Connected (pt.1)

Twins have been known to have a connection. That connection is stronger than the one normal siblings have, and the one best friends share. Sometimes, that bond is helpful. Other times, it’s not…

“Mom, where’s James?” Matt Wallis asked. He put his binder back in his bag and zipped it up.

“He’s at a football game, remember? We’re gonna go in a little bit to watch him,” Mrs. Wallis replied. Matt felt uneasy. Tackle football seemed awful dangerous for a seventh grader, even if he was as tough as James.

“Can I stay home?”

“No, Matt. James always has to come along when you have a band performance.”

Later, Matt and his mother were sitting in the stands, watching Matt’s identical twin run out onto the field. The crowd was cheering wildly, but Matt was dead silent, feeling a little bit anxious.

The football players slammed into each other as the ball was thrown, and Matt felt as though someone had socked him in the stomach. He cried out in pain as he clutched his middle, causing several other spectators to stare at him.

“Honey? What’s wrong?” Mrs. Wallis asked. Matt shook his head. His twin, out on the field, caught the football, only to be tackled by a member of the opposing team. Matt gasped as the air was crushed out of him, as though by another person’s weight.

James heard the referee’s whistle blow, and the weight was lifted off him.

/*/*/*/*/*

Three years later…

“Mr. Wallis, please tell me what you put for number two,” came the voice of Ms. Urden, the English teacher for the 10th grade.

“Letter D,” Matt said loudly. Ms. Urden nodded, going on to explain why D was the obvious and only answer. Matt hid his folder under his desk and began drawing on it, capturing Ms. Urden waving her arms while she talked. He grinned at his drawing and stuck it in his backpack.

“Yo, Matt! What’s up, mah friend?” Carter Matengly asked after the bell rang. He and Matt performed the secret handshake that had been growing more and more elaborate as time went on.

“The ceiling,” Matt replied. That was his classic answer.

“Oh, he’s got the sharp wits and the tongue that spits!” Carter laughed. In three years, Matt had become more outgoing, popular in the sense of being friends with nearly everyone. James was the “popular” football player guy.

“Well, sometimes. Other times, I just want to crawl into bed and sleep,” Matt admitted, opening his locker.

“You sure aren’t the only one, bud. I’ll catch you later,” Carter said, waving as he walked off. Matt put his Geometry textbook into the locker and struggled to pull out his sketch book. He had Art next period. Unfortunately, it pulled out most of the rest of his books at the same time. They fell to the floor.

“Darn it!” Matt muttered unhappily, kneeling down to pick up his books. Some of his papers had scattered around, as well. “This stinks,” he said to himself.

He dumped his things back into his locker and realized that his folder of sketches was gone. He looked around frantically, knowing that Mr. Brent, his art teacher, would kill him if he didn’t have it. Suddenly, Matt realized that a girl was holding it out to him.

“Is this yours?” she asked. He nodded and took it.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. See you around,” she said, just as she turned to leave. Matt gave the locker door a small kick so that it clicked shut, then headed down to the Fine Arts hallway.

The Fine Arts hallway was an area that contained the Choir room, the Foreign Language classes, the Art rooms, the Drama room, and the Band room. Matt’s Art classroom was right by the music area, and it sometimes got loud, but music gave him a lot of inspiration.

James had never set foot in the Fine Arts hallway. His chosen electives didn’t have anything to do with them. He’d chosen some kind of computer class and an Advanced Sports Skills class. In Matt’s opinion, they weren’t nearly as important as Fine Arts.

“Ah, Matt Wallis. What happened? You’re later than usual,” Mr. Brent commented. Matt was usually the first student to arrive at the Art class.

“Locker trouble,” Matt explained, taking his seat. Mr. Brent nodded understandingly and returned to reading some papers on his desk.

The rest of the class filtered in slowly from the hall until the bell rang. Matt sorted out his sketches and noticed one that he hadn’t seen in a long time. It was the one he’d drawn in the 7th grade, of James thinking.

Matt sighed sadly. Indeed, it had been a very long time since he’d seen his twin actually thinking about something. James was a C average student, his highest grade a B. James was obsessed with his football and talked about little else.

“All right. On Monday, we’re starting charcoal sketches…” Mr. Brent began.

/*/*/*/*/*

Art class was over about an hour later, and Matt carefully placed his sketches back in his folder. The next period was lunch, so he didn’t have to rush nearly as much, and he was the last person in the room. Just as he closed the folder, he heard something. It wasn’t the loud band, nor was it the sound of the choir. It was a piano. A lone piano was playing.

He left the room and looked both ways down the hallway, trying to locate the source of the music. He recognized it. It was Pachelbel’s Canon.

Matt realized that the music was coming from the Choir room and headed down the hall to find the door open. There was a lone figure sitting at the piano, fingers gliding smoothly down its keys. She was gazing down at her deftly moving hands.

Matt silently watched and listened, captivated by the flawlessness of her playing. At the same time, he was trying to find out if he had seen her before, but her dark hair was covering her face.

When finally, the piece began to end, Matt pondered whether he should clap or not. It was bad enough that he’d been there watching in the first place, without her knowledge. He decided against it.

She played the ending chord and paused slightly before closing up the piano and standing up. “That was awesome,” Matt said quietly. The girl whirled around in panic, and then Matt saw her face. It was the girl who’d handed him his sketches in the hallway earlier.

“How long were you standing there?” she asked nervously, glancing around. “There’s nobody else hiding around the corner… right?”

“No, it’s just me. I’ve been listening for maybe three minutes, at most. Your playing is gorgeous, honestly. Do you take lessons?”

“I’ve been on my own for a while. I thought everyone was gone to lunch! How come you’re not?”

“Well, I never hurry. My brother does, so he can sit at the ‘cool’ table, but I’m not that desperate. How long have you been a pianist? Um… and what’s your name?” Matt asked. It felt rather strange, asking her name after asking all those other questions first.

The girl blushed. The rosy pink of her cheeks was in a pretty contrast to her pale olive skin. “I’m Jessica Lee. I’ve been playing for almost eleven years now,” she said. She smiled, and her almond-shaped eyes shone happily.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Matt Wallis, and… well, that’s about it,” he said jokingly. Jessica went to the risers where the choir stood when they were singing and pulled out a black backpack and small purse.

“Where do you sit at lunch?” Matt asked, as Jessica walked toward the door. She slowed her pace and faced him.

“I sit wherever,” she said vaguely. She left the Choir room, leaving Matt feeling a little disappointed.

/*/*/*/*/*

James was laughing with his friends at lunch when he suddenly felt awed. By what, he had no idea. Then he realized that Matt must be experiencing something.

The awe was suddenly replaced by a hurt disappointment. It was a familiar feeling to James, but he’d never felt it from Matt before…

Matt entered the cafeteria and sat down with Carter and his friends. James fought down the urge to ask Matt what had happened a few minutes earlier. It wasn’t any of his business, he decided.

An Asian girl came into the cafeteria shortly afterward, and James was aware that Matt was watching her. Well, so was James.

James had had a crush on Jessica Lee since the 8th grade. He’d never told a soul, knowing for sure that he’d be teased for it. She was the ‘nerd’; the brilliant student who never got a single B; the one who was almost never seen without a book in hand; the one with baggier jeans than most girls and t-shirts that had some kind of design on the front.

Today, she was wearing one of his personal favorites. It had a boy poking a girl, getting electrocuted by her. On the back, it said, ‘Can’t touch this’. Jessica sat down at a completely empty table and took her lunch out of her lunch box. She was the only sophomore to bring a lunch box, ever. It just wasn’t cool.

James did a double take when he saw his twin approach her and sit down. “What?” he mouthed, frowning in confusion. Something wasn’t right here.

“James, you sick or somethin’?” Andros asked, still laughing from a joke one of their friends had recited. James wrenched his eyes from the scene of Jessica and Matt talking so comfortably and forced himself to act like nothing was wrong.

“No way, man. I’m fine,” James said. But Matt’s excitement and happiness was pulling at the back of his mind, and he knew that he was far from fine.

/*/*/*/*/*

“So… wow. You take all the Honors courses?” Matt asked, still amazed. Jessica nodded.

“My 8th grade Language Arts teacher threatened to hunt me down if I didn’t try out for Honors English, I was already in Honors Algebra, and so getting into Honors Science wasn’t all that hard.”

“Yeah. Mrs. Goldstein was an interesting Language Arts teacher,” Matt commented. Jessica laughed.

“She said that only people with no social lives should try out for all the Honors courses, and even then, you have to be intelligent and responsible enough to handle it. I figured I qualified in all of those areas,” she said. Matt gave her a funny look, then changed the subject.

“So, why are you sitting by yourself? Shouldn’t you be sitting with all the other musicians? The band people?” Matt asked. Jessica’s face darkened, and he realized that he must’ve said the wrong thing.

“Sorry,” he said quickly.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault all the band geeks are jerks. Do you play an instrument?”

“The flute. I was in Band until last year, when I decided to start focusing on my artistic skills.”

“Really?” Jessica asked, sounding genuinely interested. “My family has a history of being professional flautists, but I decided to screw up the pattern and be a pianist instead.”

“Well, you did an awesome job screwing up,” he joked, and she hit his shoulder lightly with the back of her hand.

“Don’t start.”

“Not starting.”

Jessica gave him the evil eye and pointedly took a bite of her PB&J sandwich. Matt looked away and saw his twin glaring at him from across the cafeteria.

“You look a lot like James. Are you guys twins or something?” Jessica asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. Identical twins.”

“Who was born first?”

Matt shrugged and sighed in exasperation. “I honestly can’t remember,” he said dryly.

She scrutinized his appearance for a few seconds, then seemed to soften a little.

“You guys might be ‘identical’, but I’ll tell you one thing. Your head is a great deal smaller. But then, my judgement is no longer unbiased," she said, smiling at him.

James didn’t like the feelings coming from Matt at all, and he DEFINITELY didn’t like the way Jessica was looking at his twin.