Page 14

“Sabrina, can I talk to you after school?” I asked, biting my lip just as we finished lunch.

Cass and Fiona exchanged glances with Sabrina while they murmured something to themselves, but I didn’t really care about them. They weren’t my friends.

Sabrina frowned at me. “What about Katy?”

“I just want to talk to you,” I said. “Alone.”

“Fine,” she mumbled, nodding before we all headed back to class.

And I just couldn’t wait till the end of the day to give her the present I spent the entire week making.

It was a knit patch with her initial on it, in a new rib stitch that I learned. I even did it in her favorite color, pale sky blue. I had my fingers crossed that she loved it.

And when the last bell rang, I all but dragged her to an empty corner in the schoolyard.

“Here.” I handed her the present that I put inside a nice pouch that had butterflies in it. “This is for you.”

“What is this, Katy?” she asked in a skeptical tone but didn’t take the pouch from my hand.

“It’s a umm… It’s a knit swatch.” I blushed. “I made it for you. Because you’re my best friend.”

“I don’t think I want to be friends with you anymore, Katy.” Her eyes flickered as her lips curled. “And we aren’t really best friends. You shouldn’t say that out loud.”

Her words felt like a rude slap from a teacher. “But I…I thought we were friends.”

“No, Katy, not really.” Sabrina’s lips thinned. “I only hung out with you because you insisted, and I felt bad for you. But really, you should go and make friends who are more like you. I like Cass and Fiona and feel like they would be better friends for me.”

There was a thick band of hurt forming in my chest. “More like me? What is that supposed to mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, don’t tell me you don’t know what the others are saying about you?”

“Wha… what are they saying about me?”

“Your brother is weird. They say he has mental problems. And you’re his twin. They say it runs in the family.”

A sudden burst of anger shot through me and I shoved her before I could stop myself. “Don’t you dare talk about my brother that way! He’s far better than all you morons could ever be.”

Her eyes widened. “I knew you were as crazy as your brother.”

“And you’re… you’re just a stupid bitch.” I knew saying the ‘b’ word was wrong, but right now, I was mad, so very mad.

“And you’re just a fat loser,” she sneered before running away.

My vision blurred and a burn took over my throat.

I felt rejected.

I felt shunned.

I didn’t know how long I stood there, but the pain in my palm snapped me. It was only then that I realized I was still clutchingonto the pouch in a death grip. I gritted my teeth as I hurled it at a nearby trash can in anger.

Mom lied.

Everything she told me was a lie.

The real world didn’t work the way she said it would.

People didn’t love her daughter for the way she was.