A Mistaken Identity

After getting ready to go out with Nick, I grabbed my phone and texted the Jonas girls. I was absolutely sure of the fact that they were the phones who sent Nick over here. They were the only ones who knew that I was back, so they had to have been the ones who sent Nick out here. For that, I was truly annoyed with them. I didn’t want to go out with Nick. Betsy and Amanda knew that; they knew that I hated the Jonas Brothers. So, why were they doing this?

K-Leigh: Did you guys tell Nick that I was back?

Betsy: What makes you think that?

K-Leigh: Because he’s here.

Amanda: Your point being?

K-Leigh: Oh, come on! You two know how much I hate the Jonas Brothers! Hell, I don’t even want to be here any longer. The only reason I am is because you’re not letting me reveal the one thing that I came here to do. Because of you guys, I’m stuck here around a boy band I hate so vehemently in order to impersonate my twin sister until mid-summer when the new generation of Jonas kids are born. And now, I’m being forced to go out on a date with a guy I find so repulsively despicable. You know I don’t want to go out with him today.

Amanda: Just go.

Betsy: Yeah. There’s a chance that you could learn to like the boys based upon what happens today. Just give Nick a chance and you’ll begin to understand how Karleigh could fall for him.

K-Leigh: Fine.

Once I sent that text to them, I pocketed my phone and went outside. Nick was still standing on the porch, waiting for me to come back out. I sighed and glanced over at Nick. “Alright, Nick. We can go. I just needed to go take care of a few things before I came out. After all, the girls and I did just get back from New York a few hours ago,” I said.

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why I want to spend the day with you, Karleigh. We haven’t since the wedding,” Nick said. “So, come on. I’ve got quite an interesting surprise for you today.”

I nodded and we left. As we headed to our destination, I wondered what it was going to take for me to convince everyone—the Jonas wives in particular—of the fact that I hated the Jonas Brothers and wished to be out of their lives forever. I hated it here. The only reason that I even planned on impersonating my twin sister was to let the wedding play out as well as to get to know my parents. Since my parents were quite obviously not going to pay any attention to me as I wanted them to, there was really no reason for me to be here. I’d have to leave. “Where are we going?” I asked Nick as he was driving.

“You’ll see,” he said.

While Nick was busy driving, I zoned out and began imagining what my life might have been like if Karleigh and I grew up in the same home. Despite the fact that I could barely imagine anything because of the fact that I grew up in an orphanage, I found imagining this easy. It was my twin sister we were talking about, my identical twin sister. Why? I wondered. Why was I cursed to be raised at an orphanage while Karleigh wasn’t? I wanted to understand what was going on; I needed to understand why this was going on.

“Karls, we’re here,” Nick said.

I was then thrust out of my head to notice that Nick was already out of the car. He had pulled the passenger side of the car open, his hand outstretched for me to take. “Where are we?” I asked, taking it.

“Your favorite place in the world: the beach,” he said.

“Oh,” I replied.

“Yeah, remember that conversation we had a few months ago about what your perfect date would be? Well, that’s what we’re doing,” Nick explained as we began to walk along the beach. “You know, Karls, you just haven’t been yourself lately, not since before the wedding. What’s going on? What was the family emergency you told me about?”

I looked on warily at Nick. Family emergency? What kind of family emergency could Karleigh have possibly had? She was headed out of L.A., and neither Mom nor Dad was…Oh my God! She knew! Karleigh found out that that she had a twin sister and was coming to find me. I sighed and turned my attention back to Nick. “I can’t tell you what’s been going on, Nick,” I said quietly, thinking of Karleigh. ‘It’s just way too personal.”

“You sure?” he asked.

I nodded. “Very.”

The news that Karleigh was coming to find me frightened me. I was nearly able to meet my twin sister at the end of October. Allison and Zora kept me from meeting my twin sister by killing her merely in order to try to prevent the Jonas-Weimar wedding. Karleigh was almost able to come meet me. But, how? How was Karleigh able to find me in the first place after seventeen and a half years of being separated from one another? Tears began streaming down my face. Nick sighed and wiped them away. “Should I take you back?” I nodded. “Alright. Come on then.” Nick then drove me back home and kissed me goodbye. “Let me know when you’re feeling better. We’ll finish our date then,” he said.

I nodded. “Alright.” Once I got inside, I ran up to Karleigh’s bedroom, knowing that I would need to go find out what Karleigh knew and how she came to realize it. It was imperative that I did in order to under what was going on. I sat down at the desk and began rummaging through the papers hoping that it would provide me some clue that could help me. Karleigh must have written it all down. After rummaging through the desk, I was able to find something promising. What I saw there scared me. On the paper that I pulled from my sister’s desk were two very important pieces of information: a name and address. I recognized it immediately. I’d know it anywhere. The name was Alabaster Burton and the address was that of the orphanage. Seeing this, and remembering everything from my childhood, I knew what was going on. This was my uncle.