Chapter 1

My twin sister was diagnosed with something called Sibling Competition Disorder.

Whenever my grades beat hers, she stopped sleeping and took a razor to her arms.

Dr. Prescott's treatment plan was absurd. Make me worse.

My family threw themselves into it.

Mom set my alarm back, watched me sprint out the door, and turned to Molly. "Your sister won't make it in time now."

My brother offered me a ride, then swore the car had died five minutes in. When I got out and ran for it, he was grinning at me in the mirror.

My childhood friend held me like he was calming a toddler. "So bomb one test. You're smart. What's a gap year?"

Molly's scores climbed, and everyone agreed the plan was working.

On the morning of the Kestrel Collegiate Assessment, someone handed me a bottle of water. I hesitated. I drank it anyway.

Ten minutes in, I ran out of the exam room with both hands on my stomach.

They all turned to look at me, faces arranged into concern, eyes saying the plan had worked.

That was the moment the last thing I still hoped for died.

I only wondered what they'd do when they found out the one they'd destroyed was Molly.

Chapter 1

I came out of that bathroom wrung out.

My legs shook. I braced a hand against the wall and dragged myself into the hallway.

They closed in around me, all of them wearing the same borrowed concern.

Mom looked guilty. "Audrey, don't blame us.

"If Molly can't get into Northstar or Eastborough because of you, she'll have another episode tonight.

"Be good. Let your sister have this."

My brother didn't even bother pretending.

"Audrey, if you don't get into a good school, I'll take care of you."

Colin Barrett, who'd lived next door since we were five, tried to sound gentle. "Exactly. Your grades are great. Sit out a year and retest."

Eighteen years of work, and all of it came down to Molly Sutton's so-called illness.

They'd tried every trick they could invent to make me fail.

I had nothing left to say to any of them. I turned to go.

Mom caught my arm.

"Molly isn't out yet. Wait for her with us."

They didn't see my white lips, or my hands pressed flat against the cramps tearing through my stomach.

There was only ever room in them for Molly.

The bell rang.

Molly came out with her face crumpled.

"Audrey, you finished so early. You must've handed yours in ahead of time.

"I knew I could never beat you."

Her eyes drifted to the big oak at the edge of the lot. "Maybe I should just run into that tree and be done with it.

"At least then I won't humiliate myself when the scores come out."

Mom pulled her in immediately.

"Sweetheart, what are you saying?"

Dylan laughed. "Come on. Your sister isn't in your league.

"Who knows what Audrey ate this morning. She bolted ten minutes after the test started.

"She was in there a solid hour."

Molly studied their faces and asked carefully,

"You're not lying to me?"

Colin threw up a hand.

"I swear we're not.

"You can't hand in a paper until the last thirty minutes, and she walked out after ten.

"That's a rules violation. They wouldn't even let her back in."

I watched them hand Molly the wreckage of my future like a party favor.

I thought that part of me had died a long time ago. It still hurt.

It took a long time for any of them to remember I was standing there.

"Molly, ask your sister yourself. Isn't that what happened?"

Under all those hopeful stares, I answered.

"Yes. I didn't write a single word."

Something bright moved across Molly's face.

"I'll get a zero in language arts," I said. "The rest won't matter now.

"So I'm not taking them."

"Audrey, are you serious?"

I nodded, slow and deliberate.

"I am."

Chapter 2

After the assessment ended, Molly hung off Mom's arm, delighted. "Mom, Audrey skipped the rest of the tests, and I felt amazing in there.

"I might've gotten all 1200. I might be the top scorer in the country."

Mom stroked her hair.

"Of course you are. Molly's the best.

"Audrey was never going to keep up with you. Tell me what you want as a present."

Molly tilted her head and suddenly looked at me.

"If I did that well, you shouldn't get me anything. Give it to Audrey instead.

"Call it an early consolation prize."

Molly always did this.

Every sentence sounded generous, and every one of them was a foot on my neck.

Dylan smiled and opened his banking app.

"Molly, you crushed it and you're still thinking about your sister. That deserves something.

"Audrey didn't even sit the exam, but Molly asked us to include her.

"So I'll send you both a little cash. How's that?"

Both our phones chimed at once.

"Dylan, a hundred and twenty thousand dollars?

"I love you so much."

Molly shrieked, threw her arms around him, and kissed his cheek.

"Audrey, hurry up and see what he sent you."

Before I could reach for my phone, Colin took it out of my hand and opened the transfer.

One cent.

Molly turned to Dylan with theatrical outrage. "That's so unfair.

"How could you give her that little?"

Dylan spread his hands. "Don't blame me, sweetheart.

"I was perfectly fair. Molly scored a perfect 1200, so a hundred times that is a hundred and twenty thousand.

"Audrey didn't take it at all. One cent was already generous."

Molly nodded. "Okay, that's actually fair.

"Audrey, you can't be mad at him. Your stomach's the one that let you down."

I took my phone back from Colin without a word.

Then I stood up to go.

Whether I stayed or not, there was only one person in that room they were celebrating.

"Audrey, you're not upset that I did well, are you?"

Before I could answer, Mom, Dylan, and Colin were all watching me like guards.

Terrified my next breath might upset Molly.

"No. I'm going to get your present."

The second I walked into my room, I saw them sitting on my desk. The three things I'd treasured most.

The Northstar pin Colin gave me the day he promised he'd be waiting for me there.

The brass fountain pen Dylan gave me when he told me I'd go as far as I wanted.

The St. Jude medal Mom had blessed at church, back when she told me I'd graduate at the top of my class.

I didn't want any of them anymore.

The same way I no longer wanted the people who'd given them to me.

I carried all three back to the living room.

"Molly, these are for you."

Mom's face changed the moment she saw them.

"Audrey, isn't that the St. Jude medal I got you?"

I smiled at her. "It is, Mom.

"I don't have money to buy Molly anything new.

"So all I can give her are the things I cared about most."

Mom stared. "Didn't I tell Dylan to give you spending money?"

Dylan rubbed the back of his neck. "Molly's been unstable. I used it keeping her happy.

"Audrey doesn't spend anything anyway. Call it her contribution to Molly's treatment."

The irony almost made me laugh out loud.

Molly's grades were terrible, her moods were a weather system, and every want she had became an emergency.

I couldn't afford a practice workbook without earning the money myself.

They never noticed how late I came home from shifts, because every time I walked in, they were gathered around Molly.

As far as any of them were concerned, I didn't really matter.

Since Molly mattered that much, and since they believed every word out of her mouth, I decided to give them something magnificent.

"Mom, Molly said you should get me something to cheer me up, right?

"I don't need cheering up. I want you to give Molly something instead. From me."

Mom smiled, warmed by how reasonable her older daughter was being.

"Tell me what it is. I'll pay for it."

"Let's throw Molly a party for her scores, and invite everyone we know."

Chapter 3

"Yes, absolutely. Molly did so well we have to celebrate."

They crowded around her, all talking over each other about the party.

Colin shoved me aside without thinking about it.

He just wanted the spot closest to her.

I lost my footing and cracked my forehead on the corner of the coffee table.

The sound it made was dull, and nobody heard it.

A knot came up over my eyebrow right away. I didn't say anything.

I got up quietly and let myself out.

Telling them would have changed nothing.

Besides, I still had tuition to earn.

At the Silverline Karaoke Lounge, I changed into my uniform and started working the floor, selling bottle service room to room.

Then I heard voices I knew.

I opened the door, and Molly stared at me.

"Audrey?"

I stopped.

Mom, Dylan, and Colin all turned at once.

Mom took one look at the uniform, and her face went hard.

"Audrey, are you trying to ruin your life?

"I know you scored a zero this year, but we agreed you were taking a gap year and retesting.

"You're smart. Is this what you want? Serving drinks for the rest of your life?"

Dylan frowned. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Colin grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the hallway.

"Come home. You start studying again tonight."

Looking at the three of them, I almost laughed.

They'd spent years trying to make me worse. Now that they thought it had worked, why were they so unhappy?

For the next several days they kept me in my room and watched me study.

Their attention was rare, and it exhausted me.

"Mom, is my dress ready?

"Today's the most important day of my life."

Mom came hurrying in with a garment box.

"Sweetheart, I had this made for you. Sixty thousand dollars."

Dylan produced a velvet case like a magician.

"And this is from me. A pink-diamond necklace. Half a million."

Colin refused to be outdone. "Look at mine.

"My mother took this antique tiara at auction. Over ten million."

Molly gathered it all up and dressed like a princess.

The princess got into a town car and left for the Citrine Grand Hotel with her court around her.

They forgot me in the house.

A while later, a message came through on my phone.

"Audrey, find your own way to the hotel."

I didn't argue. It was an important day, and I'd been waiting a long time to watch it.

By the time I reached the hotel on foot, my face was soaked and my shirt was stuck to my back.

Mom frowned when she saw me.

"How did you let yourself get like this? It's Molly's day. You're embarrassing us."

Embarrassing.

If I'd had any money, I wouldn't have walked the whole way.

I didn't bother explaining.

They'd never actually looked at me anyway.

Dylan found a server's uniform somewhere and threw it at me.

"Put this on.

"Don't sit at the main tables. Find a corner in the back and stay there.

"Don't get in the way of Molly's party."

The party started, and every guest lined up to tell Mom what a daughter she'd raised.

Then a commotion broke out near the entrance.

People started whispering.

"Isn't that the admissions director from Northstar Institute of Technology?"

"That's her. And the man beside her is from Eastborough."

"That Sutton girl must be something. Pacific Harbor sent someone all the way from Calden."

Molly listened to all of it, glowing, and looked over at our family.

"I told you. I did incredibly well. I really might be the top scorer in the country."

Colin's parents had Molly's hands in theirs, already in love with her.

"Our Molly's really something. Once you pick Northstar or Eastborough, Colin will have company."

They'd said those exact words to me once.

The directors from Northstar, Eastborough, and Pacific Harbor pushed through the crowd toward Molly.

"Audrey Sutton!"

"Choose our school. We'll give you everything we have."

Chapter 4

At the sound of my name, Mom and the others exchanged a stunned look.

"You've made a mistake. Molly's the top scorer in the country."

Dylan jumped in behind her.

"You've definitely got the wrong student. Audrey didn't even finish the exam. Why would you want her?

"Pull the scores. Check them right here and you'll see Molly came out first."

"Wouldn't that be cruel to her, though? She barely tested, and once the numbers come up...

"Mine will be so much higher. She'll be crushed."

Molly glanced at me while she said it, wearing her concern like a costume.

Mom saw nothing cruel in it at all. "It's fine. Your sister's tougher than she looks.

"We'll check right here in front of everyone, so they can all see how remarkable you are."

I'd gone numb a long time ago.

I'd lost count of how many times they'd made an example of me.

It started the day they launched their campaign to make Audrey worse.

They reset my alarm. They left me on the side of the road. They found a way to interfere with every test I sat.

And every time, they laughed about it while they soothed Molly.

"See? Your sister didn't do as well as you this time."

"Molly's the smart one in this family. The second your mood improves, you leave Audrey in the dust."

It never once occurred to them to ask whether any of it hurt.

Tonight was no different.

They were going to execute me in public, for Molly's entertainment.

Dylan didn't hesitate. He waved down a hotel employee. "Get me a laptop.

"We'll start with Audrey's score."

He typed in my exam ID.

One number came up on the screen. Zero.

The room broke into jeering.

"Nobody scores an actual zero. That takes effort."

"I heard their older girl used to be brilliant. What happened? Did she fall in with the wrong crowd?"

"Somebody said they saw her working at a karaoke bar. You don't think..."

Not one person in my family said a word for me.

"You see? I told you there'd been a mistake.

"Look at that score. There is no possible way you came here for her.

"Look at Molly. She's the one you want."

They pushed Molly out in front of the university reps.

Colin stepped up, pleased with himself. "Go on, pull Molly's up.

"Give the room something to talk about."

Dylan smiled, entered Molly's exam ID, and waited.

Every guest held their breath while the portal refreshed.

The number came up huge on the screen. Zero.