Top Score, Bottom Morals

Three days before the SAT, a car slammed into me. My right leg was ruined.

Govind stood beside my hospital bed and said, "I set it up."

He pointed at the cast on my leg and smiled. "You upset Yvette. It's just a broken leg. Better that than watching her cry."

I stared at him, stunned, then dug my nails into his arm hard enough to draw blood.

He shoved me off without a care. Then he patted my head like he always used to.

"Now I get why your parents dumped you at that children's home. With an attitude like yours, you were never gonna be as lovable as Yvette."

Yvette was my older sister.

Fifteen years ago, I got hurt saving Yvette from a speeding car.

She cried to our parents and claimed I'd pushed her.

That same night, bruised and bleeding, I was dumped at a children's home.

When I'd already given up on everything, Govind showed up and promised he'd protect me for the rest of my life.

And now, for her, he was destroying me with his own hands.

It felt like a hand was crushing my throat. Bitter nausea climbed up my chest, and I couldn't even cry anymore.

Govind calmly wiped the blood off his arm. "A few days ago, you fought with Yvette. Her depression got worse again. She couldn't even finish her practice tests. Jovie, if you'd just behaved, would this have happened?"

My whole body trembled. Pain tore through my broken leg, but it still didn't compare to the ice spreading through my chest.

"So you decided to ruin my SAT?"

Govind tipped his head at me, completely guiltless. "I'm protecting you."

Then he reached over and ruffled my hair like he always used to.

That hand used to hold a flashlight over my books during late nights at the children's home.

Now it rested on my head while he said the cruelest things I'd ever heard.

"With a broken leg, you can't take the SAT. Yvette can become the city's top scorer without pressure. Once she's happy again, she'll stop hurting herself over her depression. Your parents won't dump their anger on you either. One sacrificed test for your family's peace. If you'd just be good, wouldn't that be better?"

Be good.

That's what everyone told me my whole life.

The day my parents left me at the children's home, my mom cried and said, "Jovie, be good. We'll come back for you in a few days."

Fifteen years went by.

They never came back.

When kids bullied me at school, the teacher said, "Be good. Don't start trouble. Why are they only targeting you?"

Even after I got into Ridgefield High, my dad only said, "Govind will cover your tuition. Be good. Don't make trouble for him."

I'd been good for fifteen years.

And the person I trusted most shattered my leg.

"You said you'd protect me for life!"

The tears finally fell. I struggled to sit up, but my broken leg shifted, and the pain curled my whole body in on itself.

"You said it! You promised you'd get me out of that hellhole!"

Govind just stood there, looking at me with those same gentle eyes.

Gentle.

Strange.

Disgusting.

"What gives you the right, Govind Swinton?" I screamed, grabbing his arm hard enough for my nails to dig into his skin. "What gives you the right to decide my life? To ruin my SAT?"

He frowned and shook me off.

My hand slipped from his arm and dropped weakly onto the bed.

"Jovie, calm down. Getting emotional won't help you heal."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but then his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen and smiled.

A kind of softness I'd never seen before.

He turned and walked out of the room, his voice low and gentle.

"Yvette, be good. Don't cry. I'm here... Yeah, it's handled. Just focus on studying."