Ch. 3: Sister, Sister?
Song For This Chapter: Float by Ko Ko
THE GRANGER HOUSE WAS SWEET. It felt like a real family actually lived there. I was so used to Clarisse's obsessive cleaning and compulsive disorders that it was a nice change to be somewhere that did not have everything in its exact, required place.
The home was a comfy, little two-story house with blue doors and a little box of flowers hanging from both of the front windows. Cordelia buds of pinks and whites pushed through the top of the box to bask in the soft summer sun.
Nervous, I clutched my owl's cage closer to myself as I stepped into the home, taking in the sweet scent of roses and thyme. Ami coo-ed in behind his bars. There were a lot of faded, floral print patterns throughout the house and enough throw pillows to build the Eiffel Tower of pillow forts. That was something I made a mental note to do one of these days.
A bit cautious, I padded my way across the home, noticing the fun pictures of my new-found sister hanging on the walls. It showed the story of an awkward, Mediterranean little girl gradually growing into her wild mane of hair and overly large, front teeth.
It was a story I knew well. Too well, in fact.
"You'll be sharing my room," Hermione informed me, helping me by grabbing a couple of my bags. She shot an embarrassed glance at one of her baby photos that hung on a wall and quickly hurried me along, not wanting me to see them in too much detail. "Follow me!" She trudged up the wooden staircase and picked the first door on the right. "Excuse the books, I have been meaning to tidy up, but. . . " She let her voice carry off as if the mess of books could explain itself.
Hermione's room was fairly large, larger than my own room back home. The walls were painted a light, honeyed yellow that made the dreary London overcast seem sunnier. Pressed against the far left wall was a giant, wooden bookshelf that was filled on every shelf. And, a lavender throw rug took up most of the wooden floor, adding a new splash of colour to the yellow world.
The 'mess' that Hermione was referring to was merely a few books that were scattered across the desk in the room, but still somehow tidy. "I don't mind; I'm a fan of books, so they're welcome!" I stepped up to the spare, bare bed and placed my things around it, not sure what to do now.
I set Amie's cage down beside Hermione's wide window and sighed, feeling a deep depression settle into my bones. What the hell am I doing here?
Ami chirped at me with his wide, judging eyes.
Hermione lightly sat down on her bed, watching me with curiosity in her eyes. I took a moment to note the small differences between the two of us once again. It was weird to see someone that looked so similar to me, so I purposefully made little notes in my mind of our dissimilarities, just to be sure I still wasn't hallucinating everything.
My new sister squirmed under my gaze but didn't say much as she softly reached for a book on her own dresser, flipping open the pages as if to fill in the awkward silence. "That dresser right there is yours. My father had his friend move all this furniture up into the room a month ago," she decided against reading and sighed as she placed the book back down, not meeting my eyes, "you see. . . my mum -- well, our Mum had been extremely excited when Clarisse sent her a letter about you. She couldn't sleep for a week, went into a frenzy and bought all the essentials you would ever need. So, you needn't worry about sharing with me." Hermione explained the extra bed and dresser, as I was a little confused.
I had only just decided to go on a whim.
Hermione lightly chewed on her bottom lip and, in her eyes, I could tell that she was feeling the awkward sense of, well, awkwardness like I was. "I'll leave you to go through your things. You might want to be alone for that." She smiled lightly, got up from her bed and made her way to her door, slowly. She and I both understood the drastic change that had just taken place in our lives, and, while I didn't want to be that person that asked for space, . . . I sure as hell needed it.
Thanking her, I watched the door quietly click shut behind her before I started to put away all my clothes. The tedious work kept my hands busy, but my mind was still racing with all the events that had just taken place in my life.
I couldn't believe it.
My mother, the one that raised me, simply tossed me away! How . . . how could someone be that cruel? I had never been one to shy away from cynicism, but even that was a low blow. Had she never really loved me? Had Clarisse ever really loved Trey either? Everything was crazy. Soon, my eyes were fogged over in tears, but I swallowed them down, choking them back. I couldn't let myself cry.
It took me fifteen minutes just to sort through the clothes, and I was starting to get annoyed. Annoyance and sadness and anger were never good combinations. Sighing with flippant defeat, I opened all of my bags at once and dumped all my crap out onto the bare bed, yanking my wand out of my jacket pocket.
"Mundatis," I said, circling my wand over the multiple bags, trying to keep focused on my magic and not my hurt emotions. Slowly, the clothes lifted mid-air and put themselves in their new places. I watched with glassy eyes, the occasional, watery sniffle breaking my concentration and causing the clothes to falter.
Almost everything was put away when Hermione walked in to inform me that dinner was ready. "Woah!" She looked at everything putting itself away. "What are you doing?! You can't perform magic outside of school, it's forbidden!" The urgency in her voice took me off guard, and her words confused me. "You could be incarcerated, or worse, expelled! What are you thinking?!"
"What are you talking about? Forbidden?" I questioned her, trying to block out the quick rants that she was spewing, talking so fast that her lips could barely keep up as she lectured me. "Expelled? I don't understand what you are talking about, Hermione, it's just a simple charm."
"Just a simple charm?! Godric," she huffed, hands waving around her frizzy head.
I grabbed my journal that was whizzing past Hermione's nose and gave it to her, stopping her ranting and forcing her to offer me a sharp glare. "That's my spellbook. I like to experiment around in Latin and see if anything will stick. The ones in red were disastrous and the ones in green worked." Hermione flipped through the multiple pages. Her honeyed eyes flashed rapidly over the pages, while multiple expressions danced across her expression, all followed by a unique eyebrow raise. before finally looking up at me with pleading eyes, taking me off guard. I had expected her to start yelling at me once more. "May I please read these?"
Chuckling at her strange attitude, I started to walk downstairs to dinner. "Of course you can, sis."
I had to admit, it was hard for my tongue to form the word sister, but once I got it out there it felt kinda nice. Hermione grinned warmly at me and we padded down to the dining room. I pushed the words that Hermione had said into the back of my mind. Why would she tell me doing charms was a bad thing? It didn't make sense. Back home we could use all the simple magic we wanted, as long as it wasn't in front of Muggles, of course. "Maybe you can help me with some new spells later?" I suggested and she nodded feverishly.
"Of course!" We continued to chatter happily as we joined. . . our parents at the table. They took a good look at us before exchanging a loving glance with each other. There was a thick air of possibility. The possibility that there could have been an amazing family if fortune hadn't been cruel. The possibility of a truly strong relationship. But, were these possibilities even a reality anymore? Part of me really wanted them to be, but there was no way to be sure.
Slowly, as if every movement I made determined my fate, I slid into a seat beside Hermione and across from my new parents. The table was nothing fancy, unlike Clarisse's lavish glass dining decor, it was a simple wooden table with crocheted dollies for placemats and nice, glass plates with matching cups. It was comfortable.
"I'm glad to see you both are getting along so nicely," Jane expressed, serving everyone some Shepherd's Pie while beaming the widest grin I had ever seen an older woman grin. Dan nodded in agreement with a happy grin on his face as well. This seemed like a picturesque moment, and I took it all in with a smile of my own, trying to permanently engrave this scene into my mind's eye.
"It was pretty easy." I nudged Hermione. "I mean, we are twins, so I think that helped the process," I joked, and Hermione agreed with a nod of her head. Once more, I found myself looking around the home, as if in search of something familiar. It was a strange sensation, reminding myself that this was home for me now. There was no way in hell I'd go crawling back to Clarisse. Not after what she'd done.
Grangers were a really nice family, it seemed, and I couldn't help but compare them to the one I had grown up with. Here, everyone got along and talked -- frequently, and about anything, as far as I could tell. Only being here for as little as I had, I could tell that they were a tight-knit family and could probably withstand a lot. Compared to my old family's dinner time, which pretty much consisted of us all eating separately in our own rooms, it was a drastic change. Usually, I ate with Trey when I was home, but the school boarded us for nine months out of twelve. And, for the three months that I was confined to my room and only Trey's dismal company, that doesn't leave room for very much 'Mother/Daughter' relationship time.
The conversation continued on from there, and the small talk because just a bit deeper with every change in subject. We all got to know each other, and I caught onto many similarities between Hermione and me. For example, we both loved to read, we both were quick learners, we even slouched the same way, and tossed our hair to the side the same way.
It was kind of weird.
All of those moments, when I had wished I could see the way others saw me, were fulfilled.
"Just so you know, Elle," Jane wiped her mouth on her napkin. "Dan and I are complete Muggles. You and Hermione are the only magic blood in our family." She seemed very proud of that fact, and her strong sense of high esteem made my heart soar. I didn't mind coming from a no-maj family, and I had never been harassed by it at my school. People at Sorcellerie did not care about blood.
"I assumed." I nodded and reached for some peas while explaining some of the hectic thoughts that had been rampaging through my mind. "The fact that you gave me to a Muggle family had me thinking that you had no idea Hermione and I were special, at first." My birth parents followed my logic with interested looks, intertwining their hands on top of the table.
"So, your brother's wedding is soon?" Dan turned the subject on me. The thought of Trey made me look at my hands. Part of me didn't want to talk about my past life, I wanted to put it behind me. However, I knew that one day in a new country wasn't going to take away the pain of losing fourteen years of my life to mass confusion.
"Yes, he's getting married. In two days, in fact." I wrung my hands and picked at my peas, pushing the green little balls around on my plate, feeling my stomach gurgle and churn in apprehension. "In London."
"Oh?" Jane perked up. "Well, Hermione and you'll be in London getting your school supplies in Diagon Alley tomorrow, so then you could just rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron and attend the wedding the next day." Her solution was so quick, something in the back of my mind questioned if she had already had the plan formulated in her mind. She was just simply trying to find a way to say it aloud.
Dan frowned and shifted in his chair, uncomfortable. "Now, Jane, honey. Elizabeth has just arrived in England. Don't you feel it's best if we allowed her more time to grow comfortable being here? The girls can go to the wedding, of course, you should go, Elizabeth," Dan included me.
"Elle's fine," I muttered quietly, slightly peeved each time he used my full, birth name.
If Dan had heard me, he didn't make it seem like he had. "To have them stay the night in some pub? They're only fourteen, Jane."
Jane pushed her plate away from herself and offered Dan a tight-lipped smile. "Daniel, dear, last summer Hermione was thirteen and by herself when she was allowed to stay at the Leaky Cauldron. The Weasleys didn't arrive until the next morning. They will be perfectly fine."
Hermione watched the two of them argue in chipper voices, a brow arched, but unwilling to add her voice. Sitting up a bit straighter in my chair, I lightly cleared my throat and offered Jane a polite smile. "Thank you. I would really like to see Trey on his big day."
Jane nodded. "Then, it's settled."
"I guess it's fine," Dan agreed before changing the subject once more with a curt laugh and a question of whether anyone wanted some dessert.
That night I barely got any sleep. I kept having nightmares of the disappointed looks on my friends' faces when I told them that I was not going back to school next year and that I was now living in England.
I felt as if the weight of the world was crushing me.
I had no idea how to escape it.
✧
Hermione and I got up bright and early so that we could get to Diagon Alley before the rush.
"Hermione, why don't yo-- I mean-- our parents come with us?" I asked her as we grabbed our allotment of regular money and wizarding money. We were taking the Floo Network, so I made sure to wear an extra coat. I hated how the soot got all over my clothes.
Hermione sighed and grabbed a handful of powder, climbing into the fireplace with me. "Well, last time they came with me, my friend's dad got into a fight with a man that was disgusted with my parents for being Muggles. They said that they don't want to cause trouble, so it's best if we just go alone." Then, she threw the powder on the floor and enunciated: "Diagon Alley".
The world spun and twisted, I cramped my eyes shut so I would not get motion sickness. Once my feet were firmly on the ground, I turned to Hermione. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but only some many words to make a coherent sentence. I'd spent a whole fourteen years of my life apart for this girl who was a second, unfortunately, taller, version of me.
"Tell me about you friends, whoever's dad that was must be cool," I decided on that being my first question. As we stepped out of the fireplace, I could feel myself bouncing with every step. All of my surroundings hit me like a colossal shift in time and space. "Holy crap, 'Mione, where are we?" I blurted out next.
I was standing in the midst of a bustling Dark Ages. People clad in dress robes and brilliantly coloured cloaks walked around me, broomsticks in hand, parcels in the other. Everyone seemed as if they belonged to this crazy world. And, the old buildings that towered along the streets were just as beautifully crafted as the air around us.
"It's rather . . . magical, isn't it?" Hermione smirked at her play on words. She lightly yanked me from out of the middle of the street and onto the paved walkways. "I remember when I first came to Diagon Alley. It's brilliant."
"Hell yeah, it is!" I stretched my arms out wide, not unlike a crazy person, trying to absorb all of it at once. I had never seen anything like it. Sure, I had been to magic shops, but it felt like everything where I was from was made to be 'modern'; nothing had this classic twist, and I was in heaven.
Hermione blushed scarlet at my behaviour. I realized I was making a scene. There were a few onlookers and even a little girl, with a wide-brimmed witch hat, was pointing at me while tugging on the long sleeve that belonged to her mother.
Manoeuvring us into our first store, Hermione kept her head down, cheeks blazing.
"S'rry, s'rry," I apologized, avoiding the lowly hanging sign of the book store as we walked inside. The smell of old pages and fresh ink hit me in waves and I became more level-headed. "Right, well you were going to talk about your friends," I prodded her, following closely as she skimmed the bookshelves with her watchful eyes, knowing exactly what she was searching for.
"Well, Ron's dad loves Muggles, so I could understand," Hermione explained. 'This Ron must be the friend with the fighter for a father,' I made a mental note. "And Ronald Weasley is a pig. He is always eating. Even if something is going horribly wrong! And, he can never remember anything. He is always asking me to do his homework for him. Honestly! And, he always gets this little crease between his eyes when he is focusing too hard," she sighed and shook her head, then pulled a few books off of the shelf, creating a pile in her arms, "honestly, it's hard not to cave when he tries that hard."
Smirking, I shook my head and grabbed a book labeled, Five Steps To Admitting You're Enchanted By Him. Clearing my throat I slid it into her hands and waited. She looked down and just stared at the cover for a few minutes, straight-faced. Slowly, she blinked at me and started busting up laughing. "Y-you can't be serious? Ronald? Me?" She shook her head and set the book down, chuckling lightly.
I sighed and just grabbed a few Learn To Make Your Own Spells volumes and added them to my cart. I had brought money to spend on a few of my interests. Hermione nodded at my selections approvingly.
We paid for the packages and left them with the store clerk. Hermione explained that in Diagon Alley, they have a delivery system for those travelling. We didn't need to carry our parcels around; they would be delivered tomorrow.
"So, is Ronald Weasley your only friend?" I asked her as we took a break at the local ice cream shop.
She licked her bright orange ice cream cone and shook her head with a thoughtful frown. "I'm close friends with him and Harry. He's interesting. Harry is always managing to have bad things happen to him. No matter where he goes, trouble follows." She tossed her head as if a thought crossed her mind that she didn't enjoy. "But, that's Harry Potter for you."
I stopped midway of eating a scoop of my mint chip cup. "Wait. Did you say Harry Potter?" The ice cream on my spoon plopped back into the cup, my back straightening. I lost all interest in my dessert as I peered, wide-eyed, at Hermione.
Hermione sighed, "Yes, yes. I am friends with Harry. Please don't tell me that you're obsessed with him since he is a celebrity."
I laughed. "No of course not, I was just surprised is all. It's not every day your twin sister knows the Boy Who Lived." 'Lies!' My mind scolded me. If I had to tell the truth, I was fascinated with the story of Harry Potter. I mean, come on! It's Harry freakin' Potter! But, I knew that the subject was probably an old one for Hermione, so I played it off.
Hermione groaned. "Please don't call him that. Harry's really nice, not big-headed at all. Truly, I think it's because he grew up with his awful aunt and uncle." I dug back into my ice cream while she continued to tell me little details. "I'm also friends with a girl named Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, and a boy named Neville Longbottom."
"Well, I'd love to meet 'em," I decided. Hermione seemed to have some really interesting friends. I couldn't wait to meet them for myself. And, meeting Harry Potter was the icing on the cake, too.
Chewing her rosebud-stained lip, Hermione stared at her ice cream without touching it. She wanted to ask me something but was still mulling it over. The more immature part of me wanted to tell her to 'spit-it-out', but I bit my tongue.
"Well, you see, Ron's Dad has tickets to the World Cup....to watch Bulgaria against Ireland. Mum and dad told me it may be too soon to ask you; they wanted me to give you time to adjust, but they've an extra ticket, if you would like to go that is?" Hermione could sense my uneasiness, "You wouldn't be intruding at all, I swear it."
I was torn. I loved to watch Quidditch, but I really was not sure if I would be a burden to her and her friends. I mean, who wanted an uninvited, random girl to tag along all day? But, I did say I wanted to meet them, on the other hand. "Well . . . . I do love the Irish." I smiled at her as she cheered.
"You won't regret it, promise." She crossed her heart and giggled. "Sorry, I'm kind of new at the whole sister thing."
I assured her, "I am too. It's not every day that you find you've a twin. Tell you the truth, I kind of always had a suspicion that I had a twin out in the world... somewhere," I laughed. "It's weird, I know."
Hermione and I reached our room in The Leaky Cauldron around ten-thirty that night. I was exhausted and ready to plop onto my bed. Which, is exactly what I did.
It had been a long couple of days, but strangely, it was easier and easier to adapt to how drastically my life had changed.
That night, I slept like a baby.
✧
I was awoken by the sound of a screeching owl. Muttering angry curses under my sleep-induced stupor, I rolled over onto my side, fluffing my pillow so it would block out the annoying bird. A few moments later, a beak nipped the back of my neck and I awoke in a fury, ready to kick this stupid bird to the moon.
Perched up on the iron bed frame, a tawny barn owl blinked down at me, yellow eyes huge and piercingly ferocious. "Oh, Ami," I sighed, dropping my pillow, that I was going to use as a weapon against the devil bird, onto the carpet. "Wait, how did you get inside?" I frowned and noticed that the window in our room was still locked tight. I remember letting him out to stretch his wings for the night.
"Oh, I let him in," Hermione walked out of the bathroom and rung out her wet hair with a frayed, white towel. Her bright eyes scanned my bedhead as my owl clawed his way into it with a hoot.
I nodded, swatting him off my head and back onto the bedframe. Grabbing the note as that was tied to his claw, to which, Ami lazily stretched out his leg, as if I was a peasant unfit to touch his talons. 'Ass-hat,' I glared at him. Of all the birds I could have chosen as a child, I chose the one with a god-complex.
Frowning, I scoured the elegant page. "Oh, it's our invitation." I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe Trey forgot to give me this." I pet delicately Ami, which he begrudgingly accepted, and finished reading the note. I noticed that it said 'dress casual'.
"Hey, Hermione, do you have any casual dresses?" I pulled out my own dress from my duffel bag. It was a white sundress with sunflowers. It was perfect since the wedding was taking place in a garden during lunchtime. Hermione frowned and assessed the dress in my hands.
"No, I don't usually wear dresses." She shifted her weight onto one foot, crossing her arms over her chest. "But, I figure I should get two. One for the wedding, and one for the dance."
"Dance . . . " I froze. "What. Dance." My eyes were glued to her nonchalant shrug.
"Well, Hogwarts hasn't actually said anything about a dance officially. However, on the required list of materials to bring for this term, there is a suggested note of dress robes. I assume that there's going to be a ball." She shrugged once more. "I know this place off Ollivander's we can go before we head to your brother's wedding."
I groaned. I hate dances. I hate shopping for dances. I hate just everything about them. Everyone gets so emotional around the time for dances. It was a big waste of time and tears. "Yeah, okay I guess. I mean, I could just make you a dress, but if you want to go shopping for dresses, . . . " I hinted towards my annoyance for dress shopping.
Shaking her head, Hermione simply laughed my suggestion off. "No it's okay, the dance isn't for a while. We can go shopping for those later on. But, I would rather I bought a dress." She smiled apologetically at me. " I know how to make a dress with magic, but I don't have any long shirts, nor should you risk getting in trouble for doing magic outside of school. You were lucky you weren't called to a hearing with your last stunt."
Well, at least we only have to shop for one dress. Ignoring Hermione, I simply moved along. "Alright. We have an hour before our train leaves, let's get going! Come, Ami." I pat my shoulder and he perched atop of it, obediently.
I quickly grabbed our shared duffle bag that held our overnight clothes and Hermione grabbed some money. "We aren't using the Floo Network to get to your brother's wedding?" She asked me as we power-walked down the stairs and out of the building.
"No, my brother, Trey, is marrying into a Muggle family. Since they have no idea about magic existing, I figured it would be least shocking to arrive by train and taxi than just popping up in their kitchen and hollering 'Surprise, bitches!', I know?" When Hermione actually laughed at my joke, I was surprised. My friends wouldn't have understood the shock of magic, as they came from two pureblooded families. Those humourless losers.
Surprisingly, Hermione was really easy to shop for; she took one glance around the room and said, "that one."
Nodding in agreement, I plucked her size off of the rack and jogged to the cashier. She smiled at me and rung up the dress. "Would you like a bag?"
"Nope!" I cheered and took it from her. "Thanks though."
Quickly, I shoved Hermione into one of the multiple changing rooms and threw her the floral dress. "Here you go! Change."
She chuckled but didn't reply to me, which I assumed was her following my demands. A few seconds later, she threw her clothes at me to put in the duffle bag. Hastily, I shoved them inside and caught Ami giving me a bored glance. "Why are you still here?" I huffed.
Ami gave me a stupid look and I realized that he assumed that I was going to reply to Trey's letter. Pulling out a pen from my pocket, which actually surprised me. For a moment, I wondered what other totally convenient things I was carrying in them, before I wrote on the back of my receipt: 'Yupp, we will be there'. Then, I handed it to Ami who clamped down on the paper, nicking my finger in the process. "There, you happy now?" I hissed between my teeth from the sharp, throbbing pain on my finger.
Ami just blinked up at me before turning and flapping off. "Damn bird," I muttered and turned back around to see Hermione standing there watching my antics with a worried look on her face. She probably thinks I'm crazy.
"Okay. So, to the train station?" Hermione asked and picked up the duffel bag.
"Yes!" I linked my arm in hers and we ran to the nearest cab, which was probably a mile away seeing as we were still in Diagon Alley.
✧
HERMIONE
The service was beautiful. I may not have known Trey, but I could tell he was happy. I smiled sweetly as Elle started to cry a little; she tried to hide it, but she was my twin and her expressions were mine as well. And, the sight of it made me wonder if my cheeks bunched up the same way hers did.
When the service was over, Elle told me that she had to go to the bathroom and excused herself. "I'll be in the reception area, I guess," I told her. I knew that she probably wanted a couple of minutes by herself so she could collect her straying emotions. She would be back soon, and I wanted to introduce myself to Trey and his wife, so I figured I would do that while I waited.
"Oh! Hey! I FOUND YOU!!" A pretty blonde girl jumped on me. Grabbing me into a tight hug, she started jumping up and down, spewing a slew of excited words, almost too fast for me to keep up with. "GOSH! It seems like forever since I have last seen you! Have you lost weight? You are too skinny!" The blonde pulled away and turned to look in each drection, a furrow deep above her grey eyes. "Oh, where is Lana? I just had her five seconds ago..."
"Wait, I'm sorry, but . . . do I know you?" I laughed awkwardly.
"Oh, please, Elle," she grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards a fiery redhead dressed in an interesting sort of tuxedo dress, "that worked on me, like, one time in secondyear but I'm not falling for it again. Hey, Lana! I FOUND HER!" She pulled me through the crowds, around chatting bystanders and through conversations. The whole time, I apologized a thousand times over for the intrusion.
The fake red-haired girl, Lana, pulled a smart frown, looking me up and down. "Uh . . . Elle?" She walked circles around me, squinitng as she did. The blonde kept talking about how she was so happy about something or other, her voice was soft but sturdy. "Jenna--" Lana interrupted Jenna's prattling.
"Yeah? Can't you see that I'm bursting with emotion from those vows?!" Jenna pouted and I just watched the two of them glare at each other. I was so lost and I didn't know who the hell they even were. They were obviously Elle's friends, but could they honestly not tell the difference? Something told me that the Lana girl knew right away.
"Listen to what I have to say, Airhead!" Lana crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly. Jenna scoffed, not taking offence to her friend's insult. "She is not Elle."
Jenna chuckled. "What? What are you talking about?" Lana just gave me a pointed look and Jenna frowned with a surprising calculation slapped over her face. "Wait. Where did her mole go?" Jenna leant in so close to me that I could feel her breath fanning my face. "Wait, she's different. No. Fucking. Way!" She stepped back at least ten paces. "I couldn't see it before, but she's definitely not Elle!"
Lana giggled at her and shook her head before turning to me. "Sorry about her, I'm Lana Dowell. And, this idiot, is Jenna Chase. Elle is our friend. The reason she got confused is 'cause you look like, --"
"-- her twin?" I laughed at my own inside joke. Honestly, these two were like Fred and George, obnoxiously their own.
"Yeah! Exactly! Like Elle's twin." Jenna jumped up and down, blonde curls bouncing like an ocean of golden waves. "We have to get you two to meet!" She grabbed Lana and I's hand and started to drag us through the crowd.
I opened my mouth to protest and tell her that we were already acquainted, but Lana just shook her head at me. "It's better just to let her do her own thing, sometimes cool stuff happens when you do."
I sighed and let Jenna manoeuvre me through the crowds. This was definitely going to be interesting, to say the least.
___________________
Fun Fact: Elle's owl is named Ami which is French for male friend.
10-Year-Anniversary Author's Note: (these will be refered to as 10-YA A/N from now on, because it's long and I apparently hate wrtiting? Ironic?)
When I first wrote this, Jenna and Lana were actually never to be seen again past chapter 4. They were not part of this book and I genuinely wasn't going to ever even bring them into Elle's thoughts.
But, I took a weird left turn one day, and now that I am re-editing, I can see where all the hate for them started. They really were just flippant, regular girls, but 80% of new readers found them annoying, and even started a hate club (yay) . While I do NOT agree with the feelings about them, I did edit them a little more, so that they weren't as obnoxious. But, come on, have you ever met a group of 13 year old girls? They are a breed of their own.