Not What She Seems

Can She Keep a Secret?

"*********, sweetie, don't eat with your left hand. Don't write with it either. Practice writing and eating with your right, will you?" the mother asked the child.
"Why?" the small child asked.
"People don't like different, they'll talk behind your back." the mother explained. The child smiled and did as she was told. She practiced writing with her right hand, but so she wouldn't forget how to write with her left, she was allowed to draw and write less important stuff with her left hand. Then, a couple of months later, the little girl found herself saying goodbye to her mother as she left France with her three older sisters to go to Italy, where her aunt and uncle lived. The youngest daughter was upset. She didn't want to leave home. She didn't want to leave them, but she had to. Little did the girl know that she was about to find out that her mother packed three special things for her: a pack of gum, a drawing book with a pen, and a London Girl Doll, one custom made with special features that aren't allowed, not unless you find a way to bypass the rules by knowing someone who helps make them. It matched completely. From the black long-sleeve shirt and white suspender skirt she was wearing to the beautiful golden honey eyes and curled, dark lashes and dark brown eyebrows and silky blonde hair with caramel skin. The little girl smiled when she found the stuff packed in her backpack, remembering what event or fact each item stood for and how she'd be just fine. The little girl also remembered something else that scared her of how she'll get in trouble if it happens, but reassured herself it'll never happen. She's not like her older sisters. She is soft in some places they're not, but she couldn't help but keep repeating the sentence in her head over and over again.
  Whatever you do, I don't care if she dances on top of all your toys or provokes you, don't amuse her. DO. NOT. SNAP.

******

  "What're you thinking about?" I ask.
  "Nothing. Just nothing." Yavara responds.
  "Now that you've said nothing it's clearly something, what is it. You've caught my interest." I state.
  "Just thinking about how much of a hassle it's gonna be to keep Verlynn from snooping around for this vacation." Yavara replies. I sigh.
  "She's been causing you quite a headache, hasn't she?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
  "Yeah, but I'm just gonna try and relax while I still can. I have a fight I should be preparing for, y'know. Meanwhile Verlynn is going through wrecking havoc throughout our whole family and uncovering secrets that were hidden for a reason." Yavara explains.
  "That couldn't be more true. Even from the way she behaved when we swapped places, it was too....weird, too nosy." I agree.
  "That was only an hour, hour and a half. It gets worse." Yavara comments.
  "Soon enough she'll stumble across Ravamara's, and everything will literally crumble in an instant." Yavara thinks aloud.
  "Why can't you tell her a secret?" I ask. Yavara sits up, leaning on one elbow so I can see her from across my bed.
  "Ainslee, honestly, does it look like she can keep a secret? Would you trust her with your deepest, darkest secret?" Yavara asks me in return.
  "Not at all." I respond.
  "Well, she can actually keep a secret, considering she hasn't told anyone I like Relvin." Yavara comments. I spike up from my sitting position. She likes who?! That fat man! I think I'm about to pass out. Wait.....
  "It's a fake secret made to test her. If she manages to finish off the summer without telling anyone, then maybe we can trust her, if she doesn't, then we won't tell her anything." Yavara explains.
  "This isn't good enough. Push it further. Push her harder. It's not real enough." I argue.
  "Mmm, we already did. At least I think so. Told Relvin to say that he likes me. Now she's trapped between two people who supposedly like each other but are both too afraid to say so." Yavara says.
  "Wow, you really have this planned. There's just one thing I'm curious about. What'd happen if she snapped and went ballistic? Like standing in front of the school and announcing it?" I question. What starts as a little snicker turns into giggles, then laughter, then mad laughter. Yavara sits up, leaning on one elbow again. This time she looked directly at me.
  "You must've forgotten......I know this game. I've been playing this game longer than she has. Trust me, Ainslee, I took that into contemplation before I chose to do this. I know how to act. I know how to play my cards right. I'm not one for being mean, but once that secret slips, so does some of hers. If not that, then something else'll stop her." Yavara answers, stirring her drink with her straw and taking a sip.
  "How're you so sure?" I ponder.
  "The way she does stuff, I can tell that during the process she may slip some of her secrets out too, also, I just have a gut feeling. Really hope my gut feeling is wrong; I have a feeling it'll hurt more on her than it will to me." Yavara says.
Me too. I thought. Me too. I know the chances of that happening aren't really good, but I still hope so. Well, though, whenever Yavara has a gut feeling, 99% of the time, it's right. I hope that little 1% turns out to be a really big 1% or else Verlynn could possibly be, if she snaps, knee deep in trouble.