Chapter 3

Emily’s day was indeed great. In fact, it was almost perfect.

Almost.

Though, to be honest ... she couldn’t really remember it that well.

Emily sort of knew what happened. She remembered driving to school, and dropping her younger brother Todd off at the side entrance. She remembered heading to her classes, hurriedly ditching the headphones in her purse every time she saw her friends, not wanting to look like a complete loser. Wearing the stupid blinking earpieces that her nerd loser brother Jack had given her made her feel slightly ridiculous ... she wasn’t even sure the fucking things would work. After all, just listening to music couldn’t change anything.

Could it?

When have I ever been wrong about anything? Jack had asked her earlier in the day.

Emily kept thinking of that. And the fact that Jack looked more like a model out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog when he walked into the kitchen in the morning, rather than his usually chubby, smelly, zit-riddled loser self.

So she kept dutifully putting in the earpieces, in between classes, whenever she could.

The crazy thing was, Emily thought they were making some sort of difference. Her calculus quiz during third period, for example ... usually, Emily was lucky to scrape her way through her math and science classes with good grades. She did okay, but she definitely didn’t have her twin brother Jack’s genius when it came to those subjects.

Today, though, when the quizzes had been handed out, Emily had breezed through all the problems in about five minutes, barely stopping to think about how to do any of them. Solving them had been easy, about as easy as breathing. Her teacher, Miss Burton, had raised an eyebrow when Emily had been first to hand in her completed exam ... and that eyebrow had arched even higher as she’d started looking over Emily’s answers.

Her other classes went just like that. Everything was easy, and obvious.

After her classes ended, Emily went to the school’s fitness center for a bit, with her friends Donna and Michelle, to work on their tryout routines for the cheerleading squad. And the practice routines had been just as simple and smooth for Emily as her schoolwork. Every move, every flip was effortless. When Donna and Michelle grew tired and began to sweat, and began to slip up and make mistakes, Emily didn’t. Much like her studies, the workout was ridiculously easy for Emily. Over and over again, she did everything perfectly. She even had to hide a smile when she saw that bitch Charlotte – Charlotte, the captain of the cheerleading squad who absolutely hated Emily – peek into the fitness center, watch Emily for a bit ... and then leave in a huff, clearly annoyed.

Emily hadn’t even felt hungry all day. She even felt lighter. When she went to get changed after practicing the tryout routines in the school locker room, she’d checked herself out in the mirror. Her stomach looked flatter and more toned ... her calves looked better, too. So did her ass. And she could’ve sworn that her boobs were just a little bit bigger.

Emily practically skipped to her car once she’d showered and changed clothes. The day had gone great, so great. She’d put in the earplugs again, listening to the weird music that droned through them, just like she had in between all her classes, just like Jack had told her ... and suddenly, she let out a cry as they were rudely ripped out of her ears. There was a hand on her shoulder, and Emily nearly fell to the ground as the hand shoved her hard.

“Nice headphones, bitch,” Charlotte said with a saucy grin. The raven-haired girl was a year older than Emily, and was the girl most boys in school drooled over. She liked to dress provocatively, and today was no different. She wore cutoff denim shorts than were barely more than thong panties and a torn T-shirt that showed off her flat midriff. She stood behind Emily, arms crossed over her ample chest, and smirked as she looked over her blonde rival.

“What ... what was that for?” Emily asked. She wasn’t sure what had just happened. She’d been lost in the music, in her happy moment of bliss, and ... then, there was Charlotte. She must’ve snuck up behind me, Emily thought. She felt dizzy and disoriented. I didn’t even hear her...

Panic washed over Emily as she saw Charlotte holding the headphones. “Ooh, cool blinking lights,” Charlotte said. Her pretty lips curled into a sneer. “Your nerd loser brother make this for you? Or did you just want to look like a loser all on your own?”

Emily didn’t say anything. Instead, her hand shot out fast, like a snake. Before she knew what had happened, she’d yanked the headphones out of Charlotte’s hand. “They’re mine,” Emily blurted out. “Hands off.”

“Whoa, take it easy,” Charlotte said, still smirking. “I was only playing ... keep your nerd toys.” With a cold laugh, Charlotte turned and began heading back to the school. “Besides,” she said tauntingly, “you’ll need something to play with after you don’t make the cheerleading squad. Besides yourself, that is.”

Charlotte looked over her shoulder and blew Emily a kiss. “You’re never making the team, cunt,” she said icily, before she disappeared back into the school.

Emily’s hands shook with fury. Her small hands clenched into fists. She wanted to scream – to tell Charlotte and that pack of witches who ran the cheerleading squad to go fuck themselves, that she was just as good as they were – but she didn’t. She knew it would do no good. Instead, she looked down at one of her fists ... and saw the headphone wires wrapped around her fingers.

“Thanks, Jack,” Emily murmured bitterly. “Thanks for fucking things up again, nerd.”

She got in the car and drove home in stony silence, not bothering to put the headphones back on.

Once Emily got home, she stormed straight up to Jack’s room. She was slightly surprised that her mother didn’t greet her when she walked in – usually, her mother was always annoying with stupid questions like so how was your day at school? whenever she stepped foot inside the house – but she was glad that her mother wasn’t around, for whatever the reason. Emily was still trembling with rage from her encounter with Charlotte, and she didn’t want anything getting in the way of telling off Jack.

Without bothering to knock, Emily threw the door to her twin brother’s room open. She threw the headphones that he’d given her on his bed. “Thanks, Jack,” she started angrily. “Thanks for your usual bullshit...”

Emily’s voice trailed off in wonder. She rarely went in her brother’s room – it was usually crammed full of junk like comic books, DVDs, dirty laundry, candy wrappers, miles of wire, and assorted computer parts. It was all spread everywhere, like a nerd’s junkyard, and it was almost impossible to take one step into the room without putting a foot on something sticky or disgusting. It usually smelled pretty bad, too. Emily couldn’t remember the last time she’d voluntarily gone into his room.

Today, though ... it was immaculately clean. The bed was made, everything was pristine and tidy. Not a hint of junk or mess anywhere.

Jack sat at his desk, next to the bed. He swiveled in his chair away from his computer, away from lines and numbers flashing on the giant flatscreen monitor that sat on the desk. Also gone were the slobby black T-shirts and the oversized jeans that he always wore. Jack was shirtless, and simply wore a pair of khaki shorts. Emily was stunned to see that his big fat gut was totally gone, replaced by six-pack abs ... and his whole body was tanned and well-toned, too.

“Is there a problem, Emily?” Jack asked mildly. He scooted over to the bed on his chair, and picked up the discarded headphones. The lights on the earbuds – pink and emerald – no longer blinked in alternating patterns. Instead, they blinked simultaneously. Jack shot over back to his desk and his computer, and plugged the headphones into a slot, right next to an identical set of headphones already plugged into a nearby slot.

“Yes, there’s a problem,” Emily began. But she felt light-headed. Probably because you haven’t eaten much today, she thought. Still, she was mad, but she suddenly was having a hard time remembering exactly why she was mad at her twin brother. “I, um ... the headphones, Charlotte said ... I won’t make the cheerleading squad, because of ... um...”

“It’s okay,” Jack said soothingly to her. “Why don’t you sit down on the bed? Relax. Take a deep breath. Then, you can tell me exactly what’s on your mind.”

Emily nodded. She sat on the bed.

“That’s good,” Jack said to Emily. “Now, take off your shirt. And your bra, too.” His voice was calm and pleasant, as if he’d just offered to help her with her homework. “I want to see those beautiful tits of yours.”

Emily’s eyes widened in shock. Her cheeks grew red, and she stood up. “Are you fucking mental?” she asked angrily. “What the fuck is the matter with –”

“Sit. Down.” Jack spoke sharply.

Emily found herself sitting. She didn’t know why.

“Interesting ... slight recalibration of the delta wave frequency, perhaps,” Jack murmured. “And perhaps a change in command delivery as well.” He turned away from Emily for a moment, and tapped away at his computer keyboard. Emily stared at him furiously, wishing that she could stand up and leave her fucking pervert twin brother’s room ... and then she relaxed. She didn’t feel angry anymore.