“What the hell indeed,” Nolan said, still grinning as Adam drew near.
Dropping his backpack on the floor, he took the seat in front of his brother’s and looked at me. “Where were you this morning?”
“Gone. Obviously.”
“Gone where?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but she’s a lesbian,” Nolan whispered, leaning in so that only Adam and I could hear.
“Shut up already. I’m not.”
“You’re not?” Nolan raised an eyebrow. “Cameron thinks you are.”
Adam looked at me for a long moment before shrugging and facing the front of the classroom. I didn’t like that and that was as unexpected as the new information on my sister. I wanted to punch Nolan and shake Adam and tell him that I was completely attracted to him, not Cameron, but that I couldn’t do anything about it because I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Nolan stretched his legs, taking over his space, mine, and Adam’s. Adam didn’t move. He was probably used to his brother being all up in his shit. Well, obviously, they’d shared a womb.
I tripped over that thought. I’d shared a womb with someone as well. A stranger, I thought as I looked at the back of Cameron’s perfect blonde hair. It wasn’t that I thought all twins were exactly alike, but I didn’t realize how different they could be. I looked at Adam and Nolan again. They shared the same athletic body composition—lean muscle, rigid jawline, wide back—but Nolan was obviously the more athletic of the two. Or maybe it was that he was a different kind of athlete. Where Adam looked like he could play baseball, maybe pitch, Nolan looked like he belonged on a football field.
“Maybe you swing both ways?” Nolan asked. He was looking at his phone and hadn’t looked up at all, but must have sensed me staring.
“Maybe.” I glanced away. “I’m surprised you even come to class.”
“It’s my last year here. I kind of want to graduate.”
“What’s your major?”
“Business and Art History.” He glanced at me. “Our father owns galleries. My parents are into art.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“What’s your major?”
“Psychology.”
“Hm.” He nodded at the professor, who had just walked in. “My mom is a retired psychologist.”
“Is that her?” I looked at the professor. She looked too young to be his mother.
“No.” He chuckled. “I was just letting you know the professor was here.”
“Oh.” I looked at the professor again. She was writing something on the board behind her. Genes. “Why’d your mom retire? She must be young.”
“She is. She says she wanted to help dad with the galleries.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I think she got tired of hearing people’s shit all day when she had her own shit going on at home.”
“Her own shit meaning fielding phone calls from Nolan’s teachers every five seconds,” Adam said without turning around. Nolan flicked him in the back of the head, making him rub the spot and glare at his brother. “Don’t start.”
“I’m not.” Nolan put his hands up in surrender. He glanced at me and whispered, “He might look all clean-cut, but he’s a savage. I hate to admit it, but he’s kicked my ass before.”
“Twice,” Adam said, without turning around. Nolan shrugged a shoulder in admission.
At that, I laughed.
The professor began to speak and everyone cut their conversations short. The class was Genealogy. The topic of conversation, which apparently was left over from last class, was a twin study they were conducting at The Institute.
“Did any of you do more research on the matter?” the professor asked.
A lot of people nodded and said yes.
“Did you find anything interesting you want to share?”
Cameron raised her hand. “They say any two strangers can share 99.5% of their gene sequence.”
I sat up straighter, then looked at Nolan. “Are we talking about twins or strangers?”
“The Twin Study that The Institute did a few years back,” he said. “Strangers who look alike. Doppelgangers.”
“Doppelgangers? So, completely unrelated twins?”
“Pretty much.”
“Hm.”
“Have you noticed how many twins there are at Ellis?” A student asked. “Not kidding, I’m taking four classes and there are two sets in each class.”
“You’re welcome,” Nolan hollered, making everyone fall into a fit of laughter.
“That is interesting,” the professor said. “Did you know, and please, correct me if I’m wrong, Astor brothers, that twins get a discount here?”
“No.” Someone gasped. “Why?”
“Ah, that is one of the gifts The Institute makes to the university. The second twin gets a scholarship.”
“Just for being born?” I asked.
“Just for being born.” The professor smiled. “We’re getting off-course. Back to doppelgangers.”
They continued talking about people who look eerily similar but come from different parents.
Doppelgangers.
Could that be what Stella and I were?
Chapter Nine
“Hey, wait up.”
I turned around to see Adam jogging up to me. “What? You want to bury me in broad daylight?”
“No.” He exhaled, looking around briefly. “Are you going back to The Manor?”
“Now? No. I have Spanish.”
“You don’t know Spanish?”
“It’s an easy elective, besides, I’m rusty.” I shot him a look. “Stop judging me.”
“Okay.” He cocked his head and squinted his eyes like he was really trying. “But you are coming back to The Manor, right? In general?”
“Maybe.”
“You’re going to give up?” He straightened.
“What does it matter?”
“This is the chance of a lifetime. Limitless doors open for you if you’re a part of The Swords.”
“If that’s true, why doesn’t your brother join?”
“He’s in another society. Ours is scientific. It’s about finding the best version of yourself and building bonds that last a lifetime.”
“That’s exactly what all the sororities say on rush week.”
“This isn’t a sorority.”
“Obviously. I’m the only woman there and the only other woman I saw there outside of the ones at the party was being raped. Or something.”
“Don’t say that.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t throw that word around unless you know for certain.”
“There were monks in that dungeon and they may have been raping a woman.” I pointed outward, though I wasn’t sure what direction The Manor was to where we stood. “You know it and I know it. I can’t trust you or go back there if you can’t even say it’s a possibility.”
“I need you to go back there.”
“Why?”
“Because you were chosen.”