- 3.
To emphasize how thrifty she is, she insists
on saving the leftover chicken bones from
dinner to make soup for us the next morning.
She’d deliberately stand near the stairs,
waiting for Mom to come out, and grab my
hand and fake a fall.
Then she’d cry out, “Ashley, why did you push
me?”
“I know you hate that I came back and took
Mom and Dad’s attention, but it’s not my
fault! I miss my parents, and I want to be with
them. Is that so wrong?”
I roll my eyes and head back to my room.
L
Mom stops me, her voice sharp. “Stop right
there! Go back and apologize to Sarah, and
ask her to forgive you!”
“I’ve fed you and clothed you, raised you all
these years. And even after finding out you’re
not my real daughter, I didn’t kick you out!
Don’t you have any gratitude?”
“I’m letting you stay here, but not so you can
bully Sarah!”
“That’s it, you’re apologizing right now, or I
don’t care what your dad says, I’m kicking you
out!”
Mom’s outburst makes Sarah light up with
triumph.
She raises her chin at me, a smug look in her
eyes.
I sigh, exasperated.
“Mom, Sarah is new here, so she doesn’t
know, but don’t you know that we have
cameras all over the house?”
“Want to go check the tapes?”
Mom slaps her forehead. “I forgot.”
She turns back to Sarah, trying to reassure
her, who’s now gone pale. “It’s okay, we can
try something else next time. And maybe
change up the character a little? This is a bit
dull; I don’t really like it.”
<
“The innocent, heartbroken girl when you first
got here was good, but I prefer the other
character.”
She says it like she’s trying to give her some
constructive criticism, but Sarah is obviously
freaked out.
“Mom, what do you mean? Do you think I was
faking it and blaming Ashley?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“If that’s not what you meant, then why didn’t
you stop me when you knew there were
cameras, instead of letting me act like a fool?
In your eyes, am I just a circus monkey?”
Her voice rises, she has a point, she makes
my mom dumbfounded.
“Are you saying I should’ve meant that? Or
should I have not done that?” Mom asked,
trying to get a read on her.
Sarah breaks down, crying and running to her
room.
“So annoying. She’s not fun to play with,
she’s an idiot and can’t act. Should we have
your dad fake the DNA test and send her
away?”
Me: ?
You and Dad are certainly cut from the same
cloth.
Speak of the devil. Here comes Dad.
“Meeting! Meeting! Emergency meeting!”
“Are the DNA results back?” My brother
hurries down the stairs.
“Great, the people in this house aren’t normal
and now we have another one, I’m gonna be
driven crazy,” my little brother sighs
dramatically.
Sarah came down, her eyes puffy and red.
“Now that the DNA results are in, what do you
plan on doing? Ashley has a lot of property
and money in her name, birthday and coming
of age gifts. I don’t mind her living here, but
shouldn’t she return my family’s gifts?”
“And what about her engagement with
Thomas of the Thomas Corporation? Have
you talked with the Thomas family? Are they
,
calling off the engagement? Who’s she going
to marry?”
“Hold on one second,” Dad interrupted.
“Take a look at the DNA results.”
Chapter Two
She grabs the envelope, looking confused,
pulls out the DNA report, and her face just
CRUMPLES. “This… this can’t be real!”
“There’s no way I’m not your daughter!”
