Please Don't Cross Me, I Asked Nicely

I sighed with relief. Nick chuckled a little. I grabbed two blank dorm forms, clipboards, and blue pens from the organizer on the front desk, handing one each to Nick.

“So, Victoria is your sister?” he asked before sitting down in his chair again.

“Yeah. My twin sister, actually”, I clarified hesitantly. Victoria hated it when people knew we were related. I did, too, but only because of the way she acts and the clothes she wears. It's ridiculous.

Nick's eyes lit up a little in shock and intrigue.

“You two are twins?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, we are, but we're fraternal twins. I'm older by five minutes”, I said for the umpteenth time in my life. I think I answered that question for about the thousandth time, if I remember correctly... Oh. He's talking again.

“Wow”, Nick said in fascination.

“Yeah”, I said, not wanting to talk about this any longer than necessary.

“So, do you have any siblings?” I asked in curiosity, slightly tilting my head a little. A brighter smile formed on his lips.

“Yes. I have three brothers. Two older ones and one younger brother”, he replied proudly.

“So, why did you decide to come here to New Preston?” I asked. Damn curiosity.

“I decided to come here because my older brothers came here. I wanted to try public school for two years before switching, though”, he explained.

“What happened at your previous school to make you change your mind, though?” I asked, cursing myself mentally once more.

The smile slowly faded from his lips. He took a moment before opening his mouth, only to get interrupted by Victoria.

“Rose, Mrs. Thorne wants to speak to you”, she said with a large smile, her eyes flashing to Nick in return.

I sighed, then stared at my sheet, surprised that it was completed.

“I'll see you around, OK, Nick?” I asked as I rose to my feet.

“OK”, he replied as he, too rose to his feet.

I quickly pulled my backpack on as well as my other bag and picked up one suitcase as Nick picked up the other for me. Shocked, I accepted it from him, our hand brushing as the handle went from his hand to mine.

“See you”, I said one last time.

“See you, Rose”, he replied, holding a hand up to wave. Victoria passed me and glared as I rolled my eyes at her.

If you're wondering who I am, I suppose now would be the perfect time for me to introduce myself. My name is Rosalina Anne Sanchez. I'm a Junior at New Preston Boarding Academy, returning for the third year to finish high school. I'm currently 16 about to turn 17 on November 1st just as my twin sister, Victoria is going to. Our parents are Victor and Roselyn Sanchez, hence the reason why my name is Rosalina and my sister's is Victoria.

Our father is part Caucasian and Hispanic, while our mom is Caucasian, Native-American, African-American, and Asian. They, too attended this same boarding school about God-knows how long ago. Ever since Victoria and I were born, we were always polar opposites that complimented each other.. until high school, that is. Back in 2006, our Freshman year, Victoria wanted to be more of an outcast instead of my twin sister. She started getting extremely girly and spoke out more, always sucking up to the teachers and things like that.

Last year, she fell for this jock, a football player name Jeffrey Jackson. The two.... had sex. He loved Vicky to death, though, but she dumped him for his brother, my used to be best friend, Jacob, now known as Jake. I always knew that Jake liked Vic, but he seemed to have liked me more than her. I don't know. I never asked and I stopped caring, especially after he became captain of the football team and began acting a douche towards me.

But, I digress. Enough about my life. Let's continue with the story.

I walked into Mrs. Thorne's actual office. Mrs. Thorne was actually the school principal, but also was in charge as Dorm Advisor and cheer leading coach here at New Preston. That's a crap load, right? I know.

I placed my things immediately to the right of the room before sitting in one of the two chairs in front of her desk, my clipboard in my hand.

“Hey, Rose”, she said kindly, folding her hands on top of a folder that I assumed to be of my school records.

“Hi, Mrs. T”, I replied just as kindly. She reminded me a lot of my mom a little bit.

“Are you finished with your form?” she asked.

“Oh, yes”, I said pulling the clipboard off of my lap, then handing it to her.

She took the paper off gently, then set the clipboard into a side bin where I knew more clipboards were. Her eyes scanned the paper as she pulled out a yellow memo pad and a click, ballpoint pen with the school's name on it.

“So, it's a girl's dorm room, again, Rose?” she asked.

“Yes”, I replied without hesitation.

“What about rooming with Victor-” she began, but I cut across her.

“Ms. Thorne, you know Victoria and I don't get along”, I answered for the third time in three years.

“Your father called”, she began in a sad tone, “and he told me that your mom is fine, but she's still sick.”

I bit my lip, trying not to allow the tears to fill my eyes.

If you're wondering what's going on, then let me fill you in, since no one besides, Vic, me, and our dad know what's gong on besides Ms. Thorne. My mom got sick back in June, only about three months ago. She's looked worse by the month, but she's assured us that she'll be fine. I didn't want to think otherwise, but I felt like I, well, we were losing her. I was always closer to Mom than Vic was. I've put on fake smile after fake smile to pretend to everyone that I'm OK when in reality, I'm not. I'm scared. I don't know what I'd do if we lost her....

“She'll be fine”, I whispered. “She understands how Vic and I are.”

Mrs. Thorne closed her eyes, then nodded again as she opened a folder and quickly wrote something in it as she placed my application into another.

“Your dorm room is 7C on the third floor of the dorm building, but I trust you know where that is”, she replied, tearing a piece of paper with the dorm number written on it and pulling out another form with my roommate's information on it.

I accepted both, waiting. She walked to a cabinet and opened it, pulling out a brand new silver key with 7C etched on it. She handed me the key as well.

“You're all set, Rosalina”, she said in a low tone, patting me lightly on the back as she returned to her desk, sorting the folders and everything. She sat my folder to her left where a stack of folders already stood.

“Please send Nick in, if you don't mind”, she called as I just picked up my second suitcase.

“OK”, I replied. “See you, Mrs. T.”

“See you, Rose”, she replied as she scanned Nick's folder a little bit before responding.

I walked out the door without so much as a backward glance.