Out of Step

vi. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

"Alex!" Alana called, storming through the kitchen. She was still stomping her feet as she'd been doing when she made her way up the driveway. Her friends silently followed her, though from a distance, as she kicked off her shoes and threw her backpack down by the door. Almost kicking down the basement door, she headed down to where she knew they'd be playing video games. "How could you?"

She wasn't actually as angry at him as she sounded, but instead, her angry from the car was coming out.

"How could I what?" he yelled back, not so much as looking up from his game – which he was pretty badly losing at. Standing with her hands on her hips at the fifth to last step, where she could just barely see him, Alana sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You told me you had a sectional!" She wailed. "And then you didn't tell me it was cancelled. How could you do that to your own twin?"

He only shrugged and she made a huffing noised before jumping, barely clearing the last few steps and almost running into the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Arista, who was closest to her, held out an arm to steady her as Alana held her hand out to catch herself on the wall.

"Never mind," she said, jumping over the back of the couch and bouncing a few times. She eyed the controllers the boys were holding as they sat on the futon mattress that lay in front of the TV. "I want to play."

She knew none of the boys would ever let her play –even though she was hands down ten times better than any of them– so she did the first thing that came to mind. Standing up, she let out a war cry and tossed herself over Owen, reaching for the controller her was holding as she did so. Somehow her flailing body managed not to hit anyone, although her leg came close to smacking Eli before she ducked away.

Usually her sneak attack, or something similar, would work, but this time Owen held the controller out of reach, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"Hey!" Her face scrunched up in confusion, her head slightly in his lap with the rest of her body splayed out in different directions. "How'd you manage to do that?"

"You do almost the same thing every time," he said, finally peeling his eyes away to grin down at her, his eyes clearly teasing. She pulled a face back at him, sticking out her tongue. "One tends to learn what to expect when you let out a war cry."

"Um, excuse me? Sometimes I let out a war cry when I'm eating," she muttered, moving her body so she was more comfortable and Arista could stumble on through. "I think you just don't appreciate my amazing moves."

"And sometimes you just cry while you're eating, Ali," he said, lightly flicking her nose. His grin never left his face as he turned his attention back to the TV screen.

"That's not my name!" Alana crossed her arms over her chest as best as she could.

"So?"

"So? So?" She practically screeched. It didn't faze Owen, who didn't even look back down. "So, stop calling me that!"