by Mark Elliott
“Melissa—hi.”
Melissa turned her head, saw who it was, smiled slightly, and kept walking. It was not the same kind of smile she’d given Ray on Thursday. And she didn’t even say hi.
He fell in walking beside her.
“Hey, Melissa . . . can I talk to you a second?” Ray was not at all shy about speaking to a girl, even if other girls were listening. Which they were.
Melissa kept walking toward the sixth-grade hall. “Why?” she asked. “Do you . . . like my shirt?”
A couple of the other girls giggled, but the joke was lost on Ray. Jay had not shared the full details of his desperate attempt to chat with this girl on Friday.
Ray shook his head and said, “No, it’s just that . . . well, it’s sort of . . . sad. Except, I don’t know if you can keep a secret.”
Ray was using his vast experience with girls. Because he had discovered that few girls can resist hearing about something that might be tragic. Even fewer girls can resist the chance to learn some private information. And combining these elements was a guaranteed girl-stopper.
And sure enough, Melissa stopped walking and turned to look at Ray with renewed interest.
Ray looked at Melissa’s friends, and then at the floor.
Melissa got the message.
“Listen, guys,” she said, “I’ll see you in home-room, okay?” And the group moved on, whispering to one another and peeking back over their shoulders at Ray.
Melissa stood facing Ray next to the lockers just inside the sixth-grade hall. Ray could see the questions there in her eyes—which were a nice greenish gray color.
Now came the tricky part. Because Ray had no idea what he was going to say to Melissa.
Some quick ideas popped into his head. I could say I fell onto my head Friday morning, and that’s why I acted so goofy in science class. Or . . . I could say sometimes I just get flustered when I talk to girls, especially really cute ones—that sounds good. Or I could say that my pet hamster died Friday morning, and I was a mess all day . . . but I didn’t want anyone to know I was upset, because that might make me seem like I was wimpy or something—and that’s something sad plus something secret.
But standing there looking into Melissa’s face, Ray suddenly felt helpless. He knew he didn’t want to make up some story. She really did seem like a nice girl, someone he could like. A lot.
Because if he made up one story, then he’d have to make up another, to cover the first one. And then another story, and another. Because the truth about him and Jay was going to come out. Soon. Like, on Friday. And that was just four more days. And deep down, Ray felt pretty sure that if he stood here right now and told a long string of lies, he could forget about being friends with Melissa. Or any of her buddies.
So Ray took a deep breath, looked right into the girl’s eyes, and said, “That kid you talked to in science on Friday? That was Jay. Jay Grayson.”
Melissa scrunched her eyebrows together. “Right—Jay. Which is you . . . Jay.”
Ray shook his head. “I’m Ray. And I met you on Thursday when we got assigned to be lab partners. And Jay is . . . he’s my twin brother. And the school lost my records. They don’t even know there is a Ray Grayson. So Jay and I have been switching off, going to school every other day. And we both use his name—Jay. So . . . that’s the secret part of what I had to tell you. And the sad part is, that you had to talk to him on Friday. Instead of me. Because sometimes Jay can be sort of . . . lame.”
Melissa’s face was hard to read—disbelief, fascination, confusion. But mostly fascination. Because the girl had an imagination. She didn’t believe what Ray was saying, but she was willing to be convinced.
She said, “So . . . like, one of you stays home? Every school day?”
Ray nodded. Then he explained about using their hideout in the garage. “And after my folks leave for work, the guy at home just goes back into the house. Grabs some food, watches a movie, sleeps, reads—you know, stay-at-home stuff.”
Melissa wrinkled her nose. “You’re just making all this up. I mean, I could tell you the same story, that I have a twin sister. Named Clarissa. And she’s the one who thought you were . . . lame. On Friday.”
“Well, yeah, you could say the same thing,” Ray said. “But, c’mon, you talked to Jay, right? And now you’re talking to me, Ray.” He gave her his brightest, most charming smile. “You can tell that I’m not the same as him, can’t you? Except for the way I look, I mean.”
Melissa looked into Ray’s face, saw his quiet, confident smile, saw him meet her questioning gaze without a trace of anxiety. And Ray could see the change in her eyes. Because she could tell. She knew he wasn’t Jay. At all.
Almost whispering, she said, “So you . . . you really are twins. And the other one—Jay? He’s at home, right? Hiding out. That is so cool!”
Ray nodded, “Yeah, I know. Except you have to keep this a total secret, okay? I mean, like, completely. We’re not telling the school about it until Friday. And we’re gonna get in some real trouble about this. But we had to try it out, to see what it would be like to be on our own, instead of always being twins. We had to.”
As Ray talked, the look on Melissa’s face kept changing. Because now she was also worried for him. About the trouble. And there was also a trace of admiration, because the danger made Ray seem like sort of an outlaw, a rebel, a risk taker. And that touch of adventure was irresistible.
Ray saw all of this in her face, and it brought out the actor in him.
With a faraway look in his eyes, he said, “Yeah, we’re making every day count. Because the hammer’s gonna come down on us pretty hard.”
Melissa’s eyes were wide. “You’d better be careful,” she whispered.
Ray paused dramatically, searching her eyes. And he said, “But I can trust you, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. Yes, you can.”
“Good,” Ray said. “Listen, I’ll see you in science, okay? And maybe at lunchtime, too.”
She nodded. “At lunchtime, too.”
“Good. See you later, Melissa.”
“See you . . . Jay.” And she gave Ray one of her million-dollar smiles.
Walking toward his homeroom, Ray felt like he was the king of Ohio.
At the start of math class fifteen minutes later, Ray spotted the girl Jay had told him about. And during attendance he learned her name—Julie Parkman. Ray didn’t think she was anywhere near as cute as Melissa, but he smiled at her anyway, and he got a chance to talk with her after class. And Ray was friendly with her—not like he would have been, of course. He was friendly with Julie in a Jayish sort of way—a little stiff, sort of reserved, kind of unsure of himself. Because Ray didn’t want to spoil things for Jay by having this girl think that Jay was going to be like him. Because that wasn’t gonna happen.
And as Ray said, “Well, see you later,” to Julie, he wasn’t worried about Melissa finding out that he’d been talking to some other girl, not at all. Because now he could explain that he talked to her just to be nice to his brother. Which was true.
As Ray headed down the hall to the music room, he still felt like the king of Ohio, plus he felt like he could have won the Boston Marathon. And then climbed Mount Everest.
Ray sang his heart out during music class, and when Mr. Parnell asked for volunteers to join the sixth-grade chorus, Ray was the first boy to raise his hand. He felt like he could have stood up and sung a solo right then and there.
In fact, Ray’s whole day was great, especially the quiet talk he had with Melissa next to the foursquare courts during lunch recess, and double-especially the time he spent sitting next to her during science class.
And even during soccer practice after school, Ray felt terrific. He did his best to pretend that soccer wasn’t just a lot of semipointless running around on a big field. He ran hard and tried to look like he knew what he was doing. He even scraped up his knee as he made a sliding tackle during scrimmage, and didn’t complain about it to anyone. And
Ray did all that extra-hard work at soccer practice for Jay’s sake, out of gratitude.
Because if Jay hadn’t been a complete doofus with Melissa on Friday, then Ray wouldn’t have had to tell her the truth on Monday morning. And telling her the truth had made Ray feel so good. It had made Melissa feel good too, to be trusted like that.
And even though Melissa was just one person out of so many others at the school, with her knowing his secret, Ray felt much more like himself all day long—even when kids called him Jay.
Because Melissa Rollins knew who he was. She knew it.
And she definitely liked him—him, Ray Grayson.
CHAPTER 14
NOT SO SECRET
By lunchtime on Monday, Melissa was having trouble. And the trouble was this secret she knew. Because Jay wasn’t Jay at all, not today. He was Jay’s twin brother, Ray. And actually, Ray was the boy she’d started to get a crush on way back on Thursday. Because that day, Jay had really been Ray. So there wasn’t just one cute new boy at Taft Elementary, there were two, and they were exactly alike. And to be the only other person in the whole school who knew about this? It was like no secret Melissa had ever known before. And she was dying to tell someone. Anyone.
Except . . . she had promised Ray she would keep the secret. And she really wanted to. She did. Really.
But for Melissa, this secret was like that twenty-dollar bill her aunt had given her for her birthday. She knew she should have taken that money and tucked it away somewhere safe, like the bank. But instead, she took it somewhere else. Like, to the mall.
And today, right now? The school cafeteria was like the mall. It was the perfect place to spend a secret. So Melissa began shopping for a pair of ears. Ears that belonged to someone she could trust. Someone who wasn’t a blabbermouth. As she dropped off her tray after eating, Melissa looked around, and then waved to her friend Caroline and motioned that she should come over—quick.
And standing against the wall under the food-groups poster, the two girls shared forty-five seconds of furious whispering and nodding. And when it was over, Caroline’s mouth was hanging wide open. Because she was in on the secret. She knew that Jay had an identical twin brother named Ray who was coming to school every other day, and that these two adorably cute brothers had all the teachers duped into thinking they were the same kid. And of course, the last thing Melissa said was, “You have to promise me that you won’t tell anybody, okay? Like, nobody. Promise?”
And Caroline promised to keep the secret.
Outside on the playground five minutes later, Caroline saw Ray and Melissa talking next to the foursquare courts, saw them nodding and smiling at each other—and it seemed so romantic. Almost dangerous. Because that boy was sort of like a spy. Or a secret agent. And suddenly Caroline wished she could tell her best friend Brianna about this. And that’s when Caroline decided that even though she had promised Melissa to keep the Ray and Jay thing secret, that didn’t mean she couldn’t tell Brianna. Because Caroline knew she could trust Brianna. So on the way back to their lockers after recess, Brianna heard the whole story.
“He has a twin?” Brianna gasped. “That new kid? In my math class? And the twin told Melissa? Because he likes her? That’s so sweet, don’t you think? And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Really. I promise.”
And Brianna didn’t tell a single soul for a whole seven minutes. And as Brianna whispered to her friend Lori what Caroline had told her about what Melissa said that this boy named Ray had told her, did Brianna think she wasn’t keeping Caroline’s secret? Not at all. Because Brianna knew that Lori was a girl who knew how to keep her mouth shut.
And all during science class, as Melissa and the boy known as Jay sat at the same lab table, Brianna and Lori kept a close eye on them. And whenever the boy and Melissa would whisper to each other, Brianna and Lori would look at each other with a wink. Or a nod. Or a smile. Because that boy at table nine was not who he appeared to be.
The secret news about the Grayson twins was shared three or four more times on Monday afternoon. And after school, as bus number four rumbled out of the parking lot, a girl named Jenny whispered to her best friend LeeAnn, “If you promise to keep this a secret, I know something about that new kid in our social studies class, the boy named Jay.”
LeeAnn nodded and whispered back, “You mean, how he’s a twin, and how he and his brother have been tricking the whole school? I heard about it from Carrie during gym. Isn’t it amazing?”
And just then, Jenny grabbed LeeAnn’s shoulder and pointed out the window at a boy walking along the sidewalk on Baker Street. “Ooh, look! Look!” she said. “Right there—that’s him! That’s the boy!”
And LeeAnn jumped to her feet and yelled out the bus window, “Hi, Jay!”
The boy jerked his head toward the bus with a startled look, then smiled and waved. Both girls collapsed onto the bus seat in a fit of giggles.
And as Jenny looked back over her shoulder, she whispered, “Is that really Jay? Or is that, like, the other one?”
LeeAnn shrugged. “That’s the thing—there’s no way to tell!”
And the girls kept on giggling.
CHAPTER 15
RAYNESS
It was Tuesday afternoon, and as he trudged along the hallway, Jay was wishing for a fire drill. Or an emergency all-school assembly. Or a sudden attack of giant man-eating alien insects—anything that might delay the beginning of science class. Because he was going to have to spend another whole period sitting next to Melissa. And he thought, Since Ray was here yesterday, and since he told me that he’s got everything patched up with her, now the girl’s expecting someone like him again. Not someone like me.
Girls had been on Jay’s mind all day anyway. Ever since homeroom, he’d had this funny feeling. He felt like girls kept looking at him—not staring or anything, more like a peek here, a glance there. And Jay wasn’t used to that. Not unless he was hanging out with Ray. When the two of them were together, it wasn’t unusual for girls to notice them, not at all. Because Jay knew that he and Ray were both kind of good-looking. He knew that. And when they were together, then the twins thing kicked in. Girls noticed. Along with everyone else.
But this felt different. Like they were looking at him. And even whispering to each other. About him. Weird.
So all morning Jay had just put it out of his mind, had tried not to think about it. If girls wanted to look at him and whisper about him, there wasn’t much he could do about it. Girls. A major mystery.
Although . . . Tuesday morning’s math class with Julie Parkman had gone surprisingly well. He had said hi to her before class, and she had smiled at him. And at the end of class, they had walked halfway to the art room together. And they had even talked a little. Mostly about math, but still, he had been talking to a girl for almost two minutes. And during that whole time, Jay had felt calm and steady, very much himself. Julie had seemed like an easy girl to talk to. No pressure.
But with Melissa it was different. And as he neared the science room, Jay’s armpits were damp and his hands felt sweaty too. And he said to himself, I’ll just have to pretend I’m like Ray, that’s all. Sort of smooth and charming. And easygoing. Like Ray.
Jay peeked into the room and saw that Melissa hadn’t come to class yet. So he hurried over to table number nine, took his seat, and rummaged around in his book bag for the homework. But he didn’t feel like Ray at all. Jay felt like himself, awkward and scared.
He was scared because he was lacking one important bit of information: Jay didn’t know that Melissa knew about the secret. And Jay didn’t know because Ray hadn’t told him. And Ray hadn’t told because Ray felt pretty sure that Jay would have gotten mad about him telling someone—even someone as cute as Melissa. And that’s why Ray had also asked Melissa not to let Jay know that she knew. About him being a twin.
So as Jay was dreading having to be like Ray for a whole period, Melissa was thrilled about having a whole period to get a close look at the real Jay Gr
ayson. And the fact that he didn’t know that she knew who he really was? That was a perfectly delicious secret.
And Melissa didn’t know that while she was sitting with Jay, three or four other girls in the science room were also going to be watching and listening. Secretly.
When Melissa came rushing in just as the bell rang and sat down next to him, Jay still had no idea what do. Or what to say. Or how to act.
Be like Ray, he told himself. Be like Ray.
So Jay put a Ray-like smile on his face, looked sideways at Melissa, and said, “Hey, how’s it going?”
And Melissa thought, He’s trying to be like his brother—that is so cute! So she gave him a huge smile, and she said, “Good, really good.”
Jay nodded toward his homework sheet in that offhanded way he’d seen Ray nod so many times, and he said, “Pretty tough assignment. What did you get for the third problem?”
Melissa smiled at him again as she pulled a yellow three-ring binder from her book bag, opened it on the desk, flipped to the divider marked HOMEWORK, turned three or four pages, then ran her index finger down the worksheet. And she said, “Nitrogen, right? Because of the five electrons.”
Jay stared at Melissa’s fingernail, completely distracted by the remains of some hot-pink nail polish. But he managed to say, “Yeah, nitrogen. That’s what I got too.” And he said it like Ray would have said it—or the way he imagined Ray would have said it.
And again, Melissa gave him a really big smile.
And as Jay smiled back, he thought, Oh yeah, I’m nailin’ this. I am way cool—no, I’m Ray cool.
Science class went zipping along in a cheerful blur, and Jay had never had so much fun talking with a girl in his life. He felt like he sort of had an actual girlfriend. And as they began work on the new lab assignment, Jay relaxed. He was smooth, at ease, funny, and very charming. Very Ray. And Melissa? As far as Jay could tell, the girl was eating it up. With a spoon. She couldn’t stop smiling at him. And the more Jay tried to be like Ray, the more she smiled.
