CHAPTER TWO
sorry, mother theresa!

LENNON.

              After we were showered and dressed, we found ourselves standing in Headmaster Allen's office. He was sitting in his big red chair, bald head reflectingthe light from the window behind him and smiling at us teenage girls in front of him. If there was one thing anyone knew out our Headmaster, it was that he was a massive perv and loved looking at us girls in our uniforms. Which was precisely why we had changed out of them.

               "Girls, I would like to congratulate you on your big win today," He began saying as I stood in the middle of my victorious team. "You showed today a perfect vision of what it is to be a student here at Coral Bay Academy—and exactly what it is to be a Pirate and you looked good whilst doing it. I couldn't be prouder." He gushed. Brooklyn had once quoted that he sounded like some old guy—a former President maybe and I couldn't quite remember who, only that she was completely right.

                  When I didn't say anything, Coach Grayson gently nudged me in the ribs. I jumped to accept his compliment, "Thank you, Headmaster. We're all so proud to be taking the Coral Bay Academy name with us to Nationals. We couldn't be happier." I said, offering him a closed smile, noticing how his eyes wandered up and down my body. I wanted to kick a ball into his ugly little face and leave a dent.

               He gave a nod, "Your mother would be incredibly proud, girls," He said, glancing between myself and June who stood beside me. "She was the best player we ever had and you girls look so much like her—play like her. Yes, she would be quite proud indeed." June and I didn't respond and simply nodded our heads and diverted our gaze. We didn't like when others spoke of our mother because their tone usually held disappointment. Everyone knew what had happened to Coral Bay's biggest star and we could hear it in their voices. They boasted about how amazing she was whilst hinting at her untimely demise.

               "Very well, you may go." Headmaster Allen said, waving his hand dissmissively.

                "Bob, actually, there was that one other thing. Remember?" Coach Grayson reminded him and we momentarily exchanged glances, wondering what she was talking about.

                "The other—ah, right, the other thing. Of course," Headmaster Allen suddenly remembered and I did my best to hold back an eyeroll. I honestly didn't know how he was still alive let alone running a prestigious Academy—he was, like, eighty. "Yes. Our neighbouring schools soccer team has also made Nationals, the Red Devils. I have been corresponding with Principle Luckley and we have come to an agreement that you will travel together to Nationals." A silence fell across the room momentarily. And then all hell broke out.

                  The girls began yelling over one another as Headmaster Allen's jaw dropped, not expecting nor warranting such a reaction. Even my own jaw was loose, unable to form words at the news. They really wanted to put us all on a plane together? Surely they'd have to know there would be multiple casualties before the plane would ever land.

"You want us on a plane with those bitches?!" Hailey was exclaiming, her phone loose between her fingers, eyes wide.

"You'll have to send me in a body bag." Imani insisted, laughing in disbelief.

"I'll be putting one of them in a body—"

                 "That is enough!" Headmaster Allen yelled over Abby, standing from his feet and slamming his hands onto the table.
Everyone fell silent.

                 "Both teams will travel together. The Academy will be paying for the flight for each of you—"

                  "You mean flying economy?" Imani gasped, horror in her voice. She shook her head, "No. Absolutely not." She refused, appalled by the idea.

                  Brooklyn gestured with her hands, "My parents would throw a fit if I had to fly economy," She began saying. "In fact, they wouldn't mind loaning us the private jet—of course, if that would be alright with you, Headmaster Allen. It will make the Academy look very stylish when we arrive." She said with a coy smile, trying to win the old grump over.

                  Headmaster Allen looked as though he was contemplating it before shrugging, "Very well. But I will need to contact your parents."

                 "Of course, Headmaster." Brooklyn agreed, twirling a blonde tendril of hair around her finger. I really tried not to roll my eyes at the idea of Brooklyn attempting to flirt with our eighty-year-old Headmaster just for the use of her private jet. Was I used to flying economy? No. Did I mind it? Not at all. It wasn't the end of the world. But Brooklyn and Imani would rather die.

                "Wait, we're actually okay with this now? Just cause Brooke's mommy and daddy are providing a private fucking jet?" June suddenly asked, looking appalled.

                "Juniper Alice Sawyer!" Headmaster Allen exclaimed, pointing at her.

               June inhaled sharply, closing her eyes before blowing the breath out and offering a tight smile, "Sorry." She mumbled, holding her hands in front of her.

               "Now, off you go. Celebrate however you teenagers do—but you go to Nationals on Sunday morning. Make sure you are all well enough." I tried not to pay attention to the look he sent both June and I, for completely different reasons. June was known to experiment with plenty of kinds of drugs with the burn-outs behind the Academy and at parties. She was a wild child if I ever knew one.  And everyone knew it. The only reason she was still at the Academy was because of our fathers large donations. And me on the other hand—well, I was nothing like that, but that didn't mean I wasn't fucked up and that the faculty didn't know it. They knew it very well. But others didn't.

                 We all offered the fakest of smiles before turning and walking out of the office, deflated by the news.

Juniper leaned close to my ear, "He is such a fucking cunt." She grumbled.

                "Juniper!" Eden exclaimed in passing.

               June threw her hands up, "Sorry, Mother Theresa!" She leaned closer to me and added. "But he is."

               Imani linked her arm through mine, barging June out of the way who shot her a nasty look, "Aren't you just so excited for the party?" She gushed, her acrylic nails embedded in my arm like little pincers.

I screwed up my face in confusion, "What party?"

                 She smirked up at me, her dimples stretching, "The one I just thought of." She sang, shimmying her shoulders.

                 I laughed, "You are ridiculous and I love you. Tell me more."

               When June and I returned home that day, our father was nowhere to be seen—which wasn't surprising to us. We knew he had a business trip he had to leave for right after our game. It at least felt good to know that he had been able to watch before having to speed to the airport and get on the plane. He hadn't been able to tell us how proud he was in person but he had done so in text. And had also venmo'd us a hundred dollars each. It was his way of saying 'love you, proud of you' in his own way.

                 Imani had, in fact, planned a party to take place the following day on the Saturday night and so, June and I had spent our Friday night together, knowing it was the last time we would be alone for a while. We were about to spend a lot of time with the girls at Nationals. The trick would be not killing each other.

                We had sat in the living room, blankets draped over us whilst we binged the Twilight Saga. June liked to say it was a comedy but I caught her eyes tearing up pretty often. Snacks were on the cofe table in front of us that we had picked from through the night—all high in protein, of course, other wise Coach would have a fit and make us run extra laps around the fucking airport on Sunday. Somehow that woman could always tell if we had ate outside of our diets. She had once smelt a Reece's bar from my mouth and had made me drop and give her twenty. She meant well, but she could be a real dragon lady when she wanted to.

                I had packed that night after we called it during Twilight: Eclipse. We would be gone for a week and so I got my largest suitcase and packed everything I thought I would need for that long. I made sure to pack various items of clothing to, since there was no telling what kind of weather we would be getting.

                   I had been making up a bag of toiletries when June waltzed into my room without knocking and threw herself onto my bed, draped in white and pink bedsheets with a fluffy pink overthrow. Above the headrest were frames lyrics from Taylor Swift's Folklore and Speak now albums—my favourites. Reputation was Junes. And Debut, but she would never admit it.

She let out a loud groan and I glanced across at her from where I sat on my knees on my floor, "Can I help you, demon?" I asked her, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"I need you to help me pack. I literally don't know how you do it. I can't fit a single fucking thing in that stupid suitcase." She complained, rolling onto her stomach and scooting towards the edge of the bed to be closer to where I was.

"June, I've showed you a million times how to—"

"Don't mother me. Just be a good twin and help me." June spoke over me, tossing my stuffed teddybear at my head.

Barney bounced across the room and I grabbed him, throwing him back at her, "Being a good twin would have been eating you in the womb." I told her playfully and she chuckled under her breath.

"So metal of you. I'm so impressed." She told me sarcastically, making me roll my eyes.

June rolled onto her back, lifting her feet into the air, "So, what do you think of this party Imani's throwing? I think she's invited, like, the whole fucking town." She began saying, her tone sounding like she was about to start complaining.

"You know Imani. She's a go big or go home kinda person," I reminded her and she let out a hum from the back of her throat. I shifted to sit with my legs in a basket, folding a top to put in my suitcase. "Also, I think it'll be fun. One last hurrah before we're Coaches slaves for a week." I added, turning to glance over my shoulder.

June groaned, "Coach is going to be insufferable. And don't even get me started on Ethan—he thinks he's the Coach's assistant or something." She grumbled, sitting up and crossing her slender legs into a basket.

I gave her a flat stare, "He is the Coach's assistant."

"No, he's her son," June argued. "He's just a control freak like his mother and he's going to drain us dry. Honestly, he should just play soccer for the boys team instead of harassing us all of the time." She complaied, running her hands across her platinum hair. Sometimes I forgot June was a natural brunette like our mother. Her hair had been bleached blonde since our mother's death and I had become so used it it. People said it made us look more alike—being non-identical twins and all that shit. But I thought June and I couldn't be more different.

"Ethan's a decent guy. Unlike half the guys on the soccer team." I reminder her, screwing up my face. The boys soccer team embodied everything wrong with men. They were so full of pride and testosterone it was exhausting.

It was June's time to give me a flat stare, "Says you with the Captain of the team as a boyfriend." She fired over at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Josh also happens to be a decent guy—"

"Right," June drawled, slowly nodding her head. "Remind me why y'all were arguing just the other night? Was it because he didn't like that outfit you were wearing or because he had been commenting flame emoji's on Bethany Lewis's Instagram photos." I found myself sending a swift glare in my sisters direction.

"For starters, I didn't even really like that outfit. And second, he can comment what he wants, I don't give a shit. We're just casual anyway, remember? We've both got so much shit going on to put all of our time into a relationship." I reminded her.

Josh and I had got close a few months ago after a soccer retreat for both of the teams and had hit it off. We hadn't defined our relationship yet but I didn't entirely mind. I had so much already going on in my life, I didn't need to add relationship drama to my life. Though, the fire emojis under bethany's pictures had bugged me at first; but I'd never admit that to June. It would come back to bite me later.

"Well, good," June began saying. "You're the team Captain and we need your head on the field, not on Chad and his tiny dick."

"It's Josh," I corrected before adding. "And how would you know if his dick is small?"

June rose an eyebrow, "Because his dick pics were passed around, like, last year. Don't you remember? Or do penis' still scare you?" She teased, giving me a lopsided grin.

"They don't scare me, Juniper. I just—you know what, I don't have to explain it to you." I said, giving her a sweet smile.

June waved her hand dismissisvly as she rolled off my bed and got to her feet, "Whatever," She mumbled, walking towards my door, her AD/DC band Tee resting against her bare knees. She turned at the door. "Help me pack. Please?" Despite the add on of the 'please', her voice was still demanding and I let out a sigh.

"Alright, fine. Just give me ten minutes." June offered me a two fingered salute and retreated to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. June walked around the house like a fucking tornado, always slamming doors, always stomping. Our dad called her a baby elephant.

I sat back onto my legs, taking a moment to look around my room. I always got extremely home-sick whenever we would leave for games and now this would be the first time leaving the country to play. I couldn't quite explain the home-sickness, because June and I often said our home was more like a house. We just lived there but it didnt feel lived in. It hadn't been the home our parents had raised us in, but the one our dad bought and moved us into after our mom died. It was huge and forever empty looking, despite all of the fancy furniture. But still, I missed it when I was away.

I glanced around, taking in the white walls with polaroids strung up throughout. There were pictures of June and I from when we were younger, with June's brown hair and my blonde contrasting together. There were ones of the team, smiling in our white and blue uniforms after a win and parties frozen in a picture.

I got to my feet and grabbed my Polaroid camera from my desk and put it in my backpack. If I was going to be away from home, I at least wanted to bring back memories in the form of a photograph from our time away.

"Len! Hurry up!" June called from her bedroom impatiently, making me throw my head back.

"I'm coming!"

AUTHORS NOTE.
Hey guys! Feel free to let me know what you think about this so far! I can't wait for y'all to get to know the rest of these characters! I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

— taylor xx