Doubts and Plans

Elli looked obviously sleep deprived when she stepped out of their house behind her twin. Since Jace moved out, I decided to carpool with them again and just pick her up with the twins.

Aeron just shrugged when I looked at him questioningly. Probably woke up at the wrong side of the bed.

"You okay?" I ask her as Aeron pulled out of their driveway.

Elli just glared at me and I immediately shut my mouth. Yep. Wrong side of the bed.

Aeron glanced at his twin but he didn't say anything. He knew not to push her when she looked like she was going to murder whoever talk or breathe her way.

I noticed that we were heading straight to school and I frowned. "Aren't we going to pick up Jace?"

"She's got a ride," Aeron answered. "She called me last night. Apparently Jun arrived yesterday."

My frown deepened. "I see."

Aeron smirked at me through the rear mirror. "You don't sound happy about it."

I ignored him.

Elli just hopped off her twin's truck once we arrived at school and slammed the door close before stalking off. I watched her went inside the school building while Aeron sighed.

"Sorry Babe," Aeron patted the hood of his truck. "You don't deserve that. I'll make her pay for your gas later."

I shook my head at the idiot. A sleek Escalade suddenly parked right beside Aeron's truck and we both looked at it in curiousity. I couldn't see the driver though, because of the dark windows.

The doors suddenly opened and a tall, dark-haired boy with sharp dark eyes climbed off it with such elegance only rich people do. I could practically feel everyone's eyes on him.

"Woah," Aeron breathed out beside me. "The guy's probably loaded."

The guy said something from the other side of the car. But it wasn't English. And then Jace rounded up from across the car.

"Jace!" Aeron called her with a surprised but an enthusiastic wave.

Jace turned toward us and nodded. The guy raised a brow at her.

"Jace?" he asked her with a smirk.

She ignored him. "Hey cousin," she greeted her back. "This is Jun," she introduced the guy beside her. "Jun, this is my cousin Aeron, and his best bud, Tolkien."

The guy extended his hand at Aeron and they shook hands. "Nice to finally meet you. Jace told me a lot about you."

I didn't miss the way he said Jace's name. It was as if he was teasing her. He turned to me and we shook hands briefly.

"Where's Elli?" Jace asked.

"She's not in her best moods right now," Aeron answered. "She already went inside."

The bell rung and we all headed inside. Jun was receiving looks from students hurrying past us but he seemed to didn't mind.

"I'll accompany Jun to get his schedule," Jace said.

I didn't know he was a transfer student too. Huh, right. I didn't know a lot of things when it involves Jace.

"Okay," Aeron answered. "See you in class."

Jace nodded and turned to me. I blinked when the corners of her lips tugged up before turning around and pulled Jun with her.

Holy sh*t! Jace just smiled at me. And it honestly blew my mind even if I had no idea why she smiled at me. Jesus. I just sounded like a giddy girl.

Aeron elbowed me in the ribs. "Stop smiling like the Cheshire Cat! You're creeping me out."

I turned to him and widened my smile more. "Like this?"

He shook his head and shoved me away from him before stalking off, muttering something about being whipped. I chuckled and followed him. Jace's small and brief smile still in my head.

This was going to be a good day. Or so I thought.

~~•~~•

(Elli's POV)

I was still feeling heavy when lunch came.

I didn't see Jace in our shared class. I was spacing out in my past classes and I was still in luck since the teachers didn't notice. Or they just ignored me. Probably the latter.

My steps were heavy as I walk towards the cafeteria. I couldn't shake the bad feeling since last night. And the fact that Mom lied to us.

I remembered how relieved she was when my twin and I got home last Saturday night. We sometimes got home later than 11 in the evening but she never fussed with us like that.

Someone suddenly slung an arm on my shoulders, and I looked up in surprise.

"Stop being gloomy sis," Aeron sighed. "I can't help but feel sh*t too."

I smiled at him. I forgot we could somehow feel each other's moods. One of the perks of being twins. We had this something that connected us.

I remember when some kid pushed me off of the swing at the park when we were eight. Aeron was at the other side of the park at that time, feeding bread to the ducks with Mom. But he suddenly appeared, panting, the loaf of bread still in his hands. And slugged the kid who pushed me.

And I could feel when he was in trouble too. Although we argued and fight a lot, we still had each other's back.

"Sorry," I told him.

"What's bugging you? I'm pretty sure it's not the time of the month."

I glared at him. Unfortunately, he also knew when it is.

"So, what's the problem?" he asked again as if he didn't just mention about my period.

I sighed. "I'll tell you when we're seated."

Aeron raised a brow at me but he didn't argue. "Okay. I'll wait for you at our table. Jace and Tolkien are already there."

I shooed him away. "Fine."

My twin ruffled my hair and walked away laughing as I cursed him to hell.

After getting food, I walked toward our table and noticed that someone else was sitting with my twin, cousin, and best friend. Tolkien grinned at me when he saw me and I just raised a brow at him.

I put my tray beside Aeron and sat down.

"Hey," Jace greeted me. "Are you okay?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah." I eyed the dark-haired guy beside her and saw he was already looking at me.

"Elli," my cousin gestured at the guy beside her, "This is Jun. Jun, this is Elli, Aeron's twin sister."

So he was the best friend. I extended my hand at him.

"Hi," I greeted him.

Jun took my hand and shook it firmly. "It's nice to finally meet you, Elli."

I raised a brow at him and I glanced at Jace. She was silently eating her food. She probably told Jun about us, hence, the seemingly familiar greeting.

Aeron nudged me with his elbow. "You said you're going to tell me what's bugging you."

I nodded. I stabbed my spaghetti with my fork, thinking how to tell my twin about my suspicions with Mom.

"Well?" Aeron prodded me.

I looked at him with furrowed brows. "Mom didn't go to work yesterday."

He looked at me with the same frown. "Uh, it was Sunday?"

"You don't understand," I whispered exasperatedly, glancing around the table.

Good thing Jace and Tolkien were busy talking with each other and Jun was busy wolfing down his food.

"I waited for Mom last night," I explained quietly. "A black car drove her home, and she wasn't wearing her suit. You knew how stickler she is at wearing business attires whenever she's going at the office. And she was wearing jeans last night. And she looked scared."

Aeron stared at me. His frown deepened.

"Don't you think it was weird when we got home Saturday night?" I pointed out. "It was as if she was scared we wouldn't come home that night."

My twin's face turned grim. "Yeah. I think Mom's hiding something."

"What should we do?"

He sighed. "We have to find out what is it. But she definitely won't tell us if we ask her."

"Do you have a plan?" I asked.

Aeron shook his head. "No. But..."

I stared at him with wide eyes. "You want to snoop at her laptop?"

"Look, not snoop," he corrected me.

"Same difference," I muttered.

"I can help."

We both whipped our head at Jace. We didn't notice she changed seats with Jun. She was leaning over the table with her chin on her clasped hands.

"Help w-with what?" I tried to cover what Aeron and I were talking about.

Jace raised a brow at us. "Hacking into your Mom's laptop."

"Uhm... what?" I asked again, feigning innocence.

Aeron elbowed me discreetly when Jace smirked and I internally slapped myself for my bad acting.

"I heard about your planned hacking," she said. "I can help."

I frowned at her nonchalance. I knew that hacking was easy-peasy to my cousin, but hearing her actually volunteering to snoop in Mom's laptop was worrisome. If Mom found out, she'll probably call Interpol to throw her back to Japan.

Aeron and I just stared at her, dumbfounded.

If not for the ringing of the bell, we won't be scrambling to our feet and rushed away from our table without saying goodbye.

"Guys, your trash!" Tolkien yelled after us but we ignored him.

"Holy sh*t!" Aeron exclaimed with wide eyes. "Jace just heard our plan!"

"Because you were too loud!" I snapped at him.

"You were the one who kept hissing at me!"

"It was both your fault, actually."

Aeron and I stopped on our tracks when we heard Jace's voice behind us.

"Damn it, Jace!" my twin grimaced as we turned to her. "Stop moving like a Ninja!"

She stared at us looking serious this time. "I know something's wrong since this morning."

Aeron and I glanced at each other. "It's nothing, Jace," I said, trying to be convincing. "Really, there's nothing to worry about."

"You wanted to hack—"

"Look!" Aeron corrected again.

Jace rolled her eyes. "You wanted to "look," Jace said, using her fingers to quote-unquote the word look, "into your Mom's laptop. Which sounds hacking to me, by the way."

"We don't want to get you in more trouble with Mom," I grimaced. "If she found out you're in on it with us, she'll kick you back to Japan."

Jace smiled at us. A genuine one. Her first since she arrived, actually.

"I'm still here, am I?" she smirked.

Aeron rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and I grinned at her. She had a point.

Well, let's just say that my cousin wasn't really innocent. From the things she told us the night she arrived here, she was actually shocked that we still accepted her. Family took care of one another, regardless of what they did.

"But Jace—" I argued but she held up a finger.

"You want a peace of mind right?" she asked and we nodded. "You'll feel guilty if you two did it since you've never done it before. Plus, there's a one hundred percent chance that your Mom will notice that someone went through her files. And I'm pretty sure her files are protected. She's a lawyer."

My twin cursed under his breath. He probably didn't think about that. We stared at each other, contemplating about Jace's proposition. He was tempted, by the way his brows rise.

I sighed.

"You there!"

Aeron and I jumped at the booming voice behind us.

"F*ck!" Aeron and I snapped.

We just got caught by a hallway monitor. We totally forgot the bell rung about five minutes ago.

"Class started a while ago and you lot are still lingering in the hallways!" the hallway monitor barked at us.

My twin and I couldn't turn around from fear that he would see our faces. Rumor has it that once the hallway monitor saw your face, he wouldn't forget it and would always sneak behind you, whether you're going to class or the bathrooms; to rip your heart out and eat it.

Jace definitely hadn't heard the rumors since she grinned at the hallway monitor walking towards us.

"Sorry about that, sir," she said. "We didn't notice the time. I was just asking them for directions."

Aeron and I went rigid when the hallway monster stopped behind us.

"I'm new here," Jace continued, lying smoothly, though that wasn't totally a lie. She was new here. "I was just asking them where the Chem lab is."

"I'll take you there," the hallway monster barked again. "You two, get to your class!"

Jace mouthed "Later." to us before walking away with the hallway monster.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "What now?" I asked my twin as we walked away.

"We get that laptop," he answered grimly.

I just hope we found nothing suspicious in Mom's laptop.