Crossroads - Special chapter

                                    

                                          
           
                          
We started to follow the story of the girls when they were eighteen, already seen as young ladies with a more or less stable life. But like all of us, they had to be children once. They had their both happy and horrible moments, moments which defined them and made them the people they are now.

                          
These three stories will describe the most defining moments of Alexis, Diane and Anna from their perspective, adding more to their backstory and filling some gaps in their pasts.
                          
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A Promise
                          
Alexis Warren's story
                          
Six years before the first chapter
                          
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Another school day, another day of misery.
                          
It's not that I have trouble with studying. If I had to say something nice about myself, I would probably point out my intelligence. Most professors say that even though I am just twelve, my grammar and writing skills are already on par with the most high school students. I think it's actually nothing hard. If everyone read as much as I do, everyone would have perfect grammar.
                          
Okay, I'm intelligent. What else?
                          
Pretty much nothing.
                          
I am ugly. Who would be interested in a short, thin girl with pale skin, glasses and fair hair resembling a bunch of hay? If there's someone like that, I haven't met them yet.
                          
I take a look around and observe my classmates. Most of them already wear make-up, or at least try to. Some of them are already growing into feminine curves while I am stil awfully flat. I'm not complaining. I personally don't care about my look since I prefer a quick wit before curvy chest. But... you know. The kids of Gabriel's Gardens tend to be as shallow as humanly possible.
                          
As I walk towards my desk in the front row (where I sit alone, of course), nobody notices me. I am invisible to them. My classmates are sitting in small groups, laughing at the stories they tell each other. It's not like I crave for a friendship with any of them, but it still hurts.
                          
I know you have probably heard that from many kids my age, but I think that I don't belong here. Maybe these people are right - I'm probably just ungrateful and should be glad for what I have. But I still feel that I have a right to complain.
                          
The fact is that I don't have any friends. I have trouble socializing because I'm just too shy. My biggest hobby is reading - pretty uncommon among the children in the Blue Street public school. And even if I see someone with a book, I just can't find the courage to approach them and ask what are they reading. I am too insecure about my face, my personality, everything. I'm just sure that they would look at me with that crooked smile which clearly says I'd prefer if you just walked away and give me some vague answer before quickly excusing themselves and leaving.
                          
The person closest to me is my sister Diane. Even though she's my exact opposite - pretty, extroverted, popular -, we love each other and even thoug she teases me on a daily basis, she's always ready to defend me and even fight for me. Unfortunately, the school system separated us. Due to the increased number of new students, the class has been split in two and Diane ended in the second group.
                          
That means I'm all by myself.
                          
As if it all wasn't enough, we recently started to discover the heritage our mother left us. Until last year, I thought that the feather-shaped mark on my right hand is just some really weird birthmark. Diane has also one, shaped like a red rose.
                          
Our adoptive father, a holy man named Ignatius Warren, helped us to discover that these strange marks aren't just a decoration. It was a shock for me when I discovered that we have powers we saw only in superhero movies. We are training these powers for a year now and we finally started to control them to some degree.