor swimming pool, was a rarely used health sciences classroom that had seen better days. That classroom was part of the girls' punishment.

They had their laptops and books to complete their school work. They were allowed to leave for their lunch period and for bathroom breaks, but other than that, they were stuck with each other until the last bell rang for two whole days.

Neither girl was happy about it.

"It's all your fault that we're stuck in here," Lizzie huffed. The room, a windowless box with fluorescent lights that flickered, was like a prison.

Anna's incredulous tone came instantly. "My fault? How's it my fault? You're the one who tried to punch me."

From across the room, Lizzie's mouth opened in shock. "After you pushed me!"

"Well, it's not like it matters anyway. We don't have a choice. I don't know about you, but I don't want Mrs Folsom calling my mom."

Lizzie had nothing to say to that. She didn't want Mrs. Folsom to call her dad, either. Instead of starting her English work, she pulled her legs up so that they were draped across the desk. Her plaid skirt flowed over them like a blanket.

They sat in silence for a long time. Rumblings from the rest of the school echoed softly around them, which only made their current situation feel more lonely.

Eying up her cellmate, Lizzie's curiosity finally got the best of her. "So your mom really is an actress? What's that like?"

Anna's eyes widened at the genuine question. "It's okay, except when we have to move. Last summer we had to live in Vancouver for two months and now we're here because she's in a play."

"That sounds so cool. I would love to move a lot," came Lizzie's wistful response. "New York is so boring. You're so lucky."

Anna criss crossed her legs in the chair. "Where does your mom work?"

Lizzie shrugged. "I don't have a mom. Well, not anymore. She left my dad and me when I was little, I don't even remember her."

"Oh." Anna frowned. She knew a lot of people with all different family types, but something about this one made her sad. "If it makes you feel better, I never knew my dad. My parents got divorced when I was a baby…or maybe even before."

Lizzie sent her a sad smile and leaned back in her chair. "It's crazy how nobody stays together these days. So how old are you?"

"I just turned 11 on Halloween."

Lizzie's legs slid off the desk. Her feet hit the floor with a thump. "Your birthday's on Halloween? So is mine."

"Really? That's so weird. I've never met someone with my birthday before," Anna said. "Especially someone with my face."

Practically jumping with enthusiasm, Lizzie stood up and crossed the room. "What's your mom look like?"

Anna stood up so that she could put more distance between them. "Why?" came her wary question.

"Does she have red hair?"

Anna's nose crinkled in disgust. "Are you a stalker or something? Why do you want to know about my mom's hair?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "If anyone is a stalker, it's you. You're the one who came here looking like me. I want to know if she has red hair because my mom does too."

"But, I thought you said that you don't remember her?"

"My dad kept an old picture of her in his sock drawer. I used to look at it a lot, but when he caught me, he got rid of it. She was beautiful."

Anna's brows furrowed at that. "My mom does have red hair."

Lizzie's face lit up in excitement. "Google her!" Anna opened her mouth to protest, but Lizzie stopped her. "I wanna see what she looks like."

"You just told me that you're not a stalker, but now you wanna look at pictures of my mom?"

Lizzie threw her hands up into the air. "Oh my god. Don't you get it?" She moved towards her open laptop and went to the Google search bar.

Anna was confused. "Get what?"

"You don't have a dad and I don't have a mom. We were both born on Halloween…how can you not get it?" Anna stared at her in silence, which only frustrated Lizzie. "Just tell me her name so that I can look her up. Please."

Anna let out a sigh. "Fine. Donna Paulsen. That's her name. I'm not supposed to look her up though." She watched as Lizzie typed the name in and scrolled through Google images.

"Good thing that I'm doing it and not you."

For several long minutes, Lizzie was quiet. Anna moved closer so that she could peer over her shoulder.

Lizzie was focused on an older photo of Donna that Anna knew well. Donna was dressed in a white costume, her hair was a flowing mess of red curls. She looked like an angel. "My mom has that picture hanging in her office at home. My dad took it…from backstage at one of her first plays."

"Anna," whispered Lizzie. "This is the same picture that my dad had in his drawer." She looked up at the girl who was already shaking her head.

"That can't be true," insisted Anna. "We can't be sisters."

"Not just sisters, Anna. Twins." Lizzie watched in surprise as Anna's eyes filled with tears. Before she knew what was happening, the girl began to cry.

On instinct, Lizzie wrapped her arms around her. Soon, she was crying too.


Neither girl was very hungry for lunch, but they had to make an appearance in the cafeteria anyway. When they got back to their classroom, they ignored all of their work so that they could discuss their discovery.

This time, instead of sitting across the room from each other, they sat side by side on the floor with their backs against the wall.

"You know what must have happened? They must have divorced and then just…dissected us…like that owl pellet in earth science last week," Anna theorized.

"I can't believe my dad did that. He's a lawyer. What was he thinking?"

"Him? What about my mom? Back at home, she won't even let me wait at the bus stop by myself. Why would she leave you?"

Lizzie bit her index fingernail. At first she had been excited to learn that she had a twin sister. And a real mother. But the more time that went by, the more uneasy she felt. "What if mom liked you better…and that's why she took you?"

Anna grabbed her hand. She knew exactly what her sister was feeling. "What if dad loved you more, and that's why he let me go?"

Lizzie squeezed her hand as they pondered the same things. They had each other, at least. "Even if she didn't want me, I still wish I could meet her."

"Yeah, I'd like to meet Dad, too. It sucks that we can't switch places. Then you could meet mom and I could meet dad."

Lizzie let out a bitter chuckle. She had much more of a temper than her sister. "Yeah, and then we could get to the bottom of it and punish them for what they did." After a few seconds, Lizzie let go of Anna's hand and suddenly stood up. "Wait. Why can't we?"

"Why can't we what?" Anna stood up to join her.

"Switch places."

"Because my mom would know in two minutes. She knows everything."

Lizzie began pacing around her sister. "I know. Dad says that I'm just like her." She spoke with her hands as she explained what she was thinking. "We're stuck here all day again tomorrow. You can teach me to be you and I can teach you to be me."

There was a small mirror hanging by the chalkboard. Lizzie grabbed hold of Anna and yanked her over to it so that their identical faces were staring back at them.

"Look at us. They'll never know the difference." Everything about them was the same, right down to the pattern of freckles that spread across their noses.

"I don't know," Anna said. "What if they figure it out?"

"So what if they do?" Lizzie snapped. This is all their fault anyway. "They can't get mad at us, not when they lied all these years."

"But, I'm scared," admitted Anna.

"Don't be! We have all day tomorrow to get ready." Lizzie's lips curled into a dramatic pout. "Please Anna. I've gotta meet my mom."

Unable to resist, Anna sighed. "Okay. But if we get grounded I'm blaming you."

Lizzie jumped up and down in excitement. "Tomorrow, after school, you'll go home with dad."

Anna thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded her head. "And you'll go home with mom's assistant, Rachel. She picks me up."

"See? It's gonna work." Lizzie put her hands on her sister's shoulders. "We're twins. How hard can it be?"

Anna's face fell. She didn't feel nearly as confident as Lizzie.