Chapter 3

"When Daisy got her period and stained her pants, you went off on me for not having pads ready. But Mom, did you ever help me out when I got mine? Do you remember how you yelled at me back then? You said I was making a fuss, called me stupid, and acted like I shouldn't need to be taught things like this," I said.

"And during SATs, you booked a hotel right by Daisy's test center so she could focus, but for me, you just said I lived close enough to walk and left it at that," I added.

"Mom, do you want me to keep going?" I asked.

"Daisy's an adult now. And even when she wasn't, she's got parents, she's got grandparents. What, are they helpless or something? Why does it always fall on me to handle every little thing about her? Why?" I said.

My eyes burned with tears. I couldn't control it, and honestly, I didn't want to anymore.

My mom was stunned. She just stood there, like she couldn't figure out why I was so upset.

"Come on, it's just a tiny thing. It's all over now! Why are you still holding onto this?" my mom said.

"A tiny thing? It's just in the past?" I echoed, hardly believing what I was hearing.

I let out a laugh I couldn't stop, but as I laughed, the tears just kept coming down.

"Mom, do I need to remind you that I'm your daughter and Daisy isn't?" I said.

"Ever since the SATs results came out, have you even bothered to ask about my plans, about what I want for my future? All you and Nasir and Nancy talk about is how to pick the right college and major for Daisy. Has it ever crossed your mind to care about me, to ask me anything?" I pressed.

Mom looked away, uncomfortable, and after a long silence, she finally muttered, "But your scores are higher than hers, right?"

I couldn't even force a laugh anymore; all I felt was emptiness.

Right, my score was better than Daisy's, so apparently that meant nobody gave a damn what college I ended up at, or what major I picked.

I just tuned my mom out and headed straight for my room.

I heard my mom step out. Not that it made any difference—she'd never let her little darling Daisy end up at some community college, not if she could help it.

I sure as hell wasn't going to meddle with Daisy's business.

After a night's rest, I headed out the next day to look for a job.

With the experience from my previous life, I knew how to skip a lot of the rookie mistakes.

Handing out flyers or working minimum wage at some fast-food joint? Not in this lifetime.

I had my sights set on the future—short videos were about to blow up, and a whole wave of influencers and content creators would rise up.

I could totally get ahead of the curve and use this chance to build up my own social media and short video channels.

It was summer break, and loads of students were setting out to travel. This was my first shot at cashing in on a business opportunity.

I found a travel gear store and made a deal: no base salary, but I wanted a 5% higher commission than their regular staff.

There were two popular tourist spots in my city, one of them a mountain just under 6,500 feet high.

To boost my video quality, I rented a camera, grabbed my laptop, and hit the road to shoot my very first vlog.

Along the way, I didn't just showcase the sights—I squeezed in recommendations for the travel gear I was using.

That night, I camped out on the mountain and made sure to showcase each of my gear—the tent, bug spray, and my outdoor flashlight—all on camera.

Before turning in, I edited the vlog and uploaded it to A-Site.

In the video description, I included the link to that travel gear store for anyone interested.

Once I had everything sorted, it was way past midnight. I just passed out right there in my tent.

No dreams at all—I slept like a rock. First thing in the morning, I checked the views and comments on my video to see how it was performing.

As a fresh-faced content creator, my first video already pulled in over 20,000 views.

The bullet comments and regular replies were packed with people saying I'd totally convinced them to try the gear I'd shown off.

I was genuinely thrilled with these results—couldn't have asked for a better start.

For the next week, I didn't go home at all. I was out on the road with my products, visiting tourist attractions in two neighboring cities.

I was extra careful not to make my product placements feel too forced, and tried to shoot as much beautiful scenery as possible.

By the third video, my view count had multiplied several times, and that single upload broke 100,000 views.

My commission had already exceeded 2.5 thousand dollars—and this was just the end of week one.

That was a huge motivator for me. With my backpack slung over my shoulder, I went back home, ready to plan the content for my next video.

As soon as I walked through the door, there was Daisy—already waiting.

She sat smack dab in the middle of the living room, my parents on one side, Nasir and Nancy on the other, and Daisy just looked super impatient, practically fidgeting with annoyance.

No points for guessing—this was clearly another round about Daisy and her college choices.

"Daisy, you..." Nancy started to say, but stopped short as soon as I walked in.

Seeing me, her face lit up like she'd just found the answer to all her problems.

"Mariana, thank goodness you're back! Help me talk to Daisy, will you? She seriously wants to go to a community college, and the deadline's almost here. She still won't budge, and I'm about to go crazy over this!" Nancy pleaded.