"You're good to my son, and I'm good to your daughter, aren't I? That five-thousand-dollar summer camp—I paid it without blinking."
I crouched nearby, listening to them list all the ways they'd been good to my brother and sister.
Jealousy gnawed at me. Why couldn't I be them? Wasn't I their child too? Why did they only care about each other's kids?
They'd never treated me that way.
"I keep feeling like we've let Lily down. Have we been too hard on her? She's not being mistreated at Rita's, is she?"
I looked up at Dad.
Dad, I was hurt. They cut open my stomach. It hurts so much.
Whenever Ethan or Chloe were wronged, Mom and Dad stood up for them. Maybe this time, they'd stand up for me?
Mom scoffed.
"What's she lacking? Food? Clothes? I just asked her to stay somewhere else for a few nights, and she threw a fit like I was abandoning her forever."
But Mom, I really was cut to pieces and thrown away.
She pulled out her phone to call Rita. It rang for a long time before anyone picked up.
"Hello? Rita? What's all that noise? The kid wants to eat out? Rita, you spoil her too much."