Page 73 of Bared Betrayal
“I’m not staying in this house while you and your boyfriend are in your room having sex and smoking weed.”
“We’re not having sex. Jesus. Calm the fuck down.”
She crosses her arms. “You’re smoking weed. I can smell it all the way to my room.”
“So what? It’s a little weed. We’re not hurting anyone.”
“Mom and Dad trusted us enough to leave us alone at home, and you are being the classic cliched teenager by doing everything you’re not supposed to.” She wraps her scarf around her neck. “And I, for one, am not staying here while you break our parents’ trust.”
“Break our parents’ trust?” I repeat mockingly. “Who the hell are you? Mother Teresa? You’re such a damn goody-two-shoes.”
“I don’t care what you think of me, Kal.” She pulls her blonde ponytail out of the wrapped scarf behind her neck. “I’m nothing like you.”
“No shit. Imagine how easy my life would be if you were.”
“Screw you.” She turns on her heel and stomps outside, leading me to go after her.
“Why are you like this?”
“Like what? A daughter who likes to listen to her parents?”
“Stop!” I grab her elbow, and she jerks free, spinning to face me.
“You think I don’t know you hate me?”
“I don’t hate you, Maya.”
“Well, you sure don’t like me.”
“It’s kind of hard to like you when everything in this house revolves around you.”
“What?”
I step closer, anger flooding my head with words I know I shouldn’t say, but I can’t stop myself. “Ever since you were born, Mom and Dad forgot I fucking existed. You were this ‘miracle child,’” I mock as I make quotation marks with my fingers. “The little girl God gave them after so many doctors told Mom she’ll never have another baby.”
Maya furrows her brows, staring at me in disbelief. “How is that my fault? I never asked to be here.”
“But you are here,” I spit out with venom. “And it’s because of you that I’m practically invisible in this house. The only time I get noticed is when they need me to take care of you. Walk your sister to school, Kalliana. Push your sister on the swing, Kalliana. Help your sister with her homework, Kalliana. Make sure your sister doesn’t get into trouble, Kalliana. It’s always all about you!”
She presses her lips into a thin line, her eyes shimmering as she bites back tears. “So, you meant it?”
“Meant what?”
She purses her lips. “Remember your eighth birthday party?”
“What about it?” I ask.
“I knocked over your soda by accident, spilling it on your dress.”
I cross my arms. “Yet another day you ruined for me. Yes, I remember.”
“You were in the bathroom with two of your friends, cleaning your dress when you said—and I quote—'My life would be so much better without my sister. I even heard my mom tell my dad that she wishes Maya was never born.’” A tear falls down her cheek, and out of nowhere, regret slams into me harder than a ten-ton truck.
“Maya,” I say softly, feeling like complete and utter shit. “What you heard, that wasn’t…it wasn’t true. Mom never—”
“Oh, shut up, Kal.” A single tear dripped down her cheek. “You hate me. Always have. I don’t expect you to act otherwise.” With that, she turns around and starts to run toward the street.
I chase after her. “Maya, stop!”
