I leaned against my car in the school's parking lot, absorbing the information Travis was laying on me in strides. 

"So, they're identical twins?" I said, after he had finished blurting out everything he knew about the twins. "How did I not notice?"

"Because you never pay attention to anything other than your own-"

"Yeah," I cut him off. "My ego, I know."

"Lily is in my art class," he said. "She's alright. A bit ditsy, but she's a laugh. Constantly talks about dancing." He rolled his eyes. "I just act like I'm listening 'cause she's hot."

I folded my arms, straightening against the car. "And Rosie?"

"Never really spoken to her," he said. "She's dating Luke Granger and hangs with his posy of senior chumps. The two of them couldn't be more different, trust me."

"Weird," I said. "Usually twins are close."

"Not these girls. Which is a good thing, makes it easy to tell them apart."

"Yeah," I laughed out, rubbing my temple. "Easy."

My eyes landed on Rosie, whom was stood with a scowl on her face, looking disinterested, while talking to Luke at the base of the steps to the entrance. I'm not sure if they were arguing or something, but she genuinely looked as though she couldn't be more unhappy in the presence of him. And then a movement caught my eye from the entrance doors, and Lily stumbled out, carrying about ten books in her small arms. 

She stared out at the parking lot in a daze, then swiftly moved her head down to her sister and they completely ignored each other. Lily began walking down the steps hurriedly, and she paced herself in my direction.

I kept moving my eyes between them, attempting a spot the difference, but I couldn't find any. Apart from their obvious fashion senses, they were like the same person. Completely identical. 

Lily reached us and waved at Travis. "Hey, Travis."

"Hey, Lily." he replied. 

She met my eyes casually, and kept them on me as she strolled past with her stack of books. I stared after her, swallowing down my pride.

"I'm going to talk to her." I said.

Travis protested, but I'd stopped listening to him, and paying attention to his existence. I ran backward and jumped out into the direct path of Lily and attempted to speak but she just raised her eyebrow at me as she carried on walking by. 

I clenched my hand into a fist for a moment and I took a deep breath. I ran to catch up to her and she stopped still, turning around with a sharp glare. "Stalking is illegal."

"I just wanted to apologize," I said. "For mistaking you for your sister."

"So, you finally figured it out?" she said, her eyes gleamed with amusement, which set my anxiety at ease. "How's the headache?"

"It's better," I laughed. "I made myself look a complete idiot."

"Nah. I'm used to it. I'm not used to this, though. Usually the only reason boys speak to me is because they think I'm her, and they don't usually come back when I explain how wrong they are." She narrowed her eyes at me, trying to figure something out. "So, why did you come back? I'm guessing it's not just to apologize."

That caught me off guard. I swallowed down the words before I managed to pluck them back up my throat. "Travis said you were cool."

"I am cool," she laughed, then winked. "The coolest person you might ever meet."

"Right." I opened my mouth in frustration, then closed it. 

She stood there, with a big grin, watching me fail at trying to speak. "Are you. . . okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? You look sweaty." She ran a finger down her face. "Like, everywhere."

"It's a hot day, isn't it?" I said, running a hand across my forehead. "So, hot."

She raised an eyebrow, glaring up at the cloudy skies. "No," she laughed, staring up. "It looks like it's going to rain actually. I love rain. Once, when I was seven or eight, I tried to climb out of my bedroom window to the roof just to be closer to the sky, because I thought that I'd be able to see God crying. I believed anything. Ah, good times. I fell, of course, I was in hospital for days."

When her eyes came back down, I'd turned into a human statue. "Jason?" she said, waving a hand at my face.

"Mhm."

"What's your favorite season? Don't say summer or I will hit you with these books," she said in a fast, chirpy voice. "Summer is predictable and boring. Although, I do think I've tanned a little since it started perking up. I like dancing in the rain, though. Dancing in the sun is okay, but the sun blurs my sight and I can't see properly, resulting in a fall. I fall a lot. What was my question? Oh, yes, your favorite season."

"Uh. . . fall."

Her eyes lit up. "There's hope for you yet."

She gave me a smile before turning and walking through the car lot toward the pedestrian path that lead out onto the main road. Suddenly, Travis hit my shoulder and his brown, amused eyes met mine carefully.

"Told you," he said.

"Yep. She's so different."

"If you're into that annoying, happy-go-lucky type." He sighed. "Seriously, she doesn't shut up. She's crazy, like crazy crazy. She's probably going home to stare at the sky and find some rabbit clouds."

He laughed, hitting my shoulder again, but I didn't find it funny. He noticed my pause, the rub of my lip, and he began distancing himself, wandering off toward his own car at the other side of the car lot. As I turned back around, I caught Rosie staring at me from the steps, and then she was coming toward me, leaving Luke to disperse back to his senior idiots. 

"Oi!" she shouted. 

I tried to ignore her, to get back to my car before she was in strangling range, but she reached me just as I unlocked it. 

"Why was you talking to my sister?"

I opened my car door and she slammed it back shut, forcing me to meet her furious, blue eyes that gave me a blurry headache. 

"I asked you a question."

"Is there a problem?" 

"Yes," she said, like it was obvious. "You better not have upset her."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why would I upset her?"

"Because I know your type. I'm dating one. People like you have been bullying her for years, and if I find out you've been mocking her, then I will kick you in your small dick so hard that you'll be too embarrassed to ever use it again."

"She was bullied?" I said, baffled by that. "I didn't know. Seriously, I would have stopped it. I'm not like the others."

She scanned my face, employing a mental truth finder. "Of course you're like the others. What other purpose of existence is there for you? Guys like you never speak to my sister. So, what do you want from her?"

"Did it cross your mind that I might actually like her?" I shrugged. "She's cool."

"Cool?" She shook her head, dismissing that word. "Nah, I don't buy it. She might act confident and happy but she's fragile, naive. Makes it easy for guys like you to manipulate her. It's happened before."

"Is that why you're dating Luke?" I raised an eyebrow. "He's one of the most popular guys in the school. I bet that comes in handy for protection."

"That's non of your business."

"You're in a relationship with a guy you can't stand because you're protecting your sister. That's a big sacrifice."

She crossed her arms, baffled that I'd worked it out. "She's been through a lot, okay?" she said quietly, calmly. "The last thing she needs is some popular jerk making her a laughing stock of the school."

"I was just speaking to her," I said. "It was literally just a conversation."

"Good. Keep it that way. Or you'll have me to answer to."

She delivered her threat seriously and spun around, holding down her skirt as the wind picked up. I opened my car door and ducked down inside, slamming it shut and taking deep breaths. That was a fascinating experience, surreal. Travis was right, they couldn't be more different. The fact they looked the same had nothing to do with it, it was hard to believe they were even related, let alone twins. 

As much as Rosie's words stung my head, and I was alerted to the prospect that Lily had been profoundly bullied, it didn't scare me off.

She'd have to do better than that. 

+ + +

And she did.