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Chapter 14
Ana
There’s already too much going on today. First, I get propositioned by my boss, then Asili creates a scene at some high-brow birthday party, and now I’m powerwalking aimlessly through the halls of Tzelik’s mansion having a fight with Elena, and it’s only three in the afternoon.
“It’s been months and you’re only just answering my call!” she huffs at me through the holo-screen, her perfectly straightened hair gleaming as she flicks it angrily over her slim shoulders. “I haven’t seen your face since you stood outside that orphanage!”
“That’s not my fault!” I snap back. “I’ve called home dozens of times, and you’re always off at your boyfriend’s house!”
“He’s a pilot,Ana.”
“So what?”
“So he’s a pilot! That’s a good job! Not all of us can get off this station with scholarships and dictators!”
“What does him being a pilot have to do with this?”
“Wow, I didn’t realize you cared so little about my life.”
“What?” I shake my head to try and reorganize my thoughts while Elena angrily storms across the kitchen, ripping the fridge open as her camera drone happily bobs after her. “We were talking about missed calls!”
“Yeah,” she snaps, “because you obviously don’t care about talking to your family anymore now that you’re dressing fancy and running errands for presidents.”
I take a deep breath and pull both hands through my hair, dislodging it from the low sleek bun I’d had it in and letting it fall loose. I’m getting a headache.
“Elena,” I say, trying to bring my tone back to a reasonable level as my feet continue to take me through random hallways. “I’m not avoiding you. You just call me at bad times, and when I call back, you’re not home.”
She slams the fridge door shut, glares at the camera, and then rips open the freezer. “You could at least pretend you’re not too good for us, you know!”
“What the hell? Where is this even coming from?” I push my legs to walk faster, trying to work out my frustrations physically so that I don’t fall into petty insults. “Who says I’m too good for anyone?”
“Yeah, alright, Miss Fancy.” She yanks out a tub of ice cream and slams it on the table, pulling out a bowl and spoon with much more noise and force than necessary. “How much did that dress cost, by the way? Is that a Tara Vengler?”
I look down at my outfit and then back up to her. “I can send you some of my clothes, if you want—”
“They wouldn’t even fit me!” she shouts, and starts spooning heaps of ice cream into a bowl, angrily mixing it until it forms a smooth paste. “I’m way too skinny to fit your stupid outfits.” She shoves a huge glob of the creamy sludge into her mouth. “You don’t even care, anyway. Despite everything I’ve done you’ve just abandoned us, left us on this stupid station with its flickering lights and its shitty people, just like dad did!”
“Elena! I haven’t—”
“No! You’ve left us for a new wardrobe!”
“I came here to study!”
“You just didn’t want to be with us anymore!”
“Weren’t you just telling me about how you want to leave from that station with your new pilot boyfriend?”
“Don’t change the subject! I hate you!” And with an expression that reminds me way too much of the way that Asili’s face scrunches in his childish tantrums, she reaches across the table and disconnects our transmission.
I stomp angrily onwards as the little drone flies back to my wrist, turning a random corner in this mostly uninhabited section of the house.
Just like dad… How could she even suggest that? She knows I came here to study! She knows I would do anything for our family—we all would!
I bang open a random door, peek inside to see some sort of disused music room, and then continue on down the hall.
What have I ever done to suggest that I care about my own comfort above everyone else’s? That’s her department. She’s the one always off chasing her happily ever after and forgetting that the rest of us exist! She’s the one spending her hard-earned credits on Tara Vengler belts or Chifphoun X’le knock-offs or whatever other luxury brand knick-knacks she can scrape together to afford! Up until just now, I’ve been using the same scuffed-up backpack for seven freaking years!
She’s the one who forced me into this position to begin with, bullying me into photographing a surrogate child she’s no longer even interested in now that she has a new relationship to focus on!
