Chapter 1The Replacement Upgrade

One liked Chloe. The other liked Chloe too.

I went to Chloe, crying, and asked if she could spare one for me.

But Chloe just scoffed.

"Why are you crying over two rotten pickles? I’ve arranged a new playmate for you."

I finally understood why they liked Chloe.

Because Chloe was generous. She gave me her twin brother.

Chloe’s brother was just like her—impressive and good at everything.

So, I stopped crying asking Carter why he bailed on me. I stopped pestering Mason to talk to me.

But they panicked.

When they couldn't block me, they turned around to trouble Chloe.

"You manipulative witch, take your robot brother and get the hell away from us!"

* * *

When I got to Carter's house, he was frowning at his phone, typing a message.

A wall of green text bubbles. The other side hadn't replied once.

"Carter, are you still going to be my model?"

I felt a little wronged.

"Mason bailed on me again."

Carter instinctively flipped his phone face down, then stood up abruptly.

"Mason isn't home?"

I was startled by his reaction.

"Yeah, Mason said he had something to do..."

Before I could finish, Carter stood up, gritting his teeth.

"Damn it. I was wondering why Chloe wasn't replying to me today. Someone cut in line."

I rubbed my nose and asked again.

"So Mason went to find Chloe again? Then can you..."

Before I could finish, Carter had already grabbed his jacket and was heading out.

"Be a good girl, Lily. Play by yourself. I have to go out."

Watching Carter’s back, I felt a little sad.

I knew. He was going to find Chloe too.

Chloe was the new transfer student who arrived last week. She was unreasonably pretty.

The day she and her brother stepped into class, the room erupted in cheers.

From the boys, and from the girls.

During breaks, the boys surrounded Chloe’s desk, chattering endlessly. The girls surrounded her brother.

Carter and Mason were among those boys.

Walking home together that day, Carter asked Mason, "What do you think of the new girl?"

"She's okay. Not as cute as our Lily."

Carter nodded and reached out to pat my head.

"True. She's beautiful, but too aggressive."

The two looked at each other, then suddenly fell silent.

From that day on, they became weird. They were always disappearing.

I saw Mason buying breakfast for Chloe.

And Carter doing Chloe’s cleaning duty so she could leave early.

Mason had sneered, muttering under his breath, "What a fake. Acting like he doesn't like her."

Oh. So they were lying. They weren't any different from the other boys.

They both liked Chloe.

With no one to model for me, I went home and slept all afternoon.

When I woke up, my mom asked me to drop something off for Carter’s mom.

I hugged the package and walked to Carter’s house, only to hear arguing.

Carter was shouting.

"Are you a dog? She ignores everyone, yet you keep pestering Chloe. You even bailed on Lily for this. Do you know how sad she was today?"

Mason sounded exasperated.

"Then why didn't you stay with her? You ran over here to cause trouble too. You’re half responsible for Lily being like this."

Carter exploded.

"Is that something a human says? You didn't object back then either!"

Listening to their argument, my tears fell pitter-patter to the ground.

I knew. They were talking about my brain.

Years ago, Carter and Mason didn't want to play with me. They said I was a crybaby, delicate, and they didn't play with girls.

Until we were seven. They found a high wall behind the school.

There was a bird's nest on top.

It was too high. Carter suggested that since I was the lightest, I should ride on Mason’s shoulders to climb up.

Then, I’d pull them up.