Todos os capítulos de The Forgotten One in the Frame: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

I glanced down at the pomegranate rinds filling my hands, and a laugh escaped me. I tossed them into the trash, pulled out my phone, and booked a train ticket to Pravia for three days later. Mom was right. I'd never liked theme parks. But it wasn't the noise that bothered me. It was the fact that my entire family had once left me behind at one. I was seven years old when Mom took us to a theme park. Before we went inside, she'd reminded us over and over to stay close to the grown-ups and behave. I did as I was told and held on to her hand. But as soon as we entered the park, Mitchell spotted the parade and took off into the crowd. Mom rushed after him, and I stumbled as she pulled me along. Then, her hand slipped from mine, and the crowd swallowed me up. I sat there sobbing until a park employee finally found me and took me to a waiting room. They kept making announcements over the loudspeaker, but no one came for me. Mom didn't come back for me until evening, when she fina

That evening, I came home with the money I'd made at work. Mom was crouched beside Mitchell's backpack, packing for his trip. As she went, she reminded him, "Looks like it's going to be really sunny these next few days. Make sure you reapply your sunscreen every two hours."Then, she told Meredith, "Mer, keep an eye on your brother. It'll be crowded, so make sure he doesn't get shoved around."Meredith nodded and stuffed her backpack with two big bags of Mitchell's favorite snacks. "Don't worry, Mom. I've got him covered. I won't let anything happen to him."Meanwhile, Mitchell sat cross-legged on his bed. His gaze wandered around the room before settling on the baseball cap on my desk. "Mom, that's a pretty cool hat. I'd look great in pictures wearing it."Without even looking up, Mom grabbed the cap and stuffed it into his backpack. "Maxwell, you're not going anyway. Mitchell can borrow it for the trip."I opened my mouth to say something, then thought better of it. I was

The next day, the ride home was unusually quiet.Mitchell leaned against the window, his thumbs flying across his phone as he messaged a classmate to find out who'd gotten the highest SAT score in the state that year.Seconds later, his classmate sent back a screenshot. The post read, "Maxwell Simmons of Central High had earned a 1590 on the SAT and been accepted into University of Pravia as the state's top scorer."Mitchell went pale as he quietly deleted the conversation. He didn't dare to breathe a word about what he'd seen. Meredith was sitting in the front passenger seat, already preparing to give me an earful. But when she pulled up our messages to text me, she discovered I'd blocked her. Lavinia had gone out of her way to drive past Central High School. As they drove past the school gates, they saw an enormous banner. It was stretched across the front of the school, and its gold lettering was impossible to miss. "Congratulations to Central High senior Maxwell Simmons,

The moment my words struck a nerve, Meredith flew into a rage. She grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the exit. "Stop running your mouth! You're coming home with me, and we're going to talk about this!"Students walking past the library gathered around when they saw what was happening. A few guys even stepped in between us. "Hey! What are you doing?" one of them barked. "We knew something was up with you two! And now you're trying to drag him off campus? Where's security? Someone get them out of here!"The other students gathered around me, shielding me from Lavinia and Meredith as they watched the two of them warily.The kindness of these strangers overwhelmed me. A lump rose in my throat, and my eyes stung with unshed tears.So it turned out that strangers who didn't even know me knew how to protect me. But my own family had become a burden I could no longer bear. Before long, security showed up and escorted Lavinia and Meredith off campus. With the commotion