The Daughter They Didn’t Want Won The Lottery Chapter 01
After I bombed the SAT, on some stupid impulse, I used my last seven bucks to buy a scratch-off.
I won. Five hundred thousand dollars.
I stared at the ticket until the numbers blurred. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Now I could afford to retake the SAT.
I ran the whole way home and burst through the door.
“Mom—Dad—you’re never gonna guess what just—”
The rest of the sentence died in my throat, drowned out by the noise from the living room.
“Chloe, honey, that color is made for you.”
“Mom, you have the best taste, seriously.”
“The new phone is insane. And the laptop—God, you get what you pay for.”
“Thank you thank you thank you—”
Nobody heard a word I said. Everything in that room revolved around my little sister Chloe. As always.
I watched them for a moment. Then I slid the ticket quietly into my back pocket.
Fine. Then I don’t need any of you.
…
The coffee table was buried under Apple boxes. Shopping bags everywhere.
Chloe was spinning in front of the hallway mirror in a new sundress, snapping selfies with her brand-new phone.
Liam, my childhood best friend, stood next to her, holding out a robin’s-egg-blue bag with a white ribbon.
“Graduation present. Hope you like it.”
Chloe squealed and threw her arms around his neck. “Liam! How did you know I’ve been wanting this?”
“I pay attention.” He smiled and ruffled her hair. “I’m good at reading what girls want.”
I looked down at myself. My phone—screen webbed with cracks—was the one she’d tossed two years ago.
My tote was a grocery-store freebie Mom had gotten five years ago.
Mom finally noticed me, but only long enough to give me an order.
“Don’t just stand there. Start dinner. And Chloe’s laundry needs doing—she leaves for her grad trip Saturday.”
I swallowed.
“Mom. Did you get me anything?”
She finally looked up, gave me a once-over, and laughed.
“Emma. With that SAT score? You’ll be lucky if community college takes you. What exactly are we celebrating?”
“I don’t want a present. I want to retake the SAT. Take a gap year, reapply in the fall.”
I kept my voice steady. “It was a fluke. You know that. My GPA is higher than Chloe’s. I was doing fine before that exam. One gap year, one retake, and I can get into a good school.”
If I hadn’t spent SAT morning cramping and throwing up on the bathroom floor, I could’ve had my pick of schools.
The room went quiet.
Mom barely reacted.
“A gap year? Do you have any idea what a Kaplan course costs? The store barely made rent this quarter. There’s no money for that.”
Four grand for Chloe’s Apple bundle. Not fifteen hundred for a prep course.
Dad cleared his throat. Opened his mouth. Mom shot him a look and he shut it.
Then Liam walked over with a small bag in his hand.
He held it out. “Don’t be upset, Em. Got you something too.”
He remembered. My eyes stung. I took it.
A thin silver chain. A tiny four-leaf clover. The clearance sticker was still on the box. $15.
“For luck,” Liam said, smiling. “You deserve it.”
Fifteen dollars and a twelve-hundred-dollar handbag.
The math wasn’t hard.
Chloe drifted over and looped her arm through mine. “Em, Liam and I picked it out together. Try it on!”
I didn’t move.
She read my face and her voice went soft.
“Look, he got me the bag because I’m going to Columbia this fall. I need something decent for the city. But if you really want it, take it. I’ll just use my old JanSport.”
She actually reached for the strap.
Mom’s hand shot out and clamped down. “Don’t be ridiculous. It suits you. Where would your sister carry a bag like that? The community college cafeteria?”
Where would your sister carry a bag like that.
The words slid in somewhere deep and stayed there.
In this house, I wore what Chloe outgrew, typed on the laptop she’d cracked, and did homework in workbooks she’d already scribbled in.
I couldn’t remember the last time anything had been bought just for me.
Liam looked embarrassed. “Em, if you want a bag like that, I can save up and get you one. It’s just—I spent everything on Chloe’s, so…”
The lamp caught the side of his face. He looked exactly the way he’d always looked. Kind. Considerate.
He was the one person I’d told everything to.
Every time Mom compared me to Chloe, every time Dad pretended not to see, I ended up on Liam’s porch crying into my sleeve, and he’d say the same thing every time:
It’s okay. You’ve got me. Always on your side.
For three years, we’d said that to each other. We’d promised that after graduation, we’d finally make it real.
Then the scores came back. Chloe—Columbia. Liam—Columbia. Me—a number I still couldn’t say out loud.
He’d held me while I cried. Told me not to worry. He’d wait for me in New York. His summer job money was going toward a special graduation present, just for me.
Turns out his summer job money bought Chloe a Louis Vuitton.
I got Claire’s.
Somewhere along the way, Liam’s heart had drifted across the street. I just hadn’t noticed.
“Anything’s fine,” I said, and smiled. “Really.”
Liam exhaled. “Knew you’d get it. You’re the best.”
I didn’t answer.
He wasn’t wrong. He was good at reading girls. Including me. He knew exactly how much I’d swallow and still smile.
I closed my hand around the necklace and went upstairs.
The second the door clicked shut, I slid down against it, pulled the scratch-off out of my back pocket, and stared at those numbers until my eyes filled.
Fine. If none of you will give me anything—
I’m done asking.
I scrolled to Ms. Hayes, my guidance counselor, and hit call.
“Ms. Hayes? Hi. That study-abroad program you mentioned—the one in London. Is there still a spot?”
“Emma, honey, there is, but that program isn’t cheap. Have you talked to your parents about—”
“Money’s not an issue.”
A pause on her end.
“…All right. I’ll email you the paperwork tonight.”
I hung up and leaned my head back against the door.
Downstairs, Mom was laughing at something Chloe said. Liam was laughing too.
I turned the little clover over in my palm. It was cold.
I was lucky.
Just not because of any of them.