Pretty Little Liars (Mostly Spencer and Alex, Sparia)

1

Spencer's POV

     I opened my locker, ready for the school day before me. I placed books and binders inside of it, then stepped aside for my sister to do the same. Alex is my identical twin sister, a splitting image; we look exactly the same. Her locker was right next to mine, but she used my locker because she struggled opening hers. There was something...off about her. I don't remember what the doctor had told our mother, but all I know is that her brain didn't work the same as others.

     She's smart, I know that, but there were times where she didn't know an answer to a question she knew before and forgot that she had spoken a word to you, staring at you blankly after you asked her a question, before saying hello like your entire conversation didn't happen. She would remember your words and even recite them later on, but in the moment, she couldn't recall even having spoken to you.

     I learned to live with it, and so did our older sister and mother. Instead of telling Alex to do a task now, we told her to do it an hour later, when she would remember what we said. It was something we were used to now of course, and it was like she wasn't different. I shut my locker after Alex gathered her stuff, then turned the dial back to zero.

It was the first day of 10th grade in a new school. Pulling out my schedule and map-which was thankful provided to us to navigate the school faster- we started to walk to our first period class. As we past by crowds talking about things other than school, I felt a hand grab mine and squeeze. I instantly knew it was Alex, holding my hand because of all the students. School is one place where mostly everyone was taller than us, and I knew that made Alex uncomfortable.

We finally arrived at our first class, English, and I was happy that the class was quite empty so far, so picking seats would be easy. I chose the seat the farthest to the right in the front, and Alex sat to my left. Students piled into the class just before the bell, sitting in chairs without thinking if they'd see the board from there. A blonde and a shorter brunette walked in a few seconds after the bell, then the teacher finally walked in. He was a young guy, probably under 25, wearing a nice white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black vest over top. His pants and shoes were hidden by the front desk he stood behind.

"Hello everyone." He started, turning around to write his name on the board. "I'm Mr. Fitz." He turned back around and flashed a smile to the whole class, then told us to announce our names so everyone knew each other. He started in the back and kids called out their names. "I'm Aria." One girl said. I turned around and saw the short brunette that walked in with a blonde earlier. She caught me staring and instead of giving me a death stare, she smiled. I smiled back and turned back around.

When it got to Alex, she mumbled lightly. "Speak louder!" A blonde in the back yelled out, laughing after. "Alison, enough." Mr. Fitz said. "This is Alex, and I'm Spencer." I said, answering for the both of us. Mr. Fitz nodded and went to start our first lesson. He handed out books for us all to read and answer questions on for the next month. He went over things we would be doing for the year and then let us get started with the book.

I looked at the cover. I am Scout: The biography of Harper Lee. I remembered reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee last year at our old school in Philadelphia. We all read until the bell, then got up from our seats to our next class. As we made our way through the halls, someone caught up to us and called out our names. It was that girl from English, Aria. "Hey! I'm Aria, but you probably know that already." She says, walking on my left while Alex was at my right. I nodded and smiled at her.

     It turned out she had the same class as us this period, chemistry. She showed us where it was and we entered the classroom. I noticed there were long tables that sat three kids. I found an empty table two rows back and sat in the middle chair, Alex to my left. Aria went to sit at the table across from us, where her friends were, but it was full. One of the blondes from earlier (Not Alison), a tan skinned girl, and another short brunette sat. "Sorry we couldn't save you a seat." The tanned girl said. "It's okay." Aria said. "I'll just sit with Spencer and Alex." She sat in the chair to my right and gave me a smile, which I returned.

     The teacher told us what to expect from him and handed out permission slips for our parents to sign so that we could use the equipment in the room. I placed mine in my binder, which had different school symbols on it. We watched a video on chemical reactions then were given a lab sheet. The teacher split us up into groups of two, which I thought was awkward considering there were three to a table. The tan girl, who the teacher called Emily, was paired with Alison, the blonde and brunette, Hanna and Mona, were also paired. The teacher looked at our table and said "Spencer and Aria."

     I was secretly happy to be with Aria, but then I thought about Alex. "Wait! I need to be with Alex." I told him. "Listen, I know you're twins, and twins always have to be together, but I'm sorry, I gotta split you up." He said. "No you don't understand!" I yelled. "I understand that you better lower your voice Miss Drake! You wouldn't want detention on the first day would you?" He said slyly, then moved on. I looked at Aria, who seemed hurt, like I didn't want to work with her. "I'm sorry." I said. "It's not that I don't want to work with you, I just need to be with Alex." I told her.

     "I get it, twins stick together." Aria said with a smile. "It's not that." I said, leaning closer and speaking lower so Alex wouldn't hear. "Alex has this...mental issue. She gets scared being around others." I said. Aria looked past me at Alex sympathetically, then nodded. "Alright, next is...Alexandra and Markus." The teacher announced. I scanned the room for Markus and saw a boy sitting in the back with his friends. He was darker skinned with one green eye and a blue one, sitting next to another boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a girl with amber blonde hair and brown eyes.

     After the teacher announced all of the groups, he told us to get with our partners. I watched as Markus walked over to our table and towards Alex. "Hi, I'm Markus." He said, holding out his hand. Alex looked at me before grabbing his hand and shaking it. Markus took a chair from the table in front of us and sat across from Alex. I watched as they worked until Aria told me we should get started. "She'll be fine, it's okay." She said. "Yep, you're right." I said slowly, turning my attention to my partner.

As we worked, I couldn't help but glance towards Alex and Markus. She was probably so scared, shaking in her boots having to work with someone else. I looked at the two of them and saw Alex...smiling? "So I told my dad, 'Dad, you're 55 years old. If you want to marry her now, you should. 'Cause in 20 years, you'll be stuck in a wheelchair and won't be able to walk down the aisle. Also, I'm not carrying you to the bathroom.'" Markus said, laughing at the end. Alex giggled along and smiled at him. She rarely smiled at other people and only with our family.

The bell rang and the teacher told us to work on the lab together on our own time. "Do you have a study hall?" Markus asked Alex. "I..I don't know." Alex whispered. I watched as Markus opened Alex's binder, which had her journal that she didn't show anyone, and pulled her schedule out. "Hm, we don't have any free periods together." Markus said sadly. "We could work after school." He offered.

Alex looked at me, then back at him. "Okay." She said. "Your house or mine?" Markus asked. Before Alex could answer, I quickly said, "I think we should all work at ours! Y-you know, so we can...help each other." Aria and Markus looked at me weirdly but agreed, and we went to our next class, which was gym. Geez, maybe I'm a bit over protective? Just a bit.

maryab14