Chapter 3

Mom went completely silent.

Mrs. Gable sounded confused. "Nova said you might not believe her, so she asked me to call. I think the poor girl just really wanted to hear you praise her."

Mom's face instantly turned bright red.

After hanging up, Mom realized I still hadn't come home to apologize.

She dialed my number.

But a boy's voice answered the call.

"Hello?"

Mom's eyebrows knitted together. "Who is this? Where is Nova?"

The line went dead instantly.

Only then did I remember that I had sold my smartwatch to my classmate, Benny.

The watch was an old hand-me-down from Chloe. I sold it for a hundred dollars, which I spent entirely on a bouquet of flowers for Mom's birthday.

But Mom hadn't even looked at them. She said I was wasting money.

Yet, when Chloe handed her a single wild dandelion, Mom called her the sweetest angel in the world.

As for why Benny hung up so quickly—it was because Mom had gone to the school and threatened my classmates.

"None of you failing kids are allowed to play with Nova! If her grades drop because of you, I'll hold you responsible!"

After that, nobody dared to talk to me.

I had to clean the boys' restrooms for two weeks just to get Benny to buy that watch from me.

Dad looked out the window, frowning.

"It's about to pour. Where could Nova have gone?"

Mom squeezed back into the living room, dismissing it.

"Don't worry about her. She knows the way. Once she gets wet, she'll come crawling back."

This was the first time Mom had stepped near the sunroom since I was banished there.

She immediately shivered.

"Why is it so freezing in here compared to the rest of the house?"

A flicker of awkwardness crossed her face.

She was probably remembering my hands, which were always red and swollen from the cold.

Back then, she had claimed I got them from playing outside too much and said it would teach me a lesson.

The sunroom was piled with boxes of books. The most prominent thing was a family portrait resting on top of them.

Mom and Dad were holding Chloe in the middle, smiling with pure adoration.

I was barely in the frame, trying to squeeze my head in, looking like I was on the verge of tears.

Mom put on a jacket and went downstairs to look around the block. She called my name, her tone unusually soft.

She ran into Mr. Henderson, who was walking his dog. "I've been out here for an hour, Eleanor. I haven't seen Nova walk out of the building."

Frustrated, Mom went back upstairs and started complaining to Dad.

"Nova is getting stranger and stranger as she grows up. Who would have thought she actually got a 100%?"

"I actually went down to look for her, but Mr. Henderson said she never even left. She must be hiding somewhere in the house, watching us worry and laughing to herself."

Mom was right.

I was indeed in the house. And watching them look for me did bring me a strange sense of comfort.

Once, Chloe had hidden herself. Mom and Dad searched for a whole day, only for Chloe to walk out of the police station eating french fries and drinking soda.

I had tried to copy her and hid, but nobody noticed I was gone for an entire day.

It was only when my teacher called Mom that she finally noticed. Mom was so angry she slammed the kitchen table.

Terrified, I had crawled out of the closet.

It was so simple, yet they could never find me.

I looked at my cold, darkening body wedged behind the outdoor AC compressor unit just outside the sunroom window.

It really was the ultimate hiding spot.

I wondered how long it would take Mom and Dad to find me this time.