Isn’t it strange how much of our lives happen by chance? One can’t help but sometimes wonder how much different one’s world would be had one small thing not happened. Sometimes it really frustrates me to think that my life is just one accident after another. Coincidence upon coincidence. I don’t believe in fate or destiny. At least, I don’t want to. But some things just happen and we never know why or how.
Every person we meet, we meet by chance. We learn of them by chance. In the first place, we all just happen to be born when and where we were.
That was how Michael Harding officially entered my life. By chance. More accurately, by accident. More specifically, by – what I thought at the time – his immense stupidity.
The day that accident changed my life started innocently enough.
It was too beautiful a day to waste watching a silly football game. I could be doing so much more. I could be cleaning my room or wrapping Christmas presents or sleeping or any number of things that would mean not sitting in the sun watching a bunch of guys arguing over one stupid ball.
“Who thought this thing up?” I complained loudly.
Tonie glanced at me from where she sat by my side on the Riverview side of the bleachers. “Jamie, you’ve been going to these games for the past four years. Do you have to ask that every time?”
“I do, until someone gives me an actual name.”
“A name?”
“So I know who to sue for this. I could be doing so much more today instead of this.”
Tonie rolled her eyes at me. “Come on. You and your parents are Aaron’s only family now. The least you could do is show your support for him.”
“It’s just a stupid game,” I grumbled under my breath a little guiltily. What she said was true, of course. Since Aaron’s parents had died in an unfortunate car accident four years ago, my parents and I had had to move to Riverview and live with him. My cousin and I were both only children, and while it took us some time to get accustomed to living with another kid in the house, after a while it turned out great. It was like having an instant big brother. Of course, he was about as obnoxious as, but having a brother had its moments.
Now wasn’t one of them, though. Every year, along toward Christmas, Riverview High took on the snobby Coleridge private school in an annual sports festival and God knew who cooked up that idea. It might have been meant to establish stronger ties among city people but it didn’t, really. It made things worse, usually.
“You didn’t seem to mind when they had basketball last year,” Tonie said. “But I guess that’s because Jonathan was there.”
“You spit out his name as if he wasn’t your twin brother.”
She laughed. “Just like when you roll your eyes when I talk about Aaron.”
I rolled my eyes.
“See?” She turned to the field. “Look, he’s waving at us.”
I looked and saw my cousin waving enthusiastically, sunlight on his dark brown hair. He wasn’t waving at me, though. Tonie was waving back and blowing him kisses. She and Aaron were so lovey-dovey, they often made me feel ill. Jonathan and I looked like mortal enemies next to them.
Something caught my eye from the other end of the field and I turned my head. “Oh, great. I forgot. It’s soccer.”
Tonie put her hand down. “What?”
I nodded my head toward the opponent’s side. “The Hardings are here.”
Tonie followed my gaze. “Of course they are. They’re an entire team by themselves.”
“Disgusting,” I muttered when a girl threw herself at one of the twins.
Tonie seemed amused. “Why does that bother you?”
“It’s just every time I see one of them, there’s some girl hanging on to him. And it’s a different girl every time!”
“That’s usually not by choice, you know. Maybe for Brian, but not Mike,” she declared.
I sighed. “Right. I forgot you’re like best pals.”
“You’ve never really met either one of them, why do you hate them so much? Is it because of your dad? I know he doesn’t like their dad.”
“It has nothing to do with how they’re so much richer than we are,” I said quickly. “It’s just... Look at them. How can you trust people that look like that?”
And by “that” I meant absolutely gorgeous. The words “tall, dark, and handsome” didn’t do them justice. I didn’t like them, but I had to admit they were incredibly good-looking. They had almost that boy-next-door quality, except that though they were usually polite and proper – I’d seen them countless times in grown-up functions – they had a reputation for being just a bit wild. And while their features were classically good-looking, something about their expressions prevented them from falling neatly into the "pretty boy" category. Both of them were lean and athletic, but not bulging muscles. Parents would probably like them and be impressed, but only fools would trust them with their children.
Tonie laughed. “You think they’re boneheaded jocks!”
“Well— aren’t they?”
“I’ll let you find that out for yourself. And speaking of Hardings...” She looked away from me and raised her voice. “What are you doing over here? Are you defecting?”
I looked up and saw that one of them had made his way toward us. I was pretty sure it was the one the cheerleader had kissed.
“I thought I’d say hi,” he said nonchalantly, sitting down one level below us.
“Who’s your girlfriend?”
“Who?”
“Your girlfriend, the enthusiastic little cheerleader.”
He glanced back at the field. “Oh, her. She’s not my girlfriend. She’s Brian’s.”
“But—”
“Him. Me. Identical twins? It’s a pretty boring story.” He caught my eye and blinked slowly. He suddenly grabbed Tonie’s wrist. “Come here.”
Tonie leaned forward and he stretched up to whisper something in her ear. I caught a few glances in my direction and wondered what they were talking about. I had the uneasy feeling that it had something to do with me.
Tonie finally laughed and pulled away, shaking her head. “Taken, I’m afraid.”
Mike Harding looked at me with a peculiar half-smile. “Really. That’s too bad.”
I felt my face heat up involuntarily. I didn’t like his arrogant smirk or his attitude and was just about to say so when he suddenly groaned.
“Oh, crap,” he muttered under his breath, stiffening. He looked ready to bolt.
I turned my head to see what had upset him and found my friend, Katie Tanner, staring straight at him.
Katie was captain of Riverview’s cheerleading squad and while her outward appearance did nothing but enhance the stereotype of the blonde and blue-eyed cheerleader, she was anything but the stereotype. Katie was as sharp as a drawer full of knives and she saw no point in wheedling and flirting with boys when she could easily boss them into doing anything she wanted. When Katie wanted something, most sane people let her have her way.
Just now, for example, her face was set in grim determination.
“I gotta go,” Mike muttered, jumping to his feet.
Katie started toward us. “Mike...” she began in an ominous voice.
“No!” he shouted at her, backing away.
“Mike, at least listen to what I have to say!” Katie shouted back, running up the bleachers.
“No!” he said again.
“Mike!”
“Get away from me!” he yelled, then turned and fled through the crowd.
He was pretty good at running away.
Katie stopped near us and pouted.
Tonie laughed. “What was that all about?”
Katie sighed. “I’m trying to convince him to do something for me. He always runs away.”
Tonie raised an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”
“It’s a long story. Hey, has he told you anything? He’s been awfully cold lately. I’ve been working on him for two weeks and he never takes that long to give in to a girl.”
“That is unusual.”
“I’ve tried bribing him with food, books, music, even more food...”
“He said no to food?” Tonie gaped.
“I know. I’m worried.”
I sighed, trying to close my mind to their exchange. Both of them had gone to grade school with Mike and got along with him fairly well but I couldn’t really care less.
“Hey, where’s Samantha?” Katie asked me suddenly, drawing my attention back.
“Sam’s babysitting her little brothers,” I answered.
Both Katie and Tonie shuddered and I couldn’t blame them. Sam’s brothers were horrible little monsters. I realized then that I was still relatively lucky. At least someone was having a worse Sunday than I was.
Or so I thought.