They Made My Life A Joke For 18 Years, I Stopped Laughing Chapter 09

They Made My Life A Joke For 18 Years, I Stopped Laughing Chapter 09

When my parents found out I’d withdrawn from PCU, they took to bed as if they’d been struck by

some terrible illness.

Relatives and family friends came by, some barely bothering to hide their mockery.

Directly or not, they all blamed Mom and Dad for failing to control me.

But the second Gavin came home with proof that I’d received a full-ride undergraduate scholarship

from Eastbridge, my parents made a miraculous recovery.

“Yes, yes, that’s our Willa.”

“Oh, she’s always been self-motivated. We barely had to stay on top of her in school…”

Mom and Dad were still on the phone bragging to relatives back home.

Gavin came in, exhausted from the trip.

Mom looked behind him. “Where’s Willa?”

Gavin bit his lip and sighed.

“I couldn’t get her to come back.”

“She… doesn’t want to see us.”

“What do you mean?”

Mom ended the call immediately, panic spreading across her face.

“Willa has always been such a good girl. She’s always needed us. How could she not want to see

us?”

“This is your fault!”

Mom punched Gavin in the chest.

Hard enough to make him grunt.

“You, Ethan, and that awful Sienna girl just had to pull that stupid prank and send her running all over for her enrollment packet. None of this would’ve happened otherwise. This is all your fault!”

Gavin said nothing.

“Enough.”

Dad held up his phone with the bank transfer screen open.

“Look. She hasn’t blocked transfers from us. I sent her seventy-five thousand dollars. If she keeps

it, that means she’s forgiven us…”

Before he could finish, his phone chimed.

The entire transfer had been sent back.

“Damn it!”

Dad shot to his feet and stared at the screen.

“Willa won’t even take our money now?”

He grabbed his jacket and keys as if he could drive all the way from San Diego to Boston.

Mom stopped him.

“Fly. It’s faster.”

So early the next morning, I found my parents and Gavin standing outside one of my classroom buildings with flowers and a carefully wrapped gift basket.

It hadn’t been long, but Mom and Dad looked noticeably older.

Not even layers of concealer could hide the dark circles under Mom’s eyes.

“Willa, where’s your academic advisor’s office? I brought something for her.”

For once, Mom sounded almost shy.

“Don’t bother.”

I didn’t spare them a glance. I turned and headed straight into the building.

All three of them followed me like they were stuck to my heels.

“Willa, please. Don’t be mad. We promise we’ll treat you exactly the way we treat Gavin from now

on.”

“Gavin promised too. No more jokes at your expense.”

“Just unblock your dad and me, okay?”

I stopped walking.

“Do you really think saying sorry erases what you did?”

I pressed a hand to my chest. For one second, tears threatened.

I swallowed them.

“When I was little, you handed Ethan and Sienna, two kids who weren’t even yours, more money

than I could imagine. But for me, even five dollars was too much.”

“You remembered Gavin’s birthday every year. When mine came around, you pretended to forget. If I asked for a gift, you called me materialistic.”

“They tricked me into the woods and left me there. I almost died.”

“And you…” My voice caught. “You told me I just couldn’t take a joke.”

“I will not forgive you.”

“Don’t come looking for me again.”

Mom clutched her chest and nearly went down right there.