k-12: the shadows

♫

alexis

a few weeks passed in vague uneventfulness. everyone was settling down and getting used to sleepaway school;

alexis discovered much to her delight that all of her classes were with either crybaby, angelita, or celeste.
the four of them had formed a close group, and could be seen almost everywhere together.

she was getting good grades, practicing with her newfound powers and getting along well with her new friends. in fact, the only thing that had changed was the one thing she had been so sure would always stay the same:

her relationship with isabel.

after a furious mental argument, the two twins were on a non-speaking basis now. however, alexis could tell that isabel knew she had been in the wrong; as much as isabel tried to shut her out, their connection always had and always would be there.

at night, when alexis was staying up late in the bedroom linen tunnels with her friends, she would catch snippets of isabel's dreams drifting towards her;

nightmares, the likes of which mainly involved alexis dying before isabel could apologise.

and during the day, alexis would feel random waves of exterior discomfort, which she could tell were coming from her sister. she knew her sister wasn't getting on as well with her friends as she was making out.

alexis knew none of this would be happening if isabel was like her too. in fact, it didn't cease to puzzle her why isabel wasn't.

angelita, who alexis discussed this previously with, was similarly perplexed by this problem. both girls agreed it simply didn't add up. the only explanation that angelita could offer was that they weren't actually twins, although this seemed extremely unlikely, considering both their notably identical appearances and the mental connection that the two shared.

this connection seemed more interesting to the people around them than the twins themselves; both sharing the same thoughts had always been the most natural thing to them, although maybe not to others.

crybaby often wanted to ask alexis about her mental connection with isabel. she wondered if it was the same as the connection that all the girls with powers felt with one another, although she doubted it, due to the fact that none of them had shared a womb.

however, the respective friendship groups of both twins had quickly come to realise that each other's sister was a sore subject. the reason remained unclear to those on the exterior, due to the fact that the fight had never been visible to others.

sometimes alexis wondered what isabel was feeling that she was feeling. as alexis felt her sister's nightmares, did isabel feel anything of alexis? or had she shut out her sister entirely?

alexis didn't like thinking about it too much, and so often wouldn't. generally, she kept any thoughts of her sister in the back of her mind, and whenever the two girls encountered each other physically, each ignored the other completely.

and so it stayed like that.

✦ ♫♪ ✦

"hey, alexis- hey! over here!"

alexis, dinner tray now in hand, turned away from the food to see her friends at a table, waving.

"hi," she smiled, sitting down in between crybaby and celeste. "what's up?"

"we have something to tell you," angelita said, her voice lowering as she leaned across the table.

"you can tell me anything," she said honestly.

"we're about to start a mission that we think you'd be devoted to," said angelita carefully. "you in?"

"depends." alexis gestured for them to go on.

"when i was in the waiting room for the principal's office that time, and you were inside, there was a kid sat opposite us. a teacher came out and yelled at him and gave him these weird pills. he explained to me that the school is brainwashing everyone here because the longer we stay here, the more money the principal makes. they're turning our brains into mush, alexis, so that we stay here forever. i don't know about you but i have no intentions of letting anyone take control of me, and it shouldn't be happening to anyone else here either. so we're gonna try and stop it." crybaby let out a breath. "you in?"

alexis's jaw had dropped in horror. "are y- that's disgusting, of course i'm in."

crybaby grinned, and threw her arms around alexis. "i knew you would be!"

"let's take this fucker down," alexis demanded, her fist slamming down onto the table.

"let's do this!" celeste and angelita agreed in unison.