“Hurry up, Jess! We’ll be late for school!” Elizabeth called from the bottom of the stairs. Jessica was putting the finishing touches on her outfit – a teal blue oversized sweater and hot pink leggings, which she was accessorizing with a yellow bow in her hair.

“It takes time to look this fabulous,” Jessica answered as she emerged from her room, posing at the top of the stairs.

Elizabeth laughed. She usually dressed more sensibly than her twin, but she had to admit, Jessica looked great. “What’s the special occasion?”

“No special occasion,” Jessica said, flipping her hair as best she could in spite of the bow.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were up to something, Jess,” Elizabeth said, grabbing her book bag and the keys to the Fiat.

“Me? Up to something?” Jessica shook her head. “I can’t believe you don’t know your own twin better than that!”

“Come on,” Elizabeth said, checking her watch. That was another difference between the twins; Elizabeth always wore a watch, and Jessica didn’t. Not that anyone cared, but if their classmates were having a particularly difficult time distinguishing between the prude and the whore, they knew they could always look for the watch.

“Okay, okay,” Jessica grumbled, adjusting her bow one last time in the hall mirror before hurrying out the door. “Hey, how come I don’t get to drive today?”

“We’re on a strict schedule, Jess. You know that,” Elizabeth said. “Besides, you’re liable to get us killed while checking out your reflection in the rearview mirror.”

“Fine,” Jessica said, sighing, as she settled into the passenger seat of the Fiat. “Hey, are you and Todd going to the dance on Friday?”

Elizabeth cautiously backed out of the driveway, stopping, as she always did, in the street for a second to admire the Wakefields’ attractive, split-level ranch. “There’s another dance on Friday?”

“It’s only the most important event of the year! Besides our birthday, that is,” Jessica said. “I mean, our birthday is practically a national holiday.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, Jess,” Elizabeth said, smiling at her twin.

Jessica sighed. “I still don’t know who I’m going to take to the dance, though. Or to our party.”

Elizabeth had a feeling Jessica did know who she was going to take to the dance – and that it involved the mysterious group of people from the beach. “No idea, huh?”

“Well…” Jessica said, trailing off. “I did sort of meet someone yesterday.”

“Oh, no, Jess. Not one of those ‘Skanks Gone Stupid’ guys,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head. “We don’t even know what a skank is!”

“Jayden said he’d teach me all about it,” Jessica said, dismissing Elizabeth with a wave of her hand. “He’s so dreamy. And, he’s older. I’m sick of these high school boys.”

Elizabeth frowned. “These high school boys were just fine with you last week,” she said.

“Lizzie, you know I’m mature for my age,” Jessica said, turning the rearview mirror toward herself and smoothing the green eyeshadow on her right eyelid. “Besides, Jayden is a big-time film director! And he said Lila and I have what it takes to be stars!”