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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Today was a Holly Day. I couldn't be more happy. Project Mirror, Mirror was starting to stress me out more than I liked to admit, and having a break from that and just having my Holly by my side was a relief. However, she couldn't come to school. Her therapist, Julia, gave her an appointment during school hours because she didn't have any other slots available and she made it clear that she needed to talk to Holly as soon as possible.
I think today was the day Holly would find out the truth about her condition.
The rest of the group was busy arguing about what girls looked for in guys. Emma was leading the discussion, obviously. "God, I wish Elody were here,"Emma sighed. "She's the one I always have these discussions with. I swear, we could write a book on the dos and don'ts in relationships."
Thea rolled her eyes. "Yes, because you've both been in so many relationships." Emma scoffed. "Well, I'm sorry I'm picky!" But something about Emma's demeanor changed completely when Thea had said that. She seemed uncomfortable having the discussion about her relationship status, but that struck me as odd considering that Emma was the most confident girl I knew. She didn't need a man to be happy.
"So you're saying that unless we follow all these rules, no girl will ever fall for us? Does 'be yourself' not work around here anymore?" Sebastian chuckled. Seb had been away at some special science camp for the past two weeks, so I never got to formally introduce myself to him. He was a pretty easygoing guy and I was sure we could all depend on him to lighten the mood in a pressing situation. I knew it wouldn't be too hard for me to break the ice between us when I got the chance.
"Exactly,"Emma said in response to his question. Max started to sulk. "I'm never going to get a girlfriend, am I?" Ava put her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry, kiddo. You'll find someone one day." Ted pouted exaggeratedly upon seeing Ava so close to Max. Ava laughed and pulled closer to Max just to see Ted all riled up. I loved seeing Ted and Ava fake-fighting. It's like they were mocking all couples who really did argue about those little things, and in turn proved that they'd never be like those other couples.
I liked that Ava was becoming close to the group. Before I'd met her, she was always around Skott and Shay. The three of them were inseparable. I always remembered Shay for being the fashionable one. She always wore the craziest of things. And I say craziest in the best way possible. One day it'd be a long floral skirt with a flower in her hair, one day baggy jeans and a crop top. All three of them were pretty hot, if you asked me, and in the most of different ways.
Skott looked a lot like Holly. She had the same long blonde hair and face structure. I could even mistake them for twins if they interacted with each other at all. So naturally, I found her beautiful. Shay, on the other hand, had light brown hair that fell just shy of her shoulders and dark green eyes. And Ava, with her dark black hair and olive skin was stunning. Everyone at school thought so. They were never considered popular, because popularity meant having the looks and the snobbish attitude, which they couldn't in the least pull off, but they were definitely well-known.
When Skott died, the school went into a period of chaos. Everyone was haunted by her absence. Although she was the quiet one out of the three of them, that didn't mean people didn't notice her. She usually shied away form socializing as a whole and stuck to the shadows, so naturally people didn't approach her quite as often as they did Ava or Shay. Maybe that's what led to her depression. Or maybe it was the disorder troubling her. But everyone knew her. She was one of the most talented girl in the school because of her paintings. No one even seemed to care that she was different. Maybe all that was just in her head.
After her death, it was Ava's turn to sink into the shadows. She stopped talking to people. The trio became just one lonely girl. I'm glad she became friends with Holly, though, because then I got to take her under my wing and she was relatively back to normal.
The bell rang, snapping me out of my thoughts, alerting us that lunch was over. "Ace, you okay? You haven't spoken a word since lunch,"I asked quietly so that the others wouldn't hear us. Ace and I had recently gotten closer and I felt comfortable talking to him about Elody and what I could do to make things right with her. I felt like I could trust him, and, no matter how much of a jerk the girls made him out to be, I liked being in his company. Other than Emma and Elody, none of the girls paid him much attention. They were still bitter about what happened with Stacy. I didn't get why. I mean, weren't they overreacting just a tad bit? After all, he hadn't done anything except be a lousy boyfriend. Surely they could forgive him eventually.
The guys, on the other hand, loved Ace. He was considered 'the cool one' because his jokes were the ones everyone laughed at. I liked how the guys reduced the dramatic tension in the group. They were mostly neutral to everything the girls said or did. I felt like I fit in with them.
"Can we not talk about it?" Ace asked. I was about to say yes and leave him be, but then I realized the situation must be pretty bad if he wasn't telling me. I knew it had something to do with Stacy because of how sad he looked at lunch the other day. Did he still have feelings for her?
"Tell me what's going on. You'll feel better once you get it out of your head."
Ace shuffled his feet nervously. The others had gone into class already and I knew we'd get into trouble if we stalled for a minute longer. Yet, I was willing to stay with him. He mattered more.
"Two days after Stacy and I broke up, I started dating Kevin."
And that's when it finally dawned on me why Ace was acting so strange around Stacy the entire two weeks they dated. He was gay.
I let out a breath of relief and Ace gave me a quizzical look. "I thought something terrible was going on. But you're gay! That's a pretty normal thing. I don't know why you're getting so worked up about it. We're your friends, of course we're not going to judge you!" I said, wanting to give him a hug, but knowing full well that that would be the epitome of awkwardness. Ace just did not do hugs. Despite how excited I was upon learning this, Ace looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"I'm just worried it'll hurt Stacy."
The words hit me hard. He cared. He cared so much and they had no idea. Ace was a good person. No wonder Elody was so close to him. "I shouldn't have dated her, but I just wanted to be sure of myself, and when she asked me out I involuntarily said yes."
I wanted to calm him down, but I didn't have the right words to say. He just kept rambling on and on.
"I care about her so much, Will, and I don't know what to do to make this situation any better."
Right when he said that, I caught a flash of movement from behind a set of lockers. Someone was listening to us. Before I could call them out on spying, however, the person came into the light. I could feel Ace stiffen beside me.
"You really care,"whispered Stacy.
A/N And behold, our first revelation!
What other secrets are bound to come leaking out? Take a guess in the comment section ;)
