Original Work: You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home, Chapter 6, Part 2
Chapter 6, Part 2
Emilia was still seated at the table, finishing another piece of pizza as though she hadn’t just heard Linda yelling. I entered the kitchen seconds after Linda stormed in with Garth right behind her. Linda held up a bling-tastic, high tech and expensive phone that expanded into a key board and probably played music, shot high definition videos and predicted the weather. At the sight of the device, Emilia frowned, her brow knitting slightly. “I thought I told you to hand over your cell phone.” Linda looked at her daughter expectantly.
Emilia shrugged. “I did. That’s not my cell phone.”
Linda looked like she was about to throw the phone, or not phone, out the window but managed to contain herself. “Whatever it is, I told you to hand it over.” Emilia looked like she was about to protest but Linda didn’t give her the chance. “Why? Why do you do some of the things that you do, Emilia? What possesses you?” Emilia smirked and rolled her eyes. “No, I’m being serious. I want to know what was going through your mind when you decided to Twitter…or whatever it’s called about how this whole thing is a publicity stunt, something you’re being forced into just to sell CDs and how the last few hours were some of the worst of your life.”
I was just impressed that Emilia hadn’t Twittered…Tweeted?...the truth about the whole situation, that I was a fake and she was under house arrest. I guess she knew better than to go that far with Linda.
Again Emilia shrugged. “I did just spend some of the worst hours of my life. I just didn’t elaborate.”
Again, it was obvious that Linda was trying to control herself and finding it increasingly difficult. “Well, I hope you’re happy because now this is just another problem I have to deal with.”
“Yeah right, the Good Twin will fix it in no time.” Emilia gestured absently in my direction.
Linda ignored the baiting, though I had a few choice words I wanted to say to my sister, but I wasn’t given the chance because our mother was speaking again. “Well, obviously I can’t trust you to go anywhere in public and not completely undo everything that I’m trying to do to help you.” She tossed the phone onto the table. “I guess Scout and I will just have to go to the music awards.”
This was the first I’d heard of such an event, but obliviously it wasn’t the first time they had caught Emilia’s interest because she jumped up suddenly, flipping her chair backward. I winced as it clattered against the tile floor. “What?! You’ve got to be kidding me! Mom, that’s not fair!”
Linda shrugged, doing a better job at indifference than Emilia had. “Sorry, but I can’t take another chance like this. I’m not doing this to punish you, Emilia, I want to help you, I want to save your career-”
“This is crazy! How can you take her and leave me here?! I’ve been waiting for this for months, this is unbelievable!” Emilia interrupted, her hands clinching into fists. For the first time, she looked more than just angry, she looked completely lost and frustrated, like she was about to dissolve into tears. I wanted to assure Linda and Emilia I had no interest in going to these awards, especially not after seeing Emilia’s passionate reaction; clearly this was something that was very important to my sister and I was never going to be able to try and forge a relationship with her if I was there in her place. Linda said nothing in response to Emilia’s outburst. “This is unfair!”
Without another word, Emilia stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, seconds later slamming her bedroom door behind her. I expected to hear Mozart start blasting any second, but things remained quiet.
I looked at Linda. “I don’t…really want to go to the awards show.” I told her, irritated that I sounded a little hesitant in my words. I had the right to stand up for myself…though maybe my words didn’t come out very forcefully because I knew that, in the end, if Linda wanted me to go to whatever awards show they were talking about, I would be there.
At the sound of my voice, Linda glanced at me as though she just remembered that I was standing there. “Oh…well…it’s still a week away, we’ll see how it goes.” But her tone was slightly dismissive and I could tell the issue wasn’t weighing heavily on her heart. Either way one of her daughters would be there, keeping up appearances, regardless of who it was.
Music started pounding through the floorboards, but Emilia had skipped the Mozart and gone straight for some indie Death Metal music I’d never heard before just to let Linda know exactly how she was feeling. Linda rolled her eyes up at the ceiling. “She’ll learn…” She sighed, shaking her head. “It’s for her own good.” I wondered if she was telling me or reminding herself.
Now that the crisis seemed to have passed I left Linda and Garth standing in the kitchen and headed back up to my room. I opened the closet and caught sight of my reflection in the full length mirrors that ran down each door. With the hair and the clothes, I definitely looked like Emilia but when I looked at my face, all I could see was myself. I guess that was better than nothing.
If you enjoyed this, please check out the next part here.