Chapter 3

Okay, I am not some weird online stalker, I swear it. I am not one of those girls who creates a fake account just to stalk the guy they like. I had created the online account in Sky's name to deal with the pain of losing her. Sky and I had been identical twins. We had once upon a time looked alike, but when we started to grow up, our personalities became too different that the resemblance always went unnoticed.

Sky passed away a year ago. After weeks in therapy, hours of crying myself to sleep and several cowardly attempts to end my own life, I finally found a way to cope. I decided to keep Sky alive online. So I created an account, enrolled her in online classes that I took for her and made friends for her. It was a good way to live one life for the two of us. I gave online Sky our mother's surname to avoid confusion with her former account, which was quite popular when she was alive.

As long as Sky lived online, I could at least put away some guilt at being the twin who lived. My dad knew nothing about it, no one but myself knew about it. I know no one would understand me. They will all think I am crazy, and I will be back in therapy twice a week unlike now, when I only have to go in once. So Sky Milano continued to live on in London and Araya in Texas.

I had not planned on Sky friends online with Pierce, it just happened. He said hi, I said hi back, then things just spiralled from there. Pierce just got me. He too had immigrated from China when he was ten so he understood some of my challenges. He held dual citizenship too. He understood what it felt like to be best friends with the most popular person. He knew how it felt like not fitting the set standards of beauty.

By the time I met Pierce Son in person, it was simply too late to backtrack. Was it too late to come clean and tell him the truth? Probably not, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to let him go. To have him shrink away from me. So I held on and prayed he may never find out.

Pierce was two worlds, brought to perfection. His dad was Chinese and his mom was white. He inherited the best features from both worlds; the smooth flawless Asian skin, the slightly slanting shape of the cheekbones that made him look like royalty, the bright Caucasian eyes and tall stature. His personality too,was mixture of Asian respect and Caucasian fun. I had liked him when we talked online, when we met him in person, I loved him.

He rarely talks to me in person though, he occasionally says hi to me but not on a regular basis. To him, I ams just Paige's shy friend who hangs out with them. Sometimes, I get the feeling that he doesn't even see me at all. A lot of people don't see me, next to Paige who looks like a goddess, and Raven who talks like a parrot, it is easy to be invisible.

The three guys meet us on our way to class and Cory immediately whisks Paige away for an intense make out session. Raven too pulls Pierce aside and then it is just me and Henry.

Henry gives me a sideways nervous glance.

"So Raven and Pierce huh?"

I shrug

"I guess it's just the two of us who are single now."

Out of politeness, I reply, "I guess."

He clears his throat, "So, would you like to go out with me sometime?"

"No."

"Oh."

There is an awkward silence between us now. The hurt look in his eyes makes me want to explain myself. I know he isn't hurt because he likes me so much, he is hurt because a girl has rejected him when he has been expecting an acceptance.

I pretend to adjust the strap of my backpack, "Sorry Henry, I would totally like to go out with you, I mean, who wouldn't? But I am not allowed to date until I am nineteen."

"That's kind of a dumb rule. At ninenteen, you will be in college."

"Exactly."

"Huh?"

"I will be in college, so I won't have any conflict with my dad."

"Oh. That's right. Sorry, it's just that I didn't think your dad would be so strict, he looks so laid back."

"It wasn't my dad that made the rule, it was my mum."

He let out a snort, "Your mom? The one who died?"

I feel my anger rise but I keep it under control. Just because my mum is dead, it doesn't mean she couldn't have made rules before she died and I couldn't follow them. Well, she hadn't made that particular rule, it was all a lie but still...

I branch off from him to head to my first class, "Well, I guess I will see you at lunch?"

He nods, staring into space.

I head for my first class of the new year, AP history. Pierce comes into the class late, grinning from ear to ear. I quickly take out my 'Pierce phone' as I call it and wait for the gossip. The text comes almost immediately.

Pierce: Guess what? We kissed again!

I pinch my lips tightly to try and maintain a passive expression. Pierce has a habit of texting Sky to tell her everything that is happening in his life. When he started it, I had decided to get a new phone and dedicate the old one to him and him alone, and I kept it on silent mode, that way, if he texted when we were in close proximity, I would ignore it and reply later. But now, he was seated at the back of the class as usual and I was right in the middle, it was safe to reply.

Sky: Really? How was it?

Pierce:Better.

Sky: Do you think you like her?

Pierce: Like, I am not sure, lust however...

The teacher chooses that moment to enter the class and I quickly put the phone back in my bag with a smile. That's why I like being friends with Pierce online. With Sky, he is just real, him. With everyone else, he was closed off, passive, masked.

Pierce and I share more classes than any other pair in our little group, mainly because we are the only ones taking advanced classes. He isn't exactly what you would expect of a popular guy who plays soccer, because he is also really smart. By smart, I mean smart in a nerd kind of way, because he is crazy good with computers, and he reads a lot.

At the end of the class,he falls into step right next to me. As usual, my heart beats a little faster and I cannot not help the blush that spreads over my face.

"Hey," he says, his voice so soft it melts my heart.

"Hey Pierce."

"You are coming over my house after school, right?"

I give him a confused look before I remember that we had agreed in the group chat to hang out at Pierce's place on the first day of school. We all liked going to Pierce's house, his dad worked with something technology, and whatever it was, it made him filthy rich. It just made sense to hang out there because his house was big enough to accommodate six teenagers and their appetites, and his parents were never around.

"Yeah. Right," I agreed.

He grins, "Good. You can do the history homework for both of us."

"What? Pierce..."

"Come on. It's boring."

I want to say no. I want to tell him that doing his homework for him is cheating, but I don't. I have a big problem saying no to people, especially my friends. I think it has something to do with the fact that I have always felt like I was lesser, like they were doing me a favuor by being friends and I had to oblige them in other things. Plus, it was Pierce asking, I would do anything for Pierce.

"Fine."

He patted my arm, "Good girl."

Then he darted away.