Bound to My Name, Doomed by My Brush

By the time school let out, rain was coming down in sheets.

A Rolls-Royce waited by the curb, the family chauffeur standing beside it with an umbrella as my brother, Jared Hogan, approached.

Jared glanced back at me and waved with a smug smile. "Sorry, Riley. There's only room for one. You'll have to take the bus. Mom and Dad said the exercise would do you good."

I stood in the pouring rain for 40 minutes, waiting for the bus. By the time I got home, I was soaked to the bone.

The dining table was covered with an elaborate feast—foie gras, lobster, black truffle pasta, and an expensive bottle of wine.

Jared had already changed into a fresh set of designer loungewear. He sat at the table while my mother, Mia Corey, fussed over him, piling food onto his plate.

"Eat up, Jared. You have that assessment tomorrow. You need all the brainpower you can get."

I stood dripping in the foyer. Not one of them even looked my way.

I turned toward the stairs, but my father, Chris Hogan's, voice stopped me cold.

"Not so fast." He set down his wineglass, his expression as indifferent as ever.

"I hear you've been using Jared's name to impress people at school. What makes you think you have anything to do with Riley Hogan, Elmland High's star student?

"Just because you happen to share his name doesn't mean you get to take credit for his achievements. Have you no shame?"

I met his gaze. "I've never taken credit for anyone else's accomplishments."

Dad scoffed and waved me away.

Back in my room, I peeled off my soaked clothes and pulled out my sketchbook.

My early-admission portfolio for Westbridge Academy of Art still needed three centerpiece works. I couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Someone knocked on my bedroom door at 2:00 am.

Jared stood in the doorway in a silk robe, his hands tucked into his pockets and a smug look on his face.

"Give it up, Riley. Mom and Dad may not know, but I do.

"You're the Riley Hogan who's dominated Elmland High's STEM rankings for the past three years, aren't you? You've been hiding behind that artsy slacker act so you can ace the college entrance exams and humiliate me."

He let out a mocking laugh.

"Too bad my system has already locked onto your name. From now on, your luck and every point you earn will automatically become mine.

"So work as hard as you want. It won't change a thing. You were born to be my stepping-stone."

I stared at his idiotic face, then calmly shut the door.

So his system had locked onto my name?

What Jared didn't know was that it always copied the highest score earned by anyone with that name. Sure, that little trick might work for now.

But the Riley Hogan who had ruled Elmland High's STEM rankings for three years was a girl, and she'd already accepted early admission to Oaklum University. She wouldn't even be taking the college entrance exams.

When exam day came, and the system searched every database for a Riley Hogan, there would be only one candidate left.

Me, the art student who barely knew a thing about academics.