That afternoon I walk home from school with Duck. I have some thinking to do.
It’s Wednesday afternoon and everything is upside down. Pip is the bad twin. Tyson is the good twin. Hugo is gone and Abby, who I thought was on my side for once, was actually fooling me the whole time.
‘I got tricked, Duck,’ I explain. ‘It’s taken me most of the day to work it out, but she had me from the moment after I turned her lunchbox into a sailing boat. She didn’t want to do the swimming carnival, she wanted to do the stupid Maths Olympiad.
Quack. Quack.
That’s duck-speak for, ‘Yep, definitely no chance.’
I kick a pebble along the footpath in frustration.
‘I got played, Duck. She got me to do all the work, and what do I get in the end? A maths test.’ I sigh. ‘And along the way I was super mean to Hugo. I think I’ve ruined everything.’
Quack.
I think that’s duck-speak for, ‘You’re a doofus.’
But Duck is nodding off to the right. We’re standing on a corner and he’s gesturing down the street.
‘What are you talking about, Duck? That’s not the way home. We go straight. You know that.’
Quack. Quack.
Was that ‘You’re a doofus’ twice? That’s a bit rude.
Duck is rolling his eyes at me now. He keeps gesturing down the street. He wants me to go down there. The only time I would go down that way is if I was walking to . . . oh.
That was definitely, ‘You’re a doofus.’
* * * *
Hugo opens the front door of his family’s apartment. He’s not surprised to see me, but that makes sense because I had to press the buzzer at the bottom of the stairs and ask to come up. If he’d been surprised to see me after that, that would have been very strange.
He smiles though. That’s a surprise.
‘Hi,’ Hugo says.
I should have rehearsed what I was going to say but I haven’t. I don’t even really know where to start. I’ve been so focused on cancelling the carnival that I’ve never even stopped to think about how horrible it must have been to be Hugo this week.
‘Hugo . . .’ I start. It’s a good start. Now what? ‘I’m sorry. I –’
He interrupts me.
‘Good! I’ve got my friend back,’ he says, stepping out of his front door and closing it behind him. ‘Now, we’ve got work to do!’
‘We do?’
‘Yes. We’ve got to get the swimming carnival back on,’ he says and starts walking down the stairs. ‘Come on.’
‘What?’
He tells me that Tyson called him and told him everything that happened at school today, so he’s across the whole thing. But how come he’s not angry? Shouldn’t we be talking about everything that’s happened? I thought . . . I mean, I’m not complaining.
I hurry after Hugo.
‘I don’t understand,’ I say as I follow Hugo outside, where Duck is waiting.
‘Listen,’ Hugo says. ‘I’ve had time to think about this. I’ve had nothing else to do.’
‘Okay, I’m listening.’
We’re walking quite fast and I’m working hard to keep up, in more ways than one.
‘Abby tricked you into getting the swimming carnival switched for a maths competition because she knows she can win the maths competition,’ Hugo says. ‘We know she’s good at maths, but now we also know something else.’
‘We know that she’s no good at swimming,’ I say. ‘That’s why she faked the note from her mum in the first place.’
‘And so,’ Hugo continues. ‘The best way to get back at Abby Purcell is . . .’
I grin.
‘Make her swim,’ I say.
‘It’s the least we could do,’ he replies with a smile.
‘Hugo, you’re a genius! Where are we going?’
‘To get Tyson,’ he answers.
‘But Tyson’s not the bad twin anymore, remember? We need Pip.’ I say.
‘Come on, Max!’ Hugo exclaims. ‘We’re trying to fix this mess! You need the good twin now!’
‘The good twin?’ I’ve never needed the good twin before.
