In that moment, something in my mind flickered — a memory from when we were kids. Nadia and I giggling under blankets, sharing secrets. Back when we were sisters in the truest sense — until I won that school contest, until they put my face on the cover of the community paper. She’d been so furious. She’d told everyone I cheated. One by one, my friends turned their backs. The teachers glared. The principal called me a liar.
And Nadia just stood there, pretty and innocent, saying, “I’m sorry. I tried to stop her. She loves attention too much.”
The taste of the shrimp snapped me back. I gagged, vomiting onto the floor. Nadia jerked back, shrieking in disgust. “You bitch! You did that on purpose—”
The door flew open. Xander stepped in, annoyance already etched into his features. “What the hell is going on now?”
Nadia turned to him, her eyes wide, voice trembling. “I was trying to help her, Xander! I made her food and she threw it up! She hates me—”
Xander’s face twisted with disgust as he looked at me, weak and trembling on the floor. “You ungrateful bitch. She’s trying to feed you and you can’t even be thankful?”