The Lost Twin

by Sophie Cleverly

  Mrs Weaver was at the back of the class helping someone else cut their fabric, so I took my chance. I went straight over there and demanded that Violet give me back the brush. She nudged Penny and giggled, so I grabbed her arm.

  “Give it back now,” I said. She blinked her stupid eyelashes at me and said, “Scarlet, what are you talking about? It’s my brush.” Then Penny chimes in: “Yeah, Scarlet, it’s hers. Leave us alone, you freak!”

  So I picked up Violet’s satchel and pulled out the hairbrush myself. And that’s when Violet squealed, “Miss! Scarlet stole my hairbrush!”

  I lost control. I grabbed a pair of pinking shears from their desk, took hold of a bunch of Violet’s pretty locks and snipped them right off. They looked like dead leaves as they curled in my hand. Violet started shrieking as if I’d murdered her.

  I got a caning and I had to go to bed without dinner. But it was worth it.

  Violet is going to regret the day she picked Scarlet Grey for an enemy.

  Oh dear.

  Ariadne was reading over my shoulder. She motioned at me to turn the page.

  Dear Diary,

  I think I might have finally broken Violet. She has stopped taunting me, stopped speaking to me at all. I’ve not noticed her lurking around me any more, and my things in the wardrobe and drawers look untouched, which hasn’t happened in ages. It’s almost unnerving.

  A few times she hasn’t even come back to our room at night, and when I wake up in the morning her bed doesn’t look slept in. If the Fox catches her, she’ll really be for it.

  Her hair still looks a mess. It’s so short now that she looks like a boy. It serves her right.

  Penny on the other hand has completely flipped. She doesn’t stop screaming at me, and in ballet the other day she kicked me so hard that she left a bruise. In today’s lesson she was constantly tripping me and trying to get me into trouble. Miss Finch finally got angry with her and made her do lines, but she still didn’t get thrown out of class. I’m going to get back at her for this – I promise. Soon she’ll be leaving me alone too.

  Ariadne looked at me. “This doesn’t sound good,” she said.

  I frowned. “I wonder what Violet was really up to? Wait, there’s more.” I flattened out another of the paper balls.

  Dear Diary,

  I’ve done something terrible. I shouldn’t have done it, I know, but I was just so angry.

  Ariadne gripped my arm tightly.

  “What did you do this time, Scarlet?” I whispered.

  Penny shoved me back down the basement stairs after ballet. No one else saw, because I was last in line and Miss Finch had already left a little early for a doctor’s appointment. When she reached the top of the stairs, Penny turned and hit me in the chest. I tumbled over and hit every stone step on the way down.

  I sat at the bottom and cried for a while, knowing no one was there to see me. But when I climbed back up, I saw Penny’s pale blue hair bow lying on one of the steps. And that gave me the idea.

  I feel so ashamed. I went to the caretaker’s cupboard and found a mallet. And I smashed up Miss Finch’s piano. I thought about everything Penny and Violet had done as I hit it, and I just felt more and more angry. Then when it looked sufficiently battered, I threw down the mallet and casually dropped Penny’s bow on the floor beside it. Then I went straight to Miss Fox in tears and told her that Penny was responsible. That I’d seen her doing it, and how she must be cross with Miss Finch for punishing her. Miss Fox was livid.

  So now I’m sat here in my secret place on the roof, alone. I’m imagining the look on Penny’s face when Miss Fox gets to her.

  But then I think about Miss Finch and how she must feel about the piano, and it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

  I hope I haven’t gone too far this time …

  Ariadne and I sat in silence, just staring at the pages. I’d always known that Scarlet was reckless, but this?

  Despite everything, a tiny voice in the back of my mind whispered, At least it wasn’t something worse.

  “No wonder Penny hates you,” Ariadne piped up.

  I nodded. “And now she’s banned from ballet class. Although … maybe she doesn’t know that Scarlet was responsible. She might just be suspicious.”

  I felt certain that we were closer than we’d ever been to the truth about my twin, but all we had were puzzles upon puzzles.

  Dejected, we both stood up. I concealed the pages inside my dress as usual. We had to get back to our room now, as it wasn’t long until dinner.

  I hung the unstitched kneeling mat back on its hook and hoped no one would notice the damage. Outside the chapel, it had started to rain. We ran at full pelt around the back of the school, our feet crunching on the gravel. I prayed that the pages would stay dry, as it was the deceptive kind of rain that soaks you quickly.

  Ariadne tugged open a small back door and we both hurried in, our hair already sodden.

  “Goodness,” she spluttered, wiping water from her eyes.

  We plodded up to our room, both still reeling a little from Scarlet’s last diary entry.

  “Goodness,” Ariadne repeated, as she shut the door behind us. I wondered if she’d forgotten the rest of her vocabulary, until she said, slowly, “Your sister was quite the character, wasn’t she?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You could say that.” I sat down at the dressing table and pulled the crumpled and slightly damp pages out of my dress.

  Ariadne smiled, but she looked distracted. Her world was so simple, but now darker things were beginning to seep in.

  “It’s half an hour until dinner time,” she announced.

  “All right.” I sighed, not looking forward to being on clean-up duty again. “Let me just put these pages away.” I flattened them out on the top of the dressing table. The ink had run a little, but they were still readable.

  I got down on my hands and knees, crawled to the bed and slipped underneath on my back. I stuck my hand inside the mattress, feeling for the leather book with ‘SG’ on the cover.

  I wriggled my hand about, scratching myself on the springs and knocking out even more stuffing than I had before. And I grasped hold of … nothing.

  The diary was gone.

  riadne! Did you move the diary?”

  “No,” she replied, her voice sounding far away. “Why would I?”

  My breathing sped up. I pulled myself out from under the bed, my hair damp and my dress covered in mattress stuffing. “It’s gone!”

  Ariadne looked horrified. “Are you sure? Maybe you forgot to put it away properly last time?”

  I grabbed my pillow and pulled off the case, but nothing fell out. I dragged all the blankets and sheets off my bed. I hurled open the wardrobe doors and pulled out every single drawer and …

  “Ivy, stop,” whispered Ariadne.

  But I wasn’t listening. I had to find the diary. It had to be there.

  Ariadne soon gave up trying to calm me down and started going through everything as well.

  It wasn’t long before there were clothes, books and bed sheets all over the floor. I sank down in utter despair.

  The diary was gone. Taken. The only bit of Scarlet that I had left. The book that held all her secrets. All my secrets.

  “My sister …” I said, numbly staring at the wall. Ariadne sat down next to me and tried to put her arm around me, and a second later I started sobbing. “Who would do this? Who would take her diary?” I shook my head, the tears running down my cheeks. “No one even knew it was here!”

  Ariadne started pulling on her hair. “I don’t know!” she said, looking on the verge of tears herself. “I didn’t tell anyone, I swear!”

  I don’t know what came over me then, but I grabbed hold of the collar of her dress and pulled her towards me. “PROMISE ME! Promise me you didn’t tell a soul!”

  “I didn’t!” she whimpered. “Ivy, please!”

  I let go of her quickly, as if my fingers were burnt. “Sorry, sorry,” I murmured. “Oh, Ar
iadne, what are we going to do?”

  My friend was shaking. She leant back against her iron bed frame. She looked like a mouse again, like the first time I’d seen her.

  “Who would’ve done this?” I repeated. “If Miss Fox got hold of it then I’m finished. Or what if—”

  I’d just thought of one other person who hated me more than anything. Who hated Scarlet more than anyone.

  I jumped up and hurriedly wiped the tears from my face. “That witch.” I said quietly.

  Ariadne put her hand over her mouth. “Ivy, goodness, what is it?”

  “It was her. She took the diary. It has to be. I’m going to kill her.” I clenched my fists.

  “Who did?”

  “Penny,” I spat. I was shaking now too, but with rage. I would not let her get away with this.

  I ran for the door and threw it open, oblivious to Ariadne’s attempt to hold me back. I marched down the corridor, no doubt looking completely wild. I suddenly realised I had no idea which was Penny’s room. So I just started walking backwards and banged on every single door I passed. Girls poked their heads out and stared at me.

  “What on earth are you doing?” asked Anna Santos from room eight, her brown hair half-combed. I ignored her and carried on, until as I passed one door, Nadia Sayani’s face appeared. “Yes?” she said haughtily.

  I grabbed hold of her and swung her out against the wall.

  “Where is Penny?” I demanded.

  Nadia wriggled and tried to kick out at me. “How should I know?” she said. “She’s not even talking to me!”

  Just then Anna called out, “I think I saw her go upstairs.”

  I’d never been to the top floor and I’d presumed there wasn’t anything up there. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, yes!” she said, looking a bit terrified. “Go and see for yourself!”

  I took one last look at Nadia and then dashed off towards the staircase. My feet pounded on the wooden boards. The space narrowed as I went up, until my head was almost reaching the ceiling, and it got brighter as well. At the top of the stairs there was a big slanting window hatch, flecked with drops of rain. It was open a crack.

  I climbed the steps up to it and pushed the window open wide. Sure enough, I could see a silhouette out on the flat of the roof. Penny.

  I scrambled outside. The rain had eased off but it was still coming down in gentle sheets. This part of the roof was wide, surrounded by chimney stacks and sloping sides. I tried not to look down as I walked, grateful for my good balance. The dark tiles were slick with rain.

  Penny was facing away from me, staring out over the fields and trees. There was something in her hands. I couldn’t see it properly, but I didn’t need to.

  I clenched my fists. “PENNY!” I screamed, as I neared her.

  She spun around, her wiry hair whipping in the wind, her blue bow hanging limp from her head. She held up the diary like some sort of trophy. “Are you looking for this?” she said. “Who even are you, Ivy?”

  I reached up to try and grab it from her, fearing that the loose pages were about to fly out over the school grounds at any moment. But she had a vice-like grip, and she quickly shoved it behind her back.

  “All I wanted,” she said, “was to find something that would humiliate you. Or maybe prove that I shouldn’t have been the one thrown out of ballet class. But this?” She shook her head. “This is priceless!”

  I tried to calm down, to breathe evenly. “How did you find it, Penny? Did someone tell you? Did you make them?”

  She glared at me. “Maybe you should shut your door properly, and make sure no one can see into your room.”

  “You conniving little …”

  “Ha! You think I’m any worse than you? Wait until I tell Miss Fox what you’re up to!”

  I pushed my rain-soaked hair out of my face. “I think you’ll find she already knows, actually.”

  Penny’s eyes flickered with doubt and she took a step backwards, towards the chimney stack behind her. “What?” she said. “She knows you’re not Scarlet?”

  “Oh yes,” I said. “Miss Fox knows everything. You’ve got nothing. Scarlet’s not here any more. Only me.” I moved towards her, my palm outstretched, as if approaching a wild animal. “Just give me the diary back, Penny. I’m serious.”

  She looked away from me and shook out her wet hair. “You’re bluffing,” she said flatly, staring out across the rooftop.

  I kept my eye trained on her right hand, which held Scarlet’s leather-bound book. I prayed it wouldn’t be permanently destroyed by the rain. “Penny, please. You can’t get me into trouble with it, because the whole thing was Miss Fox’s idea. And you can’t prove the whole ballet thing was Scarlet’s fault, either, can you?”

  Of course she couldn’t. Those pages were back in room thirteen.

  “You expect me to believe that the Fox knows about all of this? Then tell me why it says that you can’t let her know. I read the whole thing!”

  It was then that I heard a voice shout my name through the rain and the wind.

  Ariadne was climbing out of the hatch on to the rooftop. “Careful, Ariadne!” I shouted to her, but I wasn’t sure if she heard. She came towards me unsteadily.

  I looked back at Penny.

  “Your pathetic little mouse friend knows about this too? This is a complete joke …”

  “Listen, Penny,”

  “NO, YOU LISTEN! Everyone thinks they can make a fool out of me! Well, I’m not having it any longer!” She spat her words into the rain. “I deserve to be the one at the top of the ballet class!”

  I stood there, staring her in the face, hearing Ariadne panting behind me. I saw Penny falter on those words. “You’re envious,” I said, not quite believing it.

  “Of course I’m envious! I was always the best ballerina, better than Nadia, better than you and your horrid sister! And it was all taken away from me.”

  There were raindrops on her face, but I could tell there were tears there too. Penny’s eyes were red and raw. My anger was getting the better of me, but I couldn’t rein it in, not even at the sight of her crying. “You’re a mean and selfish brat! You don’t deserve anything!”

  Penny tossed the diary at her feet and dived at me screaming. She knocked me on to the soaking tiles, slamming my back into the ground, and started trying to slap me. I gritted my teeth and used all my strength to throw her off.

  Ariadne shot past me, reaching down for the diary, but she skidded and went careering into the chimney.

  I watched in horror as her head hit the blackened stone and she slumped on to the tiles. “Ariadne!” I cried.

  I scrambled towards her, but Penny was suddenly standing over me, grabbing hold of my hair. “How do you like it?” she yelled. She kicked me with the side of her shoe. “Liar! Just like your sister!”

  My scalp stung but I still tried to pull away from her to get to Ariadne. I could see a trickle of blood making its way down the side of my friend’s head.

  “Oh no,” I whispered.

  Penny loosened her grip. She’d spotted that Ariadne lay with her hand outstretched just by the diary.

  Time froze. Penny stumbled.

  And I lurched forward.

  riadne, wake up!” I called.

  Seconds later, Ariadne’s eyelids fluttered and she started to moan.

  Thank goodness, she was alive!

  “Ariadne, are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  As relief flowed through my veins I snatched up the diary. I clutched it to my chest and rolled over, gripping it tightly. I came perilously close to the edge of the flat part of the roof, the dizzying sight of the ground below spreading out before me.

  Penny glared at me as I crawled back to safety, her breathing ragged. “So you have the stupid diary! What good will it do? I know all your wretched secrets now.”

  I struggled to my feet. I was completely soaked through. “But I have your proof,” I said.

  “That
means nothing!” she shrieked. “I can still tell everyone who you really are!”

  Just then, Ariadne coughed and said something so quietly that I couldn’t hear it over the wind.

  “What? What did she say?” demanded Penny.

  “Trade,” Ariadne repeated louder, her voice croaking.

  Keeping an eye on Penny, I moved over to my friend and crouched down next to her. “Trade what?” I whispered.

  Ariadne put a hand to the cut on her head, around which it was rapidly turning purple, and groaned a little more, but then she said, “The proof. We have the proof that Penny was framed. You could tell Miss Fox.”

  Penny’s ears pricked up. “What are you suggesting, mouse?”

  I glanced at Ariadne, realising what she meant. Although I couldn’t show Miss Fox the diary, I could still own up to what Scarlet had done. Penny would get to dance again and … and I would probably be banned from class instead. Oh.

  Ariadne turned to me and whispered, “Ivy, we’ve got no choice. She’s going to tell everyone.”

  I cried out in frustration, then turned to Penny. “It’s true,” I said. “We have a page where Scarlet admits what she did to you. If you swear …” Penny rolled her eyes. “If you SWEAR on your life that you will keep your mouth shut, I’ll own up to it.”

  I held my breath.

  Penny clenched her fists and suddenly sat down on the roof. She stared out at the grey world around us, as if her anger and despair had summoned the rain clouds. “All I ever wanted was to be a ballerina. For people to love me.”

  “Well, then you and me … and my sister … we’re not so different, are we?”

  “I’m not like you,” Penny growled.

  But then, after a pause, she seemed to come to a decision. “All right. You tell them that you – that Scarlet – smashed up the piano. But if they don’t let me dance again, the deal’s off.”