9001 Chapter 1 of: “Twinergy and the boys of Clear Lake!”

As the bell rang out and woke me from my half sleep, I heard the sound of feet running past me. It took me but a few seconds to come back from where ever I was, and realize I was safe at my desk at my Mountain Lake Middle School. All week I had been impatiently awaiting for the last bell to sound out, freeing me from the 7th grade.

Now I could finally get my summer under way, and here I almost slept through the bell I had been painstakingly waiting on since school started in September. Lucky for me we had a 70 something teacher (Mr. Weiner), who wasn’t always aware of his surroundings, and what we were up to. Not that he wasn’t a smart and interesting man, but you could see the years had caught up with him. And on more than one occasion, it was he who was asleep at his desk.

Years before he was voted best teacher in the state, on two different occasions, and was at the top of his game every year. Not to mention the many awards he had received over the years. Many days there were men and woman of all ages who would show up at the school, to greet him and talk about their time here. Come to find out they were previous students of his, who credited him greatly for making a difference in their lives.

But some time ago, before my time came to be, age had caught up to him. And from rumors occasionally overheard from some of the teachers and faculty talking, of an only son who had been killed in some gulf war, years before I was born. I guess between that, and 40 something years of giving all of himself to his profession and students, he had little left. I had his history class as the last period, so I always saw the fatigue and exhaustion the poor man went through at the end of the day. I always wished him a good trip home, and offered him my best smile before I left. Which seemed to brighten up his spirits for a little while, as did some of his other caring students, before he went on his way.

He was looked upon as an uncle or grandfather figure, and was very popular because of his kindness and compassion to all of us despite not being at the top of his game anymore. I always wanted to do more to make him feel appreciated and cared for, as did many others. And we often brought him lunch to his room while he graded papers he couldn’t stay awake to do the night before.

It was ironic, but here we were….students, looking after a teacher instead of the other way around. And all those people and teachers who say kids today don’t care anymore, and are obnoxious brats. Well, maybe they should just look at themselves and ask why? And look at Mr. Weiner and see the “right way” to reach these same kids. Boys and girls today, just like in their day recognize sincerity and kindness, and at the same time also recognize insincerity and being looked at as inconsequential. Just maybe, something more teachers should recognize before labeling “the kids of today.”

Oh hey, I’m sorry, here I am running on about what wonderful kids we are today and I haven’t even introduced myself. Guess I got sidetracked and had a momentary lapse of concentration (and manners).

My names Nikita, but if you call me that in public, then you better start running. My friends all call me Nika. Nikita is only spoken by mom when I’m about to get a beat down (well not really, but a tongue lashing anyway) for not cleaning my room, tracking mud, water, or snow (in winter of course), in the house, or some other calamity that I cause (more than occasionally).

And my older sister will occasionally blare out “NIKITA” those times when I forget to “lift the seat” after too much Pepsi, when she goes to the bathroom at night in the dark, and yup, you guessed right…….sits in it. I always feel bad after that, and it’s always by accident……hahaha, yah right!

Anyway, I’m 13 years old, and kinda the runt of our group (or posse as we like to call ourselves). My friends all went through a growth spurt within the last year or two, but I’m still waiting. I wont be 14 for another 6 months or so, so I haven’t started to panic yet, but am getting impatient. I’m about 5 ft even (on a good day), weigh about 90 lbs, and have long bushy blonde hair. My dad is Austrian/Dutch and brought me here from Austria about 9 or 10 years ago when I was like 3 or 4. And my mom is Russian descent, that’s how I got the name. Along with my older sister Natasha (or Tasha as we call her) and my younger brother Sasha (now that gets confusing sometimes).

I live in the mountains in California alongside a lake in a community called Clear Lake. It also borders Nevada. This story is about my summer with my best friend Cody, who along with me, everyone calls “The Twinners”! And some of the discoveries I made about myself, and haha, luckily about Cody too! It also involves my other friends, but Cody more so, especially in chapter 1. Cody and I have been best friends since the third day of kindergarten. It was a long time ago, maybe 8 years.

But I know it was the third day, cause we spent the first 2 days beating the Shit outta each other over him making fun of how I talked (I had just come from Austria a year or two earlier, so my accent was pretty profound). To this day we’re still the only kindergarteners in the history of Clear Lake Elementary School suspended for two consecutive days to start the school year. A record I’m not sure whether to be proud, or ashamed of?

Well, on the 3rd day upon our return, we kinda became cult heroes to some degree. There was a civil war looming in Mrs. Cogburns class, with half the kids supporting me, and the other half lined up behind Cody. So we had a Munich style conference if you will to hash out some type of cold war compromise before the shooting started. That, and the extreme pain we both would have been in for if our parents were pulled from work for a third straight day. We initially decided to break up the school into zones for us to occupy on lunch and breaks, with a demilitarized zone as a buffer so our forces wouldn’t drift into one anothers “airspace”. But we were running into problems with the common areas like restrooms and lunch areas.

The more we all worked on our little “cold war accord,” the more we began to joke, laugh, and enjoy being around each other. We had a lot in common, as we were both little snow and water junkies. And loved sports such as wakeboarding and snowboarding, and lived a street away from one another with both our back yards diagonally connected. Here were trying to prevent elementary school open war, and we learn that our “home bases” were practically attached, albeit separated by a wooden fence. Well, by the end of the week the “Berlin wall” came down and the cold war was over. And by the next weekend, we were best friends, which we remain to this day. Needless to say, our troops were a little disappointed in the cease fire, but Mrs. Cogburn, the Principle, and the Vice Principle were polar opposites, not to mention our respective parents.

Now with that out of the way, we can get on to the present. As it turns out Cody is one month (minus a few days) older than me. So between our similarities and age, we couldn’t have been closer and more matched best friends if we were twins. Which sometimes with certain looks and unexplained feelings, and a sixth like sense, we knew what each other are thinking and can almost communicate our thoughts at times. We heard the term “twinergy” once from our parents pertaining to our uncanny ability to communicate, and cover for one another, and have used it to describe our friendship ever since.

Oh, my manners again….duhhhh. Cody is my age within a month as I was saying, and is about 5′4 or 5′5…4 or 5 inches taller than me anyway. We were the same height about a year ago, but there was that growth spurt I was talking about. He has an olive complexion, lean and thin, short brown hair, and emerald green eyes. Irish, Scottish, and French according to his mom.

Unlike the soft little blonde hairs that dust my arms and legs, his are medium brown like on his head, and a little more pronounced. Enough to show puberty has struck recently, but not all that much yet. From our frequent showers and swims in one of our back yard pools, it was revealed that some pubes have emerged on him mid year, which impressed the hell out of me. Of course till my fuzz began to turn into little hairs a couple months later. He still has the edge in the armpit department with like 10 or so little ones coming in under each arm, while mine are still bare.

It goes without saying that we are soul mates, twinners, best friends, ect, ect. So as close as we are there’s never been anything that’s come between us, and many have tried. Both girls with divide and conquer mentalities or mutual friends who had set their sights on moving in on one of us as their best friend. We are as loyal and protective as any best friends ever, almost Tom and Huckish, Spongebob and Patrickish, Clark Kent and Lex Lutherish….. well let’s skip that last one!

So there were never any secrets or anything that we didn’t share. When we learned about boys and girls and sex, it was on his computer, upstairs in his room in the middle of the night on a sleepover when we were ten. When we tried a cigarette for the first (and only) time, it was in my tree house in my back yard when we were 11. When we tried our first beers, that we stole from my sister and her friends, it was behind the boathouse at the lake last summer. When we both admitted to jerking-off, it was a few minutes after finishing those same beers behind the boathouse last summer. Funny how that stuff makes you talk…huh? When we did it together it was….wait a minute, that hasn’t happened. What am I thinking?

Although I have been doing some unusual, out of the norm thinking lately. And as for our psychic connection, there’s been some type of electrical interference lately that neither of us can explain, but it’s real odd. I catch Cody looking at me sometimes with a blank stare, and have no idea what he’s thinking? Is it cause I’m short? What a dick! Then other times it’s me having some random thoughts about him that doesn’t add up to the boy/girl stuff we see on our computers. And thank goodness he can’t “tune in” on what I was thinking. So far I’ve chalked it up to puberty, and figure it’ll pass.

My dad doesn’t talk to me much about sex, and being from Europe mom and dad are pretty open about it. But they just figure it’s all taught in school now, like back home. Well guess again dad, this is America. So anything beyond the basics is a possible lawsuit and grounds for demonstrations by some religious organization, or someone who believes kids should learn stuff by….I don’t know, accident I guess?

But dad did know enough to tell me once about a year ago when he noticed little hairs beginning to grow on my arms and legs for the first time, that I’m gonna start to have weird thoughts and feelings over the next couple years now that I’m going through “changes”. Even thoughts I wouldn’t expect, about people I wouldn’t expect. So not to stress, it’ll probably pass. Good thing he went that far, cause it’s helping in a huge way right now….even if it’s just an excuse for me to use so I don’t worry so much.

Now onto summer and good times. It all begins with the annual sleepover and BBQ we have beginning the Friday night after the last day of school, every year since 2nd grade. We stagger it every year between our home and Cody’s, and since it was at Cody’s last year, its our turn to host. And its not just me and Cody, I invite other friends, my sister invites friends, and so does my little brother. Its usually wraps up around midnight after everyone is stuffed with whatever food we pick for the years theme. And of course everyone is shriveled and pruned from splashing around in a pool and adjoining hot tubs for so many hours.

And me, my sister, and brother each get to have one friend stay the night…..and yah, for me it always is, and always will be Cody. Sometimes Cody’s sister will spend the night cause she’s the same age and pretty tight with my older sister. But if not, she has a short walk home. As a mater of fact, me and Cody built wooden ladders we nailed to each side of our adjoining fence so were a mere seconds away from each others houses, instead of having to walk around the block. When Cody forgot his board shorts, a quick whistle from my dad and his mom was out tossing them balled up over the fence.

Now, I am very happy being who I am and love my long bushy blonde hair and light blue eyes, but I have at times just recently been on the fence as to whether I just admire Cody, or am jealous of him. We both have our strengths and weaknesses just like any other friends. I board a little better than him both snow and wake, and he is better at baseball, football, and the more conventional sports than I am. A lot of that has to do with his height and weight advantage. I’m more popular with the girls and boys at school, but he gets better grades. I seem to get along better with teachers and parents, and he with coaches and jocks. He is also more toned than I am, as perfectly as any boy I have ever seen. I am also thin, and no baby fat to speak of. But where my stomach is flat; he has the beginnings of a boy six pack, so to speak.

Once when we were in my tree fort talking after sharing a large bottle of beer my sister or his sister bestowed upon us (or we blackmailed them for…I really cant remember which). I opened up and talked to him about the awkward feelings I’ve had sometimes about him and if it was jealousy I felt. He didn’t say anything for a minute or two and I wondered to myself if he was mad, but then just as I started to feel ashamed of what I said, and wondered if I had made a mistake. Then he came at me like a cobra strike, and wrapped his arms around me, and held me tighter than he ever had in our eight or so years as best friends. I began breathing real hard and felt his nose and warm breath in my hair and on my neck. I was a little scarred, but hoped at the same time he’d never let go.

Then after a couple of minutes he spoke: “Nika, just let those feelings go when you have them. You never need to be jealous of me about anything. You always cheer for me at my games and in everything else I do. And it’s because of you a lot of times I excel at things, knowing you’re behind me. It wouldn’t be logical of you to want me to be my best and then feel jealous or envious when I am. Trust me on this and just go with what I tell you, because I guarantee I know what I’m talking about. I started feeling the same way about you when we were in third grade, and everyone wanted to be your friend. You were the cutest kid in school with your long blonde hair and huge smile. You taught me to do front and back flips off the dock at the lake, and at the pool. And helped me be a better snow and wake boarder. You were everything to everyone, and I was very envious. But you always made it clear to me, and everyone else, that its always the Cody and Nika show first and foremost.”

With that said, I understood what he went through and how he had felt. And I was just now feeling for the first time what he had already been going and gone through for the past 4 or so years. It was the most important moment of this school year, and one that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

And if I never have to worry about anything the rest of my life. And there’s something I can be 100% sure of 100% of the time. Then it’s my friendship, bond, and love we have for each other. And if there ever was a doubt before that, Cody made sure in those few moments, that there never will be again.

Follow the story by looking for the chapters under the pages listings to the right starting with 9.02 ————————–>