{"id":304,"date":"2020-03-18T15:25:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T22:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/?p=304"},"modified":"2020-03-18T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T22:25:08","slug":"deception-twins-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/2020\/03\/18\/deception-twins-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Deception – Twins, Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Almost matching dresses – gotta love those 80’s styles!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If my twin were a partner in deception, she was no equal in\nthe deceptive arts. This became apparent during our first attempt to use\ntwindom to our advantage, in first grade. \nPursuant to my mom\u2019s separate identity strategies, we were in different\nclasses. On a whim, we decided to switch one morning. I stood in line for her\nclassroom and she in mine as we waited for the teachers to unlock the doors.\nDespite one of her friends asking me if I\u2019d gotten a new lunchbox and my\nmomentary confusion about which cubby to use once inside, no one in my sister\u2019s\nclass noticed that we had switched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sister, however, was apparently unable to wipe a\nshit-eating grin off her face while waiting in line. As I was setting up my sister\u2019s\ndesk, my teacher and sister entered the classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My heart sank as I saw them and heard my teacher say\ncheerily, I think you\u2019ve got the wrong\none.<\/em> The other teacher looked at me in surprise, and the classroom started\nbuzzing with chatter as students realized what was going on. My sister was\nsmiling ear-to-ear, but my face was red with embarrassment as I followed my\nteacher back to my own classroom. She was not as sneaky as I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given our naturally deceptive appearances, we didn\u2019t use it\noften. The idea to have my sister take my grade 12 pre-calculus test arose in\nthe final hour of my last round of high school exams, after my realization that\nher efforts might garner more positive results than mine. She had taken the\nclass a year earlier, and I had slacked off much of the current term, so I\nfigured it was at the worst a net-even proposition. The outcome of the test wasn\u2019t\nrelevant to my future, as I\u2019d already accepted my university offers, and they weren\u2019t\ncontingent on anything. The idea that it could negatively impact our future\ndidn\u2019t even occur to us. We\u2019d have to get caught first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Why take life seriously? <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of the exam, she and I both wore hoodies and blue jeans, typical attire. I sat through a movie in physics class about Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. I knew I would have to watch it again later that afternoon and found only parts of it interesting. I wasn\u2019t looking forward to a second viewing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, she and I switched hoodies, and I went back to Physics while she went to take my exam. A few of our friends knew that we had switched classes, but no one else noticed or gave me a second glance. Midway through the movie there was a commotion at the door, sunlight spilling into the dark classroom.  Mrs. Mathog, an intimidatingly smart, strong, outspoken teacher who ruled her classroom with authority and knew my mom and my family, was having a discussion with a student who had delivered something.  She called a few student names, including my sister\u2019s, so I got up, heart pounding, and made my way to her desk, head down to avoid the movie screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student who had arrived was a friend of mine. She had\nbrought a stack of large envelopes holding senior ball photos from our formal\nthe month prior. The top envelope had my actual name on it, not\nmy sister\u2019s.<\/em><\/strong> My friend, knowing that I was not taking my math exam, had\nbrought my own photos to me in my sister\u2019s classroom.  I couldn\u2019t help taking a peek, even though I\nknew it might cause problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too bad<\/em>, I\nthought, as I admired my lavender satin gunnysack prom dress and my date\u2019s\nmatching boutonniere. I felt a presence over my right shoulder and looked back\nto find Mrs. Mathog\u2019s face studying mine. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are these yours?<\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gulped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They couldn\u2019t be mine. I was supposed to be my sister.  And my sister had gone to the prom with\nSteve, who was in this very class, looking at his own photos with her. No, these are Beth\u2019s. She\u2019s taking an exam\nright now, so Erin brought them here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erin jolted in realization then abruptly exited to deliver\nmore photos. Mrs. Mathog studied my face intently. My pulse was racing. I was\nglad for the dark of the movie because I didn\u2019t want her to see the sweat on my\nupper lip. I debated if she would actually accuse me of being myself. She\nlooked as if she doubted my claim very much, but she also couldn\u2019t know for\nsure. If she were wrong, it would refute two things that she probably believed:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. that she could tell us apart, and <\/li>
  2. that she could trust us. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Only the first was true. She could tell us apart, and I\ncould see it in her eyes. But she relied on the second point to tell her that\nshe was wrong on the first. She slowly nodded, and I felt the weight of her\nstare as I retreated, head lowered, back to my seat. I felt a familiar sense of\nshame but this time no sadness \u2013 just relief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The rest of the class passed without further incident, and we emerged to switch back to our own hoodies before the next period. Our deception remained undiscovered, and her test score was unremarkable enough for my grade to remain what it had been before the exam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If my twin were a partner in deception, she was no equal in the deceptive arts. This became apparent during our first attempt to use twindom to our advantage, in first grade.  Pursuant to my mom\u2019s separate identity strategies, we were in different classes. On a whim, we decided to switch one morning. I stood in line for her classroom … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,19],"tags":[93,96,107,108,106,94],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deception","category-musings","tag-deception","tag-high-school","tag-hoodies","tag-prom","tag-trading-places","tag-twins","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}