“Betsy! Over here!”
Elizabeth Tucker scanned the packed lunchroom, looking for the source of the call. At the center tables, her brother, Joseph, sat in the middle of their group of friends, waving her over.
With a sigh, Elizabeth wound her way through the crowded lunchroom and set her tray down before taking the empty chair next to her brother. She quickly glanced around the table, realizing that everyone was engaged in their usual lunchtime activities. Kasey and Tim were openly flirting with one another (but they swore they were just friends). April and Adam kept shooting each other looks and brushing their hand together. And her brother was playing solitaire, appearing to be bored out of his mind.
“How has your day been?” Elizabeth asked, opening her Coke bottle. “Any better than yesterday?”
Joseph sighed and rolled his eyes. “Better in some ways, worse in others; Dad’s going to flip when he find out I got another D.”
Elizabeth quietly studied her brother from the corner of her eye. Sitting slouched down in his chair, his arm resting on the side of the table with a deck of cards in his hands. His face drawn in a look of total concentration, but Elizabeth knew his thoughts were a million miles away from the lunchroom.
“How has your day been better than yesterday?” she asked, hoping to take his mind off their father and get him to relax.
Joseph looked up at his sister and chuckled. “This is why I have a twin,” he said, meeting her gaze with a smile. “You always look at the bright side of every situation, even if it doesn’t seem that there is a bright side.”
Elizabeth returned the smile. “It may not seem like there’s a bright side, but there always is, JC. Sometimes the dark side is just more dominant because a person is stubborn and refuses to see the light.”
Joseph suddenly burst out laughing, causing the entire table to jump from the sudden noise. “You sound like a preacher, Betsy!” he exclaimed.
Elizabeth recovered quickly and joined in with her brother’s laughter. “I do! Wow, I’m becoming more like Mom by the minute. This is not good, JC!”
The entire table chuckled, having all heard Laura Tucker’s “sermons” many times throughout the years.
“Anything exciting happening this weekend?” Adam asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from school and parents.
“I have a tournament on Saturday.” Kasey announced. “If we win, our team has a chance of going to state.”
“Chance of going to state?” Tim asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. “I thought it was determined that the state championship trophy had your names engraved on it already!”
“Don’t jinx it!” Kasey exclaimed. “You say that now and it’s going to be the one game we lose this season!”
“Kasey,” April said starring her right in the eye. “Calm down before you over turn the table.”
Kasey looked down at the tabletop. “Sorry, guys. I’m just really nervous about the game.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Believe us; we all know how much this game means to the entire team. You haven’t given the school a chance to think about anything else for weeks.”
“That’s not entirely true, Tim.” Elizabeth said. “Right now, I’m thinking we are all going to be meeting at seven in the morning for detention if we don’t get to class ASAP.”
The group suddenly looked around the lunchroom and noticed that almost everyone had cleared out. They quickly deposited their trash and hurried to their afternoon classes.  

With one minuet before the second bell, Elizabeth walked into the art room and deposited her books on the back table with the others. She quickly put on her frock and found her oil painting leaning up against the windowsill. Carefully, Elizabeth picked it up and carried it to her easel. She slowly lifted the lids off the paints and removed her brushes from their special pouch.
With a sigh, she realized that she did not know where to pick up again. Elizabeth reached into the pocket of her frock and pulled out the picture that she kept in the art room for inspiration. She carefully studied it and smiled to herself, seeing the perfect place to begin this piece of art. Elizabeth slipped the picture back into her pocket, dipped her brush in paint, and began her strokes.

Joseph and Kasey hurried upstairs to the science wing, knowing that if they were late again, Ms. Whitney would give them detentions for a solid week. With seconds before the bell rang, the two slid into their seats in the back of the room.
With a sigh of relief, Joseph pulled out his notebook and flipped to the notes they had taken the class before. As he skimmed through the stack of papers, Ms. Whitney entered the room with her usual three-inch file of homework and tests.
“Listen up class,” Ms. Whitney said, and the few students who were talking quickly ended their conversations. “You have a test next class over this unit. Study guides are here.” She said, placing a pile of papers on the front table. “You have the rest of class to work on them.”
Everyone hurried to the front of the room and picked up an eight-page packet. Joseph flipped through it as he walked back to his seat and sighed.
“Do you want to work together?” Kasey asked, taking her seat.
“I don’t know how much help I’ll be on this, Kasey.” Joseph said. “I didn’t understand anything this chapter.”
Kasey smiled at him. “I understood it pretty well. Do you want me to explain it to you?”
Joseph thought about it for a second. Kasey was smart, and he could use the help. “That would be great.” He said, turning his chair to face her. “Thanks.”
Kasey smiled at him and flipped to the beginning of their notes.

April starred at Adam and Tim, wishing they would quit messing around so they could start working on their project.
“Cut it out, guys!” she hissed at them across the table in the library. “I want a good grade on this, and if we don’t get an A, then I’m taking it all out on the two of you as soon as we get the grade from Ms. Applegate.”
Adam and Tim both turned to April with looks of horror on their faces.
“You wouldn’t.” Tim said, his voice shaking slightly.
“I will and you both know it.” April hissed, watching with satisfaction as the guys starred at her with open horror. “Start working now or you will both pay for it later. This project is half our grade and if I have to do the entire thing by myself, then Applegate will know about it.”
Tim leaned toward Adam and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “Do you think she would really do anything?”
“I don’t know,” Adam whispered back. “She looks really mad, better not chance it.”
“I mean it,” April whispered. “Start helping me now or pay for it soon. We only have two weeks to get this project finished, and I want to practice as a group before we present in front of everyone.”
“Fine,” Adam sighed, rolling his eyes. “We’ll start working. But lighten up a little, April. I promise that the project will be ready to hand in on time.”
Tim straightened up in his chair and put his right hand on their grading rubric while raising his left hand in the air. “I solemnly swear to help you finish this project and will do everything I can to help us earn an A.”
April rolled her eyes, trying to hold back the laugh. When she looked back up at Tim and Adam, both were looking at her with innocent faces, trying to make the message of “serious” as obvious as possible. Without warning, April suddenly burst out laughing, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle the sudden noise.
“All right!” she gasped. “Let’s just get to work!”  

Elizabeth and Joseph returned home that afternoon to find that the house was spotless and the refrigerator and pantry restocked.
“Mom and Dad are going to be out late again.” Elizabeth said, looking at a notepad that had been left on the counter earlier that afternoon.
Joseph came up behind her and glanced over her shoulder. “Figures; they haven’t been home at a decent time in weeks. When was the last family dinner we had?”
Elizabeth sighed and turned around to face her brother. “I can’t remember; probably a couple of months ago. We can never seem to all be free from obligations at one time anymore.”
“It’s just as well,” Joseph said with a shrug. “At least it keeps my fights with Dad farther between.”
Elizabeth gave her brother an exasperated look and turned in the direction of her bedroom, not wanting to start a fight. She could never figure out why her family could not all just get along, especially her father and brother. Now days, it seemed that somebody was always jumping down another’s throat.
With a sigh, Elizabeth opened her bedroom door and slipped inside closing the door quietly behind her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, counting to twenty before taking her sketchbook off her desk and retreating to the center of her bed. Sprawled across the mattress, Elizabeth was soon lost in shadows and shades of different objects and people. She smiled to herself, content and completely bliss for the time being.

Surprised by his sisters’ sudden exit, Joseph grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator and went to his bedroom to study. Knowing that his father would be on the warpath when he found out how bad his grades really were, Joseph decided he better start making some improvements fast.
He pulled out his Calculus book and flipped to the chapter they were to be tested on next class. Carefully, Joseph worked out multiple problems from each of the lessons, checking his answers with those in the back of the book. He also pulled out the notes he had taken during lectures and tried to figure out what Mr. Cleveland had been trying to teach.
An hour later, Joseph sighed and leaned back against the pillows on his bed. His head felt as if it would explode if he tried to study any more. Glancing around his room, Joseph spotted this guitar leaning against the closet door. He jumped off the bed and picked up the instrument, fingering the strings gently.
Without a second thought, Joseph sank to the floor and began running through the different chords before picking out the tune to one of Elizabeth’s favorite tunes he had composed many years ago for their birthday.
As he finished the tune, the notes flowed into another of his songs. While he played, Joseph forgot about the fight with Elizabeth, his lack of communication with his parents, even the fight that was sure to come the following morning with his father. Lost in the world of rhythm and notes, Joseph felt happiness for the first time in days.