Take Two
Authors: Julia DeVillers
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Take
Two
Also by Julia DeVillers
and Jennifer Roy
TRADING FACES
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors' imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin hardcover edition January 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Julia DeVillers and Jennifer Roy
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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.
Designed by Karin Paprocki
The text of this book was set in Granjon.
Manufactured in the United States of America
1109 MTN
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeVillers, Julia.
Take two / by Julia DeVillers and Jennifer Roy.
â1st Aladdin hardcover ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Identical twins Payton and Emma continue to navigate life in middle school as they serve their punishment for having fooled people by trading places, and they learn that their own identities are usually best.
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7533-5 (hardcover edition)
eISBN 13: 978-1-4169-9871-6
[1. TwinsâFiction. 2. SistersâFiction. 3. IndividualityâFiction. 4. Middle schoolsâFiction. 5. SchoolsâFiction.]
I. Roy, Jennifer Rozines, 1967â II. Title.
PZ7.D4974Tak 2010
[Fic]âdc22
2009038222
To Robin Rozines (Mom)
Take
Two
Payton
One
MIDDLE SCHOOL AFTER LAST PERIOD
Cell phone! Oh, no, my cell phone was ringing!
I opened my tote bag and scrounged around in a panic. I felt my brush and mirror. My raspberry lip gloss. Ouch, sharp pencil.
And phew, my cell phone. I changed the ringer to vibrate. And not a moment too soon because the principal was walking toward us . . . toward us . . . and, whew. She walked right by us.
My phone went
bzzzzt
.
“Good job, Payton,” my twin sister, Emma, muttered. “Aren't we in enough trouble without you breaking the no-cell-phones-on-during-school rule, too?”
Why yes. Yes, we were in enough trouble. Considering we were on our way to after-school
detention
.
“Plus, we are only allowed to use our cell phones for emergencies. We're already grounded. We don't need to get in any more trouble.” Emma went on and on and on . . .
I sighed as I walked down the hall. We passed a
WELCOME, GECKOS!
poster that was peeling off the wall. Someone had drawn a mustache and earrings on the gecko, the school mascot.
Only a little more than a week ago, I'd been so psyched to be at this new school. My own locker! New people! Cute guys! Different teachers! Switching classes!
But then, we had switched more than classes. We had switched places. And the whole identical twins trading places thing? Hadn't worked out so well for us.
We passed two boys walking the other way. One turned around and laughed.
“Hey, look!” he said. “It's those TV twins!”
They both laughed.
My face flamed red with embarrassment. The whole weekend I'd tried to prepare myself for that kind of comment. It had been a seriously long day.
“I wonder if they know who is who today,” his friend called out loudly, obviously so we could hear him.
“Who is
whom
,” Emma muttered as she walked next to me, lugging her ginormous backpack.
I rolled my eyes at her.
“What?” Emma said. “If they're going to be insulting, they could at least be grammatically correct.”
And then she turned around to call to the boys.
“It's whom! W-H-O-M!”
“Oh my gosh,” I said, grabbing her backpack strap and dragging her around the corner. “Shush!”
“But he was being inaccurate,” she protested. “And he was trying to make us look silly, but I showed him, didn't I? Ha! Did you see the look of embarrassment on his face after I pointed out his error?”
Augh! He wasn't embarrassed about his grammar, he was embarrassed for my sister. Emma was so entirely clueless sometimes.
“Just let it go,” I moaned. “Isn't it bad enough that we're known as the identical twins who switched places, fooled everyone until they were busted, and were filmed making complete idiots of themselves in front of the entire school last week?”
“âWho' is a subjective pronoun,” Emma muttered. “Duh.”
Sigh.
Even though last week was only our first week in our new school, we were already kind of famous. But not in a good way. Being called the “TV twins” sounded cool, until you knew the whole story. We hadn't been on real TV, just the school video-cast shown live on a humongous screen at our first pep rally. When, unknown to us at the time, we were on camera arguing about Emma being a boring brainiac. And about me not doing so great at hanging out with popular people. Basically, in front of our entire school, we had a fight and called each other superficial, shallow, selfish, dumb and . . . Let's just say we totally embarrassed ourselves.
“I wish we could start middle school over again,” I said. “We need a do-over.”
“Tell me about it,” Emma agreed. “I'm going to detention.
Me! Emma âThe Brain' Mills! I've only stayed after for mathletes, a spelling bee, or to help the sixth-grade math teacher understand our honors homework. But detention?”
“It was
your
idea to switch places,” I reminded her.
“Because
you
needed me to help save your reputation after you embarrassed yourself in front of your so-called friends,” Emma shot back. “And look where that got us. Right into the principal's office
and
detention
and
being grounded.”
Ugh. My sister was right. It seemed like a good idea at the time, switching places. Emma and I looked so much alike, we'd thought we could get away with itâand that it would be a minor break from our normal lives, which hadn't been going so great.
“Detention! I think I'm going to hyperventilate. No, worse, I'm going to pass out,” Emma was muttering while unzipping her hoodie.
“Emma! Your sweatshirt!” I whispered, trying not to attract any more attention from people passing by.
“What? All this stress is making me hot,” Emma said, starting to pull off her sweatshirt.
“Emma, look at what you're wearing,” I said, tilting my head toward her T-shirt so she'd get the picture. It said
BEE THE BEST SPELLER IN SIXTH GRADE
! It was bright yellow and had a freakish-looking bee wearing a crown on its head. She'd worn that thing all last year and it still made my eyes bleed.
With Emma's newfound sort-of sense of style, I knew even
she
would be embarrassed by it. I smiled at the thought of
Emma having even a small sense of style. Up until last week, Emma's idea of style was to throw on sweats, tie her hair up in a ponytail, and wear a T-shirt from one of her gajillion competitions, advertising her brilliance. Even for the first day of school!