A/N: Hello my dear readers! This is now my third fanfic and I hope that you guys enjoyed it. I'm already working hard on it and this is only the first chapter. I had to change the chapter so often that my laptop started to smell burned. I had this crazy idea in my head and it just didn't work properly when I wrote it down and it cost me many sleepless nights to finally finish this chapter.

I hope you guys like my crazy new idea and I hope that you like Bella's twin sister. It wasn't easy to invent Chris and I'm still not quite happy with her, but that could be because she got too many traits from me. But what can I said? The craziness had to come from somewhere, and so she got it from me. Please don't hate me for that. Okay, anyway, let's start the show! You know what time it is (I really hope you do have I have no idea. After 5:55AM, I got scared and stopped looking).

Disclaimer: If we were a movie, Twilight would be mine and Bella would be Edward's best friend that he won't fall in live with. In the end no one is happy because I don't own Twilight lalala, lalala, that doesn't make any sense. (If you know what song I just raped, you should let me know! ;D).

Bella POV

"Oh my God, Chris, look at this! This is freaking awesome!" I shouted as I darted into the kitchen where my twin sister was having breakfast. Our mom was in the kitchen as well, but I ignored her just this once.

"Did we win the lottery?" Chris' lame question made me roll my eyes at her.

"No, even better. We've been accepted to the Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students," I shrieked, jumping up and down while holding out the letter to her. This letter had caused all of this excitement for me.

"When did we apply there?" Chris asked, sounding bored rather than excited.

"We didn't," I replied. "But we got in."

"Where is this place anyway?"

"I don't know...in Forks?"

"And Forks is where?" she asked. I shrugged. I may have been quite good at Geography, but I still didn't know where Forks was.

"Sweetheart," Mom piped. "Would you mind explaining to us why you are so excited over something that you don't know even one thing about?"

"It's a private boarding school," I answered nonchalantly, handing her the letter. She read it, and within two minutes, she was just as excited as I was.

She squealed. "My babies have been accepted to an elite school. This is amazing!" she exclaimed, jumping up and embracing me in a tight hug.

"Oh man, seriously, am I the only who is confused about this? How do they even know us?" Chris interrupted.

Normally, she would be just as excited as I was, but she clearly was not in a good mood today. I was positive it was because her boyfriend broke up with her yesterday.

When no one gave her an answer, she got up, mumbling something under her breath and vanished from the room to get ready for school.

"O-M-G, Chris, I heard that Alex dumped you yesterday because of Sharon Tony." Raven, our best friend, came rushing toward us with a her face contorted into an expression of shock and disbelief. Actually, everyone who stood in the corridor at this moment looked shocked. I shook my head at them, silently wondering if any of them had their own problems to deal with, but even I had to admit that it was a very stupid idea to dump my sister for Sharon Tony.

"I don't want to talk about it," grumbled Chris.

"So he really did, didn't he? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I mean, look at you, and look at Sharon," Raven said.

In a way, Raven was right. Chris was by far the most beautiful girl in our school, and even though we were supposed to be identical twins, we looked nothing alike. When we were little, we looked nearly identical, but somehow it had changed over the years. When we were young, we both had the same dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, like our father. Now, my hair was deep, dark chocolate brown down to my waist, and Chris' was black. We still shared the same natural curls, but Chris' eyes had drastically changed as well. They were very light now, sort of like honey, and were more almond-shaped, giving her more of a cat-like look and making her irresistible to guys. Mine were still the same plain shape — sort of like wannabe almond — and they were a melted milk chocolate color.

Yet, that still wasn't the biggest difference between us.

Once upon a time, we had the same fair-skinned complexion with only a very slight tan from the Phoenix sun. But as the years passed, my skin became even paler, more like translucent cream, and I somehow lost the ability to tan. Chris, on the other hand, became a slight bit darker, but she didn't look like she got the tint from the sun. Instead, it made her skin look like it was naturally glowing. I always told her that she was caramel-colored, but our mom said she looked "cafe-au-lait." Either way, she could now pass as a Brazilian princess or something like that. The only thing that were pretty much the same, were our bodies. We had the same curves, and I was very satisfied with that, even though there was still slight differences. Chris had more butt than I did, but that's something she got from mom. Basically, Chris was extremely beautiful and Sharon was just another blond volleyball player. She wasn't ugly, but she most definitely did not reach Chris' level of beauty. Then again, nobody did, not even me — her own twin.

Still, Raven was only partly right. I was sure that the reason had to do with Alex being unable to handle Chris' forceful nature. He was the kind of guy who needed to protect a girl, while Chris was an independent woman who did not want to be tied to people. The only person she really held onto was me, and there were several reasons for that.

I was about to join in on Raven and Chris' conversation, which had strayed from the recent break up of Alex and Chris' relationship, when one of our classmates, Tyler, came up to us. He was known for having a huge crush on me, which is why Chris chuckled lightly when he walked toward us.

"Hey Tyler, what's up?" I asked him casually, trying to ignore his obvious nervousness.

"Um, hey...I'm supposed to tell you that you and Chris are wanted in the headmasters office," he said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"Why?" Chris asked, not bothering to disguise the annoyance in her voice. She probably feared that the headmaster was going to blame her for something...again. She was always getting into trouble for things that she claimed she hadn't done. I wasn't always so sure about that, but there were times that I had been present in situations where really weird things happened.

"I dunno," he mumbled, giving me a shy look as he did.

Chris let out an exasperated sigh and dragged me along to the headmasters office. She entered without taking the time to knock, and pulled me in behind her.

"I didn't do anything!" Chris shouted as soon as she had closed the door behind us. I groaned at her and turned to look at the headmaster, only to see that the headmaster wasn't even there.

Where usually our short and stout headmaster sat, was seated a beautiful dark-skinned man with black dreadlocks.

"Err...we're here to see the headmaster. I'm sorry, I guess we should have knocked, but my sister isn't really known for her patience," I rambled.

"It's quite alright," he answered. "I was the one who asked to see you." He gestured for us to sit down. I quickly glanced at Chris, who eyed the beautiful stranger with a wary expression on her face. I took my seat, but Chris simply leaned forward to look him in the eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked. He chuckled at her boldness.

"I am Laurent Decour," he stated, holding his hand out. He didn't even flinch the slightest bit when Chris got closer, making their faces a little too close for my taste. Chris ignored rudely ignored his hand, finally deciding to sit down next to me. Mr. Decour laughed again and shook his head at her.

"So, what do you want from us?" I asked cautiously. His eyes flicked to me and a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"I am one of the teachers at Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students," he replied. When he saw my expression to one of understanding, he continued, "I'm assuming you've already received the letter?"

I nodded while Chris huffed.

"What do you want from us, Laurent?" Chris asked, sounding bored as she blew a strand of her curly black hair from her face. Her mood was very sour today.

"My students call me Mr. Decor," he noted simply, his eyes not even shifting to where Chris sat. I observed that he had a slight French accent, though that didn't surprise me all that much, given his name sounding like it was of French origin.

"Well, I'm not your student," she snapped, causing Mr. Decour to shake his head and release more chuckles. The sound of his laughter was a bit off — sort of tense — as if he didn't laugh often.

"Of course you are," he replied as if it were an extremely obvious thing. "After this summer you will be attending the academy in Forks."

"Why did you even choose us? I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but how come you think that we are 'special gifted'?" I asked.

"Aside from the fact that you both have nothing less than straight A's, we simply know." He smiled knowingly, almost as if there was some big secret that he knew and we didn't. He was right, though, even if Chris didn't care much for school, she was still very good, and so was I. We had always been the top of our class. Even in kindergarten.

"What kind of school is it? I mean I get that it's a boarding school and apparently only for elite, but what separates it from others?" Chris asked, now sounding like her usual self.

"You will each gain the required education," Mr. Decour answered with a mysterious smile.

"What if I don't want to go?"

"You have to."

"But why?" Chris cried, exasperated.

"Because you must go to advance your abilities."

"Um, no offense, but I kind of agree with Chris. Why do we need to go? Are we not allowed to decide for ourselves if we wish to go to this advanced school?" I asked, finally getting rid of my shyness.

Mr. Decour looked at each of us and took a deep breath. "Do you remember the incident that occurred eight months ago?" he asked, then elaborated, "When you rescued a student from the fire in the school?"

I frowned. How did he know that?

"How do you know that?" Chris asked, voicing my thoughts.

Mr. Decour simply shrugged, got out of his seat, and began pacing. I eyed him carefully — something about him was very strange.

"Do you remember exactly what you did that day?" he asked.

"Sure," Chris said. "I got up, ate breakfast, went to school, and saved a girl from the flames." That was her standard answer when someone asked about that day, because it actually had been rather strange and both of us were beginning to question our sanity.

"Is is true that you were the original cause of the fire?" he asked Chris. That was a very dangerous topic. Some people swore that they had seen her setting the fire, but I had actually been there and no such thing happened.

"No, the fire started on it's own. It wasn't my fault that my Bunsen burner happened to be defective," Chris shouted.

"And you happened to be angry at someone at the exact moment that happened," Mr. Decour noted.

How did he know this? He was right, though, but it was still starting to creep me out.

Chris frowned and answered, "Yes, I was. That idiot Paul wouldn't shut up. He kept bragging about how he had gotten me into bed the day before — which wasn't even true — and when he sat down in front of me and I heard him talking about it with his friend, I got angry. When we started the lab, he turned around and asked me if 'my ass was still hurting from all the spanking he did the night before'. I sort of lost it then. I wanted so badly to scream at him, but instead, the Bunsen burner spat that giant flame out and it reached the ceiling, and the next thing I knew, everything was on fire."

I nodded in agreement, silently confirming that Chris was telling the story exactly how it happened.

"How did you feel in that moment?"

Chris and I looked at Mr. Decour in confusion, but she answered him anyway. "I don't really remember to be honest. At first I was angry, and then...I'm not sure...relieved, maybe? And when the ceiling started to burn, I felt like passing out, but I guess it was the shock."

Mr. Decour nodded. For a few moments, it was silent.

"What does any of this have to do with Forks Academy?" I asked when the silence had finally began to bother me.

"Tell me exactly what you did and felt during the rescue," he said to me, ignoring my question as if I hadn't even asked it.

I took a deep breath before answering. "The building had been evacuated and we were all standing in the parking lot in front of the school. Chris was still feeling a little bit dizzy, and I also felt a bit off. Then something really strange happened...it was like a spark or something going through me, and suddenly Chris was gone. I didn't even bother asking if anyone had seen her, I just followed the strange pull I felt because I felt like Chris needed my help and my body seemed to know exactly where she was.

"She had gone through the fire and back into the building because there was a girl trapped in the flames, even though at that point I didn't know this. I don't remember much after going inside, just knowing that Chris needed help...but I think that the flames were everywhere except around me. I remember that, at the time, I had thought that they were shying away from me. After a few minutes, I was able to find Chris and Mia — the girl that had been trapped inside. Chris wasn't in danger, she just needed help getting Mia out since the flames were all around them and dangerously close to Chris. She told me to get help, but I was in a panic because the strange pull was gone and I had finally realized what I was doing. I was so scared because it seemed like the flames were already on Chris' skin and I didn't want her getting hurt. I went into hysterics, wishing that I could help her somehow.

"At some point, I felt like fainting, and then suddenly one of the nearby drinking fountains exploded and the fire that was surrounding Chris and Mia was quenched. We managed to get Mia through the rest of the fire because, for some reason, the flames went out of my path and they didn't seem to bother Chris at all. We got out of the school and were driven to the hospital as soon as the fire brigade arrived. None of us were harmed, thankfully, and so we were allowed to go home the next day. I was a bit surprised, though, because I could have sworn that I had seen Chris getting burned..." I closed my eyes as I finished. The memory of our little adventure had given me a headache and this stranger was...strange.

Chris glanced at her watch and grimaced slightly.

"There you have your reason as to why you must attend FASGS," Mr. Decour said as he sat down.

"Attend what?"

I rolled my eyes at Chris and Mr. Decour ignored her.

"What kind of reason is that anyway? We saved someone — so what? Shit like that happens all the time," Chris continued when no one answered her.

Mr. Decour sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, but it is not all the time that two girls manipulate the elements of fire and water the way you two did."

I heard Chris' disbelieving snort.

I was just completely confused. "Are you trying to tell us that we can do some kind of weird elemental magic or something like that?" I asked in disbelief.

"In a way, yes. Although you are able to do more than simply play with fire and water, but you would learn more about the depth of your abilities in at the academy."

Chris' snort had turned into a full-blown laugh at this point, and even I was having a difficult time keeping my cool. Mr. Decour simply watched us with curious eyes. His expression, however, reminded me somehow of a scientist who had just discovered a long lost secret.

"So this school is like Hogwarts?" Chris asked. "Do you have the letter here, Bella? If it was sealed with wax, then you should have been able to figure this out much earlier." She was still laughing as I fished the letter out of my bag and handed it to her with a chuckle.

She quickly read the letter, huffing when she finished. "Seriously, I don't get why you and mom were this excited — this letter says nearly nothing," she complained as she handed the letter back to me.

I read it again.

Dear Ms. Swan,

We are very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to the Senior High School Department of Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students.

This is a very great honor and it is not offered often — we are sure that you will be appreciative of our generosity.

After the end of this summer, you will be one of our many elite students and you will be granted the education that is suitable for you.

We hope that this is in your best interest.

We will supply you with more extensive information as soon as we receive word that you have accepted this offer.

In hopes of seeing you soon,

Aro Volturi

Principal of Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students

After reading the letter again, I realized that I had no idea why I had been so excited when I first read it. But there was still something in my mind that was telling me that it would be in our best interest to go to this school.

Mr. Decour was glancing confusedly between Chris and I.

"Did you get separate letters?" he asked, frowning.

I shook my head. The letter had been addressed to both me and Chris. I showed him the envelope with our names on it. I felt a bit strange, sort of like something was clouding my mind.

He quickly looked at the envelope and his frown deepend. "Will you accept the offer to go to the FASGS? Yes or no?" he asked, looking at me as if he already knew what my answer would be.

"Yes," I answered immediately, with absolutely no hesitation. I was confused because that hadn't been what I wanted to answer — I wasn't really sure about this whole concept.

"No," Chris answered, sending a look full of disbelief in my direction.

I didn't know what to say, so I just sank back in my chair.

"Ah, just what I suspected. The letter contains a coercion spell as well as an excitement spell to make it seem like it was your own decision." He sighed and handed me a little candy-looking thing. I stared at it, not completely sure what he wanted from me, meanwhile my head began feeling heavier by the minute. "Eat it — it will make the headache go away."

"No, don't eat it. He's obviously crazy and I don't want him to drug you and rape you later." Chris held my hand down, stopping me from taking the candy and putting it in my mouth.

"Why are the ordinary borns always so difficult?" I heard Mr. Decour mumble under his breath before he pulled a folder out of a drawer.

"Let's see...Christabel Haley Swan, you got detention for tripping your Biology teacher when he gave you back homework which he graded with a low C."

"He tripped over nothing in particular — they only blamed it on me because I had been angry and laughing at him," Chris argued.

"You pushed Karen George's face into her food after she insulted you," he continued.

"No, I didn't. I wasn't even close enough to do that. You can ask Bella, she was standing right beside me."

I nodded slowly, confirming that she was indeed telling the truth.

"You poured water over the librarian when she kicked you and your sister out of the library."

"The glass tipped over on it's own," Chris replied.

"These are all rather strange incidents, don't you think? Now, shall I read the list of Isabella's punishments as well?"

"No," I groaned. I knew that I only had two incidents, but they weren't all that different from Chris'.

"Are you telling me that all of these incidents were 'magic' related?" Chris asked warily, with a small hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"If you think about it, you should be able to remember being irritated in those moments. You most likely thought of doing the exact things that happened."

I could see in Chris' expression that Mr. Decour was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

"I never thought about pouring water over the librarian," Chris said. "I wanted her to choke on the water because has the most annoying voice in the world."

"I wanted to pour water on her," I admitted quietly. Two sets of eyes flashed to me. I heard as Chris let out a sigh and felt as something strange passed through me. It felt like surrender. I shook it off and concentrated on the voice in my head that was constantly trying to convince me that I wanted to go to the academy.

"She should eat the cleanser right now," Mr. Decour said. "Otherwise the thought will remain permanently in her head. I'm sure that you want your sister to be able to decide on her own free will." He smiled kindly at Chris, revealing a set of perfect pearly whites.

Chris let go of my hand and I quickly grabbed the candy and shoved it in my mouth. It tasted very bitter and I wanted to spit it out instantly, but I felt my mind beginning to clear up again and the candy was already gone.

"What was that?" I asked, shaking my head to get rid of any excess dizziness.

"A cleanser — it breaks mind manipulation spells."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, her voice sounding tired.

Mr. Decour smiled at her surrender. "The letter contained a spell, as I said earlier. It was meant to make you want to go Forks, even if you truly didn't. Normally, this isn't done, but apparently Aro has already guessed that you would be difficult to convince. What I'm thoroughly confused about is why you are not under the spell." He looked curiously at Chris. "Who else touched the letter?"

"I gave it to our mom after I read it," I answered.

"Ah, that would explain it. Well, now just be sure not to give her the letter again — otherwise the second spell will take effect."

"Do you mind explaining, Napoleon?" Chris asked before I even had the chance to think the question. She received a funny look because of the nickname, but he otherwise ignored it.

"The first two people to touch the letter should have been hit with the excitement spell. If the exact same people touch the letter again, then the mind manipulating spell takes part and makes you think that you want to go to the school. That's what it did to Isabella. The spell takes only a few minutes and at first, it's not all that strong — only a short passing thought — but then the person will get a headache because the thought begins to literally force itself into your mind and doesn't go away until you are completely convinced that it is your own thought. As long as that hasn't happened, you can get rid of the spell by eating a so-called 'cleanser'. It is also a spell, but it pushes out everything that does not belong to your own mind."

"Who makes such things?" I asked. This was beginning to interest me, even if it was all still very confusing.

"Actually, I have already told you too much. You must first agree to go to the academy, then I will be able to tell you anything you wish to know about our world. You should decide today because tomorrow is your last day of school, and then you have your summer vacations and I'm sure that you'll want to start on time in the new school year, so if that's the case, we'll have to sign you up tomorrow."

"Why didn't we get the letter earlier?" That would have seemed much more plausible to me. It would have been better than rushing a decision like this.

"We weren't sure if you were suited for the school, so the decision took longer than it should have," Mr. Decour said. "Please make your decision during the day and let me know as soon as possible."

"How are we supposed to contact you?" Was he going to sit in his office all day?

"I'm going to pay you a little visit at home. You are not supposed to talk about anything we've discussed, not even to your parents. The official story is that you've been accepted because your impressive grades called our attention, since we are always looking for new suitable students."

"You should've told us the same story. It would've saved you a lot of trouble, Napoleon," Chris said dryly and I agreed with her. I would've agreed instantly if that had been the explanation for this mysterious acceptance.

"I guess it would have, but then you may have run off later on. And might I ask why you are calling me Napoleon?"

For the first time today, I saw a confused expression on his beautiful face. Somehow I got the feeling that confusion wasn't one of the most dominant feelings for him. As I looked at him, I started to wonder why she was calling him Napoleon, too. He most definitely was not short, and with his dark skin and dreadlocks, he didn't even look like him. Bob Marley would be a more fitting person, though he looked much better than Bob.

"I tried to come up with something French and that was the first thing that popped into my head. I guess I could have called you beret or baguette, but that just doesn't seem right."

"And you find Napoleon to be adequate?" I started to question Chris' sanity.

She simply shrugged. "I'll think of something else, but what am I supposed to call him until then?"

"Try his name," I suggested, feeling a bit annoyed.

Mr. Decour just shook his head. I started to get the feeling that we were the first ones who ever received these kinds of reactions from him.

"Right. So, we're allowed to go now?"

Mr. Decour nodded.

"Bye, Mr. Decour," I said kindly and offered him a handshake.

He looked at me as if he couldn't believe that I didn't have the same manners, or lack thereof, as my sister. But he took my hand anyway. "I'll see you this evening," he said. Every emotion he'd been showing up until now was gone and replaced by a smooth politeness. That was probably how he usually was because I was pretty sure that we'd almost pushed him over the edge of his self control.

Chris was already at the door, holding it open for me. I quickly stepped out and heard Chris shout, "See ya, Laurent," before she closed the door behind her.

All I could do was shake my head at her.

"So, what do you think of this?" I asked my sister as we strolled to class. We walked as slowly as we could and in the direction of our next class because neither one of us wanted to be present for the last ten minutes of Mr. Banners biology class.

"I think he's crazy."

"But maybe he's telling the truth. You know, it would explain some of the things that happen around us."

"Like what? The day when you came in crying because Sean broke up with you and all the dishes in the kitchen starting shaking? When I said 'Maybe it's magic', you looked at me like I was nuts and then you mumbled something about an earthquake."

"Well, maybe it wasn't an earthquake."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Well, I was thinking. Maybe I'd believed it this whole time, but I was suppressing it because it seemed ridiculous. I mean, do you remember that day when your hair was hanging in the candle flame for a few minutes but it never started burning? I had to convince Mom that it only looked like your hair was in the fire, but she didn't believe me because she'd clearly seen it and so had I."

Chris sighed in defeat. "Okay, let's assume that we really are some freaky witches or something. Why are they interested in us now? We're almost sixteen. Couldn't they have found us earlier? By the way, I still don't see how they found us in the first place."

"I have a theory. They probably found us because of the rescue eight months ago. You know everyone was confused how we'd gotten in and out again without a single scratch on us. As a matter of fact, we shouldn't have been able to get out because the whole place was on fire. Since this was on the news, I guess that's how people in Forks found out. But maybe I'm just mistaken and this Mr. Decour is some kind of stalker who needed a reason to take us with him to Forks where he'll lock us in a basement and—"

"Okay, okay, I get it. We're freaks. Now that we've settled that, I want to ask you something. Do you sometimes feel some kind of strange emotion pulse through you and know that it's not your own?" I couldn't read the expression on Chris' face.

"Whose emotions are they if they're not yours?"

"Actually, I think they're yours. Maybe it's a twin thing or maybe I'm just crazy, but sometimes I get urges that don't belong to me. It's only happened like three times or so—" while Chris was rambling, I had a tiny epiphany.

"Earlier in the office, you surrendered after I admitted that I want to pour water on our stupid librarian."

"Yeah, I did. How do—" she stopped and I saw relief cross Chris' face for a second before it was replaced by confusion.

"So you feel it too, don't you? Maybe I'm not crazy, then, but I still wonder what it is. Hopefully it's not more of this freaky magic—"

"I really feel like we should go to this school," I cut her off.

Chris watched me warily. "Are you sure? It's not some leftover from this psycho spell, is it?"

"No, it's not. I honestly think we should go. You know, neither of us are being properly challenged in this school, and you've always wanted to go to a boarding school anyway. Plus you'd be far away from Alex and you'd have a whole new bunch of boys to seduce." I knew my sister well enough to know that she'd agree to this whole thing once I gave her enough of a reason to go. Besides, she'd never stay in this school if I wasn't there anymore.

"I don't seduce boys, I just like to flirt a lot," Chris said. "I would've gotten a whole new bunch of boys anyway, since we're going to senior high after this summer." Chris threw me an unimpressed look. I had to try harder. She seemed to know what I was about to do and held up a hand. "If you want to convince me, you need to try a lot harder than that. Unless you can provide me with a really good reason, there's absolutely no way I'm leaving beautiful sunny Phoenix for a town named after a utensil. Along with the fact that neither of us knows where that is should tell you that it's some one-horse town in the middle of nowhere. So, you can do some research on this school while I try to enjoy our second to last day of junior high." As soon as she was done talking, the bell rang and hundreds of students came rushing out of their classrooms, hurrying to get to their next periods. Since we were already standing in front of our classroom, we simply entered and took our seats.

It was actually quite pointless for us to even be here. We weren't going to learn anything, and nobody even cared what we did. Our school completely sucked at planning. Somehow they'd managed to hold all of the farewell parties last week. We'd already "graduated" last week, too, but we weren't officially allowed out of school yet. So basically we all just sat here wasting our time because of some stupid error in the planning system. This hadn't been how I'd imagined the end of junior high, but at least there was an end.

"Hey guys," Raven greeted as she walked up to us. "How was your talk with the headmaster?" With her black hair and black clothes, she truly looked like a raven today.

"Oh, we didn't even talk to the headmaster. There was this crazy guy who just told us some nonsense—"

I quickly kicked Chris under the desk to shut her up.

"Ow," she whined. "Why did you kick me?"

I gave her a pointed look and she mouth "oops" as she remembered. Yeah, well, 'oops' isn't going to help, Chris.

Raven looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"It wasn't nonsense," I said defensively. "What he was talking about, I mean."

"Well who was he and what did he talk about?" Raven pressed impatiently.

Our teacher, Mrs. Penningham entered then, but nobody bothered to pay attention to her. She was our English teacher and she was really the only teacher who actually tried to teach us anything during our last week of school. Right now she was writing something on the board. We all knew that she'd start shouting at us as soon as she was done, but still, no one cared.

Chris wanted to answer Raven's question, but I was faster than her for once.

"We got a letter from this elite academy today. It said that they were offering us a place ther—"

"What? Like a scholarship?" I heard someone interrupt.

I turned to see that everyone in the classroom, aside from Mrs. Penningham, was eavesdropping on our conversation. The person who had interrupted me was Daisy Rinaldi, and she actually had a good point because honestly, I hadn't even thought of that.

"Why yes, of course," Chris used my moment of silence to answer the question herself. "They're so impressed with our grades that not only did they send us an acceptance letter, but they also sent one of their teachers to ask us if we wanted to go to their school." The way she spoke made it sound as if the school were desperate to have us there. That was actually probably her intention.

"What kind of people go to this school? I bet it's full of snobs and rich kids," another one of our classmates said.

I wanted to answer, but I was a bad liar, so I let Chris do the talking since we both knew that lies came from her lips as effortlessly as the truth. Luckily Raven and I were the only ones who knew that.

"Partly yes, but those are just the ones who bought their way in. All the others are specifically chosen based on special abilities," Chris smiled a somewhat arrogant smile and I guessed it was because she was getting so much attention for something she knew she could lie about.

This smile always appeared on her face when she played all high and mighty and everyone believed her. She enjoyed lying far too much. The thing was, Raven knew this too, and she looked at Chris suspiciously.

"And how did they get to you?" she asked warily.

This time, it was me who answered. "Apparently they keep watch on schools all over the country because they're always on the lookout for more, new special gifted students. And somehow, we caught their eyes."

As long as I was telling something similar to the truth, I was rather convincing. And since Raven knew that I couldn't lie to save my own life, she lost the skeptical look on her face. Instead, her face turned sad.

"Are you going to go to this school?"

I understood Raven's sadness completely. We had been best friends since the third grade, and we'd already been so excited to start all over in a new school together. Chris also saw Raven's face and her smile instantly fell like she was Paris Hilton on the red carpet. She patted Raven's cheek lightly.

"We haven't decided yet, but we have to decide today and as soon as we do, we'll call you, alright?"

Raven nodded sadly.

"This is an educational institution, not some skatepark! If you want to fuck around, do it in your own spare time, but not during my lessons!"

Ah, and there was the screaming that we all knew was coming. It caused everyone to jump and sit up straight in their chairs. Mrs. Penningham started to explain whatever she had written on the board. Chris passed me a note.

Is she allowed to say "fuck" during class? Raven had written.

Chris had already written an answer. Why not? Everyone else says it too, as soon as she enters the room.

I quickly scribbled a reply. Maybe even her parents thought that when she was born.

"That's harsh," Chris chuckled in my ear after she read what I'd written.

I simply shrugged and pretended as if I were listening to what Mrs. Penningham was saying.

When we arrived home after school, we found Mom running around the house, frantically cleaning from top to bottom like a maniac.

"Um...hey Mom," I greeted her carefully when she dashed passed us.

"Oh, hello my little puppies. How was school?" she yelled from the kitchen.

"Fine. We—" Chris started, but stopped when we entered the kitchen, only to see our mother rush into the living room.

"Mom? Why are you cleaning as if you're some kind of neat freak?" I asked cautiously as I sat down my back.

"No, no, no, not there. I just cleaned everything there. Would you be so kind as to bring your bags upstairs right away? Thanks." Somehow she managed to appear in front of me and vanish again as soon as she was done talking.

I looked at Chris, at a loss for words. She had a similar expression on her face as she merely shrugged her shoulders.

"Mom!" Chris yelled after a few more minutes of watching her bound around the house like she were on drugs or something. She was zipping around like the energizer bunny.

Mom stopped dead in her tracks and turned to us slowly.

"Would you mind explaining why you are cleaning the house like a crazy person?" I asked her kindly, knowing that Chris would have asked an incredibly rude question.

"Oh, I thought you already knew," Mom said breathlessly. "This Mr. Decour called when you were at school and said that he would come over tonight. He works for this elite school which—"

"Mom, we already know him, and there's no need to clean this place like some insane stain killer. He's not the king, you know. Plus, it already looks great in here anyway, so you should just relax and maybe concentrate on making dinner or something," Chris whispered gently and stroke Mom's head.

Mom seemed to come out of her madness only to go insane over the next thing. "Oh my goodness, you are so right, Bum Bum. He is coming over for dinner. I have to start cook right away!" And with that, Mom hustled into the kitchen and got to work.

"Mom," Chris whined. "I thought I told you not to call me 'Bum Bum'."

I snickered at that. Mom had called her that since we were five because Chris' butt had always been a bit bigger than everyone elses. When we were little, some kids teased her about it, and now it was one of her most appealing features. Everyone liked to stare at her ass, even the girls. Raven sometimes called her J. Lo because of that and because Chris liked to sing.

"You shouldn't laugh, my dear Belly Flop," Chris sneered.

I instantly shut up.

"Girls, are you dressed properly?" Mom yelled from downstairs.

"Sure, sure, Mom," I reassured her, even though it was hardly the case. I was just shutting off the computer, sitting in my hotpants and tank top while Chris was in her baggy jeans and a crop top. She was laying on her bed, busily typing away on her Sidekick.

"Should we get dressed?" she asked me lazily.

I scanned us both quickly. "Nah, we're fine. It's probably enough considering Mom's wearing her red tube dress and Dad will be in his work clothes."

Chris chuckled. Mom wouldn't allow Dad to get changed into something comfortable, which wouldn't make him too happy. Dad was the Chief of Police and he was always happy to get out of his work clothes so he could sit in front of the TV and relax. Well, today that wasn't going to happen.

The doorbell rang.

"He's here, he's here," I heard Mom sing from downstairs as she quickly shuffled to the door.

Meanwhile, I was dragging Chris down the stairs.

"You know, you never managed to convince me to go to this stupid boarding school," she noted.

"That's because I just finished my research five minutes ago, and you were listening to music, but don't worry, I'll make sure you hear everything about this school and then you'll finally agree with me."

"You were researching this school on the internet? Why all the secrecy if they have a website?"

"It's probably a cover. I think parents might be a bit confused if their children just disappeared to a school that doesn't exist."

"Do you think Hogwarts has a website? Or maybe Sky High? I should check that out later."

I rolled my eyes at Chris and came to a half in front of Mom, Dad, and Mr. Decour. They'd been about to go into the dining room before we showed up. Mom was indeed wearing her red tube dress, and she was glaring at us for not putting on our "cute white dresses." Dad was wearing one of his much-hated suits and giving us an envious glare. Mr. Decour was more or less dressed up in a pair of dark jeans, a nice crisp white button-down shirt, and he even had his dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail. But he didn't look as over-dressed as my parents, or as under-dressed as Chris and I.

"Laurent, how nice to see you for the second and last time," Chris exclaimed.

Laurent quickly studied her with a strange expression, but didn't comment on her greeting.

"Good evening, Mr. Decour," I said, being the well-behaved child I was.

He smiled politely at me and greeted me in return.

After that, we entered the dining room. We didn't use the dining room often because we were comfortable eating at the kitchen table, but this was a 'special' occasion.

"Was he checking me out?" Chris murmured in my ear.

"No, you idiot, he was scanning you. I don't think a grown man like him would check out a fifteen-year-old nuisance like you," I whispered back before taking my seat.

Chris sat down beside me, opposite of Mr. Decour or Laurent or whatever she plans to call him now.

Mom served the food, and at first the conversation was just the same old boring adult small talk. When it came time to eat the desert, the real topic was brought up.

"So, my wife tells me that my daughters have been accepted into the elite school that you work for," Dad said casually.

"Yes, indeed they've been accepted."

"How exactly did they earn this honor?"

"Well, they are excellent students, and our school is always looking for promising young people to facilitate."

"Ah, yes, we really do have two shiners here," Dad agreed with his eye-crinkling grin.

"How did you find out about our two little geniuses?" Mom asked curiously.

"We have partner schools all over the country, and we're always being informed of students whom stand out. The twins happened to go to one of said partner schools," Mr. Decour answered lightly.

After what I'd found out, this really was the truth. Well, at least that's what they had written on their website, but that could also be a lie.

"Is this whole thing something like a scholarship?" I heard Chris asked. She seemed to be interested in this after all.

"Yes, exactly. Even though your parents have to pay for you school uniforms," Mr .Decour was something close to surprised that Chris had actually managed to ask a normal question in a semi-polite tone.

"What? We'd have to wear uniforms? There is no way I am going to that place," Chris grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Every trace of surprise was immediately wiped from Mr. Decour's face.

I chuckled slightly. "Chris, it's really not that bad. We're allowed to take the uniform off after classes, and they're actually pretty cute; a blue skirt, and a white blouse."

Everyone looked at me in surprise, aside from Chris. She wasn't at all convinced that the uniforms were cute.

"I did some research," I explained and noted that Mr. Decour seemed rather pleased by that.

"So why should we send our girls off to an elite private school? I'd like to keep them close," Dad said.

"Dad, it's an advanced school," I spoke before Mr. Decour could even open his mouth. "I know you're going to say that the school we chose is advanced as well, but Chris and I were still very unchallenged. In this school, we would be among kids who are just as smart as we are. The lessons have a very different standard, and lots of subjects are taught by fully-trained faculty members. We can even choose to learn three out of six foreign languages. We can choose between Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Chinese, and Arabic. Plus, it's not only high school. The campus includes an elementary school, junior and senior high school—" I took a deep breath, "—and college." The moment I'd mentioned the word 'college', I knew it'd be easy to win Dad over and I was right. He actually looked like he was considering it. "And Dad, you wouldn't have to pay for it because the scholarship includes college," I added softly.

Now he looked as if he were about to burst into happy tears. I'd never really gotten Dad's fears about having to pay for college. We had more than enough money to afford it, but Dad saw it a bit differently.

"Well, that is, of course, a very persuasive argument. After all, I want both of you to create something great with your intelligence, and this sounds like just the right place." Dad was smiling proudly at us, and Mom bobbed her head in agreement.

Chris had just finished sulking and now sat there with a thoughtful expression.

"There's nothing more I can add to that, I suppose. The only thing that holds me here is the decision from the girls." Mr. Decour's slight accent rang out a tiny bit stronger than usual when he said that.

Our parents turned to look at us.

"I think you should go, my little candy girls. It would be the best thing for you. You would learn so many things, and not just anybody gets a chance like this," Mom cooed, smiling gently.

"Can we think about it for a couple of minutes?" Chris' voice sounded a bit off. She was lost in her thoughts.

"Yes, of course, darling. Why don't you and Mr. Decour head into the living room and your father and I will clean up real quick?" Mom suggested.

I gave her a quick nod.

We led Mr. Decour into the living room, and as soon as we were alone, Chris snapped out of her thoughtfulness. She turned hastily and looked at Mr. Decour.

"Okay, Monsieur Niveau. Is any of this even true?" she waved at me while she asked.

"What she said about the school? Yes, it's true. We actually do have an advanced program in the school because you have to learn a bit more than just the usual classes," he answered calmly.

"Yeah, yeah, all this magic crap, I get it. I'm not really sure if I believe it, but going to an advanced school does sound more interesting..."

"So, you agree to go?"

"Is there anything special we should know before going?" Chris asked, dodging his question.

"Well, there are a lot of things you should know, but you'll learn everything once you get there."

"There really is a college?"

"Yes."

"And it's not an all-girls school, right?"

"No."

I groaned in understanding and Chris just smirked at me.

"Okay, we'll go. Congratulations, Laurent, you've managed to break me," Chris said.

"You know, now that you've accepted, you will have to call me Mr. Decour."

"Yeah, maybe. I'll think about it."

He shook his head. "I guess I better go get the application forms for your parents to sign," He quickly left the room.

A moment later, our parents entered.

"Where is Mr. Decour?"

"He went to get the application forms for you to sign," Chris sighed.

"So you agreed?" Mom asked excitedly.

We nodded in unison and Dad smiled proudly at us while Mom started squealing and jumping up and down right as Mr. Decour returned. She stopped instantly and smoothed out her dress.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Decour was gone with two signed application forms. He left behind a list of things we might want to have with us for the next year. Right after he went, we called Raven to tell her about our decision. She started crying on the phone and we had a hard time getting her to stop.

Right now, Mom was yelling at us for not being dressed appropriately. We just sat there and listened. Neither one of us really cared and we knew that Mom knew we didn't, but still, she tried to get her messages through to us.

The next day, Raven had somehow managed to throw us a We'll Miss You & Have Fun In Washington party at school. When I read the banner that hung over the school entrance, I realized that Raven must have researched where Forks is because I hadn't told her, simply because I'd been carefully avoiding telling Chris that. When she saw the banner, she flipped out. It took about five of our friends to calm her down.

Our party took place during classes, always during the lessons. Actually, we did pretty much the same thing that we'd been doing all week, only we added sodas and snacks, which the guys continuously carried from one class to the next.

I thought that they only used this party to give the teachers one more reason to give up trying to teach us, because almost all of the people were invited to our birthday party, so they would see us again no matter what. We let them have their fun anyway, and after the school day was over, we made a High School Musical worthy exit from the building.

The following summer was more or less uneventful. Chris and I spent a lot of time in driving school to get our licenses just in time for our sweet sixteen, which was one day before we headed off to Forks. Naturally, being the geniuses are, we passed the driving test with flying colors, and Dad promised to buy a car for each of us since he no longer needed our college fund.

We tried to make the most out of the summer, because afterward, we wouldn't be spending all of our time here, which was both exciting and depressing.

Raven had managed to convince her parents to go to Europe without her and to let her stay with us for the summer. It was really cute, so as a thank you, Chris and I made her breakfast every morning.

I also had a minor fling during the summer. It lasted three weeks and his name was Chazz. He'd been in the driving school with us, and both Raven and Chris had been jealous when he'd asked me out. That boosted my ego a little and for once, I'd actually agreed to wear one of Chris' skimpy bathing suits when we went to the beach.

We also went to Disneyland with our parents, and took about a thousand pictures of us with all of the Disney characters.

When half of the summer had passed, we started to get prepared for our journey. Mom dragged us girls from one shop to the next pretty much every day. That was a rather unpleasant experience for me because I'd never been a big fan of shopping, but to make matters worse, I wasn't even allowed to buy the things I wanted because I always chose things I couldn't wear in the cold, rainy state of Washington.

Chris wasn't all that much happier, but she'd somehow managed to purchase everything she wanted, and she got away with it. That was because she was one of those people with the ability to dress in layers and combine things in a way that was suitable for the situation. I was someone who liked pretty and simple things because I liked to dress and undress really quickly. In the end, I got some help from my dearest sister, and even Raven assisted in the choosing of my outfits, but she wasn't much help since she mostly just danced around and told us how lucky she was to be staying in beautiful, sunny Phoenix.

As light as the mood was during the day, as soon as it was dark outside, we became nostalgic and started remembering the "good old days." At one point, I'd even decided that we'd watch an old movie from our childhood every evening, and so we went to the video store everyday to choose a movie. Dad was paying for all of this, saying that since he no longer had to save up for our college funds, it didn't matter.

We watched every movie we'd ever seen together. There were a lot of them. When we realized that we were running out of time and still had too many movies left, we started a weekend movie marathon. After two days of watching TV, we all had terrible headaches and took a day to sleep it off.

After that, we spent the remains of our summer vacation by planning mine and Chris' birthday party. When the last day of vacation rolled around, we celebrated with all of our friends on a luxury steamer, which Dad had generously paid for, stating again that he wouldn't have to pay for college, so it was okay. Chris suspected that he was enjoying this far too much, but I thought that Dad was trying to show his affection by keeping us happy and satisfied. Of course we thanked Daddy no matter what his reasoning was, and I swear I saw a tear rolling down his face when we kissed him and reminded him of how much we loved him.

Raven's tears were most definitely rolling when we saw our friends off after the party. She was the last to go and she embraced the two of us so tightly that we almost turned blue. She threatened us that she'd send our childhood pictures to our school newspaper if we didn't email her at least once a day now that both of us had a new laptop, courtesy of our father. We promised her that we'd both write her an email before going to sleep, and if we had time, we'd even send her one in the morning. She informed us that we were only going to be one hour behind in time, and that she wouldn't take the time difference as an excuse. We agreed with that and when she finally stopped crying, we started to blubber.

At some point, our parents decided to call Raven's parents. They had to separate us by force because we had an early flight the next day and Raven had to go to school. We were starting our sophomore year without Raven. That realization made Chris cry harder than both me and Raven.

In the whole fight of separating us, everybody stopped to look at Chris in surprise. She hardly ever cried, and now she was howling like a coyote. Apparently Chris had done that intentionally, though, because she'd used the moment of confusion to escape Dad's grip and to give Raven one last bear hug.

When Mom and Dad were both busy with wrestling Chris off of Raven, I snuck up from behind and gave her one last hug as well, despite her mother's arms being in the way, trying to pull her in the opposite direction.

After twenty minutes of hardcore wrestling, our parents had finally managed to drag us into the cars and drive us home.

As soon as we were locked in the car, Chris pulled out her phone and called Raven. Both of us continued crying through the phone as Raven burst back into tears on the other end. Our parents, however, were soon annoyed with that and threatened to take the laptops back if we didn't stop. That made all three of us shut up and we quickly scampered to hang up after a quick declaration of our love for one another.

I didn't sleep well that night. I knew Chris didn't sleep any better, and when the next morning rolled around, neither of us were sure if we should feel excited or just plain miserable.

A/N: Yeah, well, I don't have much to say about this, so I guess I'll just let you guys talk about this chapter. Let me know if you loved it, hated it, or just read it because you were bored and couldn't find a more exciting story. I don't care, just review. Other than that, I have nothing more to say, so I wish you a very good night or morning or afternoon or evening or noon...(you know what I mean -.-)