Chapter 2
Coming home from the hospital, the house was
Coming name from ne sprey HST WAS
empty, not a soul in sight.
Even the cleaning lady had the day off.
The lights were off in that massive place, just
this big, empty silence where even my own
footsteps sounded loud,
It wasn’t the first time I’d been totally forgotten,
but it still stung.
I took a deep breath and headed upstairs,
grabbing the banister to haul myself up.
My legs were still weak from the accident.
My room or really, the glorified junk room
was the smallest, darkest space in the whole
damn mansion.
I didn’t own much: a bed, a beat–up desk. That
was it.
I opened the desk drawer, and it was stuffed
with the IOUS from all those years.
One, two… plus the one I just signed, exactly
three hundred.
They were for everything from ten dollars for
school supplies to a couple hundred for “living
<
expenses.” It added up to, like, maybe five
thousand bucks, tops.
I had to laugh, but it just came out bitter.
Five thousand?
Piper’s cheapest piece of jewelry probably cost
more than that.
No wonder my parents were always calling me
small–minded and saying Piper was the real
“Sullivan” daughter. I guess I was, like, officially
a failure.
I tucked all the IOUS into my pocket and was
about to go downstairs when I heard voices.
“Daddy, I’m craving that sweet and sour fish
Riley used to make. Can you ask her to make it
for me?”
“Riley’s been a handful lately.
Who knows where she even is?
Skipping out on your party, probably off goofing
around with her friends.
When she gets back, I’ll have her make that for
8.38
<
I rolled my eyes. So typical. I’d told them I had a car accident, but they didn’t believe me.
My parents thought I skipped out on Piper’s birthday bash, instead of being in the ER.
It’s like they forgot that my birthday was on the
exact same day as Piper’s.
It’s my eighteenth too, which made this whole
thing even more insulting.
The door opened, and when they saw me on the
stairs, the whole happy family vibe just
vanished.
I was like an intruder, someone they were
annoyed by.
“You couldn’t turn on the lights when you got
back? Seriously, what’s gotten into you?” my
mom snapped. My dad, on the other hand,
barked orders at me, “Didn’t you hear your
sister? Get in the kitchen and make her that
fish.”
