A few hours ago

If I ever wanted to make myself feel grounded, all I needed was to debate with my parents on any newsworthy topic.

My parents, the well-established corporate lawyer duo, Nate and Georgia Carter wouldn't let me win even though I presented them with strong, convincing points.

My dad would crush me with his counter-arguments under the defense that I needed to imbibe a thicker skin if I wanted to pursue law after graduating from school.

According to him, you train your mind to become a lawyer, before becoming one.

My mother - the debate moderator - would always repeat the same condolence.

"One day your father won't be able to win against you, James. I know that day is coming soon."

It's been four years since we began this ritual. I was still waiting for that day to arrive.

Luke, my identical twin who was born a minute younger, was shielded from this humiliation since he had displayed his preference for fine arts. His dream was to attend the Juilliard School.

Though time and again Luke dabbled at sketching and painting, his inclination had always been towards music.

Even at seventeen, he couldn't hit the can straight but had the dexterity to create music in his sleep.

"Ready, James?" Luke entered my room. He picked up my bag and tapped his heel at the foot of the bed. "Come on, I'm getting late."

I scrolled through the last of the article paragraphs, rotating my chair to dance to the music already playing in my ears.

Tonight, Dad and I were debating over the country's rising inflation and how it would harm the economy.

Don't worry, my old man loved listening to my views on current affairs. It also prepared me for the model UN debates. Being the captain of the team, I always preferred being updated than cut a sorry figure.

Luke tapped his fingers over his watch to grab my attention.

We had ten minutes for breakfast before leaving for school. Our parents sat in the dining area, dressed to their nines, sipping coffee and skimming through their newspapers.

Luke, the wild child that he was, dragged his chair, creating the teeth souring screech on the hardwood floor.

"Lukey!" Mom didn't look up from the newspaper. "Never drag the chair. It's bad manners."

"Sorry, Ma," Luke said, dragging the chair some more before plopping over.

Tossing his tie back, he leaned over the table to fetch some juice while managing to spill it over his blazer sleeve and the tabletop.

Martha, our help, rushed to clean up the mess created by the clumsy Carter but upon my request, she moved back.

"You've to be careful, Luke," I said, dabbing his sleeve and the table with a tissue. "You spilled milk yesterday. Can't you slow down a little bit?"

Luke turned, jostling his long locks away from his face.

"Sorry Jamie." He hovered the juice-dripping glass over my uniform. "Or you can simply join me on this stain journey."

You have to be serious in life, Lukey. You are in junior grade now. One more year and then..."

I pointed at the glass and he immediately snapped out of his jovial mood.

Since the skiing accident in Chamonix that resulted in Luke being temporarily bedridden for almost a year and forced him into repeating his sophomore, I found myself imbibing my mother's role in taking care of him and my father's, in disciplining him.

That responsibility only grew further since I became his senior in school.

Dad folded his paper to a side, leaning over the table. "James is right, Luke. You've to become a little more serious. Anyways, how are your classes coming up?"

My brother shrugged, managing to stuff a whole toast in his mouth.

"Ifss coffing off fone."

"Good, now clean up your face."

Upon Dad's instruction, Luke slid off his seat. Before moving to the sink, he walked over to Mom's side, kissing her with his marmalade-slathered lips.

"Lukey!" Mom cringed her face, rubbing off the stickiness with a napkin. "I told you, stop acting like a caveman."

"Luke won't stop acting like a caveman until penguins start flying and tigers start eating vegetables."

I bit into my toast, placing it back on the plate and cleaning the corner of my lips.

"This is how you eat, by the way." Pointing at him and back at my place, I smiled. "Not like a baby bird."

My brother washed his face and turned with cupped hands. "Care to take another shower, Jamey?"

"Lukey, don't you dare pour water on me." I scrambled from my chair. "I am telling you, you would rue this day."

He moved across the table, water dripping from between his fingers.

"Luke, stop. I'm telling you now."

"Remember, twins, do everything together. It won't be fair if only my uniform stays wet."

"Twins don't do everything together." I moved behind my mother. "You'd know that if you'd pay more attention in class."

"Lukey stop." Mom's stinging words reverberated through the area. Luke unclasped his hands, water dripping from the tips of his fingers. "Both you and James need to act according to your age."

"What did I do?" I asked. "I was being civil."

"Of, course, you were, Jamey." Luke taunted, wiping his hands over the back of my bag. "What Mom meant was why are you being so serious?"

Luke knew how to make her dance to his tunes by asking that one question that ticked me off - Why was I being so serious?

Was I not supposed to?

"I am not being serious. What I am is rational, Luke. And that's something you need to portray at times."

Only Dad nodded at my words. He halted when Mom turned to face him. Her stern look always ensured he didn't side with me.

Luke, chuckling at Mom's actions, dragged the chair back to its usual position. He tossed our bags over his shoulder, making weird faces at me.

"Activating rational Luke. BEEP BOOP. MEEP MORP." He began his robotic move, arms sliding back and forth from his face while moving towards the entrance. "Now can we leave?"

"Dad," I turned over my shoulder. "Tonight, we'll debate on the economic inflation."

"Okay, son." My peripheral vision witnessed him smiling while my mother rolled her eyes.

"And I'll debate on ways to ignore having a twin," Luke shouted as he entered the elevator and held the door for me.

Our mother's soft chuckles echoed in the background.

"Jamie, stop being so boring." Luke pressed the basement button. "Or else I'll tell everyone in school that you're not my brother."

"Let me know how that works out for you."

~

Our driver, Francis, drove us to school. Upon arrival, Luke slid outside, holding open the door for me and putting on display his chauffeur act. His girlfriend, Rachel, waited near the gated entrance of our school, tapping busily at her phone.

When Luke hollered her name, she looked up, shoving her device into her bag and rushed towards my brother resembling a carnivore pouncing towards its prey.

"Baby," she said but my brother fused the rest of it inside her mouth, huddling her for a kiss.

My eyes rolled inwards and my mouth soured at the sheer casual attitude, Luke put on display.

"Find a room, you two..."

"I intend to," Luke said. "Very soon."

Rachel chuckled, pushing him gently.

"Now you are not late?" I asked, walking ahead while he trotted behind me.

"Jamie, wait," he called me, oxygenating his lungs and shoving a pamphlet over my chest. "Check this out. I think you'd be interested in this."

I peered at the matt-finished paper with a rather absurd caption – 'Find your photographic muse', with our school's golden Lion and Eagle insignia on top.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"You have a lot of talent, Jamie... And I've seen your photographs. All of them."

"You pried into my stuff again?" I moved closer, inches from my grinning brother's face.

"It's not prying if you forget to log off from your photography blog, Mr. Wandering Camera."

Tugging at my brother's elbow, I yanked him away from the school's entrance.

In a secluded corner, away from any prying eyes or ears, I felt the need to justify that part of my life I'd kept hidden.

"I was going to disable that account. So please don't tell anyone about it. Especially, Mom."

"Why?" Luke spoke in a hushed tone. "You take good photos. Then why are you disabling it?"

"Because I'm a senior now, Lukey. I have a college to get into and for that, I need to focus on getting good grades. I'll advise the same for you too."

"Please don't start again." Luke stuck his tongue out. "And stop being so...dad-like. I get it, you are the pedigree. But I am the star that needs to shine one day. Don't force me to brighten before time."

"You'd know how stars work if you'd taken astronomy."

"I'm talking about those Hollywood stars, twinny."

I leaned over the wall closest to me, readying myself for Luke's rehearsed speech about how he was destined for great things in life. I checked my watch for the time, knowing I would miss Calculus.

But I had to ensure that Luke remained silent about my secret.

You see, my brother tended to spill secrets while drunk. So, every solemn oath and blood bond had to be put in place before I left Luke to find his way back to his girlfriend's mouth.

"You know what, Jamie, let's have a deal." Luke grinned, tapping at my shoulders. "I'd tell nobody about your side endeavor but you've to promise me something. You'd participate in this photography contest."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe to prove that you do take good photographs."

"I am good. I don't need proof," I said.

"Then do it. What's the harm?"

Though I knew he wouldn't blackmail me, Luke possessed the power to yap till my brain bled dry, if I didn't accede to his demands. Rendering my arms up in submission, I nodded.

"Fine. One contest and then I am done. And in return..."

Luke pulled out an imaginary knife from his pocket, slitting his palm and doing the same on mine.

Since he saw it in a movie, Luke began using the concept of a blood oath minus any blood as a means of a sacred promise than shaking hands over it.

"I solemnly swear I'd never speak of your love for photography," he said, intertwining our hands.

My brother loved drama more than any celebrity I'd read about.

~

After class, I stood at the corner of the garden, waiting for inspiration to strike me. My phone camera remained on, drinking up the last ounce of charge in it.

I peered at anyone who could have struck my interest.

A skinny kitten escaped from the thicket and stumbled at my feet. Moving with caution, it eyed me and began rubbing its head against my feet.

He could have been the best muse but the instructions on the pamphlet were quite clear - No animal photos. Only humans.

The sticky ball of fur played with my shoelace, gnawing it for its pleasure. When I ran my finger over its tiny, little head, he plopped in the dirt, displaying its belly.

"Felines don't like belly rubs. Are you sure you're a cat?" I said, running a finger over the underside of his brownish coat. "Where is your mother?"

As if the kitten would answer, I waited.

It slowly blinked at me before erecting, standing in attention to a ruffling sound that emerged from the other side of our circular garden.

Trashing its tail, it meowed but in a buzzing area with vehicles honking from the streets and students chattering while streaming outside the campus, nobody could hear its lament.

I tugged the strap of my bag properly over my shoulder, sliding my phone into my pocket. Maybe my muse didn't come to school today.

As soon as I leaned closer, the kitten bolted, running into the narrow lane that led to the other side of the garden.

Shoving branches off my face and shrubs tangling at my feet, I walked over the dirt, readying my bag to grab the adventure-driven kitten and take him home.

That's when I saw her.

Bent on her knees, she didn't care about her hands resting in the dirt. Nor was she bothered by the wind ruffling her silken, brown hair. She didn't even care about her knees scraping against the gritty tiles, bruising.

All she cared for was the kitten.

Her doe eyes widened when she hovered her finger to entice the animal. She chirped like a bird, pouting her lips to resemble an O.

The way she tried everything from catcalls to soft barks, getting the animal to come closer, made me fetch my phone.

The smile on her face and the sheen over her wheat-toned skin enticed me to press open my camera.

Yet, it took her words, soft and honeyed like Vivaldi's spring rendition while calling the kitten a weird name, that hallucinated me.

I clicked her.

Flash scared the animal, her alongside.

Straightening, she encircled the area behind the trees and bushes, searching for the kitten. I stood in the dirt, feeling the cool air that circulated through the garden and across my face.

I remembered when I began my hobby, I used to photograph nature and animals. They never posed. They always appeared in their truest form like how God intended them to be.

As I checked the photo, having captured her vulnerability form, I realized that there are people too, who appeared in their truest forms.