Stone-Carved Truth

"Hey! I am Natalie Lopez." At least that's what I told her.

I am Veronica Heathers, the daughter of Victoria Heathers and Liam Heathers. Heathers is my dad's surname. It comes from my ancestors who appeared to own the town of Heatherville, back in the day. Now it was run by the city's Mayor. My mom's last name was Lopez, she was Spanish, though her family and my dad's belonged to Heatherville. Since nobody knew our family from the name 'Lopez,' I was told by my parents to keep it going that way and to replace my honour to Lopez, temporarily.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms Lopez! I am Ms Smith. The school administrator and an assistant of our principal- Mr Miller. He's stringent and reinforces moderation, so be cautious dear. I will be giving you your schedule for the week and you can head to your very first! Feel free to ask me if you need any kind of help- do not hesitate," greeted Ms Smith. I replied- "Sure, will let you know if anything, thank you." She put on a convincing smile on her face and reached out for her drawer and I noticed rust-coloured paper packages with jute strings wrapped around them. Each one had a stamp as well as black-quilt-written renown. She pulled out the one which mentioned, 'Natalie Lopez.' Out of the package, she pulled out a thin, dull-green file and handed it over to me with a short and quick smile. I smiled and nodded at her.

I headed my way before the last glance at my look- I was looking impressive and my outfit was cool- like for real.

She was old, aged sixty according to my great senses of recognition but she was remarkably generous. Fortuitously, she did not ask me much about my parents and I was pleased with that. My parents were still in El Monte, Los Angeles, handling their business- by business, I intend critical business. My mom was a social activist and also a businesswoman. She owned a bakery chain which was famous and almost everyone in Heatherville seemed to use it though nobody spoke of the owners- our family. Still, they highly cherished the products. I was instructed by my parents to not let them know that we were the owners of this brand-name.

My dad, on the other hand, owned the entire company and he handled the meetings where they bartended for estate out of all the will split behind by his family. I only grasped this much like everything they did was so undercover and their office at home was forbidden- beyond limits to me.

As I wandered in my thoughts about my family, I checked my round, gold-braced and black patched watch. It was precisely a quarter to eight. Cool, I had got fifteen minutes to spare. 

I headed towards the general room for all students and it was filled with all juniors. Beige sofas were arranged well in the room. Inside was a shelf, glass-covered of all the trophies which the school seemed to earn. Above it, read a banner- Heatherville High School. Beside the shelf were folks discussing their summer. So, I presumed all the students were juniors and they knew each other because, well, this was a small town and they all attended Heatherville Preschool, after which Heatherville Middle School. Even my parents went to Heatherville at their time and it seems like everybody was somehow connected to each other and my family. It seemed distinctly familiar, like I belonged here- which I did, though it was my first and probably the last visit to Heatherville, since I had planned on settling my living in this beautiful town of unknown, untold and uncrippled tales.

Okay now back to the students- they eventually noticed me, out of their buzz of so much talk. A boy said, "Hi, I am Alec- Alec Ashton, how about you?" He had brown hair and olive-green eyes. He was average height, two more inches more than me. At first sight, he looked innocent and genuine. With him so well-built, I figured he was into sports. Well Natalie, enough analysing. "Hello, I am Natalie," I replied as I casually sat down on one of the couches right next to another green-eyed human. She had beautiful black hair tied in an untidy bun. Cute. She had a suitable sense of fashion, I personally admired it. After all, I wanted to become a fashion stylist and I was good with that stuff.

After the conversation we all had, I understood that Heatherville High was a school with many basketball players- they played state level too. There were two teams- the actual basketball team including; Jack Frost, Alec Ashton, Max Terring, Valerie Walter, Evelyn Digger, Quinn Jimmer and Hazel Mugg. These were the bright students and genuine ones. The second team as I mentioned were; Fred Seattle, Lisa Blossom, Reck Ravenden and Michelle Roove. These group of people were the cheerleading squad that cheered for the basketball team during matches and also lit up the mood during school events. I was so going for the cheerleading squad.

Well, not all of them belonged to one friend group- the one I was sitting with was- Valerie, Alec, Evelyn, Quinn and Lisa. Valerie, they called her Val- she was really pretty, gorgeous as hell. Alec is also known as Ash was cute and selfless as it seemed. Quinn was this guy who had the lamest jokes and I felt like he would make for a perfect bestie. Lisa was a rich girl. She was also the president of the student council which consisted of only her and the parents. She was basically a representative of the student body and also the captain of the cheerleading squad. She seemed like the bittersweet girl though would be ready for help- any day, anytime. Since she was rich, her first-day outfit was classy...

Furthermore, I told them about how my family was originally from Heatherville but after getting engaged, shifted to Los Angeles and that this was the first time I had come to my parents' town. The only point I kept from them was who I was and the rationale of why my parents sent me off to this place. Though I felt guilty about it since all of them seemed so sweet and accommodating- I guess sooner or later, I would have to tell them.

The reason- the stone-carved truth of my life was that since my parents did such a risky and uncertain business, my mom was in jail. Nobody knew except the FBI, my dad and a few others in El Monte. Sooner I got letters, threats and rude notes on my lockers in Autumn Oak's School about my mom. My dad wished a more reliable and distinct future for me- hence a collective resolution to send me back here with a very dear and trustworthy artisan of theirs, Sanderson. Liam, my dad assured that once my mom got bail accompanied with a secured warrant, they would come back to Heatherville and live with me.

NARRATOR: This was Veronica's future. Soon she got into the sophomore year and then into college. Her family tradition was business but she broke it. On the first day, she had told her friends about her family and her real self only to discover that she would break the tradition of doing business.