The life and lies of Matty and I - J.Black

The sister and the truth

Exam season had always been challenging to Veronica. As someone who would not claim to be academically inclined, nor gifted it had always been a time of great stress and challenge. It had been hard the exact time the year prior when it had come to studying and balancing softball practice. And now adding Matthew into the mix, things had become much harder to balance. Veronica knew, deep down, that in reality it was not technically her problem to organise childcare for the toddler so she could study. Considering that Matthew was not her son, no matter how much she attempted to kid herself otherwise, it wasn't really her responsibility. But like a lot of things seemed to do, it was a responsibility of which fell upon Veronica's shoulders. No matter how hard she tried to avoid taking the additional weight, it piled up.

And that was how Veronica found herself dealing with more unnecessary stress once again. She was already running behind, having supposed to be over at the Clearwater house ten minutes prior for the tutoring session that had been set up for her. And it was important that Veronica not miss this session, as her test was only the next morning. But as she had waited for her father to come home from work and the time was slipping she was becoming to realise she needed to find another alternative. Normally, this would not be a hassle, trying to find someone else to watch the energetic young boy for an hour or so, yet everyone she usually went to was busy for once. Charlie had tried his hardest to come home from work in time, but if his phone call to the landline was anything to go by he wouldn't be home until much later into the night. Billy Black was at something for the tribal council and couldn't offer his services, Jake wasn't fully recovered from his sickness despite the initial outlook he might have been and Veronica felt it unfair to leave Matthew in his care when the boy reportedly only wanted to sleep the days away. And the final person Veronica trusted him to was the very person who was supposed to be tutoring her and Leah was so very clear that Matthew had to stay behind this one time.

This in theory left one person who could look after Matthew. Bella was the only other option. The older girl had offered initially but it was clear to Veronica that this was only a kindest gesture one likely requested by their father. Yet she was falling short of options and if Bella was happy to keep an eye for two hours at the most, then Veronica wasn't not going to use the opportunity. She also supposed it was a good way to work out whether or not Bella could ever really be back around Matthew or if that bridge had truly been burnt down like she expected it had been months ago. So Veronica was going to leave with a little bit of faith in her sister hoping that she could entertain the boy for a short period of time until he naturally went for a nap, a horrible habit she hadn't been able to break him from doing so.

Despite the voices in her head, or rather Veronica's own conscious, nagging at her to turn around and rush back to the family house Veronica did indeed make it to the Clearwater residence. Almost 45 minutes late and to the state of Leah being sat upon the front porch waiting on her arrival, but Veronica had made it. Leah gave her a small smile and the wiggling of a finger almost as if it would have once been a wave, the older girl having become much more reserved since the breakup which had rocked a community full of gossipers a few months prior.

"Ronnie what time do you call this?" Leah teased a small nudge of the shoulders accompanying the words. Yet this nudge was enough to knock Veronica's centre of balance off. The younger girl put this down to just having been out of it slightly, and a little bit surprised. After all, Leah wasn't exactly one of those athletic super strong girls sure she enjoyed a long trek in the woods but that was about it.

"I'm here at least?"

"Yeah, yeah get inside the house we've got Shakespeare to learn."

"The day I have to never see one of those again I'll be so happy."

"Hush drama queen." Leah laughed as the pair situated themselves around the kitchen island and Veronica drew the dreaded book she had been using for the last few weeks. The cover was no longer in the pristine condition she had brought it in, it was now tatty with the occasional coffee stain and the corner appeared to have been almost chewed. There were clear ink marks of varying colours littered about but not in the way someone who loved a book and annotated it would have left them. It would be a book she would throw in the corner of her bookshelf to only be looked upon when she finally moved out.