It's A Twin Thing | j. clarke [1]

one

-:- House of Secrets / House of Attitude / House of the Black Bird -:-

I eyed the giant American flag that was plastered to my twin's suitcase. I'd tried convincing Nina to take it off, but she wouldn't budge. Glaring at it now, I held more disdain for it than I did before we arrived in England. When Nina said they were going to boarding school, I had been excited, but a boarding school in England? Not as excited. Nevertheless, Nina needed this, so I wasn't about to be the one to crush her dreams.

"What do you think the school will be like?" Nina asked me, practically bouncing with excitement.

"I don't know," I mumbled. "English?"

"Thanks," Nina rolled her eyes at me.

"Will you please take that sticker off of your bag?" I begged. "We're already going to stick out enough, we don't need that flag announcing it."

"I like it," Nina said, matter-of-factly. "So it's staying."

Now it was my time to roll my eyes. Another minute passed, and Nina was becoming restless, looking around frantically for their taxi.

"It'll be here soon, calm down," I reminded her.

"It's late."

"No, we're early."

"Same difference."

A moment later, a small black taxi pulled up, and Nina practically jumped with excitement.

"Nina and Elizabeth Martin?" The cab driver asked when he stepped out.

"Yes! That's us!" Nina replied, the relief evident in her voice.

"Oh," the cab driver said as he walked to us. "So you're American then?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Nina asked as I held back another eye roll. "Was it the accent?"

"No, it was the big American flag on your suitcase." The cab driver pointed to the flag as he picked up Nina's suitcase off the ground.

"Told you," I said under my breath.

"Right, well, that's a little obvious." Nina reached forward and quickly tore the flag off the suitcase. "Not the best way to blend in."

I glared at my sister in annoyance.

"Jump in loves," The cab driver opened the door, before taking my suitcase as well.

In the cab I spent most of my time on my phone, playing any game to distract from the nonsense that my sister was saying to the cab driver. Oversharing was one of Nina's favorite pastimes. From what I'd overheard of their conversation, Nina was nervous about going to boarding school, and a small part of me felt compelled to comfort her. Before I could act on it, Nina's phone chimed with a text message.