“Switcheroo”: identical twins, a hot party, and familiar character names// StayHomeWriMo Day 6

Hey everyone!

Today’s post is very late in the day but I have a surprise- all the character names are based off of my blogging friends and the people who’ve commented on my posts lately 😀

There’s Elle (El), Ema (Emma), Sofia (Sophie), Julia (Ju), Amber (Amber lol), Becka (Beck, Becky), Asha (Ash), Cerys (Ceres), Elsa (Elsie), Lucia (Lucy), Mukta (also Mukta). I hope you guys like it!! 😀 (also forgive me if your name isn’t in this, I’m so sorry! especially my more recent/ less frequent comments haha)

Prompt: Identical twins, a party invitation, and a sickness.

“I have literally nothing to wear today!” Elle complained, throwing herself onto her bed.

I watched from the other bed as my identical twin sister threw a fit, complaining about not having anything new in her closet.

“Why don’t you just wear something from your dresser? You never touch that stuff.”

Elle huffed. “Um, of course I can’t! Those are all my winter clothes and all of them are too ugly and out of place for going to Sofia McLean’s party which is in October, Ema. I mean, it’s Sofia. All her friends are going to be in designer clothes- oh!”

Elle clutched her stomach, leaning forward and bringing her hand to cover her mouth.

Instantly I was out of the bed and by her side. “Are you okay? What happened?”

She groaned and I helped her ease herself onto the bed. “God, I have cramps. Today sucks!”

I bit my lip. “Do you want me to call Mom?”

Elle nodded and grimaced again.

“Mom?” I called, jogging down the stairs.

“Yes, honey? Is it Elle or Ema- I have my headphones on, sorry!” she called back.

I stood next to her. “It’s Ema. And Elle’s sick. She has cramps or something, I think.”

Mom sighed. “Oh, dear. Let me get the Tylenol, you can go up and talk to her.”

I headed upstairs again, where Elle was sitting up in her bed.

“Okay, listen.” she started. “I just had it and I know you aren’t going to like it but I really think you should go to Sofia’s party instead of me.”

I rolled my eyes and started to speak but she cut me off.

“No, seriously, Ema. I mean it. The invitation to Sofia’s party is literally my ticket to being part of her clique. I can’t throw away this chance!”

I huffed and sat on the bed with her. “Yeah, no. I’m not going just because of your stupid social status. You know how much I hate parties, right?”

Elle folded her hands and made puppy eyes at me. “Please? It’ll mean so much to me and no one will even know the difference. All you need to know is that Sofia is a rich, pretty girl who’s a national-level gymnast and her best friends are Elsa and Lucia. See? Easy!”

I glared at her. Her puppy eyes always worked on everyone- even me, her twin sister. “You said that you had nothing to wear, though?” I ended up asking a question instead of telling her.

Elle perked up. “Actually, Ema, I have this one dress that’ll fit you but not me… I gained a few pounds over the summer before I could wear it and I’m an inch taller than you.”

I groaned internally. I was really counting on her having nothing to wear- and obviously, I had nothing either.

But she was already out of bed, hobbling to her closet and picking out a yellow babydoll dress.

“This’ll look so cute on you!” she exclaimed, holding it to my body and cocking her head. “Wait, let me just get this-”

She shoved a few things in my hands and pushed me to the bathroom we shared. When I emerged I was wearing a tight tan turtleneck (yay, alliteration) under the yellow babydoll dress.

“Aw, you’re so cute!” Elle commented, now sitting on my bed. “I have the perfect boots for you.”

I stepped into knee-high tan boots that matched the turtleneck and admired myself in the mirror.

Okay, I did look pretty cute.

“Here, here, look- this is what my friends are wearing. We all agreed to wear tan, so we’d be matching.” Elle says, scrolling through her phone.

She hands it to me and I see the first pictures: Julia Fernandez, or Ju, one of Elle’s oldest friends, is rocking a red cropped sweater over a flared tan skirt. Her brown frizzy curls pile up over her left shoulder and her shiny pink lips are pursed.

I swipe and see Amber, another one of Elle’s friends. Her short dark brown hair is slick and perfectly bobbed. Amber’s wearing a two-piece: the top is a dark blue corduroy tube top and the bottom is a matching flared bell-bottom pants. She wears a tan bomber jacket over it. Amber’s an actual model, so of course, it looks great on her.

Then there’s Rebecka, the last of the ‘girl gang’, with her shoulder-length blonde curls and a more intricate (but still somehow simple) outfit. She’s wearing a short and simple tan crop-top over a pink mesh long-sleeved top with pink hearts on it. Her skinny jeans are tucked into holo platform high-tops.

I groan. “I’ve got to be matching with your friends? But they’re so… hot.”

Elle laughs. “Well, we’re identical twins. If I’m good enough for them, you are too.”

I stick my tongue out at her but don’t say anything. It’s true- if I act well enough, no one will be able to tell that I’m Ema, not Elle.

Suddenly I feel a bitter taste in my mouth. It feels like a betrayal. I’m going to Sofia McLean’s party with the most popular girls in our private school even though I’ve made fun of them so many times with my closest friends, Asha and Cerys.

I can’t ever tell them about this, I thought.

Still, it was nice to feel pretty and, well, look pretty. Not to be cliche, but I normally didn’t look amazing at school. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to- I just didn’t have the time. I mean, I valued my sleep more.

Elle handed me a few accessories, did my hair to look like hers, and put some lipgloss and kohl in my eyes.

“Listen up, sis,” she said, looking me in the eye. “Today you’re not Ema. You’re Elle Mukta Singh, and you’re going to do a damn-good job of being me, okay? And not just for me. It’s for you to be confident and to know that you can hang out with the ‘cool’ crowd and fit in. You’re amazing, Ema. I believe in you.”

I felt a smile tug at my mouth. “Thanks, Elle. Love you.” I said.

She hugs me and then pushes me away. “Go get them, Em! Just remember everything that I told you.” She had briefed me for ten minutes earlier.

I rolled my eyes but smiled a little. “Sure, whatever.”

But secretly, I was sort of- only sort of– excited. The only problem is, would the girls believe that I was Elle?

Whoops, it looks like you guys don’t get to read the actual fun! 😂 totally gotta love that 😉

Do you have a twin or a sibling that looks like you? If you did have a twin, would you ever switch places? Did you find your name in this story?