Katie and Alice were twins. They were so alike that few people could tell the siblings apart. They were almost like clones. They even used the same colloquial language as each other. They were best friends.

But the twins’ attributes were not all identical. Alice liked humanities, and Katie was a good linguist. One summer, Katie decided to be a participant at a summer camp in France. Alice wasn’t interested in the French language, so she didn’t go. But she felt angry that Katie wanted to spend the summer away from her.

Two months later, Katie returned. Alice dashed to the airport to greet her sister. But when Alice saw Katie, she was astounded. Katie was now bilingual, and she looked completely different! She was wearing nice clothes, cosmetics and looked skinnier. Alice felt very messy next to her. She was just wearing a fluorescent t-shirt, and her hair had knots in it.

When Alice asked Katie about France, Katie was vague and didn’t say much. It made Alice furious and filled her with disgust because in the past they’d always told each other everything. Now there was a huge gulf between them. Over the weeks, the sisters spoke even less.

Two months later, it was the twins’ birthday. All their lives, they’d had a ritual. Before their birthday, they’d talk all night long. That night, Alice came into Katie’s bedroom.

“I’m sorry I haven’t spoken much lately,” Katie said.

“I understand. You have new friends now,” said Alice, angrily.

Katie said, “My French friends don’t write much nowadays. For a while, I thought they were more exciting than my friends at home. But I was wrong. You’re my sister, and you’ll always be my best friend.”

Alice said, “I’m sorry, too. I wanted our relationship to stay the same forever. But it’s totally plausible for twins to have different interests. We can still be best friends without being together all the time.”