Go! Fight! Twin! (6 page)

Monday afternoon, just after the last bell rang, Ava hurried to her football teammate Xander's locker, which wasn't far from hers.

“Hey, Xander,” she said, as he slammed his locker door closed and hoisted his practice stuff onto his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said. “What's up?”

“I need you to tell Coach K I won't be at practice today.”

“Are you sick?” he asked her, raising his eyebrows.

Ava gave a little cough. “Just a little. It's more that I have a really bad sore throat and my mom thinks it could be strep, so I'm going to get a strep test. I don't want to infect the team.”

“Okay,” he said. “Feel better.” He headed down the hallway toward the locker room.

Ava blew out a breath.
Getting out of going to practice wasn't so hard,
she thought. She hurried off to meet Alex.

They had picked a remote bathroom in a far corner of the school, where almost no one went at this time of day. Alex was already dressed in
Ava-wear. Her hair was tucked into the Celtics cap, and she had on one of Ava's faded, comfy T-shirts and jeans.

“Freakishly convincing,” said Ava, when she saw her sister. “Except I don't wear bubblegum-pink lip gloss. You need to wipe it off.”

Alex's hand flew to her mouth. “Right. I forgot. Let me borrow your lip balm.”

Ava dug it out of her pocket and handed it over.

“We need to hurry,” said Alex, getting right down to work. “Tryouts are in fifteen minutes.”

Ava sighed and took the neatly folded T-shirt and shorts from her sister. “This is crazy,” she muttered as she went into the stall to change.

Ten minutes later Ava looked at herself in the mirror and saw her amazed reflection staring back. Her eyes looked huge, rimmed with dark, smudgy eye pencil. Her lips glistened with pink gloss. She gave her hair a shake, and the fake ponytail swayed back and forth. She had to admit that once in a while she missed the feeling of having long hair. Although this big bow did look ridiculous.

“Four minutes till tryouts start,” said Alex briskly, moving to open the door. “Remember: Don't try too hard. Be below average. Don't get carried away and get all competitive, okay? Just be bad enough to get cut, and it will all be over.”

“It will all be over,” repeated Ava, and hustled off toward the gym.

There were fewer girls in the gym today, of course, but still at least twenty. Ava was put into a different group from the day before, led by a high school girl named Serena. Rosa was also in the group. After stretching, they practiced poses.

Serena demonstrated something called a scorpion. Ava watched in amazement as Serena stood on her left foot and used one hand to grab her right foot, bent at the knee, behind her. Slowly and smoothly, her right foot went up, up, up behind her body, until it was at the back of her head. Then she grabbed the leg with her other hand and stood perfectly balanced.

“Wow,” the girls said.

“This is a flexibility pose,” said Serena, lowering her foot. “I'll spot you guys, don't worry.”

A few of the girls were super flexible, and although not as graceful as Serena, could do the pose with some guidance. When it was Rosa's turn, she expertly grabbed her foot and sinuously moved it up until she looked just like Serena.

Ava was next. “I've never tried this,” she admitted to Serena under her breath.

“Don't worry. I'm here to spot you,” said Serena reassuringly. “I know you're flexible, but don't push yourself too hard.”

Ava had no trouble grabbing her back foot. Up, up it went.

“Nice!” said Serena encouragingly. “Now reach back as far as you can with your other hand and grab your foot with both.”

Ava was amazed. She could grab her foot with two hands!

“Nice flexibility!” said Serena. “Have you really never tried this before? You're doing great!”

With a start, Ava reminded herself she was supposed to be performing badly today. No, no! Not great. She dropped her foot quickly. “Oops,” she said. “Lost my balance.” She smiled apologetically at Serena and rejoined the group.

“Ava! Hi! Ava? Hello?”

With a start, Alex realized Corey was addressing her. She jumped back from where she was peering through the slats in the bleachers at Ava's tryout. Corey was clearly just back from football practice: He was carrying his practice pads and had black stuff on his cheeks.

“Oh, hi,” she said, adjusting the brim of her Celtics hat. She touched the back of her head and tucked a stray tendril of long hair underneath the cap.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Why?”

Corey looked puzzled. “Xander said you had an appointment.”

“Oh! Oh, yeah, fine. It was just a dentist appointment, a routine checkup.”

Corey looked even more confused. “He said you thought you might have strep.”

“Oh! Ah, ha-ha. Well, my dentist is awesome. He was a double major in dentistry and medicine and he, ah, he . . .” Alex desperately needed to change the subject. “Anyway, I don't have strep—or any cavities.”

“That's good,” said Corey uncertainly. “So how's Alex doing with tryouts? I heard she was pretty good yesterday.”

“Yeah, she made first cuts,” said Alex, unable to contain the pride in her voice. “She doesn't think she's good enough to actually make the team, because she has too many other interests and can't commit to such a specialized skill, but she's a determined person and believes you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. And she decided she really wanted to make first cuts.”

“Huh. No kidding.” He studied her curiously. “Well, I need to run. My mom's waiting for me. See you at practice tomorrow.”

“Yep, see you.”

He turned. “In case you were wondering, practice was pretty tough today. We did a lot of conditioning. But Coach K said we're watching film tomorrow. He says we need a day to regroup and rest up. So no pads.”

“Okay, thanks,” said Alex, stopping herself just before she said,
I'll let Ava know
.

Corey paused again. “Hey, do you remember the name of our fake extra-point call?”

Alex could only shake her head. She had no idea what he was talking about.

Corey nodded. “That's okay. I can ask Xander.” He started to walk away.

Was he looking at her suspiciously? Had he guessed that she wasn't really Ava?

Then Corey said, “What's up, Alex?”

Alex felt an electric jolt through her body. How had he recognized her through her disguise? They didn't know each other that well. Then she heard Ava respond behind her.

“Hey, Corey.”

Oh. So he'd been saying hi to Ava, dressed as Alex, who had come up behind her. Alex wiped her brow. They both watched Corey disappear down the hallway.

“I need to go wash my face and take off this dumb bow,” muttered Ava in Alex's ear.

“You'll have to wait till we get home,” Alex whispered back. “There's nowhere to go without risking being discovered.”

“Okay, but I can't be seen on the bus,” said Ava. “I'm supposed to have strep. Let's walk.”

They slipped out of a side door and set off for home.

“So how did it go today? Did you remember to be bad?”

“Um, yeah,” said Ava. “Mostly.”

Alex noted a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

“I landed funny on a jump and turned my ankle a little,” said Ava. “But I think it'll be okay for practice tomorrow. Football practice, I mean, of course.”

“And they'll make final cuts tonight?”

“No, they said one more day of tryouts, because there are quite a few girls who could go one way or the other, and Molly gets to try out tomorrow.”

Alex stopped. “Ave, then you have to go back tomorrow. You can't not show up.”

“Yes, I can,” said Ava. “I am not going to miss another day of football practice.”

Alex remembered what Corey had said, and a desperate idea popped into her head. “I'll go to football in your place!”

Now it was Ava's turn to stop walking. “Alex. Do you realize what you're saying?”

“No! I mean, yes!”

“You wouldn't know the difference between a tight end and a split end if your life depended on it.”

“I know. I know. But Corey told me—you—that tomorrow Coach K is just talking to the team. There's no actual practice involved. So I can be you, because I don't have to do anything except sit there and watch films and listen to the coaches talk.”

“Hey, Ava! Think fast!” came a voice from behind them.

Both girls whirled around. A basketball came sailing out of thin air, headed straight for Alex. The twins hadn't realized they were so close to home already—they were passing the little park near their house, and Jack was shooting baskets on the court.

Alex gave a little squeal and covered her face with her arms. The ball bounced off her elbow and rolled away.

“Alex!” hissed Ava under her breath. “You're me, remember? I would have caught that! Now go get the ball!”

Alex ran over and picked up the ball. “Hey, Jack!” she called. “Didn't see you.”

“Hey,” Jack yelled back. “Let's see what you've got, Ave! From there!”

“What's he asking me?” Alex hissed at Ava.

“He wants you to try a long bomb from here. Shoot the ball. Into the basket.”

“From here?”

“It's just a game. Jack and I do it all the time. Go on.”

Alex dribbled the ball once, then hoisted it into the air, her elbows flapping out awkwardly. It missed the basket. It missed the basketball court. It landed in the grass near the play area and bumped to a stop against the slide.

Ava closed her eyes with a pained expression.

Jack looked at Alex-as-Ava with a surprised look. “Nice shot,” he said. “Not.”

“Ha-ha! My bad!” called Alex. Ava tugged her by the sleeve, and the two girls hurried off.

The next day Alex sat in the girls' locker room, lacing up Ava's cleats. She had to admit, Ava's clothes certainly were comfy. Her baggy T-shirt, faded and soft from dozens of washings, flopped over her loose shorts, which billowed around Alex's legs and extended almost down to her knees.

“Hi, Ava,” said a girl as she entered the bank of lockers where Alex was sitting. “No pads today?”

Alex shook her head. “Nope. We're watching film.”

The girl, whom Alex didn't know, was quickly changing into what looked like volleyball clothes.
Alex admired the way her mahogany-brown hair tumbled over her pretty purple shirt as she propped a foot up on the bench to tie her shoe.

“That burgundy tee is a perfect complement to your hair color,” she blurted out.

The girl looked at her, startled. “Huh?” she said.

Shoot.
Ava would never say anything like that,
Alex thought. “Nothing,” she said. “I better get going—see you!”

The girl cocked her head at Alex, looking slightly confused, but managed a “Yeah, see you,” as Alex hurried out to practice.