In Your Shadow

The two girls didn't wake up until two, their parents leaving too early for work to realize that thier daughters hadn't woken up for school.

"Sierra," Hazel groaned as she shook her sister. If she didn't wake her up now, she wouldn't get up until their parents got home. "You got to get up. Mom can't know we skipped school."

Sierra squinted at her sister.
"We had school today?" She said, sleep still evident in her voice.
Hazel nodded, opening the blinds on the window. She was already showered and dressed, looking like she had just returned from school.

Hazel looked down at her sister, a look on her face telling Sierra everything she needed to know.
"Oh." She said. "Its friday, isn't it?" Sierra yawned.

"Of course, genius." Hazel sighed, making Sierra roll her eyes. "And you're audition thing is today. You need to get up if you want me to drive you all the way over there."

Sierra sat up in her bed, her hair messy and her eyes tired.
When Hazel had turned fifteen, she wasted no time getting her permit, and completeing her driving hours- while Sierra decided to put it off for a couple of months... which turned into three years.
When Hazel was getting her license, Sierra was just signing up for driving school.

Their mother always joked that Hazel and Sierra split one brain between the two of them. Hazel took the left brain, successfully making the honor roll since pre-school, thinking logically, and acting as Sierra's conscience.
Sierra had the right brain, artistic and musically talented, taking every opportunity she got to avoid school, only passing with Hazel's help. Sierra was the only reason Hazel would ever miss school, to watch her, and make sure she didn't do anything too stupid.
Sierra also helped Hazel recognize her artistic potential, encouraging her to sketch and paint, enter art competitions.
But the only art peices Hazel could put her heart into were portraits of people, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of the crazy things her sister did.

Sierra stood, and began to walk towards her closet, stopping suddenly when she realized Hazel had already picked out an outfit for her, and hung it up on her closet door.

She could hear her sister walking down the steps into the kitchen, then searching through the cabinets, pots, pans, and plates hitting each other as she did.

Sierra got dressed, then went into the bathroom the two girls shared.
There was a definite difference between whose side belonged to whom. Hazel's side was organized and possibly cleaner than an operating room.
Sierra's had toothpaste stuck to the sink, eyeliner smears on the counter, makeup scattered about, her straightening iron barely on the countertop. Not to metion the drawers open, filled with random things, such as towels with tampons, extra eyeliner with fashwash and hair products, clean bathing suit tops and bottoms with the dirty clothes.

She got ready quickly, not bothering to fix her hair, but simply washing her face and swiping on a little eyeliner, her tan floridian skin looking just fine without any kind of cover up.

She made her way down the stairs, jumping over the last step and landing on her feet with a thud.

Just as Sierra made it to the table, Hazel finished making breakfast, and placed it on the table in front of her.
Hazel was an amazing cook, and Sierra finished every bit of food that Hazel ever prepared, no matter what kind of new fad 'diet' she was trying.

This morning she had prepared whole wheat pancakes, with fruit topping and her home-made whipped cream, the extra fruit in a small bowl seperate from the plate.
Hazel sat down next to her, and began to eat her own breakfast.

As if the two had rehearsed it, they both poured the rest of the fruit onto their pancakes, both using a spoon to scoop them out, and then arranging them to their liking.
Then, Sierra using her right hand, and Hazel using her left, they picked up their forks, and stabbed their pancakes.

The two shoved the pieces of pancake and fruit into their mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
"Hazel, when I'm famous," She started, picking out pieces of fruit she wanted. "I'm hiring you as my cook."

Hazel chuckled as she ate, glancing at her sister. The only difference between the two was that Hazel didn't have the blonde chunks in her hair that Sierra did- and she actually washed her hair daily.

"I thought I was going to be your manager, or your stylist." She joked, mentioning the other things that Sierra said she was going to hire her as when she became famous.

Sierra chuckled, and continued to dig into her pancakes.
"You could be all of those things at once, and I bet you could still manage them easily." Sierra said, pointing her fork at her sister, winking.

Hazel rolled her eyes, and finished off her pancakes, and then took Sierra's freshly finished plate from her.

Sierra then chugged the glass of orange juice in front of her, while Hazel did the same with the cranberry juice she had left on the counter next to the stove.

"Ready to go?" She asked as Sierra got up and handed Hazel her cup.
"Si, mi hermana." Sierra said, imitating a mexican accent. Hazel chuckled, and then grabbed her car keys off of the hook next to the garage door.

Sierra knew that her sister already had her phone somewhere in her Mom- purse, along with her own.
That brown bag had everything both of the girls ever needed in it, and Hazel always had it handy.

The two climbed into Hazel's old mustang, the back fender rusting, and the paint peeling everywhere.
Hazel hated it, but Sierra claimed that it gave it character.

"Alright Gazelle," Sierra yelled as she slid across the hood to the passenger side. "Lets ride!"

Hazel chuckled, and started the car as Sierra buckled up, then dug through her sister's CD collection to find something to listen to on the hour long drive to her audition.

"Feels like a Nirvana kind of day to me." Sierra said as Hazel pulled out of the Garage, Gazelle's clutch protesting loudly.

She agreed by nodding her head as she shoved the gearshift violently, and the car was forced into submission.

The two didn't speak the entire way to Sierra's audition, not feeling the need to.
Hazel broke the silence once to ask which exit she should take, and Sierra responded by pointing to one they nearly missed.

"Wow, thanks for the warning Sierra..." Hazel said sarcastically as she pulled up to a stoplight.
Sierra shrugged.

"Now we just need to find..." Sierra looked up in thought, then pulled a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket. She scanned it as the light turned green. "Lost Tree Blvd."
Hazel shot her sister a look.

"Um, Sierra, we kind of need to find the neighborhood first..." She said, turning into a gas station and parking Gazelle.
Sierra looked up at her sister, who's eyebrows were raised, a look on her face that told Sierra that she needed to spit out some directions quick.

"Uh... I think we're supposed to just keep going straight... then take a couple rights...." She said, eyeing the google maps print off.

Hazel rolled her eyes, then snatched the map out of Sierra's hands.

Her eyebrows shot up again.
"Well shit, its not far from here..." She mumbled, starting the car again, and putting it into drive.

In no time at all, Hazel was navigating her way through the suburbs, searching for Lost Tree Blvd, Sierra reading off the odd street names as she passed them.

She mumbled something under her breath, then scribbled something on her arm with a pen from Hazel's purse.

"Lost Tree Blvd. House number... 7861." Hazel said, now searching for the correct house. She glanced at Sierra, who was still scribbling on her arm. "You weren't supposed to be here at a certain time were you?"

Sierra shook her head, but Hazel didn't need to see her sister's response to know the answer.

"Nope. They watched that video you made of me singing, and then told me to come down anytime after three." She mumbled, finishing her scribbling as she did so. "Oh, and they think I'm eighteen."

Hazel had just pulled into the correct house when she stomped on the brake.
"You lied about your age?" She whispered, as if someone was going to hear them.

Sierra smirked, and dropped the pen back in her sister's bag.
"Our age, sister dearest. We're eighteen if they ask. Alright?" She said, opening the door, and stepping out of Gazelle.

"Sierra!" Hazel growled, climbing out of the car herself as Sierra strutted up to the house, as if she was proud of pissing her sister off.
"Sierra stop where you are!" Hazel scolded quietly, hoping no one could hear her. "Damnit, what is wrong-" The door opened, and Hazel quickly shut her mouth.

No matter how angry she was, she knew this was important to her sister, and she wouldn't say a word.

A tall, dark complexioned boy answered the door Sierra had proudly knocked upon during her sister's rampage, and gazed at the two, slightly confused.
Hazel watched as his dark brown eyes darted between the two of them.

"Which one of you is Sierra?" He asked, sounding unsure of himself.
Sierra's hand shot up as Hazel pointed up her, stopping by her sister's side.

He watched Hazel for a moment, then he eyes averted to Sierra, who waved once more. He pasted a smile on his face.

"Ready to sing?" He asked, motioning for them to come inside.
"Hell yeah!" Sierra replied, making Hazel and the boy chuckle. He shut the door behind the two, and then introduced himself.

"Well," He said, facing Sierra. "We've already talked on the phone, but I'm Blake." He said, shaking Sierra's hand. She shook it politely, then motioned to Hazel.

Blake turned to face her just as she looked up from scanning the room they were standing in.
"Blake, this is my sister Hazel. She gave me a ride here." Sierra said, releasing his hand, allowing him to shake Hazel's.

Hazel sent him a smile, and shook his hand just as Sierra had, pushing her hair out of her face with the other. She made a mental to cut them when she got home.

"Nice to meet you Blake." She said with a smile, trying to be polite. He nodded, a somewhat dumb smile on his face.

"Nice to meet you too Hazel." He said, sounding odd.
When he released Hazel's hand, and turned around, Hazel sent Sierra a look, with which Sierra responded with a shrug.

"Well, uh, we're all set up in the garage." He said to Sierra, then turning to Hazel. " You can come and watch if you want." He offered as Sierra began to wander.

She knew her sister didn't need her help to sing a song, and that she was going to be just fine on her own.
Sierra had rarely needed moral support in the past.

Hazel shook her head.
"I think I'll go grab something to eat," She said, fishing Sierra's phone out of her purse. When she found it, she walked up to Blake- who suddenly looked shocked- and placed the phone in his hand. "Can you tell her to call me when she's done?"

He looked at the phone, like he was a little lost.

He must be a slow one... She thought.

"Yeah, of course." He said, walking back to the front door with Hazel.
When she went to reach for the door knob, he opened it for her, and held both the front door and the screen door open for her.

She smiled at him politly, and thanked him.

"No problem." He said as he shut the screen door.

Hazel turned around, noting that the door didn't shut until her car door did.