Painted in Crimson ⇨ P. Maximoff

SIX

RUN BOY RUN. THEIR
TRYING TO CATCH YOU.
- RUN BOY RUN, WOODKID.

•

When Rosalind and Pietro came down from the roof, Wanda seemed slightly hyper and she was literally jumping up and down. Rosalind looked to Pietro, her eyebrows raised in confusion, but he merely shrugged his shoulders. Clearing her throat, Rosalind spoke.

"Em Wanda, why are you so ... happy?" She said trying to think of the best word to describe how Wanda was acting.

Wanda flung herself at Rosalind, wrapping her arms around her. Rosalind was shocked by Wanda's action and awkwardly returned the hug. Turning to her brother, Wanda smacked Pietro on the arm playfully. But spoke as if she were a mother scolding her child.

"What took you so long?" She snapped. Pietro looked beyond confused, his nose scrunching up and his eyebrows furrowing, which Rosalind found oddly cute. There was no stopping Wanda at that moment because she had no intention of calming down or being quiet. "I mean, you should have kissed her earlier, especially considering it was inevitable."

Rosalind felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her. "Wanda," she said slowly, " how long were you on the roof?"

"The entire time." She replied in a tone that implied that that should have been obvious.

"The entire time." Rosalind repeated. That meant that she had heard it al. Every last word she had spoken, every secret she had divulged. Rosalind was frozen, while Wanda took no notice of either of them. She seemed to be in a world of her own.

"So, I'm thinking a June wedding. On a beach maybe, we'll work something out. Pietro you will wear a dark suit that compliments your hair. My dress could be a pale blue, off the shoulder type. And Rosalind, oh Rosie you're going to look absolutely stunning! I'm thinking of having your hair curled with the sides pinned back. And your dress -"

Rosalind and Pietro were amazed at how she had basically managed to say all this in one breath and she probably would have continued of Rosalind hadn't of cut her off. But honestly Rosalind was beginning to feel very uncomfortable and agitated and had decided that enough was enough.

"Wanda." She spoke sharply. Wanda's head snapped up and she looked at Rosalind. "Yes?" She replied innocently.

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"All this talk of weddings. In fact just please stop talking altogether." Rosalind was becoming increasingly angry and the twins knew that this was dangerous. She wasn't angry about the conversation and she wasn't angry at Wanda. She was angry at herself. She just broke the one rule that she had always lived by.

No emotional attachment.

Yes, she had bent the rule by allowing herself to become close with them but she shattered it completely by allowing them to know all her secrets.

"Rose..." Pietro began, standing in front of her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"No!" She yelled, pulling herself out of his grasp. "I'm so stupid. I've become weak, allowed myself to think that there was even a possibility if me having a normal life. And because of that I have become some mutated freak. I should have just stayed at that damn academy."