My Sister's Understudy - EDIT

"The Letter"

Our parents are divorced and absolutely hate each other. So, I live with our dad in one state, while Lynne, my identical twin sister, lives with our mom in another. We see each other all of the time in the summer. And at one point, we swapped places, but only once, so I'd never thought we'd do it again until I got this letter along with Lynne's crappy grey phone, her car keys, and a copy of her license (the crappy grey phone is the one just for Mom to call her on. She has a nicer blue one with a different number her friends use):

Dear Rynna,
I'm going into hiding. Yeah, I know I sound stupid, and you probably don't believe this, but somebody's after me. I haven't told Mom, and I cetainly haven't told my friends. So I can't make it to my first day of school, and considering the fact that you're homeschooled and are supposed to be coming to live with us soon, I thought that maybe you could take my place for a while.
Love,
         Lynne

I so didn't want to do this. But I got an email from her with a bunch of names and faces to memorize, as well as her new schedule and a floor plan of her school. So I decided I couldn't let her down if she was this serious about it.
Nothing amazing or interesting ever really happened in my life until now… I'm always looking for an adrenaline rush, and I believe this'll be the closest way to get one.


The letter was dated the day I got it, didn't have a stamp, and read "hand-delivered" on the back- So I assumed Lynne must have dropped it off herself.
That would mean it is best for me to leave tonight.
"Daddy?!" I called down the stairs.
"Yes, Sweetie?!"
"Lynne wants me to go to her school this year! So can I go ahead and leave?! School starts in two days!"
"Are you sure you want to do that?!" he sounded aggravated. The mere thought of my mother made him pretty upset.
"Yessir!"
"How about next weekend instead?"
"Why? I said school starts in two days."
"Because you know how I feel about your mother."
"What's the way you feel about Mom got to do with whether I leave today or next weekend?"
He sighed, "Fine! Pack your things!" He knew that if this went any longer, I'd bring up more about his relationship with Mom. Truth be told, he never really liked to argue with people in general.


As soon as I left the airport in Lynne's car (it was waiting in the parking lot with my name on it) on my way to Mom's house, the crap-phone rang.
"Lynne? Where are you?"
"Hey Mom, I'm on my way home. I met up with my friends to uhh… discuss a few school related things… I'm sorry I forgot to tell you!" I lied.
"Remember to tell me next time." She hung up abruptly.
I walked up to the house and opened the door.  There stood my mother. She was so beautiful. Her long wavy dirty-blonde hair framed her face so in the same oh-so-elegant way as mine did. I also had her icy-blue eyes.
I was tempted to hug and say that I already missed her since last week, but then I remembered that I'm Lynne now. "Hey Mom." I said as I passed her in the hallway on my way upstairs.
I walked into Lynne's room. It was clean as always. Lynne was a neat-freak; throw a pillow on the floor and the girl would about have a stroke. Aside from that, her room had a rather bland theme. All one color: dark cyan. I've yet to figure out how she's dealt with the dullness for the last few years.
Her blue phone was sitting on the bed. The screen read "New TXT MSG" at the top and "From Will" at the bottom. Who the heck is Will? He was not in the list of people to know in the email. I opened the message; it said "Hey girl, meet me at the big tree in the park at 2:30. <3", that little heart thing said it all. Lynne has a boyfriend… no, I have a boyfriend, and his name is Will. Man, I hope he's cute.
I opened Lynne's pictures. The first ten were of Lynne and this Will guy (I knew it was him because each picture was titled "Me and Will" and a various number). Picture numero uno was taken at a downward angle pointing at their smiling faces. Picture number two was obviously taken by a third person (considering Lynne and Will's hands were visible), it was of Will holding Lynne bridal-style in front of a large tree in the local city park. As I was looking through more pictures, I was interrupted by an incoming calendar alert: "August 3rd  1:45pm TEEVO GENERAL HOSPITAL AT 3:00!!!" Wow, the next episode must really be a can't-miss if she's setting her alert two hours and fifteen minutes ahead of time.
I told Mom that I was going to the park. She said okay and didn't even ask questions. I hopped in Lynne's car and headed down the road. I knew which park it was because there was only one in this city and I had been there about a gazillion times.
There was the big tree… and a really hot dirty-blonde curly-haired guy waving at me in a KISS band T-shirt and skinny jeans. I walked over to him.
"Hey Lynne." He leaned in and kissed me without warning. I played it cool and didn't hesitate to kiss back. How on Earth could I possible do this, you ask? I always got the lead roles in the local drama class I attend, and have been told how convincing my performances are. So I figured I would approach this situation the same way- by pretending that Lynne's life was a play. She is the star, and I am just the understudy filling in for her.