Mirror, Mirror | ✓

•Day 4• Ava

❝Sometimes you just have to write your own damn fairytale.❞
• • •

I knew I could be a complete mood-kill to people sometimes. I was the dark storm clouds in contrast to Holly's rainbows. I was the one people had to be cautious around, in the fear of hurting me in some way or the other. Everyone wanted to avoid angering me, or sometimes just avoided me in general to steer away from trouble. Having lost Skott, and now having to lose Holly almost every day to her other personas was a weight that even I didn't think I could handle.

Watching Holly- or should I say Elody- with her other friends was always a blow to my heart. I couldn't handle seeing her talking and laughing with everyone else as if I had never even existed.

I get so jealous of everybody who is with her when I'm not with her. Maybe I didn't even have the right to feel that way. After all, Holly was my best friend, and Elody- theirs. They were different people. No matter how much I told myself otherwise, that was the truth.

I could keep hoping with all I had that one day Holly would be able to become one with the disorder, quite literally, but I also knew that there was a large chance that I could end up losing all of her too.

Julia said that it was risky to tell Holly the details about her different personas. Of course, she was aware of her DID and she knew that different things happened when she wasn't herself, but we were always careful not to slip too many details by her, in order not to risk instigating a complete breakdown of her mind, resulting in her losing all of her memory. It was better to keep her in the dark, she'd said.

That's why Will and I had never cleared up some of the most mundane confusions she had. On the occasions when her grandfather came home while she was Holly, Alora or Elody, we'd tell her he was an old friend of her father's. When her sister came home to visit from college while she was Alora, Daisy or Elody, we'd tell her she was a distant cousin.

Things worked out like that most of the time, except for the rare occasions when someone would accidentally call her by a different name or when she was expected to meet someone as Holly, but she was having an Alora day. Those were by far the worst.

One time, while Daisy and I were walking in the park, an old lady had complimented the knit sweater she was wearing. When Daisy told her she'd made it herself, the lady was pleasantly surprised. They chatted on for at least fifteen minutes, and mind you, those were probably the most boring fifteen minutes of my life. They talked about wool consistency and the length of needles, new projects to work on and even had a debate on whether or not knitting was better as opposed to crochet.
It was torture.

Naturally, after that 'wonderful' conversation, it was clear the old lady wouldn't forget this talented socially awkward grandmother in the body of a teenage girl. The next time Alora and I had gone on a walk in the same park, we met the lady again. Except this time, the encounter wasn't quite as pleasant.

The whole time in which the lady and I exchanged pleasantries, Alora looked at me in confusion, as if it to secretly ask me who she was. When the lady turned to Alora and asked her about how her crochet was going, she looked bewildered, to say the least.

Thankfully, I jumped to the rescue and told the woman that she was Daisy's twin sister. When Alora confronted me about it later I just fake laughed really hard and told her I had never seen the woman in my life and that I had no clue what she was talking about. Surprisingly, it worked. The things I lie about to save her....

"Hey, Av?" Ted called out, placing his hand on mine. That was when I remembered he was still with me. We were sitting on the front steps of the school building, whiling away our lunch time. Will was busy tutoring one of the juniors in math, so it was just the two of us. I stirred back to reality. "Yeah?"

He seemed to sense something was wrong. "You're not okay. Talk to me."
I smiled, despite myself. This was why I loved Ted's company. As selfish as it may sound, whenever I was with Will, the only thing he'd talk to me about was Holly. He'd never ask me how I was feeling or what I wanted to do. But with Ted, I mattered. He cared about me enough to notice when something was wrong, and was there to listen when I needed someone to rant to.

"It's just.. the whole Will and Holly thing.... It's... I don't know. I feel like I'm losing him more and more every day as he constantly chases after her." He gave me an understanding nod. "I thought I was the only one who thought that. I mean, I can't even talk to him anymore without him bringing up 'Mirror Mirror' somewhere in the conversation."

"Exactly! It's like he doesn't even notice I'm there anymore. I mean, what happens if this whole thing fails? Then what? Will he just give up or will he stay devastated for the rest of his life?"
Ted sighed. "I'm worried about that too. I guess the only thing we can do at this point is hope that Will can somehow trick her into falling for him."
I laughed. "What does Holly even see in him?"
He joined in my laughter. "What do we see in him? I bet we could find another lunatic of a friend to replace him."
But we both knew that wasn't true. Will was ours; one of us. We couldn't fathom coming to school and not having him around, what with his nerdy attitude and horrible advice.

"Ava?"
"Hm?"
He turned to face me. "Promise me one thing. No matter what happens with Will and Holly at the end, we'll still be together."
I stopped breathing.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
He stared at me, waiting for an answer.
I smiled, trying to simmer down my anxiety.

"I promise."

• • •
A/N YAY the first Ava and Ted moment!!
Tell me what you think.