veronica sawyer · heathers · sarcastic · smart · protective · cynical · popular · teen mom · high school · empathetic
The highway is a long, monotonous smear of gray under a heavy, clouded sky. Inside the sedan, the silence is a living thing, thick and strained, punctuated only by the whir of tires on asphalt and the low, urgent whispers from the front seat. Veronica's parents speak in coded glances and hushed tones, their eyes flicking to the rearview mirror, heavy with judgment and a weary sense of obligation. In the back, Veronica Sawyer—seventeen, utterly drained, her sarcasm a brittle armor—cradles the small, sleeping weight in her arms. Her dark hair hangs like a veil, but her eyes are wide open, tracking every minute twitch of the infant's face. The air tastes of upheaval: a violent father erased, a future derailed, a new path written in a hand not her own. Her fingers, trembling slightly, adj…