"Aha...Twin?" I ask, my voice just above a whisper. I mean... that's not a terrible thing.

Peter smiles, one corner of his mouth lifting higher as he notes my not-so-subtle relief. "Yup." Man of few words, I can handle that.

"Do you go here too?" Valentina questions, tilting her head, and letting her hair brush over her shoulder.

Ingrid raises a skeptical eyebrow at my best friend, but Valentina winks at Ingrid, grinning as Ingrid's face flushes. Being clueless to that exchange, Peter stares at me as he says, "Yeah, I'm studying pre-law."

I nod my head, acting as if I am not that interested—a lawyer.

A little noise leaves Valentina's throat. "Curious as to how twins got into the same college, let alone an Ivy League college," Valentina comments, folding her arms across her chest, blatantly looking them up and down in suspicion.

My mouth drops open. "Val," I hiss, nudging her arm.

Peter's eyes dance between the two of us, highly entertained as he gestures to his twin. "Ingrid went to private school and we grew up doing a thousand different activities and getting the best grades at our schools. It was almost inevitable."

Ingrid stares us down with a scowl. "Maybe it has to do with actually being smart enough to get in."

My eyes widen and I look down at the floor so they don't see my face. Wrong person to mess with, honey.

Valentina just smiles, "I'm sure Daddy's deep pockets may have tipped your scale, Sunshine."

Peter's mouth drops open in silent shock while Ingrid grits her teeth. On the other hand, I do everything in my power to not smile like an asshole in front of the hot guy.

Strangely enough, Peter doesn't say anything in defense of Ingrid.

"I'm going to ask you to leave this room now," Ingrid informs us, somewhat, politely.

"Sure thing, Sunshine, but I can't wait to see you again," she winks at Ingrid, picking up her purse and facing me. She leans forward and kisses me on the cheek, no doubt smearing red lipstick everywhere and I laugh, kissing her cheek in return. "Bye babe, let me know how hell week goes."

"Oh please, orientation isn't that bad," I say to her back as she struts across the small living room. I can't imagine Columbia having any grueling tasks for freshmen. We'd all probably sit in circles and talk about how smart we were and other accomplishments that mean nothing and yet everything to the students who attend this university.

She stops at the threshold, looking over her shoulder, "It's not orientation that I'm talking about," she distinctly stares at Ingrid as she speaks, her air of subtly non-existent.

The door clicks shut behind her, and I shuffle awkwardly looking at the twins. I jerk my thumb toward my room, "Well, nice to meet you, I'm just...gonna, yeah." Turning on my heel, I quickly walk into my room, falling onto my bed. One upside of satan's spawn, is zzhaving my own room.

I can't believe he's here. It's one thing to be in the same college but to be rooming with his sister? I stole his goat for crying out loud. Picking up my brick mobile phone, I quickly hit speed dial. It rings for a few seconds before the other line picks up.

"Talk to me."

"Jen! You will not believe who just walked into my room," I whisper into the mobile, rolling onto my stomach.

"Luke Perry?"

"Now is not the time for jokes! It's Peter," I hiss.

Silence. "You say that like I'm supposed to know who that is."

"The hot jock from—." A short knock at my door has me throwing my mobile phone across the room in a panic. "Come in!"

Peter's head pokes into the room, hair a little more ruffled than a few minutes ago. "Are these yours? Or your scary friends? Please say yours." He holds up many shopping bags in his arm and my eyes widen. How the fuck did I forget them in the hallway?

"Uh—yes, yup those are mine. Sorry," I smile sheepishly, sliding off the bed and letting him come further into the room. His eyes surveyed the space where his sister was supposed to be and then the boxes crammed on my of the room.

"Sorry about my sister, she can be..." he trails off looking for a word to describe her. Bitch, maybe?

Raising a hand, I say, "It's okay, I have a sister too." Crap, where's my mobile?

He chuckles, his tanned neck slowly turning red. "Is she as pretentious as mine?"

I nearly choke on air at the blatant description. "Um...no, no she's not. She's just...conniving, I guess? She's the one that volunteered for the whole 'steal the goat' thing last school year," I inform him with a shrug, finally bringing up the goat incident.

He runs his thumb across his bottom lip and I can't tear my eyes away. "Yeah, I remember that day." A sheepish smile stretches across his face. "I got so much shit from my friends for not stopping you."

"I'm sorry for stealing the goat," I rush out, suddenly nervous, "If it makes you feel better, she ate my school's logo off my hoodie." His laugh echoes around my small room. I smile at his laugh, finding it adorable.

"If I'm being honest, that wasn't the part of that day that stuck in my head," he grins, tilting his head to the side.

I raise an eyebrow, "Huh, I don't remember anything else of significance happening." I go as far as putting a finger on my chin, pretending to think. Flirty—I can be flirty.

He shakes his head slipping his hands in his pockets, "Interesting, well I remember that day clearly and I remember a certain blonde-haired girl sticking her head out the backseat of a getaway car," I giggle at that part, "and she screamed about how I'm the most gorgeous guy she's ever seen, it was great for my ego, especially when all my friends heard her."

My mouth drops open, "I did not say that! I said that you were really hot."

He winks, "Just wanted to check."

"Jerk!" I laugh, sitting back on my bed. He leans against the wall casually. "So you're studying pre-law?"

"Yup, I want to own a law firm one day. My parents are thrilled," he rolls his eyes.

Sounds like a strict parents situation. I'm lucky if my dad remembers to take my stuff away when he grounds me.

"What about you?" He asks, snapping me out of my head.

"Oh, I'm pre-med, I want to be an obstetrician." He whistles loudly, looking impressed.

"Pete! You said you would help me with my room!" Ingrid yells from across the hallway. I widen my eyes at her tone but he just shrugs like her screaming while five feet away is normal.

"Duty calls," he salutes, pulling my door open, "Hope to see you soon Clara."

"You too," I manage to mumble as he shuts my door behind me.

I sigh loudly, smiling to myself as I lay back on the bed. God, he's cute. And genuinely nice. Jenna would have a field day—.

I bolt out of my bed, "Fuck," I yell climbing to the edge of my bed and grabbing my phone. "Jen?"

"Oh would you look at that? You remembered I exist," her sarcasm is evident even over the phone.

"Sorry," I groan, putting a hand over my face as I lie back on my bed. "Why didn't you put the phone down?"

"And miss you embarrassing yourself in front of a guy? Never. Who was that anyway?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose and slowly pace my bedroom. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier! It was the guy from Lexton High School, the one from the goat-napping."

"No shit! What a small world." she chuckles loudly, "Wait, why was he in your room?"

"His twin sister is my roommate."

"Ingrid? How was she?"

Pulling the phone away from my ear, I listen for any indication someone is listening to me but all I hear is Ingrid commanding her brother around her room. "You don't even wanna know. She's got a stick up her ass."

"Sounds like an absolute delight."

"Peter's not so bad though," I say lightly, hoping to sound casual.

"Oh yeah, I'm so sure. A regular prince charming?"

"Shut up." Her resounding cackle is heard loudly through the phone speaker. "Goodbye Jen."

I hang up the phone and throw it back onto my bed next to me. ]Ingrid and Peter argue loudly over where her winter clothes should go. My stuff is still in its boxes and tote bags, waiting for me to unpack them but I don't budge from my bed.

I do, however, reach into my backpack and pull out a photo frame with a picture of my family in it.

It was this past Fourth of July party at my family's house. My father had been working the grill all afternoon with my uncles and my mother had been prepping her famous mashed potatoes. Jenna and I had been tasked to babysit the cousins so we hyped them up with sugar and set them loose in the backyard. In the photo, my father is wearing his 'kiss the cook' apron and my mother has an arm around him as she kisses his cheek. Jen and I are standing on either side of them, bright smiles on our faces.

The picture sits comfortably on my nightstand and I run my finger over the frame's edges, feeling a lump in my throat. This is the first time I've been away from them, knowing that the next day I can't wake up and go back. This is my little home now. A tear escapes my eye and I angrily wipe it away, annoyed at myself for being so sappy.

"I don't want it there," Ingrid's voice is obnoxious through the thin walls.

"Iggy, that's the only logical place to put it." Peter's voice is exhausted as he tries to explain his point.

She huffs loudly, "I don't care about logistics, it doesn't look right over there."

"Why do you ask for my help when you clearly don't want it?"

I sit up, suddenly interested in their conversation.

"If you're going to whine about it, then why don't you just leave?" Ingrid voice is cold.

"Fine," he says calmly and then there's a sudden hush as he leaves the room. Huh, guess he's got a strict sister too. I get off my bed and walk to the door, clicking the lock shut, just in case she decides to come boss me around too.

|| 📚 ||

Orientation week is hell. Not only does Ingrid get up at the ungodly hour of five am, she does this every morning. And she's not quiet about it, ever. I can't even begin to understand how Peter puts up with her being his twin.

The classes that I chose for this first semester are your typical mandatory ones like English Composition, Physics, Sociology and Calculus. All useless to me right now but hopefully will benefit me in the long run.

Thankfully classes don't start until next week so this whole week is supposed to be about connecting with each other and sharing our hopes and dreams... Yeah right. It's just another excuse to get blackout wasted without the possibility of parental intrusion.

The first day of orientation is spent walking around the campus in groups, refreshing our minds from when we visited on tours in high school. I roll my eyes through most of it but still take notes because I refuse to be that one person who gets lost.

Thankfully I haven't really seen Ingrid during my days, only short moments when she leaves without saying a word but I also haven't seen Peter either. Valentina called me after breakfast on day one to tell me that she ditched Orientation and instead went to Brunch with a bunch of girls on her floor which makes me feel stupid for being responsible.

"And this is the auditorium, we have seminars from well known and respected guest speakers..." The tour guide, who seems to be some preppy junior that goes here, points to the giant building labeled Auditorium.

When will this end?

"Yeah no shit, Sherlock," a voice mutters next to me and I glance over my shoulder at a rather short girl with black hair and a nose ring.

"You're telling me," I mumble back to her and she arches an eyebrow at me. "I'm Clara," I stick my hand out and she stares at it for a full second before slipping her hand into mine.

"Meg, nice to meet you, Clara," the way she says my name sits wrong with me and I try not to squirm.

"You can call me Clary," I offer halfheartedly. It's not my fault I got stuck with a preppy name.

She looks around at everyone in our group and grimaces. Everyone is wearing their best clothes consisting of sweater vests and plaid skirts-not the slutty kind- and someone is wearing actual loafers.

I spent minutes checking over my outfit this morning before giving up entirely when Ingrid strutted past wearing a pearl necklace. An honest to God, pearl necklace. My black shorts and white t-shirt combo definitely garnered stiff glances from a few people.

"Wanna ditch? I've been through these halls more than I'd like to admit," she whispers, grabbing my arm and slowing us down until we're at the back of the group.

This might be my only shot to be friends with someone normal, but then I can kiss my chances of fitting in goodbye. Do I really want to jeopardize making more friends with these people? I look at Meg and nod my head quickly and we both run for the fountain sitting in the middle of the courtyard.

"I thought I was going to drown in sweater vests," Meg laughs, leaning against the fountain.

"Yeah, I clearly did not get the cashmere sweater memo." I chuckle lightly, sitting on the edge of the fountain with a sigh. Freedom. The fountain is filled with spare change from hopeful students, wishing for success through the next four years of school.

"So where are you from?" Meg asks, settling herself next to the fountain.

"New Rochelle, you?" I answer. Coincidentally I left out the 'bad part' at the beginning of that sentence.

"5th and 74th street," she casually comments and my eyes almost bug out of my head.

"You live on the Upper East Side?" I ask carefully.

She raises an eyebrow, tilting her head to the sky. "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"No!-" I clear my throat, "No, not hard to believe at all, you look like you live there, really." She laughs loudly at my pathetic attempt at lying.

We spend the next few minutes getting to know each other. Turns out her father owns a bunch of apartments along Fifth Avenue and her mom owns some well-known boutique that I've never heard of. I tell her about my dad working as an engineer and how my mother works as a nurse at our local hospital.

Halfway through our chat, we relocate to the lawn in front of the administration building where a bunch of students are relaxing, some are even having a picnic or throwing a football around. We're lying down next to each other with our eyes closed, enjoying the last pieces of the summer sun that we'll get for the next six months, knowing New York.

"Watch out!" Someone calls out and instinctively I sit up looking for the threat. Meg is still lying on the grass completely oblivious—or asleep—can't tell. A few boys are waving in my direction, pointing at something in the sky and I curse quietly, scrambling to my feet.

A football is flying towards me and I brace myself for impact, holding my hands in front of me, getting ready to catch it. It hits my hands hard and I stumble back, taking in deep breaths.

"I am so sorry," the voice is already apologizing profusely as they get closer, "It was my idiot friend who—Clara?"

I drop the ball and stand up quickly, letting my hair flip out of my face, "Peter, hi."

He's wearing a white t-shirt with denim jeans and sunglasses covering his bright green eyes. His black hair is in its usual shaggy style and he's smiling at me. "Are you okay?"

I nod my head, "Yup, totally cool, I love getting hit in the stomach with footballs," I joke and his smile slowly fades, "I'm kidding! I'm fine. Really." Picking up the ball, I twirl it slowly in my hands.

He chuckles sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, "I am so sorry, my idiot friend did it." He gestures over his shoulder to a group of guys standing towards the middle of the lawn. "You're a great catch though."

Well, that was forward. The look on my face must be priceless because he pointedly looks down at the football in my arms. "Oh you mean the football catch...right, knew that. Thanks." I hand it out to him for him to grab and he takes it, brushing his fingers on mine.

"Who taught you?" He holds the football in one arm and slips the other hand in his pocket.

"My dad wanted boys, he got two girls instead," I shrug in a 'what can you do?' motion. He nods his head, the grin not leaving his face.

A snort sounds from behind me and Meg suddenly sits up, "What did I miss?"

My mouth drops open, "You fell asleep? I was pouring my heart out to you for half an hour!"

She pouts playing along, reaching out for my hand, "Babe, calm down, a girl needs a nap once in a while. I'll make it up to you, promise."

"Nope," I gravely shake my head, "No more second chances, we're over," I turn away from her dramatically.

"Wow, that's cool," Peter coughs into his fist, "How long have you been together?" he asks, gesturing between the two of us.

I glance at Meg, "I dunno, like two hours?" She shrugs in response and lies back down throwing an arm over her eyes.

He opens his mouth but gets cut off, "Pete! Let's go!"

He looks over his shoulder at his friends, mouthing something that I can't understand before turning back to me, "We're going to this pizza place on Columbus Avenue, apparently the zeppoles are amazing there, wanna join us?"

I blink at him for a full ten seconds before shaking my head, Meg smacks my leg, hard. "Yup, yes, I'm down." Meg snorts, coughing to cover it up and I kick her in return.

"You're welcome to come too..." He trails off, realizing that he has no idea who Meg is.

"Meg," she offers up, saluting him.

"Meg, I'm Peter," he pulls his hand out of his pocket and extends it for her to shake. He catches my eye, "You can bring Val, too, if she's free."

Val? Of course. "Val? Yeah sure, I'll call her and ask," I reply, suddenly feeling rejected.

"You know, so that you're not alone, I would hate for you to feel uncomfortable surrounded by a bunch of guys," he says, leaning his head down a little, giving me his full attention.

"Sounds like a girl's wet dream," Meg says, standing up, breaking our eye contact.

"Um... yeah, I'll just call Val, quick, two minutes," I hold up two fingers, pulling out my phone and dialing Valentina's number.

"Miss me already?" I can hear the lipsticked-stained smirk in her voice.

"You wish," I roll my eyes, "I need a favor."

"What kinda favor?"

"The kind where you're surrounded by male attention while I talk to a cute boy... kind of favor," I step further away from them, hoping Peter hasn't heard me.

"Damn girl, get it! I'm there, where are we going?"

"Pizza place on 110th and Columbus Ave," I say, wincing at her expected reply.

"Fuck me, you're lucky I love you, on my way. Kisses!" The line clicks dead and I turn around with a smile on my face.

"She'll meet us there."

|| 📚 ||

Uh, hi? You still there?

Sorry its been so long...lots going on on this side of the world...anyway!

I hope you enjoyed it x

Until next time,

Sammipott xx