My twin

It's early. So, so super early. And my twin is shaking, shaking me.

"Rose, wha?" I moan. Rose smiles, then frowns.

"Did you forget?" She says sternly.

"Forget what?" I ask, stretching and getting out of bed.

"I'm still offended that you dared to forget!" She says, strutting around.

"Whoa, Rose, Lily, are you finally up? The wedding starts really, really soon!" Our dad says, putting his head into our room.

And that's when I remember. Today is me and Rose's best friend's older sister's wedding! Me and Rose are going to be flower girls, and we've been working on our outfits for ages. Unlike most flower girl dresses, ours are dark green, like leaves, and either red- like roses for Rose- or whitish pink orange- like lilies for me. Rose's dress has leaf shapes that connect to a band around her waist, that go down to her ankles, with small rose buds. For the top part, it has dark green fabric, with forest-brown at the top, that wraps around her chest, and one of her shoulders. For the other shoulder, there is a big red rose shape made out of red fabric, with brown strands connecting it to the rest of the dress. Rose has a leaf chain as a crown, with roses. I have the same dress and crown, but with Lilies instead.

"Eeeck! I'm so excited!" Me and Rose chant, pretty much the whole way to the wedding. Our cart bumps along the track, but we don't care.

"So excited!" Rose scream.

"Yes!" I reply, just as loud.

"Who! Wee! Who! Wee!"

"Eeeee!"

"Hey, dad, how much longer?" I ask our dad.

"Bout 5 more minutes," He says, rubbing his head. Then he prepares himself.

"Did you hear what I heard, Rose?" I ask.

"Yes I did!" She responds.

"5 MORE MINUTES!!!!!" We scream together.

"And some people say twins can speak to each other in their minds." Our dad grumbles.

"Oh, we can..." Rose says.

"We just choose to be loud as well..." I continue.

"To annoy you..."

"And we also know what the other one is..."

"Going to say..."

Rose leans, and whispers something to my dad.

"Every time." I finish.

"Whoa, Rose was right!" My dad raises his eyebrows.

"Anyway, we are here!" He parks up. Me and Rose smile at each other. I know she's going to say;

"HERE WE COME, WORLD!!!!!!" We chant.

"Oh no,.." Our dad sighs.

"Rose! Lily! You're here!" Our friend, Holly, runs over,

"Oooh, Love the roses, Lily."

"Seriously? I know me and Rose are identical twins and all that, but you could at least try." I complain.

"And why would Lily wear roses? My name is Rose, so I wear roses, Lily's name is Lily, so she wears lilies." Rose continues.

"Sorry, sorry," Holly rolls her eyes,

"The wedding starts now!" She shouts. We run to the big tent, where Holly runs to the audience, and me and Rose stay at the entrance.

"There my flower girls are," Holly's older sister, Julia, rubs our hair. We duck away, laughing.

"Holly's birthday is soon, isn't it? Isn't she turning 18 soon? She'll be an adult, right? And isn't she, like, 4 years older than us, but acts like us, a crazy 7 year old? Should me and Lily get her a bunch of 3D printed stuff?" Rose questions.

"Whoa, no wonder your dad always has a headache, yes, yes, yes, yes." Julia answers, rubbing her forehead. Me and Rose are very loud, apparently.

"Go ahead, take these baskets, and walk out there in 3..." Julia counts, handing me and Rose a basket each.

"2..." We count with her.

"1..."

"Go!" We cheer, me and Rose walking out, into the tent...

The light fills our room, the next day. Me and Rose are both tired.

"Hey, Rose, our 14th birthday is in exactly 6 days." I inform.

"I know." Rose says.

"Didn't you dance with Jack, or was it Jasper?" I ask

"Jack," Rose blushes.

"Ooh, I can imagine you and Jack in Julia's and Mike's pl-" I tease. Luckily for Rose, trumpets sound outside.

"The king has something to say!" The king has something to say!" The royal crier shouts.

"Everyone, from every rank, must go to the palace at once!"

"Rose? We get to go to the palace!" I shout, almost louder than the crier.

"Yes! But, we need to be good. That means no shouting." Rose instructs.

"Yes. We also need to dress well. Maybe our flower girl dresses?"

"Yes!" Rose says, grabbing hers. I grab mine, and gets changed.

"The palace is so huge." I breathe, in awe. Me and Rose are in the children's cart. The palace is close now, it's towers, well, towering over us. Rose nods, staring into Jack's eyes. I snicker, then wander off to find Holly. But when I do, I'm horror struck. It's like Rose and Jack, just a hundred times worse. I back away, hoping never to see anything like that again.

I walk to the edge of the cart, pouting. I slip into a seat, next to a blonde haired boy with a badge that says 'I'm 12!', and a girl with brown hair.

"Hello redhead!" The boy says as I sit down.

"He calls everyone whatever their hair colour is, then head. For instance, I'm 'brownhead' and he's 'blondehead'." The Girl points out.

"Yep!" The boy agrees,

"I'm Muffin, and brownhead is Leaf." The boy chirps.

"I'm Lily. Muffin? Leaf? Odd names," I wonder out loud.

"Yeah. Muffin used to be Harry, and I used to be Lottie, but we changed it." Leaf informs.

"Straight line, everyone!" The royal crier yells. Us children bustle into a line. Rose had found me, Muffin and Leaf, and we became friends quite quickly. We walk through some big, wooden doors. I gasp at the sight that emerges. Spread out below us, is a big court room, set up for some sort of... announcement. The line works itself down the many steps, like a worm, and into rows of seats.

We're being sorted by our last name. Haply, Heppline, Hool, Hudwilk, Iasm, Ilam, Issial... yes! Island! Gripping Rose's hand, we wander down the rows, until we reach the seats with 'Rose Island' and 'Lily Island' engraved in them.

"I wonder, if there is really a seat for every person in the whole kingdom." I wonder to Rose, who sushes me.

It's been ages. Only now is the royal crier asking for silence, with their own loud, booming voice.

"Quiet! Quiet! The king is going to speak!" A quietness falls on the people, but a quietness with whispers.

"Hello, everyone. We shall sing the song of our kingdom." The king says, cuing for the orchestra to pipe a gentle tune. We sing the song we've known our whole lives.

When the song ends, the king speaks again.

"Lily Island, you have been selected to be a sage."

Happiness floods me, so happy, that I don't hear the kings next words. I don't realise Rose has been sentence to death until she's dragged away, but knights, calling my name.