Surviving the Andersen Brothers

Stinging in My Chest

“Are you still upset?” Zach asked.

            It was Thursday morning—the morning of the Hospital Benefit—and Zach was shopping for a dress with me. For Tuesday and Wednesday, I was locked in my room willing to see no one. I only came out to make dinner and go to school.

            “Well, yeah,” I admitted. “Not so much with Vincent anymore. Just with Lucas. Seriously, he couldn’t just suck it up and perform with me? I’m a bit peeved that Vincent didn’t tell me either—that he agreed to fool me!”

            “You should know by now how Lucas is…. Remember what they did to Rebecca?” Zach went on. “They are kind of cruel.”

            I looked at Zach for a moment. Remember what they did to Rebecca, Walter’s ex-girlfriend? NO!

            “Zach, I wasn’t here for the Rebecca fiasco. I met her at the market, remember?” I told him.

            Light dawned on Zach’s face. “Oh, that’s right. Well, they were terrible kids. This was what… four, five years ago when Walter and Rebecca got together?” I shrugged. Zach nodded. “That woman went through two or three years of torture from those boys. They put thumbtacks on her chair. They soaked her in syrup and threw duck feathers all over her. Oh, once, they disconnected her brakes….”

            I let my mouth fall open. “They disconnected her brakes?!” I questioned maybe just a little too loud.

            The people around us began to stare.

            “They were very mischievous. Luckily there was a warning in her car when they disconnected the brakes—you know, when she turned it on?” Zach explained. “It’s no wonder she left.”

            I sighed. This wasn’t the first I heard of the misguided ways of the twins before I was here. Lilly mentioned once that they used to hide fish around the house. What was wrong with these boys?

            Zach pulled a few dresses from the rack and handed them to me to try on.

            “You didn’t even look at them,” I told him. “You can at least look at them before handing them to me—especially the red ones, I am not wearing red. Nor will I wear brown!”

            I put some of the dresses back before going to try on two. One was a purple dress, poofy and grand. The other was a dress of varying shades of green, Chiffon and elegant.

            “I have a question,” I told Zach. I was in the dressing room, changing into the purple dress, Zach was just on the other side.

            “Mm. What is it?” he wondered.

            I opened the door to show him the dress. “When Vincent kissed me during the play, why did you stand up?”

            “Purple looks nice on you; try the other one on now,” Zach insisted. After I closed the door, he began to speak some more. “You noticed that did you? I knew it was Vincent—I wasn’t sure if you did or not—I know that wasn’t how you and Lucas preformed that piece too. Judging by your reaction to the kiss on stage, I knew you were confused. I wanted to say something then and there but it would have ruined the magic of the play.

            I did not say anything as I quickly changed into the green dress. I opened the door to hear his opinion.

            “Oh, wow,” was all Zach could say at first. “That dress looks amazing on you. That is the one you should go with. Caleb will be blown away.”