Chapter 1Lesson One: Stop Needing Me

The day Lexi left for college, she posted on Instagram:

[Does it count as growing up if I finally stop relying on my big sister?]

In the photo, she wore the Jordans I bought her, held the designer bag I paid for, and beamed at the campus gates.

Half an hour earlier, she’d texted:

"Hey, transfer another thousand."

"Mom and Dad said I need to treat my new roommates to dinner. You’re footing the bill."

I stared at the screen and let out a dry laugh.

Growing up, when she broke something, I paid for it.

When she cheated on a test, I went to the principal’s office to apologize.

When she lost a classmate’s phone, my parents forced me to replace it with my scholarship money.

Their excuse was always the same:

"You’re the older sister. If you don’t look out for her, who will?"

I had looked out for her for eighteen years.

When I checked her post, my parents were already flooding the comments:

[Our little girl is finally independent.]

I closed the banking app, opened Instagram, and replied:

[Since you’re all grown up now, starting today, you can pay your own tuition, earn your own spending money, and clean up your own messes.]

A minute later, Lexi called.

“Sloane, what the hell is your problem?”

“It means your big sister is finally growing up, too,” I said calmly.

* * *

"Seriously, what is your problem?"

Lexi's voice hissed through the speaker, competing with a chaotic background noise. I could hear the clinking of expensive glassware, the hushed giggles of her roommates, and a waiter politely reminding them about the bill.

I glanced at the automated text message that had just popped up on my screen.

"Your supplementary credit card ending in 0716 has been frozen."

I swiped the notification away. "The first step to me growing up is securing my own financial independence."

A few seconds of dead silence passed before Lexi let out a forced, venomous laugh.

"Are you mentally ill?"

"I am sitting at The Grand Regent. My three roommates are staring right at me. Are you seriously going to humiliate me right now?"

I raised an eyebrow even though she could not see me. "Didn't you just announce to the world that you were done relying on me?"

Lexi lowered her voice, completely dripping with disgust.

"That was just for social media clout, you idiot. Did you actually take it seriously?"

"I am your flesh and blood. What is the big deal if I spend a little of your money?"

"You don't even have a boyfriend. Who else are you hoarding all that cash for?"

My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles turned white.

It wasn't that I never wanted to date. I just couldn't afford a decent dress, and I could never justify spending twenty bucks on a movie ticket.

Every single time my paycheck hit my account, it immediately went toward Lexi's tuition, her new iPhones, and filling the endless financial sinkholes she created.

My entire existence had been reduced to discount ramen, dollar menus, and clipping digital coupons.

Meanwhile, her social media feed looked like a luxury influencer's mood board.

"Figure out how to pay for your own dinner," I said softly.

I heard the harsh scrape of a chair pushing back against a marble floor on her end.

"Sloane, don't you dare!"

I didn't stick around to hear the rest of her tantrum. I just hung up.

Less than thirty seconds later, my mother called.

Since the day she was born, Lexi never had to solve a single problem on her own. All she had to do was shed a single tear, and my parents would violently bulldoze anyone in her path. Especially me.

"You ungrateful brat! Are you bullying your sister again?!" my mother shrieked.

"It is her first day of college. What is wrong with her treating her roommates to a nice meal?"

"Transfer the money right now. Actually, send her an extra two thousand so she can take them out to a club afterward."

I looked down at the soggy, overcooked instant noodles in my cheap plastic bowl.

"My entire paycheck this month went to her tuition. I am broke."

"If you don't have cash, put it on credit!" my mother snapped without skipping a beat. "Max out your cards! Take out a cash advance! Just do it!"

I let out a bitter, exhausted laugh.

"Her social status is priceless, but my actual survival means nothing to you?"

I heard my father's heavy, aggressive breathing take over the receiver.

"If we hadn't given you life and fed you, you would have starved in the gutter years ago."

I had heard that exact phrase my entire life. They gave birth to me, which meant I owed them a blood debt until the day I died. Whatever Lexi wanted, I had to provide.

And the justification was always the same.

You are the older sister.

But there was exactly one person in this world who never saw me that way.

My Grams.

Before she passed away, she transferred the deed of her house entirely into my name.

"Sloane, this is the only safe harbor I can leave you," she had told me, holding my hands in her frail ones. "From now on, if anyone tries to force your hand, if anyone tries to bully you, you come back here and lock the door."

That same afternoon, she looked me dead in the eye and said the words that saved my sanity.

"You are a person, Sloane. Not a walking ATM."

Because of her, this small house was the only real home I had.

I hung up on my parents and permanently blocked both of their numbers.

A warm, furry head nudged against my knee. Biscuit, my golden retriever, looked up at me with huge, soulful eyes.

I knelt down and buried my face in his soft fur.

"It's just going to be the two of us from now on, buddy."

Half an hour later, a violent pounding shook my front door.

My father was outside, roaring at the top of his lungs.

"Sloane! You worthless animal, get your ass out here right now!"