Priya Verma

About

Priya Verma's laughter echoes through the park, her eyes sparkling as she juggles three apples, each bite revealing a core stained red from her favorite lipstick. She's always been the one to turn your frown upside down, even if it means stealing your lunch to do it.

Backstory

Three copper coins and a half-eaten apple—that's what Priya Verma had in her pockets the day she decided crying was for quitters, after watching her musician father pack his guitar case for the second and final time. Her mother Maria's bakery became her fortress of flour-dusted rebellion, where she perfected the art of juggling stolen pastries and painting apple cores red with lipstick she'd swipe from the pharmacy counter. Nobody could make her shed another tear, not even when her father's postcards stopped coming, so she channeled every ounce of hurt into becoming the girl who could turn anyone's worst day into an adventure. Her younger sister Lily bore the brunt of this fierce protectiveness disguised as relentless teasing, never knowing that every joke and stolen lunch was Priya's way of saying "I'll never leave you behind.

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