Were I Her

Chapter 1

There she is, staring at me placidly as if I lost her a fortune or took away her most prized possession. Her hair is long, tangled and in the shade of brown, dark brown, the kind of tree bark. She has these tired, dark-circled eyes which I know for sure are the result of an almost sleepless night. Yet, the amber in her pupils is ever so vigorous that stands out from the daunting vibe she is emitting. No doubts those are her best feature.

I watch her as she runs her hands through her hair, trying to untangle it at best, but with no luck. After a while, she gives up, decides for herself that a messy head is in trend now and that she shall attend class today with whatever state her hair is in.

As we both stand watching each other, I try on a smile and the girl's face twists in a very uncomfortable way that I drop mine, for the look seems wrong on both our faces. Because she is the reflection of Penelope Norwood and I am her. But that's professionally calling. I go by Penny on daily basis.

Just as I finish my morning routine in the bathroom, which, shamelessly on my side, takes quite a lot of time, the rowdy noise that is my brother's voice, Aaron Norwood, calls for my name from the kitchen downstairs.

"Penny, for the love of god, are you coming or not?"

"I am" I shout back while putting on a floral, autumn-vibe dress I've picked out since last night. It's the first day of my junior year so I decided to dress up just a tiny bit. It takes me less than a minute to grab my bag and be present inside the kitchen in front of Aaron.

"Grab something and go already, we can't afford you a sit-down breakfast now." He says in a rush, grabs the car key from the table and heads for the front door.

"Wait up" I dash after him but still manage to hug a whole loaf of French bread with me.

When I'm done locking the front door, Aaron is already inside the car and waited for me to come in. I slide in the car in a flash and slam the door shut. Immediately, the sound of engine roars into life and we are off.

"The first day of my last year and I'm running late. Seriously! What on earth were you doing in that bathroom anyway? Plotting world war 3?" Aaron grumbles, pinching my bread and shove it to his mouth so casually you would have thought the one who are complaining and the one who are constantly chewing my bread are actually two people.

"Stop eating my breakfast" I slap his hand away as he attempts for the third pinch in a minute. "And don't you act like it's my fault. You sleep in, too. You just happen to have less hair and reputation to care about that you can be ready in literally five minutes."

That's not entirely true. Aaron has way more reputation than I do to care about. Only it comes effortless to him because he is simply that blessed.

"I mean, Dad didn't even bother to wake us up" He is dodging. Not a chance!

"He did. Then he left because he had a flight to catch. But I woke up, still. And you slept in like a pig you are"

"Don't sass" He frowns, pinching the forth piece in the process and I know he isn't offended in the slightest.

When Aaron drives our car into the parking lot, surprisingly, we still even had enough time to have a proper sit-down breakfast if there was any in front of us. His driving was madness. Should our dad finds out about it, I bet you anything he will be walking to school for the rest of his education. That is if he is ever let off of the house.

"Aaron" My brother's friends call for him from afar the second he set his foot off the car. It's a group of all the most beautiful people I have ever seen and the picture pains my eyes as it closing on us. And this happens every time I'm with my brother. Did I mention Aaron is captain of the school football team? Yes. Aaron Norwood, my brother of one year older, probably the most famous guy at Norton high school, is literally the center of the popular crowd.