Chapter 4

The Fourth of July holiday soon came around. I spotted Dad's car as soon as I walked out of school.

I waited there for a while, and sure enough, Mom, Dad, and Zane soon came out together.

Mom was carrying Zane's clothes for him to change into at home, while Dad had his backpack over his shoulder.

They'd been laughing and talking, but the moment they spotted me, all three of them went quiet.

Mom stood by the car door, clearly on guard. "You like reading, so just go to the bookstore over the holiday. You can't swim, so it's not safe for you to go to the beach."

I glanced at her, then at Dad, who still hadn't unlocked the car, finding the situation ridiculous.

They thought I'd come to ruin their upcoming family trip.

I said, "I just want my living expenses. What am I supposed to eat if you leave?"

Mom exhaled in relief. She rummaged through her bag before tugging on Dad's arm. "Jim, do you have any cash? Give him some. I don't have money on me, and my phone died."

Dad didn't budge. He retorted, "You should be the one taking care of him. Why should I pay for him? You keep dumping his expenses and problems on me. Can you stop being such an asshole?"

I slowly clenched the bills in my hand, my heart breaking at the same time.

Annoyed, Mom grabbed Dad, accidentally pulling Zane's backpack off his shoulder. The zipper came undone, revealing a thick stack of 100-dollar bills.

When Zane saw me staring at the money in his backpack, he immediately picked it up and hugged it protectively against his chest. "Mom gave me this because my grades improved. It's not yours! Don't even think about taking my money!"

"Alright, Dane. Just go home for now. I'll charge my phone and transfer the money to you later," Mom quickly said.

I asked, "He improved? By how much?"

Dad announced proudly, "A few points! Every point on the SAT can put him ahead of thousands of other students! Zane just beat out 10,000 people. Of course we have to reward him."

So just like that, they rewarded him with 2,000 dollars?

I found it ridiculous.

The juniors' exams had been so easy this time that even the seniors had heard about it. The average score had gone up quite a bit. Zane's score had barely improved, which actually meant he'd done worse than before.

I just didn't believe that Mom, who had been to college herself, couldn't see that from the score report.

This was no different from all the times she'd favored Zane. If she wanted to give him money, she'd find a reason to do so. It didn't matter if that reason made any sense.

Mom looked at me impatiently. "Enough, Dane. Stop sulking. I already asked your classmates. Your score dropped this time. If there are rewards, there will be punishments too. Since you're so hung up on this, why don't you pay a 3,000 dollars fine first?"

I almost laughed.

The math paper had been brutally difficult this time, yet I'd only lost a few points overall. It was enough for Mr. Dunn to praise me for three days straight.

Yet in my parents' eyes, I was still a failure.

"You knew how much my score had changed. But do you know how much I scored?"

Mom was unbothered. "Your classmate told me, but I was in a hurry, so I didn't hear. Anyway, that's not the point. We're heading to the airport now. We're done talking. You little freeloader, I'll transfer the money to you. Happy now?"

The next day, Mom still hadn't sent me my living expenses.

I texted her, but she didn't reply.

She did, however, have time to edit photos of Zane and post them on social media.

I texted Dad too, but he just told me to ask Mom.

I'd long since gotten used to things like this, yet the sense of being unwanted and passed off between them still managed to hurt.

Every Sunday night before the start of a new school week, they would call each other to make sure Zane had enough money for school.

Whenever one of them had to go out of town for work, they would reluctantly send Zane to stay with the other for a few days, worried that Zane wouldn't eat well or sleep well on his own.

It wasn't that they had bad memories or were irresponsible.

They just didn't love me.