My sister Marisa

Chapter 1
We acted different, we looked different, yet we were the same.
We're sisters


         May 17 1991 was the year our parents gave birth to us. I was supposed to be the oldest by two minutes, but my sister pushed me out of the way. When we were out of the womb, my mother told us, I never cried, while Marisa just wouldn't stop bawling. Growing up, she had long silky blond hair. Mine was brown and frizzy. She had perfect eyesight and I needed glasses. I awkwardly matured faster than her and Marisa is still waiting for her 34C bust. She's much taller and has a knack for fashion, while I have a dream to enter Stanford University for engineering. So you can clearly see the difference between us. We acted different, we looked different, yet we were the same. We're sisters, you know... twins.
         "Girls, hurry up. It's not very impressive to be late for your first day of school." Mom's voice echoed up the stairs.  I stuffed my books into my worn out messenger bag.  Marisa came out of the bathroom; -- it was connected to our bedroom.
         "Lindsay, don't tell me that's what you're wearing." Marisa scowled. I looked down at the outfit I had worn, which consisted of a white button up shirt, with rolled up sleeves and pants that had a blueberry check pattern.
         "What's wrong with it?" I asked, clearly ignorant to the latest trends and fashion styles. Marisa rolled similar green eyes at me and scurried to the closet. She pulled out a pair of her jeans and a pink shirt, while I stood there oblivious.
         "I don't know ....everything! Lindsay, it's our senior year. I don't want you to look like a social outcast." She said with concern, thrusting the clothes into my face. I pushed them away.
         "Look Marisa, I'm perfectly fine with what I'm wearing. I don't care what people think." I told her, tugging on my braided pig tails.
         "Plus, you shouldn't make it your life to be like the V girls.... your name doesn't even start with a V."  The V girls were a group of girls in our school. They all had the same first letter in their first names.  Victoria, Veronica and Vanessa had been friends all their life and lucky for them they grew up pretty and talented. Marisa had looked up to them in hopes to take the spot of Valerie, a former V girl who had moved away.
         "I can change my name.  To, like Violet or Vanity, even Virginia." Marisa smiled defending herself.
I let out a soft laugh and another call from mom, sent us racing down the stairs.
-----
I stepped out of the red Nissan and onto the paved sidewalk. I peered at Oldenburg High school, the school I've been going to for two years now. 
         "You girls have a good time, and no trouble." Mom said. Her brown eyes were serious. She quickly checked her short brown hair in the car mirrors, as Marisa jumped out.
         "Mom, we got it." Marisa smiled before blowing a kiss goodbye. The car sped away; Marisa and I stood staring at the large brick building.
         "Are you ready?" Marisa asked turning to me. My green eyes met hers.
         "Ready as I'll ever be." I sighed. We walked together and went up the steps to the glass doors. As we walked in, we were greeted with the sounds of whispers, laughter, foul language, gossip and yells of the student body. Old buddies would catch each other and talk about their summer vacation. Certain people would stand by lockers and washrooms, as if it were their own territory. Groups of people that looked alike stood together. Welcome to a North American high school.
         "I think I see Vanessa!" Marisa chirped, as she stood on her tip toes to get a better view.  Over the many heads, a petite girl came into view. Her auburn hair was held with a pink plastic head piece. Her brilliant brown eyes opened wide when she laughed. She was speaking with Victoria, a blond who wore her hair short. She had slanted blue eyes and tan skin. I would say she was the leader of the
V girls. She was a summer girl, who never took no for an answer. They wore designer name brand clothing and were always together. Though, Veronica was nowhere in sight.
         "I'm going to go talk to them." Marisa said taking in a deep breath. I only rolled my eyes; I couldn't stop her from trying to be a wannabe. I gestured for her to go, but a beeping sound was heard. It was coming from my bag.
         "What's that sound?" Marisa asked me curious. I pulled out a little robot. It was homemade, it had a little LCD screen on the head and metallic plates protecting the many delicate wires and chips.
         "Marisa, meet facio 3000." I joked, holding up the little gadget. Marisa furrowed her blond eyebrows.
         "Is that, what you spent your whole summer and money working on? What kind of name is Facio?" Marisa asked. I pressed the yellow button, to put the little machine to sleep.
         "Facio means help in Latin. It's my own personal helper with a voice command and organizer." I explained as if it was obvious.
         "Whatever." Marisa smirked pushing me slightly. I stumbled back and accidentally bumped into someone. I instantly turned around to apologize to whomever I collided with.
         "I'm really sorry." I said, adjusting my glasses. I had apologized to a tall young man. He was visually handsome and looked like an athlete. He had short black hair and dark brown eyes.
         "No problem." He said smoothly as he walked away, clearly interested in something else. I turned back to Marisa who stood staring at me.
         "What?" I asked, my eyes roaming her face. Her face was turning red.
         "You just spoke to Jace." She said jealously
         "Jace-who?"  I asked, my eyes squinting. Before she could reply again, Victoria strolled up to us.
         "Well, what do we have here?" She smiled bitter sweetly. Marisa quickly perked up and smiled back. 
         "I love your shoes Victoria." Marisa praised. Victoria clicked her pair of Alice + Olivia, Louisa Ballet Flats together.  I knew that because Marisa had been requesting for them all summer.
         "Thanks, I'm hoping to get another pair. You should sit next to us at lunch, because I love those earrings. Plus, I noticed Jace walked by." Victoria smiled, turning to the direction of the attractive boy. Marisa blushed furiously looking in the same direction.
         "I heard that he and Valerie had broken up. Their long distant relationship just wasn't working out." Victoria said defiantly, her blue eyes full of delight.
         "Meaning he is single and free." Vanessa grinned.  I was confused as to why they would be excited about it.  Didn't they feel sorry for their friend Valerie?
         "No offense, but with all the movies I've seen, isn't there a golden rule to not date a boy who has been with one of your friends?" I asked curiously. The two girls began to laugh hysterically and Marisa looked at me.
         "First off, the golden rule is to always make "you" look good. Something you need some help with. "Vanessa said, as she and Victoria walked away still laughing.
         "They're such Brats." I said as I made my way to my locker." Marisa followed close behind.
"Lindsay, please don't get into fights with them. I really want to be their friends." She said. I only sighed and nodded my head in agreement.
I knew it was going to be a long year of the 11th grade.

         I entered the fluorescent lighted room and took a sit by the windows. I stared out to the colorful scenery; some of the trees were beginning to lose their leaves. Yet another fall was arriving. Being bored with what was outside; I turned my attention to the door. I hadn't noticed that people had already begun to come in.
It was Mr. Ying's Chemistry class, which should be easy, since I heard he was a lenient marker. As I watched, I saw a few familiar faces come in but most I couldn't recognize.  For instance, a kid called Gassy Gary was in my chemistry class. He was in most of my classes last year too. Why did they call him Gassy Gary? Well the scrawny boy passed gas only once; I think in English and was doomed to be nicknamed Gassy Gary for his whole high school career. He had rather greasy blond hair and his skin was always turning red, probably from Eczema. I felt somewhat sorry for the boy. He sat in the way back, avoiding eye contact.
         The next bunch to pour in was Victoria and Veronica. I guess Vanessa was stuck with Mrs. Roberts' history class.  Veronica was quieter from the other two, but was a loyal follower. She had deep forest green eyes and long ebony hair, which she wore in high ponytails. She was taller than her friends and was very athletic. I would say she was nicer though.
She also was in my English class last year and we were partnered up for an assignment.  She did all her shared work and was friendly the whole time.  We could have been casual friends but as soon has Victoria came around, all of Veronica's free thoughts were gone and only a robotic V girl was left. I turned away, when they walked down the aisle. Victoria had a cell phone in her hand and was most likely going to text the whole class. Veronica began to apply an ample amount of lip gloss to her naked lips.
         "Lindsay, you're in this class!" Marisa jumped, as she took the seat next to me.
"I didn't know you liked chemistry." I said shocked that my sister would even considering taking this class.
"I need the credit." She shrugged, flipping back her hair.  The class was becoming full and soon the sound of laughter and shouts could be heard. Just then, three boys strolled in, the one I bumped into earlier and two others. They were on a sport's team, their jackets proved it. The tallest was an African-American boy named J.P, who was in my math class last year. The other one was a red head but I didn't know who he was. They sat in the front joking and laughing, like boys usually did.
         "Dare me to go talk to him." Marisa stated out of nowhere.
"What? Why?" I asked confused. Marisa could only do something courageous if you dared her. Something she grew up with when she was younger.
         "Just dare me." She repeated. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I couldn't help but smile, this was ridiculous.
         "Fine, I dare you to go start a conversation with Jace."  I laughed. She winked and swiftly left the seat and approached the nearby males.
         "H-Hi, J-J-Jace." She stuttered, her cheeks becoming red. The boy turned to her, with a huge grin.
         "Hey." He said back.
         "S-S-So..." She was beginning to stutter and becoming nervous. I had to save her; she would do the same for me. I glanced around and noticed a "Voice" button on his bag, probably his favorite band or something. An idea came to me and I quickly jolted down words onto a ripped paper. I crumbled it up and threw it as hard as I could at her. It hit Marisa's shoulder and they both turned to the source of the thrown paper, me.  I waved slyly and gestured for her to pick it up.
         "Sisters." Marisa shrugged to him, as she bent down to pick it up. She opened it and read it carefully.
His Favorite band is 'Voice'. Good luck
P.S: breathe
She turned to me and nodded, grateful for the information and advice. She took a deep breath and turned to him.
         "It was nothing, really." Marisa laughed stuffing the note into her pocket.
         "So, by the button on your bag, I can see you're a big fan of 'Voice'.  Marisa said, smiling sweetly.
         "Yeah, I love that band, ever since 7th grade." Jace smiled back.
         "Oh Really?"
         "Yeah." 
         "That's so crazy, because I love that band too. What's your favorite song?" Marisa blushed asking.
         "Well, I think their song 'I surrender' totally kicks ass." He said; excitement etched in his voice.
         "I totally dig that song, how does the chorus go again?" Marisa asked pulling up a sit next to him.
         "Well it goes something like this, 'I surrender my heart to you, I surrender my mind to you, but I'll never surrender my soul, it's true." He sang, playing the air guitar. Marisa laughed as she sang along too. Well my good deed has been done. I sat there watching them laugh together. He complemented her on her singing and she complemented him as well. He then took a black pen and wrote something on her arm. They were both smiling.
I then overheard Victoria grimace to Veronica. I had another deed to do; Victoria sat up and began to walk up to the pair. Before she could reach them I jumped in front of her.
         "Hey Victoria, love the shoes." I said with a fake smile, trying to mimic Marisa.
         "Get out of my way." She said, moving sideways to the left. I moved along with her.
         "Sorry can't, I know what you want to do and I can't let that happen." I said to her.
         "Well... I warned you." Victoria sighed; she grabbed my shoulders and roughly pushed me.
I was losing my balance and was surely going to meet the cold tiled floor. On my way down I grabbed hold on to a piece of cloth that rested on the window sill. Too bad a flower plot was being dragged along with it as I pulled. Soon I was on the ground, dirt and water stained my white button up shirt. I grunted as I sat up, so much for not causing a scene.
         "Geez Lindsay, I heard you were a lesbian, but I didn't know you'd fall head over heels at the sight of me." Victoria said loudly for the whole room to hear. I sat up and dusted off what I could from the mess.  Luckily I wore a black tank top underneath. I unbuttoned the shirt and took it off. I didn't like being so revealed but it was better than walking around with big fat stain on your shirt.
         "Victoria, I never was attracted to cold hearted bitches, oops I guess you're not my type." I replied.  Laughter filled the room and Victoria was clearly insulted by what I said.  She swore a vendetta on me before Mr. Ying walked into the class.
         "Okay, everyone calm down, sorry I'm late." He said sitting on his desk. He noticed the flower pot resting on the floor, but wasn't bothered by it.
         "Take a seat. I said down boy. You over there stop fooling around." He said to various people.  He had somewhat spiked hair and wore rectangular glasses. He looked around 30, but was much older. Everyone had already been seated and was waiting for what Mr. Ying had to say.
         "Welcome to my Chemistry." He said with open arms. He then proceeded to writing his name on the board.
         "As most of you know, I'm Mr. Ying. If you listen to what I say, we'll be good friends. If you don't, then we'll have a few problems." He stated looking around the class. After he introduced us into the course and read us the syllabus, he walked right into chemistry partners.
         "Chemistry is journey, to discover and find answers to unknown questions. You can't go on this journey alone, which is why I am pairing you with another person in this class. They might not be your buddy or pal, but they will be someone who will help you in this course." He said roaming around the classroom.
         "So let us begin." He smiled holding up the attendance paper, with all of our names.
         "Amanda Trove, let's pair you up with.... Sheila Martin." He said glancing up to the two girls. He made his way the through list slowly.
         "Victoria Chancellor you will be paired up with Garret Smith." Mr. Ying said walking down her aisle.
         "Gassy Gary?" She said under her breath.  She shook her head in disbelieve, out of all people.
         "Marisa Thomas you will be partnered up with Veronica Romano."  Marisa smiled in delight. She probably thought this could be her chance to get closer to the V girls. There were only a few more people to pair up with, and I hoped I would receive a hard worker.
         "Oh, Lindsay Thomas is in my class? A very good student, perfect addition I'd say." He said looking into my direction. I sank into my chair. I could feel the stares burning into me.
         "Let's see, a good partner for you? Well look here, someone needs to achieve at least a B average to play in the upcoming football game." Mr. Ying stated, as he stood in front of Jace.
         Jace folded his arms and cleared his throat.
         "Yeah, I guess so." He said.
Mr. Ying looked at him, then me and then Jace again. I had a feeling what was coming next.
         "Congratulations, I now pronounce you chemistry partners." Mr. Ying laughed, almost evilly. Anyone could have been suitable but not a brainless jock? I sighed, as I sunk in deeper. The stares were becoming harder and I knew Marisa was a part of the stares.