Lila waved to Myrri and came over to him. “Hey! How’s the day going?” Their morning classes weren’t entirely all together but their later afternoon classes were all together. Janus was the reverse of Lila where he had all of his classes with Myrri in the morning and almost none of them in the afternoon. Something about the dean of the school not wanting Lila and Janus in too many classes together because of their resonance.

They were in a short break period before their afternoon classes began and Lila had a few snacks with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Janus with a pretty red head. She was a third year at the school and very popular. Janus had snaked his way around her to see what was so good about her making Lila’s eye twitched. “He was with Janet earlier and now he’s with that third year.”

Man, the girls in this school really let Janus get away with a lot. “They know he's going to dump them and yet they still bite for it.” …Janus really did look like their father and if they went by what their mother said… This was normal apparently.

Lila had her eyes on just one boy and that one boy hadn’t taken notice just yet. At least she didn’t think he did… but again from what she knew… He might have had the same disease his father had. Oblivious.

Myrri was excited to be at school with his friends. At first he wasn’t sure it was going to work out, but it ended up being better than expected. Janus wasn’t as bad of a roommate as he let on, and Lila was a great friend to hang around. Though to be fair, Janus was hardly around in the room after classes…

“Lila, I don’t think that’s going to matter much,” Myrri replied. “I definitely overheard a group of girls saying, and I quote, ‘I can fix him.’” Unfortunately they had no idea what Janus was really like. Even without Lila’s confirmation, Myrri knew that the twin was dropping each girl for their lack of appropriate traits.

It definitely wasn’t intentional, either. Xeik had explained it one time to Myrri that Janus would eventually grow out of it as most kids did, though it might just take a little longer. The obsession was borderline unhealthy, but he was at least functioning without Simone nearby.

“The more I see him, the less I believe what Dad said,” Myrri commented. “I don’t think he’ll ever stop being a mama’s boy.” He glanced over to Lila. “What about you? Have any of the guys asked you out at all? I know that Jasper kid in sixth has his eyes on you. Though he seems kind of dumb. Pretty sure he failed the last quiz…”

“Thank the gods he actually cuts the resonance so I don’t have to hear about how he should kiss a girl anymore,” Lila groaned. “It was horrible Myrri… He was using me as a soundboard.”

Flashback to
”Hey… How are you?” Janus slicked his hair back in the mirror. “Do you want to have coffee later?”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now Janus?” Her voice boomed in his head. “Shut. Off. The. Resonance. Or at least give me a warning.”

“How do I sound?” Janus asked his sister with all the hope in his voice.

“Like a pretentious ass,” Lila quipped.

“Hey beautiful, do you want to go get coffee with me?” Janus waited and asked Lila, “How did that sound?”

“Like you’re a pretentious ass.”

“Are you just going to keep calling me a pretentious ass?”

“Yes.”

“They can’t fix my brother. My brother is and always will be a mama’s boy. My mom could come home from the market with groceries right now… and he would drop everything to go help her. I’m actually pretty sure he tried to drop a date late week because he got the feeling Mom needed him. She couldn’t reach the top shelf in the library and was looking for the ladder. He went home to get the book down for her.”

Finally, Lila looked at Myrri and blushed, “Well… Yeah, they asked but I said no. I’m trying to focus on school… and I’m waiting for someone else to ask me out right now.” Gods, she wanted Myrri to notice she was talking about him.

Right now Janus was driving her nuts. He was doing the will he or won’t he. “God damn it Janus just fucking do it already,” Lila snapped in a whisper to Myrri.

Janus leaned over and kissed the third year. “And I’m cutting the resonance.”

Myrri smiled, “Oh so you have someone you like?” He smirked and jabbed at her ribs jokingly. “Well, if they’re smart, they’ll ask you out quickly.” He turned his head to see Janus again, missing whatever reaction Lila might have to that statement. “Look at him go! Wonder how long this one will last?”

Class was starting soon, so Myrri and Lila made their way to the classroom. As per usual, they sat near the back, which seemed to work for them. The lesson went well, and soon they were given personal study time, which Myrri took to heart and pulled out a book to start reading. There was a loud ‘psst’ to his left, which he didn’t notice. Then another one, this time louder.

“Hm?” Myrri looked up to see a girl giving him a note. He looked at it curiously, and took it, opening it.

What kind of sweets does your roommate like?

Myrri stared blankly at the note, and then to the girl. She was petite, with vibrant silver hair that seemed to shimmer whenever she moved. There must have been some kind of fae in her blood, as her entire presence just screamed other-worldly. “Uh…chocolate?” Myrri wasn’t entirely sure of the answer. That would be more of a Lila question, but he figured giving her an answer would be better than diverting to the poor twin.

At that answer, the fae girl blushed, and nodded, going back to her work. She was very happy that she had an answer.

Lila’s face was hysterical as she just stared with her mouth agape. He was exactly like his father. Oblivious as all hell. Getting him to notice her as a woman was going to be a hell of a job. If only she knew that Myrri actually liked her and was pussy-footing around actually asking her out.

“I give him a day,” Lila finally got the words out of her mouth once she could control her facial expression. “He’ll find a new girl here soon enough to pursue. I told him if he tries with Neomi I’m going to cut his testicles off.”

Flashback

“So the last girl didn’t work out,” Janus said during lunch.

“No shit… You had zero in common with her and you were just using her lips to practice,” Lila said as she sipped on her tea.

“… What does Neomi li–”

“Not a fucking chance,” Lila brought her tea down and picked up her knife from her food. “Try and I’ll cut your balls off.”

“Point taken and heard,” Janus said a bit down that he couldn’t try at least hooking up with Neomi once.

She was protective of her new friend and there was no way she would let her sleazy twin ruin that. “Neomi is too good for him.” A bit harsh for her twin brother but he was in an interesting phase in his life where he was an absolute douchebag to girls. So he didn’t need to apply for being Neomi’s boyfriend or even think about applying. Lila would pull out all the stops to make sure it didn’t happen.

Once they were sat down in the classroom Lila’s jealousy flared up as she saw a girl passing a note to Myrri. She could burn it. She absolutely could make it so that Myrri had no chance of reading it or responding. This white-haired bitch had no clue who she was messing with. Her eyes narrowed on her prey and realized she was no better than Janus.

“What the hell was that about,” Lila reached across and ripped the note out of Myrri’s hand. Her jealousy knew no bounds, courtesy of her very jealous parents she was sure. She let out a snort as she read it. It was for Janus. There was relief and then there was aggravation. Now they were interfering with Myrri. “Of course, it’s for the manwhore.”

“Lila Terrowin, what’s the answer for the last paragraph read,” the teacher caught her talking and tried to make an example out of her.

Unfortunately for him… It was material her mother had already gone over and she answered it based on her memory.

The class stared impressed at her and Lila sat back down. The teacher was staring at her dumbfounded. She wouldn’t be undone by a silly thing like this. Unlike her brother, she cared about the grade she brought home.

Myrri got a shiver down his spine a few moments after taking the note, and wondered why his senses went wild, detecting danger. It wasn’t until Lila snatched the note at first chance, reading it. He wondered, briefly, if she was jealous of the girl giving him a note. Unlikely, he thought to himself as he shrugged it off. It was much more likely that she knew it was about Janus.

“Janus has a lot of admirers,” he whispered.. “I’m actually amazed..” He sat at attention when Lila was called, and when she answered effortlessly, he had the widest grin on his face. She was confident and elegant in her answer, and a beauty to behold. “Great answer.” When she sat down, he still had a stupid grin on his face, and was unprepared when the teacher called on him for the next answer.

Class went by without any additional incidents, and Myrri followed Lila to their usual mid-class hang out spot. “There he goes again,” Myrri commented as Janus was led into a closet. “Might want to cut your resonance if you haven’t already.” He looked at Lila with a curious expression. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like…” He wanted to touch her hair, but stopped himself. She looked cute when she was mad at Janus.

“How does he even find the time to sneak off?” Myrri said, taking his mind away from Lila. “You know what…maybe we should start a study group. I know a few good kids in the class we can talk to, and we can force Janus to come with us. Maybe that will slow him down?” He was grasping at straws, and knew that ultimately Janus could just sneak off, even with Lila keeping tabs.

“Mom warned me this was going to be a problem and I didn’t believe her. Janus has practiced being smooth in the mirror for literal days…” Simone had a sharp intuition about these sorts of things. Lila had no idea where she got it from but only if she knew that Simone was one of the leading writers for romance. She knew how to tell these things and knew them well.

Lila thanked Myrri and then watched him as he fumbled his answer. Her poor Myrri… Maybe she was distracting him and what if Uncle Xeik didn’t approve of that. How would she convince them to let her date their son. That was an instant fear that she had to squash before Janus found it.

Once they were out of class Lila made a face at Janus, “Thanks for the warning because he didn’t warn me. Per the usual.” Janus’s head was in a completely different space when he was with a girl. He was too distracted by making it to his base that he forgot that his sister could hear and feel everything he felt.

Lila took a deep breath, “No… NO… You’re going about that the wrong way. If we want Janus to pay attention to classes… We need to actually contact someone who can make him listen.” He didn’t need to study… That much was certain but he didn’t care one way or the other about his answers. He cared about making it just enough and that was what was showing in his grades.

“It’s time to write home to Dad.”

She got out a piece of paper and started to write.

‘Dear Daddy,

How are you? Is everything going well at home?

Because it’s not at school. Your son is purposely failing tests because his respect for this educational institution sucks.

Do you think you can weaponize Mom just this once?

Love You Dearly,
Lila’

She whistled and a little round bird appeared out of a gate. “Here you go Snowball… Can you make sure this gets to Dad?” The bird saluted her and he put it in his beak taking off.

“Let’s see Janus get out of this one.”

In the end, Myrri and Lila started the study group. Even if Janus didn’t end up joining, it would help those who attended build up their connections and friendships, which ultimately was what school was for. Though, when Lila got back to her dorm room, there was a note on her pillow addressed to her.

–

The school year was broken up into semesters, and in those semesters there were a few opportunities for parents to visit their children on the campus. One of those days was coming up…

Myrri was excited to see his parents, and woke up early that day. He dragged himself into the bathroom and took a quick shower, trying his hardest to wash the sleep out of his eyes. From what he could tell, he was in the top 10 percent of students. He wouldn’t receive those official stats until the end of year when they took their finals, but he was positive he’d end up high on the list. The boy was disappointed, though, because he expected to be in competition with the Terrowin twins. Lila was keeping up, of course, but Janus had been falling behind…

He turned the water off and reached for his towel, drying off his face first as he stepped in front of the mirror. Something seemed a little weird, and he wiped the mirror, only to find that his hair was a bright bubblegum pink.

“What the fu-”

–

Janus awoke to the sounds of multiple students freaking out in the halls, and smiled. Just as planned. He and Lila might have been arguing a lot lately, but that didn’t stop them from having their fun every now and again. And today was the perfect day to do it. He hopped out of bed, and started to get ready for the day. He was going to get to see Mom!

“Janus what the hell did you-” Myrri stormed into their room, only to find Janus digging through the closet.

“Do you think I should give Mom all of the presents at once? Or scatter them throughout the visit?” He peaked out of the closet, and snickered. “What happened to your hair!?”

“Don’t you start, I know full well this was you!” Myrri shot back. Though he did note that Janus had bright blue hair. At least he was playing along in his own prank… “Just…just don’t get into any more trouble today, okay?”

“Me? Trouble? Never…” Janus smirked.

Lila was excited for today but not because she got to see her parents… It was what could happen with her parents. She was giggling about it all morning. She kept shutting off the resonance to laugh about it.

Neomi was freaking out as she had sapphire blue hair now. Lila had a rosey pink hair. “LILA DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?!”

“No, I just woke up myself,” Lila lied effortlessly at least the sapphire blue hair was well thought out. Janus and Lila chose ugly colors for everyone else but themselves and Neomi.

Once they got to the courtyard of students freaking out Lila inhaled deeply and exhaled, “I love the smell of chaos in the morning.” She spoke to her brother and Myrri. Of course, Myrri had already figured out it was them.

“What is that pile of crap in your arms?” Lila pointed to her brother. “When did you even have time to go shopping?”

“First off it’s not crap,” Janus looked down to the presents and held them to him. “Second off, they are for Mom.”

“Mama’s boy…” Lila shot at him.

“I AM NOT,” Janus replied.

“Janus! Lila!” Simone yelled as she waved. It was a family day so most of their younger siblings were with them which got a lot of looks from everyone.

“JANUS!” Camille kicked at her father to be let down so she could run over to her older brother. “What’s all the crap in your arms?”

“Probably for Mommy, because he’s a Mama’s Boy,” Remy shot out as him and Damond were checking out the campus. “Did you get anything for us?” Damond and Remy reached for the presents in his arms to go through them.

"Is all the different hair colors something you two did?" Simone reached for Damond and Remy to keep them from taking from their brother.

Janus was insulted that Lila had called his gifts ‘crap.’ It had taken him a long time to pick out the perfect gifts for Simone. There was no way that Lila could understand the depths of thought he put into the wooden carving of a chicken that he had selected. After all, how could Lila remember when Janus caught a chicken at the tender age of three? Or the book on how to survive in the wilds? Sure, Lewis was a mastermind at survival, but what would happen if Simone ended up in the wilderness without Lewis, without her powers, and all alone? And-

“Camille! It’s so good to see you!” He said as he set down his ‘crap’ and twirled his sister around. “Have you been a good girl since I’ve been gone? Not causing disasters for Mom and Dad?” His eye twitched when she mirrored Lila, calling him out on the useless gifts. “They’re not crap…they’re…NOT FOR EITHER OF YOU,” Janus replied harshly as Remy and Damond rifled through his stuff.

“Both of you can back off,” he said as he scooped up the presents and fought off the twin boys. “Go find Myrri and torment him!” He shoo-ed them away, and saw Simone. “Mom! Here, I got you a few things!” He immediately pushed past everyone else and focused his attention where he thought it was most deserved. “You like the hair? Lila and I spent weeks on it..but here! Look at your gifts! This one is a map that hides itself when you blink three times! Isn’t that great?”