A Pair of Jeans
By Grace C.
Engaged couple holding hands by aldomurillo by Getty Images Signature Created in Canva
[Introduction: NorthStar has given me a variety of ways to grow my creative writing skills. Working as a journalist for the Navigator has given me many opportunities to write fiction and nonfiction alike. I wrote this story because of my love for storytelling and humor, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share it with you.]
The stars glittered above like cold, white fireflies pressed into a black blanket. Jean Jones opened the car door on a world of softly falling snow and biting cold. Tugging his jacket closer around himself, he walked around the front of the car and opened the passenger door. His best friend, who also happened to be named Jean Jones (but asked everyone to call her JJ) hopped out. The friends were as different as two people could be. He had short, straight hair, and she had long, curly hair; he was tall, and she barely reached his shoulder; he was extroverted, and she was introverted. The only things they had in common were their names, their liking for old T-shirts and cats, and their home in one of most desirable towns in America: Greensheep, North Carolina. Greensheep was a sleepy cluster of townhouses with a downtown of a few dozen high-end shops and restaurants. Both Jeans had been born in the town.
“Br-r-r-r!” JJ exclaimed, stamping her feet and rubbing her hands together. “Let’s get inside before our fingers freeze off.”
“You don’t need to say that twice,” the other Jean replied. They left the car and started up their friends’ driveway. They knocked on the door, and were greeted by a friendly redhead with a face full of freckles.
“Hey!” she cried. “It’s been a million years. Good to see you both!”
“You too, Sara,” they said in unison, giving her a quick hug. “Thanks for having us.”
“My pleasure.” Sara beamed. She beckoned them deeper into the warm, cozy house. “Come and sit down.”
The two Jeans followed her down the hallway and into a large living room with a roaring fire. A couch and several recliners were set in a half-circle around the fireplace. A college-age man with round wire glasses and curly blond hair sat chatting with a girl who looked quite similar to Sara.
“Jeans, I’d like you to meet my sister, Maggie,” Sara said. Maggie grinned and ducked her head. “She lives a few hours away and she’s staying with me over Christmas. Of course, you already know Leif.”
“No, I forgot him.” Jean teased. “Nice to meet you, Maggie.”
“You, too,” Maggie replied. She patted the couch cushion next to her. Both Jeans sat next to her. Leif, sitting in one of the recliners, held a purring sphynx cat in his lap. The animal, who was wearing a knitted sweater, looked smug. Sara returned with popcorn and chips. Soon, the young friends were munching away and chatting merrily about their lives.
“I’m curious,” Maggie said suddenly. She looked quizzically at the man and woman sitting beside her. “Are you BOTH called Jean? Or was Sara just joking when she called you ‘Jeans’?”
Jean and JJ exchanged a look.
“I’ll do you one better,” snickered JJ. “We’re not both called Jean: we’re both called Jean Jones. Worse, we’re both twenty-one–and we’ve gone to the same schools since kindergarten. That’s how I earned my nickname.”
“You’re kidding!” Maggie giggled. “That kind of thing only happens in movies.”
“Nope,” Jean assured. “It’s real, and it gets even better.”
“What do you mean?” Maggie asked.
JJ toyed with her soda bottle. “It’s a long story,” she warned. “Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“Oh, come on!” Leif smirked. “We know you’re both dying to tell her. Let Maggie hear.”
Maggie’s eyes gleamed with interest. She leaned forward in her seat. “Now I really want to know.”
“All right,” Jean agreed, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “It all began like this….”
“JJ and I were born here within a few months of each other. We didn’t meet until third grade, when we ended up in the same science class. Our teacher was always getting our papers and grades confused because of our shared name. Although it wasn’t either of our faults, this is where we started to dislike each other.”
JJ smiled, crossing her legs and leaning backwards. She watched Jean with fond mischief in her eyes. “I think the inciting incident was when you got full credit for my essay and I got half points for your late-night disaster.”
Jean laughed. “I can still hear your protests and the teacher’s apologies when she realized what she’d done.”
“Those were fun times.” Leif grinned. “I didn’t know you yet, but the story was passed around at recess.”
“Living in a small town sounds so fun,” sighed Maggie. “Go on.”
“Well,” Jean said, relishing the moment, “We didn’t have our major falling-out until high school. That year, I made friends with JJ’s boyfriend. When he broke up with her, he came to me and trash talked her, making himself out to be innocent. JJ and I weren’t on good terms, and that was the last straw for me. I decided to confront her about what she’d done. Of course, her ex was a liar. Needless to say, she and I got into a magnificent fight that almost made local news.”
“He’s not exaggerating,” Sara assured Maggie, who looked skeptical. “After that, they were mortal enemies.”
“How did you end up becoming friends?” Maggie asked.
“We hated each other until Jean’s mother, Aster Jones, passed away,” JJ answered, “which happened two years ago.”
“Aster Jones?” Maggie wondered. “Not Aster Jones from Nineteenth Wing?”
“That was Mom.” Jean smiled sadly. “She made her fortune on that show. When she passed away, I was supposed to get that fortune…until JJ got in the way.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” JJ protested. “I never asked to get an SSN that was one digit away from yours.”
“That doesn’t seem like it should be allowed!” Maggie exclaimed.
“I know,” Jean sighed. “When I went to collect my inheritance, they told me it was assigned to someone else. The inheritance was in fact pledged to a twenty-one-year-old Jean Jones…just not the right Jean Jones. To this day, no one knows whose fault the slip-up was.”
A log popped in the fireplace. The sphynx cat hopped down from Leif’s lap and stretched lazily. It ambled over to Sara and rubbed its cheek against her hand. Maggie leaned forward, totally engrossed in the story.
“Did you have to hire a lawyer to claim your inheritance?” she asked.
JJ bit her lip, looking like she was holding back laughter. Jean looked ashamed.
“Well,” he began, “I didn’t want to get entangled in a lawsuit. Legal cases are so expensive….”
“So what did you do?” Maggie asked.
JJ exploded into laughter. “He tried to win me to get his money back!”
“Jean! You didn’t try to marry her, did you?” cried Maggie.
Jean looked away and Sara shook her head sagely.
Leif roared with mirth. “Every time you tell this story you look more humiliated!”
“It’s embarrassing,” Jean defended. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Me either, buddy.” JJ patted his shoulder. “But the ice water I dumped over your head when you tried to ask me out seemed to wake you up.”
“You left me a changed man,” Jean admitted.
Maggie’s forehead furrowed. “But you ended up liking each other anyway.”
“Not instantly,” JJ said. “Jean had to start a lawsuit once he realized he couldn’t woo me. Even if I hated his guts, I didn’t want his inheritance. Of course, it was pretty easy to prove that Aster hadn’t meant the money for me. In the end, we realized we actually enjoyed being around each other.”
“Don’t exaggerate,” Jean chided. “It took much longer than the court case.”
“Yes, but it was still crazy,” JJ said thoughtfully. “Once we were able to get the story straight about my ex-boyfriend, things went pretty smoothly. Soon we were hanging out at the coffee shop just because we could. Then we were doing homework together on the weekends. Now we’re out of college, we’ve both become assistant screenwriters, and we bounce our ideas off each other.”
“Your story sounds like a Hallmark movie,” Maggie breathed. She nudged JJ playfully. “You should get married.”
Jean lifted JJ’s hand and brushed it with his lips. The firelight glanced off a diamond ring on her finger. “Oh, you think so?”
Columns: 🖋️Creative Writing
Grace C. lives in the United States with her parents and many pets. She is a tenth grader enjoying her second year at NSA. Grace has a passion for creative writing and is currently working on a fantasy novel. Some of her other hobbies include exploring God's creation, raising bugs, hoarding books, and baking.