Take Two (3 page)

Gasp!
I hadn't thought of that.

“Or since it's the guidance office, maybe they're going to tell us that this is going to go on our college records?” Payton continued.

My throat made kind of a strangled noise and I put my head in my hands. Now I felt like I was really going to pass out.

Suddenly we heard a voice approaching.

“And I mean BIG trouble.” It was Counselor Case, and she walked in through the open door.

Payton and I both started talking at once.

“We didn't mean to cause big trouble,” my twin said.

“We're really not troublemakers,” I wailed. I started to hyperventilate again. Clearly, my brain could not save me this time.

“Girls! Girls! I think there's a misunderstanding,” Counselor Case said. “I wasn't referring to you.”

What? I looked up.

Two boys walked into the room and stood near her desk. They looked like they were about eight, with reddish hair. They were both wearing light blue Polo shirts and khaki-and-blue plaid shorts.

Payton and I gave each other a knowing look. They were definitely identical twins.

“The identical twins who are in big trouble are these two boys here.” Counselor Case sighed. “This is Mason next to me, and that's Jason.”

“Hi,” the boys both said politely.

“Hi, Mason,” Payton said, carefully looking at the right one. “Hi, Jason.”

Ooh, my sister was clever, showing the boys that she cared enough not to mix them up. I, on the other hand, said nothing. Little kids and me? Not on the same wavelength.

“These are my twin sons,” Counselor Case explained. “They're having a few identical twin challenges of their own. And while I know you're supposed to be in detention, I thought perhaps you might want some school service instead.”

“Mason's tutor quit,” Jason said. “And our mom heard
one
of you was really smart.”

That would be me.

“Jason!” Counselor Case stammered. “Both of them are very smart. Of course, all children have their talents and gifts as well as their learning challenges. But Emma and Payton, how would you feel about being reassigned from detention to provide a school service?”

“Great!” Payton and I both said. Obviously.

“Let's say . . .” Counselor Case looked at us. “Just randomly . . . Emma, you can tutor Mason in math.”

Random
would mean that there was an equal probability of Payton and me being chosen. Ha, she wasn't being random at all. Statistically I was one hundred percent the math choice. Statistics was one of my passions. I smiled just thinking about it.

“And Payton, you can babysit Jason,” the counselor said.

“Wait!” Jason said. “How come I don't get a math tutor?”

“Erm,” Counselor Case said, and lowered her voice. “Honey, you don't need a math tutor.”

“But that's not fair if he gets a tutor and I only get a babysitter,” Jason said. “I want a math tutor.”

“Well, okay, I can tutor math,” Payton offered. “What are you learning? Adding? Subtracting?”

“Can you tutor me in algebra?” he asked her.

I choked, covering it up with a fake coughing fit. Algebra is taught in eighth or ninth grade and Payton is only in seventh-grade math. Barely.

“Jason is slightly advanced for his age in math,” Counselor Case said. “Mason needs the math help—”

Ah. Mason = the nongenius twin. Jason = the genius twin. Got it.

“To be honest I was also hoping to transfer Emma's joy for math to Mason as well,” Counselor Case said. “Do you have joy for math, Payton?”

I snorted. Payton kicked me.

“Why am I being punished?” Jason whined. “I want a math tutor, too,” he said again.

“Well, Jason,” Payton said in a talking-to-little-kids voice. “If you want a tutor, you know who is really good at math?”

“Pythagoras?” Jason replied.

“No, I meant Emma!” Payton said. “Emma could tutor you, too, and spread her joy for math to both of you.”

I shot her a look. Payton smiled smugly at me.

“Fine, Jason, you also can be tutored by Emma,” Counselor Case said, looking a little weary. “We'll set up a week-by-week schedule for Emma and both boys.”

“I'll put it in my planner,” I said.

Counselor Case turned around and started entering the dates on her wall calendar. And when she wasn't watching, the twins started going at it.

I watched Mason poke Jason. Jason kicked him back. Mason balled his hands into a fist and—

“Boys!” I said sharply. Whew! That startled them. “Bring your notebooks, math textbooks, and freshly sharpened pencils.”

There. I sounded professionally tutorlike. I was confident about the math. It was the Mason/Jason part that somewhat freaked me out. And what about Payton? Was she going to have to go to detention, after all?

I looked over at Payton. She looked nervous.

“Payton, we need to find a suitable activity for you,” Counselor Case said, flipping through a binder on her desk. “Football, no. Do you speak German? No? Hmm, Drama Club is starting. . . .”

“I could join Drama Club,” Payton offered.

Hey! Payton already had wanted to join Drama Club, but she couldn't because of detention. Wasn't she supposed to be punished? Why was I going to be stuck with these small creatures while she got what she'd wanted?

“Drama Club is an excellent idea, Payton,” she said. “We'll set up a schedule for you, too. I'm just going to drop off some paperwork and I'll be right back.”

Counselor Case stood up and walked out of the room.

Payton, the boys, and I sat there and looked at each other. And then one of them talked.

“Are you two identical?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Just like you guys.”

“No, you look different.
Her
nose is fatter than hers,” Mason said, pointing first to Payton, then to me. “But the other one's fingers are stubbier.”

“Mason!” I exclaimed. “You guys of all people should know how awkward it is to have people compare you with your twin.”

“Duh,” Mason said. “They're always like, ‘Mason, how come you have such a doofus for a twin?'”

“
I'm
the doofus? You're so dumb the last tutor quit because she couldn't teach you,” Jason retorted.

Mason jumped up, fist clenched.

“Guys!” Payton said. “GUYS! Enough! Stop picking on each other. Be nice!”

The boys sat down. Good job, Payton. The boys were
silent. Then Mason turned to his brother and broke the silence.

“Doesn't it weird you out that her left eye is bigger?” he asked. “But the other one's right eye is bigger?”

“It is?” Payton and I each clutched one eye.

“Look, her eye twitches when she's freaked.” Mason laughed. “And that one chews her hair.”

Payton clutched her other eye as I dropped my piece of hair.

The door opened again and Counselor Case walked back in.

“Did you have a chance for twin bonding?” She smiled at all of us. “You identical twins always have those special twin stories that the rest of us can't understand.”

“Oh, we're bonding.” I gave a sickly little smile. Bonding like two electrons with a negative charge. Which, as everyone knows, repel each other.

I had to keep up a happy appearance, however. Because not only did a counselor have the power to get me out of detention, I realized something else. As my guidance counselor, she would be guiding my middle school career—recommending me for enrichment classes and academic camps and all of the stuff that would go on my record for college.

Counselor Case held my entire future in her hands. I glanced down at my lucky shirt to remind me of my strength in pressure situations.

“Jason and Mason?” I said.

The boys eyed me suspiciously.

“Did you know that Payton's and my age squared minus your age squared equals ten times your age?”

Counselor Case smiled. Payton rolled her eyes. Mason groaned loudly.

“Duh,” Jason said.

“Well, I think we are in business,” said Counselor Case. “Boys, say good-bye to Payton and Emma.”

“Good-bye, Pain-ton and Elmo,” one of the boys said as the other one laughed.

We got out of there. Fast. As we headed down the hallway we could hear the counselor saying something to the boys. She did not sound happy.

“Payton,” I said. “I'm going to be tutoring the monster twins. Whose mother holds the key to my college future in her hands.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess you can't mess up or it will really screw things up for you,” Payton said cheerfully.

I glared at her. She didn't seem too sympathetic.

“You're thinking about how you get to go to Drama Club instead, aren't you?” I accused her. People always wondered if twins could read each other's mind, but it didn't take a genius to figure that one out.

“No,” Payton said. “Okay, yes. And I was also thinking about how for once it's good that I stink at math, so I don't have to tutor those boys.”

“I'm doomed,” I moaned as we neared our lockers. “I know zero about boys.”

“I've noticed,” Payton said. “But you're about to get some practice.”

What? Oh. Whoa.

Walking down the hall toward us was Ox.

“Hey, Emma,” he said. “Hey, Payton.”

“Oh . . . ahhh . . . h-hi,” I stuttered. Pull yourself together, Emma. “Well, hello, Ox.”

That didn't sound much better.

“Hi, Ox,” Payton said, not sounding like a stammering idiot.

“I'm done with practice,” Ox said. “Are you guys going to the bus? I'm heading over there.”

I looked at Ox, in his blue button-down shirt and jeans. I quickly looked at my watch. There was still ten minutes left until the late bus dismissal. I shot a look at Payton.

“Emma is,” Payton said. “And I was just heading to the snack machines, so I'll see you on the bus, Emma. Bye, Ox!”

She left.

So, it was me and Ox. Ox and me. The football player I'd gotten to know during our twin-switching. Even though Ox had originally thought I was Payton, it turned out he liked me—the
real
me. Emma.

But I still wasn't sure if he
like
liked me. At least, like I
like
liked him. I mean, just because he happened to be walking down the hall doesn't mean . . . He was just being polite by stopping to chat, right? Right? Did he just happen to be here? Oh, this is confusing. It was still hard to believe I
had a crush on someone named
Ox
, which sounds like a big, dumb jock, but only the jock part is true. Payton told me the team quarterback has to be pretty smart to remember the plays.

“Emma, I—,” Ox started to say.

I turned to look at him. Boy, was he cute. His hair was all rumpled from practice and he was so muscley and—

Clannnng! Clannnng!
The late-dismissal bell went off.

Ox's lips were moving, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

The bell stopped. There was an awkward silence. What? What had he been saying?

Emma, I was wondering if you want to go out with me? . . . Emma, do you think Sydney would go out with me? . . . Emma, I . . .
What?!?!?!

“Hang on, I have a text,” Ox said, pulling out a black cell. “Oh, my mom's picking me up instead. She's out front. So, I better go.”

Ox was leaving! I had to say something!

“Ox!” I blurted out. Um. “Ox! Did you know there's a Festival of the Ox in Brazil? It attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.”

Oh. My. Gosh. Why did I have to blurt out geek trivia whenever I panicked? I felt my face—no, my whole self—turn red with embarrassment.

“You know about the Boi Bumba festival?” Ox asked. “I'm planning to go there to celebrate when I get older.”

“Well, it is a celebration of you,” I agreed.

We smiled at each other.

“And
boi
is the Portuguese word for ‘ox,'” I continued, encouraged. “Which is appropriate because, well, you're a boy. So you could be a boy
boi
. I mean, a girl
boi
would be weird, right? Ha! A girl
boi
!”

Ox's smile faltered a bit.

Speaking of weird . . . I willed myself to just shut up.

“I better go,” he said, and waved.

Bye.
Boi
.

I slunk away in the opposite direction, toward the late bus. First, twin boy troublemakers. And now Boi Bumba babbling. Sigh. Why couldn't boys be as simple as math?

Payton

Three

AFTER SCHOOL

“Give me an
M
!” Emma said to me.

I gave her a look. We were both at our lockers putting away our stuff and getting ready for our after-school activities. Emma had mathletes starting in a half hour, and she was heading to the library to wait until it started.

“Give me an
A
!” she persisted. “Give me a
T
and a
H
! Go, mathletes!”

“Emma, shush,” I said. “Haven't we had enough people staring at us today? Besides, mathletes don't have cheerleaders.”

“Mathletes have everything,” Emma said, putting her usual six thousand tons of books into her backpack. “We have intelligence, enthusiasm, and new scientific calculators. Woohoo!”

She punched the air awkwardly. Sydney had no worries
about Emma joining cheerleading, that was for sure.

“Hey, are you those two twins from TV?” some boy passing us asked.

“No,” I replied. “Today, we are not even remotely related.”

I slammed my locker shut.

“Payton,” Emma said. “I'm sorry if my enthusiasm for academics embarrasses you. Things have been such a downer lately, I just lost myself in a rare moment of happiness. I didn't mean to embarrass you.”