Summary: Kat Joya does two things when she meets guys: either be her true self, or act strange and weird just to scare away potential suitors – until she meets Gary. Never does she imagine she becomes fast enemy of a girl – a girl who had once dated Gary and who was never fond of Kat from the beginning.
"Hey man, pass the cheese."
Hold up, did my brother just call me a man? I didn't understand at all. Did I grow a mustache without my noticing? No one has ever called me man. Not even my guy friends.
Just because of that, I decided to ignore my rude brother. Besides, Daniel could kindly peel his lazy ass off his seat and reach over since it was apparent he had little respect for his younger siblings.
"Hello!" He called again, louder this time. "Is anyone in there?"
I didn't answer. I fantasized about owning a company. In my fantasy world, I was rich and thriving of success while Daniel was off the streets begging for a buck.
"Pass the cheese." Daniel heaved a loud sigh. "Pass the freaking cheese!"
Daniel was laid off in his job, and was evicted from his house. Meanwhile, I was making lots of money. Hell, my money was making money. I lived in an estate with maids tending me at my calling. No, scratch that. I lived in the Bahamas.
A few seconds passed before he stated yapping his fish lips. "Man, can't you hear me? Shall I speak Spanish? Pásame el queso."
I felt annoyed. "I'm not a man. Since when do I look like a man? Have you not heard of that wonderful word? It's called please."
"What is going on?" My dad asked, walking into the room holding two plates. Our voices must have alerted my parents in the kitchen. "Why are you yelling?" He set them on the table.
With my mom's cooking, it seemed she was going to feed a dozen people rather than six.
"Katherine won't pass me the cheese for my nachos, dad," Daniel complained. I watched him take on the tone I usually did whenever I complained. I glared. "My arms aren't long enough."
The cheese sat right in front of me, but I made no effort to hand it over. Besides, nothing was wrong with getting up and reaching over. He was rude to me, anyway.
"He called me a man, daddy." I glared at Daniel and crossed my arms.
"I don't want any fighting at the table." My dad gave my brother a stern look. "And don't call your sister that."
"We weren't fighting," Daniel said.
"He called Kat a man," my sister Daniela confirmed as she texted on her phone. Her eyes never left the screen.
My brother looked over at our sister. "What?"
My dad looked at him. "You're helping me with the spoons, son. Come on."
"What?" Daniel sputtered, getting up from his chair. "I didn't do anything."
They both left to the kitchen. "You just came back from Corpus Christi, Daniel. Aren't you tired?"
My brother's answer was, "No." Then their voices faded.
Of course, I couldn't have at least five minutes of peace. My brother came back with spoons and napkins. He was tapping the spoons together while he set them down. "I'll be here all summer long, Blondie."
I wasn't sure what Daniel was talking about. So wherever he got that from, I wasn't sure.
"My name is Katherine for your information."
"You like, act like a blond," Daniel said, mocking me. "I'm surprised the school is like, letting you graduate with you being like, blond and all."
I was a brunette. Just because I had the tendency to say the word 'like' didn't equal to acting like a blond. I've known many blondes who were smart. The whole blond stereotype was dumb.
"For your information, I'm in the top fifteen percent of my class," I said, glaring at him. He had some nerve to question my intelligence.
"I'm shocked!" Daniel mocked. "The Mexican Blondie is smart."
I glared at him. "You're related to me, white boy." Our complexion was light because of our Spanish blood. People often mistook us for white. That and the fact we didn't have any accents.
"There are many uncivilized Mexicans."
"What are you trying to say, huh?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "Just because they have parties until two am and drink doesn't make them uncivilized. We're no different than them."
"What do you have against Mexicans?" Daniela asked, giving him her signature glare. That glare was no match for mine, though. "Maybe you should have stayed over there. I can't believe I'm your twin."
"Oh, you wound me, sister," Daniel said, clutching his heart like he was wounded.
"You should be ashamed of yourself."
This was the first time I heard her argue with someone, especially with Daniel. Most of the time she only spoke when she needed something or when someone asked her something. Her responses were always short.
Then a thought occurred to me. Daniel was never like this before. It must have changed after he started dating that girl. What was her name again? They'd been dating for a long time. She'd even come over many times.
He shrugged it off. "How many graduate in your class?"
"Around 800," I said, trying in vain to remember that girl's name.
I was ready to leave Forest Brook High forever. The only thing I'd miss from there were the cool teachers I had and various friends.
"Do you know what you're going to do with your life?" Daniel asked.
I had a feeling he was going to get smart. "Of course! Why do you have to ask?"
"You can't get a job without like, skills." Then he started to laugh his head off. The nerve of him. I glared. "Blonde skills don't count."
Someday when I become famous, Daniel would be cleaning my home for fifty cents an hour. And I would be standing on my desk laughing my head off as he polished every inch of my property.
"Watch yourself, Daniel."
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked. "You're going to stomp your feet?"
I debated whether to throw something at him, preferably that cheese. But I decided not to. We were Catholics, and we didn't throw God's food at people, including fools such as Daniel.
My mom saved me from doing something truly regretful and walked into the room with more plates.
"Can't you two stop acting like cats and dogs for once?" My mom asked. Then she turned those motherly eyes at Daniel like he was her most precious child in the world. Precious child my butt! "I want you to tell us how was Corpus Christi."
Our Dany (Hear the sarcasm) had to attend college in Corpus Christi, TX when he could have attended the one Daniela attended in Houston. The reason? Well, his girlfriend wanted to go there. How stupid was that? I didn't even like his girlfriend. She was so … preppy and strange.
After the twin's graduation, Daniel got ready to leave for Texas A&M Corpus Christi while Daniela stayed enjoying her summer. I thought the whole thing was stupid. There was a Texas A&M in College Station. It was closer. My theory was 'that girl' just wanted him to be away.
Daniel was stupid for following her like some puppy. Maybe she was to blame for my brother's personality change. I always knew she had something up her sleeve! One of these days I was going to have to do something about this.
"Daniela, put that phone away," my mom said, setting down food at the table. There was no way I could eat all this food. There were tacos, tortillas, quesadillas, beans, rice, and chicken. "We're about to eat."
Then she proceeded to sit down. A loud fart pierced the sudden silence.
Daniel proceeded to laugh his head off. My little brother Sebastian, who'd been quiet, laughed like a damn hyena on crack. My dad smirked, and covered his mouth in an attempt to hide it. Only Daniela and I remained totally stoic. My mom stood up immediately and grabbed something off her seat.
It was a whoopee cushion.
I looked at her face. She looked annoyed.
"I thought I got rid of this," my mom said. "Does college teach you to play tricks on mothers?"
That was my brother. He was rude, obnoxious, and a know-it-all. He was an annoying practical joker, something I was glad Daniela didn't inherit in the womb. Daniel and Daniela are fraternal twins, with Daniel being the oldest by thirteen minutes.
Daniel looked a lot like my dad. The only physical feature he inherited from my mom was her light brown eyes, which sometimes looked yellow. He was handsome, I had to admit. Unfortunately, annoying was encoded into his DNA.
Daniela was nothing like him in one bit. She was very pretty. She looked like my mom except for the eyes. They were a beautiful green she inherited from someone in the family. Daniela wasn't shy, just distant.
I somewhat understood her. Daniel was an extremely annoying person growing up. He bugged her a lot. So when Daniel left for college, Daniela was nicer, maybe even pleasant.
What else was there to learn about the precious twins?
Yes, ah, yes.
Daniel has a girlfriend, which I mentioned already. Daniela was always dating some random guy. Daniel's relationships always lasted longer than hers. Try like, three years long and still counting. Daniela didn't know what she liked in a man. Daniel was devoted to only one girl in his world.
Yuck.
I didn't like his girlfriend at all. I much rather liked to call her 'that girl', rather than her name. To be sincerely honest, I didn't know her name. 'That girl' was stuck to my mind. Whenever Daniel left, I knew it was to go see 'that girl'.
At some point I knew her name, but it had been forgotten when they both left for Corpus Christi. That was fine by me. I no longer had to stand her annoying presence.
"That was so cool," Sebastian said, still laughing.
"That was not cool," Daniela said with disgust. "You're such a little boy, Daniel. I don't know what Anabella sees in you."
Huh. So that was that girl's name. I thought it was Joana. Or Diana. Or Roxana, or maybe Luciana. Even then, I didn't know what he saw in that girl.
"At least I have a girlfriend," Daniel countered.
"At least I'm not–"
"Quit that," My dad said, intervening.
"Pass the cheese, Kat" Daniel said. I had the feeling whatever Daniela was going to say was interesting. "Please."
From the corner of my eye, I noticed my parents staring intently at the twins. I handed him the cheese this time.
My mom suddenly looked at me. "Kat, you need to eat. You're so skinny."
I was not 'so skinny'. She was exaggerating. I was near Daniela's weight.
I looked at my mom. We had the same hair color and light brown eyes that looked yellow. I liked enhancing my eyes with a little eyeliner. That way I could intimidate someone with just a glare. It didn't work on Daniel. He was used to it. With others, it was interesting watching them get nervous.
That was where the similarities ended. As it so happened, I looked exactly like Daniela as if we were twins rather than she and Daniel.
One time we went out to celebrate their eighteenth birthday at our favorite seafood restaurant. The waitress had mistaken me for the twin and put the cake in front of me.
Because of this, Daniela tried to look different from me. Before, the only way to tell the difference was our eye color. Hers green. Mine's yellow. As we got older, she dyed her hair, and started using more make-up.
The sisterly love we shared in the past seemed distant now. Now she was a cold Daniela. It was expected at twenty years. At least from her. When I become twenty, I was going to be happy go lucky like always.
There was definitely no 'us girls must stick together'. Her allegiance was in question
"Kat's not skinny," Daniela replied dryly. "She ate that plate of chicken last night, not Sebastian."
My heart jumped at my throat when my parents turned to look at me. Their gazes told me I was in for a long discussion.
"Busted," Daniel muttered. His yellow eyes twinkled. "What do you have to say now, Blondie."
"I got hungry last night."
My mom looked at me incredibly. Her voice wasn't sharp, but it was probably because Dany poo was home. She was too happy to get mad at anyone.
"You're always glued to the computer. Whenever we eat, you don't eat. That is why you get hungry at night. I thought Sebastian ate it."
"At least we solved the chicken mystery," Sebastian said. "I believe someone owes me an apology."