Chapter 22 - Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-two

Sandy and Effel sat on the bed.
They looked like each other. Sandy's hair was straight and smooth, left hanging down to her shoulders witha lacy white headband adorning her head. Her face was swathed in makeup, and she was wearing a pink reacerback tanktop with a jean miniskirt. In essence Sandy was Effel - they shared a chromosone after all.
Effel, on the other hand, was sitting in a orange track hoodie and oversized Adidas pants. Effel's hair had been de-straightened and was pulled back into a fly-away curly ponytail. Charlie, Korey, and the others were in the study looking at the popup, so Effel and Sandy were alone while they changed. Sandy realized how long it had been since she'd spent this much time with her sister.
She realized, startled, that she missed it. There was a knock at the door.
"Can I come in Effel?" It was mom.
"Yeah mom, comon in!" Effel sang in an overly cheerful voice. Sandy gave her sister a plase-dont-blow-it look. Her mom opened the door.
"Oh, Sandy I didnt know you were here."
Mom looked at Effel (pretending to be Sandy) as if she were a worthless pile of dirty laundry. Sandy realized she had forgotten to tell her sisiter that she was in trouble for some reason or other. Time to work the newfound 'favorite twin' charm.
"Mom," Sandy began, "Sandy was in a hurry, and things haven't been going well at school, so please. Don't be hard on her."
Effel gave her sister a grateful look. It was official, they were each other!
-----
"It's okay, relax Effel. I mean... Sandy." Charlie said as Effel, Korey, Carly, and Izzy exited the car.
"Remember..." Charlie said, turning the ignition so that he could whisper to them without the roar of his car. "Effel is Sandy, Korey is still on Illudra's side, Carly has no powers but is here for...uh..."
"Study." Carly said, adjusting her glasses.
"Yeah... And Izzy has a delayed power, but he is pretty sure it's going to be invisibility. Sandy and I will take care of things back home. Good luck, you guys, you know the plan."
With that, Charlie revved up the car and backed out of the bleak driveway of Cormerick's.
"I just hope we're not getting in too deep." Korey muttered. Effel shivered and clung to his arm. He was the only one who knew this dismal place and she was not going anywhere without him.
"Just be grateful it's our school break." Izzy said, not looking too thrilled himself.
"Oh, and F.Y.I...." Carly said in an attempt at humor. "We're already in deep."
There was a halfhearted chuckle or too between the group. Effel was looking scruffy and wild, even in her corm cloak. A perfect disguise.
"Only place to go is up." Izzy said, finally brightening them. "Now, let's go..."
They all turned and entered the huge doors into Cormerick's School for Unfortunate Talents. Effel gapped at the castle-like interior, letting the hood of her cloak fall back as she studied the place.
"Wow, this is--"
Korey elbowed her gently. "You act like you've never been here, Sands."
"Well, I..." Effel quickly covered, "I did miss Monday. I guess I kinda missed this place."
"Sandy!!!" A blur of dark brown and Effel was practically knocked to the ground with a thump! there was an ecstatic girl crushing her in a hug.
"Uh...Lizzie!" She really hoped she was right.
"Sandy, I..." Lizzie froze, tensed, and then dropped the hug suddenly, looking at Effel with wide eyes. "Oh!...You're...Welcome back, Sandy."
Effel sighed in releif. "Guess Lizzie's with us now, too."
"Lizzie's always been with us." Korey said, giving her a strange look.
"Yeah, silly. You are SO SO out of it, today!" Lizzie giggled, then she beamed at Carly and Izzy. "Hi, Carly, hi, Izzy. Good to see you, I haven't in so long. Good thing you got your schedules changed. C'mon, we'll be late for Poetry Analysis if we don't hurry!"
-----
"I feel like I stood in front of a waterfall of toxic waste. How do mom and Effel live with this foundation stuff!?" Sandy griped as soon as Charlie came inside.
"Ah, it's for the greater good, Sands. Give it time. I think you look... oh-so-pretty." Charlie gave her a ridiculously giddy smile and she hit him in the ribs. "Ow!"
"Shut up, Charlie. I'm covered in crap and I have to be Effel for a week!"
"Translation--" Once again, Charlie was the proud recipitant of a jab to the ribs. "Oof!"
Sandy looked pleased. "It's a good thing my arm was only twisted...Otherwise we couldn't have pulled this off...still..."
"Worried about Eff?" Charlie guessed.
"Yeah... hey! She's supposed to be my twin, not you!" Sandy laughed, but still looked a little concerned.
"She'll be fine...We, however, have... the parents to deal with...and we have to be nice, Effel." Charlie said firmly.
"Eeeyw, why are you talking to me!? Go bug Sandy, I have to powder my nose!" Sandy threw her hands in the air and stuck her nose up.
"Oh, really?" Charlie said evilly, then he reached out and tickled her ribs. Sandy laughed and ran, closely pursued by her brother. It was probably going to be a while before they could goof off together again.
-----
"Sandy?" Asked Mr. Rickman. "You don't seem yourself today."
"Umm." Effel wracked her brain. "I'm felling a little sick today."
Mr. Rickman surveyed Effel. Trying to figure out what was going on. Effel sat there, trying to be Sandy and look a bit worn out all at the same time.
"Well, I hope you feel better tomorrow." He had apparently decided that sick was all "Sandy" was.
Effel closed her eyes. She really did feel worn out. Maybe it was the fact that she had to pretend to be Sandy, who had so much more energy. Or the fact that she had gone without sleep for more than a day. Or maybe it was all things combined.
It was the latter, decided Effel.
Korey looked over at Sandy - No! Effel - he reminded himself. Although it was probably easier to think of her as Sandy. Lizzie might not be the only one with mind reading powers.
They looked so much alike. And acted alike too, but there was always that one thing that made them so totally diffrent. Korey wondered if their plan would work at all.
Music. Music thought Effel, is Sandy good at music?
No, the logical answer was no.
But Effel was and she wanted to show off. It was a trait that she and Sandy both shared. So in music she sat down at the piano and played. And played and played and played. Oblivious to the stares of the teacher and all her classmates.
-----
"Effel hon! Are you ready for dance?"
Sandy quickly darted up to Effel's bedroom. She really couldn't stand to be in it for that long. Pink and stuffy and no rock band posters.
Dance? Effel was in dance?
Huh, Sandy mused you learn something new everyday.
"Yeah, um....yeah." Sandy wondered how the heck she was going to get through a week of being Effel with no one figuring it out.
-----
"Aaand, stretch.."
Sandy tried, she really did, but how on Earth was she expected to lift her foot over her head in a friggin' tutu!?
As anticipated, she fell flat on her butt for about the sixteenth time in rehearsal. Class had started but fifteen minutes ago.
"Effel, are you alright, sweetie?" The dance instructor was attempting to sound kindly, but it was obvious that Sandy was ruining her perfectly planned stretching session.
Get used to dissapointment, Sandy thought, rubbing her backside as she stood. She ignored the girls giggling behind and in front of her; turning from the bar on the wall to get a good look at her.
Sandy cursed the creation of leotards as she mumbled her answer, "Yes, I'm fine... do you think I could sit out, just this once? ...I feel a little dizzy."
"Of course you may. It must be your equilibrium off or something. Please do." What she meant was, 'Get the heck off my bar before I whack you with my one-hundred dollar apeice lacy ballerina shoe'.
"Yeah, yeah. You have more off than your equilibrium, lady." Sandy muttered under her breath as she took a seat on the matt behind the instructor. She made a rude gesture with her finger and stuck her tongue out at the woman's back. The girls submitted to another bout of giggling as the instructor turned around to find Sand - Effel's - innocent eyes blinking at her as if she were insane.
Sandy shrugged as the woman turned again with a snort. Effel could possibly be having it worse...
...Possibly.
-----
Sandy must have been in heaven compared to how Effel was feeling!
She was in Illudra's classroom, sinking slowly into her seat and trying very hard to keep thinking like Sandy in case there were any mind readers about. She was trembling slightly. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something about that Illudra character.
You know, other than that she had tried to kill her twin by manipulating Korey's curse.
Yeah. Besides that.
Korey eased his hand over hers, his abnormally long nails brushing her finger in a nice way as he laced them through her own. Effel looked over - and up, Gods, Korey was tall - at the werewolf in surprise, but he was seemingly fascinated by the speaking teacher at the front of the class room. Effel couldn't see so much as a blush on his pale features.
She was sure she was blushing enough for both of them.
Korey glanced down at her, squeezed her hand, and gave her a wolfish sort of grin as if to say 'it'll be okay'. Effel smiled back, breathing out a silent sigh of releif.
Lizzie broke into giggles beside them and had to excuse herself to a very ticked looking Illudra, fleeing as quickly as she could from the room.
"You'd just as well be making out during my lecture, Korey! Sandy!" Illudra screamed.
Effel attempted to move her hand away, sinking even lower as every pair of eyes in the class turned their way, but Korey tightened his grip. What the--?
"Really? That's divine!" Korey purred. "I'm positive that the tap dancing instructer would NEVER have let us! You rock! I'm so glad I took this class now!"
An ear-peircing scream practically shook the bathroom mirror. Lizzie stifled her giggles in surprise.
Several birds took off from the trees surrounding Cormerick's.
The headmistress looked up from her studies in the tallest room in the entire castle-like school to listen to the shreik of one very, very frustrated Illudra all the way down on the ground floor.
Korey laughed his proverbial tail off.
Effel just died.

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