Twisted Circles (Secret Society 2)

“I didn’t see that coming.” The voice came from my other side.

I jumped. It was Nolan. He didn’t have a mask on and in the light, he looked eerily similar to his brother, but the long hair gave him away. I could also see the scar on his lip that he pointed out last night.

“What didn’t you see coming?”

“You being a lesbian. I didn’t get those vibes.”

“We met once.”

“A few times.” He raised an eyebrow. “But yeah, I guess I only invited you back to my place once. Does my brother know you’re a lesbian?”

“That is none of your business. Or your brother’s,” I whisper-shouted. “And what do you mean we met a few times?”

“Dude, we did a group project together last year.” He looked at me like I was crazy.

“Oh yeah.” I nodded as if just remembering, though I knew it wasn’t me he was in the group project with.

“So, does my brother know?”

“About what?”

“You being a lesbian.”

“Oh my God, will you drop it.” I turned fully in my seat and faced forward, hoping the blush on my face wasn’t obvious.

“Speaking of.” Nolan looked up, grinning. I followed his gaze and spotted Adam walking toward us.

“What the hell,” I said under my breath.

“What the hell indeed,” Nolan said, still grinning as Adam drew near.

Dropping his backpack on the floor, he took the seat in front of his brother’s and looked at me. “Where were you this morning?”

“Gone. Obviously.”

“Gone where?”

“I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but she’s a lesbian,” Nolan whispered, leaning in so that only Adam and I could hear.

“Shut up already. I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Nolan raised an eyebrow. “Cameron thinks you are.”

Adam looked at me for a long moment before shrugging and facing the front of the classroom. I didn’t like that and that was as unexpected as the new information on my sister. I wanted to punch Nolan and shake Adam and tell him that I was completely attracted to him, not Cameron, but that I couldn’t do anything about it because I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Nolan stretched his legs, taking over his space, mine, and Adam’s. Adam didn’t move. He was probably used to his brother being all up in his shit. Well, obviously, they’d shared a womb.

I tripped over that thought. I’d shared a womb with someone as well. A stranger, I thought as I looked at the back of Cameron’s perfect blonde hair. It wasn’t that I thought all twins were exactly alike, but I didn’t realize how different they could be. I looked at Adam and Nolan again. They shared the same athletic body composition—lean muscle, rigid jawline, wide back—but Nolan was obviously the more athletic of the two. Or maybe it was that he was a different kind of athlete. Where Adam looked like he could play baseball, maybe pitch, Nolan looked like he belonged on a football field.

“Maybe you swing both ways?” Nolan asked. He was looking at his phone and hadn’t looked up at all, but must have sensed me staring.

“Maybe.” I glanced away. “I’m surprised you even come to class.”

“It’s my last year here. I kind of want to graduate.”

“What’s your major?”

“Business and Art History.” He glanced at me. “Our father owns galleries. My parents are into art.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“What’s your major?”

“Psychology.”

“Hm.” He nodded at the professor, who had just walked in. “My mom is a retired psychologist.”

“Is that her?” I looked at the professor. She looked too young to be his mother.

“No.” He chuckled. “I was just letting you know the professor was here.”

“Oh.” I looked at the professor again. She was writing something on the board behind her. Genes. “Why’d your mom retire? She must be young.”

“She is. She says she wanted to help dad with the galleries.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think she got tired of hearing people’s shit all day when she had her own shit going on at home.”

“Her own shit meaning fielding phone calls from Nolan’s teachers every five seconds,” Adam said without turning around. Nolan flicked him in the back of the head, making him rub the spot and glare at his brother. “Don’t start.”

“I’m not.” Nolan put his hands up in surrender. He glanced at me and whispered, “He might look all clean-cut, but he’s a savage. I hate to admit it, but he’s kicked my ass before.”

“Twice,” Adam said, without turning around. Nolan shrugged a shoulder in admission.

At that, I laughed.

The professor began to speak and everyone cut their conversations short. The class was Genealogy. The topic of conversation, which apparently was left over from last class, was a twin study they were conducting at The Institute.

“Did any of you do more research on the matter?” the professor asked.

A lot of people nodded and said yes.

“Did you find anything interesting you want to share?”