Anne Gallagher

People won't be able to tell Carl and I apart anymore

It was the next day. Pretty uneventful. At least, until we got back to our foster home from the round of chemo. Carl goes straight to the TV, as I go straight back to my book.
"What the hell? TV's broken." Carl says, noticing the parent controls.
"Uh, parental controls. We wouldn't want you stumbling onto something you shouldn't."
"That's the only reason to watch."
"Still gets Discovery kids, Disney, and Bravo. Put the remote down. It's time for your bath."
"How many times do I have to smell like mango and pomegranate?"
"If you think I'm gonna let you near your tutor without one, you got another thing coming?"
"Tutor?" Carl and I ask at the same time. "It's summer!" Carl exclaims.
"I help him plenty fine. He doesn't need a tutor." I argue.
"Carl's two grade levels behind in math. He needs one."
"Only two? Hmm, thought it was more than that." Carl answers.
"Look. I know a great tutor. Has helped me with math plenty of times. He'll be willing to work for free. Just, let me call him, and he can be here this afternoon. Could save you guys money."
"Anne-" Carl starts but I cut him off.
"Trust me." I turn back to Lanier. "Carl needs a very different approach when it comes to learning. He just doesn't learn the way most kids do. And my math tutor guy is great when it comes to different approaches. He's exactly what Carl needs, and I would know considering I'm his twin sister." Lanier looks at me for a few seconds, debating my offer.
"Fine. Call your guy. See what we can do for this afternoon, please." Carl hands me his phone, as Lanier leaves the room.
"Anne, what the hell! I don't wanna do math!"
"Chill out, Carl. Gilbert's the guy I was talking about." I dialed Gilbert's number, held the phone to my ear, and prayed he would pick up.
"Carl?" Gilbert says into the phone.
"Wrong twin." I respond.
"Anne!" Gilbert exclaims. "I thought something happened to you! I haven't heard from you in a while."
"We got pulled from the house some days ago." I sighed. "Listen, I don't have much time. What are you doing right now."
"Absolutely nothing." Before I could continue, we heard a voice from the other room.
"Anne, Carl, you two have a visitor!" I looked at Carl with confusion.
"I'll text you the address. Need you to come and tutor Carl, so he doesn't actually have to do math. Just say you're gonna take us out for a bit, cause Carl learns better with real world situations."
"Got it. I'll be there as soon as possible."
"See you." I hung up the phone, and quickly sent him the address, before leaving the living room to see whoever our visitor could be. We enter the kitchen to thankfully see Lip and Mandy standing in front of us.

"Hey, twins." Lip says, opening his arms. Carl and I run into them, almost causing Lip to fall over, laughing. "I knew you'd miss me, but I didn't think it would be this much."
"Feel free to use the living room to visit." Cassius tells Lip. Carl and I lead him in there, and we all sit near the window. Lip hands us a bag. We look inside to find two of my books, as well as Carl's ninja stars.
"Thanks, Lip!" Carl exclaims.
"Careful with those throwing stars. They could pierce a jugular." Lip tells Carl.
"You gotta get us out of here." Carl says to Lip.
"Why?"
"They took my rifle away. They make me brush my teeth after every meal. They're always around seeing if we're okay."
"They're trying to be good parents."
"I wanna go home." I sighed. "I miss everyone."
"We're gonna get you guys home soon enough, Anne."
"Promise?"
"I swear it. You'll be back in your bed by the end of tomorrow." Lip's phone starts to ring. "Shit." He says, looking at it. He looks back at us. "It's Fiona. I gotta go meet her." He kisses the top of my head. "Carl, see if you can get the security codes for this place. We'll come back in a couple of months and steal a bunch of shit." Carl nods, sad he has to go. Lip ruffles his hair, and then places his hand on Carl's shoulder. "Hang in there. Both of you. It won't be much longer, okay?" We both nodded. Lip stands up, about to leave. "Anne, have you had the chance to see Gilbert yet?"
"He's supposed to be here in about 20 minutes to-" I make quotation marks with my hands. "-tutor Carl. Gonna have him tell Cassius and Lanier that he's gonna take Carl and I out for a while. Cause Carl will do better if he's learning math with real world concepts."
"Smart. Very smart. All right, Mandy, we gotta go." Lip grabs his jacket.
"Thanks for the books." I smiled.
"No problem." He looks around before leaning down to us. "Go see Fiona while you're out. See if she knows anything about the court date yet, okay?" We both nod. Lip then hugs both of us one last time. "We'll be back home soon. I swear it." Lip lets go of us, and heads out with Mandy.