Chapter 2

Nobody seemed to notice the change in my mood.

After Zane finished saying his piece, everyone seemed to take it as the end of the matter. They assumed I should know better than to keep dwelling on it.

My family soon returned to their meal as if nothing had happened, and before long, Zane's bowl was piled high with food.

Anything involving Zane seemed to turn into a competition between Mom and Dad, each trying to outdo the other.

"Zane, eat the meat I cooked for you. Your dad cooked his."

"Zane, don't listen to your mom. Hers is still half raw. You'll get sick if you eat that."

They kept calling his name. Sometimes, they'd be talking with food in their mouths, and for a split second, I'd hear it wrong and think they were calling me.

But whenever I looked up, my parents weren't even looking at me.

Zane's name used to be James.

When Mom and Dad divorced, Mom would rather have walked away with nothing than let Zane keep Dad's family name. She insisted that his last name be changed to hers.

The two of them ended up in a huge fight outside the courthouse.

I was still little then. I tried to pull them apart as I shouted, "Mom, I'll take your last name. Change mine instead. Please stop fighting."

Mom pulled away from me impatiently. "I don't want you to take my last name."

I was stunned as she shoved me onto the ground.

In the end, it was only when Zane started crying from fear that they finally backed down. They decided to let him keep Dad's last name, but took Mom's last name and used it as his given name instead.

That was how my brother became Zane Powell, a name that seemed to carry all the love and favoritism my parents had for him.

After dinner, Mom put an arm around Zane's shoulders and said to me, "He's switching dorms. Your dad's a man, so he won't be much help packing. I need to help him. You can take the bus to school by yourself tomorrow."

I called after her. "Mom, you still haven't paid my tuition for this year."

Mom didn't even turn around to look at me. She said, "I've already paid Zane's tuition. Your dad can pay yours."

Dad glared at her. "You even have to beat me to this? I was supposed to pay for Zane's."

He transferred the money to me reluctantly, then looked at me suspiciously. "With how slow and stubborn you are, your grades probably aren't anything to brag about either, huh? Can you even get into college? Don't waste the money your mom and I worked so hard to earn, okay?"

I nodded, my expression blank.

I was ranked in the top three in my grade. Every one of my classmates' parents knew about that. The only ones who didn't were my own parents.

They hadn't cared about me before.

They didn't need to start caring now.