Hey, I'm also rewriting this story. I know ― crazy, since I'm rewriting chapters until they come out of my ears! XD So . . . yeah.
Enjoy, ppl!
Verity walked home from school in a foul temper.
"Why does school even exist when it's so tortuous?" she asked herself as she kicked rocks off the sidewalk angrily.
"I live in Toronto! Shouldn't I be living the free life without having to deal with this so-called "education" I need to have stuffed into me? It's stupid! STUPID! Thank goodness school will be over soon!" Verity exclaimed as she threw rocks into a bird's nest. She shuddered as she recalled the less-than-excellent day she had.
The girl-plant was idly drawing in an art notebook when a Chomper turned around and saw her.
"Hey, V! Can I see your art?" he asked.
"No." Verity answered brusquely.
But the Chomper just grabbed her notebook.
"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK! I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE THOSE DRAWINGS!" Verity screamed. Her teacher just glared at her.
"Be quiet! You don't have to yell!" he exclaimed from behind a laptop.
Verity just seized her notebook, sulking and red in the face, and walked back to her desk. The few minutes before recess time were even worse. While Verity was looking for a friend, she bumped into a Peashooter, Ethel.
"Oh. Hi Ethel. What's been going on?" Verity asked.
Ethel just shrugged, then eyed Verity's notebook with interest.
"Hey, what's in there?" he asked.
Verity froze. "Ummm . . . nothing significant . . ." she mumbled.
But Ethel just grabbed the notebook and was making off towards the huge double doors.
"YO! I never said to touch it! Come back!" Verity yelled while she ran as fast as her two roots could take her.
Ethel, meanwhile, had stopped, and opened the notebook.
"Oooh, look at this! Can't wait to show the whole class this thing!" he exclaimed as he flipped through the pages.
Verity snatched the notebook out of Ethel's leaves and glared at him. But before she could start her yelling, a teacher happened to see the whole scene. And as if to make things worse, that teacher happened to be as strict as a general (and it just so happened that he sounded like one as well).
"Both of you! This is a school, not a place in which you can paint the town red!" the teacher barked.
Verity and Ethel slowly nodded, and walked out the massive doors, red in the face.
"Never do that again, Ethel!" Verity hissed.
"Verity! Verity!"
The depressed girl-plant was stirred out of her thoughts by her mother's voice. When she looked up from the ground, she saw that she was at her front door, just a few feet from her mother.
"Ugh . . . I'd be better off living in Regent Park than in here what with school . . ." Verity hooted as she climbed up the porch steps and stomped inside.
"Anything go wrong at school, Aurora Borealis?" her mother asked.
Verity felt like banging her cap against the wall out of frustration.
"Mimar! I told you! How many times must I remind you? I do not want to be called the northern lights! I bet the Hope diamond that even if I told you not to call me that until I turned blue, you still wouldn't get the DAMNED PICTURE!" she growled.
Verity's mother just sighed.
"I've noticed that you've been so angry ever since the death of ―"
"DON'T SAY IT, FOR GOD'S SAKES!" Verity barked through clenched teeth.
"Enough is enough of your rotten attitude, Verity!" Verity's mother commanded in a loud voice.
Verity froze, and for the first time, the Hypno-Shroom felt small in comparison to her mother, who spoke not long after.
"Verity, you have no father because he was killed in a zombie attack." Verity gasped.
"What? H-how? I thought you said he left you when I was born because I wasn't a boy..." she sputtered.
Her mother just raised a leaf to silence her daughter.
"When I heard that he got killed, I wanted to scream and go live in the woods. But I eventually realized that I should just move along with life and think about the good times. You should think about the good times as well." she whispered.
"W-well, you can't just shrug it off forever! You lost one of your freaking daughters last year, and you just say "move along the sidewalk of life"? What kind of Romanian Hypno-Shroom of a mother do you think you are?" Verity sobbed, allowing her emotions to get out of control as she threw books around the living room.
Her mother watched the scene, feeling like crying herself until she said her piece.
"Verity, I'm afraid I'll have to send you away to do some lawn defense."
Verity stopped dead in her temper tantrum at those words.
"I beg your pardon?" she squeaked.
"I said I will have to send you away to Stratford to battle the zombies." Verity's mother said calmly.
Verity wanted to scream and shout, "I don't want to leave! I can't leave home!" But she didn't, and just allowed her mother to speak her mind.
"You need some kind of intervention for that mental problem of yours. I hate putting you through what your father went through, but I care about you, Verity Aurora. I don't like how you've been having nervous breakdowns. You're an emotional wreck and I only want to fix that." she said softly.
Verity nodded slowly and sank to the floor.
"And, I have to give you this . . ." her mother muttered as she went digging through a chest until she found a leather-bound book.
"This is the diary your father wanted to give to you when you turned thirteen. Unfortunately, he never lived to carry out his wish. So I present this diary to you, sweet daughter. It will be your companion in Stratford." her mother said.
At these words, Verity started crying hysterically.
"Why must God always choose me? Why must I be the one to suffer?" she howled tearfully. Verity's mother just put a leaf on her crying daughter's cap.
"You will leave tomorrow, early in the morning, Verity. Don't be sad . . ." she murmured. Verity looked up into her mother's purple eyes.
"Mom, do I remind you of Dad?" she asked in a tiny voice.
To her immense surprise, her mother nodded.
"Before you lost your sister, you were funny and optimistic, just like him. I want you to get those missing pieces back so that you can be in one piece, Verity. Be happy once more. That is all I ask of you." she whispered. Verity nodded and went up to her room, with the leather bound diary in one leaf. When she opened the door, she ran into the room and threw herself on the bed in anger and sadness.
"Why must my life be like this?" she asked herself. "What did God do to me?"
Verity just opened the diary, grabbed a pencil, and started scribbling in it.
Monday, June 1st, 2015
I was just given this cruddy diary by the crazy plant of a mother I have. My life is as miserable as it would be if I was in Hell. Why does God have to curse my life?! I deserve better! In any case, I swear to Heaven, Hell and Earth that I will NEVER WRITE IN THIS DARN DIARY AGAIN!
The girl-plant just looked at the entry with satisfaction before she threw it inside her duffel bag, along with a whole bunch of paraphernalia. After she had finished her packing, Verity cast a look around her room and sighed.
"I will return here someday . . ." she muttered as she fell into a troubled sleep.
Verity was woken up at seven o'clock by the singing of birds.
"Ugh . . . what is there to sing about when I'm about to be carted to the gallows?" she grunted as she forced herself out of her bed. As she dragged her duffel bag down the stairs, Verity saw a picture of herself when she was a little plant.
"That was me when I was carefree. Now look at me, minus a father I hardly remember and a fifteen year old sister . . ." she sighed as she ominously descended the stairs and went out the front door, where a taxi was waiting for her.
Verity did her best not to burst into tears as she climbed into the backseat with a heart heavier than her black duffel bag. Not a single word was said as the taxi drove past the tall buildings of Downtown Core, which became shorter and shorter as time went by. By the time it was 7:40, all Verity saw small houses. In no time at all, the taxicab had screeched to a stop in front of a huge manor. Verity grabbed her duffel bag and made the long walk to the door with her roots feeling as heavy as boulders. She rapped one, two, three knocks onto the wooden door, which was answered by a human with a saucepan as a hat.
"H-hello . . . is this the lawn defense place?" Verity asked.
"Why, yes! My name is Crazy Dave, and I was expecting you!" the man exclaimed as he escorted the nervous Verity inside the house.
"You'll have fun here, pretty little Hypno-Shroom! Anyways, what's your name?" he asked.
"Verity Aurora, but please just call me Verity." Verity stammered. Crazy Dave just nodded.
"Well Verity, you'll be sharing a room with Daniel. Come upstairs, and I'll show you." he said.
Verity just lugged her duffel bag up the steep marble stairs, unsure of what to feel until a door was opened. She saw a Doom-Shroom at the door. Crazy Dave just cleared his throat.
"Verity, this is Daniel, your roommate. Verity, I recommend that you get a good sleep so that you have enough energy for night-time, because that's when your shift is." he said as he ushered the girl-plant in and disappeared down the stairs.
"Hi, Verity" Daniel whispered. Verity just waved a leaf and unpacked her items.
"So . . . do you want to do something, like play a game?" Daniel asked.
Verity froze in disgust. Just great! Now I'm stuck with a boy-plant who likes me. she thought in utter repulsion.
"No, thank you very much. I don't think I need to act like a plant barely out of sprouthood!" Verity snapped as she zipped up her duffel bag and sat on a comfortable chair by the window, glaring at the Doom-Shroom as if to say, Don't even think that you'll be able to fall in love with me without heartbreak.
Daniel just lowered his red eyes and nodded.
"You can have the top bunk, Verity." he murmured.
As the girl-plant walked to the ladder, she cast a look at Daniel, whose eyes looked like troubled seas. Verity began to regret the angry words she uttered a few minutes ago.
"Sorry if I snapped at you, Daniel. I was just feeling scared. I mean, what if I died on the first night I was here?" she stammered.
Daniel just patted Verity's cap, entranced by her every feature.
"Join the club, Verity. I had the exact same thought as you when I first stepped into this room a year ago. Don't be scared, Verity! It will be all right. That, I can promise you!"
Verity smiled as she climbed the ladder and lay down on the bed, feeling like she made a new friend.
A/N Verity's "bad day" at school was based on a true story that happened to me! Big surprise, right?
