Roommate

This is Libby, and boy do I have a beef. (Yes, I know you're thinking turkey because of the time of the year, but, no, I mean beef)
It all started one evening, a couple nights ago. I was minding my own business, finishing up a couple homework assignments. And then...

                                  This total stranger just walked right into my bedroom!

                                Me and that stranger just stared at each other for a minute.

"Olivia Green?" she ventured hesitantly.
"That's me."
"My name is Emma Nora Beatrix Bennet... your cousin." She extended her hand for me to shake.
I tried to ignore the ink on my hand as I awkwardly shook hers.
"So... not to be abrupt or anything, but what exactly are you doing here?"
"We came to visit for the holidays, and Daddy is thinking of moving us here."

Something clicked in my memory. A couple days before this, Mom had mentioned something about "relatives from England coming for Christmas".

"That's nice." I said after an awkward silence. "Need help with your bag?"
"Thank you."

Now, as if a total stranger walking into my bedroom weren't enough, she had to be my exact same age. So Aunt Ingrid thought it would be cute if we dressed in matching clothes for school the next day. Yeah.
I don't usually "do" cute.

And patent leather shoes are really hard to play basketball in, just saying.
Everywhere we went, nobody recognized me, because I was wearing neat clothes. And my hair was brushed. And I was walking with a pretty, polite, and perfectly proper little mistress of the world. Which I normally don't do, because it makes me feel out of place. I mostly hang out with rough-and-tumble, rowdy tomboys. Much easier to play one-on-one with.

And now? I feel very out of place.
My friends accuse me of being a "softie" because I have to show Emma around the school. And when I try to hang out with people more "her crowd" (like Molly, for one) I usually don't get any of their jokes, because their all a bit... nerdy.

Not that Emma is a nerd.
Like I said, she's pretty, polite, clever, and kind. And she has a really cool accent.

Could we really be cousins?
~Olivia