How Did Ruby'S Family Support Her In 'I Am Ruby Bridges'?

Mom and Dad have given me all their love. They've decorated a princess bedroom for me, where unlimited Barbie dolls await me there. Since I love bathing a lot, they've also sunk in a huge amount of money just to custom-make a bathtub for me. They keep telling my younger sister, Olivia Grant, to protect me forever. But when Olivia and I are taking a bath together, she accidentally chokes on the bathwater. That's when Mom goes nuts. She strangles me violently while roaring at me, "We thought you'd learn to love your sister as long as we treated you well! Who would've thought that you're an ingrate who tried to drown her?" I can only shake my head in alarm. But Mom quickly shoves me into the washing machine. "You like bathing that much, don't you? Well, you can bathe to your heart's content!" After that, Mom and Dad take Olivia out to play. What they fail to notice is that they've accidentally turned on the washing machine. Water soon fills the chamber, and yet I can't climb out of the washing machine at all. As I feel myself tumbling around with the dirty laundry, I can only open my eyes with great difficulty as I look at my parents, who have returned home once again. I don't want to take a bath anymore. Can Mom and Dad please stop getting mad at me?

Sandra, also known as Ruby, is a young women who meets a popular rock-star. She feels a strong connection with him even though she is engaged. As she progresses with both relationships her world is turned upside down. Both men in her life know the truth about who and what she really is. Once the truth is revealed she is now forced to pick not only a lover, but a life style. One where she lives amongst the supernatural, and the other as a normal woman who knows the truth but can never involve herself in their affairs. Which will she choose, and does she really have a choice in the matter as her role in all of this is bigger than she could imagine. Where does her heart belong, with her old life or her new one.

When I was three years old, I was picked on while scavenging dumpsters for recyclables, so I spent fifty cents to “hire” a pair of punk bikers to back me up. Little did I know that I had stumbled into the city’s most untouchable family. My adoptive mother was a fearless street queen no one in the elite circle dared cross, and my adoptive father was the legendary prince of the underground street-racing world. She taught me how to stand my ground, while he taught me how to own the streets. That fifty-cent “protection fee” bought me eighteen years of absolute security. Later, my biological parents found me, and I learned I was the real daughter of the billionaire Sedgewick family. But on the day I returned home, the fake daughter refused to let me inside. She looked down at me with a sneer and told me to use the back door instead. I stayed where I was. My older brother glared at me. “It’s just the back door. Don’t push your luck. You should be grateful Jenna is even willing to acknowledge you.” Meanwhile, my younger brother scoffed, his face twisted with disdain. “How dare a lowlife like you give my sister attitude? Use the back door!” I turned to my biological parents, but they merely said, “Jenna has a temper. She’s upset you came back, so just let her have this. Nothing matters more than keeping the family together.” I looked at the confrontational faces before me without any expression, then took out my phone and typed a message. [Mom, Dad, the Sedgewick family crossed the line. Come and handle it now.]

Our family is planning a ski trip at a luxury resort. However, my mother gives my snow-view room to my adoptive sister and makes me, her biological daughter, stay in the storage room. I'm about to protest when my father and brother accuse me of being selfish. "We've always given Madie the best of everything; she won't be able to sleep in any other room." "Madie is our family—she's the one who's lived with us this whole time. We're a family, so we have to stay together." I'm the one who shares their blood, yet they consider me an outsider. If that's the case, they can go on vacation without me. I board a cruise and travel the world for a month without ever going home. That's when they panic.

The day our SAT scores came out, my boyfriend Wesley Shaw and I were on the high-speed train home from our graduation trip. My foster sister, Cassidy Richards, had come with us. Cassidy wanted the window seat, so Wesley sat beside her. That left me alone for the entire ride. "Daphne, Cassidy and I need to talk about college and what we're planning to major in. You probably didn't score that well anyway. Just sit over there and watch something." They spent the whole ride laughing and talking, never once giving me a chance to join the conversation. So much for the graduation trip Wesley had been promising me for the past three years. At 10 a.m., our SAT scores finally appeared online. Cassidy threw her arms around Wesley. "We did it! With scores like these, Westhaven University is practically guaranteed. We can apply to any program we want!" Wesley hugged her back with a grin. "Check the family group chat. Everyone's already congratulating us." From the seat behind them, I listened as they played a voice message from my parents. "Wesley, Cass, you both did so well! We're so proud of you!" Wesley's parents chimed in next. I lowered my head and opened the chatting app. I wasn't even in the family group chat, and no one had bothered to ask about my score. It didn't matter. They had already chosen the future they wanted. Now, it was time for me to start building mine.

I was in my mate Zane’s study, dropping off an invitation for the Alliance gala, when his tablet lit up. A private group chat. “Party tonight at the Alliance’s best restaurant to celebrate Vivienne passing the trials.” Confused, I tapped open the group. There were only four people in it. My own parents, the pack’s Alpha Hector and Luna Freda. My fated mate Zane, the future Alpha. And Vivienne, my adopted sister. The Omega orphan I’d naively rescued years ago. My mother typed: “Good thing Hector used his council connections to get Vivienne the spot in the Alliance’s strategy department. Harper’s already strong enough. This is more important for Vivienne.” Zane replied instantly: “I wish Vivienne were my mate. She’s the one who needs an Alpha’s protection, not Harper. The Moon Goddess must have made a mistake.” I stared at the screen. The blood drained from my body. To my own parents and my mate, I was already an outsider. My strength and independence had become their excuse to shamelessly favor someone else.