Chapter 3

A month went by.

I don't have a hair-loss problem. I just shed a few strands a day, like anyone else.

So the hair Bianca had been collecting still wasn't enough.

She was frantic, pacing circles around the dorm day after day.

I watched all of it, and I decided to give her an opening.

That morning, I stood in front of the mirror and ran a hand through my hair.

"Ugh, long hair is such a hassle. It's a pain to wash."

"I want to cut it short. Nice and easy."

Bianca's eyes lit up the second she heard it.

"Short hair sounds great!"

"Vinnie, your face is so small, short hair would look amazing on you!"

"I'll come with you! I know this really good salon!"

She was so eager, more excited than I was.

I smiled.

"Sure, come along then."

We went to a salon together.

Not the one that did hair extensions, of course.

The stylist snipped away and cut off my long hair.

When it was done, we walked out together.

We'd only gone a few hundred yards.

"Oh no, Vinnie, I left my phone at the salon. I'm going to run back and grab it!"

Bianca yelped.

Before I could say anything, she spun around and ran back.

I stood at the curb, one corner of my mouth curving up.

Grab her phone?

More like grab the hair I'd cut off.

Sure enough, when she came back out, her pocket was bulging.

One look and I knew she'd gotten it.

That night, I followed her to the same hair salon that specialized in extensions.

Watched her spend eight thousand.

She cut her own long hair short and had my hair worked in, strand by strand.

The job was actually pretty good.

You couldn't spot a single flaw from the outside.

Dark and glossy.

Bianca turned her head this way and that in front of the mirror, thrilled with herself.

She figured she had everything in place now.

Time to draw the knife on me.

That night, she sat down on the edge of my bed with red-rimmed eyes.

"Vinnie, I don't know if I'm overthinking this."

"Is there any chance I'm Bill, the little sister you lost?"

"Can we go get a DNA test? Please?"

"The moment I saw you, I felt so close to you! And I have so many of the habits that were unique to Bill!"

"I really don't think I'm wrong about this!"

She looked at me with wide, pleading eyes, her whole face full of hope.

I turned her down flat.

My tone was cold.

"You're overthinking it. There's no way you're my sister Bill."

"You're not like her."

Bianca panicked.

"How am I not like her?"

I hesitated a long while before answering, slow and reluctant.

"When my sister Bill was little... she had a bad habit."

"She always loved to sniff her own waste."

"No matter how the family tried to break her of it, she never stopped."

After I said it, I watched her face.

Bianca went white in an instant.

Her mouth twitched, an obvious wave of nausea.

She clapped a hand over it, almost throwing up.

But she forced it back down.

Bianca took a deep breath and put on a calm front.

"What a coincidence..."

"I... I have that habit too."

I looked at her with feigned surprise.

"How is that possible?"

"Hardly anyone has a habit like that, right?"

"It's true! I really do!"

Bianca rushed to prove it.

I kept the disbelief on my face, waiting to see how much further she'd go.

Sure enough, the next day, during the break between classes, in the public restroom of the campus building.

The women's room was always packed.

Bianca finished using the toilet and deliberately didn't flush.

She stood beside the stall, spending a long time psyching herself up.

Then.

She lowered her head and leaned in close...

A few girls happened to walk in right then.

And caught her in the middle of that stomach-turning scene.

"Ugh!"

Someone threw up on the spot.

"What are you doing!"

"That's disgusting!"

The girls ran out screaming.

Bianca straightened up, her face pale.

But there was a flicker of smugness in her eyes.

So what if she'd sniffed it?

As long as she could become the Swanson family's daughter.

A little disgust was nothing.