- 6.
When I woke up the next day, I opened the
door and saw a whole rack of clothes.
The price tags were insane.
L
The housekeeper told me that Jake had
bought them for me.
He didn’t know what I liked, so he bought
everything.
Before I could even look at the clothes, the
housekeeper brought in a ton of stuffed
animals, piling them on my bed.
The housekeeper knew what was going on.
She’d always been helpless to do anything,
but now she had the chance. She made sure
Chrissy heard her when she said, “Ashley,
Jake really loves you. He only brought gifts
for you.”
Chrissy walked over with a blank face and
said, “Who cares about this junk? No taste at
L
During breakfast, Mom and Jake kept pouring
me soup, giving me all the special treatment
that Chrissy used to get.
Chrissy finally interrupted.
Mom, the school’s doing a summer camp for
gifted kids. I want to sign up. The fee is due
today, eight grand.”
Mom turned to me. “Ashley, do you want to
sign up?”
“Mom,” Chrissy said, looking down her nose
at me, “it’s for gifted students. Regular kids
won’t get anything out of it. They won’t be
able to keep up.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
L
Mom glared at her and turned to me. “Ashley,
you should go too. I’ll give you another
hundred thousand, so you can study or just
go on vacation. We can afford it.”
Chrissy froze. Then she said, “What about
me? How much are you giving me?”
Chapter 2
“You’ve been getting so much allowance
every month,” Jake said, “do you really need
us to give you more?”
He was spreading jam on a piece of toast,
which he then handed to me.
Chrissy completely lost it. She grabbed her
backpack and stormed out the door.
ate breakfast like I was in a dream My
<
་་་་
III. IVIY
family’s sudden change of attitude felt unreal.
But Mom and Jake showed me so much
warmth, even if I was still the outsider at
school.
This time, I walked in the sunshine with my
head held high, no longer shrinking into
myself like a scared turtle.
When the class president, Sarah, announced,
“Sign–ups for summer camp, come to my
desk,” I went right over and paid the fee.
Everyone was stunned.
“Where did she get the money?” I heard
someone ask Chrissy. “Aren’t your parents
supposed to hate her? Don’t they only give
ber like five bucks a month?”
<
Chrissy gave a fake smile and said, “I have no
idea.”
I looked that kid straight in the eye and
smiled a little.
“My Mom gave it to me. She wants me to do
well in school.”
“Tch,” someone said, and the group
dispersed.
Someone muttered under their breath, “With
that pea brain? She’s probably still brain-
dead from living on that farm.”
During gym, my partner still didn’t want to be
with me because they were scared of Chrissy.
And behind my back, they were saying things
く
like, “She’s got that country bumpkin smell,‘
“She makes me sick to my stomach,” and
“She looks like she’s begging to be punched.”
But I didn’t let it get me down. I stood up
straight and did the exercises right.
My family’s support was all the confidence I
needed.
I’d never felt such bright, gentle sunshine,
such a warm breeze.
The world was finally opening its arms to me.
But it all came crashing down during Mrs.
Davison’s math class.
Sarah suddenly raised her hand, crying.
“Mrs. Davison, the summer camp money I
collected is gone!”
