If you are walking down the busy school hallways and find yourself seeing double, don’t fret. You probably have just seen a pair of twins!

We’re more likely to run into twins these days because the number of multiple births has increased dramatically in the United States, from only 69,339 twins in 1980 to as many as 133,122 in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The increase is largely due to many women waiting until they’re in their 30s to have children, more of which are using fertility treatments.

Gables is home to a few of these tag team duos. Together they conquer high school.

“I have always gone to school with him so it would be extremely weird and uncomfortable, I think, not to be attending Gables with him. It’s the norm,” freshman Sydney Scanlon said about her twin, Bryce Scanlon.

Going to school with a sibling the same age as you can be tough. Constantly being compared to one another can be understandably stressful, but attending high school with the company a life-long companion can make the pressurized environment much more bearable.

It’s usually other people who have a hard time with it.

“They give this funny ‘oh’ face where they enlarge their eyes and act as if they just saw a ghost. Then they always ask, ‘Are you guys related?’ It’s great. They have to see us 10 more times to register that they’re seeing double,” said senior twin, Linda Villa.

What’s it like to live life with a duplicate?

“It’s pretty much just constantly being with my best friend,” freshman Angelica Viscito said about her twin, Caterina Viscito.

When asked what his dislikes were about being a twin, there was only one complaint freshman Bryce Scanlon could think of off the top of his head. “I always have to watch chick flicks with her,” he said.

There are two types of twins: identical and fraternal. Identical twins, or monozygotic twins, are those that form from one fertilized egg [source]. They are always born of the same gender [source]. On the other hand, fraternal twins, or dizygotic twins, result from two fertilized eggs, and can be born of different genders [source]. Fraternal twins are twice as common as identical twins [source].

People are naturally curious about twins, but some of their questions can be really odd.

They say, ” ‘OMG, do you guys share a boyfriend?!’ That question never fails. We can write a whole book about all the ‘creative’ questions we’ve gotten,” senior Leidy Villa said about her and her twin, Linda Villa.

One of the advantages to having a twin is that you will always have somebody to finish a thought for you – or to speak your own special language with.

“Definitely! Twin language exists!” senior twin Linda Villa said. “We sometimes only have to look at each other and we know exactly what we’re trying to say. The eyes say a lot. In the morning, we usually hum what we’re trying to say and the other one will understand.”

Formed even before birth, the bond between twins is always strong, even after an argument.

“We are as close as people come,” said Caterina Viscito. “You will rarely meet a person that you can argue with, like yell at each other, and then literally like two minutes later…”

“Two SECONDS later,” her sister, Angelica Viscito, chimed in before letting her sister finish the sentence.

“You can be laughing about the most stupid things,” Caterina finished.

Doubling up in constant laughter is just one of the many perks of having a twin. It’s two-riffic!