STORMS AND TWISTS

CHAPTER FOUR

It was Monday. Casey had put the incident that occurred in Saturday behind him. He walked up to Cody on sighting him.

“Hi, Cody, How was your night?”

“My night wasn’t terrible”.

“Ah, that’s good to hear”. Casey said, heaving a sigh of relief.

“The whole weekend was”

“What do you mean? Are those….” Casey reflected that he mustn’t say secretive things in public.

“Are you having those visions again?” He asked in a whisper.

“Sure but this situation is worse than that. My sister’s back”.

“What’s terrific about that? You should be delighted instead.”

“You can’t understand. I’m sure you‘ve heard of Marissa Morris before. She is a…..”

“He wanted to finish his statement but Casey already helped him with that.

“She is a popular musician that lives three cities away; yes. I’m in the know she’s in the town.”.

“Guy, she’s my sister.”

Casey paced up and down.

“Tell me you’ve got to be kidding right?”

“No. She’s my twin sister. Check out the striking resemblance when she comes”

“Okay, quit lying already”.

Just then, Melissa came in.

“Hi Cody, you forgot your backpack”. She said and handed it over to him.

“Thanks”. He said coldly and snatched the bag from her. Melissa was surprised on seeing Casey. She had been wrong to think that her encounter with him would be the first and the last; but here they were, coincidence had brought them together again. They both expressed wry looks towards each other. She turned back and walked away.

The other students came to her for “selfies” and autographs. Casey and Cody just stood back.

“She has the heart of everyone at her hands”. Casey said, gazing at Melissa and her crowd of fans without turning back to Cody.

Cody smirked.

“That’s not a smile for all I know” Casey said, finally turning to him.

“Yes. That’s a smirk. She has the hearts of everyone so that she could crush them. She’s not a good person”. Cody said.

“Don’t say that. She’s not bad but she’s obviously rude, proud and arrogant.”

“What else do you call a person with those qualities? A saint, uh”. Cody said with sarcasm.

“You are right. Sure she’s all that but there’s still some good in her”.

“I know her and I deem it fit to inform you that she’s horrible”. Cody said.

“No, she’s your sister; your twin for that matter”.

“Cain and Abel were brothers, look at how they ended up”.

“I don’t want you guys to ever end up that way”.

“But why do you speak so well of her? Are you a fan?”

“No. I should be the angry one. Let me tell you how I met her on Saturday”. Casey said and narrated every part to him.

“I’m sorry she did that. She’s just crazy”.

“I’m in the know she stays in another city. Why is she here?”

“She’s here for the music festival”.

“Does that mean we would be seeing more of her for the next three months?”

“Yeah, it does”. Cody said with indifference.

“Why do you nurse so much grudge towards her?”

“She stole my happiness when we were kids. She took all my friends from me and got everyone’s attention”.

“It’s okay. I’m sure everything’s going to be fine.

Casey met Cody the next day in the classroom. The previous day was boring. As he approached him, he saw Melissa from behind but he ignored her.

“Hi, bro, how are things?” Casey asked.

“You know she’s back. Everyone treats her like a golden child except from our elder brother who gives us equal attention.” Cody said.

“Wow, you have an elder brother. That’s cool”.

“I know right. Josiah is the coolest”. He said with a shrug.

“What is Melissa doing in school again? She came yesterday just to show off.”

“She would be schooling here for those three months. It’s like my life is over”.

“No it isn’t. Let me speak with her and let’s see how things would go.” Casey said.

“Seriously, Melissa’s foolish. She won’t listen to you because she’s too full of herself. She believes no one can advise her or tell her things to do.”

“Okay, you’ve got my back”.

Casey stopped for a moment and remembered what he wanted to inquire for before they trailed off to discuss about Melissa.

“Are you still having those visions?” He whispered to him.

“Yes, and it’s becoming outrageous. I’m freaking out”. Casey heaved a sigh.

“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“I hope so, I hope so.” He said with an iota of doubt and gazed up to the ceiling

. . .

It was lunchtime. Casey had been looking for Melissa everywhere but he couldn’t find her. There was only one last place to go and he wasn’t that conversant with that place - the cafeteria.

Immediately, as he got to the cafeteria, he saw her easily because the students were chanting her name. He summoned courage and went in.

“Stop it everyone”. He shouted with confidence.

They all stopped. Melissa ignored him and walked up to Peter, the meekest boy in school.

“Hey, you get up”. She said in a commanding tone.

The boy stood up immediately. She sat down. Casey couldn’t take it anymore. He walked up to her and pulled her up from the seat.

“Peter, sit down. You don’t deserve to be intimidated by someone just because the person is a celebrity”. He said, frowning at Melissa.

All students fixed their gazes on them. Murmurs soon turned the cafeteria into a noisy place.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

He didn’t reply. He dragged her out of the cafeteria.

“What the heck do you think you are doing?” She asked, freeing herself from his tight grip.

“Must you use your stardom to manipulate others?”

“What I do with my life is none of my business”. She said with a nonchalant attitude.

“Just look at the way you dress”. He said eyeing her badly.

She had dressed in a way that exposed half of her body. She had a white crop top on and a long sleeve jean jacket with a white miniskirt.

“Melissa, you need to stop this. Be cool and nice.”

“I know you are saying this is simply because you want me to fix things with Cody and my answer is simply ‘No’. She said.

“So what do you intend doing now?” He asked, folding his arms.

“Hanging out with the popular people and not nerds like you and my twin brother is what I have in mind; that's it”.

“So, I see you have your mind your mind made up”.

“Yes. And besides how did Clara get to have a nerd like you for a younger brother?”

“This conversation is over”. He said and walked away. There was no point in speaking to her after all.