All weekend, I did my best to ignore the damn box. My mom congratulated me for unpacking my stuff. It sounded very patronizing, like I was 10 or something, but I tried to keep myself from being upset.

If Noah and Lena hadn’t invited themselves for an unboxing party, my room would still be the depiction of minimalism.

My dad didn’t say anything. Of course not. To him, it isn’t an accomplishment, but a problem finally being solved. It’s less irritating, but I still think I prefer my mom’s exaggerated enthusiasm.

On Monday, when I walk into my English class, Noah is already there, already looking bored. Somehow, it makes me smile.

He smiles back and winks at me. I know it doesn’t mean anything; it’s less effort than actually saying hello, but it still makes me feel funny.

I sit behind him and I have to make an effort to not look at his freckles. I don’t know why I want to look at them so badly. I don’t know why I don’t let myself either. Am I making a thing out of it by trying to not make a thing out of it?

I open my copy of Lord of the Flies and start reading, hoping that it would help me stop thinking. It’s hard to be captivated by a book when you know everything that’s going to happen, though…

Just before lunch, as I am putting a few things in my locker, Austin stops next to me, apparently waiting for me to finish so we can walk to the dining hall together. He has this easy-going smile on his face that makes him so likable. “Hey you,” he teases. “Lena told me that you're planning on coming to my tryout.”

“Yes. Wednesday, right?”

“I thought you didn’t like sports?”

“Well… I don’t dislike sports, but… it will probably be my first time actively watching baseball.”

“Really? That’s an honor!” He seems genuinely pleased. “But, honestly, even Noah isn’t coming. You really don’t have to do that.”

“I want to,” I reply. It’s not even a white lie. Truthfully, I really don’t care about the baseball part. But I want to spend time with this new group of friends, and I want to do that for Austin. I can’t just expect them to accept me without me making any sort of effort.

I am comforted by Austin’s spreading smile. “Why, thank you. It’s going to sound very silly, but I play better when people are there to support me.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid,” I argue. “I think we’re always our best when we’re not the only ones caring.”

“First Lena, then you… I love when we’re getting new kids!”

I smile back at him. He’s a luminous person who just seems to make everything slightly brighter. It’s like he doesn’t even have to try. I need people just like that in my life, right now. People who can cast the darkness away.

There is a new face at lunch today. I have never seen this girl before, but she looks familiar.

“Hi,” she greets as I sit down. “You must be Will. Everyone is talking about you!”

“Are they?”

“Well… small town. You’re the most exciting thing that happened around here in a long time. Anyway, I’m Emma,” she introduces herself.

Emma has long, wavy strawberry blond hair, pale green eyes. She is exactly on the line between cute and beautiful, the kind of girl you notice. Although she seems to be talking more to the people on the table that I know the least, I am sure that I have never seen her at lunch or, but anywhere in school.

“We don’t have any classes together?” I ask, not really knowing why I asked such a stupid question.

“We do actually. History.”

“Oh. Sorry, I don’t remember seeing you there.”

“It’s because I wasn’t. I was on the school trip to Peru.”

“Oh, wow. That sounds great. I think the furthest trip that my school organized was going to Florida.”

Everyone laughs. They think I’m kidding, but I’m really not.

“We have a trip to Peru and one to Europe,” Lena says. “But they only take 15 students each, so it’s not like we’re swimming in an ocean of opportunities either.” I see her point, but… at least they have opportunities, an opening on the rest of the world.

Emma and I chat for a bit about the trip. I am sure everyone already asked her about Machu Pichu, the food, the people… but she doesn’t seem to mind sharing again. She might be a social butterfly who just knows how to entertain everybody, someone who doesn’t mind being the center of attention.

“Anyways,” she concludes, “I’m just glad that I’m back for the tryouts. It’s a tradition.” She winks at Austin, and he smiles.

“I need my better half there,” he says.

“Oh, are the two of you—” I start, but Austin interrupts me.

“Do NOT finish that sentence,” he warns me.

“Twins,” Emma explains with a single word.

I can definitely see it now. They have different colored hair and eyes, even their skin tone isn’t exactly the same – even after a trip to Peru, she is the fairer one – but there definitely is something. Especially in the nose and cheeks. No wonder why she seemed so familiar when I first saw her.

Lena turns to me and says, “So, I’m not the only one. It’s obvious now that you know, right?”

“Yes, I do. Although I don’t think I would have realized on my own.”

“Well, when people picture twins, they usually picture the same gender,” Austin explains. “Plus, twin births are 1 in 250, so people rarely jump to that conclusion.”

For a second, I’m surprised that he would know the number at the top of his head. Then I realize that it’s an incredibly stupid thought. Of course, he would know. When something affects you, you look into it. It becomes one of your areas of expertise.

I know very little about twins or baseball, but I know a lot about family laws and various statistics on gay teenagers. Not that I particularly want to share any of these expertises with people from lunch.