“WHERE HAVE YOU been?” I blurted out as soon as Cassie walked through the front door.
I’d been waiting for her ever since I got home from school. I’d checked my email—still no response from that message board post—and was trying to start my homework.
Trying being the key word. I hadn’t been able to concentrate, mostly because I was too busy convincing myself not to jump to conclusions about what had happened at lunch. I really, really-for-real wanted to give my twin the benefit of the doubt.
There was just one problem. My twintuition was kicking in again. And it was giving me the sneaking suspicion that Cassie might have had something to do with the pantsing incident. I narrowed my eyes at her, hoping I was wrong.
“Check it out.” Cass dropped the shopping bag she was carrying on the bench by the door. Reaching inside, she pulled out a blouse. “What do you know? You can find a few cute things out here in the boonies after all—if you’re shopping with someone who knows where to look.”
She pranced over and waggled the shirt in front of me, but I batted it aside. “Who were you shopping with?” I demanded, already knowing the answer.
“Oh, you know, Megan and Lav and a couple of the other girls,” Cassie replied airily, stepping away and tossing her new blouse back in the bag. “Megan’s older sister is home from college this week, so she drove us to the mall over in Six Oaks.”
“Since when are you friends with Megan and Lavender?” I wanted to stay calm, but I couldn’t do it. Leaping off the sofa, I got in her face. “Did it maybe have something to do with the way y’all totally humiliated Liam today in front of the entire school?”
“What?” She stepped back, her eyes wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.” I gritted my teeth. “Admit it, okay? You put that jock up to it, didn’t you?”
“You mean the thing with Captain Underpants? I was an innocent bystander.” She pursed her lips, clearly trying not to laugh. “I mean, it’s one thing to get pantsed. But really, who could possibly have predicted he’d have something like that on underneath, right?”
I stared at her. Who was this person? What had happened to my sister? “Liam was really upset,” I said softly. “He didn’t say much, but I could tell.”
“Then maybe he should wear normal underwear.” Grabbing her shopping bag, Cassie swept past me and disappeared down the hall. A second later I heard our bedroom door slam.
I slumped down on the sofa. Okay, so she hadn’t come out and admitted having anything to do with what had happened. And I preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt—especially my own sister.
But it was a pretty big coincidence, wasn’t it? On the very day the popular kids decided to mess with Liam, Cassie became best friends with them out of nowhere. She’d been popular at pretty much every school we’d ever attended, especially the one in San Antonio. How far would she go to be in the in crowd here? I had no idea, and it scared me a little—suddenly I felt like I didn’t know my own other half anymore.
THE NEXT DAY at lunch I barely heard a word Liam and Bianca said. I had a perfect view of the table in the middle of the cafeteria where the cool kids always sat. And today Cassie was right there in the center of the action. She was chatting and laughing and waving her French fries around, clearly having a great time with her new friends.
I bit my lip as I watched her playfully bump shoulders with Megan. Maybe I was reading too much into this whole situation. Maybe it all really was a coincidence. Maybe I should be happy that my twin was finally settling in.
“Come on, Liam!” Bianca’s voice broke into my thoughts. “I’m freezing, and you’re obviously not.”
Bianca was hugging herself and glaring at Liam as he looked down at his lunch, his expression sort of angsty.
“Sorry,” he muttered, still not meeting Bianca’s eye. “I need to keep it, that’s all.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked Bianca.
She turned to me with a frown. “Liam won’t let me borrow his sweater,” she complained.
Liam’s bright-red sweater, which clashed pretty dramatically with his brown-and-green-striped polo shirt, was tied firmly around his waist.
“Here, you can borrow mine,” I told Bianca, fishing out the cardigan I’d tossed in my bag that morning. “I don’t need it.”
“Thanks!” Bianca accepted the sweater, immediately looking much happier. “I’ll give it back as soon as I can get mine out of my locker.”
“No hurry.” I smiled distractedly, my gaze already wandering back toward my sister.
As we left the cafeteria a few minutes later, Liam grabbed my arm, holding me back.
“Thanks, Caitlyn,” he said quietly, sounding unusually serious. “You know—for the sweater thing?”
“Sure, no biggie.”
“No, really.” He glanced around to make sure nobody was looking our way. “See, I didn’t want to tell Bianca where other people might hear me—you know, after yesterday and all. But I, uh, tripped and ripped my pants in the lunch line.” He tweaked the sweater aside just enough for me to see a hint of Superman peeking out through a tear in his khakis. “I couldn’t be a laughingstock two days in a row.”
“Oh!” Now I understood. Talk about bad luck!
Or was it? Suddenly something else was starting to make perfect sense, too. Horrible, awful sense.
As Liam hurried to catch up with Bianca, I stood there in shock. Cassie’s words from yesterday started running through my mind in an endless loop: Who could possibly have predicted he’d have something like that on underneath?
My twintuition had been right! Cassie must have had a vision about Liam ripping his pants and decided to use his, um, unusual fashion sense to win over her snooty new friends.
“How dare she!” I whispered.
It took a lot to make me mad, but right now I was ready to chew metal and spit nails. How could Cassie have done something like this? What had Liam ever done to her? I wanted to find her and give her a piece of my mind.
But I forced myself to take a few deep breaths. Getting mad at Cassie never got me anywhere. She had what she wanted now—popularity—and no amount of yelling and ranting from me was likely to get through to her. This wasn’t the time to get mad. It was time to get even.
After all, two could play at this game.