Sacrificed for My Twin's Sick Obsession

I felt absolutely wrecked after fighting for my life on the toilet. My legs trembled as I leaned against the wall and shuffled out of the restroom.

The group of women approached me with faux expressions of concern.

"Don't blame us for what we did, Clay," Mom said while looking at me apologetically. "Cam's going to make a fuss again tonight if he's unable to get into either Holwille University or Basillian University because of you. Be good and let Cam have his way."

"If you can't get into a good college, I'll take care of you, Clay," my sister, Cassandra Silva, said nonchalantly.

My childhood friend, Rebecca Ellis, said softly and comfortingly, "She's right. Besides, you have such good results. You can just retake it next year."

I worked myself to the bone for the past 18 years because of my twin, Camden Silva's, so-called illness. Meanwhile, Mom, Cassandra, and Rebecca did everything that they could to drag me down.

I had no desire to say another word to them. I turned around and prepared to leave.

Mom grabbed me and exclaimed, "Cam hasn't come out yet! Let's wait for him together."

They didn't notice how pale my lips were or how I was clutching my stomach that was twisting in pain. Their thoughts were filled with nothing but Camden at all times.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the exam.

Camden had a miserable look on his face when he emerged from the exam hall.

"You left the hall so soon, Clay. You must have handed in your paper early. I knew it. I can never win against you, Clay."

His gaze strayed toward a big tree that was nearby before he continued, "If that's the case, I might as well just ram my head against that tree and be done with it. I don't want to humiliate myself when the provincial exam results are released."

Mom immediately hugged Camden and exclaimed, "Why would you think that, Cam?"

"She's right. Clay didn't do better than you at all," Cassandra chimed in with a smile. "He must have eaten something bad in the morning because he ran out of the hall ten minutes after the exam started. He was sitting on the toilet for an entire hour."

Camden looked at them. "You're not lying to me, are you?" he asked warily.

Rebecca held her hands up in an exaggerated manner. "I swear that I'm not lying to you. Besides, you're only allowed to hand in your paper 30 minutes before the end of the exam.

"Clay handed in his paper ten minutes after the exam started. He broke the rules, so he wouldn't be allowed to reenter the hall to finish his test even if he wanted to."

I watched them as they used the fact that they ruined my SAT to comfort Camden.

Although my heart had died a long time ago, it still throbbed painfully.

A long time passed before they finally noticed that I was still there.

"Go ahead and tell Cam what happened, Clay. We're right, aren't we?"

As I looked at their expectant gazes, I said, "Yes. I didn't answer a single question on the test."

Joy sparkled in Camden's eyes.

"Since I'm going to get zero on my reading and writing test, my total score will still be low even if I take the other tests. I'm going to skip the other tests."

"Are you being serious, Clay?" Camden asked.

"Yes," I answered, nodding solemnly.