Twice the Talent Read Free Page A

as an eggplant and about the same size. When she stood up, she could barely put weight on it.
    Alex was the first to see her as she made her way to the bathroom, clutching the wall for support.
    â€œOh no, Ave!” she cried, looking down at her twin’s ankle. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
    â€œI didn’t think it was that bad,” Ava admitted. “And I don’t want to be benched for the season. I’m sure it’ll get better soon.”
    Alex shook her head. “Ava, you are being ridiculous,” she told her sister. Then she marched right downstairs.
    Ava cringed, and not from the pain in her ankle. She knew what would happen once her parents saw it.
    She got dressed in jeans and a red T-shirt, but she couldn’t even pull a sock over her ankle. She hobbled downstairs wearing only one sock.
    Mrs. Sackett was already shaking her head. “Ava, let me see that ankle, please,” she said firmly.
    Avasighed. “It’s not that bad!”
    Her mother gasped. “Ava, this is a serious injury! I am calling Dr. Rodriguez right now.”
    Ava glared at Alex. “Thanks for telling her!”
    â€œShe would have figured it out anyway when you tried to leave the house wearing only one shoe,” Alex retorted, taking a bite of her cereal.
    Uncle Scott came into the kitchen, yawning. His eyes got wide when he saw Ava’s ankle.
    â€œWhoa,” he said. “I know someone who makes a tincture for sprains and strains. I’ll give her a call.”
    â€œWhat she needs first is an X-ray,” Mrs. Sackett said, sounding a little stressed. She didn’t always have patience for her brother-in-law’s way of doing things.
    Mrs. Sackett called the doctor while Alex headed off to the bus stop. Ava moped around gloomily until nine o’clock, when her mom helped her into the car and drove her to see Dr. Rodriguez.
    Dr. Rodriguez was nice enough, with serious brown eyes behind his glasses. But the visit to the doctor’s office took forever. First he examined her ankle and decided to send Ava for an X-ray in another wing of the office building.Then Ava and her mom had to wait while he looked at the film.
    Finally he called them back into his office.
    â€œWhat we have here is a pretty serious sprain,” he said, and he held up a black fabric brace with Velcro straps. “You’ll need to wear this for at least six weeks.”
    Six weeks! Ava felt like screaming. That was forever!
    â€œWill she need crutches?” Mrs. Sackett asked.
    â€œNo,” the doctor replied. “She can walk normally with the brace. This will protect her from further injuries.”
    Ava felt a surge of hope. “So can I play basketball with the brace on too?”
    â€œMaybe, in about three weeks,” Dr. Rodriguez answered.
    This time Ava let out her wail. “Three weeks! But the season just started!”

    Alex was walking to social studies class when she suddenly got a strange feeling that something was wrong with Ava. Like maybe her ankle was really hurt. That happened sometimes—shecould feel when Ava was really upset or really happy, even if she wasn’t nearby. Tommy called it their “freaky twin connection.”
    When she walked into the room, Emily, Lindsey, and Rosa were gathered around Lindsey’s desk, talking. Emily noticed the strange look on Alex’s face.
    â€œAlex, is something wrong?” she asked.
    â€œI’m sure it’s nothing,” Alex said. “I just have a weird feeling that something’s not going to go well for Ava. It’s our twin thing, I guess.”
    Lindsey’s eyes got wide. “Ooh, your twin thing. So you’re having a preignition, right?”
    Alex knew that Lindsey was actually thinking of “precognition,” but she didn’t want to correct her friend. Then a boy’s voice interrupted them.
    â€œYou mean precognition,” Max Beedle said with a