Before the SATs, my mom had one rule: no washing our hair. She firmly believed that shampoo would wash away all the knowledge in our brains. I didn't buy it, but my twin sister, Lily, obeyed without question. Later, Lily became the laughingstock of the school. They said her hair was dirtier than a pigsty. Crying, she begged me to take her to a salon. As a result, she bombed the SATs. When Mom demanded answers, Lily blamed me: "If my sister hadn't made me wash my hair, I would have been valedictorian!" In a fit of rage, she pushed me into the river. When I opened my eyes again, I heard my mom's voice: "For the next 100 days until the SATs, no one is allowed to wash their hair!" Chapter 1 "Washing your hair washes the knowledge right out of your brain." My mom's shrill voice jolted me awake. "For the next 100 days until the SATs, neither of you is allowed to wash your hair!" I snapped back to reality, finding myself sitting at the kitchen table. Across from me was my twin sister, Lily, with her usual meek and obedient expression. I had been reborn. "Mom, that's just a myth. How can you still believe that?" I heard myself blurt out the words. In my last life, I said the exact same thing and got chewed out for it. Mom slammed her chopsticks down and smacked me on the head. "What do you know? The experts say it's true! "Mrs. Johnson's son next door didn't listen, washed his hair, and his score dropped by 100 points!" What Mom didn't know was that Mrs. Johnson's son cheated on every test. When it came to the SATs, with no one to copy off of, of course his score tanked. I tried to argue, hoping to change her outdated mindset. But she just unleashed her anger on me. She called me unmotivated, disrespectful. She even blamed me for her divorce and her fear of dating again. Before, I was too stubborn, always trying to reason with her. But with a mom who refused to listen, I needed a new strategy. "Mom, the kids at prep schools wash their hair every day. They say feeling fresh helps them focus." I raised my voice deliberately. "And their acceptance rates are way higher than ours." Mom paused. She was a sucker for the "other kids do it better" theory. But soon, she regained her composure, her face stern. "Stop with your nonsense! Lily, you be the judge. Who's right, me or your sister?" Chapter 2 Lily glanced at me first. Seeing my calm expression, she turned to Mom with a sweet, obedient smile. "Of course I listen to you, Mom." "See? Lily is the good one." I didn't argue further. I finished my soy milk and left for school without another word. Behind me, Mom's muttering continued: "Always with that long face. What a burden. Unlike Lily, who was born to be a blessing." Mom always said Lily looked more like her. But we were identical twins. We had the exact same face. Growing up, Mom always favored Lily. When she divorced Dad, she didn't hesitate to dump me at my grandma's house. If Dad hadn't remarried and Grandma hadn't passed away, forcing my grandparents to take me in because they pitied me... She wouldn't have even remembered she had another daughter. I used to feel sorry for her, a single mom raising two girls. But my sympathy was met with constant belittling. When I used my allowance to buy her clothes, she called me wasteful. When Lily simply said "Mom, you work so hard" empty-handed, she was so moved she gave her a thousand dollars on the spot. She was a mother, but she wasn't my mother. At the school gate, Lily caught up, panting. She immediately started lecturing me: "Sister, Mom has it hard. Don't make her angry!" Her face, feigning innocence. It sent a chill down my spine. In my last life, she begged me to take her to a salon in secret. Afterward, she asked me to keep it a secret. But in the end, she pushed me to my death. The last thing I saw was her hateful expression. As if I were a monster who deserved to die. But I was just trying to help! I turned around and nodded casually. "Yeah, got it." She wanted to say more. But I had already run through the gates, blending into the crowd of students. We weren't in the same class anyway. Whatever happened to her from now on was her choice. In this new life, whether they washed their hair or not was none of my business! Chapter 3 That night, I had just stepped out of the shower. I ran right into Mom. She grabbed my ear and yelled: "I told you this morning not to wash your hair! are you deaf?" I pulled away and took a step back. "Even if I wash it every day, I'll still be in the top ten for the mock exams." Mom raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. After all, she had never been to a single parent-teacher conference for me. Between Lily and me, she always chose Lily. "Fine! If you don't make it, don't expect your grandma to buy you a phone!" When Lily said the new iPhone looked nice, Mom bought her the latest model immediately. I had begged from freshman to senior year, but my requests were ignored. Even when Grandma wanted to reward me, Mom would intervene. I was numb to this double standard. Lily, who had been hiding in her room eavesdropping, rushed in after Mom left. "Why did you bet your grades just to spite Mom?" "You're smart, but I can't score that high. If Mom yells at me later, it's all your fault!" I admired her ability to make everything about herself. I kept working on my English practice test without looking up. "If you're afraid of getting yelled at, read fewer romance novels and study more." Her face turned pale with anger, and she stormed out, slamming the door. "Some sister you are!" From the next room came the sound of things being thrown. I acted like nothing happened and dove back into the sea of questions. Lily's hair, unwashed for a month, started to smell pungent. Although she secretly used dry shampoo, it didn't solve the root problem. She came home crying, saying classmates mocked her, writing "Toilet" on her desk with chalk. Boys would make gagging noises when she walked by. Even during gym class, she was forced to stand at the very back. Mom called the principal on the spot, accusing the teachers of ignoring bullying. Lily's homeroom teacher got disciplined because of it. After the incident blew up, the whole school knew. There was a girl in Senior Class 2 who didn't wash her hair. The mockery expanded from her classmates to the entire student body. She became known as the "Homeless Girl." Wherever she went, people would snicker knowingly. Someone even started a TikTok account updating the "Homeless Girl's" daily life. One day after school, she begged me with red eyes: "Sis, take me to get my hair washed." I kept walking towards the bus stop without turning back. She tugged hard on my backpack strap. Unable to pull away, I frowned. "Ask Mom to take you." She looked both fearful and disgusted. "You know Mom won't agree!" I raised my voice. "Then keep being a good girl and listen to her." In the end, she didn't wash her hair. She washed her hats every day. She bought wigs to wear and sprayed perfume on her head. But these were just band-aids. They couldn't hide the smell of grease and rot. Lily begged me three or four more times in private. But I was busy with my studies and refused. I wasn't going to carry that burden again. Chapter 4 The first mock exam results came out. I was firmly in eighth place. Mom was so happy she bought Lily another new phone. "Lily has been under a lot of stress lately, her grades slipped. She needs to relax." Lily waved her phone at me, showing off. "My sister is introverted at school, unlike me. I think a flip phone is too much for her." Mom confiscated my phone that day, saying it was a waste of money if I didn't use it. I was used to this level of bias. If I wanted something, I could earn it myself. After the second mock exam, Lily's score dropped another thirty points. She defended herself tearfully: "The test was too hard this time." Meanwhile, my score went up by 30 points. I was third in the grade, twentieth in the city. The teacher called specifically to congratulate us. Mom brushed it off and kept asking about Lily. The teacher said awkwardly: "I'm not Lily's teacher. You should ask her homeroom teacher." Mom's execution was swift. She texted the teacher immediately. But she found out the teacher had blocked her. Mom cursed: "Irresponsible teachers like that deserve to be punished! She should be fired!" She forgot. She was the one texting the teacher at all hours. Calling at 2 AM because she couldn't sleep. The teacher couldn't take the harassment anymore. Mom never reflected on her actions. So Lily, raised by her hand, was exactly the same. Lily didn't work hard enough and regressed, but she always blamed external factors. Mom even suggested Lily stop showering. "Washing your hair washes away knowledge. Showering might affect it too." Lily couldn't win against Mom. She only dared to wipe her body down secretly late at night. One month before the SATs, Lily finally broke down. With greasy, matted hair, she rushed into the bathroom. Mom dragged her out and comforted her patiently: "Lily, just a few more days. Hang in there." I sat at my desk, listening to English tapes. But the cheap headphones didn't block out the noise. I couldn't block out my sister's hysterical screaming: "I have to wash it! Everyone laughs at me, calling me a homeless kid! My hair is dirtier than a pigsty! Even the teachers dodge me when I say hi!" Mom made another call. Not to the principal this time, but to the Board of Education. She reported severe discrimination and bullying by teachers and students at Lily's school, demanding punishment. During the critical pre-SAT period, everyone was afraid of a scandal. After an investigation, the instigator turned out to be the whistleblower herself. I heard that when the Board leaders called Mom in for a chat... She smashed a teacup and threw files everywhere. In the end, the police took her away for a "talk." All the way to the station, she screamed: "My daughter doesn't smell!"
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