Chapter 1

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"Hurry and come downstairs Jacqueline! People are going to arrive soon." My mother, Erica calls out to me from the bottom of the steps.

"Okay, just a minute." I call back as I run my hands through my long, blonde hair to give it some volume.

I start to quickly walk to my room and grab some earrings until I pass by my twin brother's room first. I take a peek inside and I notice he is trying to shove purple tissue paper into a medium sized, sparkly pink bag.

I giggled as he continued to struggle with the paper. "Need some help Adam?" I open the door a little more to walk in. As usual his room is a complete mess. He has t-shirts and athletic jerseys all over the floor, at least four footballs scattered around the room, and his bed looks like a tornado just hit it.

"Please." He gives me a small smile and hands over the bag. He runs a hand through his straight, dark brown hair in relief.

I set the bag down and take the tissue paper out. I neatly put the paper back in and fluff it out to make it look presentable. "What did you get Grace?" I asked Adam. Grace is our six year old little sister.

"One of those easy-bake oven things that she's been wanting. Every time the commercial for it came on she would start smiling and tell me that's what she wanted for her birthday." He replied as he pulled out his I-Phone and checked the time. I notice he is dressed neatly in a white v-neck, khaki pants, and tan Sperrys.

"Aw, what a sweet big brother you are." I say in an annoying tone and grab his cheek, harshly pulling on it. He chuckles and swats my hand away.

"Whatever." He smiles. "What did you get her?" He asked as he grabbed the bag and started walking downstairs with me.

"A Build-A-Bear." I smirk, satisfied with the idea of my gift. "Where is it?" He replied as he put his gift on the small, round table by our front door.

I look over the table and spot my large, yellow gift bag. I hand it over to Adam.
He throws out the cream colored tissue paper and brings out the bear. "Adam! You messed it up." I scold as I quickly pick up the tissue paper. He carefully looks at the bear, which is dressed in a polka dot sundress and sparkly, silver flats.

"My gift is better." He says as he puts the bear back in the bag. I grab it from him and put the tissue paper back in neatly.

"Sure, whatever you say." I sarcastically reply.

"Aw! Look at my babies, Ken. Don't they look so nice." My mom excitedly calls for my dad as she sees us in the hallway. I see my dad come out from the kitchen and a smile appears on his face.

"You two look good." He says as he pops a carrot stick into his mouth. "I always look good." Adam smirks as he runs a hand through his hair again.

"Adam, you need to get a haircut. I don't like it when I can't see your beautiful green eyes." My mother scolds him as she tip toes to try and reach the top of his head and fix his hair.

"Mom, im fine." I narrows his brows and backs away. I agreed with him though, he didn't need a haricut. He knew how to wear his hair and style it.

The doorbell rings and my mom forgets about Adam's hair to answer it. "Hello, thank you for coming." She instantly greets a family with a small son about Grace's age. I have never seen them before, but im sure the little boy is Grace's friend.

"These are my two oldest, Jacqueline and Adam." My mom introduces us and we shake hands with the couple. "Nice to meet you." I smile as Adam does the same.

"You two are so beautiful." The woman exclaims as she looks at Adam and I.

"Thank you. We're twins." I reply as I smooth out my white, lace dress. Adam and I look nothing alike. I have hazel eyes and natural blonde hair, while he has forest green eyes and dark brown hair. We both work out at the gym together and are in sports so we are pretty toned.

"The party is out in the backyard, Grace is out in the jumping castle with a couple of friends already." My
mom informs them as they start walking to the french doors that lead to the backyard. "Please help yourselves to the variety of pizzas and snacks." She smiles.

"Adam, Jacqueline, I forgot to tell you two but Ms. Fitzpatrick wanted you to come to her house to get Grace's present from her. She won't be able to make it to the party." My mom sighs.

Ms. Laurel Fitzpatrick is our elderly neighbor. She lives alone and has never been married or had any kids.

Adam and I walk out the front door and straight across the street to Laurel's house. She lives directly in front of us. "That was such a long walk." Adam jokes as he rings the doorbell to the small, grey brick house. I notice the flowers all around her house have died. It's pretty odd too considering she use to take really good care of them. I mean she is elderly but she can still walk around and drive easily.

After a couple of minutes the door finally opens. Laurel is standing there with a weak smile on her face. He grey hair is in a frizzy bun. "Hello kiddos." She opens the door far enough for us to come in. I wouldn't consider us 'kids' since we recently turned 18 last month but I guess compared to her we are kids.

Adam and I sit on her old, maroon colored couch and look around the room. I notice all the dolls...the porcelain dolls.

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