They Made My Life A Joke For 18 Years, I Stopped Laughing Chapter 10

They Made My Life A Joke For 18 Years, I Stopped Laughing Chapter 10

As the crowd around us grew, I pulled the three of them into an empty classroom nearby.

Before I could speak, Gavin’s phone rang. It was Ethan.

I couldn’t hear Ethan’s side of the call.

Gavin’s face changed at once.

“What? Sienna forged that psychiatric evaluation?”

Whatever color was left in my parents’ faces vanished.

Neither could look at me.

Gavin hung up.

He raised his eyes to mine, almost afraid.

“Ethan said he verified the report number against the old records. The evaluation was yours. There

was nothing under Sienna’s name.”

A cold laugh escaped me.

My hand went instinctively to my left wrist.

The thick watchband covered the scars, but on damp, rainy days, they still seemed to ache

somewhere beneath the skin.

“Willa, I’m sorry.”

“I was your brother. I should’ve protected you.”

His eyes were so red they looked bruised.

Mom and Dad finally cried, and for once the tears looked real.

“Willa, come home. Let us take care of you.”

“If Eastbridge is where you want to study, we’ll move to Boston. We’ll stay here with you, okay?”

“No more jokes. No more lies. We promise.”

I shook my head.

“No, Mr. and Mrs. Sutton.”

“We don’t have a relationship anymore.”

“Those scars healed a long time ago. I don’t need parents now.”

My voice left no room for argument.

They started to reach for my hands, then stopped at the look on my face.

“Go home. And don’t come looking for me again.”

I left the classroom, turned the corner, and nearly ran straight into Ethan. He had clearly rushed

over.

He grabbed me in a hug.

I shoved at him, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Willa, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“I know now. All of it.”

“The evaluation Sienna forged… she used yours. I’m sorry.”

I had heard too many apologies that day.

So many that they had stopped meaning anything.

By then, they only made me tired.

I drove my heel down on his foot.

He hissed in pain and finally let go.

“Willa…”

I spat at him.

“Get lost, Ethan. Enough with the ego. You really think I’m going to forgive you? Not a chance.”

“Willa…”

Ethan went pale, like the words had cut straight through him.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ring.

“Willa, this isn’t from some cheap website. I had it made in Switzerland. It isn’t $999. It’s $9,999.

Do you like it?”

“I never got to finish what I wanted to say that day.”

“Give me one more chance.”

I glanced at the ring.

It was clearly real.

But so what?

I was past the point where a ring could win me back.

“Ethan, there is no ‘us.””

“Everything you do from here is pointless.”

I picked up my textbooks, turned around, and walked back into the building.

After that, their lives had nothing to do with mine.

Later, a mutual friend told me that after they went home, Ethan and Sienna had a huge fight and cut

each other off completely.

In college, Ethan cycled through girlfriends like outfits. Not one relationship lasted two months.

“You have no idea how weird Ethan’s gotten.”

“Every girl he dates looks like you somehow. One has your whole vibe, another has your brows. It’s honestly ridiculous.”

As for my parents and Gavin, they spent most of their time shut inside the house.

Every year on June 6, they bought a floral dress for no apparent reason, even though there was no

one there to wear it.

“And your parents? They redid your whole room even though you don’t live there anymore. Pink walls, dolls, floral dresses, everything you used to like.”

I smiled.

When I was still there, no one knew how to love me.

The second I left, they all wanted to make up for it.

Too late.

They were no longer part of my world.

All I had now was the sunlight I loved, my textbooks, and a group of friends who shared my goals.