Switched (3 page)

Olivia
said, “Mr. Strain told me you’re my lab partner.”

What?!
This is so unbelievably O-negative,
Ivy
raged silently. She was now officially having the weirdest and worst day ever.
She was ready to say something really grave, but the look on Olivia’s face
stopped her.

“I am
so horrified by what Charlotte said at lunch. I mean, you are, like, the nicest
person I’ve met so far. I know I should have said something on the spot. It’s
just that, I don’t know, I was so
shocked
. I mean, look at you. You’ve
got unbelievable style,” Olivia said.

“P-pardon
me?” Ivy stammered.

“That’s
the coolest dress I’ve seen all day!” Olivia went on. “And I’m absolutely going
to try the chopstick-in-the-hair thing. You’ve got
way
more style than
Charlotte Brown.”

Ivy
was speechless.

“Anyway,”
Olivia concluded, “I’m really sorry.”

Maybe
Olivia Abbott wasn’t a cheerleader underling after all. Ivy moved her books
aside so Olivia could sit down.

“It’s
okay,” Ivy said. “I’m used to Charlotte’s petty ways. I bet she didn’t tell you
I’m her nextdoor neighbor.”

“Are
you serious?” Olivia asked incredulously.

“Dead
serious. And she never misses an opportunity to say something nasty.” Ivy
rolled her eyes. “I guess it’s a cheerleader thing.”

Olivia
shook her head firmly. “I cheered at my old school, and most cheerleaders aren’t
like that—any more than Goth girls are all witches.”

“As
if.” Ivy laughed, impressed.

Olivia
opened her notebook. “I mean, it would be one thing if you’d
done
something.
But for Charlotte to act like that out of nowhere—”

“Actually,”
Ivy interrupted, “there
was
sixth grade.”

Olivia’s
eyes widened. “What happened in sixth grade?”

“I
tried—”

Mr.
Strain appeared in front of their desk. “Don’t you two think you should be
preparing your lab materials like the rest of the class?”

“Sorry,”
they both mumbled. Ivy sheepishly handed a pair of safety goggles to Olivia. A
few moments later, when Mr. Strain had gone, she continued in a whisper, “I
tried out for cheerleading.”

“
YOU
tried out—” Olivia gasped, but Ivy motioned for Olivia to keep her voice
down. “For
cheerleading
?” Olivia finished in a whisper.

“Yep.”
Ivy smiled. “My dad wanted me to have an extracurricular. I actually made the
squad. But, guess . . . who ...didn’t?”

“No
way.” Olivia’s jaw dropped.

“Way.”
Ivy grinned. “Charlotte was only first alternate.”

“You
can cheer?” Olivia asked.

“I may
not be a smiler, but I
am
really good at gymnastics,” Ivy replied.

“You
can too smile,” objected Olivia.

“Yes,
but I don’t
like
to smile,” Ivy said. “And I certainly don’t like to be
perky. Truth is, I wasn’t really into the ‘cheer’ part of cheerleading.”

Olivia
wrinkled her nose. “That part
is
really important,” she admitted.

“It
just wasn’t my style,” Ivy explained. “Even my dad knew it. So, after the first
week, I quit and joined the newspaper.”

“And
what happened?” probed Olivia.

“Charlotte
got to fill the spot I left. That was the only reason she made the squad. She’s
never gotten over it. And the rest, as they say—”

“Is
middle school!” Olivia blurted. They both laughed.

“Ladies!”
Mr. Strain interrupted from across the room. “Please focus on the experiment at
hand! We are exploring the combustion of plant matter, not your social lives!”

Olivia
made a face and raised her hand to turn on the Bunsen burner. There was a dark
emerald ring on her middle finger.

The
strange feeling Ivy had experienced earlier when she’d looked at Olivia rushed
back over her like a tidal wave. Her hand instantly flew to her neck, and she
felt for the ring on its chain beneath her dress. She found it near her throat.
But how could there be two of them? The ring was the only thing she had from
her real parents. She was sure it was one of a kind. How could Olivia have one,
too?

“Ivy?”
Olivia was staring at her. “Are you okay?”

Somehow
Ivy forced herself to smile. “F-fine,” she stammered.

Ivy
didn’t know how she would make it to the end of class, but she did. When the
bell finally rang, she grabbed Olivia’s arm. “Come with me!”

“Sure,”
Olivia said. “Where to?”

Ivy
looked around wildly as they stepped into the hallway. “The bathroom.”

Ivy
thought she would die if there was anybody else in the girls’ bathroom. She
checked to make sure it was completely empty.

“Are
you going to tell me a secret?” Olivia asked as she watched curiously. Ivy came
over and turned Olivia to face the mirror.

Olivia’s
eyes met Ivy’s in the reflection, and all at once, Olivia’s smile disappeared. “Ivy,
what is it?”

Ivy
lifted Olivia’s wrist so they could both see her hand in the mirror. “Where did
you get this ring?” Ivy asked, her voice trembling.

Olivia
looked stunned for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. “It’s the only thing
in the world,” she said slowly, “that my real parents gave me.”

Ivy
reached carefully into her dress, pulled out her chain, and held up her ring
next to Olivia’s.

The
rings were identical. They had the same ornate etchings on the same heavy
platinum bands, the same oddly cut green emeralds. They even seemed to shine
brighter now that they were next to each other.

Ivy
and Olivia’s eyes reconnected in the mirror.

When
Ivy spoke again, her voice was almost a whisper. “When’s your birthday?”

Olivia’s
voice shook. “May . . .” she began.

“Thirteenth,”
Ivy finished.

Olivia
put her hand to her mouth. “You look just like me!”

“
Yo u
look just like
me
,” Ivy said, raising her eyebrows.

Olivia
spun around to face her.

“Who
were . . .” they both started.

“How
did . . .” Neither of them finished. Ivy took a deep breath.

“When
were . . .” they said as one.

“Okay,”
Ivy cried. “You go first.”

“Are
you adopted?” Olivia blurted. “I am.”

“Me,
too,” Ivy answered. “How old were you?”

“One,”
Olivia replied. “You?”

“Same.”

“Where
were you born?” Olivia asked. “Owl Creek, Tennessee,” Ivy told her.

“Me,
too!” Olivia shook her head. “This is so out of control.”

“Have
you ever been there?” asked Ivy.

Olivia’s
eyes lit up. “Once, a few years ago. My parents drove through on the way to
Nashville. There’s not much there except these unbelievably huge trees.”

“You
have no idea how jealous I am.” Ivy sighed. She’d always wanted to go to Owl
Creek.

“What
about your ring?” Olivia asked.

“I got
it for my tenth birthday,” Ivy replied. “My father said my real parents wanted
it that way. It was a condition of the adoption.”

“That’s
exactly what my parents told me!” Olivia bit her lip. “Do you . . . do you know
anything else about them?” She looked at Ivy hopefully.

Ivy’s
heart sank. “No. My dad never even met them,” she said. “How about you?”

“No.”
Olivia sighed.

For a
moment, they were both quiet. Then Ivy’s mouth curled into a wide grin. “Well,
Olivia, I’ve always wanted an evil twin.”

Olivia
rolled her eyes. “That is just what
I
was going to say!”

For as
long as she could remember, Olivia had wished for a sister. Now she didn’t know
which was hardest to believe: the fact that she had a sister, the fact that she
had a
twin
sister, or the fact that her twin sister was her lab partner
in science.

Studying
Ivy’s face, she felt dumb for not realizing right away. Underneath the dark
eyeliner and Goth outfit, Ivy looked exactly like her: the angular nose, the
oval chin, the arching eyebrows. And to think Olivia had been scared she wouldn’t
find anyone like herself at Franklin Grove!

“We
need to talk,” Ivy said. She even had the same smile as Olivia. “Want to walk
to the Meat & Greet for a bite?”

“Sure.
I’m starved!” Olivia beamed. “I just have to call my mom so she doesn’t worry.”

“Use
my cell,” Ivy said, reaching into her bag.

Olivia
called home and said she’d be late because she was going out to eat with this
really cool girl she’d met at school.

“That’s
great!” her mom replied. “I knew you’d have no trouble making new friends,
Olivia. Make sure you’re home by seven, and have fun!”

“What
about calling your parents?” Olivia asked Ivy.

“It’s
always been just Dad and me,” Ivy explained. “And he lets me be pretty
independent.”

Olivia
and Ivy got their bags from their lockers, then headed down the hallway and out
through the front doors of the school. The beginning of football season was
Olivia’s favorite time of year, and not just because of cheerleading. It felt
like summer and smelled like fall. As they made their way down the street,
Olivia looked over at Ivy walking beside her. The sun made shimmering patterns
on her sister’s black dress.

“Don’t
you think it’s weird,” Olivia mused, “that my dad just happened to be
transferred to Franklin Grove?”

“I was
thinking about that, too,” Ivy said, doing a hopscotch hop over a crack in the
sidewalk, “and I think there’s only one explanation.” She stopped and turned to
Olivia. “I think we were meant to find each other.”

Olivia’s
heart did a round-off, and her eyes filled with tears. She gave Ivy a huge hug.
She couldn’t help it.

Ivy
didn’t move.
Oh, no
, Olivia thought
.
She was coming on too strong
again. Or Ivy didn’t want a sister. Or Ivy didn’t want
her
as a sister.

But
then Ivy hugged her back.

They
both started sobbing right there in the middle of the sidewalk. If somebody had
walked by, that person would have wondered what was wrong. But nothing was
wrong. Everything was right. They were just thirteen-year-old twin sisters
hugging for the first time.

Finally,
Olivia let go and reached into her bag for some tissues. She blew her nose
loudly. “Sorry if I snotted on your shoulder,” she said.

Ivy
smiled tearily. “Don’t be sorry,” she said, wiping black mascara tearstains
from her cheeks. “I think I might have ruined your dress.”

Olivia
peered down at the smear of black on her bright pink sleeve. She couldn’t help
laughing. “You Goths really don’t like pink, do you?”

Ivy
chuckled as they walked on again. “I hope you like Franklin Grove,” she said to
Olivia. “The bunny population here isn’t too bad.”

Olivia
laughed. “Yeah, I saw that T-shirt your friend was wearing. So what’s it all
about? Is this place infested with wild bunnies? I once read that when rabbits
were introduced into Australia they, like, ruined the whole country.”

“Very
funny,” Ivy said.

“No,
really. I mean, their whole ecosystem was destroyed. The rabbits ate all the
crops.”

Ivy
shook her head. “No, not
those
bunnies, the—” Suddenly Ivy went quiet.

Olivia
glanced at her. She had a weird look in her eyes. “What’s up?” Olivia asked.

“Huh?”
her sister said distractedly. “Nothing. I was just ...I was ... thinking again
about how strange it is . . .” She was talking really slowly. Then, all at
once, she seemed to come back to life. “That we’re
sisters
.”

“No
kidding!” Olivia agreed. “Why do you think we weren’t adopted as a pair? I
mean, don’t they usually try to keep twins together?”

Ivy
played with the ring around her neck. “I don’t know,” she said thoughtfully. “Do
you have any other brothers or sisters?”

“No.
Do you?” Olivia asked.

“No.
Maybe both our parents could only adopt one kid. Or maybe our real parents
wanted us apart.” Ivy shrugged. “We don’t know a thing about them.”

Olivia
nodded and followed Ivy toward the neon sign of the Meat & Greet Diner up
ahead. “All
I
know is,” Olivia said, “when I think that we could have
been together for the last thirteen years, it makes me want to scream. I
totally could’ve used a twin sister in second grade.”

“Yeah,”
said Ivy as they crossed the parking lot. “Second grade
did
bite.”

The
restaurant was packed with other students from Franklin Grove Middle School.
The place was decorated like a meat locker, with hooks hanging from the
ceiling. But instead of slabs of meat, they held cool things like piñatas and
disco balls. Olivia followed Ivy to an empty booth hidden in an alcove near the
back of the restaurant.