Lost and Found

by Mark Elliott

  Jay was the smallest boy on the basketball court, but he was quick on his feet, and he had good ball-handling skills. Twice in a row he fed James with a perfect inside pass, and each time the taller boy scored. And as Jay played, going all out to impress these new kids, he was suddenly very aware that Ray wasn’t around.

  Jay knew that in most sports, Ray wasn’t quite as good an athlete as he was. And whenever they played on the same team, everyone else knew it too. That’s what it had been like playing Little League baseball together in Colorado. Jay had been a star outfielder and the number three hitter on the team, and Ray . . . hadn’t. Jay never held back, but he always felt bad for his brother. Because he knew that everyone automatically compared them to each other. And today, right now? It was nice not to have to think about that.

  When the bell rang and the guys walked back inside together, someone started talking about the Winter Olympics, and Jay jumped in and started telling James about a huge blizzard that had hit Denver last winter.

  And Jay almost said, Yeah, my brother Ray and I? We built this amazing snow fort in our backyard! But he didn’t. He didn’t want to get into stuff about family. And brothers. And being a twin. Not with James, not with anyone.

  Because it was only the second day of school, and already Jay felt like he was beginning to make some friends. On his own. And so far, no one had needed to ask, “Which one are you—Jay or Ray?”

  Still, it seemed strange that not one teacher had even mentioned Ray’s name yet. Jay thought, It’s like a Hardy Boys mystery or something—The Case of the Missing Twin.

  So during language arts class on the afternoon of that second day, Jay did a little snooping. Because that file box of student folders he had noticed in the morning during homeroom was still sitting on a chair beside Mrs. Lane’s desk.

  Even though he didn’t need help with the grammar review sheet the class was working on, Jay pretended he did—so that he could stand in the line at the teacher’s desk. And as he stood there, he took a careful look and saw his own folder. The folder was bright blue, the only blue one in the box. His name was printed on a label, plain as day: Grayson, Jay Ray.

  And the folder for Grayson, Ray Jay? Not there. Missing.

  And then Jay noticed something else. His folder looked way too thick. In fact, that bright blue student folder looked more than twice as thick as any of the other ones.

  And in a flash, Jay understood exactly why none of the teachers had been calling his brother’s name during attendance.

  And in a second flash, Jay knew exactly what to do about that.

  CHAPTER 5

  DEAL

  “You’re crazy!”

  That’s what Ray said to Jay on Wednesday afternoon.

  Because when Jay came home from his second day at school, he told his twin brother what had happened to their school record folders—how two sets of information had been stuffed into one folder, his folder.

  “So it’s like the school completely lost your records!” Jay said, his eyes wide and wild. He was having a hard time keeping his voice low so their father wouldn’t hear from the upstairs office. It had been Dad’s turn to work from home today and take care of Ray.

  Jay said, “They think there’s only one of us. So only one of us has to go to school, and I’ve got it all planned out—it’s gonna be great! We have to do this, Ray, we have to! Don’t you see?”

  Ray snorted. “All I see is some kid who’s completely insane. I mean, sure, it might be fun and everything, but you know we’d get caught. Then what?”

  Jay said, “Then . . . then we’ll go to the principal’s office. And we’ll probably get yelled at, and Mom and Dad will be mad for a few days, and maybe we’ll get grounded for a couple weeks. But so what? Remember that time in third grade when Kenny March started shoving you around on the playground, and we both tackled him? And we got sent to the principal’s office? No big deal, right?”

  Ray shook his head. “That was self-defense. That kid was a bully, and everybody knew it. This? This’ll be like . . . like telling a million lies. Every time someone looks at me and says, ‘Hi, Jay’ and I say, ‘Hi’—that’s a lie. And every time Mom says ‘How was school today?’ and you weren’t there, and you say, ‘Fine’—that’ll be another lie. It’ll go on and on, and then we’ll get caught, and someone’s gonna get up in your face and say, ‘Why in the world did you want to do something like this?’”

  Jay said, “And then I’ll say, ‘We did this because . . . it was an experiment. Because we had to find out how it would feel to be one person, instead of always being part of a pair, and always having everyone stare and point at us.’” Jay paused. “Besides, we’re not the ones who lost that folder. That was the school’s fault, right?”

  Ray rolled his eyes. “That is so lame—blaming it on the school. And then you’re gonna say, ‘Boo-hoo, I’m a poor little twin and no one understands me?’ Lame.”

  “Oh,” Jay said, “so when no one ever really knows if you’re you, or if you’re me, you like that, right?”

  “No,” said Ray, “but—”

  Jay interrupted, “I mean, think of it, Ray—every other day you could stay home! And do whatever you wanted to. And when you do go to school, you’ll be completely on your own there. You’ve got to try it out, Ray. No offense or anything, but not being a twin? At school? It’s really great.”

  Ray made a face. “Except everyone at school would think that I’m you.”

  “Well,” Jay said, “yeah . . . but it’s sort of like you would be invisible or something. Like, if you do something really stupid, who gets the blame? Jay Grayson. It’s like you’ve got a free pass.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” said Ray. “I’d still look like a jerk, because if we get caught—I mean when we get caught—I’m gonna look twice as dumb for going along with this in the first place. I’ll be the kid who was pretending to be his crazy twin brother.”

  “No,” Jay said, “you’ll be the kid who’s famous for being almost as good-looking and almost as smart and clever and talented as his fabulous twin brother.”

  “Ha, ha, very funny,” Ray said. “Can we stop talking about this now?”

  Jay leaned closer and narrowed his eyes. “So . . . Ray Grayson is saying that he has never wished that his twin brother would disappear for a week or two, never wished he could see what it was like to be all on his own?” Jay paused. “And Ray Grayson has never wished he could meet some new kids and just be . . . himself?”

  The twins looked at each other for a long moment. It was like looking into a mirror. And Jay could see Ray thinking. And Jay knew what Ray was going to say before he said it.

  “All right,” Ray said. “I’m in.” He raised his eyebrows, “But . . . I’m only trying it out for one day, okay?”

  Jay raised his eyebrows too and nodded. “Whenever you want to stop, we stop.”

  Ray said, “And also, you have to pretend to be me staying home sick tomorrow . . .”

  “. . . which would keep us both out of trouble,” Jay finished, “in case there was a problem at school. Brilliant! Except no way is there gonna be a problem. I’m telling you, nobody at school has any idea that Ray Grayson even exists.” Jay stuck out his right hand. “So . . . we’ve got a deal, right?”

  Ray nodded. “Deal.”

  And the Grayson brothers shook on it.

  CHAPTER 6

  THROUGH THE MIRROR

  It was Thursday morning, the third day of school, and right after the Pledge of Allegiance Mrs. Lane took attendance, just like always. And after calling out more than a dozen names, she said, “Jay Grayson?”

  And he answered, “Present.”

  But the boy who said that wasn’t Jay. It was Ray.

  Ray had had no trouble finding his locker, dialing the combination, getting his books, finding his homeroom. He had a good map worked out inside his head, so everything was right where he expected it to be. Taft Elementary School looked exactly the way Jay had described it.
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  Ray felt perfectly at ease striking up a conversation about hockey with Alex during homeroom. He felt zero awkwardness, zero shyness, zero anxiety—about anything. New school, new town? No sweat. Ray decided that Jay had done a fantastic job dealing with the first few days—like a stuntman who does all the dangerous stuff so the movie star can step into the scene and have some fun.

  And after homeroom, when a tall, sandy-haired kid smiled at him in the hall on the way to math and called out, “Hi, Jay,” Ray smiled back and called out, “Hey, James.” Because James looked just the way Jay had said he would.

  But first-period math class brought some unexpected problems. The situation reminded Ray of their collection of Star Wars action figures. Because he and Jay used to pop off the heads and switch them around to make new characters. If you plug Boba Fett’s head onto Luke’s body, you’ve got Boba-Lu. Or Princess Leia’s head on Chewbacca’s body makes Chewleia. And right now, it was Jay’s body with Ray’s head on it. And in math class, that wasn’t so good.

  Ray really had to struggle to keep up as the teacher started going over the homework, and when they got to the sixth problem, Mrs. Pell looked right at him and said, “Jay, you did such a good job with that prime factoring problem yesterday that I left the problem on the board to show to the afternoon class. Come up front and work this one out for us.”

  Ray gulped, and smiled, and almost panicked. There was no way he could work that problem. So he had to use his wit and charm—something Jay would not have been able to pull off.

  With just a trace of a smile on his face, Ray said, “Actually, I think that would be selfish of me. Someone else should get a turn today.” Which got a big laugh from the kids in the class. And a small smile from the teacher. But Mrs. Pell nodded and said, “That sounds fair,” and she called on someone else.

  Ray managed to survive to the end of math class. And he even got used to everyone calling him by his brother’s name. After all, ever since he was born, almost everyone he’d ever met had been calling him Jay now and then . . . including his own mom and dad.

  And after walking through the hallways, meeting new kids, and talking to teachers, Ray found himself sitting in art class during third period, sketching a vase of dried flowers. And glancing around the sunlit room, it hit him: Not one single kid, no one in the whole school, had any idea at all that he was an identical twin. At this moment he was just one person, unique.

  And for the first time he could remember, Ray got a glimpse of himself that way—as a single person, completely unconnected to any other. It was a shocker. Because for twelve years, whenever Ray had been out in public, Jay had usually been there too. So Ray had thought of himself as a twin. And he had always expected everyone else to see him that way too—as part of a pair, as a fraction: one-half of The Grayson Brothers Amazing Traveling Twin Show.

  Ray decided that Jay had told him the truth: Not being a twin at school was a great experience. And so far, it was absolutely worth the risk.

  But there was no risk, not today. Or none that Ray could see. The box of folders that Jay had described, the box next to Mrs. Lane’s desk that contained that extra-thick blue file? On Thursday morning the box was gone. Ray was pretty sure that the folders were back in the office now, stuck away in a closet or a cabinet somewhere, filed away for the rest of the year. And Ray Grayson . . . wasn’t. Just wasn’t.

  Ray didn’t really like that. To be wiped out, to be missing—his name just blotted out? Yes, it was making this amazing day possible, and he was definitely having a blast, but Ray had mixed feelings about it . . . that is, until science class right after lunch.

  Because this was the day that Mrs. Abbot assigned lab partners. And Jay Grayson was paired up with Melissa Rollins. Which meant that Ray found himself sitting next to the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

  And she smiled at him.

  It was a dazzling smile, and Melissa didn’t try to hide that she thought Ray was . . . interesting. And he wasn’t interesting because he had an identical twin brother. He was interesting all on his own. Him . . . Ray. Interesting.

  Except . . . this girl thought his name was Jay. Like everyone else.

  But suddenly, what Melissa thought his name might be wasn’t so important. What mattered was that smile of hers. And that she had beamed that smile at him—Ray Grayson. Because no matter what she thought his name was, the boy sitting next to her was definitely Ray. Definitely.

  When the teacher was busy up at the front of the room, Melissa leaned toward him and whispered, “So you’re new here in Clifton, right?” Another smile.

  Ray nodded. “Just moved to town four days ago.”

  “Do you like it here?” she asked.

  He smiled and nodded. “More and more.”

  And Ray wasn’t kidding.

  And by the end of science class, Ray felt like Melissa Rollins just might become an important part of his sixth-grade year.

  At home, Jay was on the phone with his mom. It was the third time she had called to check on him, because both parents had gone to the office today.

  “I’m feeling good, Mom. Really. I’m sure I’ll be able to go to school tomorrow.”

  “That’s good, sweetheart. Well, we’ll be home about five, okay? And will you go to the freezer when we’re off the phone and take out a pound of ground beef? We’re having spaghetti tonight.”

  “Sure, Mom, no problem.”

  “Now listen, Ray, I don’t want you to fall behind in your work. So when Jay gets home, be sure to get your homework assignments and get started on them right away, all right?”

  Jay said, “I will.”

  “Good. See you later, Ray. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Mom. Bye.”

  And as he hung up, Jay tried to count how many times he had lied to his mom so far today. He lost track somewhere between fifteen and twenty.

  CHAPTER 7

  MESSY

  At 3:27 on Thursday afternoon, even before Ray had his key out of the lock on the kitchen door, Jay was right there, blasting him with questions.

  “So what do you think? Was I right? Did you have a good day? Meet any new kids? It was great, right? It’s a nice school, don’t you think?”

  Ray smiled. “It was just like you said. Almost feels like I’ve never been to school before—it’s a whole new thing.”

  “Did you like James?” Jay asked. “He’s a great guy. Did you hang out with him at lunch?”

  Ray nodded. “Yeah, I like him. And that other kid, the one with the red hair?”

  “Sean, right?” Jay said.

  “Yeah, Sean. He’s a good kid too, really funny at lunch,” Ray said. He looked around at the mess on the kitchen counters. “So what did you do all day?”

  Jay smiled. “Watched a couple TV shows, took a nap, downloaded this new skateboarding game, ate lunch, played the game until my thumbs started hurting, finished one book and started another one, had some snacks, took another nap. Great day.”

  Ray frowned. “What about the social studies report on ancient cultures that’s due next Wednesday? Did you do any of the reading for that? Because in class today it sounded like Mr. Fulton is a tough grader.”

  Jay shrugged. “Relax—there’s plenty of time. Besides, I’m sick today, remember? So what else happened at school?”

  “Nothing much,” Ray said, “except . . . I met this girl. In science this afternoon.”

  Jay pretended to be amazed, but he wasn’t. Ray was always meeting girls. “You don’t say. A girl. His first day at the new school, and Ray meets a girl. So . . . you sort of like this girl?”

  Ray grinned. “Yeah, sort of.”

  “Interesting,” Jay said. “So what’s her name?”

  “Melissa, and she’s my lab partner. And I think she sort of likes me, too.”

  Jay said, “You mean, she sort of likes us, right?”

  Ray’s smile vanished. “No, she likes me. Me.”

  “Right,” Jay said. “She likes her new lab par
tner . . . Jay Grayson.”

  It took Ray about three seconds to wrestle Jay to the ground and pin his face against the cold tile of the kitchen floor.

  “She likes me, you got it? Me.” Ray was talking through clenched teeth. “And you’re not going to mess this up, right?”

  “Okay, okay,” Jay said. “I promise I won’t let her see me picking our nose.”

  Ray twisted Jay’s arm. “Not funny, Jay.”

  Jay swung his legs around, shifted his weight, pushed up with his free arm, and three seconds later it was Ray’s nose pressed against the floor. Because whenever things got physical, the twins were a dead-even match for each other.

  Panting a little from the effort, Jay said, “If this girl thinks you’re cute, she’s gonna go nuts about me. So don’t worry. We’ll be a good team. Just let me know when you two start kissing, okay? I want to be ready for that.”

  Ray struggled but couldn’t break free. “I’m gonna kill you, Jay.”

  Jay said, “Maybe someday, but not today. Listen, though—I’m just kidding, okay? I’m kidding. I’ll be nice to this Melissa girl. Your Melissa. Truce, okay? Truce.”

  Ray nodded and said, “Truce.”

  The boys peeled themselves apart and then sat there on the kitchen floor, back to back, breathing hard.

  After a minute Ray said, “Y’ know what? I think one day was enough for me. I mean, maybe I could pretend to be sick one more day, and you could go to school on Friday by yourself again. If you want to. But on Monday, we should both go to school. Let the office people discover that they’ve got a lost kid. Because right now, I stayed home sick, and you didn’t give Mom’s note to the office. That’s all that’s happened so far. And on Monday I show up at school, and my missing file gets found, and that’ll be the end of it. Okay with you?”