What if the seven dwarfs never really existed and were just branches of Snow White's personality? Happy for the good days, Grumpy for the bad, Sneezy when under the weather and Bashful around that special someone. What if every time you looked into...
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❝My first job is big sister, and I take that very, very seriously.❞ • • •
"Veronica, eat," Mother said sternly, snapping me out of my reverie.
"I am," I grumbled, moving my mashed potatoes half-heartedly around my plate.
"Look, even Noah's eaten more than you have. Quick, quick," she fussed, as if we were running late to our train or something.
"I'll wind up the kitchen. You go to bed," I offered, knowing it was late. Noah and I hardly stayed up past ten-thirty on a school night, and we were almost passing our standard time. The two of us had been too caught up in a game of Town of Salem to care about dinner, but clearly Mother thought differently.
"Fine," Mother said reluctantly, then retreated to her bedroom. She bolted her doors the moment she declared it was time for bed. She never opened them again till it was morning. That was routine. No exceptions. Ever.
Mother's disconnection strengthened mine and Noah's bond over the past three years. We were there for each other. When Mother's ex husband- whom I have not referred to as my father since the day he was hauled away- left us, Noah and I stopped behaving like any other pair of siblings. We didn't fight anymore and we had each other's backs when Mother was upset over something (pretty much always).
Being three years younger than me, it was hard for me to share much of an emotional bond with him. Or perhaps I was just using the age gap as an excuse for my inability to express emotions. Either way, we stuck to playing video games and soccer most of the time rather than talking about important things. We both knew we were there for each other. Saying it aloud would just make it awkward and sappy.
"Who are you texting?" Noah asked curiously, sidling up next to me. I instantly turned off my phone before he could see the contact name.
Noah couldn't know about my boyfriend. I knew he was past the tattle-tale stage, but something about it just gave me jitters. What if he accidentally blurted it out during dinner? What if he used it against me sometime? I couldn't take a risk like that. I knew plenty of siblings who were close enough to share personal things like that. But then again, they didn't have the fear of parental disownment.
If Mother found out about Matt, she'd hate me. First, she'd make me break up with him. Then, she'd take away my phone (after reading all my chats and realising I wasn't as happy and drama-free as I claimed to be) and finally, she'd lecture me till the day I left the house about how she'd trusted me and I'd broken it. I think the final step would be the one to break me. Guilt wasn't easy for me to deal with.
Mother wasn't like the rest of my friend's parents. She was overprotective, yet disconnected. She was distant, yet she caged me. She claimed to know what was best for me even when she hadn't made a single attempt to understand me. I knew she'd been through a lot, but most of the time she forgot that Noah and I had been too. In fact, she just added salt to a wound that would never heal.
"Just Willow," I lied. Willow was the closest thing I had to a best friend ever since Cassandra and I had fallen apart. I'd never seen so much of passion for soccer in an individual apart from myself, and that was what drew Willow and I closer together. We'd hang out after soccer practice if I wasn't with Matt.
Being with Matt was a challenge, but a challenge I'd never regretted accepting.
I always had the fear of being caught when I was around him, and that was a truly horrible feeling. But he found a way to make me feel safe somehow. In his arms, everything felt alright. Even as everything crashed and burned around us, we stayed standing.
"How come I've never met Willow?" Noah asked, resting his elbows on the table.
"How come I've never met your friends?" I asked back.
He shrugged, fixing his gaze on my untouched plate. Although he didn't say a word, I knew his answer. Mother.
She'd find a way to disapprove of everyone we hung out with, saying they were a bad influence or that we were wasting too much time on our social lives. The woman really went insane after the incident. I couldn't blame her, but sometimes I really, really wanted to.
"Okay, time for bed," I said suddenly, hating the awkward silence surrounding us.
Noah groaned. "Can't we stay up for a little while longer?"
"And do what?" I smiled tiredly. Noah was always so full of sunshine and rainbows. Him alone made up for all the lack of positivity in Mother and I. For some reason, Noah and his goofball antics were all it took to ease a smile out of me. Him and Matt, of course. I hoped that one day I would be able to introduce them to each other.
"It's a school night," I sighed, ruffling his hair.
"So?" He asked, as if he were five, not fifteen. "So you have to sleep or you won't wake up in time for the bus tomorrow morning."
This made him burst out laughing. "When am I ever in time for the bus?" He asked.
"Fair enough," I chuckled. "Now scram."
He got up from the dining table and leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek, which was routine for us. He no longer had to stand on tiptoes to achieve this feat, to my dismay. I enjoyed being taller than my little brother. It made me feel more powerful.
Mother always said, "You never know when you're saying goodnight for the last time." Frightening thing to say to a three-year-old? Oh yes. But we got used to it eventually. That's why we made it a habit to kiss each other goodnight every single night before we slept. Especially with one family member already gone, we had to make the most of what we still had.
When my head hit the pillow, all I could think about was Matt and how our secret relationship would always be the one thing separating me from my brother. Like I said before, guilt was my biggest weakeness, and that's what I felt every day I went without telling Noah the truth.
Somehow, I'd have to tell him everything, before the flames surrounding us brought us down too.
• • • A/N Sorry for the short chapter! Just wanted to give you a little background on Veronica and her family.
I'm really sorry to anyone who's getting confused because of the number of POVs I'm incorporating in this story. I just feel that this book doesn't have side characters. Everyone's a main character with their own personal life apart from Project Mirror, Mirror.
I especially wanted to bring about diversity through the different families, passions and love lives. I hope you understand why I'm doing this :)❤
Tell me what you think! xx
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