Understudy Sister - Chapter 1

Alex and Alicia are fraternal twins that might as well be identical, apart from the small fact that Alex is genetically a boy.  That’s never stopped him from hanging out with Alicia’s friends, attending birthdays and slumber parties.  Up until they became teenagers he was just one of the girls.  He never expressed an outright desire to be a girl, or wore makeup or dressed like a girl outside the house.  It just sort of became an unspoken ‘thing’ that Alex, the “girl” was an at home thing.

The only other major difference in their lives to that point, was that Alicia had joined the school’s varsity dance team and cheer squad, while Alex chose to take art and music electives instead.  That didn’t stop him from becoming an athletic trainer, though.

Technically the role was gender neutral although as a policy, the coaches would only accept students that had proven they could be trusted not to “cause issues” - which suited Alex just fine.  While a lot of boys his age were obsessing over the size of girls’ assets, he found it more interesting straight up talking to girls about color theory and fashion that, in his mind, was just research for art projects.

That’s how he ended up in this mess, though.  Ever accommodating, always helpful, Alex as part of his duties as an athletics trainer, had been working with his sister and her dance team.  He knew all the cheers, chants, every step, spin, and could even do most of the aerials.  And because he and Alicia were so close already, he’d been to every team building night.  He was practically a member of the squad, just without the official tryouts, until ‘it’ happened.

It was an unseasonably warm Spring afternoon.  Varsity comps weren’t for another couple of months - at least, not the ones that really mattered.  The team had already taken the state level championships, and Vanessa, one of the older Junior High members of the JV squad, even received a coveted Spirit Stick for her enthusiasm for performing, and for helping out fellow competitors backstage alongside Alex. (who was ineligible for the award due to being a trainer, not a team member).

Alex was helping Alicia and their friend Emily, also a squadmate, to move the large trampoline while the other girls slowly trickled in for an evening of practice, followed by pizza and a sleepover.

Coach Gwen Whitehead, whom was - to her chagrin as a certified genius with Masters’ degrees in Chemistry and BioChem -very much conventionally attractive and relatively young at only 24, and who normally seemed pretty positive and upbeat, stepped into the back yard looking as though she’d swallowed a frog.

“I just got off the phone with Teresa’s mother,” she said, sounding somber.  “Terri’s in the ER.”

“What?” Kayley, a natural blonde like Alex and Alicia, gasped.

“What happened?” Alex said, nearly dropping the trampoline on his toes.

“She’s going to be okay,” Gwen said.  “They think she might have a hairline fracture in her wrist.  As to how it happened, I didn’t think to ask,” she said, frowning.  “She’s going to be in a cast for the next 6-8 weeks, and then a brace for another 2-3 just to make sure the bone fully heals.”

“Oh no,” Alex said.

“Poor Terri,” Alicia sighed.  “And Nationals registrations are in two weeks.  Do you think she’ll be well enough to perform?”

“Hard to say,” Gwen said, shaking her head.  “I’d like to have a backup plan just in case, but for now, I’m going to need a stand-in.”  She looked at Alex.

“Eep,” Alex said, getting a round of giggles from the girls.

Gwen gave him a grin.  “You know all the moves, girlie.  It’s just until Terri gets better.”

“Yeah, c’mon Alex,” Vanessa said, “We need you!”

“Don’t make us beg,” Emily, a normally very goth girl who only ever “went normie” as she put it, for the sake of athletics and cheer, said jokingly.

Alex laughed.  “Oh come on, you guys know me better than that.  Of course I’ll help.”

“It’s just kind of a shame you never tried out,” Emily continued.  “Not gonna lie, you and Ally being twins, doing like mirrored moves is the sort of thing judges eat up.”

“Oh my God that would rock,” Megyn said as she helped unroll a large gym mat.  “Hey why didn’t you try out Alex?”

Alex shrugged.  “It never really occurred to me.  I mean, and no offense here, I thought cheer was just cute girls shaking their butts.”

“Wait, it’s not?” Emily said dryly.

“No, it’s not,” Alex laughed.  “Okay it’s not just that,” he conceded.  “You guys really live up to that whole ‘school ambassador’ lecture Coach Gwen gave back at tryouts.  I might even try out next year for senior varsity if there’s room.”

“Oh, they’ll make room,” Gwen laughed.  “Like Meggers said,” she said, getting a slight Stare from Megyn at being called ‘Meggers’, before sticking her tongue out at Gwen, “A dance routine with twins, done right, would slam.  There’s something to be said for a routine that doesn’t twinsploit too though.  Either way, you two have got what it takes to nail senior varsity tryouts next year.”

“Awww,” the twins said in unison, “Thanks Coach Gwen!”

Emily cackled.  “They did it!  They did the freaky twin thing!  Finally!”

“We try not to,” Alicia said, rolling her eyes, and then patted the trampoline.  “C’mon Alex.  If you’re going to stand in for Terri, you need to prove you can do aerials.”