“Selene!” I cried out while grabbing my twin sister by her hand, “Let’s go, we have to be at the agency in less than thirty minutes.” My sister Selene took her free hand to release her hand from my grip. It was twelve in the afternoon and Selene and I was released from school earlier than the other students. My sister Selene and I aren’t like the rest of the teens at St. Rosario Academy, we’re one of Italy’s novice singing twin duo, L’arc en Ciel! I pushed through the exit doors of our school and entered onto the main pathway, leaving Selene behind. The sun was hovering up above in the sky and was releasing a very moist heat that would make you sweat in less than ten minutes. At the end of the pathway, our manager Ms. De Luca who was covered in sweat and seemed to have lost her patience. Ms. De Luca was a tall thin woman in her early thirties, had short brown hair cut into a bob, dark brown eyes, and very fair skin complexion. “Serene, Selene sbrighi adesso! Quanto tempo devo aspettare per voi due?” [Serene, Selene hurry up now! How long should I wait for you two!]




I quickened my pace and jogged my way over to her with my backpack on my back, “Siamo spiacenti, il nostro insegnante stava dando una lezione importante e lui non voleva che perdere,”[Sorry, our teacher was giving us a valuable lesson and we didn't want to lose out.] I replied while watching my sister who was halfway down the path. “Selene! Sposta ora!” [Selene! Now!]

Selene quickly quickened her pace and finally made it over to us out of breath.

“Great, now that you both are here, lets get you to the agency,” Ms. De Luca replied while grabbing Selene, making her walk even faster just to keep up with her. I simply followed the two across the street to the small parking lot where the car was located. Ms. De luca opened the door for the both of us to get inside the small Fiat and shut it behind us. Selene and I slipped off our backpacks and casually dropped our bags on the ground. Once all our seat belts were tight and secure, we were off. “So Ms. De Luca, why do we have to go to the agency again?” Selene said while removing a strand of honey blonde hair from her brown eyes. Ms. De Luca hesitated while keeping her eye on the road.




“Your manager Mr. Costa wanted to expand L’arc en Ciel a little more, so he just wanted to talk to you two more about that.” My twin sister and I looked at eachother in surprise. Expand L’arc en Ciel? L’arc is supposed to be only a twin act, not a quad or triplet act! When I looked at Selene, she seemed like she didn’t care. She was completely calm, cool, and collected.




“What do you mean, expand?” I questioned while we entered onto the highway which was so full of busy cars. “That will be discussed later, Selene,” De Luca replied. I let out a huge sigh and lied my head back on the tinted window and looked at the different cars pass by in a rush. Once we got to Casablanca Milano Talent Corperation, Ms. De Luca rushed us up the stairs to the second floor and into the Mr. Costa’s small cramped office. Once Serene and I took our seats in front of his desk, Ms. De Luca sighed, knowing that she would get scolded for letting us come to the agency thirty minutes late past our appointment. Mr. Costa was silent for a second looking at the two of us in disapointment. “Così finalmente fatta. In realtà ho pensato che questa volta avrei dovuto annullare l’appuntamento con voi due oggi.” [So you finally made it. I actually thought I was going to have to cancel today's meeting.]




Serene and I looked down at our shiny black school uniform shoes, “Mi dispiace signor Costa.”[Our apologies Mr. Costa] We both said while still looking down, knowing how unprofessional we must have been at the time. “I’m letting you two off the hook this time since you two are new, but I won’t tollerate it next time,” Mr. Costa looked up over at Ms. De Luca who slightly was biting her lip, preparing herself for her a scolding of a lifetime.







“La signora De Luca, ti ho messo a capo di Selene e Serene, perché ho pensato che sarebbe stato in grado di spingere duramente, da quando eri un cantante e intorno alla loro età. Sono molto deluso." [Ms. De Luca, I put you in charge of Serene and Selene, having hopes that you'd push them hard! ]







Ms. De Luca looked down, “Mi dispiace signor Costa. It won’t happen again.” After Mr. Costa gave us a long lecture on why being tardy dosn’t work well in the entertainment industry, he began to share his idea for L’arc en Ciel. “I was talking to one of my associates from another agency and they seemed to have to let go two of their most talented girls who also are twins. Since they are part of our agency now and are more well known throughout Italy as well as Europe, I wanted to expand L’arc en Ciel from a duo to a quartet.







“But we like L’arc the way it is. Dosn’t everyone else?” I asked. Mr. Costa nodded, “Yes, and then again no. Most teens here are going more for today girl groups and not duos, so its not like you two arn’t good,its more for you guys to get more widely known. It’ll only be temporary so its not like its permanant.” Mr. Costa explained.




I looked over at my sister Serene who I could tell by using my twin senses that she was uncomfortable about it as well. But Serene stayed quiet and didn’t mention a word about the subject. Once I figured that we were overruled by Ms. De Luca and Mr. Costa, I gave up on trying to convince them that we were okay the way we were.




“So who will be joining our group?” Serene asked in her most high pitched voice. Mr. Costa took out two headshots from his file cabinet and sat in front of my sister and I. The two girls in the headshots were very familiar to us and pretty much everyone in Europe knew who they were. They were no other than the Russo twins Antonietta and Caprice. Antonietta and Caprice were in the industry for over seven years and are currently on a Saturday morning television show called the Super Twins. They both are petite girls with brown shoulder length wavy hair, dark brown eyes, and have a tan skin complexion.




Serene, thrilled and was already eager to work with the two, then asked when they would begin to work with us. “This will take effect starting today,” Mr. Costa answered while looking over at Ms. De Luca, motioning her to open the door. On the other side of the door, were the Russo twins. Antonietta gracefully walked in pushing her twin sister Caprice out the way. Caprice quietly walked in without saying a word. The two were wearing identical school uniforms with their brown hair tied up in a bun and bangs neatly combed.




“Serene, Selene, I would like to introduce you two to your new group mates Antonietta and Caprice,” Ms. De Luca replied. Caprice smiled slightly, “Hello.” “Hi,” Serene replied shyly. Even though I still objected to the idea, I decided to be nice to our new groupmates and welcome them with open arms. “Hello, nice to meet you.” I replied while looking at Antonietta. Antonietta looked at my sister and I rudely and didn’t say one word. I looked over at her for a moment, waiting for her response, then I decided to say something, “I introduced my self to you, arn’t you going to say anything back?” Antonietta raised her eyebrows, “Excuse me, but I’m already famous, people already know who I am. So I have no need to introduce myself to you. Am I right Caprice?” Caprice, who stood behind in the background silently nodded, “Uh yeah… right.”




Serene and I looked at eachother, then looked at Mr. Costa who ignored Antonietta’s rude remark. “So this is how its going to work for the next few months, there will be a live show broadcasted on Disney Channel Italiano in a few weeks, and all four of you will have to perform together at the end of the show. So today will just be a bonding day for the four of you, so enjoy it while you can because tomorrow will be nothing but work.”




Serene and I sighed and looked over at Antonietta who was nothing but a stuck up actress who thought that the world revolved around her. “Well, that’s all for today, your dismissed.” Mr. Costa and Ms. De Luca stepped outside to talk privately, leaving us inside the office. All four of us looked at one another without saying a word, and we didn’t have much to say to one another for the whole day anyways.




Once the day was over and My sister and I were already in our rooms in bed, we did our usual secret sister meetings that would only occur if my sister and I were in a pinch. Both of us lyed in our beds flat on our backs and looked up at the the window that took up most of the cieling in our room. “So what do you think about our new members?” I asked while looking a the starry sky above. Serene yawned and turned over in my direction. She shook her head, “I don’t like the arrangement. Caprice seems nice, but she always follows her sister’s lead, even though she dosn’t agree with it. Antonietta is very stuck up and seems like she will be hard to work with, so I’m not looking forward to it very much.” I nodded, “same here, but what can we do at this point?” Serene shrugged, “I don’t know, I think its best to make sure that we get widely known like Mr. Costa wants so L’arc can be a duo again.”




The next few weeks were torture for Serene and I and even for Caprice. Antonietta took total control of L’arc en Ciel and declared herself the lead singer of our group and even orders us around like pack mules. When it was finally time for the concert, my sister and I was relieved the the torture was almost over. Once we arrived at the Disney Channel Italiano Studio, all four of us were rushed to the back into the dressing room to start getting ready.




On the outside of the studio stood many young girls and boys in long lines waiting patiently to be part of the live audiance. Each child was filled with excitement and was eager to see th show. Back in the dressing room, my sister and I finished getting dressed, we waited in the dressing room together waiting for our turn to get our hair done. Caprice and Antoniella was outside talking to one another. “How much time do we have left?” I asked looking at my sister. Serene shruged and took out her phone to check the time. Her eyes widened, “uh now!” Serene exclaimed. We heard loud cheers and screams coming down from the hallway. When Serene and I tried to leave, we heard a small click. Serene reached out for the door we found it was locked.




We both looked at eachother and started to panic, “What are we going to do?” Serene asked while pulling the knob violently. “Bang on the door!” Serene let go of the door knob and began to pound on the door violently. “HELP!” We kept repeating together. “Maybe someone is out there,” I replied, someone has to hear us—“







“Someone does hear you, but the question is this, will that person get you out?” Said a familiar voice coming from the outside. “Antonietta!” We the both of us said together. She locked us in the room so she could perform under our name without us being onstage! “Antonietta, ci facevano uscire subito!” I cried at the top of my lungs. “Why should I? I think you two are fine right in there, that way, I won’t be upstaged by an amature. Well, my sister and I are up next so see you later?”




“Wait—“ My sister shouted. Serene and I heard footsteps head down the hallway and knowing Antonietta left us behind. “How are we going to explain this to Ms. De Luca? She’ll never believe us! She’ll just assume that we’re late again.” There were more footsteps coming down the hallway then suddenly stopped in front of our dressing room.




“Selene, Serene, si sono due bene lì dentro? Sono qui per farti uscire con la signora De Luca.” [Serene, Selene, are you okay? I'm here with Ms. De Luca.]




“Caprice, how did you find out about us?” I asked. “I was coming from around the corner and overheard my sister, so I got Ms. De Luca and notified her about what Antonietta did. She won’t be performing today and she’ll be removed from the group.” Caprice replied while opening the door. Once we could see our new friend, both of us gave her a hug. “Thank you Caprice! But what about Antonietta? What will she think about this?” Serene asked.




Caprice hesitated for awhile, “At this rate, I don’t care!” All of us laughed together. “Okay, its time to go on, L’arc en Ciel.”









To be continued next chapter….