Take Two (8 page)

I imagined a conversation with Counselor Case:

Smiling, I leaned over and looked at Mason's multiplication table. Wha-huh? Instead of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on, I saw 4, 16, 36, 64, 100 . . . ! And in the 3's row? Not 3, 6, 9, but 27, 216, 729, and 1,728!

“Mason!” I said. “What are you doing?”

“I'm squaring the twos and cubing the threes,” he said, still writing. “Next, I'll do the fours to the fourth power. So I need to borrow your calculator.”

Oh. Kay. Tutor must stay in control.

“Erm, Jason?” I said. “May I see your worksheet?”

The other twin handed me the mathletes warm-up sheet.
There were no answers on it at all. Just doodles of vehicles.

“Sssooo,” I said slowly. “The volume of a sphere with a radius of seven is a . . . car?”

“Hello? Not just a car. A Lamborghini,” the doodle twin said.

I took a deep breath.

“Boys,” I said. “Do you do this often?”

“Do what?” they both asked me.

“Don't play innocent with me,” I growled. “You know what I mean. Switch places.”

Mason/Jason and Jason/Mason both started giggling. They gave each other high-fives.

“Guys, you know your mom really wants you to behave,” I said. “What made you think this was a good idea?”

“You did it,” said one twin to me.

“Yeah, you and your sister fooled the whole school,” the other twin said. “We heard my mom and the other counselor freaking out about it. We decided to practice on you and then take it to a wider audience.”

“No, no, no.” I put my head in my hands. “I'm supposed to be a role model for
math,
not for twin chaos. Look, switching places was a big—no, HUGE—mistake. And in the end you're only hurting yourselves.”

And, wasting my time.

“Well, Mason, I believe we've been admonished,” the twin formerly known as Mason said.

“Well, Jason, I believe you're still a doofus,” said Mason.

Suddenly, both boys jumped out of their seats and started beating on each other.

“Stop!” I hissed. “This is the library!”

And just as quickly, the boys stopped and hopped back in their seats.

“Fake fight.” Jason smiled at me.

“Psych.” Mason smiled at me. “Man, I can't believe she busted us that easy.”

“Easily. And this means extra homework for both of you.” I smiled back. Ha! Three could play at this twins game.

Fortunately, the boys took me seriously after that. I handed them fresh worksheets and ordered them to get back to work. I felt frazzled and a little sweaty. I unclipped a binder clip from my papers and used it to clamp my hair off my neck. Payton would be unhappy with my fashion-meets-function choice, but hey.

And then . . . there he was. Ox. Ox was in the library. Ox was looking around the library. Ox was looking at me! And grinning!

I casually leaned over to check Mason's paper so Ox could see what a hard-working tutor I was.

“Nice job, Mason,” I said. “Except your six is written backward.”

I pointed to the error. And then it happened. Something popped out of Mason's long sleeve and jumped onto my hand. It was the owner of the green tail. And its beady little eyes were staring at me.

“Eep!” I squeaked. I shook my hand. “Get it off me!”

Whatever “it” was flew off my hand.

“Ohmigosh,” I breathed. “What was that? Where'd it go?”

“In your hair,” Jason said. “Don't move.”

In. My . . .

“AUUUUHHHH!” I whispered, not wanting to attract a library media specialist's attention.

“It's in my hair,” I wailed as softly as I could, feeling around my head. Hair. Hair. Get it out.

“It's a gecko,” Mason said softly.

I looked at him. A gecko? Our school mascot? It was one thing to be surrounded by cartoon geckos on posters cheering on the football team. Cartoon geckos are harmless and two-dimensional. But real living, breathing, crawly, slithery reptiles freaked me out.

Yes, I have herpetophobia: fear of reptiles.

“You have a gecko?” I asked, taking a deep breath and attempting not to hyperventilate.

“It's the gecko from the science lab!” Mason said cheerfully.

“It's a bribe,” Jason added. “My mom said we can take him every day you tutor us so we'll behave.”

“We're not allowed to have pets at home, so it's like he's my pet,” Mason said.

“
Our
pet.” Jason frowned.

“Mostly mine,” Mason said. “He likes me best.”

“I don't care who he likes best as long as it's not me,” I said through gritted teeth. “Get it out of my hair.”

Mason put his hands in my hair and tugged. And tugged.

“Ouch, I meant get the gecko out, not my hair,” I said.

“He won't come out,” Mason said.

“He's clinging to the clip in your hair with his suction toes. He's gripping on tight. And, his tail is tangled in your hair,” Jason observed.

Could this be any worse? Yes, yes it could.

“Geckos have toe pads that adhere to most surfaces,” Ox said.

Ox. OX! Ox had come up to our table. I was caught by the boy of my dreams with a gecko stuck on my head. Definitely worse.

“All surfaces except Teflon,” Jason corrected him.

“Could we please stop with the reptile trivia? It's trapped in my hair!” I said. I started feeling slightly panicky and dizzy. My breath started going in and out in shorter gasps. Perfect. I was going to hyperventilate, pass out, and end up lying comatose on the floor with a gecko in my hair.

Ox slowly cupped his hands around my head and said,
“Come on, little gecko.”

Ox pulled his hands away, still closed.

“Got him,” he said. After he handed the creature back to Mason, he leaned toward me.

“Emma, are you okay?” he asked.

“Go, gecko,” I said weakly. And this time, I meant it literally.

A few hours later, I was home in our bedroom sitting on my bed. I had my science book out, but I couldn't concentrate
on it. I looked over at Payton, who was laughing hysterically.

“Okay, tell me again,” she said. “You were sitting there with a real live gecko on your head and Ox said what?”

“Something about the sticky pads of a gecko's feet,” I said grumpily. “Remember, Ox knows a lot about animals. That's how he got his nickname.”

She could stop laughing now.

“Okay, okay.” I threw my pillow at her. It missed. “May we change the subject? What about
your
school service? Any more drama at Drama?”

Payton grew quiet.

“Just the usual,” she said. “I did the dirty work. Everyone else had fun. Oh, Tess was amazing in her audition. She got to read lines with this supercute boy.”

“Who?” I asked. Ox had been really nice to me after rescuing me from the gecko attack. It would be nice if Payton also had a boy, well, not a boyfriend, exactly. But a boy who was more than just a regular friend like Ox and me.

“His name is Reilly,” Payton said. “He's an eighth grader.”

“Well, at least you can look at him onstage instead of Sydney,” I said.

“Ugggh, Sydney.” My sister made a gagging noise. “Now
I'm
going to have nightmares.”

“Girls!” My mom poked her head into the room. “Time for bed.”

“Okay, Mom,” I said. I put my science book on the bedside
table. No begging to stay up later to study. I yawned. It had been a long day.

“Pay—” I started to say good night, when,
whop!
Something soft hit my face.

“You'll need your pillow,” my sister said. “Good night, Emma.”

“No! No geckos!” someone was yelling.

“Emma!” I heard Payton say.

“Twin geckos are attacking me!” I wailed. “Red-headed geckos that want me to tutor them in math!”

“Oh, yeesh. Wake up, Emma. Wake. Up.”

“I'll wake up when you get these twin geckos off me!” I wailed.

“Emma,” Payton said. “Open your eyes.”

I opened my eyes. I was in my bedroom. Apparently, no twin geckos were attacking me. I swatted at my head to be sure.

“You were dreaming,” Payton said. “Loudly.”

“Oh.” I shuddered. “I was surrounded by these geckos who had red hair and freckles and were trying to suction my brains out with their suction feet.”

“Okay, ew,” Payton said. “But still not a good enough excuse to wake me up in the middle of the night.”

“I'm freaked out,” I whimpered. “Payton, it seemed so real. This is too much for me.”

“Just ask the boys not to bring the gecko,” Payton said.

“I can't,” I said. “As a bribe their mom told them they could bring it every time I tutor them. Every time! I cannot handle this.”

Payton turned on her bedside lamp and looked at me.

“You're right,” she said. “You can't handle this. You should tell Counselor Case.”

“Tell Counselor Case?” I said. “Absolutely not! If she thinks I can't handle her sons, she'll think I can't handle pressure! She holds my life—and the ability to place me in advanced high school classes, thereby determining my success in getting into a highly competitive college—in her hands! And she'll tell her husband, Coach Babbitt, and he'll pull me from mathletes and—”

“Emma! Deep breath!” Payton interrupted. “Okay, how about if I help you. I'll take one of the twins—and the gecko—for you next time. And I'll try to talk the twin into not bringing the gecko anymore. Then they'll blame it on me and not you.”

“Hmm,” I said. That was a good idea. And I had another good idea. “You can take Mason.”

“Isn't Mason the one who needs the tutoring?” Payton asked. “The reason you're doing this?”

“You're right.” I sighed. “I'll take Mason.”

He was obviously the more difficult twin, but it was still better than any twin + gecko, for sure.

“I must be delirious from lack of sleep, but I'll do that for you if you stop waking me up with those nightmares,” Payton
said. “And you need sleep, too. Your beauty sleep.”

“MY beauty sleep? What about you?” I asked.

“I just need sleep,” Payton shot back. “The beauty part is already taken care of.”

“Har, har,” I said. “But, hello, we're identical, so that doesn't make sense.”

I waited for a comeback but just heard light snoring sounds. Payton was already asleep. I decided to send Counselor Case an e-mail first thing in the morning. I'd suggest that a session focusing on Mason would be good for his math self-esteem. I'd also say that Payton was . . . envious . . . of my time with the boys and would like to take Jason. It would be perfect! Checking my hair one last time for geckos, I pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep.

Payton

Nine

LOCKERS AFTER LAST PERIOD

“Do I have dark circles under my eyes?” Emma asked me as we opened our lockers after last period.

“I have concealer if you need it,” I said. Then I stopped to look at her. “Since when do you care if you have circles under your eyes?”

“Well, as you
know,
I didn't get much sleep last night,” Emma said.

“I know,” I told her. “But you look fine.”

“Phew,” Emma said. “I didn't want Jazmine James to think I was losing sleep worrying about mathletes. I want to look fresh and on my game. I'm so glad I don't have to tutor the boys today.”

“I am too,” I said. “Since I made that half-asleep promise to take Jason for you.”

Sigh. I did regret my offer to take one of the twins off her hands. But at least it wasn't today.

“Counselor Case told me it was fine. She told the boys that Jason will go with you next time and Mason will stay with me.”

“Fine, I'm just glad it's not today,” I said. “I'll be under the stage cleaning.
And
I'll hear everyone getting their parts.”

The roles were being announced for
The Wizard of Oz
. I, of course, would be happy for everyone. Just sad for me. The first big play and I didn't even get to try out.

I sighed as I shoved my “school clothes” into my locker. Today I was going to clean behind the shelves—a particularly dirty job. So, into my locker went my Summer Slave light blue tank and my purchased-by-Emma-when-she-was-pretending-to-be-me-at-the-mall gray cardigan. I was now wearing an oversized green T-shirt from my summer camp over my jeans. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail.

“No comment on my clothes,” I said to Emma. “Nobody's going to see me under the stage.”

“
I'm
not the twin who comments on fashion choices,” Emma said.

“I have a serious mess to clean up today,” I continued grumbling. “And
I'm
exhausted. You weren't the only one who didn't get sleep last night with you having nightmares and shouting ‘Geckos!'”

“Geckos! Geckos!” someone yelled.

Emma and I both looked at each other.

“That was weird,” Emma said.

“Oh, no,” I said. “There's
my
gecko nightmare.”

Sydney was walking our way, followed by Cashmere. Sydney was in her green-and-yellow cheerleading outfit.

“Go, Geckos!” she shouted, and kicked a cheer jump.

I quickly got my backpack, hoping I could escape before Sydney passed us.

“Ew, it's the twins,” I heard. Suddenly a green pom-pom landed at my feet.