- 6.
I see Mom looking at me, so I take the cake.
I “accidentally” drop the cake onto Bethany’s
new dress.
Everyone’s face drops, except for Joe, Mom
grabs a napkin and tries to clean up the cake.
Mike glares at me, yells, “What are you
doing? You did that on purpose!”
Bethany’s acting like she’s hurt, tears are
welling up in her eyes.
She does look a little like the Millers, not sure
if it’s natural.
It makes people want to protect her.
I look from her to Mike, say with a smirk,
“Yeah, I did it on purpose.”
“She wanted to start something so Lgave bor
<
“She wanted to start something, so I gave her
what she wanted.”
Bethany sobs, “No…I didn’t…”
Dad gets so angry that he slaps me.
I don’t move.
My ear is ringing, Dad used all his strength,
he’s really mad.
I just ruined his “daughter’s” dress.
If he knew Bethany was lying, would he be
this mad?
Mom looks like she feels bad, she was there
for me for so long.
I see her move towards me, and Bethany
grabs her arm, says, “Mom, can we go
change my dress?”
“Okay,” Mom agrees.
Her love for me isn’t completely gone, but
she’ll always choose Bethany first.
I should have known, I’ll never be her first
choice.
く
Good thing for me, I can survive alone.
Aunt Carol chimes in, “Abby, I know you can’t
handle this, but you can’t hate Bethany, you
had her life for eighteen years.”
“She was starving and getting beat up.”
She wants me to be grateful.
But they don’t think about what it’s like for
- me.
Was their love for me a lie?
I look up Bethany’s past.
Her adopted dad was an alcoholic, her
adopted mom hated that she wasn’t a boy.
She was bullied at school.
I know the Millers know all this, that’s why
they blame me.
I look at Dad, tell him, “Mr. Miller, when
Bethany showed up, I told you I wanted
nothing to do with the Millers, and I paid you
back for raising me.”
“I gave up the Miller family, you won’t let me
<
move on.”
Before Dad can answer, Mike says, “Bethany
wants a sister.”
I laugh, “You don’t want two daughters,” then
I look at Mike, “And you don’t want two
sisters, right?”
They don’t answer, so I keep going, “I wanted
us to split up nicely, but you kept pushing me,
never caring about my feelings.”
Since you won’t leave me alone, I’m not going
to be nice.
I play a DNA report on the screen.
I watch Dad’s face, but he doesn’t react, does
he know everything?
If so, why is he doing this?
Bethany comes downstairs, she’s confused by
everyone staring, “What’s going on?”
No one speaks. I tell her to look at the screen,
she panics.
People start talking.
<
The butler KICKS everyone out, just the Millers
and me are left.
Bethany starts acting, says with a wounded
look, “How could this happen? I’m a Miller!”
I ask, “Really?”
She hears my voice, and her face gets hard,
but only I see it.
“Abby, why are you framing me?”
Same old act, blaming me, I laugh and say, “I
don’t have time to frame you. And if you want
to prove you’re a Miller, take a DNA test.”
Everyone goes quiet.
