7
They didn’t grieve for long. Life went on as usual. Today was Lily’s first day back at school. Mom and Dad cheerfully packed her
lunch and drove her there. Other kids stared
and whispered, confusing them.
“Is there something on our faces?” Mom
asked one of the students.
“I don’t know! I don’t know anything!” The girl
ran off.
Then Lily’s friends arrived. “Lily! You have to
see the school’s message board! Someone
posted pictures of you bullying Anna!”
Lily panicked. “Mom, Dad, go home. I can
<
Lily panicked. “Mom, Dad, go home. I can
handle this. I won’t let Anna’s name be
tarnished.”
One of the other kids yelled, “Lily! How do
you do it? How do you get your parents to
believe all your lies? Teach me your ways!”
Mom and Dad stopped. Their phones buzzed.
A video.
“Anna, you’re my sister. Don’t say I don’t take
care of you.” The video showed Lily pulling
my hair, holding a razor blade to my face. She
handed it to another girl. “Don’t be shy!
Just…don’t cut her face. Mom and Dad would
freak out.” There were other clips – Lily and
her friends blocking me in the hallway, putting
cockroaches in my lunchbox.
く
Dad stared at the phone, his face shifting
from shock to disbelief. “Lily…why? You said
Anna was bullying you…
99
Why? I knew why. After I came back from
Grandma’s, Lily’s campaign of terror began.
“Why are you here? Why did you and that old
woman come back? You’re trying to steal my
parents!”
I told her I wasn’t. They didn’t love me. I
couldn’t steal something that wasn’t there.
“Just remember that,” she’d sneered.
My submission brought a temporary truce.
But I knew my only escape was through education. I studied hard, got good grades.
That became another thorn in Lily’s side.
<
about me?”
I’d just smiled. They would never love me,
even if I was a thousand times better than
Lily. I wasn’t the child they
xed.
Maybe Lily realized she couldn’t compete academically. So she and her friends turned
to bullying. It became their entertainment.
