Chapter 2

"Sophie, I'm here to help you with your homework. If you don't understand anything, just ask me." Dad said kindly, but he kept his back to me, facing the camera.

I knew exactly what he was up to.

Dad bailed on middle school, so I slid the hardest Olympiad problem across the table. "Here, this one's killing me."

I handed him the pen, and he took the paper with confidence, pointing to a desk close to the camera. "Let's go over there. The lighting is better."

I wasn't about to stop him from making a fool of himself in front of everyone watching online.

So we moved to a desk close to the camera, where the camera could easily capture the paper and Dad's face.

I stood outside the frame and urged him on. "Dad, you're the best. You can totally handle such an easy problem."

He sat, eyes wide, sweat beads racing down his temples.

Back in the day, he bought a fake high-school diploma online and spent his teens playing dead soldiers in soap operas. Anything he'd once learned was fossil fuel by now. He couldn't even parse the question, let alone solve it.

His face was saying, "Since when is sixth grade this brutal?"

But with my praise and all those viewers watching online, he was really squirming in the hot seat.

"I-I can do it. Just give me a minute to think," he stammered.

Thirty minutes later, he finally wrote "Solution" at the top of the paper. But he botched it, messing up the spelling in a way that made it painfully obvious he had no clue what he was doing.

Trying to look all professional, he even slapped a colon right after it.

And that was all he managed. The livestream chat went wild with laughter.

His manager Mike was about to blow a gasket watching the stream. The "devoted dad" act totally flopped, but the "clueless dad" meme was blowing up.

Meanwhile, Dad was still in the dark, completely absorbed in "solving" the problem.

Just then, Mom came in with a plate of fruit, wearing that classic mom smile. "Sophie, you must be tired from all that homework. Come on, have some fruit to give you a little boost."

I looked at the plate full of kiwis, and my smile faded a little.

Kiwis were Samuel's favorite, but I was all about cherries and strawberries.

Still, kiwis were always the fruit we had at home.

I knew Mom was doing this on purpose, trying to piss me off so I'd freak out on camera and she could play the saintly mom for the audience.

Back in my previous life, I slammed the plate down right then and there. Mom started bawling, apologized like crazy, then dashed out into the storm to buy cherries for me, and of course, she caught a cold and ended up with a fever.

People online dragged me for three months straight, and Mom scored the lead role as the loving mother in a movie, milking all that drama for fame.

But I wasn't going to be fooled this time. I beamed, bit the sour kiwi, and chewed like it was fudge.

"Mom, you're really sweet. Thank you," I said, putting on my sweetest act for the camera.

Her smile flickered. "Sophie, are they sweet? Don't you love strawberries? Should I go buy some for you?"

I forked another slice and fed it to her. "They're super sweet. Try one. I'm over strawberries. Promise you won't go out. If you get sick in the rain, I'll never forgive myself."

The sourness hit her taste buds, and Mom winced, her whole face scrunching up from the taste.

Her agent Grace kept coughing pointedly, desperate to keep her sweet mom persona from falling apart.

Mom forced herself to choke down the kiwi, even though it was so sour that it was almost bitter.

She kept up her sweet act for the livestream. "I don't really do well with sour things, but you love them, right?"

Her eyes locked onto mine, with a hint of threat lurking in her gaze.

I knew exactly what she was afraid of. This variety show was her last shot at making a comeback in showbiz.

Ten years in the business and she was still "the golden supporting actress". Every time she finally got top billing, the project crashed.

So the perfect-mom mask had to stay glued on.

In my previous life, my acting coach used to say Mom didn't have half my talent on stage.

I could book some random cameo and the internet would lose its mind, swearing destiny was spoon-feeding me fame. Only I kept lighting the spoon on fire with my temper and watching my career yo-yo.