A twelve-year-old white-haired girl by the name of Winter White woke to the sound of her alarm clock. As her body started its operations, she took in her room. It was nothing impressive, your average apartment bedroom. Her room, like the rest of the apartment, had white walls and a wooden floor, covered by some posters and a colorful carpet. Most of her furniture was white, consisting of a wardrobe, bed, desk, nightstand, and dresser. The only things that weren't white were the orange drapes and a black keyboard. She got out of her bed and went to the bathroom like a zombie, coming out with ten more hours of sleep.
With it being a school day, she got into her formal wear, an orange blouse and blue skirt, brushed her hair, put an orange clip in it, and went to the kitchen.
There she was greeted by her parents, Walter and Sophia.
Walter White, or Heisenberg if you were to ask his friends, was a rather exceptional man. He had white hair, blue eyes, and a beard he shaves every few months. While many found his hair strange, most could not see it from the clouds around it. Walter stood at six foot five inches, making him too tall to enter a room in shoes. Like every other day, he was wearing t-shirt and sweatpants. Sophia, while coming up short by her husband, she put most men to shame. She had emerald eyes and shoulder-length cherry blond hair, pushed behind her head. When she wasn't doing housework, her mother wore a dress, usually, like now, a green one.
And despite her parents being too big to come through the door, she did not see a lick of it. She was of average height for her age, and while her parents told her they both exploded in high school, she was becoming skeptical.
This morning, like most others, was unexceptional. Everyone ate their breakfast, her parents had their adult banter, she stared blankly at her meal; okay, it was boring. Her life was boring on most days, waking up, going to school, coming back, hanging out with friends or being alone more commonly, doing homework, going to bed. The most obvious way she saw to improve the situation was to get a sibling, as it was boring to play alone. A little sister she could play with, teach, and take care of, was a dream; and nothing more. Her parents always dismissed her when she suggested it. She wasn't sure why, maybe she was just an exhausting baby, but they would never even listen to her too much when she asked them. She knew how babies were made, theoretically at least, so it wasn't like it would be some herculean task. Or maybe it was. Geez, now did people have ten kids then?
That must be fun, having ten kids. It's never dull, it's never slow, and it's never quiet. It would be great to have ten sisters, then she would always have someone to hang out with; in that big of a family, someone is bound to share interests. She could play the keyboard with one sister, talk about fashion with another, practice dancing with yet another. It would be wonderful.
Oh right, she had gymnastics class today. Just like a sister, dance was another pipe dream of hers. Her parents were insistent on her practicing a 'real' sport, as she could start growing any day now. She saw how many back problems her parents have, so she understood why. What she didn't understand however was why she couldn't practice dance instead. She would do the same amount of jumping and aerobics there, so it wasn't like it made much difference. But no, that didn't train her back muscles enough. Stupid height, she gets all the downsides of being tall without even being above average.
"Hey, honey?" Her father called out. "Can you come here for a second?"
"Da, what is it?" Her mother said, quickly approaching her father.
"Does he seem familiar?" Walter asked his wife.
Sophia thought for a second before speaking. "We lived there, so you might have seen his father or some other relative." His wife said, looking intently at the papers.
Walter looked at Winter, her mother following soon after. Her mother looked at the papers before looking at Winter, repeating the same action several times, every time a little more attentive.
"Don't go anywhere.", Sophia said, leaving for the living room.
"I'm going nowhere for the next eight hours." He said with a chuckle.
"What's going on?" Winter asked.
"Nothing sweetie, you just get ready for school." Her father said kindly.
"Okay.", Winter said, picking up her plate and taking it to the dishwasher.
Her mother returned, bringing an old album. She opened it and listed for a few pages before putting it in front of her father and pointing at an image. Winter got closer to see what they were talking about, seeing that her mother pointed at a picture of Walter when he was about her age.
"Huh..." He said blankly.
"Winter, get ready for school." Her mother said sternly. Sophia's family was not American; Winter kept forgetting where they were from but knew it was somewhere in Europe. And, while she spent most of her life in America, she still used her accent when she got angry, making Winter terrified of that sharp R.
Winter obliged, leaving the room. As she took her bag, she could overhear her parents arguing.
"We have been together for twenty years," Walter said calmly. "I would never do that."
"Then explain this, Walter." Her mother said angrily.
"I don't know who he is Sophy. I have never seen him, or any of his family." He said confidently. "And you are pretty trigger-happy about this, do you have something to tell me?"
"Како се усуђујеш!?" Sophia yelled angrily, pointing at Walter.
"English, Sophy." he said in a similar tone.
"Mommy, Daddy, what's happening?" Winter asked fearfully. Her parents fought next to never, so this had to be serious.
"Nothing sweetie, Mommy and Daddy are just tired.", Walter said, calming himself down. "Hurry up now, I don't want you to be late for school."
"Okay." Winter said, leaving the room.
"I want to believe you Walter, but that boy looks exactly like you.", Sophia was calmer too, but still stern.
"I know, he also looks like Winny.", Walter said, having a sudden realization. "Do you remember when she was born?"
"You think I could forget?" she asked, half-jokingly.
"No, I mean after it." He said, dismissing his wife's humor. "When the nurse brought her, we both thought it was supposed to be a boy."
"Da, the doctor needed a pair of glasses.", Sophia said calmly. "You don't think..."
Her husband nodded.
"I'll see if my parents can come over.", Sophia said calmly, pulling her phone out.
"I'll see if I can contact the hospital.", Walter said.
Winter walked the streets of Great Lake City, gradually making her way to her school. None of her friends went the same way she did, just the opposite actually, making most trips involving school lonely. One person who did use the same route was someone she wasn't so fond of, a Mexican American girl whose name she forgot. You can't really blame her for that, she moved in like a month ago, and her name was generic; Rosy, Rony, Ronda, Rachel, she was never good with names, but she'll remember it by the end of the year.
"Hey Lame-o." a cheery girl called from behind her.
"What do you want?" Winter asked, her tone bored and annoyed; it was her. She called her Lame-o from day one. She never elaborated on it; she just did. At least she was original, unlike most girls in school. Hey, everyone, it's Elsa! She got tired of it a long time ago.
"I want a hot dog, but I don't suppose you have one." The girl said.
"I mean, what do you want from me?" Winter said.
"I just wanted to great my second favorite Lame-o." The girls said cheerily.
"Second?" Winter said, a little offended.
"Yeah, I have a friend that looks a lot like you." The girl said while walking away. "I'll introduce you if he ever comes to visit."
Does she have friends? She saw her hanging out with some kids in school, but she never saw her as someone who had friends. Then again, she was with others more often than Winter.
What did she even mean by looking like her? Do they have white hair too? Does she know a relative of hers? They aren't that big of a family, but Whites could still be found in some of the surrounding towns, so it was probable.
School, like always, was boring. Looking back at it, she could barely recall what the teachers were talking about, or the gossip the kids passed around. By the time she got home, she was too busy dreading her gymnastics class to even care about it. It was somewhat of a surprise that her grandparents were there when she returned, but they explained that her parents had something important come up. She wasn't going to complain, they were nice people, but she couldn't shake off the feeling it was about the fight from that morning. Her parents returned by the end of the day, their faces making her even more worried.
"Winny, can we talk for a moment?" Her mother said kindly, lightly knocking on the door. Walter was behind her, and his face was no different from her mother's, solemn.
"Sure..." Winter said, her tone giving away her worry.
"We want you to know that no matter what happens, we will always love you." Her father said warmly.
Oh god, they are having a divorce. Over one fight, was it that bad? Was there more she didn't see? Was it because of her? She did something to make them mad, they looked at her weirdly this morning. It was her fault! Her family is ruined and it's her fault!
"You are getting divorced?" Winter said, her eyes releasing small tears.
"No, sweetie, why would you think that?" Her mother said kindly.
"You fought today because of something I did.", Winter said nervously.
"Oh, sweetie, you did nothing wrong." Her mother said.
"But, if you did, you have to tell us." Her father said, getting a sideways glance from his wife.
"What is it then?" Winter asked fearfully. She didn't know if it was worse to know what they wanted to tell her, or not know.
"Winny, we have no easy way to say this." Her father said worriedly. "We are not your real parents."
"What?" Winter said quietly.
"When you were born, there was a mix-up at the hospital." Her mother said solemnly.
"What do you mean?" Winter said desperately. This is some weird adult joke she did understand, it had to be. A mix-up, those only happen in movies. But what if it wasn't? It would mean she was... adopted? Well, no, she was... confused with someone else? Were they going to abandon her? They were going to abandon her!
"Winny, it's okay. We aren't going to leave you." Her mother said confidently.
Winter looked at her mother, her eyes flooding with tears. "Y-You promise?"
"We promise." Her father said.
"We would never leave you, sweetie." Her mother said kindly.
"And I don't know why you thought we were breaking up.", Walter said.
"You fought this morning..." Winter said.
"Well, we saw our... the boy they mixed you up with, in the newspaper. We had a misunderstanding about it, but it's all good now." Walter saic calmly.
"A boy?" Did they confuse her for a boy?
"Yes, he looked a lot like you, so your mother thought... never mind actually, you will understand it when you get older." Her father said.
"The point is, we went and asked around while you were in school." Her mother said. "His parents did some bad things, so he now needs a new home, and we have decided to take him in."
That was... one way to get a sibling, though she still wished it was a girl. Wait, his parents, her parents, did something bad?
"What did they do?" Winter asked worriedly.
"They didn't take good care of him, sweetie." Her mother said.
"Is he okay?" Winter asked.
"Yes, and we will go and meet him tomorrow." Her father said.
