Ice Versus Fire

“Ms. Shay, could you please come up to the board and solve problem number two?”

Huh?

I looked up at Mr. Simmons absent-mindedly.
Did he just…?
He raised his bushy eyebrows at me and pointed at the board full of numbers, letters and squiggles that I couldn’t comprehend.
Yes. Yes, he did.
I mumbled silently under my breath.
For at least a full hour, I’ve been drawing a silly little cartoon of him in comic strip form, not bothering to pay attention to class while he was droning on and on about a complicated Math lecture.
He probably knew I was making a comic strip of him. He’s a built-in robot deep inside, I just know it.
I stood up from my seat and frowned, throwing him a bunch of curses in my head. I swear this old man has it in for me.
I grabbed a long, white chalk from the teacher’s desk and faced the board with misery.
I don’t know what the hell these numbers mean. It’s like a foreign language written in unknown codes. Ugh.
I stared at the Math problem long and hard, pretending to scrutinize it and solve it in my head when in truth, I have nothing.
“We’re not getting any younger, Ms. Shay” he mocked loudly.
‘Well, you’re certainly not’ I want to bite back but instead, I held my tongue.
I glanced at the class behind me and without surprise, they were in their own little world, not bothering to help me in my time of need.
Oh, well.
I sighed and turned to face Mr. Simmons, about to tell him I don’t know the answer when…

‘Driiiiing!’

Saved by the bell.
How cliché.
Students started filing out of the classroom in relief and before Mr. Simmons knew it, I ran towards my seat and swiftly grabbed my backpack, exiting the room before he could even think of leaving me behind and pestering me to solve that damn math problem.

Ah, lunch.
The most sacred word in all of high school history, next to ‘dismissal’ and ‘summer’.
“Thanks” I mumbled softly to the cafeteria lady wearing a hairnet and a frown.
I grabbed my tray of food and searched for an empty seat.
The cafeteria was bustling with students eating and chatting animatedly in their tables. Every table was practically full. I was about to give up hope but at the other end of the room, I saw a clean empty table glowing with holiness. I walked faster to get to it before anyone else does.

“Andie!”

I stop in my tracks.
Did someone just call out my name? I wait for a few seconds, straining to hear my mysterious caller before I start moving once more.
Hm, I was prolly hearing things again.
I guess it’s just stress or something.
I blame this all on Math and the complications they bring. If I start seeing dancing numbers in my head, I’m totally going to hold this up against the government.
I finally reached the table and sat down with a shrug, trying to get a hold of my banana and my sanity.

“Andie!”

Jesus. There it is again!
I should’ve probably eaten more at breakfast. I swear I’m starting to…

“ANDIE!”

What in the world?
I focus on hearing the voice this time. When it shouted out my name for the fourth time in a row, I recognized who the shrilly voice belonged to and sucked in an amount of breath.
No, please.
Not now.

“Andieeeeee!”

Go away!

“Oh my dearest, Andie!”

Shut up!

I looked down at my tray and wished for the annoying voice to disappear. Instead, it just keeps getting louder and louder and more annoying.

“Andromeda Concordia Shay!” shouted the person loudly above the noise of the student body. In fact, I think it was even loud enough to hear over at Switzerland!
That’s just great.
Students looked over at my direction and started snickering at my ridiculous name. I’m positive that they’re going to use this against me. I cringed visibly and scanned the crowd for the obnoxious cow who dared to call me by my full name.
Within seconds, I saw it.
Platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, designer clothes and smug smirk.
Yup, that’s my twin sister all right.
I rolled my eyes and glared at her. Just because she got the better name, doesn’t mean she could rub it in my face.
She started approaching my table with her all cockiness and trademark strut.
We’re identical twins but we look nothing alike ever since she changed everything we have in common.
She has platinum blonde her, I have dull red hair. She has tanned complexion, I have pale skin. She has bright blue eyes, I have dreary blue eyes. She looks like a fashion model, I look like a saggy rag. She’s popular, I’m a loser.
She’s Adrianna Cornelia Shay and I’m Andromeda Concordia Shay.
She’s everything whereas, I’m nothing.
It’s fine, really. I’ve already established that fact when people just didn’t care about me anymore and only noticed her. I’ve gotten used to it by now.
I just wished she would stop rubbing everything in my face.
I watched her walk ever so gracefully in her ridiculously high heels as if she was on a runway, her long hair bouncing behind hair back with such glow and health.
Show-off.
A table full of guys started wolf-whistling and checking her out, clearly enjoying her little display of sluttiness.
Sick perverts.
I looked down at my lap, feeling the anger rise within me and the banana squished mercilessly within my tightening grip.
I wish she would just leave me the hell alone.
“I have good news!” she stated cheerfully once she arrived at my table.
I looked up at her, hope glistening in my eyes.
“You have a life threatening disease?”
Her confident smile suddenly vanished and was replaced with a scowl. I sniggered to myself.
After she has gotten over what I said, she smiled at me again.
“No, silly! I don’t have a disease!” she replied with a sickly sweet tone.
“Oh. That’s a shame.” I answered, opening my can of Pepsi.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows, expecting me to ask her what the good news was.

As if.

I took a sip of my Pepsi then started slurping it as loudly as I could just to spite her. Sure enough, it did. She rolled her little beady eyes at me and crossed her arm as if she was someone important and not to be disrespected.
Psh. That’s what you get for annoying me to hell.
I was expecting that she would get pissed off by my rudeness and attend to her brainless little minions but the girl just couldn’t take a hint. Instead, she sat down across from me with her mocking smile.
I ignored her as best as I can and grabbed the shiny red apple sitting prettily on my tray.
Before I can place it in my mouth and leave my twin sister sitting there stupidly, she stole the apple and took a bite at it.
I gave her a dirty look and grunted.
“What do you want from me, Addie?” I muttered, fully annoyed.
She smiled at me brightly and moved her seat closer to the table with excitement. To be honest, she was sort of freaking me out. We usually ignored each other at school and even at home. This can’t be a good sign.
“Well, Sean Patterson and I are going on a date!” she answered happily, giggling like a little school girl.
I stared at her.
“Who?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head at me as though I was a mentally competent.
“Sean Patterson! The hot quarterback!” she retorted hotly. She waited for my reaction with sparkling eyes, probably anticipating jealousy from me. Meh.
“That’s nice.” I said dully, playing with my greasy spaghetti.
“I know, right?” she continued with a cheerful tone. I pushed my meatloaf back and forth, waiting for her to leave the table. I don’t know what she wants from me. It’s not like we braid each other’s hair and share personal stuff in our everyday lives.
“We’re going out this Friday…” she added, a smile still lingering on her face.
“Great.”
“It’s a double date, actually…”
“Oh?” I mumbled, listening with half an ear.
“It’s with his brother…”
“Right.”
“His name’s Skye…”
“Huh.”
I’m bored.
“You’re his date.”
“Cool.”
“So you’ll go?”
“Hm.”

There was sudden silence.

Wait, wut?

I looked up at Addie who was absolutely glowing, a big mischievous grin plastered on her face. I stared at her confusedly and froze.

Wait. Wait.

It took five seconds for my brain to click.

“WHAT?!?!”