Give a man a match, and he'll be warm for a minute, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

Five part Prologue

Part I: An Apple for the Teacher-

I sat criss crossed in front of the mirror studying myself.

My reflection revealed nothing new, excluding a small pimple spotted on my right cheek. I'd have to get rid of that sucker soon. I had the same big Brown eyes my mom had obsessed over since I was just a baby. My dark ombre hair pooled to my hips in tight curls. I had the same soft features that you could easily compare to myself 5 years prior. I checked my teeth for any hint of cavities.
Still none.

I sighed thinking of my generic life style. It was getting so boring and aggravating.

Im always keeping up this reserved, good girl charade. Deep down I wanted to curse my father out, and expose the secret he thought no one knew about him. But instead I smiled at him daily, feigning innocence after catching him in the act. I wanted to scream at my mother, and call her out for her clueless attitude. Instead I helped her cook and clean like the blameless child. I wanted to punch my twin brother in his stupid, stupid face. Instead, I covered for him when he snuck out, helped him out with financial problems, and watched over him like a guardian angel.

And now my head hurts.

I spotted a green light flashing in the background of my mirror, demanding my attention. The numbers 6:47 imprinted itself into my brain. Time flies by when your thinking to yourself.

I stood up dusting my blue jeans off and glanced at the yellow cardigan buttoned neatly down my torso. Finally deciding I was wrinkle free I slowly descended the creaky wooden steps, trying not to wake dumb and dumber. I found my mom in the kitchen with a stack of blueberry pancakes flanking her left side. She was humming along a song I had faint memories of.

"Hey sweetie!" My Mom called loudly after catching a glimpse of me from across the hall standing at the last step. "How did you sleep last night?" She called loudly. She probably couldn't hear herself over the sizzle of the burning bacon she just put on. Why she insisted on being a typical mom? Only she could tell.

"I slept fine, Mom." I answered, walking closer to her.

"Would you like some help?"

"Sure sweetie, just go set the table."

I walked over to the table and did just as my mother had commanded, like some sort of perfectionist robot. I then took her commands further by laying the bacon and pancakes neatly on each of the four plates, waiting for her to finish up with the scrambled eggs.

I mentally cursed myself for being so selfless and slumped down into a cream colored chair. As soon as I directed my hand in the direction of a fork, my brother came pummeling down the stairs. He rustled my hair and grabbed my plate.

"Thanks sis" he called, standing up and sinking his teeth into the pancake. If 'sinking' meant almost cracking the majority of his teeth. "Ouch." He muttered, pulling the brick from his mouth.

"That's what you get for taking my food" I said, my lips almost twitching into smile. I became distracted as I looked into my phone to fix my hair. As I twirled the frizzy curls around my finger to make it look neater, Ezra's whiny voice made way to my ears.

"Mommy, Lizzy's being mean." He complained, purposefully mocking me. I could almost see the pout I knew he had on his face.

"Ezra!" I scolded, glaring at my brother.

"Oops, sorry. You're still giving me a ride to school right?" He asked with his big hazel puppy dog eyes.

"Sure." I stated reluctantly. I turned to my bag to pull a lip gloss tube out when I heard my dad walk from the bedroom door to the bathroom and lock it. I gathered my things and stood up. "It's time to go now. Come on Ezra or i'm leaving you." I stated, even though we both knew I wouldn't. I'm too much of a goody-goody. I mentally told myself to shut up and grabbed my car keys off of the counter. Ezra purposely walked at a slow pace, making me give out an exasperated sigh. Dad's greeting came drifting down the stairs and I waved, making a point to direct it at Ezra. "See you later, I gotta get there before school starts."

"Well alright sweetie, just say goodbye to your dad." Mom said sitting down at the table.

"Bye dad" I muttered and jogged out of the house with Ezra at my heels. I started the car ignition and backed out of the driveway slowly.

"What was that all about?" He inquired, genuinely curious.

"What was what all about?"

I sound as clueless as mom

"The thing, with walking out as soon as dad woke up" Damn. I'd hoped he didn't notice that.

"Nothing, I just wanted to get to school on time" I shrugged and made a left turn. I turned to z100 morning show and pretended to be interested in the discussion, silently dismissing our conversation. Ezra turned his head to look out of the window silently. Well that's new. Ezra sat in silence for the rest of the ride to school. He didn't even crack one of his usual jokes.

I glanced into the mirror multiple times throughout the ride, until I finally slowed down when we arrived.

Instead of waiting for me to exit the car, Ezra pushed the door open and walked out straight faced.

"Whats up with him?" I muttered to myself, frowning.

I stepped out and locked my car, making my way to first period right behind Ezra.

-

When I entered the classroom, Ezra sat all the way in the back row, staring out of the window. He had his hand resting on his equally as curly brown hair. He turned his hazel eyes to me. That's yet another difference between us that makes it impossible for people to guess that we were twins. We were recognizable as siblings, though. I walked up to him and sat down in the seat next to him. And we sat in silence for straight 5 minutes.

"You know that I know, right? I'm not some kid that you need to protect." Ezra softly spoke.

"Know what?"

"Please don't play dumb, Elizabeth." He looked at me with an are you serious? face. I might act as if he annoys me when he calls me anything other than Elizabeth, but I'm damn well not loving the way he's saying it now.

"You mean dad, and that..." I trailed off looking up at Ezra who nodded, turning back to look out of the window.

"I found out who it is, You know." Ezra said still facing the window.

"Are you sure I'd want to know?" I asked with a quizzical look.

"I'd hope so."

I groaned and shifted in my seat so that I faced him.

"I'm ready, spill it."

Ezra answered quickly and lowly, slurring his words together.

"Excuse me?" I asked in disbelief, my stomach churning.

"It's Mrs. Renders." he repeated slowly, confirming my hearing.

The married Mrs. Renders?

The music teacher Mrs. Renders?

My music teacher Mrs. Renders?

"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking?" I pleaded

"Not this time." He stated grimly.

And we sat in silence until the bell rang.

~~~~

I just couldn't concentrate. The first 5 periods went by slowly and boringly, much to my surprise. all of my teachers' end of the year lectures dragged on in a blur. I was dreading Music class. I would have to face my father's mistress for a whole 45 minutes.

The bell rang and I dragged myself out of my seat. I slumped out into the hallway In no hurry to get to class. When I got close to the door, I spotted my brother walking the opposite way of the music class he's supposed to share with me.

"Ezra!" I called out."Where are you going?" I continued as I rushed up to him.

"Somewhere other than there." he sneered, pointing to the classroom.

"But you can't skip!" I whispered loudly

"Look," Ezra started, anger boiling in his eyes."First of all, I can do what I want. Second of all, my father's mistress is standing right in that very classroom. If you don't find something wrong with that, you're crazy."

"But,"

"But nothing, Elizabeth!" he interrupted loudly. Stares and oh, a couple more eyes pointed towards us. "There are some situations where you have to stop being such a prude and just think about yourself!"

Ouch.

"Is everything alright?" a familiar voice sounded behind us. My brother scoffed and walked away. I turned around and stared at the brown eyed, brunette haired bitch. I walked straight past her and sat in my seat.

"Hey, Elizabeth!" a girl named Catalina called out. I turned around to look at her. She was another perfect student. Her blonde hair was cut into a ridiculously neat bob, and her music sheets were neatly displayed on her stand. I turned back around with a frown on my face as I buried my head into the olive green hoodie I took from Ezra.

Am I really that good? Do I really think about others before I even consider myself? When's the last time I went on a date? When's the last time I hung out with friends? In fact, do I even have any real friends? Ezra might have friends a little too wild than I'd like, but they have his back no matter what.

You know what? Fuck it.

I grabbed the full Coca-Cola bottle that sat next to some kid named José and walked up to the teacher in a daze.

"Oh, Elizabeth! Would you like to help with the lesson?" She asked joyfully.

"Nah." I answered, proceeding to uncap the bottle and pour it all over her head and white leather jacket. Come to think of it. That's something my dad most likely brought her. I had the same fucking jacket hanging up in my closet. I threw the bottle into the crowd of students. Gasps and cheers were heard all around the classroom, with the occasional "What the fuck." I marched on, throwing her precious sheet music all over the floor. All eyes were on me in disbelief and excitement. Phones were out, people were shouting, and seats were fliped over so that people could get a better look at me. I was loving the attention, relishing it, even. I continued by throwing everything off of her desk. Before she had time to process my actions and dial security, I ran out. Out of the classroom, Out of school, Away of my problems.

~~~

After school, I walked quickly up the stairs into my room. I flopped on the bed and sighed. This had been the longest day ever .

"Elizabeth?"

I jumped up and awkwardly fumbled around my sheets.

"Oh, uh, dad, hey what's up?" I stammered awkwardly

"I got a call from one of your teachers this afternoon." He stated nonchalantly.

"Oh, really?" I said mimicking his calm attitude.

"Elizabeth," dad scowled "She knows that you know."

~~~

Ohhh, drama.

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(I came up with the characters after writing this so If they're a little different than the description you know why) 

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~Ariah