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“Life is not a struggle. It’s a wiggle!” Luna announced, laughing as she shimmied across

the room. Her favorite pajama set with matching fuzzy socks was perfect for sliding across the

slick bedroom floor. Kaylee glanced up from her blanket pile and noticed that Luna’s sliding had

absentmindedly turned into the Cha-Cha Slide. She smiled in spite of herself.

“You can wiggle all you want, but I’m still struggling over here.” Kaylee wasn’t in the

mood for dancing. Luna always seemed so easygoing, so carefree. It was annoying.

Luna stopped dancing abruptly and put her hands on her hips. Kaylee could read her

clearly- hands on hips meant she had an idea. Luna’s lips curved into a dangerous smile, one her

sister recognized as trouble. The fun kind. “I know you’re disappointed,” her voice had a rich

sincerity that didn’t quite mesh with the bright pink of her outfit. “But I know you, Kaylee. You

always get depressed the second something bad happens. And you always end up fine! I didn’t

get in either, but you don’t see me moping about it.”

Of course, Luna couldn’t be disappointed because she hadn’t applied to any colleges in

the first place. But her sister didn’t need to know that. Kaylee sighed, sitting up slightly in the

bed. “I was stupid. I was so sure I’d get in that I didn’t apply anywhere else. Who only applies to

one college? Of course they didn’t accept me. I’m an idiot. I wouldn’t accept me, either.” She

groaned and Luna threw a pillow at her.

Kaylee didn’t react when the pillow hit the back of her head, or when Luna sat on her

back, or even when Luna dragged her off the bed and halfway across the bedroom floor. She

did, however, finally get up after Luna poured half a bottle of water onto her sister’s

unsuspecting face.

“Hey!” she screamed. “You’re going to mess up the floors! What’s the one thing Mom

told us not to do while she’s gone? God, I can’t believe you.”

For a small second, Luna’s playful smile fell, as if she was remembering her mother’s

warning. Then she was laughing, and it was like she had never frowned at all. Kaylee decided

she must have been mistaken in believing her twin could feel guilty about anything. “I’m sure

you’ll clean it up,” Luna said, spinning out of the room. She was right. Of course Kaylee would

clean it up. She was always cleaning up Luna’s messes.

An hour later, after she had dried the floor, Kaylee stumbled downstairs. She was

surprised to find Luna waiting for her on the banister, showered and dressed. Luna glanced her

sister up and down before proclaiming, in a mock British accent, “Marvelous, you’re ready to

go.” Then she jumped off the banister, spun on her heel, and paraded out the front door like a

soldier. Kaylee, who didn’t feel remotely ready, sighed and followed reluctantly.

Outside, Luna was already getting in the passenger side of the car. “You’re driving!” she

yelled. Kaylee didn’t even bother arguing. Sure, she was still in sweatpants and an old t-shirt,

but what did her appearance matter to Luna? Her sister had a tendency to only think about

herself. She probably expected Kaylee to pay for breakfast, too. Why not?

As if reading her mind, Luna responded, “Relax, I’m paying today.”

Kaylee was unconvinced. “Even for gas?”

Luna nodded proudly. “Even for gas.”

“Well, okay then.” Having a sister wasn’t always the worst thing in the world.

They didn’t end up getting breakfast. Luna said there wasn’t enough time and refused to

elaborate when Kaylee pressed her. She also seemed to think it would be funny to direct them

in circles around the neighborhood until Kaylee kindly reminded her that she was the one who

promised to pay for their gas. After that, things went a lot faster.

The first stop was a little shop in the middle of one of the new strip malls. The purple

sign above the entryway stated, in bold, curly font, that Luna had directed them to a psychic’s

office.

“Luna, why are we here? Are we seriously going to visit a psychic?”

“We aren’t. You are.” She sighed heavily. “Don’t you get it? You didn’t get into the

college you wanted, right? You’re feeling lost? I’m going to get you unlost.” Kaylee resisted the

urge to tell her that the proper word was ‘found.’ “I’m taking you to a psychic, and if she can’t

tell you your future we’ll buy fortune cookies, and if those don’t work...well, I haven't thought

that far ahead yet. But we’ll figure something out. We’ll figure out how to get you through this,

Kaylee. We can figure out your future.”

Kaylee wasn’t one to believe in fortunes or in knowing her own future. In general, she

tried to avoid believing in anything that wasn’t rooted in fact. But she did believe in her sister.

She believed in her sister’s faith that this would work.

Kaylee locked eyes with Luna. They had the same green irises, handed down from their

mother. Kaylee gave a single, slow nod. “I’m in.”

Thirty minutes and fifty dollars later, Kaylee walked out of the psychic’s office, a

troubled look on her face. Luna’s face twisted into an anticipated grin.

“So, how did it go?” Excitement flowed off her voice.

Kaylee looked lost at where to begin. “Um, well, she asked me to sit down. The room

was all crystally and purple and there was a lot of strange music. It sounded like a mix between

heavy synthesizer and jazz, so it was weird but fun, like you. Really Luna, you would have fit

right in. But anyway, she brought out some tarot cards, and she looked at one, and afterwards

she told me I had a sister, which was cool. But I guess she could have put that together from

seeing you outside. Seriously, you could have come in.”

“I would have messed up your juju.” Luna said. There was no trace of humor in her

voice. What a marvel, Kaylee thought, that she could have a sister so opposite herself. Luna

continued, “What were on the tarot cards, Kaylee?”

“Well, I only pulled one. It had a big Greek chariot on it. Or maybe it was Roman.

Something about controlling my own future, I think.”

“Some help that is.”

Kaylee nodded in agreement. “The psychic also knew that Mom was out of town, and

that Dad was never in the picture. That part freaked me out a little. After that she looked at my

palm. She said I was ‘gifted’, whatever that means. And then I left.”

“And then you left? You mean I paid fifty dollars for someone to tell you that I exist, that

Dad is dead, and that Mom is out of town?”

“Don’t forget the ‘gifted’ part.”

Luna sighed. “Money down the drain. I might as well take you to lunch, too.” She pulled

out her phone. “Chinese food, ten minutes away. Let’s go.”

Kaylee found lunch much more enjoyable than the psychic reading, although she was a

firm believer that food tasted better when you weren’t the one paying for it. Luna spent the

whole meal discussing other ways in which to learn Kaylee’s future.

“Fortune cookies, obviously. We’ll get those after this. But what else? I only have, like,

seven dollars left. Do you think we can discover your future with only seven dollars?”

Kaylee sipped her drink. For once, she appreciated Luna’s babble. It helped take her

mind off the college situation. “The fortune cookie will be enough.”

Luna looked unsure, but she didn’t press the issue, which Kaylee found unusual. “Okay,

after fortune cookies we’ll stop. But you might have to pay for gas. I wildly underestimated the

cost of Chinese food.”

The waiter interrupted them to drop off the fortune cookies. Luna pushed both cookies

towards Kaylee. “All for you,” she said. Kaylee was surprised to find she felt excited to open

them. Maybe Luna’s plan was working.

“The first one,” Kaylee read, “It says ‘Pick another fortune cookie.’” She frowned. “Is this

a joke?”

“The other one, Kaylee. It has to be the other one.”

The second one, sadly, was even more of a disappointment. “It’s blank.” Kaylee’s voice

was shrill. “Completely blank. This is it. This is the most accurate fortune of all. I’ve been

missing things my whole life. I never had a dad. I never had a best friend. I never let myself have

time for even one typical high school experience. And now, when I’m supposed to be finally

starting my adult life, I have no plan, no hope, no future, and no college. After a whole life of

nothing, I don’t even get a stupid fortune.” She put her head down dramatically on the table.

For a few minutes, nothing was said at all. The blank fortune cookie was pretty self-

explanatory. Still, Luna being silent was highly abnormal. Kaylee eventually looked up to see

Luna’s eyes darting around the table, like she was unsure of what to say. Luna was never

unsure. About anything. When she did finally speak, her voice was unusually reassuring, and a

little unsettling.

She swallowed before starting. “Do you remember what Mom always used to tell us?

She would say, when we were little, that we could be anything we wanted, as long as we were

happy and safe. That’s all she ever said she wanted. Of course, I know now that the “safe” part

was probably her way of warning us not to get pregnant with twins at sixteen, but honestly the

odds of that happening to two generations in a row is probably slim to none. Where was I? Oh,

yeah. What I’m trying to say, Kaylee, is that I want you to be happy, too. You’re my twin. You’re

half of me. The thing is, you’re the good half. What can I possibly do to help you feel better

when I’ve never been able to help myself? The truth is, I didn’t even apply to colleges. I don’t

know how to do anything without you there with me, cleaning up after me, helping me

everywhere I go. So I didn’t even apply.”

Kaylee lifted her head up from the table. She honestly didn’t know what to say. The

truth was, her sister was the one who had been helping her all day. Or trying to, in her own

unique way. Kaylee looked at Luna’s hands, which were shaking. This was completely new

territory. Luna, her voice unsure, kept talking.

“I was always so self centered when we were young. Mom would ask us what we

wanted to be when we grew up, and I would make everything about me: I want to be an

astronaut, I want to be a soldier, I want to be a ballerina. I never once thought about you, or

who you would want to be. But this one time. This one time, we were talking about being

grown and I looked you straight in the eyes and I said, in a dead serious voice, “You are a lover

of words, someday you will write a book,” I was seven, Kaylee. No seven year old, in the history

of time, has ever spoken like that. ‘Lover of words.’ Where did I even learn the word lover?”

Kaylee said the first thing that popped into her head. “Probably from all those old timey

shows you used to watch.”

Luna remained steadfast. “No. It was more than that. I’ve been thinking about it all day,

about ways to help you feel better. I think this, all those years ago, was the answer the whole

time. It was something you needed to hear, then and now. It could have been from God, from

the universe, from whatever. What matters is you needed to hear it. And I think you should.

Write a book, I mean. You should do that. While we wait for next year's college apps.”

Kaylee thought about it. She had never, not once, told anyone about her dreams to

write. But even those secret dreams were small- she thought of being an editor, a publisher,

maybe. Not a dreamer. Not someone who could really put pen to paper and create something

entirely new. That had always been Luna’s job. What an amazing ability, to have ideas bigger

than yourself. Kaylee sat with that thought. She, like her sister, desperately wanted to be

listened to. Besides their eyes, it was what they shared most in common.

Luna was still rattling on. “And I’m not going either, so I could help you edit and stuff if

you want. Okay, so maybe I don’t know how to do that, but I swear I could find someone to

help if I couldn’t figure it out. I know Mom wouldn’t mind us staying with her one more year.

Maybe she’d mind a little. But I could get a job so you could write all day and we could work on

a portfolio and submit to magazines and look at even more colleges and- Kaylee, I just really

feel like you’re meant to say something. Especially after I’ve been talking over you for so long

and-”

“Luna. Stop.” Kaylee’s voice was a scary, deadly calm. Luna’s body tensed, as if

preparing for anger, for one more person to tell her she was doing something wrong, but then

Kaylee smiled. Her smile was a painting.

“I’m in.”