“Nora!”

Nora Miller is not an average girl. At least according to her standards. She loves to think of herself as unique, a sunflower in a sea of roses. Her life is pretty average, well as average as it can be when you live with two overbearing mothers. 

“Nora! I’m not going to say it again!” Her mother Rooney called.

“I’m almost ready!” Nora snapped back.

She huffed and rolled herself out of bed. Her hand slapped down on the nightstand grabbing her glasses. Her coffee brown eyes scanned the mess of clothes on her floor. She locked on to a pair of black jeans and picked them up to smell them before shrugging.

“I’m going to count to ten!” Rooney warned.

“I’m going to count to ten,” Nora mocked in a more annoying version of Rooney’s voice.

Nora hopped over to her dresser as she shoved her legs into her pants. She opened the top drawer and flung out several shirts before settling on a simple baseball-style tee shirt. White with grey sleeves.

“One!”

Nora bent down and rolled up the ends of her pants until they were resting mid-calf.

“Two!”

Nora snagged her clunky sneakers off the floor. They were covered in mud and filth with untied laces. She shoved her feet into them, then thought better of it and took her feet back out, only to put on two different colored socks and shove her feet in again.

“Three!”

Nora ran over to the mirror and ran her fingers through her long dark brown hair, she sighed and quickly brushed her hair out before pulling it up into a tight ponytail. She had many flyaway hairs sticking out which she tucked behind her ear.

“Four!”

Nora grabbed a belt to hold her pants onto her thin frame. Then she grabbed her backpack off the floor and threw it on her back before grabbing her phone and shoving it in her back pocket.

“Five!”

On her way out the door she swiped the jacket she wore almost every day of the year off the floor and tied it around her waist before running out of her room to the bathroom.

“Six!”

She slammed her fist down on the toothpaste tube spraying blue gel everywhere. She scooped her toothbrush in it before brushing her teeth as quickly as possible.

“Seven!”

Nora spit out her toothpaste foam and washed out her mouth before removing her glasses and splashing water on her face.

“Eight!”

She quickly dried off and put on some deodorant and shoved her glasses back on.

“Nine!”

She ran down the stairs and stopped right in front of Rooney.

“I’m ready, geez. You can stop now.” She rolled her eyes.

“Didn’t you wear those jeans two days ago?”

“No,” Nora said it like it was obvious.

Rooney sighed and grabbed her car keys.

Nora pushed past Rooney and ran outside to the car.

“Tell your mom goodbye please,” Rooney ordered.

“Ugh!” Nora turned around and stomped back inside before walking over to Joan who was half asleep standing over the coffee pot.

“Bye mom,” Nora rolled her eyes.

“Be good, I’ll be there after school to pick you up.” Joan pat Nora on the head.

“Whatever.”

Rooney frowned at her.

“Can we go now?” Nora asked.

Rooney gestured to the car. Nora once again stomped past her to the car.

“Get donuts on your way back,” Joan said to Rooney.

“I will. Make me a cup.” Rooney pecked Joan on the lips.

“Try and make peace with her please,” Joan eyed Rooney.

“Oh, because I’m supposed to know why she’s mad now?”

“Please.” Joan pecked her again.

“Fine.” Rooney huffed.

“One!” Nora shouted from outside.

“She gets it from you,” Rooney playfully slapped Joan in the gut.

“You wish.” Joan laughed as Rooney turned to leave.

“Two!” Nora called.

“Alright, I’m coming, hold your horses.” Rooney walked outside and shut the door behind her.

Rooney unlocked the car and Nora jumped into the passenger seat, buckling up, and turning the radio on and syncing up her phone, and then blasting out some screamo rock music.

“No.” Rooney turned it off as she got in the car.

Nora huffed and rolled her eyes before crossing her arms and glaring out the window.

They drove to school in tense silence.

“So… uh your mom and I thought we could go out tonight, as a family.”

“Oh, so now we are a family again?” Nora snarked.

Rooney clenched the steering wheel.

“Nora,”

“Just save it.”

Rooney sighed. How she longed for the old days when it was just her and Joan going on crazy adventures together. Rooney had only agreed to have a daughter with Joan because it was what Joan wanted. They had argued about it many times before Rooney eventually gave in.

Everything changed after Nora.

Joan had gotten a donor and gave birth to Nora out of her own body. Nora looked almost exactly like her mother did at her age. Other than the fact that Nora had tan skin instead of dark copper skin and that she had a tiny body frame, Nora was almost an exact copy of Joan. Besides the personality, that she had gotten from Rooney, unfortunately.

For the first few years, they tried to make it work, but Joan and Rooney eventually split up when Nora was just six. Being away from each other didn’t really help much so they just got back together again when Nora was ten. Split up again a few months later when and got back together again when Nora was 14. Only to split up again a few months later before finally getting back together when Nora was 15.

They were always on and off. Just last week Rooney had threatened to walk out again. It wasn’t that Rooney hated Nora, quite the opposite. She loved Nora, Nora was her daughter after all, even though the girl didn’t share her DNA, she still saw Nora as her daughter.

The problem was that Rooney didn’t know how to be a mother. Her mother died when she was little and she was in and out of foster homes and orphanages all her life. She was used to being a two-gal team with her and Joan. Things were different now; she just didn’t want them to be. 

Joan was talking about finally settling down and retiring from their business. Rooney didn’t want that. She loved going out on missions and being in the thick of things. She may be 42 now but every time she was out in the field, she felt young again. The problem was that when she and Joan would go out on missions, they had to leave Nora behind.

They couldn’t risk her being exposed to the real world. Not after the incident. Nora didn’t remember it, she was just a baby after all but after the incident, Joan and Rooney swore they would keep Nora far away from the world of the supernatural.

Which posed a major problem being as Joan and Rooney ran a supernatural business. They were investigators, like cops for the supernatural world. If something wasn’t right in the supernatural world, people would call and hire them. They’ve seen it all. Vampires, exorcisms, Demons, fairy’s, etc. The line of supernatural work paid very well and they are able to live a rich lavish life, well when they are home that is. More often than not Rooney would convince Joan to go out on another mission and they would pawn Nora off on Darci.

Aunt Darci as Nora learned to call her. Darci was like Rooney and Joan, she also kept the truth of the real world from her daughter. It was for the best she told herself. So, because Nora was forced to spend so much quality time with Darci and her daughter Destiny she was naturally a lot closer to them than her own parents.

Destiny and Nora are best friends. They are each other’s only friend being as neither of them are very popular or good at making new friends.

“Can we talk please?” Rooney turned to Nora as they stopped at a red light.

“Why, you’re just going to leave again.”

“Nora I was upset; I didn’t mean it.”

“You never mean it right? Why don’t you just do me a favor and don’t come back this time! I like mom better when she’s not with you.” Nora spat.

Rooney’s eyes watered and she looked back at the road as they pulled into the school. She clenched her jaw and squeezed the wheel harder. Rooney hadn’t even stopped the car before Nora unbuckled and jumped out, running into the school and leaving a heartbroken Rooney behind.

Rooney sat there a moment and wiped her tears before driving off to get donuts.