• Crystal glanced at her twin brother. His right hand was clenched into a tight fist while his left hand held the bottom of his seatbelt tightly. His body was stiff and rigid. The thing that scared Crystal the most was what he was wearing. No, it wasn’t a fashion crisis, more of a health crisis. It was quite a warm September morning and Crystal wore a pink tank top with a white skirt. She had a white tennis hat on her head, and white flats on her feet. It was pretty hot, she hadn‘t worn anything too long or thick. Her brother, Shayde, on the other hand, was her opposite. He was wearing a white, long sleeve turtleneck that covered his nose and mouth too. He wore sunglasses and a white hat that shaded his whole face. His pants and sneakers were also, as you can guess, white. She stared at him with horror. He didn’t have a flu, or a cold, no sickness, that she knew of, at all. But for some reason, it seemed like he had covered up every piece of skin on his body. She sometimes wondered how they were born twins. It seemed like every part of them was different.

    Shayde had noticed that she was studying him. He looked at her and then quickly looked out the car window. It was the first day of school and their mom, Luna Stryker, had decided to drive them there. Shayde and Crystal both stayed in boarding schools, separate boarding schools. Both the schools were one block apart from each other. Shayde went to a private school, while Crystal went to a normal high school. Crystal had no idea why they had to go to different schools. She had asked her mother this question many times, but the more she asked, the less of a reply she would get. The strangest thing that Crystal could never get her head around, was the fact that Shayde’s school was a night school. It would have classes only during the night time. She had asked her brother about it, but he would just shrug and tell her that it was the way the school functioned. Crystal was never happy with that answer, it just kept her wondering even more.

    Their schools were only an hour away from their house, but it seemed like forever. Their mother had no intention of talking, due to the fact that she had a strict motto to keep her eyes on the road. Crystal knew that Shayde was probably too tired to start a conversation, so she decided that she had to start one herself. She bit her pink lips and ran her hand through her silky blonde hair while pondering about what to ask. She then decided to say, “Sooo….ummm….how’s the weather?”

    Shayde took off his glasses and looked at her with his icy blue eyes. He had one eyebrow raised in a questioning look. From under his turtleneck he said, “Are you seriously asking that question?”

    Crystal said nothing at first, and just blushed. Her brother had always seemed to be the more wiser of the two and his tone made it sound like her question was quite foolish and immature. Shayde saw the look in his sister’s eyes and felt bad. He sighed lightly and chuckled. “The weather’s not to my liking, but I guess it’s okay.”

    Crystal looked up and smiled. Shayde had gone back to looking out the window, but Crystal was satisfied that she had at least gotten an answer out of him. Shayde had never liked sunny days. Even since when they were young. Shayde would always stay inside while Crystal would be running around outside with her friends. Crystal remembered that one time when she had gotten Shayde out into the sun…

    * * *

    “Shayde, come on!” Crystal squealed as she pulled on her brother’s arm. His skin was cold as usual. She thought that it was from staying inside for such a long time. She rolled her eyes as Shayde held on to the coat rack just inside the main door. His grip was tight on the pole and his nails were digging into it.

    “Crystal, I told you once, I don’t like the sunlight!” He screamed back at her. His voice was harsh and desperate. He loosened his grip on the rack and at that exact moment fell out the front door on top of his sister. They both fell out into the grass of their front lawn. Crystal got up off the ground quickly and ran around in happy circles.

    She hadn’t noticed that Shayde was still kneeling on the ground. His fingers dug into the dirt and he was sweating like crazy. His blue eyes were wide with fear and his blonde hair hung down as he stared at the dirt. Then he suddenly let out a scream of pain and ran back into the house crying.

    Crystal ran after him and found him in their mother’s lap. He was crying hard and his grip was tight around the sleeves of her shirt. Crystal looked at her mother. Her mother gave her a look that Crystal knew, meant never to take him out in the sun again. She quickly backed away from the emotional scene. She felt quite guilty and couldn’t take it. She could hear him saying how much it hurt. She didn’t know why it hurt him so much. It had never hurt her.

    She decided to go outside again. As she walked towards the door she looked at the coat rack her brother had been holding onto. She looked at it for a while and thought that she saw dents the size of fingernails on it. She shook the thought off her head and ran outside. That was the last time she had forced Shayde into doing something he didn’t want to.

    * * *

    Shayde look out the window and wondered how long it would take for them to get to the school. He couldn’t take it anymore, it was killing him. He pushed the little black button that got the window lower. He took a deep breath in of the smell of fresh air. He knew that having one window open would just make the smell inside the car go around even more. He clenched his fists tighter and said with holding his breath, “Crystal…lower your window.”

    Crystal looked at him with concern. He probably looked sick to her; pale, stiff, and not breathing. She lowered her window slightly and then Shayde barked at her, “EVEN LOWER CRYSTAL!” Crystal put her window down all the way with one forceful push. Shayde could see the fear in her eyes. He started breathing again.

    Crystal had her back turned to him. He could tell that she was scared. Their mother hadn’t said anything to them. When Shayde had yelled at Crystal he saw her hands tighten on the steering wheel, but now she was relaxed again, but Crystal wasn’t. He looked at her and felt bad, but then thought to himself, she should be afraid of me. She thinks that there’s no reason for mom to put us in different schools. Little does she know. She’s grown up with me and still hasn’t realised that I’m a --

    Crystal’s shriek cut off his thoughts. He turned to look at her. Her hand was on her knee. She kissed her teeth and said, “Stupid bandage fell when I came into the car.” She took deep breaths due to the sudden pain from her cut. So Shayde wasn’t going crazy. He had smelt blood when he got into the car. He quickly ripped a bit of the bottom of his pants and handed it to his sister. She took it and wrapped it tightly around her leg. The smell of blood then faded. Shayde’s shoulder’s sank down and he smiled from behind his sweater.

    “Thanks.” She smiled. Shayde just nodded and took another fresh breath of air. The sky had started to darken and Shayde could tell that it was about to rain. He took off his hat and put it beside him. He pulled off his sweater. Underneath it he was wearing a button up black shirt. He kept playing with the sunglasses that he was balancing on his fingers.

    Shayde always loved the rain, and loved to get wet in it. Without everything covering him up so much, he looked more normal now. He fixed his shaggy, pale blonde hair. A lock kept falling in front of his ice blue eyes. He rolled his eyes and used a pale finger to push it away. Crystal chuckled. Shayde looked at her and asked, “What?”

    Crystal smirked. “You seemed so uncomfortable just a few minutes ago. The minute the sky starts to darken you start smiling?” Shayde looked at her questioningly. He didn’t see what was so funny about it.

    Crystal shook her head, understanding what her brother was thinking. “No…that’s not the funny part. I just imagining a possible way where we could have been born on an alien planet where twins are totally different.” She grinned and looked at him happily.

    Shayde tilted his head and asked, “We’re not that different are we?” He had only noticed one big difference in between the two, probably the only difference that Crystal didn’t, and probably never will notice. “List them all.” Shayde smiled, just wanting to prove his instincts right.

    Crystal joined her fingers together and cracked them. Shayde chuckled. The way she was acting, seemed like she was about to answer a question that would win her a million dollars. She smiled and said, “Okay. Get ready, this is going to be long.”

    Throughout the whole ride to the school, Crystal had named all the differences between her and Shayde. Shayde had been keeping track of the differences, and at times he would debate with her about her opinion. This was probably the most time the two had ever spent together, actually talking. Shayde enjoyed it quite a lot. The beaming smile on Crystal’s face showed that she did too.

    They could feel the car slow down and they looked out the window. They were here. The two schools looked totally different. The private school that Shayde was enrolled in was called, Crimson Moon High School. It was a large, 4 storey, white, elegant building. The pillars in front of the large wooden door gave it a royal look. Some say that parts of the building was made out of marble. From the look of it, it probably was. Everyone going into there was walking with a posture, with umbrellas gracefully risen above their heads. Crystal shivered, it was something that she wasn’t used to. Everyone and everything there looked royal and proper. It was nothing like Crystal’s school.

    The school beside Crimson Moon, looked horribly dull and filthy compared to it. It looked like a normal High School should. It was made out of brown brick, and nothing near as fancy as Crimson Moon. It was a 3 storey square building, with a flagpole and water fountain in the front. Nothing more fancy than that. The area was teaming with students holding their umbrellas above their heads. Then there were the three odd students that were running around with each others umbrellas. Crystal rolled her eyes and chuckled. Those three were her best friends. The weirdest, most crazy, most daring people ever….yet, the most best friends a girl could ever want.