Twin Trouble Page 2

  “That is okay,” said Terri slowly. “You should not apologize. We are supposed to read as much as we can. The more we read, the more money our library will get.”

  “But still,” said Tammy.

  “I know,” said Terri.

  “What happened to us?” asked Tammy. “Why aren’t we samesies?”

  Terri shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe we can be samesies again,” said Tammy.

  “How?”

  “Well, I could try to slow down. I do not have to read so fast.” Tammy did not sound very excited about her idea.

  “No. Do not do that,” said Terri. “Then you will not earn as many pages.” Terri thought for a moment. “I know! I could try to speed up. I will just read really, really fast.”

  Tammy looked interested. “Can you do that?”

  “Sure. Why not? I will let my eyes zip along the pages like a bee. It should be easy. I bet I could read a whole book by tomorrow. Well, maybe by Tuesday.”

  Tammy smiled. “Cool.”

  “It feels funny to be different, doesn’t it?” said Terri. “I mean, we are still different. If I have to read really fast to keep up with you, it means I am slower. So we are different. Not samesies.”

  “Yeah,” said Tammy.

  “I know. Let’s wear the same outfits tomorrow,” suggested Terri. “Like we used to do every day.”

  “Okay.”

  The girls looked through their closets. They decided to wear their jean skirts and purple heart sweaters with tights and their red shoes.

  “Remember, we have to fix our hair the same too,” said Tammy.

  The girls decided on ponytails.

  That night Terri lay in her bed, thinking. She was pleased about the matching outfits. But when she thought about the reading, she got a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  School Choir

  “Class,” said Ms. Colman the next morning, “I have something exciting to tell you. Our school is going to have its very own choir. Mr. Saffron is going to be in charge of it.” (Mr. Saffron was one of the music teachers.) “We have never had a choir. This will be our first. And Mr. Saffron said that anybody may try out for it. So if you are interested, go to the music room after lunch today instead of going to the playground for recess.”

  “If we join the choir, will we always miss recess?” asked Jannie.

  Ms. Colman shook her head. “No. Just today. Mr. Saffron said the choir is going to meet after school.” She looked around the classroom. “Are any of you interested?”

  Terri was. She started to raise her hand. Then she stopped. She looked at Tammy. Would Tammy raise her hand too?

  Tammy turned around. She glanced at Terri. The twins nodded at each other. Then they raised their hands.

  “Very good,” said Ms. Colman. “Ian, Omar, Jannie, and our twins. I see you are dressed alike today, girls,” she added.

  “But we wore different ribbons in our hair,” said Tammy.

  “So you can tell us apart,” said Terri.

  Ms. Colman smiled. “That was very thoughtful of you.”

  After lunch that day, Ms. Colman walked Jannie, Omar, Ian, and the twins to the music room. She left them with Mr. Saffron and a lot of other kids.

  “Are all these kids trying out for the choir?” Tammy whispered.

  “I guess so,” Terri whispered back. “There are so many of them.”

  Mr. Saffron clapped his hands. “Greetings,” he said. “Thank you for coming. I am Mr. Saffron. As you know, Stoneybrook Academy is about to have its first choir. I would like thirty or so of you to be in it. That means, unfortunately, that some of you who try out today will not get to be part of the choir. If you are not chosen, please do not feel too bad. We will have tryouts every year. So you can try again next year.

  “Now, to begin, I would like to hear you sing in small groups.” Mr. Saffron counted the kids in the room. “Groups of five, I think.”

  Terri and Tammy waited patiently for Mr. Saffron to call their names. When he did, they stood up along with three other kids. Mr. Saffron wrote their names on a sheet of paper.

  “Okay, listen for the scales,” he said.

  Just as all the other kids had done, Terri listened to Mrs. Dade (another music teacher) play a scale on the piano.

  “Now let me hear you sing that as a group,” said Mr. Saffron.

  “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,” sang Terri and the others.

  “Very nice,” said Mr. Saffron. “Now one at a time. Terri?”

  “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.”

  “Great. Tammy?”

  “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.”

  “Wonderful.”

  Mr. Saffron listened to each of the kids. Sometimes he asked two or three of them to sing together. Sometimes he wanted to hear someone alone for a second time and even a third time.

  “I will make my decisions by the end of the day,” Mr. Saffron told the kids as they were leaving.

  Terri could not wait. At the end of the day, when she heard Mr. Saffron’s voice on the loudspeaker, her heart began to beat faster. And then she heard him say her name — and Tammy’s and Omar’s.

  “Yes!” cried Terri. She and Tammy were samesies again.

  Terri’s Secret Plan

  On Tuesday the twins dressed alike again. They fixed their hair the same way too. They helpfully wore different-colored barrettes, though. Blue for Terri, red for Tammy.

  Even so, Bobby Gianelli said, “Hey, I am seeing double!” when he saw them. “I better go to the eye doctor.”

  And Jannie called them Twinny.

  “I am Terri,” said Terri crossly.

  “And I am Tammy. See my barrette?”

  “I cannot be bothered to look at barrettes all the time,” said Jannie.

  “She is just mad because Mr. Saffron did not pick her for the choir,” Terri whispered to Tammy.

  “Sore loser,” Tammy muttered.

  “Do not pay attention to her,” said Terri. “I am not going to. I am going to finish Becky Morton and the Snowstorm now. I started it last night and I read really fast. I bet I can finish it by the time Ms. Colman gets here.”

  Sure enough, Terri was reading the words “The End” when she heard Ms. Colman say, “Good morning, class.”

  Terri snapped the book shut. Done! She could not wait until reading time.

  “Ms. Colman, Ms. Colman! I finished another book,” Terri announced as soon as reading time had begun.

  “My goodness. Already?” replied Ms. Colman. “That was fast.”

  Terri nodded. “Yup.”

  “Okay. Which book?”

  Terri was standing by Ms. Colman’s desk. “This one,” she said. She handed her Becky Morton and the Snowstorm.

  “Oh. This is a good one, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” replied Terri. Although, when she thought about it, she could not remember much about what had happened in it.

  “All right. Let me see,” began Ms. Colman. She flipped some pages in the book. “Okay. Before the storm begins, what gift does Becky give to Mr. O’Toole?”

  “Gift?” repeated Terri. “To Mr. O’Toole?”

  “Yes. In his shop.”

  “In his shop?”

  “In the butcher shop?” Ms. Colman added helpfully.

  “Well, um … I — I do not exactly remember.” In fact, Terri did not even remember anyone in the story named Mr. O’Toole.

  Ms. Colman glanced down at a sheet of paper on her desk. Terri glanced at it too. She saw her classmates’ names in a list on the left side of the page. Next to each name, in pencil, was a number. A lot of numbers looked as if they had been erased quite a few times.

  “Is that where you write down our page numbers?” Terri asked.

  Ms. Colman nodded. Then she said, “Can you answer the question?” Terri shook her head, so Ms. Colman said, “Okay. Let’s try another. What happens to the new baby during the story?”

  Terri frown
ed. “Does she … get sick?”

  “No,” said Ms. Colman. Then she added, “I am sorry, Terri. I think maybe you read a little too fast. I am afraid I cannot count these pages. You may try reading the book again. Or you may go on and read a different book.”

  Terri hung her head. She had wanted Ms. Colman to add 61 to the number by Terri’s name on the sheet. But Ms. Colman would not do it.

  Terri felt cross. But then she got a sneaky idea for a secret plan.

  Sneaking Around

  “Tammy?” said Terri. “What gift does Becky give Mr. O’Toole in Becky Morton and the Snowstorm?”

  “A cake,” replied Tammy. “Why?”

  It was the next morning. Terri and Tammy, dressed in matching sweaters and leggings, walked slowly down the hallway toward room 2A.

  Terri shrugged. “I just could not remember,” she said. “Um, Tammy? Who is Mr. O’Toole? Is he a butcher?”

  “Well, he works in a butcher’s shop. But he is not a butcher. He just helps out. And he and Becky get to be friends. Terri?”

  “Yeah?”

  “How fast did you read the book?”

  “A little too fast,” Terri admitted. She thought about asking Tammy what had happened to the baby during the snowstorm, but she decided not to bother. She was too busy thinking about her sneaky plan. She was going to carry it out as soon as lunch was over that day.

  “Who wants to play hopscotch?” asked Tammy.

  “Me!” cried Natalie and Sara. They began to clean off their lunch trays.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” said Terri. “I will come outside later.”

  Terri hurried out of the cafeteria. Her heart began to pound. It was time to put her plan into action.

  She walked down the hall. She walked quickly by the girls’ room. She walked straight to room 2A. Terri paused outside the doorway. She peeped inside. (She was holding her breath.) Good. The room was empty.

  Terri tiptoed inside. She looked around. She was not sure she had ever been all alone in 2A before. Her heart began to pound even faster. Terri scooted over to Ms. Colman’s desk. The first thing she saw was the sheet of paper with the names listed on it. Perfect.

  Terri reached for the paper. She looked at the number next to her name. It was one of the lowest numbers on the sheet. Tammy’s was one of the highest. It had been erased lots of times. That was because Tammy kept finishing books, so Ms. Colman kept adding to the number of pages.

  Terri picked up a pencil. Carefully she erased the number by her name. She thought for a moment. Then she wrote down a number that was almost as big as Tammy’s. She erased it. She wrote the same number as Tammy’s.

  “Ahem,” said a voice from behind Terri.

  Terri jumped. She dropped the pencil. She turned around.

  Ms. Colman was peering over her shoulder.

  Cheating

  “Terri? What are you doing?” asked Ms. Colman. Ms. Colman was not smiling. In fact, she was frowning.

  “I was — I was —” Terri started to say.

  Ms. Colman took the paper from Terri. She frowned harder. “Terri, the last time I looked, you had read about half the number of pages I see written here. And this number is not in my handwriting.”

  “I know, I know,” said Terri. “I just — I changed it.” Terri could feel a tear starting to slide down her cheek.

  “But why?” asked Ms. Colman. “You have been doing a lot of reading, Terri. You have been working hard.”

  “I wanted to be the same as Tammy,” Terri managed to say. “Look. See how many pages Tammy has read?”

  “Why do you want to be the same?”

  “Because we are always the same. Samesies.”

  “You are not exactly the same,” Ms. Colman said.

  “Yes, we are,” said Terri.

  Ms. Colman sighed. “No, you are not. And anyway, that is not the point. The point is that you were cheating.”

  “Well,” said Terri. She looked down at her feet. “Um, well … ”

  “You know you were cheating, don’t you?” said Ms. Colman.

  “Yes,” whispered Terri.

  “All right. Terri, I want you to know that I am not angry at you. But I am very, very disappointed in you. I thought I could trust you. Now I am not sure. You snuck in here to do something behind my back. And you took something private off of my desk. Do you know that these things were wrong?”

  “Yes,” whispered Terri again.

  Ms. Colman looked at her watch. “Recess will not be over for a while,” she said. “So we have time to go to the office. Please come along with me now.”

  “To the principal’s office?” Terri gasped.

  “Yes, but not to see Mrs. Titus,” said Ms. Colman. “I want to call your parents.” She held out her hand to Terri.

  Terri gulped. Call her parents? That was a thousand times worse than telling Mrs. Titus, the principal. Ms. Colman must have been very, very, very, VERY disappointed in Terri. Terri had known the things she was doing were wrong. She just had not known how wrong.

  Terri took her teacher’s hand. She walked with her to the office.

  “My parents are both at work,” Terri told Ms. Colman.

  Ms. Colman nodded. She looked up the Barkans’ work numbers. She dialed Mrs. Barkan first. Mrs. Barkan was in a meeting. Ms. Colman called Mr. Barkan next.

  Terri listened while Ms. Colman told Mr. Barkan what Terri had done. She could feel her face flushing. After a few minutes Ms. Colman handed the phone to Terri.

  “Terri,” said her father, “I am very disappointed in you.”

  “So is Ms. Colman,” Terri managed to say.

  “We will have a talk tonight.”

  “Okay,” said Terri.

  That night, as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Barkan returned from work, they sat down in the den with Terri. Terri tried hard not to cry. She had been trying not to cry all afternoon.

  “Terri,” said her mother. “Your father told me about Ms. Colman’s call today. You understand that we have to punish you, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” replied Terri.

  She waited to hear what her punishment would be.

  Good News

  “We were going to tell you that you could not take part in the readathon,” said Mrs. Barkan. “But we are not going to do that. Reading is much, much too important. Instead, you may not watch any television for two weeks.”

  “Okay,” murmured Terri. Two weeks was a very long time, but she did not say so. She was glad that she could still be in the readathon.

  “Now,” said Mr. Barkan, “when Ms. Colman called today, she said something about you and Tammy not being samesies. What is that all about? I mean, why did that make you want to cheat?”

  Terri tried to explain.

  The Barkans called Tammy into the den.

  “Does this bother you, too?” they asked her. “Not being samesies all the time?”

  “Yes,” admitted Tammy.

  “Hmm,” said Mrs. Barkan. “I believe it is time to ask Grandma Doris to come for a visit. I will call her tonight.”

  Terri looked at Tammy. The twins frowned. Grandma Doris? They had not seen her since they were four. Why was their mother going to ask her to visit? And what did she have to do with the readathon?

  Although Terri was confused, she began to feel better. And then better and better. First of all, no TV for two weeks was a big punishment, but it was not so bad. Plus, when Mrs. Barkan called Grandma Doris, Grandma Doris said she wanted to come visit right away. She was going to fly to Connecticut on Saturday and stay for two whole weeks. Very exciting. The twins planned to decorate the guest room for her.

  When Terri and Tammy arrived at school the next day, they decided to check on the caterpillar. “Let’s see how long he is,” said Terri. “I wonder if he has grown.”

  “Hey, wait!” exclaimed Tammy. “What is the caterpillar doing in this hallway? He was not here before.”

  Terri saw that the caterpillar stretched halfway down the hal
lway they were standing in. The twins ran to the corner. They peered around it. The caterpillar started at the end of the next hallway, ran all the way down the wall, and turned the corner.

  “Cool!” exclaimed Terri, and she felt even better.

  At choir practice that afternoon, Mr. Saffron had good news. “Guess what,” he said. “Our choir has been asked to perform at the readathon program. The program will be very exciting. Our principal is going to give a speech. Some of the fifth-graders are going to put on a skit, and we are going to sing several songs. And, one of you will sing a solo in each song. Do you know what a solo is?”

  A fourth-grade boy raised his hand. “A solo is one person singing alone, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is,” replied Mr. Saffron. “Very good. We will be singing three songs, so we will need three soloists. If you would like to try out for a solo part, stay after school tomorrow. The tryouts will be held right here.”

  Terri grinned at Tammy. She flashed her the thumbs-up sign. As soon as choir practice was over, Terri said, “Cool, Tammy! Tryouts for solos! Let’s both try out, okay?”

  “Definitely!” said Tammy.

  “Let’s practice singing this afternoon,” Terri went on. “And tomorrow we will dress samesies for the tryouts.”

  “Okay,” agreed Tammy.

  Terri was grinning. Her bad day the day before had turned into a good day today.

  Different Again

  On Friday the twins wore their red jumpers and white blouses to school. They both wore white tights and black shoes. They fixed their hair in ponytails tied with red ribbons.

  “Even our underwear is the same,” said Terri proudly.

  “Not a bit of difference,” added Tammy.

  By the time the bell rang at the end of the day, Terri’s heart was beating fast. It felt like a bird flapping in her chest.

  “Are you nervous?” she whispered to Tammy as they hurried down the hall to the music room.