Take Two (13 page)

Because lunch was now my least favorite period of the day. My first couple days in middle school, lunch was my favorite period. I'd sat with Sydney, Cashmere, their friend Priya, and Quinn. But of course I wasn't going to sit with Sydney, Priya,
and Cashmere anymore. And, sadly—well, for me, not for Quinn—Quinn's art teacher let her best students use the art studio during lunch period. So since I had nobody to sit with at lunch, I'd scoped out hiding places. This was my newest one. Other than the fact it was dirty, dark, and still smelled like the mop water Sydney had dumped on my head, it made the perfect alternative to the cafeteria for me.

I took a sip of my water and added up my results. A couple B's, A's, and C's and my Celebrity Crush Match is:

What? I didn't match with any of them?
Bluh.
I shut the magazine. I knew it was just a silly quiz, but it was annoying that I couldn't even get a crush match in a magazine—or real life.

I put the cap on my water bottle and tossed it at the trash can. It bounced off the can and rolled under the rack of costumes. I groaned and got up to retrieve it. I rolled the costume rack aside and sighed when I saw the beautiful pink long dress that Glinda, the Good Witch was going to wear. I'd been told that it had been used last year for the
Sleeping Beauty
play and the year before that for
Cinderella
, but it was still looking perfectly princessy.

I wondered what it would be like to wear it. I looked around and didn't hesitate. I pulled the dress off the rack and slid it on over my clothes. I swished over to the mirror and . . .
Ah.
Princess Payton. I turned to admire myself. Yes, yes, I was no longer Cinderella cleaning the dungeon of the supply room. I was a princess! And, unlike the magazine quiz results claimed, I would have the perfect prince!

I closed my eyes and held out my arms like I was dancing with my perfect princely partner. . . .

I wondered who he would be! Was my perfect match in my school? It wasn't impossible! I mean, even my sister had Ox. Where was my perfect match? Where was he? I danced around, pretending I was in a fairy tale and that once I put on the magic princess dress my prince would appear to me!

“Hello?” The deep voice suddenly came out of nowhere. “Is someone down here?”

OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!

I stopped dancing. Was it magic? Was my perfect match, my prince, here for me?

“It's me!” I said. “It's me, Payton!”

A head stuck through the trapdoor in the ceiling. Who was it? It was . . .

The janitor.

“What are you doing down here? This is against school rules,” he barked at me.

So
not my magical prince.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I do my school service here! I'm not messing up anything! I'll leave!”

“You better,” he grumbled. “Or I'll have to report you. And is that your costume for the play?”

“No,” I said, looking down at the dress Sydney would wear.

“Then do not abuse the costumes,” he grumbled.

And the trapdoor shut.

I sighed as I pulled the dress over my head and hung it back on the rack.

I tossed my magazine in my tote bag and the rest of my lunch in the trash. I climbed up the ladder and out of the theater, under the eye of the janitor.

As I went out into the hall I realized something else.

Not only did I not have a perfect match or a princess costume or a part in the play—I also didn't have a place to go. I had thirty-five minutes to kill before next period.

I thought about my options:

Um.

Janitor's closet? But what if the janitor went there next?

Why couldn't I be an honors student like Emma and get to go to the library anytime I wanted to? (Well, for starters, I often forgot to turn in my homework and I didn't study on weekends. But that's another story.)

But wait!

I
wasn't allowed in the library, but Emma was. I'd memorized Emma's schedule when we switched places, so I knew right now Emma was in Gym class! I could pretend to be Emma and sneak into the library!

Perfect plan. I didn't think the librarians would know the difference. There were like two thousand people in this middle school. But just in case, I Emmafied myself.

I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I slouched over a little and did my best Emma imitation on my way down the hall to the library.

Don't mind me! I'm just Emma, the honors student, going to the library!
I opened the library door and confidently walked in.

“Hello, Emma,” a librarian said cheerfully.

“Um, hi!” I mumbled back. Figures, the librarian would know Emma. I bolted to one of the side tables, behind the row of vampire-themed books. Hmm. One of the books looked kind of interesting. I took it to the table with me for something to do.

Safe! I wasn't always the hugest reader, like Emma was. She read like a book a day. I was slower at it. But, this book looked better than math, so I opened it and started to read. And read. Ooh. It was good.

I totally lost myself in the book. I almost didn't hear the librarian across the room say, “Hi again, Emma.”

Oh, Emma was here, too? I thought distractedly. Oh, no! Emma! Emma is in gym! I'm Emma!

I ducked behind a shelf of books and peeked around. It
was
Emma and she had sat down at the table behind the encyclopedias! I whipped out my cell phone and texted her.

Brrzzzt!

I could hear Emma's phone buzz. I saw her pick it up and type back an answer.

Text message from Emma:

Emma might have the genius brain for the English language (and Chinese, Latin, and French), but she just could not do text right. I typed:

Wait,
so
not important.

Emma texted back:

Then I saw her turn off her phone. WAIT! Oh, no! This was bad. I had to tell her I was pretending to be her. I looked around, trying to make an escape, but the librarian was sitting at her desk, guarding the door. Guarding against people like me who impersonated their honors student identical twin sister to sneak into her library!

Oh, no!

I couldn't just sit there, or the librarian might notice there were two Emmas in her library. I had to tell Emma.

I tossed my stuff into my tote bag, got down on my hands and knees on the floor, and started to crawl, hopefully unnoticed, behind the stacks of books closest to Emma.

“Psst!”
I hissed. “Emma!”

Emma looked puzzled. She pulled out her cell phone and frowned.

“No! I'm not on the phone!” I hissed.
“Pssst!”

Emma looked around but didn't see me. Augh. I reached into my tote bag and took out an eraser. I aimed and . . .

Score! It hit Emma in the leg! Now I'd gotten her attention!

“Ack!” Emma said.

Oh, no! Emma was totally freaking out! What the—?

“Emma!” I hissed, desperately.

Emma's eyes widened, and . . . she saw me!

Emma stood up and stomped over to my hiding spot behind a low shelf.

“Shhh!”
I said. “I'm not supposed to be here.”

“Obviously,” Emma whispered, without looking down to give me away. Then she sighed. “I thought I was losing it. First I thought I was losing my mind and hearing voices. Then I thought the gecko was climbing my leg.”

Wow. Emma really was kind of losing it.

“It was just an eraser,” I said. “I wanted you to know I snuck in here.”

Emma took a quick glance at me on the floor. Then she kicked me!

“Ow,” I said. “What was that for?”

“Are you impersonating me without my permission?” she hissed. “You are! You're wearing a ponytail and I bet you're doing the hunched-over thing you claim I do! You're pretending to be me so you can get extra studying time in the library, aren't you?”

“NO!” I said. “I'm just trying to avoid the cafeteria.”

“You can't just pretend to be me,” Emma said. “I mean, look at this! Two Emmas in the same place. This is a fiasco.”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “But now how am I supposed to get out of here? I didn't know anyone would notice! I didn't know you were BFF with the librarians.”

“Of course I am,” Emma replied. “Library media specialists are a backbone of the school as well as a fount of knowledge.”

“Swell,” I said. “Just can you get me out of here without the fount seeing me?”

“Okay. Look, there's a bunch of people coming in,” Emma said. “They're distracting the librarian showing their passes, so
hurry up and walk right out. Just do
not
attract any notice.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks!”

I got up and adjusted my tote bag. I quickly hustled toward the door, and then gasped. The group of people walking in were people I knew.

Tess. Nick. Reilly. Charlie. Sydney.

My friends who were in the play. Plus Sydney. They all must have made a plan to rehearse together. Together. Without me. They didn't even invite me. They were just one happy group. Without me.

“Payton, flee!” Emma hissed at me.

I tried to blink back my tears and duck my head down so nobody would see me. I went past the librarian's desk, where she was checking my friends' passes. Safe! I pushed through the library door, and then—

MWONK! MWONK! MWONK!

The alarm went off! A light started flashing! Oh, crud! I'd put the vampire book in my bag and forgot to check it out!

The whole library turned to look at me. Sydney grinned. Emma groaned.

“Um,” I said. “I'd like to check out a book?”

Emma

Fourteen

LOCKERS AFTER LAST PERIOD

“You look heinous,” Payton said to me.

We were at our lockers after last period. Payton had Drama/school service today, and I had mathletes.

“Well, if you're going to impersonate me again without my knowing,” I retorted, “you're going to have to make yourself look heinous, too.”

I was grumpy. Very grumpy. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before again.

“I said I was sorry and I'd never do it again,” Payton whined. “Twinky swear.” She held out her hand in our twin pinky promise. I was in no mood.

“And I thanked you a million times for pretending to the librarian that you'd asked me to come meet you to drop off your book,” Payton continued.

Yeah. That book. Mrs. Nicely, the library media specialist,
had been a little suspicious when Payton claimed I had been reading about vampires in love, but she'd let it go. And as the custodian arrived to shut off the alarm, she'd let us go.

So, the double Emmas plus insomnia had made it a v-e-r-y long twenty-four hours.

Looking into my locker mirror, I scowled. Normally, my appearance was not a priority, but I was heading to mathletes. I needed to look alert, competitive, and fierce.

“Wait a sec,” my twin said. “Here, a little concealer . . . some sparkle powder to make your skin glow. . . .” Payton patted and brushed things onto my face.

“Now, pinch your cheeks and flip your head to fluff your hair,” Payton instructed.

I pinched. I flipped—my ponytail whapping me on my way back up. I looked into my mirror again.

“Better,” I admitted. My insides were still droopy, but my outside looked fresh. I made my competition face. Oh, yeah. Fierce.

“You look good,” Payton said. “Except that face you're making? It makes you look like you're in pain. Are you in pain?”

“No.” I shut my locker and made my face look like normal. “Thanks for the makeup help.”

“At least one of us
needs
to use makeup after school.” Payton sighed.

Oh, yeah. Payton had to spend her time under a stage.

“It's just weird that it's
you,
” she added.

We said bye to each other and headed off in different directions.

It was
weird
that I was the one who needed and wanted makeup. But lately a lot of things had been unusual. As I walked down the hallway, my backpack felt unusually heavy. I was tired. Which was
not
that abnormal. I had often stayed up late studying, memorizing, problem-solving, and preparing.

But last night? I went over to Quinn's and had a fun (fun!) time. Then the fun ended when I had to do my regular homework and my makeup work from the day before. (The teachers weren't fazed by my first-time lapse. They just said things like,
Don't make a habit of it
.)

Right. Like I would. I only had good habits, like study habits and hygiene habits and organization habits. Oh, and that chewing-on-my-hair-when-I-get-anxious habit. Well, nobody's perfect.

After being with Quinn, after double homework, I got to bed late. But I couldn't sleep. I had so much on my mind. Like Ox. Especially Ox. Did he like me? Did he
like
like me? Did I
like
like him? (Final answer: Yes.)

If I couldn't go out for pizza, would he lose interest in me? Would he notice that other girls were prettier, more fun, and girlier than I was?