It’s really funny how going back to school after a few days off seemed like going back after two months of summer vacation. People I know all want to talk about the exciting things that they did over the Thanksgiving break, and want to hear about all of the exciting things that I did. Thing is, my exciting thing is my new brother Carson. I wasn’t sure if I should talk about him at all. I could anticipate all of the questions that I’d get if I did. ‘Why would your folks adopt a kid your age?’ ‘Do you have to share your room with him?’ ‘Do you get along?’ ‘What does Lynn think about this?’ And so on and so on.

Only the first and last of those questions bother me. First, I don’t think it’s anyone’s business why my folks adopted Carson. I guess there’s an easy answer: ‘Hey, I like him a lot and I’m glad my folks are adopting him.’ The last question means Lynn and I need to give the same answers. Thing is, she’s excited to talk about it, and I think it’s too early to talk about it. Like, what if something happens and the adoption doesn’t go through? Then there would be a lot more questions to answer, and maybe the answers would be embarrassing.

So as we walked the mile and a quarter from our house to Hillcrest High, Lynn and I discussed and argued about whether to say anything and then what to say and then why it was a bad idea to talk about it. Gaaah!

“Lynn, in my opinion, girls are unable to think things through. You go on emotion instead of thinking about the consequences.”

“I don’t see any reason why we have to not say something about Carson. This is exciting, Mom and Dad adopting him so he'll be our brother. And anyway, I’ll bet he’s telling kids at his high school all about it.”

“But what if there’s something that happens and Mom and Dad can’t adopt him? What do you tell people then?”

“I’d tell them about how sad it is that the adoption fell through. If they want to know why I’d just say it was something to do with CPS.”

“I can’t tell guys it’s sad that the adoption fell through! Guys don’t say things like that.”

“David, that’s bull. You can say you’re sorry it didn’t go through because it would have been so great to have a brother your age. Besides, you know there’s probably nothing that would stop the adoption. It’s going to happen. Mr. Hagen told us that CPS says that it’s almost impossible to find people who are willing to adopt teens. People want babies instead. So when someone comes along and wants to adopt a teen in the foster system, especially when it’s someone like our family where we have the space and the money and the history of adopting you, CPS isn’t going to turn us down.”

Shit. I know she’s right.

“I’m still worried. But you’re probably right. The chance of this falling through is really slim. The other thing is that Gary and my other friends who came to our birthday party know about Carson, but only that Mom and Dad were going to become his foster parents and he’d be our foster brother. I bet he’ll be telling our friends at school.”

Lynn smirked. “See? I’m always right.”

“Yeah, sure. But always, not.”

She punched my arm.

“OW! That’s sibling abuse. Or bullying. I’m thinking about reporting you.” Trouble was, I was grinning so she knew I was kidding.

“And exactly who would you report me to?”

“Mom and Dad. Vice Principal Tibbs. Child Protection Services. The police. The FBI. The CIA. One of those.”

“Mom and Dad won’t care. Mr. Tibbs will ignore you ‘cause we’re not on school property. There’s no such thing as Child Protection Services. The police won’t care because there’s no blood or bruises. The FBI and the CIA will just laugh at you.”

“What do you mean, there’s no such thing as Child Protection Services? They are always interested in my wellbeing. It’s in my contract.” I started to laugh.

“It’s Child Protective Services. And they won’t care because your adoption is final, you don’t have any kind of contract with them, and there’s no blood or bruising, so they are out of the picture.”

By then we were both laughing as we got to the pedestrian bridge that crossed over Broadway and then into the back entrance of the campus between the swimming pool and the stadium.

“I have to go see Coach Kim about Carson playing tennis when he switches schools, so I’ll see you later.”

“Carson is going to switch to Hillcrest?”

“Yeah. Riverview High isn’t in our district. And anyway where you live is your attendance area for what schools you go to. For us that means Hillcrest High, and it’s the same for Barb going to Parkside Elementary.”

“So he’s going to be on the tennis team here?”

“I hope so. That’s why I want to set up a meeting for Carson with Mr. Kim after school today. Mom will pick up Carson and bring him here. I’m going to wait for her at the visitor lot, so you can wait there too. You can ride home with Mom, and after our meeting with Mr. Kim Carson and I will walk home. It’ll be a good experience for him because he’ll start to remember the route.”

“Okay, see you right after school then. I’ll wait at the bench in front of building 100. It’s near visitors’ parking.”

“Okay, see you then, Lynn.”

I walked to the Physical Education office wing and knocked on Coach Kim’s door.

“Come.” He called, and I walked in.

“Hi, Coach.”

“David! Good to see you. What can I do for you.”

“Carson Evans was being fostered. My folks are adopting him and he’ll be Carson Dempsey when it’s all final. He’s the same age as me, exactly the same, we have the same birthday. Anyway, he made the JV tennis team at Riverview because that’s where he’d been living, but he’ll be transferring here to Hillcrest because he’s living with us now. He played on the freshman team last year and they won their league. He was going to be on their JV team this year. He’d really like to play tennis here after he transfers. I guess that’s next semester, right?”

“Yes, it’s next semester. Our first JV match is on the twentieth of February. We’ve already been practicing, so it depends on when… is it Carson?” I nodded, “…when Carson transfers to Hillcrest how long it would take him to get on the final team roster. From a team point of view, I’d like him to transfer here tomorrow. From an academic point of view, he might be better off staying at Riverview until the end of the semester so he can take his exams with the same teachers. Switching schools this late in the semester makes it complicated. It also depends on whether the Central County school district will want him transferred out as soon as possible. That’s because they won’t be getting money from the state for him now that he’s living in the Lomitas School District.”

“Wow. This gets really complicated, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does. Was there something else, David? Like, perhaps, you coming out for the junior varsity tennis team?”

“Actually, what I want to do is, if you’re available after school this afternoon, my mom is picking Carson up at Riverview High and she can bring him here to talk to you. He said he’d really like to do that.”

“That’s a nice, long, convoluted way to avoid answering my question, David. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Yes, I can meet with Carson this afternoon. What time would he be here?”

“Probably around three-thirty, three-forty-five, however long it takes for Mom to drive him here from Riverview High.”

“That’s fine. I can be here until five o’clock tonight. Now, how about you coming out for tennis?”

“Well, I sort of have to. Carson made me promise to try out along with him. But he’s actually played on a team, the freshman team at Riverview, and I just played intramural.”

“David, I watch the intramural tennis matches. That’s part of what I do to recruit guys to come out for the teams. You’re very good. With a little coaching and some practice playing on the JV team this year, I think you’ll become an excellent member of our varsity tennis team. What I like about you is that you’re a smart player. I’ve watched you closely. You pay attention to your opponent and learn what he’s likely to do depending on where you’ve hit the ball, and you seem to know where the ball is going to be returned. You watch the ball, and seem to have excellent peripheral vision, something that’s very important to be a competitive tennis player.”

I was blushing big-time. I couldn’t believe he was talking about me.

“Coach, I didn’t know I was doing any of those things you said I was doing. I just play for fun.”

“What’s your won-lost record?”

I blushed again. “Eighteen wins.”

“And how many losses?”

“Uh. None, I guess.”

“David! You don’t have to guess. You haven’t lost any of your matches so far. You have two to go, against Ian McGregor and Jared Wong. Ian has only won one match so far, so that should be an easy match for you to win. Jared is very good, he also has eighteen wins and no losses, and he will be your toughest competitor. Jared will make the JV team whether he wins or loses. Whether you win or lose your match against him you will also make the JV team.”

“Well, Carson said that I have to go out for the team if he does, and I agreed to go that far. But I’m worried about having enough time to study. I can’t spend all my time practicing. I’m trying to get all A’s in high school to help me get into Cal.”

“David, one of the things universities like UC Berkeley look for is an applicant who is well-rounded and has activities that make sense. Being on the tennis team makes sense. As far as time to study, you’ll have seventh period PhysEd and most of that time will be tennis practice. In addition, on Tuesdays and Thursdays you’ll have ninety minutes after school for a three-set practice match playing against your teammates. That means you need two afternoons a week for tennis practice. You’re already playing intramural tennis two afternoons a week. So we’re not asking you to do much more than you’re doing now.

“Our PhysEd sessions consist of showing you how to become a better tennis player and succeed in competitive high school tennis. We have an hour of tutoring and practice most days, except for one day a month when there’s a Health class. The Tuesday and Thursday matches are to give you experience in a full three-set match. We’ll watch what you do and make comments and suggestions to each player during the next PhysEd class. So, you should be home at your regular time on Mondays and Wednesdays, and by five o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That should give you plenty of time to study and do your homework. Of course, I recommend that you play tennis as much as you can, especially on the weekends, with friends and members of the team. That’s something we’ll help you schedule. How’s this sound?”

“Not bad. I thought I’d be practicing every day after school. Wait a minute. When do we play our matches with other schools?”

“Once the season starts, our matches will be on Friday afternoons from two to four, plus travel time to get to and from other schools for away matches.”

“So I really have to take PE seventh period.”

“That’s right. That shouldn’t be a problem for you, though. There shouldn’t be any seventh period classes that you can’t find available in an earlier period. For example, if you want to take Advanced Placement classes they are never offered in seventh period.”

“Why is that?”

“They want students to pay attention during their AP classes, and having them in seventh period makes it hard to stay awake. What are you taking during seventh period, David?”

“American Literature.”

“Do you always stay awake during your American Literature class?”

I grinned. “Usually. Most of the time. Sort of. Sometimes.” I started laughing.

“Let me guarantee you that in seventh period PhysEd you will definitely stay awake.”

“That’s okay. I’ll be having fun playing tennis and learning how to play better.”

The warning bell rang. “I’ve gotta get to my homeroom. I’ll let Carson know we’re meeting with you this afternoon as soon as he gets here. That’ll be here in your office, right?”

“Yes. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you and Carson around three forty-five give or take a few.”

“Thanks, Coach.”

I headed for my homeroom. I got there and sat down just as the final bell rang. Thus began another normal day in the first semester of my sophomore year in high school.

During morning break I phoned Carson, hoping that he had a break or at least would be between classes at the same time.

Carson answered and saw my pic and caller ID. “Hello David!”

“Hey, bro! I have the meeting all set with Coach Kim. You asked Mom?”

“Yup. She’s all set. She said she’d be waiting across the street from the entrance to school so we can make a quick getaway. Nothing like escaping from the dull and boringness of the high school grind.” He started laughing.

“Yeah, sure, dull and boring not. Anyway, gotta go. I want to get some OJ before second period and my Algebra 2 class. Later, bro.”

“Later, bro.”

At lunch I sat with Gary and some of my other friends who hadn’t been at the birthday party for me and Carson. This was the first opportunity I had to tell people about Carson being adopted by my folks. When the conversation about what we did over the Thanksgiving break got to me I avoided the list of food at Thanksgiving dinner that everyone else seemed to talk about.

“My folks adopted a new brother for me.” I grinned.

There was this eerie silence for a few seconds, than everyone started talking and asking questions at the same time. Gary banged his knuckles on the table to get everyone to shut up.

“Okay, I think I know what this is about,” he stated. “David, your folks decided to adopt Carson, didn’t they.”

“Yes. And that is so cool. Let me tell you the story.”

And that’s what I did, but only the highlights of course, and with some more table pounding by Gary to keep the focus on what I was saying. When I was finished I smiled.

“So, I have a new brother who’s exactly my age and is a very cool guy.”

“He’s going to Riverview?” Charlie asked. “Will he be coming to Hillcrest when he moves in with you?”

“First, he’s already moved in with us. He has my brother Alan’s bedroom because Alan is going to UC San Diego and sharing an apartment with two of his friends. And he’ll have to transfer to Hillcrest because living with us now means he lives in our school district. My mom went to Riverview this morning to fill out a change of address form and to find out what she’ll have to do to get him transferred here.”

“Man,” Jayden said, “that would be tough, having to transfer just before the end of the semester.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I know that his California History and Government class uses a different book, but he uses Larson for Algebra 2 same as here but they’re ahead of us about one unit. I don’t know about other classes, but they could use different books and he’d have a big problem with tests.”

“What’s he look like?” Rob wanted to know.

I stood up and stuck out my arms and rotated one time around. I stood there grinning, and waited for someone to say something. I noticed Gary leaned back with his arms crossed and smiled like he knew the meaning of what I’d just done. And he did know, of course, since he’d met Carson already.

“And what the hell does that little dance mean, David?” Norm asked me.

“Oh, my god! I know!” Rob shouted. “This Carson guy looks like David. And we thought one butt-ugly was enough at Hillcrest, now we’re going to have two?” He busted up laughing.

I put my left hand on my hip and the other pointed down on the top of my head, then shoved my hips to the right.

“I’ll have you know that I’m the most handsome guy in this entire cafeteria!”

That busted everyone up with ‘yeah sure’ and ‘no way’ and more obscene equivalents being tossed out. Gary pounded on the table again.

“You’ll meet Carson when he transfers here. And even though he does look a lot like David, who is a handsome guy,” Gary turned and glared at Rob which made Rob laugh, “he has one major feature that makes it easy to tell the two of them apart.”

“Alright, spill it, David. What is it, the color of his hair? His eyes?” Phil demanded.

“Just wait. You’ll meet him real soon now. I think you’ll like him.”

“What about Lynn? Does she like Carson?” Stephen asked.

“My entire family thinks he’s a great guy. He’s my new brother. It doesn’t make any difference that he’s adopted. You’ll all like him too. I’ll find out from my mom tonight what the deal is with him transferring, and I’ll let you know at lunch tomorrow.”

“Bogus! That’s way too long to wait,” Rob said. “so how ‘bout IMing us tonight?”

“Okay, I’ll do that. Assuming my mom knows about transferring him, of course. Otherwise I’ll just text ‘no info’ or something like that.”

“And,” Rob added, “send us a picture of him. You can do that whether your mom knows about him transferring or not. I assume you have a picture of him.”

“Even better, I don’t have to send you Carson’s pic. I have one in my wallet.”

I pulled out my wallet and passed around the pic of me and Carson. Everyone said he looks like my twin brother, not just another guy. I assumed the ‘twin brother’ bit would fade away but it didn’t. It was Rob, of course, who brought it up.

“Hey, they absolutely do look like twins. Except for the broken arm. Could Carson be your twin, David?”

“I don’t think so. We were born in two different hospitals that are about twenty-five miles apart, so it would have to be some sort of miracle for us to be twins.”

“Oh,” Rob said, looking rather disappointed. “Still, you two guys do look a lot alike.”

“Yeah, other people have told me the same thing. He might not be my twin, but he’s my brother and has the same birthday as me and that’s very cool in my opinion.”

Everyone, including Rob, was saying that it was cool and great and they were looking forward to meeting Carson and so on and so on. Then the warning bell rang and we headed to our fifth period classes.

For some reason the rest of my classes seemed to drag on and on. The worst was Spanish 3. I’d taken Spanish in middle school, so this would end my foreign language requirement. Today I just couldn’t catch on to what the teacher was telling us, all in Spanish of course. I had to pay attention otherwise I’d be embarrassed in front of the rest of the class whether they were paying attention or not. Fortunately she never called on me, which was very lucky. Also lucky was that she wrote the homework assignment on the board.

Seventh period was American Literature, or AmLit as it was called by those who were taking it. It was an honors English class, and like all honors classes it was intense. I’d told Coach Kim that sometimes I couldn’t pay attention in this class, but today wasn’t one of those days. We were discussing William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily and the class was very much into giving their opinions, including me. I was disappointed when the bell rang, and the majority of the class was as well because we kept talking and arguing about the story for another ten minutes until Mr. Gibbs brought it to a close.

I suddenly remembered that I had to go to the visitors’ parking lot and wait for Mom to bring Carson to Hillcrest.

Lynn was sitting on a bench under the overhang of building 100 next to the visitors’ lot and I joined her.

“You’re late, David.”

“We were having a heavy discussion of Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily in my AmLit class. That’s some short story. Have you read it?”

“No. Should I?”

“I think it’s a very interesting story. It’s a mystery and a lot more. It’s set way back in the 1800’s. Our teacher called it a ‘Southern Gothic’ story. If you’re interested I’ll loan you my AmLit book this weekend.”

“Is it creepy?”

“Definitely. Still interested?”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I like creepy stories”

Somehow I wasn’t surprised at all.

“Hey look, David. There’s Mom.”

She parked and Lynn and I walked to her car. She and Carson got out.

“Hi, Carson. You ready to meet Coach Kim?”

“Sure. I’ve got a lot to tell you, too. Let’s walk slow.”

“Okay.”

I looked at Mom. “You going home now?”

“Yes. I’ll take Lynn. Are you okay to walk home?”

“Sure. We should be home by five.”

“If you want a ride, just call me.”

“Okay. See you later.”

Carson and I started walking slowly toward the Physical Education offices and our meeting with Coach Kim.

“Okay, what do you have to tell me?”

“I have to transfer to Hillcrest High School immediately. They actually wanted to pull me out of school in the middle of my homeroom.”

“Man, that’s bogus.”

“I agree. Anyway, Mom talked them into letting me go to each of my classes and talk to each of my teachers about my being transferred. That was great because all of them took the time to hand write a letter of recommendation and give it to me. They did this during class. And word spread among my friends and they would see me and pull me into hugs and…”

I could see that Carson was very emotional. I pulled him into an empty classroom and we sat down. He took a deep breath and continued.

“The most amazing thing was when I got to seventh period PE. Coach Kerry had the entire tennis teams, both JV and varsity, lined up on both sides of the hall, and as I walked through they slapped me on the back and shook my hand and hugged me. They all wished me luck as a member of the Hillcrest tennis team, except when I’d be playing against them, of course.

“Coach Kerry told me he was sorry to see me leave Riverview, and especially sorry to see that I’m going to Riverview’s strongest rival. But he wished me luck and gave me a letter to give to Coach Kim. He told me not to open it. I have no idea what he says. I think it’s probably okay.”

“Carson, I’m sure he gave you a great recommendation. Let’s go see Coach Kim and find out.”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Coach Kim’s office door was open, so I knocked as we walked in.

“Coach Kim, this is my brother Carson Dempsey.”

“Carson, I’m glad to meet you. Have a seat and let’s talk.”

“If it’s okay before we talk, Coach Kerry gave me a letter to give you. He told me not to read it and I haven’t read it.”

“Okay, let’s see what my good friend and worthy competitor Paul Kerry wrote me.”

He read the letter and we watched him. He was smiling after he finished reading, and looked at Carson.

“Carson, Coach Kerry recommends you very highly. He says he’s watched you play intramural tennis, and he’s talked to your coach at Foothill Middle School, and he was looking at you as a key member of his JV team this season, and varsity thereafter. He included a copy of his letter for you.”

Carson folded it and put it in his jacket pocket. He looked at me and mouthed ‘later’ then turned back to Coach Kim.

“Is there a chance I could get on your JV team this season? I haven’t practiced with or played against any of the guys who’ll be on your team.”

“Since you were on the Riverview freshman tennis team last year I’ll check with Coach Wilcox, our freshman tennis coach, about his rating of your play when you played against us. While I haven’t seen you play, based on what Paul says about you I’ll give you a slot on our team. Now, what you do with it is up to you. But first, in order to be a member of any team at Hillcrest High you and your parents have to fill out the six forms that are on the Hillcrest website under the Athletics link. Four of them are submitted electronically and two need to be printed after they are completed, then turned into the main office. One has to be signed by your physician after you’ve had your physical exam. Finally, your parents must pay the mandatory participation fee of $270 that’s required for each sport that each athlete plays. That can be done online by credit card. The same goes for you, too, David.”

Coach Kim stood up and so did we. He put out his hand and he and Carson shook hands.

“Welcome to the Hillcrest High School JV tennis team, Carson. Now all you have to do is register to go to school here. I assume that’s something that will happen in a day or two, is that correct?”

“Yes. Mom and I are coming here tomorrow morning and I’ll register and be a student at Hillcrest High.”

“Excellent! I went over our practice schedule with your brother. David, I’m sure you remember what I told you. The most important thing is that when you register tomorrow morning, be sure to register for seventh period PhysEd  and select the Tennis option.”

“Thanks, Coach. I’ll see you tomorrow at seventh period.”

We walked to the back campus gate and headed home. He looked worried.

“You’re in, Carson,” I said.

“But I don’t know if the guys on the team here will accept me.”

I was surprised. “Why not? Because you’re transferring from Riverview High?”

“Not that. It’s because I’ll be coming in and taking a slot from someone else, someone who’s been at Hillcrest all semester, maybe even a junior who's been at Hillcrest working for a couple of years to get on the tennis team. Guys get pissed when things like that happen.”

“That’s not how JV tennis works. There are no slots. There’s a lot of weeding out at the start of the season, until the team is down to about twenty guys. You won’t be taking anyone’s slot, you will be just as likely to be dropped or to go on as anyone else.”

“Oh. That’s not how Coach Kerry works it at Riverview. He does the weeding out before the season starts.”

I grinned and bopped Carson on the arm. “Welcome to Hillcrest High and Coach Kim. A different and better place to play JV tennis than Riverview High.”

He grinned. “Thanks. Now I feel better about trying out for the Hillcrest JV tennis team.”

I shook my head. “Carson, listen to me. You’re not just trying out. You’re on the team. What you have to do is play the best tennis you know how to play and you’ll stay on the team. Get it?”

We stopped and he looked at me. “God, I think I’m getting paranoid or something. You’re right. Thing is, I can play the best tennis I know how to play. Damn, you’re smart, David.”

“Thanks. Okay, we have to take the pedestrian bridge over Broadway here and we’re about a third of the way home.”

“Uh, David, what do you think Dad found out about my birth certificates?”

“I really don’t know. It seems weird that a hospital could have screwed up your birth certificate. I think that’s a real stretch. As for the chances of whether we're twins or not, I think it's like 99% on the ‘not’ side.”

“I hate to say it, but I agree. I don’t think CPS or the hospitals mess up things like birth certificates.”

“Well, we’ll find out something when Dad gets home tonight. In the meantime, you and I need to talk about teachers at Hillcrest High School, like which ones are good and which ones are great and which ones to avoid like the plague. When we get home, write down the courses you were taking at Riverview and I’ll list the great and good teachers for each based on what I’ve heard people say. Then we’ll look at the class schedule and see how we can get you matched up. Okay?”

“Okay! Let’s do it, David.”