by Belle Payton
That, Ava decided, is all that I need to know.
The front door slammed, jolting Alex awake. She blinked several times, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight streaming through the gaps in her shades.
Then she heard Moxy whimper from all the way downstairs.
“Oh no!” Alex bolted upright. She knew what that sound meant. Her dad had left for school already. Moxy always cried when Coach left.
“It’s not really this late, is it?” She stared in horror at her bedside clock. She didn’t remember turning off her alarm. She gazed at her laptop, open on her desk. The windows on the screen were still open to the pages on psychic abilities in twins. She’d stayed up late reading.
“Alex? You up?” Mrs. Sackett called upstairs. “Ava left with Daddy and Tommy. Get dressed fast and you can still make the bus. I’ll wrap a muffin for you. Hurry!”
Alex swung her legs onto the floor and ran to her closet.
She didn’t do last-minute well. She liked to pick out the perfect outfit the night before. But last night she hadn’t been able to pull herself away from the screen.
She’d discovered that the better word to describe her and Ava was telepathic, not psychic. Psychic was too general a term. Telepathic meant two people could send information back and forth using only their minds.
A famous psychic researcher she’d read about reported that only 30 percent of all identical twins shared telepathic abilities. Were she and Ava part of that 30 percent? She couldn’t be sure. She’d taken several online quizzes, but the results were all over the place. Some telepathic twins reported never having to use words to talk with each other. They could just send messages with their minds. Was that what had happened at lunch on Monday? But then why didn’t Ava send her a telepathic message that she was leaving early? Didn’t she know that Alex had wanted to go in early today too?
“Alex, watch the clock!” her mom called.
Alex reached into her closet and grabbed the first top and bottom she touched. She sprinted to the bathroom, washed up, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and made it to the end of the block, muffin in hand, as the bus pulled up.
She kept her head down, reviewing the study guide she’d made for the social studies quiz today. She wondered if Ava had reviewed for her quiz this morning. Probably not. If Ava reviewed anything, it was her football plays. She and Ava were so different when it came to school.
When it came to clothes.
When it came to a lot of things.
Alex walked through the school halls toward her locker, her eyes still on her notes. She’d written each event on her Industrial Revolution time line in a different color. It made the study guide look pretty. And she liked pretty.
“Double trouble today, Alex!” Jack called loudly.
She looked up. “What?”
“Oops, I saw her again!” Logan Medina elbowed Jack. The two boys cracked up as the bell rang. They ran down the hall.
Alex shrugged. Boys were weird. She slipped into her seat in her homeroom.
“Ooh! Twice as nice,” Lindsey whispered across the aisle.
Alex wrinkled her nose. “Huh?”
“The whole matching thing,” Lindsey said. “Did you plan it?”
“Girls!” Mr. Kenerson called from the front of the room. “Listen up.”
As Mrs. Gusman read the list of after-school clubs over the crackly loudspeaker, Alex wondered what Lindsey was talking about. Did I plan what?
Before she could ask, the bell rang again, and Lindsey shot out the door to her first class, mouthing apologetically to Alex that she needed to study before her English quiz.
Alex headed down the opposite hall to science. Her mind snapped to the lab they were working on.
Slowly she became aware of the whispers.
And a giggle. A snicker. Another giggle.
She glanced to the sides of the hall. People were watching her.
Why? What’s wrong? Her palms began to sweat. She tugged at her skirt.
Another snicker. She raised her head.
“Oh, wow.” Her words came out in a whisper. She stared, her mouth hanging open.
Walking toward her was . . . her!
Same light-purple V-neck sweater. Same denim skirt. Same black flats. And the same face.
But it’s not, Alex suddenly realized. Not exactly.
“Ava!” she cried.
Ava hurried toward her, ignoring all the kids who had stopped to watch. Her familiar laughter spilled out in gasps. “Seriously, Alex? This is hysterical! Look at us.”
“W-why are you dressed like that? Like me?” Alex sputtered.
“I have an away game today, so I had to dress up,” Ava explained. “What are the chances? We haven’t done the matchy-matchy thing since those frilly yellow Easter dresses Mom made us wear when we were six. Remember? We looked like Peeps.”
What were the chances? Alex wondered. Her sister wore jerseys to school. Always.
“How did you choose that outfit?” She squinted at her twin. She didn’t even know they owned the same sweater.
Ava shrugged. “No real thought. I just grabbed what called to me. What about you?”
“Same,” Alex admitted. “Except—”
Goose bumps prickled her arms as the realization hit her. This was the proof she’d been looking for. “Do you know what this means, Ave?”
“That we can’t be seen together today?” Ava asked.
“No, it means we sent each other messages with our minds, and we wore matching outfits!” Alex cried. “We do have psychic abilities!”
CHAPTER
F IVE
“Is this a thing here? Do you and your sister dress the same a lot?” Charlotte asked Ava outside the cafeteria. She’d caught up with Ava in the hallway, and Ava had invited her to sit with her and Kylie again. Charlotte had missed lunch yesterday to take a placement test for math.
“So not a thing,” Ava said. When she’d first spotted Alex, she’d found it funny. Then everyone kept asking about it. She was self-conscious enough in a skirt without the school weighing in on their matching outfits.
“I didn’t think so,” Charlotte said, walking through the cafeteria doors. “You two don’t seem to have the same style. Alex is in my English class.”
“Whoa!” Ava reached out to stop Charlotte. “Kylie’s sitting next to Owen. Aren’t they really cute together?”
They watched Kylie show Owen something in a notebook. Owen smiled, then darted his eyes around. He spotted Logan and Corey headed his way. He stiffened and inched away. Kylie hesitated, then rose from her seat, as if to leave.
“Oh, no! We can’t let her go,” Ava said. “We need to get over there.”
“There?” Charlotte sounded unsure.
“Yes! Follow me.” Ava hurried across the cafeteria with Charlotte a few paces behind.
“Hey there.” She plopped her brown lunch bag on the table. “Did you guys buy or bring today? Owen, you met Charlotte, right? Okay if we sit here? I want Charlotte to get to know as many kids as possible. I’m her student ambassador. Got to do my job!” Ava was babbling, but she had to keep Kylie next to Owen. She sat on one side of Kylie. Kylie shot her a grateful grin.
She got Owen talking about the book she knew that he and Kylie liked. She’d never read it. Owen was pretty shy, but Kylie jumped right in. Soon they were talking again, and Owen didn’t seem to care that his buddies had sat down.
“Charlotte, sit here.” Ava had just noticed Charlotte hovering by the table. She patted the seat next to her, and Charlotte perched on it, looking ready to bolt at any minute.
Lindsey, Emily, and Rosa made their way to the table.
“Where’s Alex?” Ava asked Emily.
“She had to do something for student council,” Emily said, sliding across from Ava. “She’ll be late.”
“Are you and Alex wearing the same outfits to my party, too?” Lindsey asked Ava, sizing up the sweater-skirt combo. “Matching costumes could be cute.”
“Hey, Lindz, we could match. And so could Rosa and Annelise. Matching could be the costume theme,” Emily said.
“It’s already the theme here,” Charlotte muttered. Everyone gazed at Lindsey, Emily, and Rosa’s blue-and-white cheerleader outfits. They were cheering at the game tonight, so they’d come to school in uniform.
“Do you cheer?” Emily asked Charlotte, ignoring her sneer.
“Please.” Charlotte snorted. “I do ballet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rosa asked, crossing her arms. “Cheerleading is so much harder than ballet.”
“For real?” Charlotte screwed up her nose. “Have you ever tried a grand jeté or a pirouette?”
“Have you ever tried a full layout twist or a basket toss?” Rosa retorted.
“Both cheerleading and ballet are athletic and hard,” Ava piped up, trying to ease the sudden tension. “I’d look deranged if I tried either,” she joked, even though it wasn’t true—she was pretty coordinated.
“That could be a funny costume,” Charlotte said. “I’ll be a deranged Texas cheerleader for Halloween.”
“What?” Lindsey asked, eyebrows raised.
“I’m thinking a blond wig, cheering outfit, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and a rodeo lasso.” Charlotte laughed.
But no one else did.
“Hey, it was a joke.” Charlotte raised her arms in mock surrender.
“Fine, but you can only come to my party if you wear a different costume,” Lindsey said. “Nothing with cheerleading.”
“Last year my friends and I all dressed as 1920s flappers. I wore a vintage teal fringe dress. Ah-mah-zing,” Charlotte said. “But I won’t be making an appearance at your party. I don’t do hoedowns.”
“What are you talking about?” Lindsey cried.
“You guys square dance at parties, right?” Charlotte asked.
“No one here square dances,” Emily replied tightly.
“Actually, they made us square dance in gym last year,” Logan offered. Lindsey glared at him.
Ava looked over at Kylie, but she was still talking to Owen about the book. She hadn’t even heard the awkward conversation.
Why is Charlotte acting so mean? Ava wondered, feeling uncomfortable. She couldn’t figure it out. Did she not like Lindsey, Emily, and Rosa?
“You know, Ashland is a really cool place. You should give it a chance,” Lindsey said.
Ava was amazed that Lindsey was still talking to Charlotte, and even more amazed that she was still trying to be nice.
Ava opened her eyes wide at Charlotte, trying to signal her to back off. But Charlotte didn’t take the hint.
“Is that one of your little cheers? Rah, rah, go Texas?” Charlotte asked sarcastically.
Lindsey gave Emily a disgusted look. Then they both glanced at Ava, as if Charlotte’s rudeness were her fault.
“Let’s go throw out our trash,” Emily said abruptly.
“Definitely,” said Lindsey. She and Rosa followed Emily away from the table. They whispered as they walked.
Ava knew they were talking about Charlotte. She wanted to tell them that Charlotte wasn’t like this. That she’d been so nice to Ava this morning. But she didn’t run after them. Because what did she really know about Charlotte? She usually was a pretty good judge of people. But Charlotte totally confused her.
Alex focused all her attention on the purple gel pen on the kitchen table.
The pen. Think about the pen. Nothing but the gel pen, she told herself.
She stared at it with laser vision. Keeping her body completely still, she coaxed her mind to transfer energy into the pen, to send her life force into the pen.
She pressed her palms together, as if in yoga class.
The mosquito bite behind her knee itched.
She ignored it. She had to use her telepathic powers to make the pen write. Or float. Or move. Or something.
She squeezed her eyes tightly, willing the pen into motion.
But the pen just lay there. Motionless.
Alex blew out a huge breath. And even that didn’t move the gel pen.
She chewed her lip, contemplating what she was doing wrong. Sibyl’s website said people with the Power could move objects. And it was only a pen. It wasn’t an elephant.
Maybe I need Ava, she thought. Sibyl had said something about their Power being stronger together. Now she wished she’d listened more closely. She also wished she’d bought the psychic’s book. After all the research she’d done, she was now convinced that Sibyl wasn’t a fake.
She was also convinced that she and Ava shared some kind of power, or connection, or psychic wavelength. More than the “twin-speak” her dad liked to joke about. She wished Ava were here to try moving the pen with her.
At that moment, her phone buzzed, startling her. Could it be Ava? Had Alex mentally summoned her again?
Alex looked at the screen. No. It was a text from Charlotte Huang, the new girl.
Wanna come to my house Friday after school? U & Ava. It’ll be fun. Just the 3 of us. Cool?
Cool! We are in!
She’d only really spoken to Charlotte this afternoon. They had English together and were paired up on a grammar activity. They’d spent more time talking about fashion and jewelry than diagramming sentences. Alex loved Charlotte’s sense of style. And Charlotte had complimented Alex’s silver bead necklace. She seemed to think that Alex would fit in living in New York City. How amazing was that?
“We’re home!” Mrs. Sackett announced, pushing open the kitchen door.
Moxy bounded down the steps from where she’d been asleep in the upstairs hallway. She rushed to greet Mrs. Sackett.
Alex craned her neck to see over her mom’s shoulder. Ava still wore her football uniform, minus the pads. Her curls were sweaty and matted to the sides of her face. A film of dirt coated her skin, and she smelled awful. But she was smiling.
“You won!” Alex leaped off her chair.
“We did! Twenty-one to sixteen!” Ava cheered. “We’re moving on!”
Alex slapped her sister a high five. “I wish I’d been there. I can’t believe Ms. Palmer scheduled an extra student council meeting this week. Were you awesome?”
Ava shrugged. “Pretty awesome. Three field goals.”
Mrs. Sackett petted Moxy and surveyed the kitchen. “Alex? What about starting dinner? Didn’t you get my text?”
“I set the table and put water in the pot for pasta,” Alex said.
“What about making the salad?”
“Yeah, that. I meant to do it, but I was trying to move this pen with my mind,” she explained.
“I don’t even know what that means.” Mrs. Sackett began pulling lettuce and cucumbers out of the fridge.
“How’d that work for you?” Ava smirked, plopping into a chair. She rolled the pen with her finger.
“It takes practice. I think we need to do it together,” Alex said.
“Right now, you need to wash and cut theses veggies,” her mom said. “I’m going to take Moxy out.” She clipped a leash on the dog. “Ava, you need to shower.”
“I’m too tired to move,” Ava complained.
As Alex walked to the sink, she told Ava about Charlotte’s invite. “I can’t wait to see her closet. She brought all these cool clothes from New York City. We’re all about the same size. She said we can share them,” Alex reported.
“I don’t want to share her clothes,” Ava said.
“I bet she has other fun things for us to do.” Alex scrubbed the cucumber with the vegetable brush.
“I don’t want to go,” Ava said.
“Why not? She seems so sweet,” Alex said.
“No, she doesn’t. At least, not all the time. I can’t figure her out.” Ava told Alex about how Charlotte had acted at the lunch table.
“You guys must not have understood her jokes. I�
�m sure it didn’t go down like that.”
“I was there. It was bad,” Ava insisted.
“Emily and Lindsey just don’t know her. Maybe they’re intimidated, because she’s sophisticated and from New York. I think we should go,” Alex declared. “She wanted it to be the three of us.”
Ava shrugged. “I’ll give her another chance. But something is odd with her.”
Alex pulled the wooden cutting board from the cabinet. Then she spotted the shopping bags on the floor. “You and Mom went shopping? Without me?”
“Don’t get all jealous. We stopped at the mall, so I could get Coach a birthday present. Nothing else,” Ava assured her.
“What did you get?” Alex asked.
“The most amazing gift ever.” Ava stood and reached into the bag. She pulled out a football-shaped spatula. “He can use this to flip pancakes. Or burgers.”
“Oh, I don’t think he’ll have to choose.” Alex raced to her hiding place in the laundry room and returned holding her football-shaped spatula. “He can use one for pancakes and the other for burgers.”
“You didn’t!” Ava cried. “You got him the same one.”
Alex nodded. She stared at the twin spatulas for a moment. True, it was the perfect gift, but . . . still . . .
“We’re psychic, Ave,” she said in a low voice.
Ava snorted. “Matching spatulas do not make us psychic.”
“It’s more than that. Much more.” Alex sat beside her sister. “I didn’t believe at first, but the evidence is there. All these sites talk about telepathic abilities in twins. And all this stuff has been happening lately. Reading each other’s minds, wearing the same outfit, picking out this present. I feel it. Don’t you?”
“I feel tired. And sweaty. And hungry,” Ava admitted. “I don’t feel psychic.”
“You just need to give it a chance,” Alex encouraged her. “Madame Sibyl says our Power is stronger together. We have to tune in to each other.”
“So let me get this straight,” Ava said. “I have a math test tomorrow. You’re saying I can skip studying tonight, and if I think hard enough, you’ll be able to mentally send me all the correct answers?”
Alex laughed. “Nice try. I don’t think it works that way. And even if it did, I’m not doing it. We should use our Power for good.”