Early the next morning.
I got up early, washed up, and went downstairs for breakfast.
Wanda had already made it. Milk and a sandwich.
She glanced at me and spoke in that snide, sour tone of hers.
“Well, Victoria, you certainly slept well.”
“Do you have any idea Theresa didn't sleep a wink last night?”
I was baffled.
There was no way Wanda would ever have let Theresa sleep in the maid's room. She'd had the guest bedroom cleaned out on the spot.
That was where Theresa had ended up.
“Her room is perfectly nice. How could she not sleep well?”
Wanda's voice shot up at once.
“You think it's the same thing?”
“That guest room is bare! Her bedroom is one we decorated with such care!”
Wanda looked at me with something like resentment.
“She's never had to suffer like this!”
“You've been here five minutes and already you're snatching everything of hers!”
“I truly regret ever finding you!”
The words were barely out before she clapped a hand over her mouth, regretting them.
I gave her one cold look.
And acted like I hadn't heard a thing.
Watching me, Wanda spun around in a fury and stalked into the kitchen.
When she came back out, there was a stone-cold bagel in her hand.
“I made this for you. Don't say I didn't think of you. Always trying to measure yourself against Theresa.”
“Western breakfasts aren't to your taste.”
“A bagel's good enough, isn't it? I had the housekeeper set one aside from her own breakfast just for you.”
I looked at the plate she'd shoved in front of me and turned it down flatly.
“No. I want milk and a sandwich too.”
Wanda froze outright, her face going livid.
“So the second you lay eyes on something nice, out comes that greedy little face of yours!”
“A country girl is a country girl!”
“What makes you think you can compare yourself to Theresa!”
Once Wanda got going, a whole day's worth of pent-up resentment came pouring out.
“Theresa's been top ten in her grade since she was small. She got into a state flagship school on her SATs.”
“Now look at you!”
“Cheap, mean-spirited, and always out for whatever you can grab!”
“Do you even know what college is?”
“You should've stayed in the countryside, working your dirt like a good girl!”
“What did you come here to bother us for!”
I watched the ugliness twist across Wanda's face.
Quietly, I finished my milk and ate the sandwich in front of me.
“Okay.”
Wanda slammed the table hard, shouting about how cursed her life was.
I couldn't have cared less. I went upstairs.
There was a thousand dollars in the little backpack I carried.
It was money Grandma had scrimped and saved.
“A poor home, a rich road. Money in your pocket keeps your heart steady.”
“Don't skimp. Don't shortchange yourself.”
As it happened, I had nothing to do today.
I decided to go take a look around the city.
The state capital was dazzling.
Busier, by who knew how many times, than the liveliest street back home.
A single small tube of lipstick in one of those malls was a month of my living expenses.
A single coat.
Grandma and I could farm a whole year and still not afford it.
I sighed and was about to leave.
When someone stopped me.
“Vicky, what are you doing here?”
Theresa was staring at me, all astonishment.
“Did you follow Mom and me here?”
Wanda stepped out from behind Theresa.
“What are you doing skulking around after us?”
Theresa's eyes darted, then landed on me.
“Are you here to buy clothes too, Vicky?”
She did a little spin, showing off.
“Look, these are the new clothes Mom bought me.”
“Pretty, aren't they?”
I glanced at the price tag she'd pushed at me.
Fifty-eight hundred dollars.
Then, all fake kindness, she tugged at Wanda's sleeve.
“Why don't we buy Vicky an outfit too!”
Wanda shot me an irritated glare.
“Buy her what?”
“Clothes this expensive. Could she even carry them off?”
Theresa let out a soft laugh.
“There's the discount basement outlet!”
“The stuff down there would suit Vicky just fine!”
Wanda glanced at Theresa, who colored and explained herself.
“I just think Vicky shouldn't jump into anything so extravagant. Better to ease into it.”
“Don't you agree, Mom?”
Wanda nodded her approval.
“Come on, then! Your sister's already spoken up for you.”
“You're getting lucky today.”
The discount basement outlet.
I'd walked past it earlier.
It was like the clearance corner of a big-box store.
I shook my head and pointed at the eight-thousand-dollar outfit in the window.
“I want that one.”
Wanda's smile froze. She stared at me in disbelief.
“Victoria, have you gone money-mad?”
“Eight thousand dollars? Have you seen eight thousand dollars once in your whole life?”
I smiled.
“The James family's got money. If I go around dressed like this, does that make you look good?”
“Would anyone respect you?”
Wanda looked like a hand had closed around her throat. Not a word came out.
Theresa spoke up, all wounded.
“Vicky, why do you have to keep measuring yourself against me?”
“I've worn these things since I was little.”
“You never have. Why waste the money.”
“It suits you, but it's a waste on me?”
“Fine. Then let's let everyone here be the judge today.”
“A fake heiress who got swapped at birth, lording it over the real one and living high off her back. Where's the sense in that!”
My voice rose, and people nearby turned to look.
Wanda's face couldn't hold together anymore.
“Buy it!”
“You really are vain! Small-minded.”
“The second there's something worth having, you have to grab it.”
I paid her no mind and slipped happily into the new outfit.
Comfortable. Light.
The girl in the mirror looked different, and somehow the same.
I tugged the corner of my mouth into a smile.
Pretty good. And not so good at all.
