Chapter 3

Fiona looked at Mom, Dad, and George like she was looking at a group of monkeys.

How dare she do that?

My parents and George were all geniuses! Prodigies! I was very proud of them and I refused to let anyone look down on them!

I rushed forward, trying to push Fiona away. However, Mom spoke up just then.

"Are you hungry, Fiona? Here, have some cookies…"

But Mom said that these cookies were for me!

Although I couldn't eat them anymore… Still, how could she reward the bad student who always bullied me at school?

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.

It was as if there was a massive hole in my heart, and blood wouldn't stop pouring out.

Someone next to Fiona suddenly said, "Why would Fiona want your cookies? Your crazy daughter would just get all upset and lie that Fiona was bullying her again!"

Fiona's dad, Bruce Dickson, was the headmaster of our junior high school. Now, he was standing in front of her, shielding her from Mom with a look of disdain on his face. He didn't look pleased.

It was the same exact look he used to threaten me with when I said that Fiona had been bullying me in school. He said that he was going to kick me out of the school back then.

Mom apologized instead, to my shock and horror.

"I'm sorry," she had said. "It's all because that brat is a huge liar!"

Then Mom removed the turquoise amulet from around her neck and pressed it into Fiona's hand.

"Take this necklace as my way of making it up to you. That brat has been eyeing it for a very long time. You can have it instead. Make her jealous of you all you want!"

I glared at the turquoise amulet that Mom was now putting around Fiona's neck.

The amulet had been Grandma's. Grandma gave it to Mom, and Mom also said that she would give it to me next time. The turquoise amulet was supposed to bring good luck and also protect the wearer from harm for the rest of their lives.

But I was dead now, and the amulet was no longer mine.

Mom's love disappeared too.

Mr. Dickson scoffed coldly again and said, "Your daughter is nothing but a troublemaker! How dare she accuse me of playing favorites? I won't let this go if you don't make a public apology about it!"

Mom and Dad, who were still furious with me, immediately posted on all of their social media accounts, painting me as a jealous bitch who framed her deskmate for no good reason.

They then said they were good parents who stood only for the truth. It was I who didn't know any better and turned out to be a rotten child.

At once, everyone in their social circle, including my relatives, began scolding and insulting me.

"I knew it. Her parents are such capable people, but she's the black sheep of the family. She's just rotten on the inside!"

"I could tell since she was a baby that she wasn't good news! Nothing good will ever come out of her!"

Suddenly, I felt suffocated again.

However, Mom and Dad continued playing with Fiona like nothing bad had just happened.

They always told me they were busy with work, but now they were happily snorkeling with Fiona, looking at the corals and tropical fish underwater.

George always told me that he hated stupid people, but he was patiently teaching Fiona how to surf.

And after Fiona got tired, she lay curled up on Mom's lap to nap.

She even put on a show and said, "You're so good to me, Mrs. Johnston! I'm sure that if my mom was still alive, she'd be just like you…"

Mom immediately hugged her with a tender look in her eyes. "You can be my daughter instead and call me 'Mom'!"

Then, what was I?

Dad grinned as he watched Mom and Fiona. "Maybe Fiona could stay with us for a while. Let me see which room would do—"

George suggested, "Tell that idiot to give up her room and then send her off to boot camp instead. She won't be able to cause any trouble for Fiona, then!"

I listened with my own ears as my own family planned to throw me out and replace me with my bully.

Over the next five days, none of them ever brought my name up again.

One day, one of our neighbors finally called Dad.

"Mr. Johnston, I've already called the police. There's a terrible stench coming from your house. It smells like rotting flesh. Or a dead body."