It’s All in the Family

VARIOUS

            Noticed an unusual number of siblings scurrying around the halls lately? Senior girls give us the stuff only older sisters would know: bad habits, funny personality traits, and who’s first out of the house in the morning. North Toronto, meet Carmen Siegel, Olivia Cummings, Mack Haines, and Andriana Reppas-Rindlisbacher! 

            Attention younger siblings: don’t get mad, get writing! Send us your thoughts on your older siblings. Payback time!

The Smaller Siegel Sister – Carmen Seigel

            Okay I lied; she’s not actually smaller than me. In truth, she’s at least an inch taller – a fact she makes me aware of every time we share clothes, talk about our appearances, or just generally stand next to each other.  It’s especially great when store clerks or a passerby on the street exclaims, “Oh! Twins!” but, alas, I’m neither fourteen nor do I think every grade twelve boy is hot.  I don’t hang out in playgrounds on Saturday night or see movies at the mall on Sunday afternoons. I don’t furiously type gossip to my friends on msn all night or stress over how to do my hair on picture day (I’m saving that for Grad Photos). But, Carmen Siegel is still my sister, so, naturally, we share some things in common, such as our love of running around our neighborhood during thunderstorms and watching Zoey 101 on weekends at 9 am. She forces me to make her Kraft Dinner when our parents aren’t home and I drag her to the movie store so that I’m not the only one in pajamas.

            I introduced her to all my older friends so that even if she was a complete loser, she’d still be cool enough to know Grade 12s. This plan seems to have backfired, judging by the sudden interest amongst the boys to go to semi, a school function notorious for discovering older boys and younger girls “getting jiggy with it” in the middle of the dance floor. MY SISTER IS OFF LIMITS! I will alert George if I find any of my friends dancing with her, and you don’t want to be on the wrong end of that walkie-talkie, boys. All in all, it’s pretty cool seeing her in the halls, and the admiring glances from her Grade 9 friends are embarrassingly large confidence boosters.  Although Mr. Nicolet doesn’t hesitate in telling me that “she talks as much as you do,” it’s nice knowing that my  legacy will live on in the school when I’m gone. And just for the record, Mr. Nicolet, she talks waaay more than I do, and she’s a better liar, which is why I’ll tell you now - Edmund is NOT our step-brother!

ANGELICA SEIGEL

Mini-Madeleine – Olivia Cummings

            Since September, Olivia and I have had a countless stream of people coming up to us saying, “you two look exactly alike!” My parents shake their heads, insisting there is no resemblance whatsoever, but I suspect their claims are based on how different our personalities are. I’ll start with childhood. Some kids suck their thumbs, Olivia sucked her fingers. It was always the same two fingers, shoved backwards into her mouth, accompanied by a blanket that looked like it had been through a paper shredder. As kids, I ran around naked, and was surprisingly obnoxious (the things you learn from home videos…) while Olivia was usually oblivious, but always looking like a million bucks – she had beautiful big blonde ringlets. Our interests have always differed. I was barked at for reading too much - and in math class no less. She was pushed to read, but didn’t enjoy it. We even went to different middle schools.

            Having Olivia around at home is great; she donates her Coffee Crisps to me on Halloween, she replaces the toilet paper when it runs out, and when she sings a Wicked! song in the shower at the top of her lungs, it sounds like the Broadway recording! But Olivia has always been modest. She’ll tell you she’s not a runner, but she has a scrapbook of ribbons that prove otherwise. She has a Gilmore Girls quotation for any situation (I mean this, just ask her) and is also an original Beverly Hills 90210 expert. She’d probably say we’re closer than Brandon and Brenda. Thank goodness we have different sounding names.

MADELEINE CUMMINGS

More for the Haines Name? – Mack Haines

            It’s 7:00 am, and another typical day in the Haines household begins. I grudgingly head down stairs to make myself a pot of coffee, and as I’m eating my breakfast I wonder how late my brother plans to sleep in. Mackenzie wanders into the kitchen at 8’oclock, giving himself a solid half hour to get ready (and by the look of his bed-head I wonder if he spends more than 5 minutes). At 8:15 Mack takes moments to throw on any clothes he can find (if you’re reading this, your bright orange sweater does not match your striped red and blue polo!), while I take an hour (at least).

            When it’s time to leave the house, I hear “Allie! Stop putting on make-up! It’s not like it helps…” Finally we leave the house, and walk up to Mount Pleasant together. Once we hit the corner though, I’m ditched and don’t see my brother again until after school. Many of my friends didn’t believe I had a brother at NT – partly because the most I get from him is a wave in the halls!

ALLIE HAINES

Another Reppas girl – Andriana Reppas-Rindlisbacher

            All the Reppas girls have gone to NT and have been somewhat successful in one way or another. Entering NT, my little sister Andriana was very nervous because she had some big shoes to fill. She would constantly ask me about my first days at NT and how I managed to make such good friends, drink from the water fountains at school (I still haven’t told her which are the ones with the clear water), and about what she should wear to school for the rest of the week. It got EXTREMELY annoying, but I remembered that I too was in her exact position four years ago. I told her how to succeed at NT and gave her rules on what she should and shouldn’t do to go far at NT. Of course, she didn’t listen to a thing I said, as she never really has (most younger siblings are like that I guess). Instead, she decided to do her own thing and be her own person which, in the end, I am very proud of her for.

            What is doing “her own thing” you ask? I’ll tell you... she’s one of those people who sings made up songs everywhere she goes, they sound like they’ve come straight out of the corniest soap operas only watched by old English ladies. She paints her nails a different colour everyday (even if it’s a disgusting shade of turquoise)  in order to stop her nasty “biting” habit and is thrilled when she sees a bit of white nail growing. She has a “party” and lends out MY clothes to all of her friends while I’m away at Leadership Weekend and decides to not tell me until I find out from facebook photos and then she’s screwed. Yes, these things get quite annoying and tend to make me wish she was still at the little Greek school she was at for twelve years. What makes things even worse is having all of my guy friends say, “She looks sooooo much older then you”. And the cherry on top of my day, the most nauseating comment by far that I have to hear every day from Matt ...”Tell your sister good things about me. I want to go on a date with her. Do you think she’ll like me?” I always knew it would be hard to keep the boys away...However, despite ALL of these annoying and embarrassing quirks that come with having a younger sister at the same school as me, she’s my sister, my best friend and always will be. I love you Andriana!!!

P.S. Rule: Don’t date Matt!

KATERINA REPPAS-RINDLISBACHER