For juniors Devin and Jade Wolff, the twin experience has varied throughout the stages of their lives.

“[Being a twin] has been different as I’ve gotten older,” Jade said. “I think when I was little, I used to hate it because we were always competing for friends and stuff, and we always wanted to be very separate. As we got older, I think we’ve matured a little bit and we’ve been able to get a lot closer.”

For them, one of the best parts of being a twin is having someone the same age around who they can discuss things with.

“Every time something happens–like if I’m talking to someone or he’s talking to someone–we can talk to each other about it and get advice,” Jade said. “Also, you get to know so much more about the people in your grade because you have someone on the inside of the other half of the school that you never talk to. We kind of get to combine information when we talk; it’s really cool.”

Devin describes the twin experience as “having a built-in best friend.”

“I can tell her anything and she’s not gonna snitch, hopefully,” he said.

Actually, a lot of people in their family are twins because of the IVF process, which increases the chance of having twins.

Both hoped for more awareness of the difference between identical twins (where one fertilized egg splits into two) and fraternal twins (where two separate eggs are each fertilized simultaneously). Identical twins are usually not opposite genders, except in extremely rare cases due to genetic mutation. Therefore, the Wolffs are fraternal twins. 

Though they share a birthday, the similarities pretty much end there.

“We’re the complete opposite, which is helpful because we don’t compete about anything,” Devin said.

His sister was in total agreement.

“It’s really funny; we think of it as we divided up our genes when we were in the womb,” Jade said. “He’s super energetic and very much a social butterfly. He’s very athletic; he goes to the gym maybe seven times a day. I’m totally the opposite. I mean, I’m a theater kid, so not the most athletic, and I’m very tired a lot of the time.”

Despite being so different, the two have found fun in their few similarities and have grown to cherish having each other for support.

“I think maybe 60% of the school will come up to me and be like ‘are you Devin’s sister?’. That part of it is really funny,” Jade said. “We’ve been able to get a lot closer, because as we’re kinda going through the same things we can talk to each other about it. It’s really fun. The older we’ve gotten the closer we’ve gotten for sure.”

For freshmen Marley and Maximus Berkoh, having a twin means you never have to be alone because you will always have someone by your side.

“It’s kind of like a built-in best friend, you know, there’s always someone to talk to,” Maximus said.

The pair appreciates that they always have each other to spend time with, especially when they’re home alone together. However, the two still experience a little bit of a friendly rivalry. 

“[There’s some sibling rivalry] all the time. We fight over small things but we manage,” Maximus said. The two sometimes share things like clothes and often find themselves quarreling over who gets what.

Both feel like spending their lives with a twin has changed their perspective on things and made them more open to compromise.

“It’s kinda different growing up from everyone else ‘cause we have to share most of our stuff,” Maximus said.

Even though the Berkohs are not identical twins, people still sometimes mix them up when they cannot see their faces.

“A lot of my friends think that I’m [Maximus] sometimes from the back because our hair is the same,” Marley said. “When we were younger, we looked more alike, but not anymore.”

While they may get confused for one another every now and then, the similarities don’t extend much in other respects.

“Sometimes we’re the same, but I feel like we’re pretty different,” Marley said. “We have certain similarities, though. I feel like we’re both extroverts, but that’s about it.”

Many people think that because they grow up and spend so much time together, twins can read each others’ minds. However, Marley and Maximus revealed that isn’t entirely the truth.

“A misconception is that we have twin telepathy,” Maximus said. “I’d say that would work sometimes, like if we look at each other.”

“Sometimes we think the same thing, but not always, like we can’t read minds, obviously,” Marley said. “I feel like twin telepathy is kind of a thing, but people overexaggerate it for sure.”

Freshmen Jayden and Kaylee Shore have come to appreciate having a sibling the same age as them.

“[I think being a twin has changed the way I’ve grown up] because there’s always someone there to hang out with,” Kaylee said.

The two also have to share some things, which can lead to conflict.

“We both used to play on my PC a lot and we used to fight on who would get the PC,” Jayden said.

However, the two think being opposite genders helps ease some of the fighting, mainly because they have developed different interests. Kaylee enjoys spending her time dancing, while Jayden likes to bike, play football and snowboard. Kaylee is also more extroverted, while Jayden is more introverted.

“I think we’re very different from each other, like we have very different personalities and also different friends,” Kaylee said. “When we were younger, we had the same friends, but now it’s different.”

The Shores believe that the biggest misconception people have about twins is that they all have to look like each other.

“Some people say that we look alike and other people say that we don’t look alike, but I feel like people think that twins look the exact same,” Kaylee said.

In fact, the pair tend to have the opposite experience than what people may expect. Many are shocked that they are twins.

“Some people say I’m lying about being a twin because we don’t look alike,” Jayden said.

The Shores think being twins has been an advantage for them because they can support each other through shared experiences.

“In elementary school, we used to have the same classes every year, so we would help each other with stuff we didn’t know,” Jayden said. “It helped us learn new things.”

For freshmen Gabriella and Malia Torres, being twins is simultaneously a blessing and a curse.

“There are advantages and disadvantages,” Gabriella said. “Advantage: I’m always stuck with her. Disadvantage: I’m always stuck with her. It’s not bad, it’s like having a built-in best friend; we have everything to talk about to each other.”

The Torres twins share similar interests in books, movies and TV shows.

“Right now, we’re reading all the Sherlock Holmes stories,” Gabriella said. “Since we started reading those, we’ve been consuming every media-related thing to it, like shows. [The one with Benedict Cumberbatch] is our favorite one.”

Since they were children, the Torres have always shared everything.

“We share a room for space-saving and whatnot,” Malia said. “We like the same things, we do the same things; there’s no point having different rooms.”

Because of this experience, they are surprised when others have a hard time sharing.

“We have to share everything,” Gabriella said. “I meet these people who don’t have any siblings or don’t have a twin and they’re like, ‘I refuse to share anything with my sibling.’ But we share the same closet, so it’s so weird seeing people that don’t even know what the word [sharing] even means.”

Over this summer, while at a flag football camp, their quarterback accidentally threw the ball to Malia when they had planned to throw it to Gabriella. Besides this instance, there have been numerous times where people have accidentally confused the Torres twins for each other.

“Most of the time when we’re not facing people [we get confused for one another] because we have the same structure,” Gabriella said. “We get confused often when people aren’t looking at our faces or at a distance.”

Despite the countless times they have been mixed up and will continue to be, these twins have had a strong bond from a young age and will continue to have one for the rest of their lives.

“When we were very little, we used to cut our own hair,” Malia said. “Then our mom got really mad at us for doing that, so we started cutting each others’ hair.”