Buffalo Grove High's Class of 2008 is seeing triple, over and over again

Lauren Johnson wants to set the record straight.

Yes, she's a triplet.

No, she can't read her sisters' minds.

"God, people always ask that," said Lauren, rolling her eyes. "We can't. I never know what my sisters are thinking."

"That's a good thing," her sister Nicole added.

Rachel -- the quiet one --laughed.

The Johnson sisters are one of three sets of triplets graduating from Buffalo Grove High School today. The Johnsons, plus Kanika, Kunoor and Kunal Ojha and Katie, Jessie and Becky Schmidly will all walk down the aisle in matching gowns.

That's right, matching outfits -- something no set of triplets is completely comfortable with.

The Schmidlys, Ojhas and Johnsons are all fraternal twins, meaning they aren't identical. All three sets were born minutes if not seconds apart from their siblings.

After going to the same school their entire lives, the three triplet sets will be split up for the first time next year.

And they're all just fine with that.

Kunal, Kanika and Kunoor Ojha, of Wheeling

Kanika and Kunoor Ojha both wear black-rimmed glasses, diamond nose studs, tank tops and blue jeans to high school. Both keep their wavy hair shoulder-length -- although Kunoor wears a headband while Kanika does not.

"We're different and we're the same," Kunoor said. "We both like indie music, but different kinds."

Kunal Ojha is very different from his sisters. Sure, they all live in the same home, but they're all on different schedules.

"I kind of do my own thing," said Kunal, the lone male in the group of three sets of triplets. "I play tennis and am more into athletics and I have my own wheels. My sisters are into music."

Kunal is headed to Indiana University while his sisters will both attend Northeastern University in Boston. Both girls plan to study pre-medicine.

Kanika and Kunoor never planned on going to the same college, it just happened. They decided not to room together.

"It's not like we won't see each other," Kanika said. "We'll still hang out."

Lauren, Nicole and Rachel Johnson of Arlington Heights

Lauren wears her hair long and straight. Rachel's is short and brown and Nicole's is short and blond. They even part their hair differently.

The Johnson triplets hang out socially and have many of the same friends.

The funny thing about being not-even-close-to-identical triplets is that teachers screw up their names all the time, Lauren said.

"They'll look right at me and call me Nicole," Lauren said. "It's no big deal. I just correct them."

Lauren and Nicole Johnson are going to Harper College in Palatine. Rachel will attend Dominican University in River Forest.

Which, according to the girls, is typical.

"Rachel likes to separate herself," Lauren said.

Katie, Jessie and Becky Schmidly of Buffalo Grove

The Schmidly sisters are all going different places -- Katie to Harper College; Jessie to Bradley University in Peoria and Becky to Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis.

Like the Johnson sisters, the Schmidly sisters hang out in the same social circle. Katie got interested in water polo her freshman year and eventually her sisters followed.

"We pretty much see each other all the time," Jessie said.

On the last official day of school before graduation on Thursday, the three flipped through the final issue of the school's newspaper, ready for their professional teenager lives to end and new college ones to begin.

"I mean, yes, it will be sad but we knew this was coming," said Becky, the spokesman for the three. "We're ready for something different."