Double Vision (3 page)

“HERE WE ARE,” Liam announced, leading me into the classroom. “Your new homeroom.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks for showing me the way.”

“Sure. Want to sit with us? Me and Bianca, I mean. We always sit here in the front.”

He headed toward a dark-haired girl bent over a book. I followed, feeling almost normal. It was amazing how one friendly face could help change your attitude.

Especially since Liam hadn't even mentioned the embarrassing incident the other day. Ever since having that weird vision, I'd been pretty nervous about starting school. Why did something like that have to happen in front of three soon-to-be classmates? It was bad enough it was happening at all.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, trying not to think about it. But it was getting harder and harder each time to blame it on being tired, hungry, or wired from too much sugar.

The first time it had happened, maybe six months earlier, I'd actually thought it was a dream. I'd had the flu, and awakened from a restless sleep to find my mom pressing her hand against my forehead, checking my fever. The weird buzzing noise had kicked in with a frenzy, and my vision swam. There seemed to be two Moms leaning over me—one of them looked concerned, while the other was smiling. The two versions fought for my attention until she finally left the room and I drifted back to sleep.

I'd forgotten all about it until it happened a second time—only this time I'd been wide awake. I was
at the dentist's office, and the hygienist had just stuck her hands in my mouth, ready to go to work. All of a sudden two versions of her came into view. One version of the hygienist was fainter as she peered at my teeth and chatted while the other version of her was laughing hysterically. It lasted until she stepped back to let me rinse, and I felt paralyzed, shocked by the whole experience.

Finally, there was the weirdest one—the thing with Cass. It was a couple of days before Mom told us about the move. Cassie had been studying for the first big social studies test of the year and was kind of freaking out about it—social studies wasn't her best subject. So I'd given her my notes to help her out, but when her hand brushed against mine, suddenly there were two versions of my twin facing me. One still looked grumpy and worried, and sort of faded into the background, while the other, a much happier Cass, was waving a test paper in front of me with a big, blue A scrawled at the top. That Cass was so bright she didn't look real.

I guess Cass noticed I was acting strange,
because she abruptly yanked her hand away and told me I was freaking her out, staring like that. So I joked that I was practicing positive thinking, trying to imagine her doing a great job on the test. But you know what? It actually happened. Two days later we got those tests back, and Cass got an A, just like in my vision. Weird coincidence, right?

And weird enough to make me feel more than a little uneasy. Especially since the vision of Cass had been the brightest and strongest yet.

As those memories skittered through my mind, we reached Liam's desk. There weren't many other students in the room yet, but his friend Bianca looked as if she'd settled in awhile ago. A book was open in front of her, and she was sipping from a water bottle as she read. She was short and slim, with sleek dark hair pulled back from her face and a mishmash of colorful plastic barrettes. Her feet were resting on an instrument case under the desk.

“Hey, Bianca,” Liam said loudly as he collapsed into his seat. “There's a new student. Caitlyn Waters, meet Bianca Ramos.”

Bianca stuck a finger between the pages of her book, clearly marking her place. She studied me, looking me up and down. She didn't smile, but didn't frown either.

“Hi,” she said in a quiet, surprisingly deep voice. “Welcome to Aura. Where'd you come from?”

“San Antonio,” I replied. “We moved here two days ago.”

“Here—sit between us so we can both talk to you.” Liam lunged out of his seat, moving over.

“Thanks.” I sat down in the vacant chair and set my backpack on the desk. More kids were streaming in.

“San Antonio, huh?” Liam said. “That's cool. That's where we're going for our class trip—you know, the one we were raising money for the other day?”

My smile wavered slightly. That was his first mention of the Incident. But still, he looked friendly and normal, and not at all judgy. Maybe it hadn't been as bad as I'd thought. Maybe if Liam had already forgotten about it, those girls would, too.
Maybe someday soon we'd all be laughing about it together.

“Yeah, I remember you guys mentioning the class trip,” I said cautiously. “Um, so those girls you were with—are you guys all pretty good friends?”

Bianca's gaze had drifted back to her book, but now she glanced at Liam with interest. “Which girls?” she asked him. “I thought you were working the grocery store with Josh and Goober.”

“Nuh-uh.” Liam shrugged. “Ms. Xavier said they had enough people, so she asked me to team up with Megan March and Lavender Adams.”

Bianca let out a snort. “Oh. Poor you.”

Okay, so they
weren't
all friends. I probably shouldn't have been surprised. Mom always told us not to judge people by their appearances, but Cassie claimed she could spot a nerd at fifty paces. And as much as I liked him, I had to admit that Liam was, well, not particularly un-nerdy, if you know what I mean. And now that I thought about it, Megan and Lavender hadn't really seemed like the kind of girls who hung out with people like him.

I looked up as three boys rushed in, talking and laughing loudly. They were all probably twice Liam's size, but besides their broad shoulders and long legs, they didn't look much alike. One boy was super pale, with light-blond hair and blue eyes. The second had olive skin and wavy brown hair, and the third had even darker skin and super-close-buzzed hair.

They jostled and shoved one another playfully as they made their way to the back of the room. Another boy had stalked in just ahead of them. “Watch it, Jock Breath,” he said with a scowl as the blond kid bumped into him. The kid who'd spoken was short and beefy, with greasy brown hair and jeans tucked into his cowboy boots.

The jocks ignored him completely, and the kid's scowl grew even darker. He stomped to a desk near the windows and slammed his books onto it.

“That's Gabe,” Bianca said quietly. “He's got an attitude about the B Boys.” She grimaced. “And everything else, too, pretty much.”

“The B Boys?” My gaze shifted back to the three jocks who were taking their seats in the back row.

“That's what everybody calls them,” Liam said. “Their names are Buzz, Biff, and Brent.” He ticked off each name on one skinny finger. “Plus Brayden, of course, but he's not in this homeroom. But they're all on the football team together.”

“Yeah,” Bianca said. “Gabe tried out for the team, but he got cut.”

Liam nodded. “Everyone was pretty surprised since his uncle was the star of the team back in his day.”

“Right,” Bianca said. “And nobody was more surprised than Gabe.” The corners of her mouth twitched, though it didn't quite turn into a smile. “Ever since, Gabe's really had it in for the guys who made it—not that they seem to notice or care.”

“So football is a big deal here, huh?” I said, my mind drifting to the games and pep rallies at my old school, which had always been super fun.

This time Bianca's mouth twitched all the way into a wry half smile. “What do you think? This is Texas.” She turned to Liam. “So how were Megan and Lav? I'm surprised you survived a whole
afternoon with them.”

“Are those two really that bad?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“Megan's okay, mostly,” Liam said. “She's probably the most popular girl in the sixth grade. Her family practically founded this town back in the Alamo days.” He hesitated. “And Lavender is, um—”

“Here,” Bianca interrupted, nodding toward the door.

Looking over, I saw Lavender walking in with a couple of other girls. She saw me, too.

“How'd
you
get here so fast, freak?” she said loudly, glaring at me.

For a second I didn't understand what she meant. It had been like a day and a half since I'd seen her at the fund-raising stand.

“Didn't you hear me?” she said when I didn't answer, her voice getting even louder. “I said, how'd you get here before me? I came straight from the stairs, and you were standing there like a doofus when I left.”

Wait. Oh. Right.

“Uh, that was probably my sister,” I said.

“Yeah,” Liam piped up. “They're identical twins! We've never had twins in our class before.”

“Twins?” one of the other girls said in surprise.

“Twins,” Lavender said, like it was some kind of disease. “So which one of you was the freak I met on Monday?”

“That would be me,” I admitted weakly. “Sorry about that. I guess the heat got to me, and—”

Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned and saw that Mr. Bad Attitude, Gabe, had shot up in his chair. “Wait, did somebody say twins?” he called out. “Where?”

“Here,” I said, glad for an excuse to turn away from Lavender. “My sister, Cassie, and I just moved to town, and—”

“I know who you are!” Gabe leaped to his feet, stomping toward me, his boots clomping on the tile floor. “Your mom stole my uncle Chuck's job!”

“What?” I blurted out, having no idea what he was talking about. Judging by the expressions on Liam's and Bianca's faces, they didn't know either.
But it definitely couldn't be good news.

“Chill out, Gabe.” Lavender rolled her eyes. “I'm trying to deal with this freak, okay?”

“Get in line,” Gabe snarled. “Because if I have anything to say about it—”

“Attention, people!” a woman cried, striding into the room with her long, peasant-style dress flowing around her. “Take your seats; we have business before the announcements come on.”

Most of the kids scattered, even Lavender, though she shot me one last dirty look as she went. Only Gabe was left standing, beefy fists clenched at his sides.

“Mr. Campbell?” the teacher said, arching a drawn-on eyebrow at him. “Seat. Now.”

“Yes, Ms. Xavier,” Gabe muttered. But even as he stalked back to his seat, I could feel him glaring at the back of my head.

I tried to focus on the teacher as she beamed at me, clasping her hands in front of her. Every one of her fingers had a ring on it, most of them chunky and boho looking, with huge, colorful stones. Ms.
Xavier looked like she should be selling pottery or beaded jewelry in La Villita or Southtown, not teaching sixth grade in a small town. Her reddish-brown hair sprang out from her face in wild curls, and her Birkenstocks revealed that every toenail was painted a different color. She was awesome!

“You must be Caitlyn Waters,” she said. “Welcome to Aura Middle School!”

“Thanks,” I said. By now almost all the seats were full, and I could feel every set of eyes trained on me. I had an idea I knew what was coming next. . . .

“Why don't you stand up and tell us all a little bit about yourself, Caitlyn?” Ms. Xavier said cheerfully.

Yup. Why did teachers always do that to the new kid? And this time I didn't even have Cassie standing beside me. I wondered if another teacher was humiliating her in some other classroom right this second. Knowing I might as well get it over with, I crawled to my feet and forced a smile.

“Hi, y'all,” I said as cheerfully as I could. “Like she said, I'm Caitlyn Waters.”

I was trying not to meet anyone's eye, but I
couldn't help seeing that Lavender was still making smirky little faces at me. Turning to Liam and Bianca, I focused on them instead. Liam looked as friendly as ever, and Bianca gave me a nod and a small, sympathetic smile.

“So about me . . .” Even though Mom liked to claim I never stopped talking, I was never sure what to say in moments like this. Somehow I doubted anyone cared that I loved funny movies and dried chili flakes on my popcorn, or that I was a teensy bit afraid of squirrels. “I moved here from San Antonio, and I have an identical twin sister named Cassie,” I said. “I like to sing, and I played softball and ran track at my old school. Um, and—”

“Identical twins?” Ms. Xavier broke in. “How fascinating! Did you know that in the voodoo religion, twins are revered and thought to have supernatural powers?”

Cass and I had heard a lot of wacky stuff about twins over the years, but that was a new one. Luckily I was saved from having to respond when the PA system crackled to life.

“Time to take your seat, Ms. Waters,” the teacher said. “And again, welcome.”

I sank gratefully back into my chair. The announcements began—I recognized the cheery, slightly nasal voice of the pink-haired lady who had given us our schedules. She started with that day's cafeteria menu, then mentioned a pep rally and home football game on Friday, which brought loud whoops from the back of the room.

Once again I thought back to my old school. Football games were one of the few things Cassie and I had still done together. We'd meet up with a whole gang of friends at someone's house, drink soda until we were totally jazzed on caffeine and sugar, and then scream our hearts out for the home team. It was a total blast!

Would football games be anything like that here? Would Cass even want to go? She seemed to have a pretty bad attitude about Aura so far. Would games still be as much fun without her? Thinking about it made me feel lonely and sort of squirmy, so I did my best to push it out of my mind.

Of course, not thinking about the past left me with only the present—including what had just happened. I knew why Lavender thought I was a freak, but what had Gabe's comment been all about? The only thing Mom had told us about her new job was that someone had left the squad, creating an opening. So how could she have stolen the job from Gabe's uncle or anyone else?