Okay, I worked really hard on this story. I hope you like it. I do have a Casting Call at the bottom for the Brooklyn newsies.

Disclaimer: Must I say this? It hurts each time. Newsies. Isn't. Mine. It's. Disney's. Catherine, Laura, and Anna are all mine. This plot is mine.

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"I'm seeing double!" That's what people would always say when they met us. Then they'd burst out laughing, thinking they were the funniest, most original person on earth. I tell you, it gets real old real fast. It came to the point where we both had to bite our tongues to refrain from together retorting with a "Well, maybe you should get your eyes checked!"

People would ask, "Who's older?".

Laura and I each had our own different responses to that. "I'm older, and more mature, and nicer, and smarterer," was one of Laura's favorites, a lie, by the way, while the simple "Depends, is it better or worse?" was one of mine. We took turns answering. Sometimes, just for the heck of it, we'd exchange a quick glance and answer the same thing at the same time. Every so often we'd even do it by accident. However, some questions she just let me handle. Like the inevitable, "What's it like to be a twin?" To that I'd always answer, "What's it like not to be one?"

I've always been the more serious, philosophical twin. Don't get me wrong, I could get almost as crazy as Laura. And she could calm down too, every once in a while. But I was the one who could go from laughing to serious in the blink of an eye. I was the one who would think about everything, and occasionally make the random comment about the meaning of life. Laura didn't care so much about what it was all about, usually; she lived more in the now. It was one of our many differences. I was the cool, calm, collected one. Laura, well, with her you could never tell. As Anna, a good friend of ours from the orphanage, once put it, "Laura will get you with her insanity. You never know what she'll do or say next. Catherine, she'll be all calm and laid-back, she'll make you laugh, and you'll never see it coming. That's how she'll get you."

Oh, we were a lot alike. You can't be identical twins without some similarities, and we had a lot. Anyone who portrays twins as complete opposites obviously isn't one. We both loved to read, and we both loved to make others laugh. We both knew ourselves pretty well, which maybe came from being a twin. Laura could be a little cold sometimes, and so could I, although I knew how to watch my words and control myself somewhat better than she did, and that was a fact. Neither of us liked admitting defeat, and we both fought like cats. Often against each other.

Half the time we were best friends, and the rest of the time we hated each other's guts. Still, we watched out for each other. I really don't know where I'd be without Laura. Well, that's not strictly true. I'd still be in that orphanage, for one...

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This was it. I felt the familiar butterflies rise in my stomach, and ignored them. This was no time to get nervous.

Anna was going over the rope one more time, making sure it was safe as it could be. Her, Laura and I had worked on it for a week, stealing spare sheets from the linens closet. Now it was finished, and Laura and I were finally going to get out of that stupid orpahange.

They didn't treat us badly there. We were fed plenty, we didn't get beaten or anything, we got enough sleep. But it was all so boring. We woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, went to lessons, had lunch, then more lessons, then ate dinner, and went to bed. Day after day. We couldn't stand it anymore. Laura and I started to act up in class, just for the sake of change. There was that time when we put toothpaste on the chair of Ms. Whitall, the Math tutor. Or when we came to lessons wearing all our cothes inside out. We would dress up as each other and switch places, and watch Ms. Galavanti, the old Language tutor, confusedly try to figure us out while poor Anna would shake with barely suppressed laughter. We would always ask questions on everything, sometimes completely random and unrelated. Our punishment would be the rest of the day in Isolation, but it was worth it just to have some fun. Soon Laura had gotten switched to the other dormitory room down the hall, but we knew when the Headmistress went to sleep, so Laura just had to sneak past her room after 12:30 to get to the dormitory room Anna and I slept in.

Still, we wanted out. Our sixteenth birthday was coming up soon. There was a big world out there, and we wanted to be a part of it. We couldn't stand the orphanage anymore. Stuck inside, lessons all day long...There had to be more to life than this.

But it wasn't only that. I haven't yet told you how we got to the orphanage, have I? It started when our father was killed. It was an accident at the factory. Our family was devastated. Laura and I, we were only eight at the time. All we knew was daddy had gone on vacation, and we didn't know when he'd be back. About a year after that, when we were nine, our brother disappeared. We were old enough, by then, to know what was really going on. He was twelve when he left. I think it was because he couldn't take the strain of growing up fatherless. I don't know. But after he left, my mother just kind of gave up. Her health started deteriorating, and in eighteen months, when we were ten and a half, she died. But before she did, she asked one thing of Laura and I - to find our brother. And we promised her we would.

Bit of a stupid thing to promise, looking back on it. But what could we do? We decided we had wasted enough time already. Our brother would be almost twenty by now. If we were going to find him, we would have to do it soon. We only had one picture to aid us, and he was sure to have changed a lot since it was taken. But Laura, at least, was determined. Call me cruel, call me heartless, but I couldn't care less about what had happened to our deserting brother. Laura wanted to find him, though, and there was our promise to mother, so I agreed to help search for him. Before we could do that, however, we had to get out.

Anna finished her inspection and came over, tapping me on the shoulder and bringing me back from my reverie. She had the serious, Let's-Make-This-Work expression she always had when we executed a plan. "I'm not sure how this will hold, so you guys had better climb down fast," she warned, waving the blanket-rope. Then she sighed. "I'm gonna miss you guys! I wish I could come with you!"

I got up and hugged her. "I'm gonna miss you too, Anna," I whispered, looking at her. I wished she could come with us, too. But she had three younger siblings here. Poor Anna. She really loathed it in the orphanage, but what could she do? She would sooner eat a live cockroach than abandon her brothers and sister. I would miss the long debates about the meaning of life, and all the laughs we shared. Anna knew so much about so many interesting things, like geology and biology and why people do what they do. She was practically a certified genius. I certainly learnt a lot more from her than I ever learnt from the tutors. "I'm sure we'll see each other again," I said, forcing myself to believe it. "We'll visit, I promise. Keep the rope, and we'll - I dunno, we'll think something up, okay?"

Anna nodded. Regaining her composure, she stated in her usual, matter-of-fact tone, "You guys had better get going. Quick, before anyone wakes up." Laura, who had been giving the room a final once over to make sure we hadn't left anything, came over and nodded that she was ready. Anna took the rope and tied one end around a bed post near the window. I opened the window, and she threw the rope out. It fell to a few feet above the ground. Perfect. I was going first. Grabbing my bag, I turned to Anna. I had never been good at goodbyes. Finally I just gave her a quick hug and a smile, and, taking the rope, crawled out the window. I climbed down as quickly as I could, looking straight ahead of me. Our room was on the second floor, so it took me about five minutes, but it felt like forever. Finally, I reached the bottom.

Laura looked down at me from our window when I lifted my eyes. I smiled at her, and she started climbing down. When she too reached the bottom, Anna pulled the rope back in. Then she stuck her head back out to watch us leave. With a final wave and smile, Laura and I set out to find our brother. I just couldn't resist, though, looking back one last time at the place I had spent the last five years, and at my best friend's tear-stained face, still smiling through the tears. Then we turned a corner, and it was gone.

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Casting Call!

Name:

Nickname and reason behind nickname:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Personality:

History:

Other:

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