Chapter 2

"Mom, that's not what I meant at all!"

"I was just happy about my hard work paying off. I wanted to share that joy with you guys!"

Mom scoffed. "Happy? What's there for me to be happy about? That money is yours, not mine! It's not like you're giving it all to me!"

"You just wanted to show off!"

"You did it on purpose to make your sister feel bad!"

"You wanted us to say how great you are and how useless she is!"

"You’ve always been like this, competing with her your whole life. You love flaunting everything, terrified someone won't notice you!"

My sister, Amber, kept her head buried in her phone the entire time, not sparing us a single glance.

Amber hadn't even uttered a word, yet Mom was already furiously fighting battles on her behalf.

It had always been like this. Back in school, whenever I brought home an A and Amber got a C, Mom would scream at me. She claimed I deliberately showed off my report card just to make my sister miserable. She called me selfish for not tutoring her instead of focusing on my own grades.

After that, I stopped bringing my test papers home. Whenever a parent's signature was required, I forged it myself, terrified of upsetting Mom again.

Later, when teachers recommended me for academic competitions, Mom refused to let me go if there was an entry fee.

"Outshining your sister in class isn't enough? You have to go win trophies too? Terrified the neighbors won't know you're smarter than her?"

"Why is your heart so dark?!"

Shaking myself out of the memories, I looked at Mom's flushed, angry face. I couldn't comprehend why my achievements could never be a source of pride for her.

I hadn't tried to show off. I just wanted to share good news, but in her eyes, it was an evil, premeditated attack on Amber.

My dad, who had been sitting quietly on the couch, finally looked up. "Chloe, apologize to your mother right now!"

"It's the holidays! Do you have to ruin everyone's mood to be happy?!"

I bit my lower lip so hard it bled. "Mom, I really didn't mean it that way..."

Mom cut me off with a wave of her hand. "Enough, I don't want to hear it. Go book the restaurant. I already told everyone on SnapChat, and I won't lose face. You're paying."

With that, she stormed into her bedroom.