Spoiler
Welcome to chapter 2! Please read and review (especially review, I'm in dire need of those...). And check out chapter 1 if you like it!
“You know what I don’t get?”
The girl rolled her eyes, nearly missing the starting gun. On the track below, her sister was off like a shot, already ahead of the competition, blond waves of hair out behind her like a cape.
“What don’t you get, Matt?” she sighed, doodling a meaningless scribble on her notebook.
“You and your sister are exact twins.” He said, half-chewing on a nacho while he talked. With Matt it was like he was always eating. Even in class he had some sort of munchie, even if it was just gum.
“No shit, Sherlock.” She leaned hard into him, knocking him into one of the parents. They shot the two a look, which Matt promptly ignored and the girl returned with a sheepish smile.
“Well, why do you let her steal the spotlight all the time?” He asked, motioning back to the track, where her sister had (surprise!) won again. In a new best time for her, judging from the gigantic smile on her sweaty (yet somehow still looked nice) face.
“I’m… not really the spotlight kind of person.” She said, ducking her head and brushing a stray piece of hair (which had avoided being swept into her ponytail) from her face.
“Bull. Shit.” He said, extenuating the words. “You’d be all over that if she wasn’t in your way.”
“She’s not in my way, she’s my…” She started angrily.
“Your sister, I know, you’ve said it a million times before.” He said, holding his hands up defensively. “So why, then, did you drop out of Track?” He leaned forward, a sly smile on his face.
She stuttered. “I… I wanted to be in Cross Country instead.”
“Which you could have done anyway.” He supplied.
“Alright! You win! I didn’t want to have to compete with my sister, it’s not that big of a deal!” She snapped her notebook shut, standing up and walking among the bleachers.
“‘Ey!” he called, stumbling after her, nachos in hand. “Hey! I didn’t mean it like…”
“Just shut up, Matt.” She muttered, seeing her sister hurrying toward her, still in her athletic uniform.
“Bella-baby!” Her sister cried, embracing her. The girl flushed, pushing her sister off of her in an embarrassed way.
“You know, Bell is shorter and easier to say.” She said in regard to her sister’s nickname for her.
“I know.” Her sister said bouncily. “But you’ll always be my Bella-baby.” She gave Bell’s tight-pony-tail’d head a noogie. Bell protested, pulling her head back and checking to see if her hair was still tightly in it. Her sister moved on to Matt.
“Mattie.” She said, pausing in front of him.
“Nice race, Sky” He greeted.
Sky opened her arms, hugging him in her bouncy way. As she pulled away she planted a kiss on his cheek. Bell flushed, but Matt smiled broadly.
“I’m going to go change!” she announced, jogging back towards the school.
Bell waved at her sister, waiting until she was a safe distance away before punching Matt’s shoulder. “Ow!” he yelped, rubbing the spot her fist had hit. “What was that for?”
“Why do you let her do that?” She hissed.
“C’mon, Bell. It’s a goodbye kiss! It’s not like I have a girlfriend or anything.” He continued rubbing his arm, scowling.
“You could at least refrain from grinning like a lovesick puppy every time she- Would you stop that?” She swatted at his hand, which had been rubbing his shoulder. “I’m a girl, I can’t punch for shit.”
“Could’a fooled me.” He said, slightly bitter. “And I’m not acting like a lovesick puppy.”
“Could’a fooled me.” She returned.
He rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair. “C’mon, Bell. You know your sis is a heartthrob.”
Bell shot him a look. “Nice.”
“You ever think of taking your hair down? Putting on a dress?” Bell walked back up to the bleachers, Matt following her as she tried to ignore him. “Using a touch of make-up? Replacing a backpack with a purse?”
“Yes, I’ve thought about it. It wouldn’t be me.” She said, claiming a seat in the bleachers. They were more empty on this side of the stands, and Matt plopped down beside her.
“It could be you.” He offered.
Bell rolled her eyes. “Sure. ‘Come look at the identical twins! Which is which? Not too sure, but man are they heartthrobs!’” She faked, in an announcer-style voice. “I don’t want to be a Sky clone. I’m my own person. Who cares if I don’t wear a dress every once in a while or refuse to wear make-up?”
“You need to get yourself a man.”
“A man.” She repeated doubtfully.
“Someone to dress up for. Someone that you want to look your best for, no matter if it’s just getting pizza and donuts.”
“Someone to become a slave of fashion to, you mean?”
He shook his head. “You don’t get it, do you?” He pointed to a boy down in the front of the bleachers. “See Ted down there?”
She nodded. Ted was kind of a nerdy kid. Half the school looked over him, and the other barely acknowledged him when they did look at him.
“He’s madly in love with Hanna Park.” He said. “Every Tuesday, the day he tutors her in the morning, he wears black, shiny dress-up shoes and a collared shirt.”
“So? He’s tutoring. He has to look professional.” She shrugged.
“Professional doesn’t include breath spray and cologne. He spends five minutes trying to get it just right before he even enters the library to meet her. He tries to empress her, show her his… potential.” He put emphasis on the last word, leaning in to Bell as he lowered his voice.
She leaned back slightly, looking at him. “You know, if you were anyone else, there would be some serious sexual tension right now.”
“You mean I’m the only one who can feel that right now?” He asked jokingly. “Because I’m pretty damn ha-” He cut off as Bell shoved him.
“Ew! Why must you make everything perverted?”
“You’re the one who mentioned sexual tension.”
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
She paused. “Yeah, you’re right.” She sighed, putting her chin in her hands. A boy a few rows down leaned forward in his bleacher seat, working on something she couldn’t see. He had dark hair, black, actually, except it was bleached at the tips all the way around. He had some of those fancy noise-cancelling headphones on. “What’s Cal doing?” She pondered aloud.
“Whittling.” Matt said instantly. “He does it all the time, even in class. It freaked the teachers at first that he constantly had a knife out, but he’s so mellow they got used to it and let him do what he wanted. Have you seen his work? They’re amazing! They look like they’re going to blink and walk around if you stare at them long enough.” He said. “He even takes requests if you’re nice to him. Here!” He grabbed his backpack, unzipping it to reveal the mess of school supplies. It looked like someone had thrown a grenade in and zipped it back up. Knowing Matt, that wasn’t out of the question. He dug around in it, reaching in up to his shoulder. She wondered how he hadn’t mutated and grown a third arm from exposure to whatever foul things that could be found in his pack. Finally, he pulled out a wooden figurine, handing it to Bell.
“Wow…” She admired the figurine, then paused. “Matt, why the hell do you have a ballerina figure?”
He colored. “I asked for it to give to my mom for her birthday, but I forgot about it…”
She rolled her eyes. “Men.” She offered the ballerina back to him.
He shook his head. “I don’t want it. Keep it; you’d like it more than I would.”
She smiled, running a finger over the miniature face. It was almost scary, the level of detail. It looked like it would blink and pirouette on her palm. It was too big to fit comfortably in her pocket, being about the height of her hand, so she just held it, fiddling with it unconsciously.
She looked down the bleachers and saw her sister waving at her. Sky had changed into a fuchsia dress with an oversize bow in front and poufy, short sleeves. She was waving at her energetically, motioning toward the parking lot with one hand. “Time to go. Text me later, okay?” She said, hurrying down the stairs. Matt waved as she left, the wooden ballerina tight in her fist.
