Author's Note: As far back as I can remember, my mother spoiled me rotten while being incredibly strict with my sister. She bought me the prettiest dresses and enrolled my sister in the most expensive SAT prep classes. She told me I was going to be a star and didn't need to waste time on useless things like studying. But behind my back, she told my sister: "You need to study hard so you can make something of yourself. Your sister is just a pretty idiot. She’ll spend her whole life in the palm of my hand, making money for me." When I was little, the media called me a prodigy child star. Surely, I couldn't be that much of an idiot, right? 01 My entire childhood was spent bouncing between movie sets and commercial shoots. Later on, the acting gigs gradually dried up. In high school, I finally returned to a normal campus. The moment I walked into the classroom, a lot of people recognized me. "Isn't that Chloe Sterling? She was in all those shows." "She’s even prettier in person than on TV." After briefly introducing myself to my new classmates, I walked over to the empty seat next to Maya Sterling and sat down. I whispered to her, "I'm really behind on the basics. Please help me out." A girl sitting nearby chimed in, "You guys know each other?" I smiled, my eyes crinkling. "Maya and I are twin sisters." "But you guys don't look alike at all! You're so gorgeous, and Maya is..." Maya’s face instantly darkened. I quickly cut the girl off. "Maya gets amazing grades." Growing up, whenever our relatives praised my looks, Mom would casually mention how Maya had just passed another advanced piano exam or scored top marks in English. She'd talk about her ranking in the latest mock exams. Maya worked so hard to be excellent. But in our relatives' eyes, I was just a beautiful, useless vase. No one really liked me. Some relatives even felt bad for Maya. At family dinners, they would pull Mom aside and whisper, "You should stop playing favorites and treat Maya better. If you ask me, when you get old, she's the only one you'll be able to rely on." Whenever that happened, Mom would smooth things over with a smile. "I can rely on both of my daughters." 02 Maya could never hold her head high around me. That is, until I scored dead last on a pop quiz. The smugness in her eyes was impossible to hide. When we got home from school, she practically shoved her report card into Mom’s hands. "Mom, I made it into the top five of the class this time! I moved up again." Mom took the report card, a proud smile spreading across her face. "Not bad at all. Keep working hard, aim for first place." Maya shot me a sideways glance. "Didn't my sister get first place this time?" Mom looked up at me in surprise. Maya smirked. "First place from the bottom, that is." Mom's expression instantly relaxed. "It doesn't matter if her grades are bad. Your sister isn't going to take the academic route anyway." The smile froze on Maya’s face, and tears welled up in her eyes. "If I had scored dead last, you would have chased me around the house with a belt! Why do you play favorites with her?!" Mom quickly snapped, "Shut up! Are you and your sister the same?" Unable to hold them back, the tears spilled down Maya’s cheeks. She grabbed her backpack, stormed into her room, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang. Mom sighed. "Ignore her. Go wash your hands for dinner." At the dinner table, Mom kept putting my favorite foods onto my plate. "Chloe, sweetie, you’re going to be a star. It doesn't matter if your grades aren't great. "If you ever feel unhappy at school, Mom will write you an excuse note and you can take a trip somewhere to relax." The way Mom treated me versus Maya was completely different. But for some reason, it always left a lingering unease in the bottom of my heart. 03 That night, I stepped out of my room to get a glass of water and saw Mom carrying a bowl of soup into Maya’s room. The door was left slightly ajar, and their voices drifted out into the hallway. "Mom, you're too biased! Why do you treat Chloe so well? You never yell at her. "She's just a little prettier and makes a little money, so what? "She's just built on makeup and styling. If you had sent me to auditions when we were little..." "Do you think being paraded around on camera since childhood is a good thing?" Mom interrupted her, poking Maya’s forehead with her index finger. "Do you have a conscience? I took every cent she made from acting to pay for your elite tutoring." Maya sniffled. "But you buy her such expensive dresses, and I get nothing." "What do those things mean in the long run? They just turn girls into empty vases," Mom sneered. "A dress costs a few hundred bucks. The tutoring I've paid for over the years has cost hundreds of thousands." Maya went silent. Mom took a tissue and gently wiped the tear tracks from Maya’s face. "Maya, remember this. You are the only treasure I am truly cultivating. "You need to study hard so you can make something of yourself. "A pretty idiot like your sister will spend her whole life in the palm of my hand, working just to make me money..." Hearing Mom call me an idiot, Maya finally smiled. She picked up the soup from her nightstand and took a sip. "Don't worry, Mom. I promise I'll study hard. One day, I’ll step right over Chloe." Mom nodded, smiling as she stroked Maya’s hair. Standing frozen in the hallway, a dense, prickling pain stung my chest. Everyone thought Mom favored me. When we were little, she bought me beautiful clothes and expensive toys. Maya had to earn her rewards through grueling studying. I always got things effortlessly. But deep down, I always knew she favored Maya. When I was on set, it was always just my agent keeping me company. Meanwhile, Mom was busy shuttling Maya back and forth between elite tutoring centers. Unlike how she treated Maya, she never scolded me. She never disciplined me. She seemed to spoil me to the core. It turned out, she was trying to raise me to be useless. She wanted to raise an empty-headed, beautiful idiot. A girl who would willingly stay by her side forever, acting as her personal golden goose. She remembered every single academic achievement Maya ever earned. But she forgot that the media once called me a prodigy child star. I was never an idiot. 04 The next day, we had an AP US History pop quiz. When the tests were handed back, I got a 50. An F. Maya looked at my paper and frowned. "How did you suddenly score this high? Did you cheat off me during the test?" She didn't lower her voice, and our classmates turned to look at us. "No way. Did Chloe really cheat?" "She used to get like 20s on every subject. Today's test was super hard, and she got a 50? Definitely cheated." "Chloe just has a pretty face. Maya is way better than her." The teacher, who was handing out the rest of the papers, heard the whispers and looked over. "Who cheated?" I didn't say a word. He walked over to my desk and scrutinized my paper. "There is an issue with your test, Chloe. You either left the short-answer questions entirely blank, or what you wrote matches the textbook word-for-word. Did you copy from the book?" "I didn't," I said, pursing my lips. "I memorized a few chapters of the textbook last night." "Then recite it for me right now. Let's hear it." I closed my eyes and began reciting from Chapter One, word for word, without missing a single syllable. The classroom fell dead silent. After a good while, the teacher interrupted me. "You memorized the first five chapters of the textbook in a single night?" I nodded. "I have a good memory. I used to memorize an entire script in one night." The teacher patted my shoulder. "Learning isn't just about memory; it's about mastering study methods. Keep working hard, and aim for a passing grade next time." As the teacher turned away, the students around me started whispering. "Chloe is actually kind of amazing." "Anyone can memorize a book." "Oh yeah? You try reciting five chapters of a history textbook word-for-word in one night." Maya narrowed her eyes, studying me suspiciously. "Why the sudden interest in studying?" I offered a small smile. "I just read it casually. Studying doesn't seem that hard." Maya scoffed coldly. "Studying isn't just about memorizing." 05 The moment we got home, Maya told Mom about the history test. "Why the sudden interest in books?" Mom asked. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I just memorized a few chapters." Mom seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and gently coaxed me. "Acting is already so exhausting for you. Why waste your time studying those things?" "But getting into a good film school still requires a decent GPA." The smile on Mom's lips stiffened. I forced a wry smile. "Forget it. My foundation is so bad, I probably couldn't get into a film school anyway." Mom quickly comforted me. "Chloe, you have so much acting experience! Even if you don't go to film school, you'll still get plenty of roles." I began to understand. In Mom's eyes, I was supposed to be a compliant idiot. If I showed even the slightest hint of an independent thought that she couldn't control... She would snuff it out immediately. If I wanted to genuinely study, she definitely wouldn't allow it. That night, I lay in bed scrolling through Reddit. I stumbled upon a thread titled: [How do I secretly study without the toxic people in my life finding out?] The comments offered tons of methods. Importing study materials into a fiction reading app. Listening to Spanish vocabulary audio disguised as a Spotify playlist. Finding a straight-A student to tutor you, and if you get caught, just say you're secretly dating... I had to admire the creativity of the internet. I opened my iMessage contacts. I scrolled down to the only genius I knew: Liam Harrison. He was a year older than me, and both his parents were university professors. He was brilliant—already accepted into MIT on a full-ride during his junior year. We had co-starred in a few shows when we were kids, so we knew each other well. I asked him to tutor me, and he agreed. More accurately, he agreed after I sent him a childhood photo of him peeing his pants out of fear of a horse on set. 06 That weekend, I met him at a cafe. I arrived early and ordered coffee and pastries. When Liam walked in, he looked incredibly impatient. He wore cargo pants and a plain white tee, with black headphones resting around his neck. It made his pale skin stand out even more. The boy had grown up quite a bit. His features were sharper, his gaze aloof. He looked like the kind of guy who wasn't easy to get along with. He sat down across from me, raising an eyebrow. "Chloe, are you okay? Since when do you want to study?" I lowered my eyes. "Because I don't want to be controlled by someone else for the rest of my life... I want to break free, and my brain can't be completely empty." He stared at me for a moment, then didn't ask any more questions. He dropped the mocking smirk. And started helping me rebuild my academic foundation from scratch. My foundation was truly terrible. Liam tutored me while constantly having to take deep breaths to keep his patience. We had to review math concepts all the way back to elementary school. When the session was over, I asked him, "Is there any way to keep people from noticing that my grades are improving?" He scoffed. "You have so much room for improvement, it'd be hard not to notice." "But at my level, I can't exactly control my score perfectly." Liam thought for a moment. "How about you try getting a flat zero?" "A zero?" "When I was a kid, I was super rebellious. My parents realized forcing me to study wasn't working, so they challenged me to get a zero. They said if I could score a perfect zero, they'd leave me alone." "What's so hard about getting a zero?" "You can't leave any questions blank, and you have to get a zero in every subject." Liam lifted his eyes to look at me. "I found out that no matter how randomly I guessed, I could never hit absolute zero. I realized that the only way to score exactly zero is if you know the correct answer to every single question, so you can perfectly avoid them all. "After I finally scored that zero, my parents backed off and congratulated me on mastering self-directed learning. "Crafty old foxes." Listening to Liam complain about his parents... I suddenly felt very envious of him. 07 I took Liam's advice and started working toward scoring a zero. The lower my score, the greater my actual progress. At first, Maya and Mom were wary of my newfound "studying" habit. But when they saw that no matter how hard I tried, my scores remained at the absolute bottom of the class, they gradually let their guard down. Eventually, I didn't even have to hide my books from them anymore. In their eyes, I was a confirmed idiot. No matter how many books I read, the knowledge just wouldn't enter my brain. I paid close attention in class, filled out every single answer on the tests... And yet, my scores kept dropping lower and lower. In their eyes, I was no longer a threat. Maya even started giving me unsolicited advice. "Sister, just give it up. Studying requires natural talent." A disdainful smirk played on her lips. Her sense of superiority was impossible to hide. I sighed deeply. "You're right. Studying is just too hard." I rubbed my temples. Who knew? Trying to score a perfect zero is incredibly exhausting! 08 That evening, I was studying in my bedroom. Mom walked in holding a bowl of bird's nest soup. "Chloe, why waste so much time reading?" "The harder it is, the more I want to try." I looked up at her. "Did you need me for something, Mom?" "I really think you're better suited for acting. There's a movie that wants you for the second female lead, and the paycheck is huge." I was currently a senior in high school, and my study load was massive. I didn't want to take any acting roles, but I knew I couldn't refuse outright. I replied mildly, "I'll look at the script when I have time." Mom smiled. "I'll have them email it to you in a bit." Not long after, the script arrived in my inbox. The moment I saw the director's name, I had a bad feeling. Director Vance had a notoriously sleazy reputation in the industry. He was known for tricking young actresses into filming R-rated, highly explicit scenes. He would verbally promise to edit them out in post-production, only to leave them completely intact in the final cut. When the deceived actresses complained after the premiere, they would just get cyberbullied and called hypocrites. The script Vance's team sent me was written very vaguely. You couldn't tell there was anything wrong with the scenes at all. However, the proposed salary at the bottom of the email was several times higher than what I usually made. Did Mom seriously not suspect anything was wrong? I closed the email, moved my mouse, and clicked on an email Liam had sent me. It contained the AP review notes compiled by his straight-A roommate. Final exams were coming up soon. Anyone who made the top five in the school was practically guaranteed a spot at an Ivy League university. During the holidays, the top students would even get a sponsored trip to visit Harvard and MIT. Mom cared deeply about this opportunity. She desperately wanted Maya to place in the top five. Maya spent every single second of her free time in tutoring. Every day, she had to take a handful of brain-boosting supplements and stimulants. She often studied until two or three in the morning. Ever since Maya started high school, Mom's need for control had grown increasingly suffocating. If Maya slacked off even a little, she would be severely reprimanded. Maya never got a moment to breathe at home. Because of this, she frequently fell asleep during classes at school. Whenever her grades slipped even a fraction... Mom blamed it on her not working hard enough, and became even stricter. As an actress, observing subtle emotional shifts is basic training. Mom didn't notice it. But resentment was already brewing in Maya's eyes. After one class, the teacher left an entire whiteboard full of key concepts. Once the teacher left, many students simply took out their phones and snapped pictures of the board. I also took out my phone to take a picture. "Chloe, is that the newest iPhone?" "That model is super expensive, it's like over a thousand bucks." "Can I see it?" I finished taking the picture and handed my phone to them. When it came to material things, Mom never skimped on me. I used to think it was because she knew acting was hard work and wanted to compensate me. Now I realized, she was trying to raise me into someone who only cared about material desires—a superficial shell with no independent thoughts. Just then, someone chimed in. "Are you two really sisters? Chloe has the newest iPhone, and Maya is still using an ancient flip phone." Maya, sitting next to me, instantly froze while taking notes. Her pen halted, leaving a dark ink blot on the paper. She muttered, "What's the big deal about a phone? It just distracts you from studying." I remembered how embarrassed Maya was about using a flip phone. She had begged for a smartphone for ages. She repeatedly promised it wouldn't affect her studies. But no matter how much she pleaded, Mom absolutely refused. 09 Not long after, the results of our final mock exam before finals were posted. I stared at the bulletin board. My fingertips trembled with excitement. My score was— Dead last in the school. A perfect zero. I had finally done it. After more than two years of grueling effort, I had actually done it. But the only person I could share this joy with was Liam. I took a picture of the bulletin board and sent it to him. Liam replied instantly: [Congratulations.] I smiled and texted back: [I finally did it.] He asked: [What's your actual level at right now?] [I took two past AP exams for practice. I can definitely hit the cutoff for top-tier universities.] Liam sent a sticker of someone patting a dog's head: [Keep it up. Try to become my underclassman at MIT.] I sent back a laughing sticker: [Liam, I still prefer being your older sister.] When we were little, I was taller than him, and he followed me around calling me "big sister" for a long time. But once he found out I was a year younger than him, he never said it again. He sent back two exclamation marks. [Chloe, I am a year older than you! And I'm taller! By a lot!!!!] Suddenly, my homeroom teacher's voice sounded behind me. "Chloe, come to my office."
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