Chapter 3

Thanks to that painting, Simone was personally taken under Zell's wing and got into a top art school way ahead of time.

So she floated through her entire senior year, totally carefree.

But I spent a whole year grinding away, head buried in books.

I took the art school entrance exams and the SATs.

I kept my head down and finally made it into that legendary school every art student dreamed about.

My parents checked out the school dorms.

They both thought the place was in terrible shape.

So they rented an apartment off-campus for Simone and me to live in.

They said it was so Simone and I could live together.

But I knew the truth behind it.

I was just riding Simone's coattails.

Then, during our junior year, Simone had a routine check-up for an internship, and the report showed she was pregnant.

When my parents heard the news, they rushed to the school, demanding answers from me.

I told them I had no idea.

That was when Dad slapped me across the face.

His eyes were blazing with anger as he yelled at me in front of my teachers and classmates.

He said, "That's your own sister. You eat together and live together. How could you not know what's going on with her? What kind of sister are you?"

I covered my cheek, but the sting of the slap burned deep into my heart.

Mom tried to calm Dad down.

I stayed quiet, just looking at her.

She lowered her gaze, tugging at Dad's arm and muttering, "That's enough. Helena and Simone don't live together."

Dad gritted his teeth and shot back, "How could they not live together?"

Mom's face darkened, her expression conflicted. "Helena moved back to the school dorms a long time ago. That apartment is just Simone's place."

In my previous life, Simone wanted one room for her bedroom and another for her studio, so Mom suggested I move back to the dorms.

I refused, and things got really tense between us.

This time around, I didn't want any more drama. I offered to move back to the dorms myself.

That apartment was never really mine anyway, so I never intended to stay there for long.

I didn't bother explaining. I just turned and headed inside the building.

Just then, Dad noticed my classmates were watching, whispering and pointing at us.

He looked dead set on making Simone's pregnancy all my fault.

He called out to me.

He yelled, "She's your sister! What's wrong with caring about her? Even if you don't live together, are you seriously telling me you had no idea what happened to her?"

I paused for a moment.

Mom jumped in, exasperated. "That's right. You're sisters, so how could you not tell us she has a boyfriend?"

I turned back around.

I stared at them, expressionless.

I asked, "Mom, Dad, do you really need me to tell you Simone has a boyfriend?"

I pulled out my phone and opened up Simone's Instagram feed.

Over the past two years, she'd posted countless pictures of herself with her boyfriend Henry Smith.

They had traveled together.

They had had fancy dinners together.

And they had kissed each other passionately.

My parents knew very well that Simone had a boyfriend.

They were just convinced he was from a very wealthy family.

When Simone got pregnant, they were probably still thrilled, thinking she was about to marry into serious money.

But when Simone finally came clean that Henry was just a penniless dropout, they blew up.

They were not mad at Simone.

Nor were they angry with Henry.

They just blamed me for not keeping my sister in check.

I pointed right at Simone's first Instagram post where she went public with Henry.

Underneath, I'd left a comment: [This guy didn't even get into college, his family's a mess, and he still doesn't have a job. Simone, maybe you should think twice before dating him.]

Simone never replied to me.

Instead, my parents replied under that comment, ganging up on me.

Dad wrote: [No way Simone would pick someone like that. Her boyfriend's the son of a big-time CEO. Stop being so jealous.]

Mom added: [Helena, you're always so petty. You just can't stand seeing Simone do well, so you deliberately make up stuff. Maybe you should worry about why you can't land a rich boyfriend yourself.]

My parents stared at the evidence, faces drained of all color.

Even their lips were trembling.

With everyone watching, they couldn't say one more harsh word to me.

And they could no longer pin Simone's mistakes on me.

But I knew Mom was right by using "deliberately."

I did all this on purpose.

I gave up that concert ticket on purpose, just so Simone and Henry could go together and start catching feelings.

I moved out of the apartment on purpose, too, so those two could have all the space they needed to lose themselves in each other.

In my previous life, I never moved out of the apartment.

With no privacy, Simone had no choice but to sneak off to shady hotels with Henry.

The places they went were downright grimy.

She ended up catching a nasty infection.

When Mom found out, she used my ID to take Simone to the hospital.

Simone was healed afterward.

But somehow, that medical record with my name on it started making the rounds.

And my bad reputation took another hit.

All the while, I was clueless. I was trying to prove to my parents that Henry was just pretending to be rich, digging up evidence and showing it to them.

The moment my parents saw the proof, they forced Simone to break up with Henry.

And that was why Simone got the happy, perfect picture ever after.

This time around, I offered to move back to the dorms myself.

Mom was all smiles and said yes without a second thought.

Eventually, within three years, Simone got pregnant.

If nothing unexpected happened, Mom would probably take my ID again and take Simone to the hospital for an abortion.

But I knew my pure and innocent sister very well.

She couldn't even bear to step on an ant.

So there was no way she would kill her own baby.