Double Trouble

I dedicate this book to my incredible son, Cree,

and my lovely and supportive husband, Cory.

—Tia

To my entire family—my mother, Darlene; father,
Timothy; my brothers, Tahj and Tavior; sister, Tia;
husband, Adam; son, Aden; and daughter, Ariah.

—Tamera

“DID YOU GUYS
ever hear of the Birthday Paradox?” Liam asked through a mouthful of half-chewed rice.

I added another dab of hot sauce to my burrito. It was Tex-Mex Thursday, and even though I'd only been at Aura Middle School for a little over three weeks, I'd already learned to ask the cafeteria ladies for extra spice. Nothing bums me out like a bland burrito.

“The birthday what?” I said.

“The Birthday Paradox.” Bianca didn't bother looking up from her book, which she was reading between bites of food. “Yeah, I've heard of it.”

“Not me.” I shrugged. “What is it?”

“It's an equation that proves if you have twenty-three random people in a room, there's a fifty-percent chance at least two of them will share the same birthday,” Liam said. “It's a probability theory.”

Typical Liam—he was supersmart, but unlike most supersmart people, he assumed everyone was just as smart as him. It was sweet, though occasionally confusing—sort of like Liam O'Day himself. I considered myself lucky that he'd been the first friend I'd made after moving to Aura, Texas. He'd introduced me to Bianca Ramos, who was just as nice, though a lot quieter.

“Twenty-three people, huh?” I capped the hot sauce. “In my house, all we need is two people to make it a hundred-percent chance—as long as those two people are me and Cassie.”

Liam let out his snorty laugh, flipping his messy red hair off his forehead. “Good one, Caitlyn!”

Bianca glanced at me. “It must be weird sharing your birthday with a twin.”

“Not really.” I shrugged. “I mean, not to us. We're used to it, you know?”

“So what are you going to do to celebrate the big 1-2?” Liam asked.

“Not sure yet. My birthday kind of snuck up on me this year.” I poked a black bean back into my burrito. “Cass and I usually throw a party together or something, but we haven't even talked about it yet.”

My gaze wandered across the crowded cafeteria. My sister was sitting at the big table dead smack in the middle of the room, where the most popular sixth graders hung out.

That was new. At least sort of. For the first week or so after we'd moved to this tiny town, Cassie had seemed determined to live up to the
lone
in “Lone Star State.” No friends, no fun, no way. She was that sure we'd be moving back to San Antonio once our mother realized how lame this place was. It had never seemed to occur to her that Mom might
actually
like
living in a small town. Or that I might, too. Or that she might not totally hate it herself.

Then again, I wasn't too shocked by her reaction. The move had been a surprise for both of us, and Cassie didn't always handle surprises well. Oh, don't get me wrong—we were both used to moving. Mom had been in the army since before we were born, which meant we'd lived all over the country.

But we'd been in San Antonio for almost three years—a record for us. When Mom retired from the military and went to the police academy, we'd figured the city was home sweet home for good. Things didn't turn out that way, though. There weren't any open spots on the force there, and Mom had landed a job in Aura instead.

I'd tried to make the best of things from the start. It's just what I do. Cassie? Not so much. Our mom says she was born looking for the dark cloud behind the silver lining. She could be stubborn as a three-legged mule, too. And she'd been certain from the start that living in Aura was going to be about as pleasant as wet socks. To be honest, I still
wasn't sure what had changed her mind. But I was glad she'd finally decided to fit in. And not at all surprised that she'd wormed her way into the popular crowd lickety-split.

Liam's gaze followed mine over to Cassie. “Do you share your presents, too?” he asked.

“No way,” I said. “Good thing. Cassie and I don't exactly have the same taste, if you hadn't noticed.”

Not anymore, anyway. Once upon a time, we'd loved being twins. We'd been best friends and done everything together. We'd even dressed alike as often as Mom would let us.

When had that changed? I couldn't quite recall. These days we still looked alike, with matching big brown eyes and skinny legs. But everything else about us was different.

Okay, wait. Maybe we did have one other thing in common lately. One
major
thing.

“So what about your dad?” Liam asked. “Does he visit or send you stuff on your birthday?”

I blinked, startled. “My dad?”

Bianca nudged Liam. “Don't be so nosy,” she
muttered. “We don't even know if . . .” She glanced at me and shrugged. “You never talk about your father.”

True enough. “Yeah, sorry. I probably should've said something sooner.” I tried to sound normal. “He died years ago. When Cass and I were babies.”

“Oh!” Liam's eyes widened. “I just figured your folks were divorced like mine. Sorry.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Bianca said softly, not quite meeting my eyes.

For a second she looked really sad and sort of distant, which was kind of weird. As far as I knew, both her parents were still totally alive and happily married right there in Aura, Texas. Maybe she was thinking about a grandparent who'd passed on or something. Whatever—I wasn't going to pry. Especially since I didn't want them to ask me any more questions either. Like how my dad died, or what he'd done for a living, or what he was like. Little stuff like that. None of which I knew the answer to. Weird, right?

But that was how it was. For as long as I could remember, our mom had refused to talk about him.
No matter what we asked, all she'd say was, “We'll discuss it when you're older.” For some reason, she'd made up her mind that the whole topic was off-limits. And when Deidre Waters set her mind to something, it stayed set. Period, full stop, and woe to the girl who tried to push her.

Just about all Cassie and I knew about our dad was that his name was John Thompson, and that Mom met him while she was stationed overseas when she first joined the army. We also knew that he was white, with sandy hair and a square jaw. But only because Cassie talked me into sneaking into Mom's room when we were six or seven and peeking at the wedding photo packed away in a big box on the top shelf that we were
absolutely not
supposed to touch. Mom never found out about that. At least we don't think she did. Although the next time Cass tried to find that box, it was gone, so who knows.

Anyway, since Mom wouldn't tell us anything, Cass and I made up all kinds of wild, crazy, romantic stuff about our dad. Like that he was an international spy who saved the world on a regular basis.
Or a pirate who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Or a movie star who was always off shooting fabulous films in exotic locations. But lately, we didn't talk to each other about our father much. What was the point?

“I'll have to get with Cass about next weekend's party plans,” I told my friends, taking a bite of my burrito as I changed the subject. “Whatever we're doing, y'all are invited for sure.”

I hoped Cassie was okay with that. She seemed to think my new friends were nerds. So what if they were? I liked them, and that was all that mattered.

Liam stabbed a stray bean with his fork. “Maybe you guys should do a movie party. You could make it a monster-movie theme and tell people to come in costume. I still have this awesome Godzilla suit from last Halloween.”

I grinned, imagining what Cassie would say to that idea. As tough as she liked to act, scary movies freaked her out. Even cheesy monster ones.

“I'll take it under advisement,” I told Liam, scooping up all the hot sauce that had dripped out of my
burrito. “Any other ideas?”

“There's a new minigolf place over the other side of Six Oaks.”

“Hmm.” Miniature golf actually sounded kind of fun. I made a mental note to mention it to Cass. “Okay, that's another one for the list. Next?”

As usual, Liam was full of ideas, and we spent the rest of lunch discussing party plans. Bianca had less to say, though she did veto Liam's suggestion of an insect cuisine cook-off—apparently he'd seen something on TV about how nutritious and ecologically correct it was to turn our six-legged friends into a major part of our diet.

I had to agree with Bianca on the bug thing. Otherwise I didn't care what we did as long as everyone had fun. I couldn't wait to figure out a plan with Cassie—just like old times.

The thought made me smile. That was one good thing about the crazy stuff that had been happening to me and Cassie lately. It had brought us together again, just when I was afraid she'd drifted so far away I barely knew her anymore.

As I followed my friends out of the cafeteria, someone grabbed my arm. It was Ms. Xavier. She was my homeroom teacher and also taught social studies. With her wild, wavy hair, jangling bracelets, and flowing boho skirts, she stood out among the other teachers like a peacock among chickens. Her style wasn't really my thing, but I had to admire her for following her own drummer.

“Cassie Waters!” she exclaimed in her loud, enthusiastic voice. “I wanted to talk to you before—oh!” Her kohl-lined eyes widened, and she laughed. “Sorry, Caitlyn. I thought you were your twin for a second.”

I smiled politely. Cass and I used to get mistaken for each other all the time back in the days when we dressed alike and wore our hair the same way. Now? Not so much. Most people caught on quickly that Cass was the sister who was always decked out in the latest fashions, while I was the one who went for a more comfortable, classic look. But like I said, Ms. Xavier's personal style was so far out there that she probably didn't really notice the difference.

“I think Cassie already left.” I hoped Ms. Xavier wasn't looking for Cass because of some kind of problem. Social studies had never been one of my sister's best subjects.

“It's all right; she has my class next,” the teacher said. “I'll catch up with her there. But as long as I have you, Caitlyn, I want to talk to you, too.”

“Um, okay.” I hoped she didn't have too much to say. I had to head to math, and Ms. Church was tough on tardiness. “What is it?”

“Have you decided on a topic for your research project yet?” she asked.

Every sixth grader was supposed to do a written and oral report on a topic related to US history, society, or culture. Bianca already had her project on the Civil War half done, though most people were still in the planning stages since the project wasn't due for over a month.

“Um, not yet, but I'm narrowing it down,” I said. “I was thinking about doing something on Lewis and Clark, or maybe the Alamo, since I used to live near—”

“Great, great,” she broke in, nodding like a bobblehead. “But before you settle on anything, I had a thought. Twins are such an interesting aspect of human society. Maybe you could do your project on well-known American twins? For instance, there are those twin astronauts, or the former mayor of San Antonio and his twin who became a congressman, and I'm sure there are others.” She squeezed my elbow. “Perhaps you could even look into whether being a twin helped lead to their success.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, a little confused. “How would being a twin make a difference?”

Her smile broadened. “Well, I was thinking about everything I've read and heard about twins having special powers and thought it would be fascinating to look into that aspect of things, you know?”

I gulped, suddenly very aware of her hand on my arm. Special powers? She didn't know the half of it!

It had all started about six months earlier. I began getting visions of people when I touched them—whether it was a hug, a handshake, or just a brief pat
on the arm—and these visions came true. It didn't happen every time I touched someone, but when it did, the person I was touching would fade away and be replaced by a different vision of that person. For instance, one time I'd been talking to Cassie when I suddenly got a vision of her coming home with an A on a test. And then a couple of days later, it had actually happened.

The first few times, I'd thought it was a coincidence—just a weird daydream or something. It was only after we moved to Aura that I discovered Cassie was having these visions, too, and we realized we were seeing the future.

If that didn't qualify as a special power, what did?

If Ms. Xavier noticed my reaction, she didn't show it. She was smiling at me. I returned the smile uncertainly. “I'll think about it, I guess,” I said.

“Good, good!” She beamed at me. “And, listen, if you and Cassie want to work together on it, I'd be happy to give you special permission. I know you two girls are in separate classes, and it's supposed to
be an individual project, but it would be much more powerful if both of you contributed, hmm?”

“Oh. Um, okay.” I wasn't sure what else to say. Being the only twins at AMS was kind of weird—almost like being celebrities or something. At our old school in San Antonio, there had been two other sets in our grade alone, plus some triplets in the eighth grade. Here? We were a novelty. It had been obvious since day one, when Ms. Xavier had introduced me to the class and then started babbling about twins having voodoo powers or something.

Ms. Xavier patted my arm. “If you're interested, I could help you come up with some ways to make the project more personal.”

“Personal?” I echoed.

She nodded. “There are numerous studies on nature versus nurture, of course. But I was just reading about a much more interesting experiment involving the telepathic bond between twins, and I thought—”

Just then, a kid rushed over. “Ms. X, I need to talk to you,” he said. “I lost my textbook, but it's totally
not my fault. Jason grabbed it away right when we were near the pond, and . . .”