Fractured Hearts

prologue.

"You're never going places and you know it."

Willow Moreno closed her eyes, inwardly chanting to strengthen her walls. To keep away her mother's voices that somehow always penetrate her defenses. Balling her hands into fists, Willow struggled a little bit to keep calm. Finally, she decided to tuck her shoulder length hair behind her earlobe, a quirk she often did to calm herself.

Not even sitting in front of Chadwick Preparatory School's head of admissions pressured her into calming her nerves. Maybe it was a mistake, to finally cash the acceptance letter to attend the esteemed academic institution. Willow knew that it was long overdue the deadline. However, if there's anything Willow learned from spending her formative years being the reliable one in the family, it was to keep things at bay and pretend everything is alright even when it is falling apart instead.

Fake it until you make it, they say.

"Ms. Moreno, I assume that you are well aware that you're several months late accepting Chadwick's academic scholarship?"

Willow gulped as she stared squarely into the woman's eyes, a technique Willow learned from her father to hide the storms raging within her soul. Admittedly, Willow lowered her caution when the security guard simply let her walk pass the gates while only simply stating that she was a potential scholarship student. "Yes, I am well aware of that."

"Eyes never lie, Willow," her father had once said, gently caressing eight-year-old Willow's cheekbone. "Averting your gaze only serves as a way for others to dissect your mask. Gaze them squarely in the eye, so they think you've got nothing to hide even though there are skeletons in your closet."

As Willow continued to hold her gaze, she finally gathered enough courage to answer the admissions lady's rhetorical question. "Of course, but there are...circumstances back at home which hinders me from attending Chadwick. Priorities, you see, family before honor. I'm sure my choice reflects Chadwick's very own motto."

My sister is dead, and my mother is trapped in an endless cycle of grief. Maybe I should have sold my sob story in a more sordid detail. Another way to stroke their ego by picking up the talented potential charity case would not hurt them. Despite the voices swimming inside her head, Willow managed to maintain the poker face, an ability Anya never truly mastered. Anya, her sister from another mother and she meant it literally.

"Ms. Moreno, you do realize that Chadwick is an extremely competitive school and there is a long line of prospective future students. Bold of you to assume you can claim your position right here. Why don't you plead your case about why our school should give you a second chance?"

Willow almost let out her smile. Almost being the key word. If she smiled now, it would only be a sign that she was arrogant enough to think an esteemed institution like Chadwick reserved a place for her. She had predicted that Chadwick would not make it easy for her to accept their scholarship offer after months of radio silence from her end. She almost smiled not because of misplaced confidence, but because that her predictions turned out to be right.

From the way admissions lady's smile started to twitch a bit, revealing how desperate she was for Willow to attend Chadwick, Willow knew victory was in her grasp. Tension thickened and the admissions lady must feel that her own domain turned against her, suffocating her from the inside. Willow, the supposed prey she tried to lure, did not even flinch or show any morsel of nervousness. She was more than ready to make her case, despite the burgeoning bitterness in her heart from having to place herself as a charity case.

"If Chadwick intended to refuse my admittance, I wouldn't be sitting here, aren't I?" Willow said calmly, not letting triumph spill into her voice. She always bottled her feelings, making sure the lids were squeezed tight. "Madam..."