Oc junk

Veronica

School was in session again, which meant...Valerie was back from art school. Which meant, Veronica would be ignored again.

"Girls! Dinner!" Mark called, Benjamin was sick so Mark had 'made' (heated up leftovers) dinner. Valerie put down her notebook, shutting off her laptop, which had two tabs open, one for homework, and one was Pinterest.  Veronica pulled her hoodie up, looking away from her drawing tablet to see Valerie.

"Tell dad I'm sick."

"But you're not." Valerie walks over about to place her hand against Veronica's forehead when she saw it. "Who hit you?!"

"Nobody, I fell." Veronica curled more into herself. "Just go, and tell him I'm sick, understand, Valerie?"

There were few to no instances of Valerie lying to her dad. But, she lied for Veronica that night

A week went by, and Mark didn't care that Veronica was sick. Benjamin went to her with soup and medicine and hot tea. But she wouldn't take it.

Two weeks...

A month...

A year....

It was summer, that's when Mark noticed, the day after Valerie was back in Art school. Which meant Mark remembered Veronica.

"Darling, what's that?" His finger tips traced the tender bruise on his daughters cheek.

"Nothing," Veronica flinched away, but her voice was soft. She always got quiet when she was scared.

"Who's hurting you?"

Silence.

"Veronica, I can't let anybody hurt you I'm your Da-"

"You didn't notice for a whole year! You only care about her!" Veronica stormed off, tears in her eyes and the second she shut her door you could hear the quiet sobs.

"Oh, God, she just had to die and leave me with two daughters...I don't know how to take care of girls." Mark muttered stressingly, until he saw the phone, grabbing it and calling Abe.

An hour later, Abe walked in, a tub of chocolate ice cream in one hand and a bottle of rootbeer in the other. He grabbed two cups and curly straws, not saying a word to Mark as he went to Veronica and Valerie's shared room.

Veronica was curled up in her hoodie, headphones blasting a song by Girl in Red. Eyes red and puffy, tears down her cheeks. Abe smiles widely. "Hey, Vernie!" Veronica looked up, but remained silent, taking her headphones off. "You like the stupid nick name now, huh?" She shrugged. Abe rolled his eyes before taking a seat on the plush cream colored rug, pouring half of the root beer in each cup, and a scoop of ice cream. Making two rootbeer floats. Veronica silently sipped hers for a little before speaking up.

"He didn't notice for a whole year. Not until Valerie was gone." Her voice was sad and broken. Abe gave a sad smile, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You look like Celine. Valerie looks like Mark so much but you..." and that made Veronica smile, she wasn't just 'Valerie but gay' to Abe, she wasn't just 'My other daughter' to Abe.

She was Veronica.

So she stayed up, telling him about the bullies and how the group of boys is teasing her for having a girlfriend and beating her up while she protects Alex.

Then she talks about Alex. Her whole face lights up and it's like she's talking about an angel. To Veronica, Alex is an Angel.

And yeah, Abe can chew Mark out later. Right now, Veronica needs to be listened too.