Times Squared (20 page)

DOUBLE-DECKER BUS

Thwap!

“Gah!” I sat down in my seat, hard. “I'm okay. I'm okay. Phttt-ew!” I spit out a leaf.

“That thing just came from out of nowhere,” Emma said consoling me.

“How, in the middle of New York City, do
I
get whapped by nature?” I complained.

I felt somebody picking leaves out of my hair.

“All gone, tree goddess,” said Nick. “You sure you're okay?”

“Being called a goddess helps,” I told him. “Yeh, it just stings a little.”

“Then I have some good news and some bad news,” Nick said. “The good news is you're okay. The bad news is—er—I happened to be filming everybody having a good time, and I—um—caught the whole tree-in-the-face thing on video.”

“Aack!” I reached for his minicamera. “Delete! Delete!”

“No, keep it!” Sydney yelled. “Let me see it!”

“Hey, Payton,” Emma said. “Lighten up. It's one more wacky moment from this trip.”

Emma was telling
me
to lighten up?

“A
really
whack-y moment,” my twin added.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Nick, you can keep it. As long as I didn't look
too
dumb. Did I?”

“You looked cute,” Nick assured me.

That was nice, even if he wasn't telling the total truth. Although I hoped he was.

“You looked ridiculous!” Sam laughed.

“In the best possible way,” Nick added.

“Look! Look! It's the Statue of Liberty!” somebody called from up front.

“We're at Battery Park,” Emma said. “Just offshore is Ellis Island, where half of today's American population can trace their roots. Almost twelve million people
passed through its gates as they immigrated here.”

The bus slowed to a stop at the side of the road. We all posed for photos with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

When the bus began moving again, everybody with a camera phone started sending pictures.

“I'm sending one to Mom and Dad,” I said.

“I'm sending mine to Quinn,” Emma told me. “My friend Quinn. She couldn't come because she's not a mathlete or in drama.”

“I
know
who Quinn is.” I rolled my eyes. Emma was so proud of having her first real, non-competition-related friend. Actually, I was happy for her. “Tell Quinn I say hi.”

We were all so busy sending and texting, we didn't notice when the bus began to head north.

“Looks like we're heading back,” Emma said.

“This has been one pretty amazing trip,” Tess said. “I'm glad I got to share it with you twins.”

Awww.

“Oh, I don't want this trip to end,” I said. “It's been so much fun.”

Emma got a text on her phone.

“It's a text from . . . Mason?” Emma groaned. “Oh
no. He says he and Jason got their own cell phones from the giant Apple store. And now he can text me all the time.”

Brrrrzt. Brrrrzt.
Emma's cell phone kept getting texts.

“And apparently he means
all
the time,” Emma sighed. “It's a picture text. What the heck is it?”

I peered over her shoulder closely.

“I think it's Mascot the gecko's eyeball,” I said. “Extremely close-up.”

“Ack!” Emma said. “Yeeks! Ick! Those boys are crazy!”

“You have to admit, they aren't boring.” I laughed.

“That is true,” my twin admitted.

The breeze blew through our hair, and the sun shone down.

“It's a good thing those twins aren't here,” Emma said. “Because the ultimate sparkly, shiny thing is just up ahead. Mascot the gecko would have gone nuts.”

“Wow, that skyscraper
is
beautiful!” I said.

“I have one more fact to share with you all before this tour is over,” Emma said, speaking loudly in her tour-guide voice. “That is the Chrysler Building. It is considered one of the city's best-known buildings because of the shiny steel spire on top. But on the outside there
are creatures made of steel as decoration. And you know what they are?”

Everyone was listening.

“Gargoyles!” Emma said.

“Like the home team at the mathletes competition?” Tess asked.

“Exactly.” Emma nodded.

“Well, good-bye, gargoyles!” I called out as the bus passed the building. “And Go . . .”

“Geckos!” everybody shouted.

This time, no tree attacked me. So I said it again—“Go!”

“Geckos!” Everyone was cheering. Well, except for Jazmine James and her mother, who were looking at some sort of study-type book.

Well, some things never change. And some things I never
wanted
to change.

“You know, Emma,” I said, “there may always be mean girls and confusing boys and middle school madness. But one thing I know is that I'll always have you.”

“Awww,” my sister said. “Payton, I don't say this often enough, but I am glad you are my twin.”

“I love being twins too.” I smiled.

“Even when you're called the wrong name?” Emma
asked. “Or when you get in trouble when I'm at fault? Even when you almost lost your chance at getting your first boyfriend because people thought he liked me? Or even when you're trapped under a stage while I perform—not very well—as your stand-in double?”

“Even with all that,” I said, laughing. “And also when we have to answer stupid twin questions, and when people compare us to each other, and I have to say for the zillionth time that I have the bigger nose.”

“What about hiding in the janitor's stinky closet?” Emma giggled, remembering where we'd first switched places.

“Okay, don't remind me.” I shuddered. “Anyway, our switching days are done. In the past. No more trading places or faces. I'm Payton, and I like being me very much.”

I had a flashback to the first days of middle school, when I tried so hard to be like Ashlynn and fit in with the popular girls. Wow. I had come a long way.

“Remember the first day of middle school, when I was so intense and socially clueless?” Emma asked. “And then we switched and both of our lives changed forever? You got drama and VOGS cast and Nick and Tess. I got to face my fears and get some balance in my
life. And a real friend and a great boy-more-than-just friend. If we hadn't switched, I'd never have gotten to know Quinn and Ox.”

“True.” I nodded.

“So we probably won't have to switch ever again,” Emma said.

“But if that's what it takes to help each other out, maybe—just maybe—we'd do it again?” I asked her.

“Never say never,” Emma agreed.

“Just twins forever,” I added.

And
that
deserved a twinky swear. We linked pinkies.

Who knew exactly what the future would bring? But as the double-decker bus pulled into Times Square, I was confident about one thing.

“Ready?” I asked Emma. She nodded.

“Twins forever,” we both said. “Twinky swear.” And we shook on it.

Thanks squared to:

The family: Greg Roy, Adam Roy, Dave DeVillers, Jack DeVillers, and Robin Rozines.

The Simon & Schuster crew: Bethany Buck, Fiona Simpson, Mara Anastas, Alyson Heller, Paul Crichton, Andrea Kempfer, Lucille Rettino, Bess Braswell, Venessa Williams, Karin Paprocki, Katherine Devendorf, and Angela Zurlo.

The agents: Alyssa Eisner Henken and Trident Media Group; Mel Berger, Graham and William Morris Endeavor Agency.

And: Mark McVeigh, Lauren Heller Whitney, Anna DeRoy, Anne Elisa Schaeffer, Daphne Chan, the Ginley girls, and Meridian and Adrienne.

And: Paige Pooler! Paige Pooler! Paige Pooler! (For three amazing book covers!)

Read on for more twin-tastic adventures with Payton and Emma in . . .

By
Julia DeVillers
and
Jennifer Roy

ON THE MORNING SCHOOL BUS

Sunglasses! Did I remember to bring sunglasses?

I opened my tote bag and scrounged around looking for them. I felt my brush and mirror. My cotton-candy- flavored lip gloss. A chocolate-chip granola bar for after school.

And, phew, my sunglasses. I pulled out the pair of huge, round, white plastic sunglasses from my bag. I was going to need them after school for Drama Club. We were each supposed to bring a prop to fit the scene. My group was going to act out a scene on the beach, so I thought sunglasses would be perfect.

Plus they were cute. I slid my sunglasses on and
chilled, just looking out the window of the school bus. My sunglasses made it a little more challenging to see, but there really wasn't much to look at anyway. The usual houses, trees, people waiting for the bus. Definitely not as exciting as the bus I had been on earlier this week. That bus was a double-decker bus. In New York City!

Yes! I went to New York City with the Drama Club. We went to see our drama teacher's friend who was producing an almost-on-Broadway show. It was amazing! We went on the double-decker bus and toured the city. We also went to a giant toy store, stayed in a cool hotel room, and swam in the hotel pool.

And if that wasn't amazing enough . . .

We got to go onstage in the off-Broadway show! It was almost like we were Broadway stars!!!

Oh, and by we, I mean me and my sister, Emma. My twin sister. Emma and I look pretty much exactly alike.

I'm PAYTON, the twin who:

• is one inch taller.

• has slightly greener eyes.

• is dressed quite fashionably in her black T-shirt with the word “Broadway” across it in glitter, skinny jeans, and tall
boots and is sitting in the back of the bus, where it's coolest to sit because it's bumpy. (And farthest away from the bus driver, of course.)

Emma has the opposite opinion about where to sit on the bus. Emma always sits in the front seat for everything—buses, classes, and even the front seat of the car. She always wants to be up front and first for everything.

I'm the twin who likes to chill in the back. Unless there's a stage involved. Then I want to be front and center. Yes, I love acting. I love being in Drama Club at school and in school plays. And when my parents let me do two clubs, I could be on camera for VOGS club. VOGS is the school's video news show.

My parents made me stop doing VOGS, though, because I bombed a test and a quiz in English. Sigh. My parents told me I had to choose between Drama Club and VOGS until I could get my grades back up. I chose drama, but I also want to be in VOGS. I loved being on the school news show and had turned out to be kind of good at being on TV. My English teacher, Mrs. Burkle, was also my drama teacher, so I was hoping to extra-impress her at Drama Club today. It couldn't hurt!

I pictured it now.

“Payton, your acting is so fabulous that I will also give you extra credit in English class!” Mrs. Burkle would say. “A++!”

Okay, unlikely, I know. But at least I still got to be in Drama Club.

Emma wasn't in the Drama Club or VOGS. But somehow she kept getting sucked into performing onstage and on-screen—usually pretending to be me. It had happened our very first week of school. It had happened in our school play. And it had happened on our trip to New York City.

This last twin switch was pretty epic, not only because we were on an almost-Broadway stage. We also got to get back at this girl Ashlynn who was trying to humiliate us and our classmates on our school trip.

I had been surprised to see Ashlynn. She lived in NYC, so I hadn't seen her since she tortured me at summer camp last year. Ashlynn had pretty much turned me into her slave, making me clean things in exchange for her hand-me-down clothes. At the time I'd thought it was worth it so I could look cool in middle school. Let's just say it didn't work out as planned.

But we prevailed in New York City, and now
Ashlynn would never bother me again—
muah-ha-ha!