Duality Read online

  But that was then, and right now he had a gorgeous lady in front of him. He was certain there wasn’t a pair of eyes that shined as bright blue as Valerie’s did. They brought out the light freckles he hadn’t noticed before. Oh, and her lips—he couldn’t stop thinking about those pale pink lips. They were a mystery he could spend a lifetime unraveling.

  And just as Shawn wanted to ask her if she was free to watch a movie—

  “Hi,” Rose approached them. “I need to steal Val for a second.”

  Val and Rose walked away without another word.

  “Yeah, uh, see you in class?” Shawn asked. Neither girl responded to him.

  Not only did Rose feel nervous throughout the school day, but she also felt silly. Part of her only wanted to do this because she was curious deep down if she and Valerie could pull it off. They were practically twins outside of the bluish half-moons beneath her eyes. She hadn’t slept much the previous night. Valerie clearly had. Valerie saw it as humorous. And Rose began to wonder why a switcheroo was so important to her. She nearly backed out. Nearly.

  What was that dumb show about the girls who switched places? Rose wondered. It all feels like a shitty TV show pilot.

  The dreadful parts of school did not faze Rose today. Everything was a blur and it was as if she were on autopilot. The ring of the bell announced the end of the school day. She grabbed her books, got all her belongings together, then met Valerie at the front doors—and even then, she was still on autopilot.

  “You could scare the shit out of a toilet,” Valerie said.

  “Huh?”

  Valerie shrugged. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Feeling weird about—about the thing we’re gonna do today,” Rose said. “Switching. You still want to, right?”

  “Sure, bitch.”

  “I’m so nervous.”

  “Nervous?” Valerie laughed. “Don’t get your nipples in a twist. I thought this was a joke. Aren’t you just doing this switch as a joke?”

  “I—I guess,” Rose said, feeling smaller and smaller and fidgeting with the hangnails on her thumbs.

  “I’ll meet you at my house if you still feel like switching,” Valerie said.

  And with that, Valerie went one way and Rose went another. As they walked through the streets of Carpenter, the terror deep inside was brewing. Everything was in place.

  Under an hour later, Rose arrived at Valerie’shouse with a small duffle bag under her arm and lightly knocked on the door. She cracked her fingers over and over until Valerie answered with a smile and let her inside. They went to Valerie’s room.

  “Feeling any better?” Valerie asked.

  “A little,” Rose said. “I’m getting sick, so that doesn’t help, and my throat is a little sore and-and-and—”

  She sneezed as if on cue.

  “If you get boogers on my pillow…”

  Rose sneezed again, then said, “I promise, I won’t.”

  Rose set her bag down on Valerie’s bed, then looked through the dresser for clothes.

  “What was that?” Valerie said.

  “What was what?” Rose asked, looking up.

  “I thought I saw something—someone—in the closet.”

  Rose glanced that way, but only darkness came through the slats in the door. “Are you sure?”

  Valerie rubbed her eyes and blinked. “Maybe not. It looked like eyes. All weary and red, but they didn’t blink—they were empty and listless, like there was no soul behind them.”

  Valerie took a step toward the closet, and Rose could see her hands shaking.

  She flung the door open; there was nobody inside. She sighed in relief.

  “See? Just your imagination,” Rose said.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Valerie said, but her voice still trembled. She went to Rose’s bag and pulled out jeans and a plain red shirt. Rose was changing into one of Valerie’s typical button-up shirts. It felt alien to her.

  “Look at you!” Valerie said. “Once I get back, I’ll take you shopping. Purple looks great on you, Rose.”

  Rose began to take her hair out of the bun she always kept it in. “Just remember not to wear your hair down.”

  “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot.”

  Rose laughed at the grimace on Valerie’s face. “It’s only for a day. You can wear a bad hairstyle until then.”

  “You know,” Valerie said, “the funniest part is gonna be you trying to curse around my parents.”

  “I curse sometimes,” Rose said. “And wait, doesn’t your mother have a swear jar? I bet you’d practically pay the bills if you actually put a dollar in like you’re supposed to.”

  “Yeah.” Valerie laughed.

  Rose reached around in her pocket, found her phone, and tossed it to Valerie, who surprisingly caught it.

  “Let’s switch phones.”

  “Already?” Valerie said.

  “Heh, if you’re gonna be Rose, it’s your job to put up with dozens of annoying daily texts from Shelly.”

  Val looked at Rose like she was a thousand percent done with her shit.

  Rose moved her duffle bag to the floor, then jumped on Valerie’s bed, and said, “Sweet—ACHOO!—Sorry.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes.

  Rose smiled. “Sweet, I get to be Valerie for a day and a half. What will I do all day?”

  “With how nasally you sound, bitch, you should probably stay in bed.”

  Wind screamed over the rooftop. All went quiet. After five minutes, Valerie—now pretending to be Rose—left her house and headed on to the familiar house on Wichmann Street. The eyes she was absolutely certain she had seen were etched into her mind; it was as vivid as that first moment she had glimpsed them.

  They’re familiar, she thought.

  The phone vibrating in her pocket broke her thought and took her back to reality. Valerie took out Rose’s phone. There was a text from Shelly.

  It said, Hey!!! What’s up???

  Valerie put it back in her pocket, and thought, Rose, you were not kidding.

  Then Valerie looked over her shoulder, certain somebody was behind her, but all that greeted her was the empty street. There was not a single car or person to be seen. Valerie shivered, then hurried the rest of the way to the Hawthorn residence.

  From Rose Hawthorn’s diary

  “Me and Val switched today, and I hope she’s okay with it all and doesn’t change her mind last second. Ugh, I can’t imagine being sick and around that side of the family. I feel a little weird. A little better, yet still weird. I can’t shake it. Maybe it’s the cold talking—I’ve been sneezing all day and I grimace every time I drink or eat something.

  This has to be the weirdest thing anyone has ever done, having their friend pretend to be them. I bet it won’t work. Any minute now Val’ll be calling me up and my mom will be yelling in the background for her little baby darling to get back there immediately.

  Rose shut the diary, knelt next to the bed, then reached her hands under the covers that ran off the sides of the bed and prevented her from seeing underneath. She felt around for the duffle bag, and once she found it, she put the diary away. As she slipped it back under the bed—and reminisced about the illogical fear that the space below the mattress brought her as a child—something bright caught her eye.

  She moved the covers for a better look, and was clueless as to why there was a knife under there. Rose studied it. There was not a single fingerprint on the blade. It was squeaky clean.

  “Why’s Val got this here?”

  She felt eyes boring into the back of her neck and jerked her head up, but no one was there.

  The first thing Valerie saw as she entered the Hawthorn residence was Mr. Hawthorn—Jack, who, in his hippie days, used to go by the nickname Scout—with his credit cards out and mumbling about the damn bills he was paying on the computer.

  “Hey Rosie!” he said. “Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you all day.”

  “Hi, Dad,” Valerie said, then threw in a
fake cough. “Sorry, I was at Val’s.”

  Valerie quickly went to Rose’s room and shut the door. Peanut the pug barked from the bed.

  BARK! BARK! BARK!

  Peanut hopped down, stood a foot away from Valerie, and barked furiously. Valerie couldn’t help but laugh at the pug’s adorable barking. She kneeled next to Peanut then petted her, and said, “Relax.”

  And so Peanut did relax, then rolled over to be petted even more.

  Chapter Four

  An odd silence overtook the ride to school. Rose’s brother Orion did not give any indication if he knew that the girl sitting next to him was not his sister. Valerie—although it took little effort—played her part well. Orion stopped at the Hart’s house, and Valerie called Rose on the phone to tell her that they were outside. Rose hurried out, and Valerie stifled a sneer at Rose’s lack of acting ability. It was nothing suspicious, but it was something that Valerie would not typically do. She was always late.

  Orion stopped in front of their school. “Bye,” he said with a smile.

  The girls smiled back and left, and walked up the path to the big front doors of Carpenter High. The sky above them was overtaken by a blanket of black clouds; there was no blue at all. It was as if they were under a dome of dread. Valerie looked up and shuddered. And with every step they took, the unforeseen terror rose.

  “Hey, Valerie,” one of Valerie’s friends said to Rose.

  Rose walked quickly with her head down.

  Valerie elbowed her. “You’re me, remember? You have to pretend not to be shy.”

  “Oh, hey,” Rose smiled.

  Valerie led the way into Mr. Starkey’s class, and Rose heaved a loud sigh.

  She leaned over to Valerie and whispered, “How was it being Rose?”

  “Awkward,” Valerie said quietly. “I don’t get how your parents couldn’t tell…”

  Rose leaned even closer, almost falling out of her seat, and said, “Did you know there was a knife under your bed?”

  The bell rang.

  “What kni—”

  “Ladies,” Mr. Starkey said, “class has started, please leave all talking for afterwards or unless I specify.”

  He turned to the board and wrote out CHAPTER FOUR.

  Class couldn’t have dragged any slower. Valerie eyed Rose as her nervousness played out in tapping her fingers on her desk, biting her lip, and wiggling her leg.

  At the sound of the bell forty-five minutes later, she let out a sigh. She wouldn’t let on, but she wasn’t as confident about the switch as she pretended.

  That’s one class down, Valerie thought. Let’s hope this goes well.

  Valerie stretched—even with all the sleep she had gotten, exhaustion still made her eyelids heavy—then went to her locker.

  At the locker, Shawn Porter approached her and said, “What’s up?” with a nervous smile.

  Val yawned, and forgetting she was supposed to be Rose, said, “Nothing. I’m tired.”

  “Val, uh, would you like to go out tonight?”

  Shawn’s hands fidgeted around the spirals of his notebooks. He bit his lip, awkwardly waiting for her to respond. Valerie hated the awkward silence.

  She broke it. “I can’t, I have a-a, uh, family thing. I’m sorry.”

  Shawn walked away and she felt bad for saying no. She did not know if he even replied; she hurried off.

  I BLEW IT I BLEW IT I BLEW IT, she yelled at herself.

  In her rush, she grabbed the wrong textbooks. She searched the long hallway for Rose and did not see her until she neared Mrs. Lawson’s class. Valerie gave Rose a worried glance.

  Concern in her eyes, Rose walked up to her and asked in a low tone, “What’s wrong?” She put her hand on Rose’s arm and pushed her to the side.

  “I sorta blew our cover,” Valerie said. “I responded to Shawn when he called me Val.”

  “It’s not a big deal, he’s not in on our plans… and maybe you should take your own advice.”

  Valerie, confused, replied, “My own advice?”

  “Don’t get your nipples in a twist,” Rose laughed.

  Valerie laughed too.

  Crisis averted. Things were good.

  The bell to begin class sounded, and they walked into Mrs. Lawson’s room for biology just after it did. Mrs. Lawson did not mention that they were technically late. The results of yesterday’s quiz were placed face down on each student’s assigned desk. Some kids were already erasing and changing answers when the teacher wasn’t looking.

  “As you can see, your quizzes from last class are now graded. You may flip them over and ask any questions.”

  The goody-two-shoes Alexis raised her hand, “Wasn’t number three supposed to be ‘A’?”

  Mrs. Lawson looked down at the answer, and said, “Oh, did I mark that one wrong? I’ll change it in my gradebook. Anybody else have a question about their grade?”

  Valerie raised her hand.

  Without a doubt, Mrs. Lawson said, “Yes, Valerie?”

  And Valerie said, “I’m Rose.”

  “Oh. Sorry, Rose.”

  A look of realization crept upon Shawn’s face.

  Something isn’t right, he thought.

  As the time came that evening for Valerie to leave with the Hawthorn family, Rose paced across Valerie’s room in nervous circles. It was such a silly thing they were doing, but now nerves raced through her.

  The net of doom was closing in more and more tightly.

  When a text from Valerie appeared on the phone screen, Rose felt as if the fate of the world hinged on her decision to open it or ignore it.

  We’re leaving, it read.

  Rose smiled, then replied. Great. I was low-key scared you’d back out.

  This’ll be hilarious, Valerie replied.

  Yeah… try and have fun, I owe you big time. Rose messaged back.

  And to think, you didn’t even stay sick, so you can do whatever.

  Rose sent a smiley face, then put the phone back in her pocket. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, and finally, after feeling every emotion between guilt, fright, and nervousness, felt silly again.

  It wasn’t a day she’d usually get a smoothie on, yet she left Valerie’s house and went to Eli’s Creamery anyway. It was always cold inside the creamery, but it was worth it. She sat in the usual spot and looked out the window, smiled, and was relieved. Then she scrolled on the phone until she finished her drink, threw away the empty cup, then left. Two blocks down was Eaton Books, an independent book shop and one of the only two book shops left in Carpenter. She headed there with her favorite author in mind, Agatha Christie. She had read fifteen or twenty of her novels and short story collections and was losing track of which ones she had and had not read.

  Past the heavy door that she was sad to admit she struggled with opening were the familiar shelves of books. New books looked out of place on the old, wooden frames. The newest books from famous authors were the first ones displayed upon entering Eaton’s. Her favorite section—Mystery—was the section two rows to the right.

  She traced her fingertips over the spine of each book. This was the shop where she spent any money she could find as a child. Some of her favorite memories were spent here with her mom, picking out new paperbacks. Somewhere along the way she graduated from Captain Underpants and The Magic Treehouse and went on to Goosebumps, then Harry Potter, and from there to Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.

  She settled on buying Peril at End House.

  The Hawthorns’ car pulled up to Shelly’s house, and as it did, Valerie understood after one car ride why Rose would be annoyed spending the day with her family. Rose’s parents bickered over the smallest things, like how loud the radio should go and if it was better to deal with the wind and roll the windows down or whether the rattling air conditioner was preferable. It nearly made Val give up the joke and ask to be taken home. Valerie got out of the car, and the delicious aroma wafting from piles of barbecued ribs erased any thought of annoyance from h
er mind.

  Then Shelly Hawthorn ruined it.

  “Rosie!” she yelled. “I’ve missed you!”

  “I missed you too, Shelly,” Valerie said, reluctantly pretending to be happy about seeing her.

  Shelly hugged her and squeezed her so tight that Valerie could feel herself being blue.

  “Do you mind not hugging me to death?”

  “Sorry!”

  Beneath the ugly glasses and hair that looked like a cat had eaten it then thrown it up, Shelly was beautiful. Shelly bounced on her toes, her excitement overwhelming her as she rambled on about the new kittens that had been born in the barn down the street. Valerie took a deep breath. Shelly clearly had no idea that her overenthusiasm came across as annoying. It was the least Valerie could do to go along with it and just let Shelly enjoy herself.

  After a moment, Valerie grabbed a plate and filled it with ribs. A stranger approached her.

  “Rose, I remember when you were two years old,” he said. “Do you remember me?”

  “Um… I think so, but please refresh my memory. Who are you?” So this is how my night’ll be…

  She pretended to catch up with the man—one of Rose’s distant uncles—and then sat down next to Shelly who was alone and away from the guests at a table in the corner of the backyard. Valerie felt bad for her, especially with Rose’s distaste for her. Valerie gave her a smile.

  “We gotta see each other more often,” Shelly said. “Why don’t you ever visit me? You don’t live too far…”

  Valerie thought, Same could be said for you, why don’t you visit Rose if it isn’t ‘too far’?

  Thinking of something Rose might say, Val replied, “I… I don’t know. Life, I guess?”

  “We used to hang out so much as kids, our parents always drove us to each other,” Shelly said.