Double Vision

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 our sweet baby girl.
—Tamera

“ARE YOU KIDDING me?” I exclaimed as Mom pulled up beside a small, ramshackle house. “This
so
can't be it.”

“Stop it, Cass.” My twin sister, Caitlyn, turned and frowned at me from the front seat. “Mom's stopping to check the directions. Right, Mom? I mean, obviously we're not going to live
here
.”

Our mother didn't answer as she stared at the house in front of us. If you could call it a house. Neither our bug-specked windshield nor the hazy,
late-September Texas air, thick as hot grits, was enough to disguise the ugly little place's crooked shutters, the mold-spotted siding, or the overgrown front yard. Even the driveway was weed choked. It didn't help that every other house on the block was perfect, with fresh paint and a tidy lawn.

Mom's silence confirmed my fears. “Oh, great. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse.”

“Enough, Cassie.” Mom's voice was clipped as she cut the engine. Her scarymama voice, Cait and I called it. “It's been a long day, and I'm not in the mood. It might not look quite like it did online, but we'll make it work.”

“Yeah,” Cait said after a moment. “Um, it has potential. I guess. . . .”

I blew out a sigh of annoyance. Couldn't she admit just once that something wasn't perfect? Cait had always been a glass-half-full kind of girl, but ever since Mom had announced this move—this stupid, crazy-bad-idea move—she'd become even more upbeat than usual.

Me? I'd spent most of the past few weeks locked in my room. Mostly trying to figure out if the state of Texas would allow a not-quite-twelve-year-old to live on her own so that I could stay in San Antonio. Not that Mom would ever allow it. But a girl could dream, right?

Anyway, it was no surprise that my sister and I didn't agree on the move. We didn't agree on much lately. Most people found it hard to believe that we could be so different, especially since we looked so much alike. As identical twins, we had the same big brown eyes, curly dark hair, and skinny legs. We had a few other things in common, too—we both loved dancing, spicy food, and singing in the church choir—but it stopped there.

When it came to our personalities, we were night and day. Our differences hadn't seemed to matter much when we were little; we were best friends and had shared everything. But the older we got, the less time we spent together.

Mom unhooked her seat belt and climbed out
of the car, stretching her arms over her head. It had been a long drive from San Antonio to the middle of freaking nowhere.

I still couldn't believe this was happening. When Mom had retired from the army a couple of years ago, I'd thought it was a good thing. No more worrying about her safety or moving every few years. She could even grow out her hair for a change, give up her boring army buzz and try some kinky twists or extensions, or maybe even a cool Afro.

She
had
grown out her hair a little, but the rest of the plan wasn't progressing quite the way I'd hoped. Mom had decided to go back to school—to the police academy. And when she graduated, it turned out to be harder than she thought to land a job in San Antonio, our home for the past two and a half years—a record for us. Instead she ended up getting recruited to fill a vacant spot in tiny Aura, Texas. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either. Like I said, middle of freaking nowhere.

“So where are the movers?” Caitlyn said, tightening her ponytail elastic. Several curly black tendrils
had already escaped and were sticking to her forehead in the heat. “I thought we were running late.”

“We are.” Mom sounded grim. “I guess they're late, too.”

For a second I kind of pitied the movers. Mom isn't the type of customer who settles for shoddy service. Almost twenty years in the US Army had made her appreciate promptness. I mean, she was known to ground me and Cait if we were even one second late for curfew.

Not that I would have to worry about that sort of thing anymore. I had a feeling I wasn't going to have much of a social life in this remote town. This did not look like a place fun ever visited.

Forget it,
I told myself, kicking a pebble into the long grass.
Play it cool, girl. Mom may have lost her mind, but I'm sure it's temporary. After all, she's a city girl, too. She'll definitely hate it here, which means we'll be back in San Antonio before Christmas.

The thought made me feel only slightly better. I already missed my friends, my school, my cozy lavender-walled bedroom in our old apartment—my
whole life, pretty much. I was sure Cait and Mom had to be feeling the same way, even if they wouldn't admit it.

“Let's take a look inside,” Mom said, checking her watch. “The kitchen looked nice in the pictures.”

The kitchen was small and dingy, and it looked like there was mouse poop on the stove. Yuck. That just goes to show that you shouldn't believe anything you see online. I hoped there were some decent take-out places nearby.

Mom started opening drawers and peering into cabinets. Dust was flying, making my nose tickle. I stepped past her to look into the living room. Like everything else in the house, it was teeny. The carpet had once been white, or maybe beige, but now it was just plain gross.

“Look, a fireplace!” Cait exclaimed, coming to join me in the archway between the kitchen and living room. “That's cool.”

“Yeah, because a roaring fire would really feel awesome right now.” I rolled my eyes and wiped the sweat off my forehead. “So where are our rooms?”

“Your bedroom should be at the back of the house.” Mom's muffled voice drifted out of the refrigerator.

I followed my sister down the narrow hallway as we explored the place. The first doorway we passed showed a cramped, puke-green-tiled bathroom that looked like it had been installed when my great-grammy Rose was young.

“This is an epic disaster,” I muttered.

“Don't be such a downer, Cassie,” Cait said. “This isn't the end of the world, you know.”

“Whatever,” I said, opening the next door we passed. “This one must be Mom's room.”

There were two more doors left. When Caitlyn opened the one at the end of the hall, we saw that it led out onto a rickety deck overlooking the backyard.

I opened the remaining door, and inside was a small room containing two twin beds with bare mattresses.

“Wait,” Cait said. “Where's the other bedroom?”

“I don't know, but it's got to be better than this one,” I said. “I call dibs.”

Just then Mom caught up to us. “Listen, girls,” she said, clearing her throat. “There's something I've been meaning to tell you. . . .”

Uh-oh. Even Cait looked worried. The last time Mom began a sentence that way was when she first told us we were moving.

“What?” I asked.

“I tried to find a three-bedroom house,” Mom said. “But there aren't many rentals to choose from, and we didn't have much time to find something, and, well . . .”

“Hold on,” I said. “Are you saying what I
think
you're saying?”

“We have to share a room?” Caitlyn cried out, sounding almost as horrified as I felt.

“Sorry, girls,” Mom said, but she didn't sound that sorry. “There's no need to overreact here. You two have shared a bedroom before.”

“Yeah, when we were
six
!” I exclaimed. “Get real, Mom. I can't live with her—she's a total slob!”

“Better than being an obsessive neat freak!” Cait shot back, her lower lip quivering.

“Enough.” Mom sounded stern. “I don't need a snit right now. You both need to buck up and deal with it.”

“No way,” I blurted out, tears forming behind my eyes. “Seriously, this has to be a joke.”

I could feel my face getting hot, and I knew I had to get out of there fast, before I totally lost it. Pushing past my mother and sister, I raced for the door and ran out.