I'm a...Twin?!

Chapter 1 (NEW)

"Yep! Coach Taylor is calling for practice until six every day for the next two weeks," I pout. "Our game against the Eastman Falcons is coming up in a few short weeks and she wants us to be prepared. It's our biggest game of the season and if we win them, we'll surely be in the playoffs again."

"Why is she freaking out? You guys will surely win them. I'm pretty sure they have a record of 4-3 or something like that, so they aren't all that dangerous."

"That's only one worse than us, Ollie," I pat his arm with a small smile on my face. Oliver has always been a super positive person from the time we became friends and sometimes it cracks me up how hard he tries to lighten the mood. "It's fine, I'm really not upset. I may get home a little late for dinner, but that's not a big deal."

"I just want to hang out," he pouts. I chuckle and open my mouth to apologize, but the teacher gets out of her desk and calls for homework questions before we turn in our weekly assignment due each Friday. I can't help but slouch over in my chair and sigh, wishing it could just be the weekend already. I could get through each week on a tortoise faster than I am now...

Thankfully, the first half of the school day goes quickly, especially my third hour Aerobics class. When lunch finally arrives, Jessica is all wound up about homecoming in just a few weeks. Oliver and I get to listen to just how much she hopes that her ballroom dance partner, Isaac, will ask her to the dance. I pick at my turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich, eyeing Oliver every few seconds to watch his expression. He's trying so hard to be a good listener, but I can tell it's killing him and I'm trying so hard not to laugh.

"Alleah, tell Oliver he needs to ask someone to homecoming. You don't want to be the reason some poor girl is at home crying because she doesn't get to dress up as a princess, right, Oliver?"

"Uh, go if you want to, Ollie," I look into his dark brown eyes with a smirk on my face and his eyes light up when he realizes I'm not going to pressure him about it.

"Thanks, Lee," he grins and though I can tell Jessica is annoyed with my answer, I go back to nibbling on my lunch without acknowledging it. As I go down to grab my apple, I feel a sudden throb through my left arm as if an electric pulse is going back and forth from my hands to my shoulder. I let out a small yelp as it goes from my left side into my right side and back through my chest into my head. Before I can think of anything else, the throb goes straight to my forehead and stays there, pulsing intensely. It feels like someone is grabbing and squeezing the life out of that area.

"Alleah, what's wrong?" Oliver grabs my elbows and holds them while I hold my forehead as if it will make the pain cease. All I can do is shake my head as it continues to squeeze and the pulsing starts going through my body again in all different parts. It's almost as if there's a wave of energy in my body that can't find its way out, but with a whole lot of pain added to the mixture because it feels like every nerve is screaming almost as if a pin is piercing each nerve individually.

"Is she okay?" Jessica stops babbling finally when she realizes neither Oliver nor I are listening to her monologue. "Gosh, she looks awful. Alleah, what can we do?"

"Call her mom," Oliver nods his head toward my pocket where my phone is resting, but he respects my boundaries, so he's not willing to go after it himself. I feel my pocket collapse as she slips it out and calls my mom, wondering what they can do. They agree that my mom should come get me out of school for the rest of the day, but I don't hear them decide what to do about the severe pain I'm in.

"She's on her way," Jessica says, patting my leg while I try to remember how to breathe. "She'll get here as soon as she can."

It feels like an eternity before my mom comes to the school to save me. Both of my friends watch me silently, not knowing how to make the situation better and I couldn't tell them how, either. I've never been in this much pain and it's consumed my whole world. I don't even notice when my mom gets to the school but thankfully my friends are on the watch. As soon as my mom gets in sight, Oliver picks me up and helps me to the car while my mom signs me out for the rest of the day. All I can do is pant like a dying hyena and it makes me feel pathetic, but the electricity inside my body is making the throbbing in my head so much more intense.