Chapter 3

The apartment was quiet that night. I made myself a salad and sat at the desk, eating slowly.

My phone screen lit up with a text from Mom: [Eloise, your brother has a short temper. Don't take it to heart. Clarissa kept bringing up how you didn't come today. She feels bad too. Come home tomorrow so we can all have dinner together. Don't give outsiders something to laugh at.]

I stared at the screen and pushed the lettuce around my bowl with my fork.

Outsiders, she had said. In this family, I was the outsider.

I replied: [I have something at school tomorrow. I'm not coming.]

Mom did not reply again.

…

The next day, I went to the train station and bought a coach ticket to Tamberlin. Check-in at the Tamberlin campus started three days earlier than at Kelderwick. I did not tell anyone.

After buying the ticket, I picked up a hot pretzel from a street cart. I had only taken one bite when Aiden called, and I answered.

"Where are you?" He sounded tired.

"Out."

"I stopped by your apartment. You weren't there." He paused, and his tone softened a little.

"Eloise, I was out of line yesterday. But you shouldn't have skipped the family dinner either. Your dad's furious. He says you've forgotten how to behave."

I looked at the warm pretzel in my hand. "Are you done?"

Aiden clearly had not expected me to be this cold, and his breathing grew heavier. "How long are you going to keep this up?"

"I'm not keeping anything up," I said calmly. "I just figured that since you're all one happy family, there was no reason for me to go and spoil it."

Aiden's voice turned cold.

"What do you mean, one happy family? Eloise, do you think we all owe you something? Clarissa lost both her parents, and your dad adopted her. What's wrong with him looking out for her a little more? Do you really have to fight an orphan for attention?"

An orphan, he had said. It was true that Clarissa was an orphan, but ever since she joined the family, I, the biological daughter, had been living more like an orphan than she ever had.

"I'm done fighting," I said.

Aiden froze. "What did you say?"

"I said I'm done fighting." I finished the last bite of pretzel and wiped my hands.

"Aiden, from now on, whatever Clarissa needs, just give it to her. You don't have to use me as an excuse anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean?" A trace of panic crept into his voice, but arrogance quickly covered it.

"Eloise, don't try to threaten me with that. You're checking in at Kelderwick in a few days, so you'd better get your attitude in check. I don't have time to keep coddling you."

I smiled. "Okay."

After hanging up, I blocked his number.

Back at the apartment, I packed the last of my things. The room was bare, just like my life over the past three years. I set the key on the desk and walked out without looking back.

On the way to the train station, I got a text from Clarissa. It was a screenshot of a plane ticket.

[Eloise, Aiden booked me a first-class ticket! He said the train would be too tiring for me. Did you get your ticket yet? Want me to ask Aiden to upgrade yours too?]

The words on the screen did not stir a thing in me. I replied: [No thanks. Have a safe trip.]

Then I blocked her too.

The boarding announcement for my train came over the speakers. I picked up my broken suitcase, still wrapped in tape, and walked through the ticket gate.