Chapter 5
The Hartwell house felt like a funeral when I got back.
Before I even made it through the front door, I could hear Willow stirring up drama:
“Mom, Dad, look what Skylar did! She’s been at school for like five minutes and she’s already beating people up!”
“Now everyone’s saying the Hartwells raised a psycho trailer trash girl, sob sob. How am I supposed to show my face at school? How can I make friends when everyone thinks we’re all violent freaks…”
Mrs. Hartwell was cooing: “Don’t worry, sweetie. When she gets back, your dad’s gonna set her straight.”
Camden didn’t look happy for once–actually seemed sorry for me as he opened the door: “Dad, Mom, we’re back.”
Next second, an ashtray came flying at my head, barely missing: “Skylar, you’ve got some fucking nerve showing your face here!”
Mrs. Hartwell saw blood on my forehead and freaked: “Harrison! You can’t just throw things at her–look, she’s bleeding!”
Then she turned to me, panicking: “Sky, quick, apologize to your… to Mr. Hartwell! Tell him you’ll never do it again!”
“Don’t you dare stop me!”
Mr. Hartwell shoved his wife aside: “Today I’m gonna teach this little shit some manners!”
He was shaking with rage: “Trash from the fucking sticks–knew you’d never amount to anything!”
“They started it,” I said calmly, glancing at Willow, who was enjoying the show.
She caught my look and quickly looked away.
“Then you must’ve done something to piss them off!”
Mr. Hartwell wasn’t buying it: “Kids at that school come from good families–they’ve got class, unlike some hillbilly brat. They wouldn’t mess with you unless you deserved it.”
Mrs. Hartwell and Camden were nodding along.
See, this is the Hartwells‘ mindset: being poor is the original sin.
I stayed quiet for a bit, then covered my cut and gave a bitter smile: “They were calling me names. Said I was some… some bastard with no parents, that I was raised by animals.”
“I got mad because…” My voice cracked and tears started falling right on cue: “How could they say that? I DO have a mom–someone who loves me and cares about me!”
Mrs. Hartwell’s whole body shook. Her maternal instincts hit overdrive and she threw herself in front of me: “You wanna hit her? You’ll have to go through me first!”
“She was just defending her mother–what’s wrong with that?”
Mr. Hartwell had gone quiet a while ago.
But his pride wouldn’t let him apologize.
After a long pause, he sighed and looked at me with something like guilt: “If you need anything, just tell the housekeeper.”
Camden walked over and patted my shoulder, sounding proud: “Damn right.”
10:35
Sorry, I’m Not Here to Play Family… I’m the Real Heiress Here to Wreck the Game!
19.1%
Chapter 5
Middle of the night, I woke up to get water and saw the kitchen light on.
Mr. and Mrs. Hartwell and Camden were still up, talking in low voices.
“Are we doing the right thing? Our own daughter getting called an orphan at school… it’s killing me…” Mrs. Hartwell was crying quietly.
Mr. Hartwell stayed silent.
Camden demanded: “Mom, you wanna send Willow away?”
“Of course not.” Mrs. Hartwell rushed to defend herself: “I could never do that–Willow’s my daughter too!”
“Then this is the best we can do.”
Camden was usually an idiot, but right now he was thinking clearly: “Skylar stays as our foster kid, you get to see her every day, Willow gets to stay with us. Nothing changes.”
Mrs. Hartwell was wavering but still worried: “What if Sky remembers?”
“So what?”
Camden sounded annoyed: “She’s the one who couldn’t accept Willow in the first place. We were just teaching her a lesson by not acknowledging her. Worst case, I’ll apologize to her later.”
“Enough. We’ll just make it up to her more from now on. It’s late–everyone go to bed.”
Mr. Hartwell ended the conversation.
I waited until they were gone before walking into the kitchen.
On my way back to my room, I caught a glimpse of someone in the stair shadows.
Looked like Willow from the shape.
She heard too?
Whatever. Don’t care.
I shook my head and shut my door without giving a fuck.
The practice SATs were in two weeks.
That’s what I should actually be worried about.
If I bomb those, I won’t have the nerve to face Mom!
