❝
I am a very private person, yet I am an open book. If you do not ask, I will not tell. ❞
~The Queen of Hearts
• • •
G
oing to Holly's therapist together really strengthened mine, Ava's and Thea's bond. Or, mine and Ava's, rather. Thea still hated me for dragging her into Holly's house the other night. That sweet little goody-two-shoes. God bless her pathetic little soul.
When we first met, she seemed so rebellious and so confident of herself. Perhaps it was her rage that made me respect her that night. That, or maybe that was who she really was, under that good girl act.
After leaving Julia's office, the three of us made our way back to Riley's house to help her sort out the mess. To our surprise, the place was scrubbed clean, devoid of all the ruckus we'd caused earlier. The others looked relieved beyond measure, whereas I couldn't help but seethe. Cassandra had struck, yet again.
Cassandra was the nice girl, whereas I was her polar opposite. We were once best friends, before my life had gotten in the way. I had to deal with things no teenage girl ever should've been subjected to. I didn't expect Cassandra to understand, but the least she could've done was stuck by me through the storm. Instead, she left, and I became the storm.
I learned to grow thicker skin. I learnt to fight back those who messed with me. I learned to be my own best friend, my own family and my own lover. I didn't need to depend on anyone for anything. I didn't push anyone out, but I didn't need anyone in either. I was stable.
What bothered me was Cassandra's fakeness. She was overly nice to anyone who came in her way and she pretended to care for them until the moment that they really needed her help. When things got hard, she left in a poof of pixie dust.
Here she was, working her charm right under my nose. Why she walked into my battlefield, I couldn't comprehend. She had her cheer team, she had her scumbag of an ex, Draven Hall, whom she evidently still had heart eyes for, and she had pretty much the whole school worshipping her for her fakeness- ahem, charisma, I mean.
You know the difference between Cassandra and I? I was a devil who dressed like a devil, whereas she was a devil dressed like an angel.
"Oh, look who we have here," Brynn smirked, coming to a halt in front of me. Students stumbled past us to get to lunch before the fries got over. Our school held the number one position for worst food in the city, so the few days when they served something edible, there was a stampede.
"Brynn Mills," I smiled sarcastically, then tried pushing past her. What? I wanted food.
"Veronica Woods," she smiled back, examining her nails. Then she lifted her head up, her eyes filled with poisonous glee. "Or should I say Veronica Flores."
My smile was instantly wiped off my face.
My hair stood on end.
That's it.
"How do you know my last name?" I spat out through clenched teeth. My reaction excited Brynn even further.
"Doesn't everyone?" she shrugged innocently. It took me all of my power to refrain from reaching for her neck. I was seething with uncontrollable rage. How did she find out?
"Oh, people don't know yet, do they? So that means if I go around telling people that your father-"
"I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU," I shouted, shaking from head to toe. I didn't care that people who were walking back from lunch were staring at us. I didn't care about anything but my secret. It couldn't get leaked.
"We'll see about that," she winked, tossing her platinum blonde hair behind one shoulder.
"How did you find out?" I whispered, scared that if spoke any louder I'd shout and never, ever stop.
"I don't know," she shrugged again, and I wanted to slap the grin off her face. Or scratch her face with her own manicured nails. Or stomp on her heart with high-heeled boots. Or all of the above.
"See you at support group next week, Ronnie," she smiled, then sashayed towards the cafeteria, leaving me open-mouthed in shock.
The hallway was cleared out now, so I didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing the intense parts of our conversation.
If Brynn was there at the support group, does that mean she was pretending to be Holly? No, that can't be right. Holly's the one split who's impossible to impersonate. She's just so... Unique, you could say. Besides, this seemed to match up with the story Will and Ted had briefed me in about this morning. That could only mean that Brynn kept the memories of all the splits.
As the realisation flooded over me, my legs picked up pace. She'd outsmarted me once already and this time, I wasn't going to let her have the upper hand.
I had to come up with a plan not only to defeat her, but to keep her alive too. I had to help Project Mirror, Mirror spring to action, as well as keep my secret sealed. And to do that, I had to switch to the bad side. I was going to do anything to keep my secret safe.
However, looking back on that day, the one thing I wished I'd noticed was the bubblegum pink hair, right beside the set of lockers.
If only.
. . .
A/N I'm sorry for the short update!!! I just wanted to bring in the first Veronica chapter for you all. What do you think of her? What do you think her master plan is going to be about? Is she really going to betray Ava and Thea to keep her secret safe? Oh, and speaking of the secret, what is it? ;)
Let me know whatever you think in the comments. Thank you so much for reading my story!!!! <3
~Via