Swapped at the SATs

I died on Christmas Eve, in the middle of a packed street.Snow kept falling, slow and steady, until it buried me.Just minutes before, I was outside in rags, watching my "family" laugh through their holiday dinner.That's when I heard it—the truth.I wasn't their daughter.I never looked like Amelia, but Mom always said we were fraternal twins. I believed her.Turns out, they pulled me from an orphanage because the System told them to—just so they could steal my future when the SATs hit.I was always top of my class. But thanks to them, I tanked. Amelia came out shining, ranked first in the city.Ivy League scouts and local reporters wouldn't stop calling.I was supposed to be the school's Ivy League pick. But the second my score tanked, it blew up online.Every feed was flooded with people calling me a fraud.My parents doubled down, told reporters I'd been cheating for years. Said I got caught senior year.Colleges dropped me instantly.Then they said I'd shamed the fam

I added, all soft and shaky, "I really want to help out, but my body's just not holding up. If I push it, I might have to take medical leave like the teacher warned... and it's such an important year. I don't even know if I'll do okay on the SATs..."Last time, I couldn't live in the dorms. Had to come home daily just to cook for them. I even packed balanced meals for Amelia while I ate leftovers. Still, I studied like crazy—because it was the only shot I had.I let a few tears slip, lifted my pale face, and hit them with the saddest look I could pull off.Mom jumped in fast. "Don't worry about the house. We'll handle it. Just focus on getting better and studying. Starting now, you'll stay at school. I'll make you something nice on the weekends."I gave her a small, guilty nod.Inside? I was laughing.They weren't helping me—they just wanted to dump me at school. Like a couple of weekend meals could buy off my future?No chance. Everything you stole from me last time—I'm taking

Just like last time, with my help Amelia and I landed second and first in the grade.But this time, I was "too sick" to do chores—so they all landed on her.She even had to stay up half the night simmering my so-called special broth. If she refused, no food for her. Mom would smile and call it a diet.At school, I kept piling it on. Playing the weak card, I sent her running errands off campus, left her standing in the cold or blazing sun waiting for me.Her glare could've sliced me open. If she didn't still need me, she'd have snapped by now.But Amelia—this is nothing. I was your servant for eighteen years.In elementary school, you made me crawl so you could ride me like a horse. You dumped colored pens in my food.In middle school, you turned the whole class against me. Cut my hair with scissors, mocked my scars, accused me of stealing. When a senior helped me and I wrote him a thank-you note, you spread it around, sneering that I was a nobody chasing out of my league.Fresh

That's enough. Mom, Dad—you've done your part. Now stay out of my life.I picked Harven University for me. Not for Julian. Best program, best shot at my future. But if they wanted to believe it was about him? Whatever.They wouldn't shut up about "catching" him.They swore Julian and Amelia had some middle school fling. Said it fizzled because they were too young and Amelia couldn't keep her grades up.Their genius plan? Act like Amelia, tug on his nostalgia.When I first saw Julian, his eyes lit up. Yeah—he thought I was her.I dropped my gaze and played along. Couldn't bring them down yet. Not time.***Once school started, I figured I wouldn't see Julian much—we were in different majors and campus was massive.But nope. He popped up everywhere.Dining hall? Suddenly there.After gym workout? Handing me water.Library? Sitting right across from me.Hard to miss the pattern—he thought I was Amelia and kept orbiting me. In my past life, Amelia would've milked it. Too bad I

I'd been too soft. I never thought they'd sink this low. Too soft, too blind.***I lay there, wrists burning from the ropes, too tight to even twitch. My phone was way out of reach. No one in this house would help me. I felt like a fish on land, just waiting to die.The doorknob turned. I shut my eyes, bracing for the worst."Evelina, I'm here to get you out."I opened them. A frail woman stood there—hair a mess, body all bones. Her robe slipped off her shoulder, showing bruises and ugly marks on her neck, cuts and scars running down her arms and legs.My own face stared back at me.Amelia.She didn't say much, just knelt down and sliced the ropes with a small knife."All these years, I was just their puppet," she whispered. "I stopped even knowing what I was doing, if it was wrong. But after they threw me out, after I was digging through trash for food... that's when I finally saw how worthless their love really was."She sighed, limping down to cut the ropes at my ankles.