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me,” Mom said, shaking her head.
    â€œBlazers,” Dad explained, then turned to me. “How so, Russ?”
    â€œIt’s hard to explain. They just seemed to be in tune with each other. They didn’t have to say anything, or make eye contact or—”
    â€œThey were mind-reading Twinvaders from outer space,” Owen said, in that same creepy voice.
    â€œI didn’t say they were telepathic, Owen,” I reminded him, feeling irritated. “They just seem to have … an understanding.”
    â€œWell,” Dad said, reaching for another piece of chicken. “That would make sense, wouldn’t it? Maple and Donaldsonplayed together for three solid years in college. These Matthews twins have probably been playing together all their lives.”
    That was a very good point.
    I picked up my chicken wing and started gnawing on the pointy tip while I thought about what Dad had said.
    Owen and I had been playing together for only four
weeks
. In that short amount of time, we couldn’t expect to have created the kind of on-court connection that the Matthews twins shared.
    And while Owen and I might not have had that connection yet, we could work on building it.
    I started right there at the table with my chicken dinner. I mirrored my brother, lifting my fork at the same time and speed as he did. I ate my vegetables in the same order and drank my milk with the same annoyingly small sips that he did.
    When Mom brought out bowls of ice cream, instead of eating it like a normal person, I stirred it until it had the texture of a milk shake, just like Owen did.
    â€œWill you cut it out?” he asked.
    â€œWhat?” I asked.
    â€œStop copying me.”
    â€œI’m not copying you,” I told him. “I’m getting in tune with you. I’m hoping that it will help our game.”
    â€œThat’s crazy,” Owen said, rolling his eyes and turning his attention to his ice-cream soup.
    Maybe it was.
    I scooped a drippy spoonful into my mouth and wished I’d left it alone.

    When I arrived in my science class a few minutes early the next morning, I set up my work station just the way I liked it. We were in the middle of a geology section, and even though I preferred to study physics and chemistry, I was enjoying it.
    I had just opened my textbook to reread the chapters I’d studied the night before when two long shadows spread across my page.
    I glanced up and saw Mitch and Marcus standing over me, blocking the light from the windows. They were wearing matching University of Minnesota baseball hats and the letterman jackets I was beginning to think they never took off.
    â€œHey, Owen,” one of them said.
    â€œActually, I’m Russell,” I told him.
    They couldn’t tell
us
apart?
    â€œOh, sure,” he said, nodding. “Hey, Russell.”
    â€œHey,” I replied, wondering what on earth they were doing in Mrs. Lansdowne’s lab. “Are you looking for a classroom? I know the layout of the school is a bit strange, but—”
    â€œThis
is
our classroom,” one of them said.
    â€œYou’re taking accelerated science?” I asked doubtfully.
    â€œYes,” they said at the same time.
    â€œBoth of … you’re
both
registered for accelerated science?”
    They nodded again. “And advanced math,” they said together.
    This can’t be happening
.
    I’d already seen how amazing they were on the court, and now they were going to excel in academics, too?
    I glanced from one identical face to the other, feeling my body fill with dread.
    â€œWhat are we studying?” one of them asked.
    â€œGeology,” I told them as I flipped open the cover of my textbook to show them. “We’ve been talking about the layers of the earth and—”
    â€œOur dad is a geologist,” they said at the exact same time.
    â€œOh,” I said quietly.
    â€œHe specializes in plate