Exchange

My sister, Jessica, traded her intelligence for my beauty. Only, she didn’t know the trade required both of our consent. On the day of the SATS, she wanted her smarts back. I said no. I got into Harvard. She got pregnant. My ridiculously biased parents lost their minds. Jessica and I are fraternal twins, but total opposites.

She was overweight and, frankly, not blessed in the looks department, but she was brilliant. Me? I was the pretty one, but dumb as a brick. Growing up, Jessica excelled at everything. At school, she was the teachers‘ pet, always top of the class. I, on the other hand, was the beautiful but hopelessly stupid kid consistently at the bottom.

No matter how hard I tried, knowledge just wouldn’t stick. Jessica could skim a textbook before a test and ace it. Teachers called her a once–in–a–generation genius. With me, they just sighed.

“They’re twins, but Ashley just doesn’t get it. All that effort, and her grades are still terrible.”