They Sang for Her and Saved Me Leftovers I Couldn’t Eat Chapter 09
It was Spencer York, president of the debate team.
Somehow, seeing him steadied me.
Mom instantly slipped into the role of wounded victim. “Young man, could you be the judge of this?”
“As parents, we traveled all this way to bring our younger daughter to Berkeley for art training. We hoped the sisters could share an apartment and look after each other.”
“But this older sister thinks she’s above everyone now that she’s at UC Berkeley. She’s abandoned her own sister!”
Wallis lowered her head, shoulders hunched as if bracing against a blow that hadn’t landed.
Whispers from the onlookers grew louder.
“I see what happened… Sabrina seems quiet, but she’s awfully cold-hearted.”
“Right. What’s wrong with looking out for your sister?”
Spencer frowned and glanced toward me, his gaze questioning.
I met his eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke. My voice was calm, yet clear enough for every person within earshot to hear.
“Spencer, everyone. I’m sorry to drag you all into my family matters on public campus grounds. But since my mother brought up ‘looking after each other,’ I have a few questions I’d like answered.”
I turned and faced my parents and Wallis directly.
“My eighteenth birthday—I had a 102 fever, and you still made me eat seafood. You knew I was severely allergic.”
A beat of silence. Then: “The SSAT results… top score in the city. She got a thirty-thousand-dollar piano. I got a stack of blank paper.”
“When we shopped for luggage, I picked out a pink suitcase, and you gave it to her, tossing a dusty promotional freebie at me. Remember?”
“The night before her college send-off party, she lied about losing three thousand dollars. Without asking a single question, you labeled me a thief and locked me in my bedroom. Do you remember that?”
With every word, their faces paled further. Wallis’s shoulders tensed. Dad tightened his jaw, and Mom’s anger melted into panic.
I stared straight at them, speaking each word deliberately. “The kind of ‘care’ you expect from me is something I cannot bear to give. From now on, I walk my own path. You can keep looking after your ‘prodigy girl’ yourselves.”
Without glancing back at them, I turned to Spencer. “Let’s head off. We still have debate tournament materials to organize.”
“Alright.” Spencer nodded, naturally stepping beside me to shield me from all the curious stares.
We walked side by side down the tree-lined path. Behind us echoed my parents’ furious shouts and Wallis’s sobs.
But I didn’t turn around. Not once.
I knew, at that moment, I’d finally drawn the line between myself and
that family.