Chapter Three

"Hey guys," greeted Evelyn, "what are you three running from?"

Chase grinned, "A boy Bree likes tried talking to her, she got nervous and ran off while he wasn't looking."

"We were running from the awkward moment where he asked where she went," added Leo.

"So why have you two been missing lunch lately?" asked Adam.

Devon froze. 'This conversation's boring. Let's go talk to someone else.'

Evelyn laughed inside. She smirked and grabbed her brother's arm as he tried to leave. "Devon was hiding from some girls that want to ask him to the dance. I was keeping him company."

"What girls?" asked Leo straightening up.

"Oh just a small group." Evelyn grinned mischievously. "You know; Jessica Slater and her friends, Amy, Grace, and Samantha."

Leo blinked. "Those are some of the hottest girls in the school!" he exploded, waving his arms around wildly. "How'd you get girls like that to ask you out?"

Since Devon was too busy scowling, Evelyn answered for him, still grinning. "Oh, they think he's cool being so tall, dark, and mysterious."

"I thought you said people were afraid of you?" asked Chase confused.

Devon actually growled in annoyance. "They were, but we've been talking and hanging out with you guys. So now they think we're the strong and silent types as opposed to the previous freaky ones."

"Why are you hiding from them?" asked Leo bewildered. "A group of pretty girls want you to go out with them!"

"They might be pretty, but they don't share any of my interests," explained Devon. "Why would I want to go out with a girl that can't keep up when I start talking about science, literature, or philosophy? I like having intelligent conversations." He sighed and raised his left hand to rub at his temples. "If I date someone, it'll be someone smart and interesting. Pretty would just be a bonus."

'A beautiful mind, huh?' Evelyn sent him a knowing smile.

Devon gave her a grin. 'But of course.'

"What about you, Evelyn?" asked Adam, drawing everyone's attention to him.

Evelyn tilted her head to the right. "What about me?"

Adam shrugged, "Has anybody asked you to the dance yet?"

Evelyn shook her head. "Not yet."

"If someone does ask, will you say yes?" asked Leo leaning forward on the tips of his toes.

Evelyn smiled at him fondly. "No Leo. There's a guy I like, if he doesn't ask, then I'm just going to hang out with Dev." 'I hope he asks.'

Devon blinked at his sister in confusion for a moment. 'Wait, you actually like 'like' him? But you were upset with me last Wednesday! You swore revenge and everything!' "What will you do if I find a date?"

'Shut up, you exacerbated it and made it impossible for me to ignore my feelings.' Evelyn rolled her eyes at her brother. "Dev, I've been helping you hide from your rabid fan club since the dance was announced. They scared off all the girls that you might have said yes to in the first day."

Devon pouted at her for a moment before turning to the others and changing the subject. "So, you guys going with anyone yet?"

Devon's question made Chase and Adam grin while Leo scowled at them.

"He tried to ask Danielle out," said Chase to explain Leo's sudden bad mood.

"She totally brushed him off and then thought his name was Lenny." Adam's addition did nothing to improve Leo's current state and the twins chuckled at his indignant glare.

"Well at least I tried!" exclaimed Leo, throwing his hands up into the air with an aggravated huff.

Still smiling, Devon opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a shout.

"There he is!" yelled a black haired girl from the other end of the hallway. Behind her stood two blondes and a brunette. They were all rather pretty and had their eyes set on Devon. The lead girl pointed at him and ordered, "Don't let him get away."

"Crap," muttered Devon as he saw the girls moving quickly towards him. Turning, he took off running in the opposite direction, yelling over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys in class!"

Evelyn and the others watched with amusement and a variety of other emotions as the four girls chased him around the corner.

"As pretty as those girls are, that was a little scary," said Chase.

Adam and Leo nodded in agreement.

"Well," started Evelyn, drawing their attention, "I'm hungry, so I'm going to see about getting some lunch."

'Help! Evey! Help! Don't let the catch me! Help! Save me! Evey! Help!'

Evelyn sighed and, copying her brother's earlier action, rubbed at her left temple. "On second thought, I'm going to go rescue Dev." She gave the three boys a wave, "See you guys later."

'Help! Evey! Janitor's Closet! Save me! Help! Evey!' Devon's thoughts began to loop as he panicked.

"Bye Evelyn," chorused the boys.

"Good luck," added Adam, waving back.

"Thanks," called Evelyn as she stalked away. 'I'm coming already! Quit yelling.'

'Help! Evey! Closet! Save me! Hurry! Help!'

Evelyn blocked the majority of their bond to stop the increasingly repetitive and panicked thoughts from invading her head. Rolling her eyes, she made her way towards where her brother had gotten trapped.

Scene Change

The Porsche pulled into the garage silently. As soon as it came to a stop the two tired teens climbed out.

'Dad's home already.' Evelyn lifted her arms above her head and popped her spine a bit as she walked towards the door to the house.

Devon followed behind her into the empty kitchen. 'His briefcase isn't here. Maybe he spent the day in the lab.'

The twins dumped their book-bags by the breakfast island as they each grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. Hearing the basement door open, they turned to see their dad.

He was wearing a white lab coat, thick white rubber gloves that went up past his elbows, and large black goggles. "Oh, hey kids." Dr. May moved the goggles up onto his forehead. "How was school? You get asked to go to the dance yet?"

The twins groaned in unison and collapsed onto their stools.

"Tiring," muttered Evelyn in response to the first question as she let her head fall forward to rest on the countertop.

Her brother nodded in agreement. "I spent all day avoiding a pack of rabid girls." His body copied his sisters as he added, "Evey tried to help, but after lunch she had to start finding her own hiding places."

Dr. May pulled his gloves off and stuffed them into his coat pockets, he then removed the coat and hung it on a peg beside the basement door. "That bad huh?" He moved into the kitchen proper and began to pull out the things he would need to cook supper. "I thought you were looking forward to this dance?"

"Evey was hoping that her crush would ask her to go," said Devon, still talking in the general direction of the floor.

"Has he?" inquired Dr. May as he quickly seasoned a couple of steaks.

"No," groaned Evelyn, not moving her head. "Instead this creepy Kyle guy keeps asking me. And he doesn't seem to understand the word 'no'."

Dr. May opened a can of green beans. "Is that why you were hiding?"

Evelyn nodded against the counter, her shoulders bobbing up and down. "He was following me around and trying to touch my hair." 'Creepy weirdo.'

Beside her Devon grunted unintelligibly. 'At least you only had one crazy person following you around.'

Evelyn just groaned in response.

Putting the meat in a pan, Dr. May simply watched the two in amusement. When they didn't move or speak out loud for a few minutes he decided to break the silence. "Would you like to hear about what I did today?"

Blinking, the twins raised their heads and nodded.

"I spent the day in the lab and I've got some good news and some bad news," he began with a smile, flipping the steaks over. "I was working with the Serum and I'm ninety-seven percent sure that I know how to make it work the way I originally intended. That's the good news."

"So what's the bad?" asked Evelyn sitting straighter in her seat.

Keeping his attention on the stove Dr. May continued, "I'm going to have to actually make two separate Serums, one designed to search and the other to ground. The Serums are going to have to be tailored to match your different biologies."

Devon's head tilted to the left. "What does that mean for us?"

Dr. May sighed. "It means that one of you will be able to search, as was originally planned and the other will act as a kind of anchor to keep the one searching from losing themselves."

"That seems sensible," said Evelyn confused. "What about that is bad news?"

"The only way I can get the two different formulas to do what I want, is to make them permanent and incompatible," explained Dr. May, moving the meat off the stove. "Once you take one you'll be stuck with it and unable to take the other. You won't be able to swap from one to the other."

Evelyn frowned. "Oh."

Devon looked from their dad's serious face to Evelyn's troubled one and laughed. "Evey, don't worry about it. That's really not a problem at all."

"What?" asked Evelyn, startled.

"Evey, I hate doing the searching. I don't like how disconnected it makes me feel." He shook his head with a grin. "You love it though. I much prefer being the anchor, so I have no problem with it being permanent."

Dr. May shared his son's grin. "Well then, if that's settled, I'll get started on it over the weekend. Now, who wants dinner?"

Scene Change

"Nice work guys," said Mr. Soven as the bell rang. "Now remember, your projects are due tomorrow. If your models aren't done yet, you can come in during lunch and for an hour after school to finish them."

"So what's got you in such a rush?" asked Evelyn as the three packed their things away.

"Adam, Leo, and I have come up with a plan to get Danielle to go to the dance with Leo." Chase slid the last of his notebooks into his bag and stood. "I'll tell you how it goes in Gym."

Amused, the twins watched him race into the hall.

'Want to go watch?' Devon led the way out of the room at a more sedate pace.

Evelyn shook her head with a smile. 'Nah, it'll probably fail anyway. And I don't want to chance the Weirdoes finding us between classes.'

Devon paled a bit at that thought. 'Good idea.'

Splitting up they each entered the appropriate locker room to get ready for class.

'Hey Dev?'

'Yeah.'

'Are you really okay with the whole Serum thing?'

'Hell yes. You're much better at the whole telepathy/empathy with other people thing. Even when the Serum was in its rawest form you were able to feel people in Europe, and understand them. Best I could do was the other side of town, and I hated every minute of it.'

'So you're fine with being the Anchor?'

Devon snorted as he put his shoes back on. 'Evey, I've been working as your anchor since you were born.'

Evelyn rolled her eyes and, fully dressed, left for the gym. 'We were born at the same time Dev.'

'Yeah, but I was removed from the tube first. That makes me the oldest.'

'Ten seconds doesn't count. Especially since you pushed me away from the opening.'

Devon grinned at his sister's aggravation. 'Does too, you could've pushed back. So what are we doing in Gym today?'

Letting the argument go, Evelyn looked over the gym. 'Looks like we'll be playing dodge ball today.'

Entering the room himself, Devon's grin took on a slightly evil look as it widened to show all of his teeth. "Excellent." 'I need to relieve some stress.' The bell rang for the beginning of second period as he crossed the room to stand beside his twin. 'Wonder how badly their plan failed.'

'Well here come Chase and Adam, we can ask them.' Evelyn's thoughts took on a distinctly amused tinge. 'Adam certainly is happy. It's radiating off of him in waves.'

"Hey Adam, Chase," called Devon, getting their attention, "over here."

Obligingly, the two moved to their side of the gym.

"Hey guys," said Adam happily, grinning from ear to ear.

"So," began Evelyn.

"How'd it go?" finished Devon.

Adam blinked, still not used to the twins' occasionally disjointed way of speaking.

Chase sighed, "It didn't work."

"Then why is he so happy?" asked Evelyn, smiling in amusement.

"Because Danielle's decided to go to the dance with me!" said Adam happily, his grin somehow getting even bigger.

Devon chuckled to himself. 'Well that explains why Leo won't stop glaring at the back of Adam's head.'

'Yeah, but Chase looks depressed that his plan failed.' Evelyn decided to change the subject. "So, we're playing dodge ball today. Do you guys know how?" After the multiple fiascos in the one-week of having known them, it was easy for the twins to determine that the Davenports had never played most ball games before.

The two boys shook their heads, and got two identically evil looking grins.

"It's pretty easy to pick up," started Devon, "The class will be split into two teams and each team is given half of the gym."

"The two teams will then use these balls," Evelyn pointed at the balls that had been placed in a line across the middle of the room, "to hit the opposing team's players."

Devon picked the explanation back up again. "If you get hit by a ball before it hits the floor, you're out of the game and have to sit on the sidelines."

"However, if you catch a ball that someone throws at you, then the person who threw it is out."

"You can also block balls from hitting you with a ball of your own, but you're only allowed to hold one ball at a time."

"Since this is a school game we're not allowed to hit people in the head," added Evelyn.

Devon nodded. "If you do, then the person you hit is safe and you're out."

"Any questions?" asked both twins with creepy matching smiles.

"It's a bit creepy when you two start talking like that," said Chase, as the two boys shook their heads.

The twins' smiles became friendlier as they laughed.

Still chuckling, Devon apologized, "Sorry guys, we love this game."

"We're really good at it," added Evelyn. "Sometimes we can get a little carried away."

"Is this similar to Devon being a ninja to scare people?" asked Chase.

The twins nodded and Devon said, "Freaking people out with our 'twin-ness' is a hobby of ours."

Chase nodded his head despite the confusion obvious in his face. "Sounds like fun, we're going to go tell Bree the rules." As he spoke he grabbed his brother and started pulling him away.

"Probably a good idea," agreed Devon with a nod. 'They're so cute when they're scared.'

Evelyn's eyes got a bit glazed as she sighed. 'Yeah.'

Devon blinked at his sister before shaking his head and groaning. 'Argh, I don't want to know that Evey!'

Evelyn blushed. 'Shut it, you brought it up.'

'They're my friends too. I don't want to hear that my twin sister thinks they're cute.' Devon held up a hand to keep her from saying or thinking anything else. 'Let's just focus on taking out everything on two legs that's not on our side of the room.'

She nodded. 'All right.'

'Go make sure the coach doesn't try to split us up again.'

'I'm on it.' Evelyn cracked her neck and sidled up beside Coach Mathis as he got ready to shout out names for the first team.

'Oh, see if you can get our team to have no Davenports or Leo on it.'

Evelyn rolled her eyes. 'Want to see if we can beat them despite their obvious special abilities?'

'Until Dad admits that they're like us and schedules us a "play-date", this is the best power test we're going to get.' Despite having said all of that telepathically, he still made the air quotations around "play-date", making the students surrounding him edge away slightly.

Shaking her head at her brother's reasoning, Evelyn put her hand on the teacher's shoulder as she pretended to read his roll sheet.

'annoyance Creedan and Smith need to be on the same team or they're likely to try and kill each other with those foam balls. annoyance The new Davenports have a lot of potential, but don't know how to play anything. annoyance'

Evelyn slid into the coach's thought stream. 'suggestion Since they're fairly useless, why not put them all on the same team, with Dooley too. suggestion Put the May twins on the opposing team to even it out. suggestion'

Coach Mathis' thoughts absorbed the suggestion and a second later accepted it. 'idea I'll put the Davenports and Dooley on one team and the Mays on the opposing. amusement It'll be quantity versus quality. amusement speculation Maybe I can get some suckers to bet against the twins' team. speculation'

Evelyn removed her hand and left the coach's thoughts as he started thinking more about which teachers hadn't interacted much with her or her brother yet. Smiling as he glanced at her, she moved back to where her twin was waiting. 'Pretty sure we're all set. Though not sure how soon the game will start if he follows through on some of those thoughts.'

Devon gave her a smile. 'It's nice that coach has so much faith in our skills.'

His sister snorted in amusement. ' He has faith because we go all out at this game, but if Bree uses even a fraction of the speed she did in that football game, we're going to have some trouble.'

'Relax, using powers is technically cheating, but if she starts using hers than I'm going to start using mine.'

Their silent conversation was interrupted as Coach Mathis clapped his hands to get the whole gyms attention. "All right, listen up! Since we've got a number of new people I'm going to change it up a bit. May twins!" Seeing he had their attention, he pointed to the left side of the room. "You will be Team Two. And since everybody else is terrified of you, the rest of the class is going to be Team One."

For a moment the whole class froze as they processed the unusual news.

Evelyn groaned out loud as she made her way to the left side of the gym. 'Coach Mathis has a sadistic side.'

Beside her, her brother grinned. 'Oh come on Evey, this'll be fun.' His grin just grew as they watched the rest of the class organize themselves a bit on the other side of the room.

Evelyn sighed. 'At least Chase, Adam, Bree, and Leo look worried for us. I knew they were good friends.'

Devon rocked on the balls of his feet and swung his arms in their sockets to stretch them out. 'You're going to love it, admit it.'

His sister shot him a halfhearted glare before she gave up and smiled. 'Oh alright, it's going to be awesome.'

'Great, now get your game face on.' He smacked his fist into his palm and cracked his neck to the side. 'Let's wipe the floor with them.'

'Aye aye brother of mine.'

As one, the twins' faces split into creepy grins that showed all of their teeth. A moment later the coach's whistle sounded the start of the game and the twins sprinted forward to scoop up a ball each. A couple students on the opposing team stepped back at the sight and quickly found themselves out of the game as they were targeted and hit.

In the first few seconds, the twins managed to take out five of the opposing players before they had to fall back to avoid getting hit. Having only two players on their team meant that they were constantly being targeted.

Evelyn had to abort a throw and roll to the left to dodge three balls that hit where she had previously been standing.

'Dev, watch out, Adam's arm is powerful.' Evelyn warned her brother as she glanced at the severely misshapen foam ball that she'd just dodged.

Devon nailed a boy who'd been aiming for his sister in the shoulder. Scooping up another ball he had to jump to the side as Chase sent a ball sailing through the air where he had been a second earlier. 'Chase has terrific aim.' He threw his ball at him, but the shorter boy dodged without a problem. 'And he's a decent dodger.'

Evelyn cart-wheeled away from a barrage of balls, while Devon shoulder rolled to escape from his own attack. Popping back up to their feet, the two managed to knock another four opponents out of the game.

The game continued on in a similar vein. The twins made a number of remarkable saves. Every ball they threw got someone out, even when the intended target escaped. The only people that they were having trouble with were the three Davenports and Leo. Though Leo would've been out in the first few minutes if it hadn't been for his stepsiblings coming to his rescue.

'And then there were four.' Devon's grin had taken on a somewhat maniacal edge at some point during the game. Combined with his stare he'd scared one boy so badly that he'd dropped to his knees and begged to be put out of his misery. The distraction had allowed Evelyn to knock six people out of the game before they'd even realized that they were under attack again.

'They still out number us and they've actually got some skill at this.' Smiling to herself, Evelyn skipped to a spot halfway between the wall and her brother's left side, scooping a ball from the floor as she went. 'Let's remove Leo and get serious. I want to see how they measure up.'

Evelyn had lost her grin in the first few minutes of the game and had instead donned a small private smile. While not nearly as scary as her brother, when combined with her occasional giggles and the way she practically bounced around their side of the gym, it was a bit disconcerting to watch. Especially when she randomly broke into dancing.

On the other side of the gym Bree stood across from Evelyn with a ball in her hand. Chase stood beside her with Adam on his other side. Leo stood safely behind them, and was peering over Chase's shoulder.

Grin widening a bit, Devon nodded and moved so that he had another two balls within easy reach. 'Good plan, we'll go on our mark.'

Evelyn twirled in place with a giggle, deflecting Bree's ball away to the side.

'Mark.'

Startling the others, the twins burst in action. Evelyn threw her ball at Bree before flipping back to the wall. At the same time Devon threw two balls in rapid succession at Adam and Chase.

Bree dove to the side away from the others, while Adam was forced to dodge in the opposite direction. Leaving Chase and Leo hemmed in by oncoming balls.

"Leo, Drop!" ordered Chase. He followed his own advice and fell to the floor, Leo copying him.

Devon smirked from where he was kneeling and leaned forward on his left hand as his right grabbed the remaining ball. Behind him, Evelyn had pushed off the wall and running, used his back like a ramp to get more height. When she reached his shoulders he tossed her the ball and surged upright, throwing her into the air.

At the apex of her flight she had a perfect view of Leo lying on the floor behind Chase. Throwing the ball she nailed him in the back. 'Perfect.' She flipped and landed gracefully beside her brother. Devon lifted his hand, which she cheerfully high-fived.

They waited patiently as the Davenports helped Leo to his feet and then had a group huddle before he joined the rest of the class on the sidelines.

Devon's evil grin relaxed into a more natural smile as he rolled his shoulders and neck. 'Ready to get serious?'

Evelyn's demeanor shifted as well to where she seemed simply happy as opposed to the pervious crazy. She stretched her arms above her head and then arched backwards. 'This'll be fun.' She stood upright as the Davenports broke out of their huddle and moved to stand in a line facing them. Adam stood across from Evelyn, while Bree now stood facing Devon. Once again Chase was between them.

Obviously testing them, Chase threw the ball he had been holding at Evelyn. Without hesitation, she let herself fall backwards till her hands touched the floor. The ball sailed over her bent body harmlessly and she kicked her legs up into a handstand before standing upright again.

Standing together the twins smiled happily. "This'll be fun, a Lab Rats only game."

Before either team could move the sound of a whistle filled the air. Stepping in between the remaining players Coach Mathis clapped his hands. "Good game you five. Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to see how this would play out, we're out of time. Bell rings in five minutes, go get changed.'

The class as a whole let out a disappointed grumble, but they all obediently made their way to the locker rooms.

"Not bad Davenports," said Coach Mathis before the three could move. "You've got some potential." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand and turned to the waiting twins. "Damn you two!" He looked them both over with his hands planted on his hips. "Why aren't you on any of my sports teams?"

Devon shook his head. "We don't really like team sports. We just needed some stress relief."

The coach snorted ruefully. "So you wiped out nearly the whole class." He shook his head and waved them away. "I'll see if I can schedule some time for you to finish this match. Go get changed for lunch."

'Argh! We didn't get to play with them at all!' Devon's shoulders slumped unhappily as he entered the crowded boy's locker room behind Chase and Adam. "Good game you two."

The two brothers glanced at each other uneasily.

"Are you going to go crazy on us?" asked Adam warily.

Devon blinked in confusion. "Huh? Oh, you mean out there with the evil grinning and stuff."

"Yeah," said Chase as Adam nodded.

Devon waved his hand negligently. "We do that to scare the opposition. Makes them give up a little bit easier."

"It's a psychological attack," realized Chase.

'We really freaked Bree out with our antics.' Evelyn's thoughts were amused.

'Yeah, I explained it to Adam and Chase. Chase gets it. Not sure about Adam.'

"A what?" asked Adam, clearly confused.

Chase shook his head in exasperation. "I'll explain on the way home."

"You guys leaving early today?" Devon pulled his regular clothes out of his bag and quickly changed into them.

Chase nodded as he and Adam pulled their regular clothes on. "Yeah, but just for lunch. We've got some chores that we have to check up on." Slipping his shoes on he stood. "See you in class later."

"Bye." Adam waved as he followed his brother out of the room.

'So Bree says that they're all leaving for lunch today.'

'Yep.' Devon packed his gym uniform away and, grabbing his bag, met up with his sister in the hallway. 'Adam and Chase already left to go collect Leo.'

'Bree's just going home with the boys so she can grab a shower.'

'Smart girl.'

Evelyn nodded. 'So, now that we've lost our friend-buffers, where should we hide for the next hour?'

'We've got one minute till the bell rings and the crazies come out.' Devon sighed and rubbed at his right temple. 'Let's hide on the roof.'

Scene Change

It really was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and the sky was a clear blue with only a couple of fluffy white clouds floating across it.

'At least it's nice out.' Evelyn finished off the last bite of her sandwich and flopped down to lay on her back.

On the other side of their impromptu picnic her brother copied her movement. 'Despite the reasons for why we're up here, it's nice to be away from other people.'

'The quiet's nice.'

Devon rolled over onto his side so that he could she his sister. 'Evey, why were you dancing the Macarena? I understand freaking the opposition out, but where did you come up with that?'

'It was stuck in someone's head and they were broadcasting it.' She shrugged and rolled to face her twin. 'I figured I'd dance since I had the music.'

'You were able to pick it up over that distance?'

She flopped back onto her back and stared up at the sky. 'Yeah, I've been picking up a lot of things without really trying. I've had to start filtering things.' She glanced at him. 'You're talent's growing too though isn't it.'

Devon nodded and rolled back to look at the sky. 'I don't have to concentrate as much as I had to last week even to get the same results.'

The two laid in silence for a bit, thinking to themselves as they watched the clouds drift across the sky.

'The serum's going to speed our development up even more.' Devon eyed his sister out of the corner of his eye. 'We'll get sent on real missions.'

'Yep.'

'Think we're ready for that?'

'We'll find out.'

Scene Change

"Why's Bree sitting on top of the lockers?" asked Evelyn as she and her brother came to a stop beside the three boys.

"She tried asking Ethan to go to the dance with her and chickened out," said Leo as he put his gameboy back into his bag.

One of Devon's eyebrows rose in question. "So how did she end up on the lockers?"

Adam grinned. "She jumped there to get away from him."

The twins looked at each other and nodded as the bell for fourth period rang.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chase happily. "Time for class!" Picking his backpack off the floor where it had been sitting by the wall, he walked away towards the English classroom.

"That boy gets way too excited about learning," said Leo, shaking his head sadly. Turning to the twins who were just smiling in amusement, he added, "And you two just encourage him."

Devon shrugged. "Nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about school."

"It's unnatural!" yelled Leo, glaring at him a bit. Behind him Adam nodded in agreement.

Evelyn laughed and smiled at them before shaking her head. "Let's get to class before we're late." She pointed down the hall and shifted their attention to where Chase was standing, waiting impatiently for them to catch up.

"Oh fine," grumbled Leo, swinging his own bag onto his back. "Later Adam."

Adam waved absentmindedly as he made his way to where Bree was still sitting. "Bye, I'm gonna see if Bree wants some help getting down."

Scene Change

Evelyn hummed along to her ePod as she danced around the kitchen, putting a pair of lunches together.

'Really Evey?' Devon's thoughts drifted down to her from the library upstairs where he was printing the latest copies of their English essays. 'Monkey's Uncle by the Beach Boys? What's next, that chicken song?'

'Oh shush, it's on random.' Evelyn grinned and put an apple into each of the lunch boxes that were sitting on the counter. 'Do you want a banana or an orange with your apple?'

'Hmm, an orange. Which super hero do I get today? Batman, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Atom Ant?'

Putting an orange into one of the boxes, she snapped it shut to reveal a man in a purple skintight outfit. 'Nope, you get the Phantom.'

'As long as it's not Spongebob. What're you using?'

Evelyn's nose wrinkled in disgust at the mention of the yellow cartoon character. 'Oh God no! Dad didn't replace the ones we had after you disintegrated yours and I filled mine with unstable and highly explosive chemicals.'

'That…was a truly awesome explosion. I killed mine far too quickly. Stupid mind-rotting, yellow monstrosity.'

'Easy there Dev, you killed it and Dad learned his lesson.' She placed a banana in the remaining box and flipped it closed to show a boy in a black hazmat suit with white hair and green eyes. 'I'm taking Danny Phantom today.'

'Nice. I'm done here. I'll bring our bags and we can go.'

'Great, I made us bagels. We can eat on the way.'

'Cool.' Devon appeared at the top of the stairs with a bag in each hand. He swung his over his shoulder and held the other out to his sister. 'Trade you.'

Evelyn grabbed the bag and handed him his lunch as a large explosion rocked the house.

Steadying themselves, the twins looked to the basement door. Smoke was seeping out around the edges and curling towards the ceiling.

Devon looked to his sister, the worry clear in his eyes. 'Dad okay?'

Evelyn stood silent for a moment as she concentrated. It was fairly easy for her to find a mind as familiar as their father's and to listen in. Being a genius, his mind moved very quickly and in strange patterns, but she could hear him. 'annoyance stupid malfunctioningmachine worry hope relief the testingsamples weren't damaged relief everything's okay relief'

Grabbing her lunch box, Evelyn smiled at her brother reassuringly. 'He's fine. Corky just malfunctioned again.'

'Then let's get out of here before he makes us clean the mess up.'

'You mean before he makes you clean the mess up. He is your robot after all.' Evelyn laughed as she tossed a wrapped up bagel at the back of his head.

Devon caught it with barely a thought and redirected it into his backpack. 'Oh, shut it.' He accompanied this with an image of him sticking his tongue out at her.

Evelyn laughed. 'Wow, aren't you mature. Just get us to school on time, you speed demon.'

Scene Change

"Morning Chase." Evelyn greeted him with a smile, while Devon just nodded.

Chase smiled back as he pulled out the notebook he would need for class. "Hey guys."

"You ready for our presentation?" asked Devon, dropping his bag beside his chair. Being Group 5 they were sitting in the far back corner of the room. Plastering an insane grin on his face he chuckled manically. "Today we reveal our masterpiece to the world." Seeing that he was alone in his laughter, he pouted. "Oh come on you two, how are we supposed to freak the competition out when you're looking at me like I'm an idiot." 'Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please… Please…'

Evelyn just rolled her eyes as she shook her head in exasperation. "Nobody else is here yet except for Mr. Soven." 'Only if Chase agrees to go along. Now quit whining.'

Focusing all of his attention on their final group member Devon wheedled, "Come on Chase, you know you want to."

Chase looked doubtful. "I don't know, don't the others ostracize you enough as it is?"

Devon opened his mouth to respond, but his sister beat him to it. "Why would we care about what they think when we've got friends like you, Adam, Bree, and Leo?"

At her words, Chase smiled. "Okay I'm in then."

Devon's insane looking grin returned immediately. "When I say 'world', join in.

"Got it," nodded Chase.

"Fine I'll help too," groaned Evelyn, but it was obvious she didn't mind from the smile that was spreading across her face.

A moment later the other students of the class began entering the room. The three members of Group 5 sat in silence till the last person arrived.

Devon huffed quietly to clear his throat, subtly drawing most of the room's attention to the corner in which he and the others sat. Ignoring the eyes on them, he turned to his twin and Chase. "So, ready to show our masterpiece to the world?"

With a fantastically demented grin on his face, Chase nodded. "Oh yes, it's going to be magnificent."

Evelyn joined in with a slightly different version of crazy. Her eyes stared off into nothing and she wore a small content smile. "It's going to destroy the minds of the plebeian masses."

Demented grin growing, Chase repeated himself. "As I said, it will be magnificent."

"Yes, it most certainly will," agreed Devon as he began to laugh manically.

The other two joined in as the rest of the class began to edge away. This continued for a few minutes, till everyone except for the twins, Chase, and Mr. Soven were sitting in a clump against the wall.

"All right, knock it off over there," said Mr. Soven, causing the fake evil laughter to die down into real amused chuckles. Rolling his eyes at the trio's antics, he waved the rest of the students back into their seats and began class. "As Mr. May said, today you will be sharing your models and presentations with the rest of the class. We're going to go in order of group numbers, so Group 1, you're up first." A chuckle from the direction of Group 5 had him adding, "The rest of you keep quiet while the others are presenting or I'll dock points from your possible grades."

Later, as Group 3 went, Mr. Soven just shook his head in amusement as he saw four hands covering Devon's mouth, attempting to muffle his laughter.

Scene Change

'Hey Dev?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think we'll be able to eat in the cafeteria once this dance is over?'

'I really, really hope so.' Devon was emphatic as he carefully readjusted his precarious perch on the tiny four-inch ledge that protruded from the wall above the gyms windows. The fact that it was over twenty-five feet above the ground didn't bother him or his sister nearly as much as the uncomfortable feel of the ledge itself did, or the way that they had to fold their legs to their chests to keep them from dangling down in front of the windows. The whole point was to hide where no one could see them after all.

'We might as well try to enjoy our lunch.' Evelyn shifted her legs so that she could rest her lunchbox on them. Popping the box open, she pulled her sandwich out and took a bite. 'At least it's not raining today.'

Devon copied his twin's actions and began eating. 'Agreed. I really don't want to be forced to hide in the ventilation shafts.'

'I wonder what Leo and Adam are mad at Chase about.' Evelyn chewed thoughtfully.

Her brother blinked at her in surprise. 'You don't know? I thought it was obvious even without the whole empathetic telepathy thing you've been developing.'

Evelyn grimaced. 'I got distracted by the Lust radiating off of our stalkers.'

'That is completely understandable.' Devon nodded as he moved onto his orange. 'Leo, Adam, and Chase all want to go to the dance with the same girl.'

Evelyn's head whipped up to look at him. 'What?'

'From what we've observed and I was able to gather earlier before we had to escape, Chase was going to try and convince Danielle to go to the dance with Leo as opposed to Adam. That backfired and now Danielle's decided to go to the dance with Chase.'

As he explained what had happened while she was distracted, Devon could feel sections of her mind closing off from their link. Sighing, he sent her a consolidating hug. 'They obviously have merely surface feelings for Danielle. She's too flighty for a real connection with Adam. Too condescending for a long one with Leo. And she's got no chance at all of keeping up with Chase intellectually. This incident with the three of them proves that she's too shallow to be worth any of them.'

Sensing the link open up again he added, "Don't forget that they are boys. No matter what special abilities we think they might have they still suffer from the same stupidity that every guy does in anything related to girls."

Evelyn smiled at him and he felt her thank-you across their once more fully intact link. Grinning cheekily he said, "Don't worry about it. After all, you are a girl. You can't help but be over-emotional sometimes."

His sister went from smiling to growling in an instant and the next moment had kicked him off the ledge.

Devon laughed all the way down. The moment his feet touched the ground he was off running towards the nearest school entrance, scooping his bag and lunchbox up along the way. A lifetime of experience had taught him not to stick around when his twin was angry, and that she was just as fast as he was. The thirty-second delay before he heard her hit the ground behind him, told him that she really was thankful for his comfort. And the growling told him that that wouldn't be enough to keep her from beating him black and blue if she caught him before they reached their next class.

'Oh the joys of being a big brother.'

Scene Change

'I can't believe you refused to come and help me pick out a dress.' Evelyn glared at nothing as she parked her BMW i8 at the southern entrance to the mall.

'Sorry Evey, but you know how much I hate shopping. Besides, I can always use your eyes to see what each dress looks like.'

Evelyn huffed as she entered Belk. 'That's not the point and you know it.' She wove her way between the different racks, pausing now and then to pull dresses out for a better look. Coming to a dark green one she turned her attention to the link she shared with her brother. 'Hey Dev, what do you think about this one? Dev?'

She got no reply other than a busy hum of thoughts about wire connections and circuit boards.

Evelyn shook her head in exasperation. 'Yes Dev, you're so helpful.' Sighing she put the dress back and moved further into the store.

"Evelyn? Is that you?"

Evelyn turned to see Bree and Mrs. Davenport standing a few feet away carrying a number of dresses. She smiled and waved, "Hey Bree, getting a dress for the dance tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Bree smiled and nodded to Mrs. Davenport. "Tasha, this is my friend Evelyn from school."

Mrs. Davenport smiled and moved forward with her hand extended. "Hi Evelyn, I've been hearing more and more about you lately. It's so nice to meet you."

Shaking the offered hand, Evelyn smiled brightly. "Nothing too damaging I hope. It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Davenport."

Mrs. Davenport waved her hand in a relaxed manner, "Oh, none of that formality. Just call me Tasha. So are you picking out a dress as well?"

"Yes Mrs. Dav- I mean Tasha," nodded Evelyn.

"Where's Devon?" asked Bree, a bit confused since she'd only seen the twins separate to use the restroom.

Evelyn huffed in exasperation as she folded her arms across her chest. "He didn't want to come. So he stayed home with dad and is working on building something or other."

"So who's going to help you find the best one?" asked Tasha. "Is your mother here somewhere?"

Pulling the dark green dress from earlier back off the rack, Evelyn shook her head. "Nah, I don't have a mother. It's just me, Dev, and Dad."

"Oh," said Tasha sadly, "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Evelyn blinked, "What? Oh no, it's nothing like that." Shaking her head she went back to looking through the racks. "Dad's never been married and he's had us since we were infants."

"Oh, all right," Tasha mumbled uncertainly. Deciding to change the subject she pulled a dark orange dress down and asked, "Bree, what about this one? The color would go well with your complexion."

Bree nodded and took the dress. "I'll try it on with the others."

"So, Evelyn," started Tasha slyly, "do you have any boy that you want to look especially nice for?"

Caught off guard by the question, Evelyn didn't manage to suppress her blush before Bree and Tasha saw it.

"You do like somebody!" exclaimed Bree happily. "Who is it? Are you going to the dance with him?"

Smiling sadly, Evelyn shook her head. "I'm not going to tell you who it is and no, he's going to the dance with somebody else." Seeing the sympathetic looks being sent her way, she shifted the focus of the conversation. "What about you Bree, did you ever manage to ask Ethan to go with you?"

"No," sighed Bree a bit frustrated. "I just kept running away."

Evelyn just smiled at her. "Don't worry about it too much. I think he really likes you, so just ask him to dance when you see him."

"Thanks Evelyn." Catching sight of the dress that Evelyn had just discovered Bree said, "Evelyn I think that one would look great on you."

Evelyn glanced at her and then back to the dress. "You think so?"

"Oh yes, definitely," agreed Tasha with a nod. "You've both got a good selection of dresses so why don't you go try them on now?"

"Okay. I think I saw the dressing rooms over this way," said Bree. Nudging Evelyn the group began to meander in that general direction, collecting the occasional dress as they went.

Scene Change

'The cafeteria certainly looks nice.' Devon thought as he took a sip from his cup.

On his left, Evelyn let her eyes drift over the room's decorations. 'Yeah, they're not bad. Oh, hey look. The Davenports finally got here.' Her head tilted to the left as she absentmindedly drank some of her punch. 'Is Bree wearing heels?'

'Looks like it.' Devon's head mirrored his sister's as it tilted to the right. Together they watched as Bree tried to talk and dance with Ethan.

'Okay, Bree's super-speed in now completely uncontested.'

Devon nodded as they watched the blue colored tornado speed out the door. 'Agreed.' Blinking away his surprise he let his gaze drift back to the three boys. 'Evey, Chase and Danielle are going to dance.'

The dance lasted a mere thirty seconds and was an utter train wreck. It was absolutely awful and yet neither one of them could tear their eyes away.

"That was painful," muttered Evelyn as Adam took over.

Her brother just nodded, "Yes, yes it was."

A moment later they watched Adam throw Danielle into the rafters and then catch her as if she weighed nothing at all.

'Can we agree now that Adam's got super-strength?'

'You'll get no argument from me.' Evelyn agreed with her twin easily as Leo suddenly appeared to take his turn at trying to win Danielle through dance.

Three minutes later he finished to a large round of applause. "I wonder how long he spent setting that up?' Evelyn clapped along with the rest of the crowd.

'Okay, well Leo clearly won that dance-off. Want to go sit with the others?' Devon only asked for appearances. He already knew what her answer was going to be.

Evelyn shrugged with a nonchalance that she knew her twin could see right through. 'Sure.'

Devon grabbed a party platter of crackers and cheese from the refreshment table. 'A small consolation prize.'

'After you prize bearer.' Evelyn waved him towards the wall where Chase and Adam were sitting.

"Hey guys," greeted Evelyn as they stopped in front of them.

"We come bearing gifts," added Devon.

"What kind of gift?" asked Adam in interest.

Devon held the platter out so they could see it. "The cheese and cracker kind."

"I'll take that," said Adam, taking the tray from Devon. Grabbing a cracker he added, "You two look nice. Evelyn your dress is pretty."

Evelyn smiled and did a little twirl. She was wearing a simple short-sleeved dress that went down to just below her knees. It was a deep red color and flared at the bottom as she spun. "Thanks Adam."

"Your hair looks pretty like that." Chase blushed a bit as he spoke.

Evelyn turned her smile to him and sat down in the chair beside him. "Thanks Chase." Unlike usual her hair wasn't pulled back into a braid and instead was styled into loose curls.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Devon gave them all a fake pout. "What about me?"

"Your hair looks nice too," laughed Adam as he ate a small cracker and cheese sandwich. Devon's hair was styled into messy spikes.

Devon gave a little huff at the other two as he sat next to Adam. "Thank you for noticing Adam."

Adam smiled happily while Chase and Evelyn just rolled their eyes. "Oh you're welcome Devon."

The music changed as a series of slow songs came on, making Adam and Chase glower at the dance floor where Leo and Danielle were slow dancing together.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. 'I don't understand their fascination with her. I know she's pretty, but she's so flaky.'

Devon rolled his shoulders and leaned back in his seat as he swiped a cracker from the party tray. 'They're new to social life. Other than Bree I don't think they've seen many girls period.'

A moment later Adam smacked Chase's hand away as he tried to copy Devon's theft, making Evelyn smile. 'Were we ever that bad?'

'I doubt it. Even if we never saw people, we've been hearing them for years. And on a level where they can't lie to us.'

'I guess you're right.' Evelyn glanced up as the slow music shifted to a tune with a faster beat. 'Here comes Leo.'

'Oooh, fireworks.'

Leo grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the corner where his siblings and the twins were sitting. Putting it down he cheerfully asked, "What's up?"

Chase and Adam just glowered at him and turned away from him so that they were facing Evelyn.

"You already won Leo, " started Chase still refusing to look at him. "Do you have to rub our noses in it?"

"I wanted to apologize." Sighing, Leo straightened in his seat, "I'd never do something like this to my friends, but you guys aren't my friends."

Adam twisted around and pointed at Leo with a cracker. "Leo, FIY, this is the worst apology ever." Finished, he gave Leo his back again.

"I'm saying you're not my friends, because you're my brothers," explained Leo, causing Adam and Chase turned around with smiles on their faces.

"Ah," said Adam, "you're like the brother I never had."

Chase's face scrunched up in consternation. "Adam, you have a brother."

Adam nodded. "No, I know. I said like the one I didn't have."

'I love Adam,' giggled Evelyn in her brother's mind.

Smiling both internally and externally, Devon agreed.

Chase shook his head and returned his focus to Leo. "You know Leo, you're not the only one who should apologize. We've all been jerks."

Leo waved his hand nonchalantly, "Nah." He smiled and held his fist out. "You know what, lets never let a girl come between us again."

Adam and Chase gave him a fist bump as they nodded. "Deal."

Leaning back on his chair again, Leo asked, "So where's Bree?"

"She's still dancing in the hall with Ethan," said Evelyn with a smile. 'I'm glad she got everything straightened out with him.'

'Yeah, they're a cute couple.' Devon leaned forward as he took a piece of cheese from Adam. "So how long till the dance is over?"

"It still has an hour or so left," said Chase as Leo and Adam just shrugged. "Why?"

Clapping his hands on his legs, Devon stood and turning, held his hand out to his sister. "Would you like to join me in a dance milady?" 'It is a dance after all, makes no sense to come and not participate.'

Evelyn smiled, "I'd love to good sir." Taking his hand she followed her twin to the dance floor. 'I do like this song.'