There are many ridiculous stereotypes about twins. They have superpowers. They’re clones of each other. There’s always an evil twin amongst the set, or at the very least, they love to pull pranks just like Fred and George Weasley from “Harry Potter.”

To an extent, some of these stereotypes are true; however, they do not apply to every single set of twins. One twin may be the “evil” one because they don’t like puppies, or they enjoy drinking hot soda without ice.

Some twins, in a way, do have superpowers because they have a special bond that connects them. My boyfriend’s dad, Mr. Todd, shares a special bond with his fraternal twin sister because they can feel each other’s pain, whether the distress is physical or mental.

So, some of these stereotypes are kind of true, but not all of them are.

The stereotypes that always confused me were the beliefs that all twins are clones and pranksters. I always thought these views were absurd because not all twins enjoy pranks, and twins are definitely not clones. 

I know twins are not clones because I, myself, am a twin.

My twin sister, Sarah, and I are nothing alike. Sarah and I are fraternal twins, so we look completely different. We have different personalities, and we also have different hobbies and interests.

I also don’t understand why people believe that all twins are pranksters. As a child, my classmates always told me how lucky I was to have a twin. They said that if they had a twin, they would play jokes on their parents and teachers all the time.

I’ve always found this to be ridiculous. I mean, why would I waste my time pulling a stupid prank that wasn’t even funny? Besides, I wouldn’t be able to pull it off anyway, since my sister and I look nothing alike!

Even after switching bodies with my twin sister for a day, I still don’t see how this joke is appealing or hilarious. In fact, switching places with your twin sucks!

Yes, you read that correctly, my twin sister and I switched bodies. It was like we were in the movie “Freaky Friday,” and it was dreadful! I really don’t like remembering the day it happened, but I think it would help explain how twins aren’t clones and why switching places isn’t funny. 

Waking Up in My Twin’s Body

I remember feeling confused when I woke up on the morning of that dreadful day.

A mysterious alarm that sounded nothing like my usual alarm awoke me from my dreamless slumber. I recall rolling over onto my side, picking up my phone that felt heavier than usual and staring down at the screen in horror. It was 10:00 a.m. I was supposed to be attending a history class at this very second.

Panicked, I jumped out of bed and rushed towards my dresser to get ready for my class. However, when I leaped out of bed, I noticed that the surroundings of my dorm room were quite…different.

My desk and the old wooden dresser that stored my clothes were gone! The walls of my dorm room were no longer pale-yellow cement blocks, but instead, the wall was drywall that had been painted bright lime green. The yellowed tiles that lined the floor of my room had been replaced with wooden planks. I soon realized that I was no longer in my dorm room – I was in my sister’s bedroom.

I scratched my head in confusion. Why was I in Sarah’s room? How did I even get here? I’m supposed to be at Delta State! As thousands of questions poured into my head, I soon noticed something else was different. I could see my surroundings quite clearly, and I wasn’t even wearing my glasses.

Without a second thought, I ran to the bathroom and peered into the long mirror that lined the wall. When I saw my reflection, I leaped back in shock because I didn’t even recognize my own reflection! I stared back at the person who stood in the mirror, grabbing the strands of dirty blonde hair that fell to my shoulders. I gazed into blue eyes that resembled the sky on a clear summer day, and they gawked right back at me. This wasn’t me; this wasn’t Olivia Freeny. This was my sister, Sarah Freeny!

I stumbled back and bolted back to Sarah’s bedroom and picked up her cellphone. When I pressed the home button, I was greeted by a bright screen that showed a list of Snapchat notifications and 40 missed calls from Olivia Freeny. I quickly returned the call, and the phone only rang for a second before I heard my own voice over the line.

“Olivia?! What’s going on?! Why am I at your school?!-”

“I don’t know what’s happening!” 

I sat down on Sarah’s bed, trying to take slow deep breaths to avoid an anxiety attack while trying to process what was happening.

“So, we…we somehow switched bodies?” I say, doing my best to remain calm.

“Yeah, and I hate it! I can’t see anything because you’re blind and I’m so short! Honestly, how do you live like this?” my sister asked in my voice.

“I’m sorry, I know it sucks…but we’ll figure it out. There has to be a reason why this happened, and if we switched, I am sure we can switch back,” I say, doing my best to stay relaxed.

We sat in silence, attempting to understand what happened; however, no matter how long we contemplated this wacky scenario, neither of us could understand the strange situation we were in.

“Uh oh…” I mumbled in a very prominent southern accent.

I stood up and began pacing back and forth on the wooden floorboards.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“How are we going to do this? I was supposed to be in class five minutes ago! I can’t miss anymore, or my grade will fall from an A to a B and I can’t have that!”

“No clue,” my voice responded.

I continued pacing the floor, trying to remain calm. My heart was beating extremely fast, and it felt like it was drowning in a vast sea of anxiety. Soon, my pacing slowed as an idea formed in my head.

“Look, I need you to go to my history class. It’ll be fine, just listen to the lecture!” I say.

“Olivia, I don’t even know where I am! How am I supposed to find my way around this place?” my sister demanded loudly in my voice that was usually soft and quiet.

“If you run, you can still make it. I’ll tell you where to go, so listen up!” I reply.

I create a mental map of Delta State University’s campus in my head. Then, to the best of my ability and knowledge, I explain to my sister in detail how to reach my class. She seems to understand my directions, and soon, over the phone, I hear her run out of Lawler Harkins and towards the other side of campus. While she is running, I hear her breathe out “Oh no!”

“What? What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I’m supposed to go to work today!”

I sat there in silence. Work…oh no, there is no way I could work Sarah’s job! I wouldn’t know what to do!

“Can’t you just call in sick?”

“Nope. Look, you can do it! If you need help just ask someone,” she explained.

Silence filled the air once again and more anxiety poured into my chest cavity. How were we going to pull this off? At this point, it seemed impossible! I was going to lose my A in my history class, and Sarah could potentially lose her job if I weren’t careful.

“Ok, I think I found it. Alright, I’ll try to figure out where this class is. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,” I responded and then listened as the phone went silent.

After the phone call, I remember sitting the phone down and staring blankly at the floor. This was the beginning of the worst day of my life, and I had to try and survive it.

A Day in the Life of Being My Twin

The events that took place after the long and eventful phone call with my sister were probably worse than waking up in my twin’s body.

The idea of having to work a job that I knew nothing about stressed me out severely. I am sure that my sister’s blonde hair now has gray streaks. Along with the new gray highlights, my sister’s head is also covered in several small bumps and bruises because I was not used to being tall. Throughout the day, I banged my head on several low surfaces since, when I’m in my own body, I can usually walk under small areas without having to duck my head down.

Though I injured my sister’s head throughout the day, I must admit that being tall was quite refreshing. It is nice to reach things for once without having to rely on a step stool or someone else to get something for me.

Also, having perfect vision is a nice perk too! I was able to see the world clearly without having to admire it from finger and tear smudged glasses.

Anyways, not only was I stressed out about working my sister’s job, but the fact that I would have to drive her truck worried me. Compared to my car, Sarah’s truck is massive, and driving her vehicle was not an easy task.

Honestly, I felt like I was driving a humongous tank while I drove her vehicle down the road. Thankfully, I was able to see over the dashboard; however, I found maneuvering the massive truck in and out of traffic to be quite a challenge.

Before traveling to work, I decided to stop by the local Chick-Fil-A to eat a delicious chicken nugget meal with a diet coke. Driving through the drive-thru was also difficult since I almost sideswiped the menu board.

When I obtained my lunch, I was super excited to dive into the delicious meal of chicken nuggets, Chick-Fil-A sauce and fries. Then, I remembered a very crucial detail: My twin is allergic to peanuts and peanut oil.

I felt like such an idiot that I mentally and physically face palmed my sister’s forehead.

Sadly, I threw away the food into a nearby trashcan in the parking lot and drove away. On the way to work, I woefully sipped on my diet coke while listening to Jason Aldean and other country music stars blare on the radio.

Honestly, I would have preferred to listen to bands such as Kansas or Muse while I drove and drank my beverage. I hate country music, but I didn’t dare touch Sarah’s radio. She’d kill me if I did! Sarah had no problems changing the radio station in my car, but I was forbidden to even lay a figure on her radio. 

The drive to Sarah’s work was pretty uneventful; however, when I arrived, things changed instantly. I had no idea where I was supposed to park, and I was completely lost!

I drove endlessly through the several parking lots that littered the property, and that alone added hundreds of miles to her truck and wasted several gallons of gas. People were beginning to wonder who I was and what I was doing.

Eventually, a security guard came and asked if I was okay and he was kind enough to point and lead me in the right direction. With the help of the security guard, I was able to end the unending game of musical parking spots, park Sarah’s truck and head into the building to sit at her desk.

When I sat down at the desk, for a second, I finally felt like I had a moment to breathe. I checked my sister’s phone to see that I had a dozen texts from Olivia Freeny.

Okay, the class ended. Now what?

Hello? You there? I can’t find the dorm.

Okay, found it! Hello? Please tell me you didn’t crash my truck…

Olivia, I’m starving, pick up the phone!

Never mind, I went to a Zaxby’s.

Olivia, where are you? Answer me!

10 more messages from Olivia Freeny

I immediately responded to the hoard of text messages and apologized for not answering sooner. I informed Sarah that I had arrived at her work safely without damaging her precious truck and that I was currently sitting at her desk.

She briefly told me about the history lesson, and she also gave me advice on how to perform the tasks she needed to complete while at work.  

With Sarah’s virtual guidance and the help of my sister’s friendly co-workers, I was able to push through and fulfill my sister’s duties. Though I was successful, completing each task was quite difficult since I had no idea what I was doing. My ignorance slowed everyone and everything down, but fortunately, I was able to blame my inexperience on a cold, and I believe that I was able to single-handedly saved my sister from being fired from her job.

I worked for an exceedingly long time, and by the end of the day, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I had spent the entire day worrying about a job that I knew nothing about and driving a truck that I didn’t know how to drive. Thankfully, the journey home was quite relaxing since the worst was over. In a way, I even celebrated by nodding and singing along to some random country song on the radio.

The Next Morning

Due to exhaustion, I can’t recall what else happened during that evening. I remember arriving home late, and when I arrived home my sister and I went straight to bed.

I honestly believe that the events that occurred that day caused us to stress out so badly that we immediately went to sleep when our heads hit the pillow.

When I awoke the next morning, I was back in my dorm at Delta State University, and Sarah notified me that she had woken up in her own bed at home. To this day, we are not sure how we switched bodies, and we do not know what caused it.

We both consider the incident to be some sort of freak accident, but I suspect that it may have been some sort of punishment, or even a lesson to show that we shouldn’t argue so much.

Or perhaps it was to prove that switching places with your twin is not fun or hilarious at all, and that twins are not clones but rather different people. Honestly, we may never know what caused this horrific experience to transpire, and I believe that neither me nor Sarah want to know.

The Moral of the Story

Based on this totally true story, the stereotypes that are about twins are not necessarily true. Sure, there may be an “evil” twin or twins may have a special connection, but those stereotypes do not necessarily define twins, nor do they apply to all twins.

Twins are their own individual person, and they are completely different from each other. Twins are not carbon copies of one another, and not all twins are pranksters as some may believe.

Speaking from experience, I think it is safe to say that switching places with your twin is not funny nor is it a terrific prank. I mean, I had a difficult time fulfilling my sister’s duties while pretending to be her at her work, and driving her truck was a nightmare! It was so stressful!

Based on our totally true experience (seriously, this indeed happened) I think it is evident that twins are not clones, and they are different people.

My sister and I are different because we look different, we have different personalities since she is more confident and calm while I tend to be rather anxious, we both have dissimilar tastes in music (she prefers country music while I prefer rock music) and we prefer different types of vehicles.