Alter Ego

Part 16

     The doorbell rang as Harper hurried down the carpeted stairs and looked into the peephole. She brushed herself off and straightened out her brown, hip-length hair before opening the door. 

"Darren! You arrived early today."

"Yeah, I got off of work early so your sister said to just come over." He smiled as Harper stared at his braces to distract herself from his comment.

One.

"Right, so, we're all set up in the living room."

Harper lead him over to the next room and they both sat on the floor, grabbing cookies from the glass table in front of them.

"These taste great. Did Serene make them?" Darren asked with a mouth full of oatmeal raisin cookie.

Harper eyed him, "No. Actually I made them just for you."

Two.

"Oh, well thanks. That was thoughtful."

     Before Harper could continue Darren turned at the sound of footsteps entering the room, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I couldn't find my math notebook."

Harper watched Darren's face light up as he greeted her. She watched her older sister ruffle his short, blonde hair. She watched them sit next to each other, closer than she thought appropriate. 

"So what are we working on today?" Darren asked.

"An Essay!" Harper quickly replied, "I have the first draft done but wanted you to look it over."

Serene giggled, "How hard could an essay be for a 7th grader?"

"Don't tease Harper like that." Darren tugged on Serene's hip-length ponytail, "I remember you needing help at that age too."

"I'm not that much younger than you two." Harper pouted.

Darren opened up one of the textbooks on the table, "I don't know about that. 7th to a sophomore in high school is a bit of a gap."

"I'll catch up soon. You'll see."

"I'm sure you will. Who knows, maybe you'll look exactly like your sister. You both have really long hair. Almost got a twin thing going on." Darren laughed.

     Darren continued to help Serene with her math homework as Harper wrote in silence. Why did every conversation have to go back to her sister? Why couldn't Darren see that she was her own individual? Why did he see her as just a little girl? If they were so similar, why didn't he look at her the same way he did Serene? It wasn't fair. She wished her sister would just go away. Then she could have him all to herself.

"Harper, you okay?" Darren's voice rang out, snapping Harper back to reality.

She looked at him as he nodded towards the piece of paper in front of her. Harper glanced down and stared at her scribbles.

three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three

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     Harper waited patiently, sitting on a colorful bench over looking the beach. The wind was starting to pick up but thankfully her shoulder length hair was a bit more manageable. She looked around and nervously tugged on her dark blue sweater as she saw Darren off in the distance. He made his way over with a wide smile, no braces this time, as he adjusted the striped scarf around his neck.