The world always seemed to spin a little slower at night. Everything was quiet and still, as if I was alone with the twinkling stars and the crescent moon. The velvety darkness around me felt comforting and safe. I could still see the tall silhouettes of stately pines against the grandeur of the sky. A light breeze rustled the leaves, and as I looked up through the branches, it was easy to believe that the universe was endless. When another gust of wind blew by me, I snuggled back in my chair and pulled my knit sweater closer to my body. I opened up my journal to the next blank page and let my imagination flow free. My favorite time to write was always in the dead of night. I was able to just sit under the moon with all the time in the world, and the feeling of my life slowing to a crawl was almost tangible. I loved being able to write about life, about love, about anything and everything. I loved being able to write without any consequences or fears. I loved being able to write for hours on end about what I thought was important. And most of all, I loved to write because it set me free. After I was finally overcome by complete exhaustion, I closed my journal and put it back into my backpack. I crawled into my bed, and within a matter of minutes, I was fast asleep.

My alarm clock sounded at six o’clock, but I slammed my hand on the snooze button without lifting my head. But just a few minutes later, my mom yelled, “Evie! Get up now or you’ll be late!”

Groaning, I all but rolled out of bed as I slipped on my clothes. I quickly took a shower, brushed my teeth, and combed my hair before I went downstairs. My twin brothers were already getting into a mini food fight when I arrived in the kitchen.

Without even glancing up at me, Colton said, “Took you long enough to get here. Quinn and I were talking about dumping a bucket of cold water on you to wake you up.”

I rolled my eyes while I poured myself a glass of milk. “But you already know that if you ever tried to do that, I would tell Mom all about all of your little pranks at school. Maybe I could start with the time you set the lab table on fire and blamed it on that poor little kid. I’m sure she would just ground you. For eternity.”

“Nah, mom wouldn’t do that. She probably did her fair share of jokes at school when she was young. Us Mercers all know how to set up a good trick. Well, except for you.”

“First of all, it would be we Mercers, not us Mercers. And even if Mom and Dad were okay with the fire, what about the time you broke Mr. Burke’s car and flooded his office on the same day? Considering the fact that our parents are pretty good friends with him, what do you think the punishment for that prank would be?”

Colton and Quinn both paled a little bit, and I smiled sweetly. “Just think about that the next time you want to dump cold water on my head.”

They muttered something to each other about how I was such a goody two shoes with no sense of humor, but I just grinned to myself. While they argued about who knows what, I finished my breakfast and pulled out my journal to write another entry. I tuned out everything around me as I immersed myself into my thoughts.

“Evie! Evelyn! Earth to Evelyn! Okay, you know what; we’re leaving without you if you don’t hurry up!”

Their yells snapped me out of my zone, and I sighed heavily as I put my journal back into my backpack. I followed my twin brothers and my mom to the car while Colton and Quinn argued about who was riding shotgun. They even started to wrestle each other when my mom finally dragged them apart and all but pushed one of them into the back seat. I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. Even though I’d always felt slightly disconnected from my family, I still loved them more than anything else. Perhaps I loved them even more than my journal, which was saying a lot.

On the ride to school, my brothers kept fighting over which radio station to play. My mom got so fed up with their bickering that she turned it completely off and threatened to throw them out and make them walk to school. Even though we all knew she didn’t really mean it, Colton and Quinn shut up and just settled for glaring at each other the rest of the way. And me? I was just laughing at them like the kind little sister that I am. When we finally arrived at the front of the gates, the three of us went our separate ways. I had math first thing in the morning, which I hated. Words loved me about as much as numbers hated me. And when I had to deal with math problems and pop quizzes bright and early in the morning, I felt like hitting myself in the head with the textbook. When I got to room D-32, Amber was already waiting for me.

“What did you get for numbers 5, 6, 7, and 8? You know what; could you just let me borrow your worksheet for just a second?”

“Well, isn’t that a nice way to greet your best friend?”

She rolled her eyes as she replied, “Fine. Hi Evie! Now give me your worksheet or I’ll get it myself.”

“I swear, sometimes I think you’re only my friend because I help you with your homework and give you food.”

“Oh come on, you know I love you.” Then, she paused for a moment and reconsidered. “Actually, on second thought, you’re probably right.”

I laughed to myself, shaking my head. Amber was sure something, and to be honest, I loved that about her. When I finally fished out my partly crumpled paper and handed it over to her, she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. She looked over my answers and quickly copied them down onto her own sheet.

“I probably got those wrong, you know,” I told her.

“Eh, oh well. Mr. Webb usually grades for effort anyways, ‘cause he’s a lazy ass and doesn’t feel like actually going through the answers. One time I think I put an infinity sign on a question I didn’t understand and he didn’t even dock any points.”

Before I could say anything, the bell rang, and we walked inside the room. Amber and I sat on opposite sides of the room, but she probably watched me more than she watched Mr. Webb. But then again, I usually tuned him out and doodled in my journal instead. He never really taught anything in class anyways.

*~*

Amber came over to my house after school to work on homework. Or at least, that’s what she told her parents. In reality, we usually just spent ridiculous amounts of time blasting music in my room and dancing like the idiots we were. I would never do that in front of anyone else, but Amber was practically a twin sister to me. We’d known each other since we were three years old, and our parents were good friends. There was hardly anything I wasn’t comfortable doing around her. I mean, once you’ve seen the other person wearing no more than a pair of underwear, it’s easy to not be self-conscious around one another. Honestly, I usually felt more relaxed around her than I did with my own family.

While we were both in the middle of yelling the lyrics to one of our favorite Taylor Swift songs, someone started banging on my bedroom door. I hastily turned down the music and kicked open the door. It was Quinn

“Seriously, sis, turn it down, okay? Colt and I are going deaf downstairs. Our ears are bleeding from your terrible singing. And don’t forget, it’s your turn to take care of Wesley today. We have practice in like five minutes. Oh, hey Amber.” Then, he turned and left without saying another word.

I plopped back onto the bed and sighed. “My brothers are seriously so annoying.”

“Yeah well, they’re seriously so hot too.”

I nearly fell out of my bed and choked on my saliva at the same time. Mental image, get out of my head. “I’m just going to pretend like you never said that because that is like the creepiest thing I think you’ve ever said.”

“What?” she said defensively. “It’s true. You know it. I know it. The whole school knows it.”

“Moving on! We are definitely not talking about this anymore. I have to go check on Wes, give me a second.”

“Sure. I should probably get started on my notes anyways. Although I much rather spend my time staring at your older brothers.”

“Shut up! Seriously, shut up. I’m leaving. I’m out. Bye.”

I took back what I said earlier. Amber was definitely something else, and I hated her for it.

Running downstairs, I knocked on Wesley’s room.

“Come in,” he shouted.

I pushed open the door and kissed my little brother on the cheek. “Hey little dude, how are you doing today?”

“Awesome. I just beat my personal best Rubik’s cube time!”

“Congrats Wes! What did you get?”

“Thirty-two seconds, which is four seconds faster than my previous best.”

Sometimes, my little brother seriously scared me. Actually, that happened a lot of the time. He was only in third grade, but he was already better at math and history than I was, and I was six years older than him.

“Wow, that’s impressive. I can’t even solve it, period. Hey, are you hungry?”

“A little bit.”

“Come on, then. Let’s go see what we can make.”

He jumped out of his seat at the desk and ran out to the kitchen. I couldn’t help but smile as I followed him. Wes was so little and so adorable. He was always enthusiastic about everything, especially school. I called Amber down, and the three of us decided to make some granola with apple sauce. While we were eating, Amber flung some on me with her spoon. The creamy yellow sauce slid down my face, and I could feel some of it gathering in my hair.

“Oh, it’s on.”

By the time Colton and Quinn got back from football practice, the kitchen was a complete and utter mess. There was applesauce smeared all over the countertops and on the walls. Not to mention the fact that Amber, Wes, and I were all covered in the goo from head to toe. As soon as my brothers stepped into the kitchen, they whined, “You guys had a food fight without us? Really?”

And with that, the two of them quickly started to grab more food items from the pantry. But before it could get too out of control, I immediately stepped in and put everything back. “Seriously guys, mom and dad will be home in a couple of minutes. We have to clean up or they’ll kill us.”

They both groaned, but they knew I was right. My three brothers and I got to work cleaning with paper towels and rags. When I told Amber to help us, she just grinned. “Well, seeing as it’s your parents we’re talking about, and not mine, I don’t see why I have to do anything. Plus, you know your parents love me. So —”

I cut her off by throwing a white towel at her face. “Shut up and start cleaning. You owe me since I let you copy my math worksheet today.”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too, Amber.”

She grumbled under her breath as she got on her knees and started to wipe the floor. With the five of us working together, we were able to clean up in less than ten minutes. Since my parents still hadn’t returned home yet, Amber and I decided to actually try and complete all of our homework. Or at least, I did.

“Hey, what did you get for the fourth question?” Amber asked.

“In what?”

“The science lab.”

“I put that receptors and enzymes are both proteins that can cause a reaction or response.”

“Could you repeat that again? Slower this time?”

“It’s in your textbook, Amber!”

“Yeah, but then I’d have to actually get up and grab it. It’s so much easier when I can just ask you to help me.”

“Then I’m not going to give you any more answers. Someday you’re going to go off to college and I won’t be there to help you, so get your lazy butt off the bed and go get yourself the textbook.”

“Have I told you that I hate you?”

“Maybe.”

“Well I hate you.”

“That’s nice to know.”

“Can you at least hand me the textbook?”

“Nope.”

“I seriously hate you.”

“Yeah, well it’s still true.”

I laughed as Amber finally got off and pulled out the biology textbook. How she managed to not flunk all of her classes was still a complete mystery to me. After another half an hour or so of quiet studying, I heard Amber’s phone ring.

“Hello?” she called. “Oh, okay. Are you going to pick me up? Got it. See you then. Love you too.”

“You’re not staying for dinner?” I asked her.

“Yeah. My mom wants to go out to eat today, so she’s coming by to pick me up in about five minutes.”

“Okay then. Are you coming over tomorrow, or should I go over to your house?”

“My mom’s going to be out most of this week with work, so I’m probably coming over again.”

“Great!”

Just then, the doorbell rang, so Amber gathered up her things, said goodbye, and left. A few minutes later, my mom and dad came back from work. They had bought Chinese takeout on the way home, since it was already getting late and my mom didn’t want to have to cook.

Our family dinners were always extremely lively since there were seven of us gathered around the table. There was always news to share, whether it was about a project at school or a funny story from work. We usually went around the table, and it was an unwritten rule that everyone had to share at least one thing. Dad always went first, and today he told us, “Daniel talked about promoting me to equity partner today at the law firm.”

All of us gasped before we broke out into smiles and congratulations. Mom even said, “Well, it’s about damn time.” And she was right; dad had worked long hours for ten years at Greyson and Associates, so it was really nice to see that he was finally being rewarded for his hard work.

Mom was next up, and she had good news for us as well. “Aly called me at work today, and she said that she’s going to come back for Thanksgiving Break in just over a week from now.”

I grinned happily, and even though my brothers were groaning, I could tell that they were excited to see her again too. It would be nice to have another girl at home for once, and I wanted to hear all about her experiences as a freshman in college.

Then, the twins fought over who was going first, as usual. Colton and Quinn argued about almost every possible thing. One of the only things they agreed on was their sick passion for annoying me. That was another reason why I couldn’t wait to have Alyssa back; she always stood up for me when the twins were being obnoxious.

Finally, Quinn gave in, and Colton took over. “Today at practice, we were practicing our passes, and I caught every single one that came towards me. Coach even told me that at this rate, college scouts might be looking for me!”

“Oh come on, stop acting like you were the only one who did well today. I may have missed two passes today, but I’ve been more consistent than you this entire season.”

“But I’ve been working harder, and soon enough I’ll beat you. Just wait and see!”

Their bickering continued on and on. Even though it was really annoying, I didn’t mind it too much. I could tell that football really meant a lot to the both of them, and I knew that their arguments only pushed them to do better. But eventually, my mom and dad had had enough, and they told the twins to shut it. It was finally my turn to talk, but I didn’t really have anything to say. “Um, well, I took a pop quiz in history today, and I think I did okay. Not much happened at school, I guess.”

Wes was the last one to go, since he was the youngest. “Mrs. Maroney said that she wanted to talk to my mom and dad, but I’m not sure why. She said I wasn’t in trouble though, so that’s good.”

My mom asked, “Did she say if she wanted to talk with us in person or just on the phone?”

“I think Mrs. Maroney’s exact words were, ‘I would like to meet with your mom and dad sometime this week.’ She might have mentioned something about an e-mail too.”

“Okay honey. I’ll check my computer later to see if I got her message.”

Wes nodded happily and continued to eat his dinner quietly. For the rest of the meal, my mom and dad talked a little about work and my brothers’ college admissions. I kind of tuned them out as I ate, and I thought instead about the fact that my dad’s birthday was coming up soon. Every year, I always planned something special for the birthdays of everyone in my family. But for some reason, I wasn’t sure what to do or make for my dad. I had cooked him breakfast in bed last year, and I wanted to make sure I did something bigger and better this time around. So when everyone had finished eating, I gathered my three brothers into the kitchen to do the dishes and make plans while my parents went upstairs.

“So, as you know, dad’s birthday is on Friday, which means it’s only three days away. We have to do something for him, but I’m all out of ideas. What do you guys think?”

A small silence fell between all of us, but it was Wes who spoke up first. “Could we just put on some type of performance for him? I could show him my improved time on the Rubik’s cube!”

I thought about that for a few moments, and an idea suddenly struck me. “Of course! We should totally throw him a surprise party! Then we could each do something for him, like Wes said.”

Colton and Quinn shared a glance, but I couldn’t read their expression. After a few seconds, I finally asked them, “Okay, telepathic twins, could you please just tell Wes and I what you guys are thinking about?”

They grinned sheepishly, and Quinn said, “Well, could Colt and I maybe do some football tricks or something like that?”

“Of course! Do whatever you want.” Then, seeing as I was talking to two of the biggest pranksters in the entire town, I reconsidered. “Well, as long as it’s legal. And please don’t injure Dad, especially on his birthday. But other than that, go for it. Just make sure you’re ready to do something by Friday.”

The four of us spent a couple more minutes discussing the time, place, and people who were going to be involved in the party. By the time we had finished cleaning the dishes, everything was in place. Now, I just had to figure out what I wanted to do for the party. Sing? No. Dance? Definitely not. I quickly ruled out a long list of things in my head before I finally came up with something. I would do what I loved doing most: write. I had three days to come up with a flawless poem for my dad’s birthday party. Even though I hardly ever read my writing aloud, I knew this was the perfect thing for me to do.

So I took out my journal, got myself a pencil, and let the words flow onto the paper.

When I finally had enough strength in my body to get myself out of bed, I checked my alarm clock to see what time it was. And then, I soon regretted it.

          “Crap! Shoot, shoot, shoot!” I screamed as I scrambled to put on my clothes. “How is it already seven o’clock?”

            I got ready lightning fast upstairs before sprinting down for breakfast. But of course, being the clumsy person that I am, I ended up tripping on the last step and nearly face planted onto the stone floor. I took a deep breath, brushed myself off, and headed into the kitchen. When I got there, none of my family members were to be seen. A couple of dishes were already in the sink, and there was an omelet waiting for me on the table. Slowly, a sinking feeling arose in my stomach. No. They wouldn’t have done that. But as much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I knew it was inevitable.

            My twin brothers had left for school without me.

            Again.

            Well, to be fair, they’d only done it twice before. But still. I hurriedly ran to pour myself a glass of milk before sitting down to eat breakfast. Halfway through my meal, I found a note sitting underneath my plate.

            We woke up late too, and we couldn’t get you to wake up. Mom was getting really impatient because she had to go to work, so we had to leave. Sorry about that. We’ll make it up to you when we get home, promise. There’s some money on the counter for you so that you can take the bus. I hope you make it to school on time.

~Colt and Quinn

            I checked the clock on the wall, and it read 7:08. Shoving one last bite of the omelet into my mouth, I got up and grabbed the bus money and my belongings. I quickly stuffed my journal into my backpack as well, and I didn’t even bother zipping it up before I ran out the door. Luckily, the bus stop was just around the corner from my house. I sprinted my entire way there, and I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked. My hair was a mess, my backpack was completely undone, and I was totally out of shape. I nearly tripped on multiple occasions, but I didn’t stop running. The bus was just closing its doors as I finally got there, but the driver quickly reopened them for me. I clambered up as fast as I could, but I was completely out of breath. The bus driver, Mr. Sheridan, smiled at me sympathetically.

            “Let me guess; overslept and ditched?”

            “Y-yeah. You-you’re right.” I managed to get out.

            He chuckled lightly, and I handed him my money. I found an empty seat by the window, and I sat quietly there for the rest of the ride to school. It took me a good couple of minutes to settle down and catch my breath, and I realized just how badly I needed to exercise. Oh well. When the bus pulled to a stop, I quickly got off and walked to my math classroom. I was definitely in no shape to run again. By the time I reached D-32, Amber all but pounced on me.

            “Where were you? I was waiting for you here for AGES. Honestly, I thought you weren’t coming because you suddenly got sick or something. Sheesh, don’t scare me like that again.”

            “Calm down, Amber. I just overslept.”

            She stared at me quizzically before shaking her head. “No, that’s definitely not all there is to the story. Spill the beans, sista. What really happened?”

            “Fine, fine. The twins may or may not have ditched me again this morning.”

            Amber burst out laughing, but she immediately tried to stop when I shot her death glares. It took her a few minutes to calm down and regain her composure. Once Amber starts laughing, it’s nearly impossible for her to stop. She’ll control herself for a few moments, and then collapse into a fit of giggles just a couple of seconds later. Sometimes I laughed right along, and other times I just scowled at her. This was one of the latter occasions.

            When she was, at last, done laughing at my misfortune like the kind hearted friend that she was, she said, “Sorry! But you have to admit, that’s hilarious. Plus, it’s like the third time that they’ve left without you. You can’t really blame them though. Sometimes, it is literally impossible to wake you up.”

            “It is not!” I said defensively.

            “Trust me, it’s true. The only way anyone can wake you up when you’re on one of your dead days is if we dumped water on your head or pushed you off the bed. But if your brothers or I tried to do that to you, you would definitely murder us.”

            “Whatever.”

            Amber just rolled her eyes and grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile back. She never failed to make my day just a little bit brighter. Soon, Mr. Webb opened the door, so we all went into the classroom. After we finished listening to the morning announcements, he told us, “Pop quiz today. You know the drill. Take out a piece of paper and number it to twenty. Keep your eyes on your own test. Blah, blah, blah. I don’t have anything else planned for today, so you have the entire period. No talking. If you finish early, just do something quietly. Got it? Good.”

            While he was talking, Amber and I exchanged glances from across the room. We both hated Mr. Webb. He never really taught anything in class, so we always spent an hour or so learning the material he was supposed to cover in class. Also, he gave out pop quizzes practically every other week. In other words, he really sucked at being a teacher.

            Once I got my quiz paper, I scanned over all of the questions. There didn’t seem to be anything that I didn’t know how to do, so I quickly jumped into the first problem. Most of the answers came to me pretty easily, although I did get stuck on two of the theorem proof questions. I ended up finishing the test with around fifteen minutes to spare, so I turned it in and decided to write. Reaching into my backpack, I felt around for the hard bound cover of my journal, but I couldn’t seem to find it. Sighing, I propped my bag onto my lap and looked inside to see where it was. I dug out some of my notebooks and loose papers, but my navy blue journal was still nowhere in sight. Frantically, I dumped out the rest of the items in my backpack onto the floor, and I received some strange looks from the people sitting around me. I muttered an apology, but my heart wasn’t in it. My journal was nowhere to be found. My heartbeat was racing faster with each second that passed by. It must have dropped out when I was running to the bus stop. After all, my backpack was wide open while I was sprinting.

            “Shit! I’m such an idiot!” I cursed at myself mentally.

            “Excuse me, Ms. Mercer?” my teacher called out.

            Did I really just say that aloud? “Sorry,” I replied meekly.

            He grunted. “Sorry won’t cut it, miss. Not only did you interrupt your classmates in the middle of a quiz, but you also violated the no swearing policy at this school. See me after school for detention.”

            I opened my eyes wide, shocked. “Detention? But sir — ”

            “No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. You broke two rules, and there are consequences for that. I’ll see you here at three o’clock, sharp. Got it?”

            “Yes, Mr. Webb. Oh, but where is the detention room again?”

            “Just be at the library at 3:00. If you’re any later than 3:05, you’ll be given another detention. Now stop talking and do some type of quiet activity.”

            I slumped back into my chair and rested my head on my arms. Mom and dad would not be happy about this. I had never had a detention before, and I didn’t want to make a habit out of it now. And having to stay behind after school meant that I wouldn’t be able to look for my journal until later, too. That meant that there was one more hour in which it could go missing. One more hour in which someone could take it. One more hour… No, stop thinking like that.

            Today just wasn’t going well for me at all.

As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of eighth period, I hustled my way over to my math classroom. While I was walking there, Amber greeted me.

            “Hey. Detention, eh? I never thought I’d see the day that Evelyn would have detention. But I guess there’s a first time for everything, right?”

            “Shut up, Amber. I’m kind of not in the mood right now.”

            “And that’s exactly why I’m coming with you.”

            I stopped walking and frowned. “What?”

            “I’m coming with you!” Amber replied happily. “I can’t miss out on my best friend’s milestone accomplishment, now can I?”

            “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

            She squeezed my hand comfortingly. “But I want to.”

            “What did you do to get detention?”

            “I may have been caught chewing gum or something like that.”

            I laughed, and we lined up right outside of the school library together. And for some odd reason, I felt a little bit better just by having Amber there along with me.

            There were around twenty or thirty kids waiting to get in, and I hardly recognized anyone. Soon, one of the teachers at school that I didn’t know opened the door for us, and we all walked inside. When the clock on the wall read 3:05, she locked the doors.

            “Most of you have been here before, so I’ll cut the introduction short. I’m Mrs. Wiley, and I’ll be your detention manager today. You’ll be here for an hour, but if you’re really good, I’ll let you out early. No food, no drinks, no talking. Just do your homework or something else quietly. If you interrupt more than three times, you’ll be coming back tomorrow. That’s about it. Does anyone have any questions?”

            Slowly, I raised my hand. She nodded towards me and I asked, “Um… could I call my parents or something like that? They don’t know that I’m here.”

            Some of the people around me started laughing, but Mrs. Wiley quieted them down immediately.

            “This is your first time here, isn’t it? That’s okay; everyone in this room was once a newbie. The rule here is that when you get assigned a detention, your parents are automatically contacted. That way, no one has to worry about calling parents or anything like that.”

            “Oh,” I muttered quietly, and I could feel my cheeks start to heat up. Amber shot me a small smile, and I shrugged back at her. “I’m fine,” I mouthed, and she nodded. We both turned our attention back to Mrs. Wiley as she finished talking. “So I’m here if you need anything, but you guys probably all know the drill. Okay, get to work now kids!”

            A chorus of groans and complaints echoed through the room, but she just rolled her eyes and opened up her computer. In a couple of minutes, everyone was settled down. It was actually pretty nice and quiet, although Mrs. Wiley did have to stop some horseplay every now and then. If I hadn’t lost my journal, I would definitely have taken this as an opportunity to write. But instead, I had to settle for starting my homework. I was actually able to get a lot more work done than usual because Amber wasn’t constantly bothering me. However, she did pass me the occasional note or two when she really didn’t understand a question. The time passed by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, all of us were being ushered out of the library.

            “That wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be,” I whispered to Amber as we walked out.

            She chuckled and pushed my shoulder playfully. “What’d you expect? People jumping on the tables and strangling the detention manager? That kind of stuff only happens in TV shows and movies. The people at our school are way too well behaved for that. Honestly, even the regulars at detention aren’t bad kids.”

            “Yeah, I guess so. Anyways, is there some sort of late bus around this time? I don’t want to have to bother my parents while they’re at work.”

            “Technically, the late bus is supposed to leave at three forty-five, but the driver usually waits until detention is over,” she said. “Still, we should probably hurry. Race you there!”

            With that, she sprinted off towards the front of the school. Sighing, I ran after her, even though I knew I had no chance of catching up to her. Amber wasn’t the best student at school, but the one subject she excelled in was PE. In almost every single sport, she was always at the top of the class. Despite this, she never joined any of our school’s sports teams. I’d stopped trying to persuade her a while ago since she always told me something along the lines of, “Why would I do that? Joining a sports team would mean that I actually cared about the school, which, obviously, I don’t. Plus, it would mean that I’d have to stay back multiple times a week for practice, and that would cut into my designated TV time. Not to mention the fact that the school expects all of their athletes to be well-behaved, whatever the crap that means.”

            By the time I got to the bus stand, Amber was already waiting for me impatiently. “You seriously need to work on some cardio. You’re like one of the slowest people I know, and you get out of breath just from running for half a minute or so.”

            “Gee thanks, Amber. That’s so kind of you to say.”

            “Yeah, well, you know what they say: honesty is the best policy.”

            “Sure, sure, whatever.”

            We bantered back and forth as we stepped up onto the bus. The driver asked me for the fee, I panicked.

            “Shoot!” I whispered into Amber’s ear. “I don’t have any spare change with me.”

            “It’s okay. I’ll cover you.”

            She dug out a wad of bills from her jeans pocket and handed it to the driver. I smiled at her gratefully, and she grinned. “I should totally take a picture of your expression right now. You look like I just saved your life or something.”

            Immediately, my grin turned into a scowl, and Amber laughed. “Now, there’s the Evie that I know and love.”

            I hit her arm jokingly, and we spent the rest of the ride home making fun of one another. Once the bus pulled into the curb at my stop, we thanked the driver and walked off. Immediately, I started searching for my journal. I knew that I had dropped it somewhere between my house and the bus stop, but I could only hope that it was still there. While I looked through bushes and behind trees, Amber just stared at me like I was crazy. Finally, after a few minutes, she said, “Okay, what in the world are you doing?”

            “I accidentally dropped my journal somewhere around here when I was running to catch the bus.”

            Soon, the realization dawned upon her, and I could practically see the light bulb appear over her head. “Oh, that’s why you were panicking in math today. No wonder. Don’t worry, we’ll find it. I’ll tear open every plant by this sidewalk if that’s what it takes to find your journal.”

            I laughed, but inside I was really touched by her statement. Even though we never stopped teasing each other, I knew that Amber would always have my back when I needed it most. “Thanks.”

            For the next ten minutes or so, we looked for it nonstop without success. With every passing moment, I became more and more discouraged. It’s gone. And the sooner you accept that, the better. So finally, I just told Amber, “It’s hopeless. Let’s just go to my house now.”

            Amber stared at me in disbelief. “No!” she exclaimed. “How could you say that? We haven’t looked everywhere yet. I’m sure it’s here somewhere. You can’t just give up! I know how much your journal meant to you. You kept everything in there. Don’t just let it go to waste now.”

            Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away. “I know. Trust me, that rusty old journal meant everything to me, and it still does. But we’ve already searched this area back and forth now, and it’s not here. It’s not going to just magically appear now. I appreciate your help, I really do Amber, but I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do. I’m going. Are you coming with me or not?”

            She opened her mouth to argue but then thought better of it. “Fine, if that’s what you want. I’m really, really sorry Evie.” Amber walked over to hug me, and a few hot tears gathered in my eyes. Eventually she pulled away, and I tried to put on a strong face.

            “It’s okay. I’ll just start over with a new journal. I’m sure it’ll work out,” I told her. But both of us knew that I was really just trying to convince myself.

            While we walked to my house, Amber and I remained mostly silent. I just wasn’t really in the mood for talking anymore, and she could sense that and respected it. A minute later, I pushed open the door and went inside. My twin brothers immediately came over to me with silly grins on their faces as they bombarded me with bear hugs. When they finally released me, Colt asked me, “How was detention today, sis? Wow, I never thought I’d actually say that.”

            I shrugged, and Amber spoke up for me instead. “She’s not really in the mood to talk right now because she lost her journal. So just give her some space, okay? You can ask her about the detention later.”

            Colt and Quinn quickly shared a glance, and they nodded at each other. They both ran off into the kitchen and left Amber and I completely lost. Shrugging, I went upstairs to drop off my backpack before heading back down for a snack. When I go there, my brothers were waiting for me with their hands behind their backs.

            Quinn said, “Before we show you something, can you promise not to freak out? I promise you that it’s not quite what it seems.”

Before he could continue, Colton butted in. “Well actually, it is what it looks like, but the situation…”

He trailed off uncertainly, and I just stared at the two of them in complete and utter confusion. Quinn sighed and just told me, “Okay, you know what, never mind. You’ll see what we mean when we show you what it is.”

            “Um, what the heck are you guys talking about?”

            The two of them shared another short secretive glance before Colt finally pulled out what he was hiding. And there in his hands was the one object I valued the most.

            My navy blue journal.

            Before I could control myself, I yelled, “What the actual fuck?”