Neglected by Jordyn Williams

“Breathe, just breathe Janelle. You’ll get through it.”

This is now what I say to myself whenever my parents try to blame me for the stupidest things like not putting the dishes away. I tell them that they should’ve never tried to keep my twin sister away from me. That’s right, I have a twin sister. Tori, that’s her name. It was just recently that I found out that I had a twin. My parents said that they didn’t know how to handle twins. I swear my parents are just fools. You can’t handle twins ? But you can handle giving one away? You could handle being teen parents with Junior? That’s makes much sense. Sometimes I just wonder about my parents . . . like the planet they were born on!

            Robert Perrineau and Michaela Floryanzia are just out of their minds. Yes those are my parents name; being raised in a household with a Panamanian & French father and an Italian & Cuban mom can be a very hectic situation. My parents are really foreign.  My mother can be all fine one minute and the next she will have a red face and pointed eyebrows; almost like there is smoke coming out of her ears.

            Anyway, onto this loco life I live. Janelle and Tori as the name of twins. How does that sound? It sounds pretty nice. Yeah, I guess.

            On my way to work, I ran into Tori. It was a little bit of an awkward silence but it broke. I got to know my twin sister. I noticed that we foil each other. When one gets mad, the other has a way to calm them down and vise versa. Maybe this is why my parents never really knew how to take control whenever I got angry. I remember telling them “Only if I had a twin, maybe then it would be easier to maintain the wild in me.” Both of my parents looked pretty skeptical and baffled when I would say that. I never knew why and now I know.

            It was really nice to get to know my sister. We have much in common as well as having our many differences. At least we’re fraternal twins, we’re both cute though. It was interesting when Tori said that she and her girlfriend had broken up and now she’s interested in a boy. Heard that? Girlfriend; no shame in her game.

            While walking to my job, I bumped into my crush Kevin. Like we literally bumped each other. My heart began to race.

            “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry” I apologized.

            “It’s all good Janelle” he replied with that pretty smile of his.

While walking, Tori asked me who that was. I told her that was Kevin, one of the cutest boys in the school, my crush since the fifth grade. I started to blush.

            “You like him. You like him. Go get that sis.”
            “It’s not that simple Tori. We’ve known each other for a long time and our friendship is very important to me. I’m scared it may be ruined. But yes, I do like him. I just don’t know if he feels the same way. I really hope he does.” I implied.

            Torus just doesn’t understand. Although we’re sisters, she kind of just came and doesn’t know about our relationship. I mean of course I like Kevin and want him to be mine but I don’t know if the feeling is mutual. Tori then suggested that I talk to him about my feeling and see if he feels the same way. The way she made this suggestion made it seem like she already knew something that I didn’t. I’m a little skeptical about what Tori knows.

            “Do you know something that I don’t?” I asked.

            Tori looked at me as if I was speaking another language but said she didn’t. Alright, I’ll let her get away with saying that now. But even her face said she knew something.

Later that night while I was walking home, Kevin decided to walk with me. OMG! “Is this real?” I thought to myself. “My crush is walking with me. Oh my gosh” While we were walking, Kevin looked a little puzzled.

“You look like something is on your mind. Want to - ”

“How do you know Tori?” He interrupted.

“.    . . . . Umm, how do you know Tori? “ I replied.

Kevin just walked away and said he’ll call me later or speak to me tomorrow. I knew Tori knew something about Kevin. I should have figured she knew him. How do I tell him that she’s my twin sister? How do those two know each other? I’ve had one too many surprises in one day. I need a break. I’m so glad it’s Friday, I have the whole weekend to just relax and contemplate on life.

Monday at school, I saw Kevin and said Hi to him like it was a regular day but it really wasn’t. On my way to the bathroom, I heard him talking to Tori. They were talking about how to tell me how they know each other. I heard him say, “But I’ve always known about you guys being twins. I was told to watch Janelle.”

WHAT! He was told to watch me? He knew that I had a twin? The mystery is real. When I turned the corner to go the bathroom they both stopped talking and gave me this surprised look. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I’ve gotten too much surprising information thrown at me within a couple of days. I just looked at them in disbelief and shock then just walked away. That night I received numerous missed calls from Tori and Kevin. I just couldn’t handle the stress anymore. What is life? Why do people do what they do?

I then got a text message from Kevin asking me to be his girlfriend. This really confused me. I mean I do like him but he was “watching” me for all these years. What type of predicament is this guy trying to out me in like seriously? I just feel so dumb. My parents, Tori and Kevin came into my room to explain to me what has happened with my life for the past 12 years. I did not want to speak to any of them. I felt trapped in my room; no one would let me leave.

“I’ve never felt more neglected than I feel now.” I told them.

As the days went on, I started to get over the feeling of neglect but I will never forget .