5.
At dinner, Brittany started crying.
“Mom, Dad, Ashley hit me again.”
Mom and Dad looked at each other.
I lifted my hand, carefully eating with my
“Honey, what happened to your hand?”
Mom cradled my hand like a baby and gave it
a little kiss.
“Your sister was cutting an apple for me and
accidentally cut herself. The knife was really
sharp and dangerous, so I asked the nanny to
get rid of it.”
Brittany’s face was bright red, and she never
expected Ethan to back me up.
“There’s security footage of Ashley hitting
me.”
“Brittany, are you frying your brain?”
I acted concerned, but I was so happy I
almost choked
Г
“The house at Cherry Lane burned down. We
don’t have security cameras here yet.”
Dad put his fork down on the plate.
His voice was ice. “Brittany, I know you’re
upset that Ashley left you in the fire. But she
was scared, it’s human nature. You can’t
blame her for everything.
“Whoever started the fire and hurt you, your
mom and I are going to find out.
“But I don’t want you throwing accusations
around without proof. This has happened
twice already. I don’t want it to happen a third
time.”
That shut Brittany right up.
く
She stopped acting like a crazy person and
ate her dinner.
But her eyes never left my face.
She mouthed something: “Just wait until
school tomorrow. I’m going to ruin you.”
I just smiled.
Who was going to ruin who? That was
obvious.
The next morning, we left for school together.
I’d gotten out of the hospital a few weeks
before Brittany, and Mom and Dad had
already signed me up for her class.
عمل
They wanted us to support sech oth
୮
They wanted us to support each other, but
they didn’t know that it just gave Brittany a
chance to be even more evil.
The driver was there, so Brittany didn’t dare.
make a fuss.
She was so quiet that I thought she might
have changed.
But the second she walked into the
classroom, she turned back into a delicate
little flower, hunched over her desk, and
pretending to be weak.
The mask hid the scars on her face, and
everyone could see her suffering and not how
she looked.
く
Plus, everyone in class knew about the fire,
so they were all over her, asking if she was
okay.
“Brittany, we were so worried about you. We
wanted to visit you in the hospital, but the
doctors said you needed to rest.”
Brittany lifted her red, puffy eyes, looking like
a lost puppy.
“I wanted to see you too, but…”
She gave me a scared little look. “Someone
wouldn’t let me.‘
I scanned the room, didn’t see my desk, didn’t
even care.
Liust smiled “I was at the hospital with you. I
く
I just smiled. “I was at the hospital with you. I
didn’t see anyone come to visit you or keep
you from going out.”
Some dude jumped up, pushing his chair
back.
“You’re that hick from the sticks the Miller’s
just brought home? Brittany was hurt because
of you. Now you’re gonna mess with her in
front of me? I’m gonna kick your ass!”
“Cole, don’t do this! Ashley didn’t do anything
to me on purpose!”
Brittany grabbed Cole’s arm, pretending to
defend me, but really just adding fuel to the
fire.
She wanted him to beat me to a pulp.
Г
“I’m just the Miller’s adopted daughter. It’s my
fate to be messed with. I get it.”
Cole, being the idiot he was, ate right out of
her hand.
He grabbed Brittany’s hand. “Don’t worry, I’m
not going to let anyone mess with you. I’d do
anything for you, even if it meant killing
someone–Ahh!”
He didn’t even finish his little speech before
he let out an earth–shattering scream.
I just stepped forward and ripped Brittany’s
mask off.
Her scarred face was there for everyone to
see.
L
The evil grin was still on her face.