Piece By Piece | ✓

11 | vanessa

     Too bad the odds were never in her favor.

     Veronica's grades had started to go downhill. She barely went to school anymore; she preferred sleeping in on the weekdays and going out with her so-called friends every night.

     Vanessa tried to reason out with her sister, tried to tell her that she was spinning out of control already. But Veronica refused to listen.

     It had been the biggest fight they had—every word that slipped out of her mouth was meant to be for her twin sister's well-being; she didn't want Veronica to waste her beautiful life away with people who only wanted to be with her because of her social status at school.

      And Vanessa hadn't expected for her twin sister to pull rank.

     Veronica yelled at her then; ordering her to mind her own business, to stop interfering with what she wanted to with her life. She told her to stop acting self-righteous and in control, to stop bossing her around because she was the younger sister. She even threatened to leave her and their parents if she—Vanessa—was going to continue treating her like a kid.

     Terrified to lose her twin sister, Vanessa had succumbed to Veronica's demands. She let her attend parties that was thrown by their classmates and hook up with any guy she wanted, despite her reluctance for her twin sister's recklessness.

     Vanessa never said a word about it, never said any kind of opposition. She never imagined that her sister was even capable of threatening her to the extent of running away and ditching her own family.

     Taking away her sister's source of happiness was too painful to bear, it made her feel extremely guilty. If Veronica wanted to live her life that way, then so be it. So she kept quiet and refused the urge to defy her twin's way of living.

     The thought of Veronica getting undeniably wasted and becoming prone to all kinds of danger was what urged her to follow her sister to every party she was invited to.

     Vanessa paid no mind to the disgusting strangers who gave her free drinks or offered to accompany her the entire night—she rejected every single one of them, totally uninterested with their lame attempt of wooing her. She was only there to watch out for her sister and nothing else.
   
     So that was who she had been to Veronica's so-called friends—her driver, her secretary, her assistant. She was always there whenever her sister needed her, and that was what mattered the most to her. Knowing that she was there, that she was keeping Veronica safe, that was all she wanted. That was all that mattered.

     Until that night.

~

     Vanessa hadn't known whose house or party it was, but they were welcomed with open arms and loud whoops when they arrived. Especially Veronica.

     The place was huge, and it already reeked of alcohol and sweat. She fought the urge to scrunch up her face and wrinkle her nose in disgust. Most people were taking shots in the kitchen, some were playing beer pong, while the others were dancing wildly on the dance floor.

     As usual, they had gone their separate ways after entering the house—Veronica went straight to the kitchen to drink with her friends, while Vanessa went to the living room to sit somewhere and listen to music. She stayed sober throughout the whole party, politely refusing drinks that were constantly offered to her.

     "You're not even drinking, Van!" Veronica admonished loudly, looking down at her with a pout and pointing an accusatory finger in front of her face. Vanessa took off her earphones and arched an eyebrow at her twin sister, slightly surprised that she even bothered to look for her.