CHAPTER 1

As I step off the plane and onto the ground, I feel a nerve-wracking pain in my stomach. My mom holds my hand.  We are visiting my dad and my twin sister for the first time. I never met them before because my mom and dad are divorced. So my dad took my sister and mom took me. Mom has been preparing for this day but I never thought it would actually happen. But I didn’t complain because she works three jobs just to support me. As I step out of the gate, I instantly realize that New Mexico is way different from New York. An hour later, we arrive at my dad’s house, and can I just say, it’s huge. My mom rings the doorbell and a tall, handsome man answers. I hope he doesn’t speak Spanish. My dad’s half Mexican and my mom taught me a little Spanish most likely to prepare me for today. “Alexa, baja aqui!(Alexa, get down here!)” he calls. Suddenly, a girl comes down the stairs.

“Quien es esta chica y por que se parece a mi? (Who is this girl, and why does she look like me?” says the girl.

“Ella es tu hermana, Alexa.(She’s your sister, Alexa)”. The girl looked at me like I stole her money.

“Sigueme.” the girl says to me. I understood that. It meant “follow me”. So I did. She led me up the stairs and to a pink and orange room. “De verdad eres mi hermana?(Are you really my sister?) What's your name?” I guess she can speak a little bit of English.

“I guess I am,” I reply. “ And my name’s Gabriela, but my friends call me Gabi.”

“Bueno, yo no doy tu amiga.(Well, I’m not your friend.)” she said back. I have no idea of what she said, but it was probably mean by the way she said it. “Cuanto tiempo te vas a quedar aqui?(How long are you staying here?). I couldn’t understand her and I could tell that she was starting to get annoyed. She then reached into a little drawer and took out her phone. “Cuanto tiempo te vas a quedar aqui?” she said again, but this time into her phone. Then the words ‘how long are you staying here’ came out of the phone.

“Oh, my mom said that we’ll be here ‘till three days before the first day of school. And since it’s the second day of summer break, I’ll be here a while.”. She was about to say something when my dad called us down for dinner. 

“Esta conversación,” she looks me up and down, “no ha terminado. (This conversation, it isn't over). Well, isn’t that just great. I’ve always wanted a sister and the one I got hates me. What did I do to make her feel so mad towards me? As we make our way down the stairs, I get a sudden case of goosebumps. But it can’t get any worse, can it?

When I said it can’t get worse, I was wrong. It can get worse! At dinner last night, mom told me that she was going back to New York today. Now I’m stuck with people I don’t even know well enough to call my acquaintances. Urgh! It’s too much that my head is going to explode! I look out the window. It's just acres of land. Nothing like New York. I hastily get dressed in my brand new yellow crop top and favorite ripped style shorts. I go downstairs were Alexa is making a bowl of cereal. She scowls at the sight of me. Then she makes me a bowl of cereal too. “Thanks.” I say sheepishly.

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“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

“Hope you two are getting along.” says a soothing, soft voice. I turn around to see a short, chubby old lady wearing a blouse. “Hello Dear, I’m Nellieson, the maid.” she said. She seemed nice but she looked a little too old to be working. I guess my face looked pretty confused because she said, “Oh, I may be 76, but this old thing still has some juice left in it. Now dearie, let me help you clear that mess for you.”. I didn’t want to do any work but I wasn’t just going to let an elderly woman clean up after my mess.

“Thanks for the generosity,” I say “but I’ll do it for you, ma’am.”.

“Aw, thank you so very much, sweetie. Back in the day, it was people like you who always ended up in office. And drop that ‘Ma’am’ stuff. Just call Nellie. That’s what my father called me until he died serving this country in the month I turned 27. No one likes war.”

“Um, ok Ma’am. Err, I mean Miss, or, um Nellie.”. She gave me a sweet smile. Then my dad came down the stairs.

“Why hello Mr. Hernández. Would you like a cup of your special coffee?” says Nellie.

“No,” he says. “but thank you, Nellie. You always do so much, why don’t you take a holiday. I’ll even pay you.”

“You act like I'm an old woman. If it’ll make you feel better, I'll go on a holiday. But I won’t get paid for it. Well, better start packing for the trip.”. And with that, Nellie set off.

“¡Papá! Patea a esta chica antes de que sea demasiado tarde. (Dad! Kick this girl out before it’s too late.)” Alexa says. I understood that and I kinda, maybe, just a little tiny bit went off on her.

I reply with, “Oh yeah! Crees que quiero estar aquí con una persona baja coma tu! ¡Piensa otra vez! ¡Nunca quise conocerte a gente estúpida! (You think I want to be here with a low person like you! Think again! I never even wanted to meet you stupid people!)”. Then I rushed out of the door and kept running until it looked like I was in a field. I must’ve been out there for hours because the stars were starting to appear. I should run away. Well, it’s technically not running away since it’s not my home but you know what I mean. But first I need to head back and get anything I might need like my phone and my money. As I stand up and turn to leave, I run into Alexa. Now that I take the time to actually look at her, she was right about us looking the same. We have the same nose, same dark brown eyes, same brown hair. But we’re different in ways too. Like my hair is in braids. Hers is just straight down and looks like it’s never been cut before. She wears decent clothes while I just throw on whatever's clean. Also, her ears are pierced and mine aren’t. There's a lot of other ways too like I have a lot of freckles in the center of my face from mom while she has a darker complexion from dad. And there are even more reasons. “Just what are you doing here.” I snapped. “ I thought you wanted to get rid of me.”

“Don’t get smart with me” she snaps back. She takes a deep breath. “I-I’m. Your. I’m sorry” she says. “I never should’ve said that to you. And I hope that we can be friends.”. Friends with her?! Never. But it’s better than living with someone who hates you for the rest of the summer.

“Ok,” I say. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a new friend.”. And with that, we set off.