You lost everything to me
Violet
The first thing I saw when I went to the back of the house was Riley sitting down on a chair like a queen waiting for her servant. Her legs were crossed and she had a bikini on that barely covered any of her body, a black pair of sunglasses on, and a table in front of her that was set with drinks and snacks.
Harper stood behind her, now smiling unlike before, as if Riley’s presence alone gave her a reason to be smug again.
I stopped for a moment, taking in the scene. The air was cold, and yet here she was, sprawled half–naked. My eyes flicked from Riley to the pool behind her. I frowned, then locked my gaze back on my cousin.
“What is this?” I asked flatly.
Riley didn’t bother sitting up. She only tilted her head, a smile curving her lips. “What do you think? I’m just relaxing, waiting for my favorite tutor.”
I looked at her again, then at the notes I carried with me. She had actually asked me to come out here by the pool in the freezing morning. We could have been inside, where we could actually study like normal people. I opened my mouth, ready to say it, but then shut it again.
It hadn’t even been one full minute since I arrived, and already Riley was testing me.
I swallowed it down and walked forward, because her mother would hang me if I didn’t do exactly what Riley
wanted.
I reached the table, pulling out the chair across from her and sat down, setting my notebook across my lap.
“Let’s go through what you don’t know,” I said, flipping to the first page. I just wanted to get this over with and leave.
Riley, still staring up at the sky with her sunglasses shielding her eyes, let out a small laugh.
“What do you think you’re doing, Vileot?”
My eyes lifted to her. “I’m trying to tutor you on the aspects you’re not good at.”
Riley chuckled again, louder this time. Harper joined in behind her, their laughter echoing by the pool. Riley slowly slid her sunglasses down her nose and finally looked at me with an expression that made me feel like an insect.
“I know what you’re doing, dummy, I just don’t get why you are doing that.”
My brows drew together. “What?”
Riley smirked, leaning forward now. “I guess Mother didn’t really tell you what you should do, and you’re not that bright to begin with. Okay, let me explain things to you, since you’re having such a hard time knowing anything.”
My fingers pressed harder into my notes.
She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Violet, you are to tutor me by finding out a way to switch our exam sheets without anyone knowing during the exams.”
((
“}
I stared at Riley as if she had grown two heads and I was trying to figure out what her other head was thinking. But
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she didn’t even blink at her own words, she sat there calm, like what she was saying made perfect sense.
She even sighed, like I was the one being ridiculous for not catching on.
Riley pointed lazily at the drink on the table. “Get me that.”
“Yes, miss Riley,” Harper answered immediately, rushing to grab it like the loyal little dog she was.
Riley took the glass, sipped it slowly, then set it aside. She leaned back against the chair and looked me dead in the eye, her lips curling in amusement. “It’s quite simple. This is what will happen, you’ll write your papers on time, and if you finish, you’ll look for the best time to pass them to me, exchanging our papers. If there’s still time, you could even write the blank paper and submit it. That way, we both pass……well, you’ll have to write the wrong answers on your own paper so I come out first this time around.”
My eyes widened, my mouth falling open before I even realized it. I looked at her, utterly dumbfounded. Each word that left her mouth was worse than the last, as if she had actually sat down and planned this whole thing in advance.
How? How could someone think like this? No matter how dumb, no matter how spoiled, a human being should still have at least a speck of common sense in their brain, right? There should be a little understanding of consequences?
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to control the anger bubbling up in my chest.
Calm down, Violet. Anger isn’t the answer, I told myself.
“Except that it’s morally wrong,” I finally said, my voice barely a whisper. “Do you even realize how many ways this could go wrong? This isn’t some small–time school. This is one of the best colleges in America. There are CCTV cameras everywhere. And even if we somehow pulled it off, nearly every teacher would recognize it. My handwriting is unique, and different from yours. They’d know.”
“This is just insane, Riley. If we tried something like this, we could both get expelled. So maybe you should think before you talk-”
Riley cut me off, rolling her eyes. “That is why I told you to come in the first place, dummy. You have a good brain. You can use it, can’t you? Think of a way the both of us can do this without getting caught.”
“And besides,” she said lazily as if she were talking about the weather, “we all know if you teach me, there’s no way I’ll learn anything that fast. And I have to be the top student this year if I ever want to show Daddy that I’m the best person to take over the hospital.” She smirked, tilting her head. “Or… are you trying to take the hospital from us, just because it was your father that built it, Violet?”
My hands clenched instantly at the sound of my father’s name on her lips. The way she said it, so mockingly, as if she had every right to, made my chest burn.
“It’s quite tragic, isn’t it? You lost everything to me. Your house, the hospital, the comfortable life you had…” She let out a little laugh, like she was enjoying every word, then added, “Oh, and I couldn’t forget the most important thing, you even gave me your kidney.”
“So, why can’t you just close your eyes, like all the other times, and give me the top spot?”
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Don’t you dare
Violet
I was eighteen when Riley fell sick. One day she just collapsed, and by the next, the doctors were saying kidney
failure.
Nobody saw it coming. Seeing Riley, the same girl who spent years tormenting me, lying pale and weak in a hospital bed was strange, and unsettling. I didn’t know if I was supposed to feel pity or emotionless.
A few days later, her mother came to me, and asked me to get tested. I still remember sitting there, waiting for the results. And when they told me I was a match, everything changed.
My aunt, who could hardly stand the sight of me, suddenly smiled when I walked into a room. She bought Sebastian everything he wanted, and even transferred him to a better school. She tried the same with me, but I wasn’t stupid. I could see right through her. None of it was real, they just wanted my kidney.
Honestly, they didn’t even need to pretend. I had already decided if I could save Riley’s life, I would do it. Even if she hated me. Even if she would’ve laughed if it had been me dying instead. We were family after all.
After I signed the consent papers, my life wasn’t mine anymore. I was put on a strict diet. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house without permission. My aunt was terrified something might happen to me before the surgery, and might ruin her daughter’s chances of living.
When the surgery was over, they dropped their masks.
I got sick afterward, and it was me lying in a hospital bed with tubes in my arm and pain tearing through my body. No one was there. I didn’t even tell Sebastian, I couldn’t risk him blaming himself. I couldn’t tell my friends either. None of them would have let me go through with it if they’d known. So I suffered alone.
I gave them everything, and they left me with nothing.
So now, hearing Riley throw it back in my face, using my kidney as a weapon to humiliate me, didn’t hurt. It was just another day in this family. Another reminder that no matter how much I gave, they would always want more.
And one day, I knew, they would take everything from me until there was nothing left to give.
I just stared at Riley. My face was blank, my eyes hollow, as though I was looking through her rather than at her.
And in that still moment, my mother’s voice echoed in my head. “No one is truly evil, Violet. Sometimes, when they show you their bad side, show them your good side. It will eventually get to them.”
No, Mother. You were wrong. There are evil people in this world. People who can’t be changed. No matter how many good sides you show them, they will never appreciate it. They will only take your kindness and spit it back in your face.
A small smile tugged at my lips. I looked down at the notes in my lap, my fingers digging into them until the paper nearly tore. It was the only reaction my body allowed me to show. After a long breath, I lifted my gaze back to Riley, who was still watching me like she expected me to obey.
“I will pretend I never heard such things,” I said flatly.
For the first time, Riley blinked, taken aback. She hadn’t expected for me to reject her. How low did they truly see me? How foolish must I have been in the past, doing everything they wanted, for them to think I would actually agree to this madness?
I stood up slowly, my notes pressed tight against my chest. “Since you have no intention to study, then I have no
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reason to be here.”
I took one of the notes, laid it neatly on the table between us, and added, “You can still use this to study if you want.”
Riley’s lips curled, amusement flickering in her eyes, but I ignored her. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if my aunt threw another tantrum, I would never cheat for her daughter.
I turned my back and started walking away. I barely took two steps before a sudden shove slammed into my back. My eyes flew wide, my hands clawed at empty air, desperate for something to catch. But there was nothing to hold
on to.
I stumbled, lost my balance, and with a splash, crashed sideways into the freezing pool.
“Oh my God!” I gasped as water slammed into my face and rushed up my nose. I choked, lungs burning, until my fingers scraped the slick edge of the pool. Clinging hard, I dragged myself up, coughing, hair plastered to my forehead, jeans and shirt clinging against my skin.
Harper looked down at me, arms crossed, a smile fixed on her face. My stomach dropped. Had she completely lost her damn mind?!
Splashing me before was one thing I could overlook, but shoving me into an entire pool? That was a whole different matter.
“Oh, don’t glare at her. You just needed a little cooling down, so I told her to do it.‘
A voice cut in, and I turned to see Riley. She looked at me as if she’d done me a favor, still lounging in the chair before finally standing and stretching her arms.
I pushed my palms into the rough tile and hauled in air until it burned. My heart thudded hard enough I could feel it in my throat.
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