Chapter 4
They stared at me blankly and then exchanged glances, their eyes seeming to say, “We were just pretending. Why did she actually agree?”
I found it laughable.
“I’m just kidding. A party would be too crowded for my taste. Thanks anyway, Mom and Dad.”
They breathed a sigh of relief, now too afraid to push the idea further, lest I actually go through with it.
Watching their ridiculous expressions, I felt a chill ran through me. These were my parents.
After dinner, I went back to my room to rest. When I went downstairs for a drink, I overheard my mom on the phone with a friend.
“She’s been so quiet and weird since she came back, nowhere near as likable as Bella.”
“We mentioned throwing her a party, and she almost agreed. Thank goodness she didn’t. The cost aside, she grew up in an orphanage. Who knows what she might do to embarrass the Brooks family in public?”
“Even though she’s our biological daughter, she’s just not as
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close to us as Bella, who grew up under our care. It’s really disheartening that our own daughter can’t hold a candle to our adopted one.”
I stood there, listening silently as my mom vented about how I couldn’t compare to Bella.
Memories from my past life flashed back. At another banquet, Bella had orchestrated my fall into the pool, humiliating me in front of everyone.
At that moment, my dad’s first reaction wasn’t to check if I was okay but to slap me hard, knocking me to the ground.
“You’re always trying to compete with Bella, yet you never measure up. Falling into the pool like that, making a fool of yourself and shaming the Brooks family!”
My dad valued appearances above all else. My drenched and disheveled state had been an unbearable embarrassment to him.
My mom, true to form, shared his priorities. They favored Bella because she was the perfect poster child for the Brooks family, always excelling and making them look good.
Compared to her, I felt utterly worthless.
Lost in these memories, I let out a cold laugh, catching my mom’s attention.
She turned and jumped, startled to see me standing in the
corner.
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“How long have you been standing there?” she asked, her voice
tense.
Realizing she’d just been badmouthing me, her expression shifted from irritation to awkwardness.
“Did you just get here? I was just…” she stammered, trying to cover her tracks.
I cut her off. “I just got here. Is something wrong?”
“Just now? Well, it’s nothing. I was just wondering why you’re still up.”
She visibly relaxed, thinking she’d dodged a bullet.
“I’m just grabbing some water and heading back to bed. Goodnight, Mom.”
With that, I left, water cup in hand.
The next morning at breakfast, perhaps trying to make amends, my mom suggested, “Zoe, why don’t you and Bella go to Cloudsoar Academy together?”
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