With Lynn’s help, Rachel managed to get
another form and turned it in right before the
The student council made sure to report the
whole situation to Sarah’s resident advisor.
Not long after, I saw that their dorm had
gotten a black mark on the school’s website.
That night, Mom called me out of the blue.
I’d barely talked to her since starting college.
I got a scholarship and had my own jobs, so I
didn’t need her money.
Our last conversation had been last summer.
She sent me a text: Your sister got into your
school. Look out for her.
Okay.
I almost didn’t answer, but she kept calling.
The second I picked up, she started yelling, “I
heard your sister is being bullied at school?”
I hung up.
Then the texts came flooding in.
What’s going on?
I heard you got her in trouble with the student
council?
I told you to look out for her! Is that how you
look out for someone?
Before blocking her number, I sent one last
text: She was being punished for bullying
someone else.
A few minutes later, Dad called.
He’d always sent me money and gifts.
I didn’t hate him like I hated Mom.
But I figured he was calling about Sarah, so I
answered in a flat tone.
The first thing Dad said was, “I’m so sorry,
Ashley. I didn’t raise Sarah right.”
I stopped dead.
The cutting words I’d been ready to say died
in my throat.
I didn’t know what to say.
“How did she turn out like this?”
It wasn’t just Mom spoiling her like last time.
Dad was the nice one, the reasonable one.
“I’ve been so busy working, trying to make
enough money for you both. I didn’t spend
enough time with her. After your mom got
remarried, she kept wanting to see Sarah. I
was working all the time, so sometimes Sarah
lived with them…”
I looked down, feeling weirdly numb.
Mom had remarried when I was in middle
school.
She moved to another state, and we stopped
く
talking.
I thought she wanted to get away from
everything and start over.
But she still had Sarah in her life.
I was the one she cut off.
After hanging up with Dad, I felt like I couldn’t
breathe.
I blew off dinner with my roommates and
wandered around the campus park.
I saw Sarah making out with some guy in a
dark corner.
The guy had his back to me, but he was
definitely overweight and had to be the head
of the student council, Greg.
School had started less than two months
ago…
I took a quick picture and walked away.
I wasn’t sure what Sarah was planning.
It was always good to be careful.
Greg and Sarah didn’t act like they knew each
other.
Until the student council’s new member night,
when Greg pushed hard to get Sarah in,
despite her recent reprimand.
“I hope my big sis takes care of me!”
After the meeting, Sarah held out her hand,
her eyes full of smug pride.
I shook her hand. “Definitely.”
Sarah started hanging around the student
council all the time.
She went to events and brown–nosed all the
teachers.
By my junior year, her punishment was gone
from her record.
く
She even got a “Student of the Year” award.
She left me alone for a while, and things were
pretty peaceful.
Then, right at the start of junior year, she got
voted in as president of the student council.
She skipped a grade.
According to the school rules, the student
council president was supposed to be a
junior.
Greg was a senior, so I was the next in line.
Sarah could have taken my vice president
spot, if she behaved.
I wasn’t all that surprised.
I guessed this was coming when I saw her
and Greg at the park.
But I was more worried about what was going
<
to happen two years from now.
In my last life, Sarah and I didn’t go to the
same school.
Mom didn’t remarry, and I barely went home
after starting college.
Soon after I got accepted to graduate school.
Mom told me to come home.
I went back, excited to share my news.
I found a strange man lying on the floor,
covered in blood, and Sarah holding a bloody
knife.
Before I blacked out, I heard Mom say,
“You’ve always been so smart. Everyone likes
you. Your sister has nowhere else to go. Let her take your life. You’re sisters! Only you can
help her…”
When I woke up, everything had changed.
Someone had poured acid down my throat.
My mouth and vocal cords were ruined.
I couldn’t talk.
My own mother and sister stood in front of
the police, crying.
I wasn’t Ashley. I was Sarah.
I had a sleazy boyfriend. But because I had
met someone rich, I wanted to dump him.
But my boyfriend refused to let me go and
followed me home.
He poured acid down my throat and then,
while I was fighting back, I accidentally killed
him.
