Triple Trouble by Julia DeVillers

are twins.”
    Ox turned around and gave me a quick wink.
    â€œYou are?” Mason asked. “Who are your twins?”
    â€œEach other,” Ox said. “Fraternal, obviously.”
    â€œYeah, I’m older,” Nick said, playing along. “Six minutes.”
    â€œNo WAY!” Mason said. “I didn’t know that. You guys look so different.”
    â€œYou think?” Ox asked. “Sometimes people get us mixed up. They think I’m Nick.”
    â€œThey call me Ox,” Nick agreed. “Sometimes they just call us Oxnick, if they don’t know who is who.”
    Bzzzzrpt!
    I had a text from Payton.
    lol
    â€œWait a minute, people can’t mix you guys up. Youlook different,” Jason said suspiciously. “Plus you have different last names and live in different houses.”
    Payton started to crack up first, then we all started laughing.
    â€œYou aren’t twins,” Mason finally caught on. “You’re tricking us.”
    â€œHad you going,” Nick said. “But when I was a kid, I wished I was a twin.”
    â€œYou did?” Payton asked him.
    â€œYeah, I had an imaginary twin,” Nick said. “His name was Captain Hero.”
    Now all of us, especially the twins, laughed.
    â€œYou really want to laugh at me? Or should I bring up your nicknames from that age, Emma and Payton?” Nick said.
    â€œI’m not laughing.” I put on a straight face, and Payton quickly did the same.
    â€œWhat were your nicknames? Tell us! Tell us!” Mason and Jason begged.
    â€œNo way,” I said.
    â€œI’ll tell you Jason’s nickname,” Mason offered.
    â€œHey!” Jason protested. “Then I’ll tell them about your imaginary friends. Mason made us into quadruplets. The other two were action figures.”
    â€œThey were cool dudes,” Mason said, offended. “Grayson and Fason.”
    â€œFason?” I tried not to laugh.
    â€œFake Mason,” Mason said.
    â€œOr Fake Jason,” Jason said.
    â€œYou were just making fun of him,” Mason said. “So he obviously was not Fake Jason. Actually, Fason didn’t like you.”
    â€œHe didn’t? What did I do?” Jason said. He actually sounded upset.
    â€œGuys!” I said. “Guys! We’re not arguing about imaginary friends.”
    â€œI was never mean to Fason,” Jason continued. “But I’ll be mean to you.”
    â€œThen I’ll tell your nickname—” Mason threatened.
    I looked to see if their parents were noticing, but they were too busy singing along to the oldies.
    â€œTwin fight,” Payton said. We knew how those went.
    â€œGuys, enough,” I said. “Look, stop fighting and I’ll tell you Payton’s and my nicknames for each other when we were little.”
    Ox and Nick both grinned. They already knew them, unfortunately, from a time Payton and I overshared.
    I sighed and told them.
    â€œBWAHAHAHAHAHAHA” Mason and Jason immediately forgot about their fighting. “Who was who?”
    â€œI was MeeMa,” I said. “Payton was PeePa.”
    Mason and Jason were laughing so hard, we all started cracking up.
    Suddenly my phone made an alert noise.
    â€œWhose phone is that?” Jason asked. “Is it PeePee’s?”
    â€œPeePA.” Payton sighed. “Why, oh why, didn’t I give Emma a worse name?”
    â€œPoopy,” Mason said cracking himself up. “You could be PeePee and Poopy.”
    â€œWe’ve heard that one before,” Payton grumbled.
    â€œUh-oh,” I said, checking my texts. “My traffic app went off. Traffic is stopped here, you may want to take an alternate route off the next exit, exit fourteen, instead.”
    â€œWell, that’s certainly helpful,” Counselor Case said. “We have to let the other cars know. Do you have their numbers?”
    â€œI have Sydney’s and—oh wait, I