Twin Dangers by Megan Atwood Page B

had long red hair and pale, pale skin with gigantic blue eyes. She was faint and tiny. She wore a blouse buttoned all the way up to her chin.
    Sophie had seen her before. This girl was a pretty good dancer, if Sophie remembered right. Sophie could also remember classes where the girl would sit in the back of the room not talking to anyone. And here she had just mowed the girl down like she was nothing. For a minute, Sophie was jarred out of her own misery.
    â€œAre you OK?” she asked, getting up and rubbing her behind. Her tailbone hurt, and she imagined the girl in front of her hurt twice as bad, since she was half as big.
    The girl nodded and said in a small voice, “Yeah. Sorry. I heard voices.”
    Sophie remembered why she had been running. She sniffled and said, “Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
    Sophie wiped at her eyes and started down the hall again, the bloodred carpet and shadows matching her mood perfectly.
    â€œSophie, wait.”
    Sophie turned and saw Emma coming down the stairs. Even from her viewpoint, she could see the telltale signs that Emma had been crying. How many times had they cried together? Emma’s cheeks always got bright red, yet she somehow still managed to look pretty.
    Behind Emma, at the top of the stairs, half in and half out of the shadows, stood Trey. Sophie’s body felt like it was on fire, and not in a good way. She was ashamed that Trey knew she liked him. Ashamed that he didn’t like her back. And ashamed that she couldn’t control her emotions enough to keep it all inside.
    She never could keep things back.
    She put her finger out at Emma. “You stay away from me!”
    Sophie could hear soft chatter coming from the end of the upstairs hallway. She flipped around and moved toward the voices, hoping to reach her room before the whole ballet company came up from the dining hall. The last thing she needed was for everyone to see her crying.
    She walked faster down the hall and heard Emma cry out, “Sophie. Stop. Let’s just talk for a minute.”
    A sound came from her throat, something she didn’t even recognize. It was half disbelieving girl and half wounded animal. The tears started to come in earnest again.
    All her life it had been Emma and Sophie. She had always protected her sister, always made sure Emma wouldn’t get hurt. She’d push Emma when she needed it and stand in front of her if someone came after her. She was Emma’s twin sister, and she’d do anything for her. She’d die for her.
    But evidently, Emma didn’t feel the same way. Emma couldn’t care less about her. She had known about Trey and had listened to Sophie go on like an idiot. She had seen the hearts Sophie doodled, seen Sophie add Trey’s last name to her first.
    Now, Sophie just felt like a fool. Emma and Trey probably laughed about her behind her back.
    As she gained momentum down the hall, Sophie’s sadness turned to anger. How could she? After everything they’d been through, everything Sophie had done for her?
    Emma called out again, more urgently, “Sophie! Can you please just stop?”
    Sophie spotted her room. Just four more doors to go. She sped up.
    As she reached her doorknob, a hand grabbed her arm. She spun around and faced Emma.
    â€œSophie, I’m so sorry. You don’t understand. Please let me explain.”
    â€œOh, I think everything is pretty clear.” Sophie’s voice was shaky. She swallowed her anger.
    â€œI didn’t mean to hurt you, Sophie,” Emma said. “This just … happened.”
    Sophie watched people gather at the top of the stairs, just out from dinner. But she could only see them through a red haze. Fury shot through her like a shooting star. All she could think of was how best to hurt Emma.
    Like Emma had hurt her.
    â€œI bet this just happened ,” Sophie shouted. “I bet you didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?