My Life as a Teenage Rebel

Chapter 28: The Twins Are a Challenge

Evan Touber

CHAPTER 28 The Twins Are a Challenge

The hardest part was dragging Kelsey away from the freaking cabin.

She was so in love with that hot chocolate that she didn’t want to go home! Let’s just say she created quite a scene as her nails raked through the snow when Andrew and Kyle had to pull her by her feet to the car.

Oh, and FYI, if you try to subdue a crying, hot chocolate-addicted girl skilled in (apparently) every martial art known to the human race, you gonna come out in varying shades of black and blue. Just so you know.

She was practically wailing the first few minutes in the car as we drove back home. Then Madelin turned around and calmly told her that it wasn’t healthy for her to be so addicted to hot chocolate, and Kelsey quieted her wailing. (Thank you, God, for giving us Madelin Cho!)

Kelsey stopped her wailing, but she continued to pout and cry silently, like a miserable little eight-year-old. At first nobody really minded this...until she started sniffling. It wasn’t an annoying kind of sniffling, no; it was a guilt-triggering kind.

At one point Evilyn [who was partially mad, partially grateful at Ky having figured out the placebo (and yet still believing her raven necklace has magical qualities that brings her good luck)] turned around and pointed out that Ky and Kyle had fallen asleep on each other’s shoulder again, and that she would finally be able to take a picture of them.

So Kelsey took the picture with her phone and spent half the rest of the trip proudly staring at it in contented quiet. That is, until Ky and Kyle woke up, asked to see the picture, deleted it, and went back to sleep with their hoods covering each other’s faces.

God, why do girls have to cry so much?

. . .

“Kovu, we missed you.” Madelin says, holding a purring kitten to her face as she sits cross-legged on the floor with a sweet, bright expression. Kelsey sits on the floor next to her, still looking miserable even though days have passed since she was separated from her precious hot chocolate; since the twins made her cry. Sometimes I can think they can be cruel, those Madison siblings, and I don't mean just Ky, Kyle too. Maybe he was just mad cuz Kelsey tried to decapitate him.

I sit on the couch, staring at the two girls as Madelin fawns over the kitten. After watching for a while longer, I find myself chuckling lightly for absolutely no reason in particular. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the Madelin Effect.

Even Kelsey seems to be in a bit of a better mood after a while. (There is no one immune to the Effect!) My eyes focus on her. Her chestnut hair is as glossy and as curly as usual; her make-up making her hazel eyes seem bigger and brighter; her lipstick making her lips seem fuller and pinker… I don’t typically think about it much, but she must spend a lot of time in the morning to get herself to look like this, right?

My question to you is: would you expect a petite girl like that to be so capable of taking on a UFC fighter?

No, right? That’s the thing that’s got me wondering about these girls; when I first saw them, it seemed like who they were was pretty much written across their foreheads, but…after that whole wedding thing…where Evilyn’s singing ability was capable of making someone fall in love with her like the snap of a finger…and where Kelsey almost broke Andrew’s ribs in attempt to remain united with her beloved hot chocolate… Now I’m not so sure what to think of any of these people.

“Hey…Kelsey?” I start slowly. Kelsey looks up at me. “Er, well, there’s been something on my mind lately, and I was wondering if I could ask you a question…”