My mother instinctively sided with Ashley.
“Mom, Olivia’s friends from college wanted to
come to the party, so I sent someone to invite
them. And then she…she pushed me!”
“Why? Isn’t it a good thing for your friends to
come?”
Ashley’s shifty eyes invited speculation. She
stammered, unable to form a coherent
sentence.
I calmly watched Ashley’s performance,
making no attempt to interrupt.
“Mom, please don’t ask. I promised I’d keep it
a secret.”
The more Ashley evaded the question, the
more curious the onlookers became. This was
Miller family gossip, after all. Everyone
wanted a piece of it.
Finally, Ashley’s people brought in my so-
called “friends.”
く
They entered, their faces contorted with envy.
They hadn’t expected the “hillbilly” they’d
looked down on to be the Miller heiress.
Their resentment made them easy targets for
Ashley. They’d agreed to her plan without
hesitation.
These two were my college roommates.
There were four of us in the dorm, and these
two had disliked me from the start.
I hadn’t expected them to say anything good
about me, especially since Ashley was clearly
behind this.
“Well, well, well. Our school’s resident party
girl is the Miller heiress!”
That statement was a bombshell. The Miller’s
long–lost daughter, a party girl?
My mother was livid.
“What nonsense are you spewing?”
“Mrs. Miller, we’re not lying. We were Olivia’s
classmates for two years. She dated over a
dozen guys at the same time and even
seduced a professor to get into the study
abroad program.”
Their confident delivery, coupled with their
status as my classmates, made their words
seem credible.
Even my usually stoic father turned red,
looking at me with a mixture of
disappointment and anger.
“Olivia, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought
them here. Get them out! Now!”
Ashley’s faux concern sealed my fate.
Just like in my past life, I was about to be
cast out, my future stolen. Ashley would take
my place as the Miller heiress and steal my
opportunity to study abroad.
I would become an outcast, while she became
a celebrated pianist.
“It’s your fault for coming back to the Millers
and trying to steal everything from me,”
Ashley spat. “This family belongs to me. You
should go back to where you came from.”
—
That’s when it hit me she’d been plotting
against me since the day I returned.
Not only did she want my place in the Miller
family, she wanted my spot in the study
abroad program, too. She’d been meticulously
planning it all.
As I lunged at her to confront her, a car
slammed into me from behind, sending me
flying.
“How dare you! Is what they’re saying true?”
I looked at my parents‘ disgusted faces. In my
past life, I would have cared about their
opinion. Not anymore.
Parents who couldn’t distinguish right from
wrong weren’t worth having.
“Mr. Miller,” I said, my voice dripping with ice,
“you’ve been in business for over two
decades. Can’t you tell the difference
They didn’t seem to register my words, only
my disrespectful tone.
“I’m your father! Where are your manners?”
“Manners? You lost me, then you found me.
Remember?”
My words silenced them. Ashley, ever the
saint, jumped in.
“Olivia, Mom and Dad are just looking out for
you. How can you hurt them like this?”
“I can’t be disrespectful to them, so you do it
for me,” I retorted.
Slap Slap
Two crisp slaps landed on Ashley’s face. No
one expected me to actually hit her.
Thinking about my past life, the rage I’d
suppressed boiled over.
“Are you crazy? Are you trying to embarrass
the Millers?” my mother shrieked.
I looked at my biased mother, all hope
extinguished.
<
“Mrs. Miller,” I said coldly, “my reputation has
nothing to do with the Millers.”
“What do you mean? If you don’t come to
your senses, we’d rather not have you as our
daughter.”
I stared at them for a moment, then a smile
spread across my face.
