3: 3

"Maya!"

I called her, my voice cracking.

"Why would you hand my ID over to Cecil? You know exactly what my family is like!"

On the other end, Maya's voice was still gentle.

But there was a strange chill under it.

"Will, be reasonable."

"It's too dangerous for Cec to go somewhere far off on his own. It's not like home out there. He'd have to do his own laundry, his own cleaning, everything."

"He's a boy. No one to look after him. How's he supposed to save face?"

My heart was bleeding. My voice shook. "And me? I'm not a boy?"

She had no answer for that.

"Enough. You were raised on independence education."

There was an edge of impatience now. "You're used to living rough by now, aren't you?"

"Cec is different. He was spoiled his whole life. He's never known a hard day."

"You'd only be looking after your own little brother. It's not some huge thing. Don't be so selfish."

I swallowed the pain and gave a bitter laugh.

"Maya, you know I scored a 1590."

She paused, and pity slid into her tone.

"If you want Northgate, then wait until Cec graduates."

"By then I can tutor you. You get some online degree, just enough to say you went. Good enough."

"Once we're married, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life. It won't matter where you went to school."

The pain turned into laughter, shaking laughter.

So the salvation I'd believed in all along was a lie.

She thought so too. That I could only ever be Cecil's accessory.

I hung up.

I tore out of the restaurant dorm like something had come loose in me.

My ID stolen, my applications tampered with. I had to get to the admissions office and correct my information before the deadline.

This was the one way out I'd earned, ground out of eighteen years of suffering.

But the second I reached the lobby doors, I ran straight into a group of people.

My parents. Cecil.

And Maya, her fingers laced through his.

My father was holding up a stack of cash, waving it around grandly.

"Today's my son's birthday. We're renting out the whole restaurant!"

Maya laughed along.

"Today Cec is the king. Anyone who keeps him happy gets a two-hundred-dollar tip."

The waitstaff around them exploded with excitement.

I hung back where my parents couldn't see me, listening to the envy pour out around me.

"God, they spoil him rotten!"

"His girlfriend's gorgeous, family's loaded too. A real rich kid."

"What a happy family. They must have earned some serious good luck in a past life."

It hit me a beat too late.

Today was my birthday too.

And no one remembered.

My eyes dropped to my own wrist without meaning to.

A faded red string.

Last year, on my birthday, Maya had tied it on herself.

Back then she had sworn, so sure of it.

"Every birthday from now on, I'll be there with you, right to the very end."

The vow from back then was nothing but a joke now.

The instant our eyes met, the color drained from Maya's face.

She let go of Cecil's hand in a panic.

"Will..."

I didn't answer. I turned and walked away.

But I'd barely rounded the corner.

When a huge force slammed into me from behind, straight into my side.

It was Cecil.

I went down before I could catch myself.

My palm split open on the edge of a step, and blood came fast.

The pain broke me out in a cold sweat.

Hearing the commotion, my parents rushed to Cecil's side first to comfort him.

No one even glanced my way.

Cecil buried himself in our father's arms, sobbing like a wronged child.

"I only wanted to invite my brother to celebrate with us..."

"But he just threw himself down on his own and started screaming."

"Did I do something wrong? Is that why my brother would set me up like this..."

One breath, and up was down, black was white.

My parents' faces went dark.

My mother's hand came up and cracked across my face.

"So young and already pulling these filthy tricks, harming your own family!"

"Did everything you read rot straight out of your head?"

"I didn't."

I forced the words out through my teeth. "He ran into me."

"Enough! Cec was raised up his whole life, given everything he ever wanted."

"Why would he need to hurt himself? Just to frame gutter trash like you?"

My father jabbed a finger at my face, his whole expression thick with disappointment.

"You've got a good home and you won't come back to it. Out here playing the poor waiter, milking sympathy. Who are you trying to guilt-trip?"

"You disgraceful thing. Apologize to your brother. Now!"

I'd stopped expecting anything, and still my heart ached.

Cecil was the hope the whole family was propping up, so whatever he said was right.

And everything about me had some ugly motive behind it.

The restaurant owner, terrified of getting dragged into it, hurried over and snapped at me.

"This place can't hold someone as important as you."

"You're fired!"

Maya watched me, something complicated in her eyes.

In the end she just sighed.

"They're your elders. Just apologize."

Under the scorn and the sneers of every waiter there.

I clutched my bleeding hand and stumbled out like a dog kicked away from the feast.

Maya started to reach for me.

Then Cecil pulled her off to sing happy birthday.

I gritted my teeth and ran flat out to the admissions office. This was my last chance at Northgate.

Shaking, I pulled out the fifty-dollar review fee and pushed it toward the window.

My voice was earnest. "Ma'am, I'd like to request a review of my application information."

The clerk took the bill and shot me a look.

The next second, two security guards rushed me.

They pinned me against the wall.

"You've got the nerve to pass counterfeit cash? You want to go to prison?"

4: 4

My head buzzed, and my eyes stung and went hot with panic.

"Counterfeit?"

"That's impossible. This is my paycheck. I just got it!"

I fumbled all three hundred dollars out onto the counter.

The clerk said flatly that every bill was fake.

The guard's face went cold, and he marched me straight out the door.

"You're young, so we'll let it go this once."

"Do it again, and we'll turn it over to the police."

I ran back to the restaurant, pale with anger, and found the owner.

He just shrugged like it was nothing.

"Your parents swapped the money out. Said it was to toughen up your life skills."

Toughen up?

I started to laugh, and my whole face was wet with tears.

Their idea of toughening me up was to destroy everything I'd worked for, and I was supposed to be grateful for it?

I walked home like something that had already died.

The second Mom saw me, her face twisted into a sneer.

"Well, look who deigned to come back. Our little independent gentleman."

She smiled wide, gloating. "Now you see how dangerous the world out there really is."

"You're only safe when you're here with your family."

I put out my hand, numb.

"Give me my money back."

Dad slammed the table and shot to his feet.

"Money, money, money, that's all you think about."

"How did I ever raise such a greedy, ungrateful animal?"

"You ruined Cec's birthday party, come home without one word of apology, and open your mouth only to demand money."

With that, he shoved me straight out the door.

"Get out there and think about what you did. Don't come back until you know you were wrong."

"And in three days we're throwing Cec his party for acing the SATs. You are going to apologize to him in front of everyone."

"Otherwise, don't ever set foot through this door again."

I walked down the stairs with no expression on my face.

And there were Cecil and Maya, wrapped in each other's arms.

"Maya, that idea of yours was genius."

"Getting Mom to swap Will's paycheck for counterfeit bills like that."

Maya laughed, doting on him.

"That's our little secret. Don't tell William, or he'll throw another fit."

So it had been her idea.

The pain of it took my breath away.

Because she knew me, she knew exactly where to stick the knife to make it hurt most.

I held back the tears and left without a sound.

Passing the trash can, I snapped the red string off my wrist and threw it in.

Once I was out of the complex, I opened my hand.

The ID I'd taken back.

I logged in to the application page one more time, just before the deadline.

My finger hovered over the elite university, then paused. Without hesitating, I changed it to Northgate University.

More than a thousand miles away.

From now on, this family and Maya, I never wanted to see any of them again.

Once the submission went through, I let out a breath.

It felt like I'd come back to life.

At that same moment, a text came in from Maya.

【Don't be angry anymore. From now on I'll take time off to come see you and Cec all the time.】

【You've always been so capable, ever since you were little. You need to look out for your brother more.】

【For the party in three days, buy him a gift to smooth things over. If you're short on cash, I'll pay you back.】

I didn't answer. I opened the ticketing app instead.

I borrowed five hundred dollars from a classmate.

Dragging my suitcase, I headed straight for the station.

And in the exact instant the train began to move,

my phone lit up, message after message from Maya pouring in.