I’m Lily. The unloved, "real" daughter, shipped off to an elite prep school, Crestwood Academy, where someone was always trying to make my life hell. Until the day I got cornered in an alley by a girl with a rainbow-dyed undercut. She was shaking me down for protection money. "I don't take your money for free," she’d growled. "You're in trouble, you call me." So, the next time the school's queen bee, Madison, had me cornered, I shakily dialed that number. "Hey, Janky? It's Lily. Help..." Who knew? For the price of a lemonade, she actually meant it. 1. The first time I met Janky, I was riding a beat-up Lime scooter to the subway station. I hadn't even gone a block before a group of kids dragged me, scooter and all, into an alley. Seriously. They had to help me off the damn scooter. The leader was the rainbow-haired girl. She had seven friends with her, all with bad bleach-blond jobs. It was the first time I'd seen so many colors on one person's head. I just stared. She snarled, trying to look tough. "Protection money. You gonna pay up, or we gotta search you?" "..." Her crew tried to do an evil laugh. "Heh... heh... heh..." I blinked. "Guys, hold up. First, nobody carries cash. Second, if I Venmo you, the cops will trace it in five minutes." A bleach-blond guy raised a fist so big it looked like a cartoon ham. I yelped and clutched my backpack. "Wait! I've got an idea! You can take me to a store, and I'll buy you stuff!" The rainbow girl shoved him aside and grabbed my collar. "Don't try any tricks, nerd." "Okay." 2. My brain was running calculations at light speed. Sure, I went to Crestwood, but I was the "poor" rich girl. I got $800 a month. Which was a lot, until the school bullies smashed my glasses the first week ($200 gone). Add in my subscriptions for online AP courses and the scooter rental I was about to be charged for... I had $398.66 to my name. For eight people... that's $49.83 each. If I begged, maybe they'd leave me enough for the subway and an Uber home? I had to get home. The Astors—my so-called family—had made it clear: show up for their stupid dinner party tonight, or my allowance was cut. I just hoped I wouldn't have to walk. 3. They took me to a street cart. They bought eight lemonades and eight corn dogs. And they used a coupon. Total: $28.72. The shakedown of the century. 4. The rainbow-haired girl, Janky, stuffed the last of her corn dog into her mouth and slapped me on the back. "Name's Janky. I run this block." "Since you paid up, you're my girl now. Got trouble? Call me." With that, she and her seven bleach-blonds hopped on three beat-up mopeds and sputtered away. The setting sun caught her rainbow ponytail. It looked like a beautiful oil slick. 5. A half-hour scooter ride, two subway transfers, and a 45-minute Uber later, I got "home." It was past 9 PM. The guests were gone. Just the four Astors. Rosalie, the fake daughter, was sitting there in a designer dress and a freaking tiara, looking like she was about to cry. The second I walked in, my "dad," "mom," and "brother" all turned to glare at me. Only Rosalie stood up, managing a perfect smile-through-tears. "Lily! You're back!" My blood-related brother, Grayson, exploded first. "You finally decided to show up? You've embarrassed us all!" I pushed my new glasses up. "The driver left without me." I'd seen him. As I was walking out of school, the family Bentley sped off. Rosalie had rolled down the window just long enough to flip me the bird. "Don't you dare blame Rosalie!" Grayson snapped. "She called, said you flat-out refused to ride in the same car with her!" Rosalie grabbed his arm. "Grayson, stop, please... It's my fault. I'm the one who made her hate me..." My "mother," Mrs. Astor, sighed. "We understand you're upset, Lily. But you can't take it out on your sister. She wouldn't even cut her birthday cake, she was waiting for you." "Mom, don't..." Grayson was still on me. "Even if you took public transport, you shouldn't be this late!" I answered honestly. "I got mugged. It took a while." Grayson just stared. "...That's the best lie you can come up with?" I shrugged and opened my banking app. "It's true. I was mugged for eight lemonades and eight corn dogs." Rosalie's eyes welled up instantly. "Oh, Lily... you mean you made friends and went out to eat?" "..." It was the perfect example of that old saying: even if you hang yourself, people who don't love you will just think you're swinging. 6. Sometimes I think the Astors are just badly programmed NPCs. Rosalie cries. Grayson yells. Mrs. Astor sighs. Mr. Astor stays silent, then hits me with one devastating line. I'd tried explaining myself before. When I first arrived, Grayson cornered me. "Just because you're blood doesn't mean anything. Don't think you can steal the love I have for Rosalie." I was just confused. "Hi. Don't worry, I don't even know you. I have zero possessive urges." That just made him angrier. Later, they decided to send me to board at the school, giving me only $800 a month. "Don't be jealous of your sister," Mrs. Astor had said. "You grew up... that way. We're afraid if you get too much money, you'll go wild." I'd thanked her. "$800 is great. I used to have to collect cans for cash." She totally lost it. Grayson stormed in, yelling about how I shouldn't "play the victim." 7. How do you even respond to a script that bad? I couldn't. 8. So I just stood there, clutching my backpack, waiting for them to finish. I was starving. I really regretted not taking Janky up on her offer of a corn dog. My new friends were right, they were crispy... But today, Rosalie was really hamming it up. I hadn't said a word, but she suddenly ran to Mrs. Astor, sobbing. "It's my fault! I stole her place! Lily has every right to hate me!" "Mom, she's your real daughter! How can you give me the Amex Black Card and only give her $800 a month? Make me live in the dorms, not her!" Mrs. Astor hugged her, looking pained. "Rosie, stop. This was our decision. It has nothing to do with you." She shot me a warning glare. "And Lily doesn't hate you. She knows this is what she deserves. Right, Lily?" Rosalie turned, her eyes hopeful. "Sister... can you please not be mad at me anymore?" I was just so tired. "I'm not mad. I was never mad at you." "I don't believe you!" she cried. "Or you would have ridden home with me instead of going out to eat with your... your friends!" I couldn't help it. "Rosalie, you and I are strangers. We're not even related. Why would I have any expectations of you?" 9. I knew I shouldn't have broken script. The whole NPC squad crashed. Grayson slapped me. Hard. "Who the hell do you think you're insulting?" Mrs. Astor: "Go back to the school." Mr. Astor, finally speaking: "Since you don't like the family car, you're not welcome in it. Go back the way you came." Before I left, I had to check. "The tuition... and the allowance. That's... that's still happening, right?" "GET OUT!" Fine. 10. I scrambled to get back to the dorm. By the time I made it, it was past 11 PM. I opened my laptop and started studying. 11. I never wanted to go to Crestwood. The academics were a joke. Not like the public magnet school I'd tested into. But the Astors had yelled at me. "Rosalie is at Crestwood," Grayson had said. "You're going to go to some... some public school? Are you trying to make us look bad on purpose?" Fine. But the teachers here just phoned it in, saving all their real energy for their high-dollar private tutoring sessions. I'd asked the Astors for a tutor. "Just a normal one..." Mrs. Astor had scoffed. "Don't bother with that. You're 17. We can't 'buy' you into being a scientist now." I told her I was first in my class. I heard her laugh over the phone. "Oh, that's sweet. A real small-town brainiac." 12. What was her degree in, again? Oh, right. I didn't get it. You can't reason with NPCs. No tutor? Fine. The internet is full of free AP guides and resources. I made my own study plan. I was just glad I could make up for the time I'd lost. 13. And, luckily, I'd bought a corn dog on my way back to the dorm. This school had single-room dorms. It was late. I was studying, eating a greasy corn dog, and I was, for a moment, totally happy. 14. The next morning, Madison, a girl in my class, cornered me. She said my "early morning studying" was too loud. This was a lie. Madison didn't even live in the dorms. She was the school's top bully, Rosalie's best friend, and the one who'd smashed my first pair of glasses. I knew she was just looking for a fight. I shrank back. "Sorry. I'll be... quieter." She patted my cheek, her rings cold. "You think 'sorry' is enough? Just having a charity case like you at this school makes me sick. Don't go home after class. I'm going to teach you a lesson." "I'll tell the principal." SLAP. She hit me, hard, right across the face. "You try it." 15. I found out what "you try it" meant. I'm the top student. I sit in the front row. I sat through an entire day of classes with a bright red handprint on my face. Not a single teacher asked me about it. They wouldn't even make eye contact. I sat there, sick to my stomach. Before the last bell, I tried calling Mrs. Astor. It rang once. She hung up. I was out of options. My hand was shaking. I dialed the number from the alley. "Hey... Janky? It's Lily. I'm in trouble..." 16. "Who?" I babbled, explaining everything. "Oh! Lemonade-Corn-Dog-Girl! Right! Don't worry, I'm comin' to bust you out." Then she asked, "So, where's this chick gonna jump you?" "I don't know." "..." "She just said... 'don't go home after class.'" "Right." 17. I didn't get a chance to go anywhere. The bell rang, and Madison and her friends grabbed me and dragged me into the girls' bathroom. The bathroom. Crap. How was I supposed to tell Janky? 18. Madison didn't waste time. She punched me straight in the face. My nose exploded. I was crying, tasting blood. "Madison, I never did anything to you!" She and her friends laughed. "You, this piece of trash... how dare you even compare to Rosalie?" "I'm not trying to compare!" Why would I? I had better grades, better morals, and honestly, better looks. Her only skill was acting. "Still talking back!" I saw her fist coming and I did the only thing I could: I head-butted her in the stomach. She shrieked. I made a break for the door. ...And got caught. Her two friends grabbed me, dragged me back, and started kicking. "Kill this little bitch!" Help! These NPCs were set to "Hard" mode! My new glasses... they smashed them. Again.
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