A couple of days later. Algebra class. Ms. Castillo stood at the front of the class with a nonchalant look.

“We’ll be going over quadratic equations for the next two weeks.” She says it with a smirk.

“Hope you’re all ready to stay awake for the whole semester.”

The equation looks familiar. Huh? I already learned this from uncle two years ago.

I don’t know if it was my Spidey-senses tingling, but it felt like someone was looking in my direction. I turned my head to see a girl, with very obviously-dyed orange hair, staring very intently at the worksheet sitting on my desk. Looks like another mudblood like myself. She looked up at me, realizing she’d been caught.

“Oh - sorry. Could you help me with this? I didn’t understand the process.” Her straight face turned into a forced smile very quickly.

My fingers twiddled a bit. “Yeah, okay.”

I decided to help her quickly. Explaining the equation wasn’t difficult, but speaking to a stranger was.

“Thanks a lot! What’s your name? My name’s Lizzy.”

She stared at me expectantly. Lizzy gave off a different, murky vibe, than Ae-ra did.

“Helena.” I forced an awkward smile. Lizzy smiled back.

“Wanna eat lunch with us? I usually sit with a couple of friends. You can join us.”

My head nods before I could even think to reject her.

"Sure."

She signs me a thumbs up and continued her work.

***

The first bell signalling lunch rang loudly. I headed to one of the lunch lines available in the cafeteria. There were different foods lining the aluminum cafeteria stands. My stomach was not happy with what was in front of me.

This does not look good at all. For a school in a rich district, you’d think they would have better food choices. Maybe I should just save my money… but I’m really hungry today.

I grabbed a dry pizza and a bottle of water. I handed the lunch lady my money very relunctantly and made my way to the seating area of the cafeteria. Anyone could spot Lizzy waving at me from a distance with how brightly-colored her hair was. Gulp. My feet dragged on the way to her direction. I was nervous.

“Welcome! Have a seat.”

Lizzy pats the bench next to her. I take a seat and smile nervously. Lizzy points at her friends.

“This is Dennis and that’s Juni. We’ve been friends since middle school." She turns her hand in my direction.

"This is Helena - she’s in my algebra class!”

Dennis and Juni wave with a big grin. I wave back awkwardly. Dennis was a lanky kid with freckles like Lizzy. Dark brown hair with a dud look on hir face. Juni was a little chubby but tall, and had crazy spikey black hair. He seemed more friendly compared to Dennis. Everyone at this table was definitely east or south east Asian.

“Hi. Nice meeting you.” I forced a greeting while I tried sitting comfortably.

Juni smiles. “Are you also a freshman?”

“Ah, yes I am. I haven’t lived in this area for too long. So, I’m still adjusting.” My eyes averted to my food.

Dennis perks up. “So where did you live before?”

“Um, Harris county.”

Dennis, Juni and Lizzy all looked surprised. Lizzy looks up, playing with her chin. “That’s a shift to make.”

I looked at them puzzled.

I suddenly noticed a group of white teens down from our table - laughing and giggling while looking in our direction. Lizzy scoffs and gives them the side-eye.

“Ugh. Don’t mind them. A bunch of racist losers.”

My ears perked at Lizzy’s comment. “What do you mean?”

“Unfortunately, we went to middle school with them too. They really belong to the KKK or something. They really hate colored people.”

Curious… I looked over at the teens again.

I could faintly hear their words. "Hah...look at this!" One boy proceeded to pull the corners of his eyes and laugh. A few others would on and off look in our direction.

The anxiety seemed to grow in the back of my mind the more I looked at them.

***

The weekend finally came. My first week of high school was behind me. I was sitting at my desk at home trying to finish off some homework. The sun was so bright that it caught my attention. I looked out the window in a daze. Suddenly the door of my room opens wide. I got a bit of a jump scare. Why do people in this house love bursting into my room???

Ah. It was Josh. He came running at me with his pudgy little legs. My baby half-brother was now 2 years old. He followed me everywhere, despite his mom's protest to hate me. My mouth curled into a smile before I could think.

“Hey, Josh! What’s up buddy?”

Josh held his arms wide open. A giant smile on his face. “Pick up! Huggy!”

I grabbed him and sat him in my lap.

“Come here little tiger. Are you hungry?”

Josh points at his mouth and nods.

“Yah. Nam nam. Candy!”

“You can’t have candy, but we can go look for something else. Okay?”

I stood up, lifting Josh in my arms and started towards the kitchen. Barely making two steps next to the dining table, Josh's mom appeared. She gave me a nasty look and headed towards dad in the living room.

“-Can you say something to your daughter? She keeps taking my things!-”

Dad sighs. He grabs the television's remote control to turn it off. He then turned to look at my stepmom and then at me. She continued barking loudly.

“-She takes my sanitary pads and uses make-up! Look at her eyes! She’s gonna turn into a prostitute!-”

Dad’s lack of response made her more infuriated. He grabbed the wrinkle between his lilac brows with eyes closed.

“-Say something!-”

I could feel the anger getting the best of me. I set Josh on the floor and exploded.

“What are you talking about?! How else am I supposed to get those things? It’s not like anyone takes me to the store! And what make-up?! UGHHH!!”

I was heaving. How could she always find some way to make me look bad and call me out in front of everyone? Why?! I have been experimenting with eyeliner that I got from my aunt, but I would never admit it to these people.

Dad held his head and finally spoke. He only spoke Vietnamese to us when he was angry. “-I’ll deal with it. Just calm down.-”

He let out a frustrating sigh and turned to me looking noticeably annoyed.

“Don’t steal anymore. If you need something, go to the supermarket with ba noi next time. Helena, stay in your room. Now leave.”

“-What…? That’s it?-” Stepmom was obviously not happy about the results. I could see her flaming from her ears.

I couldn’t believe dad. Even though his voice was calm, it was as if he was still taking her side. How is that fair?! You know what? Fine with me. It’s not like I wanted to see her face anyways. And I am ALWAYS in my room anyways.

I ran straight to my room. Adrian’s head was in my peripheral vision in his doorway as I ran by. My body slammed onto the bedsheets and my closed eyes flooded with tears.

This is the story of my life. He always takes her side. Never listens to what I say.

With tears falling slowly and the sounds in my ears, I slowly entered slumberland.

***

***

Here I was, ten years old and my dad was getting remarried to that woman.

She’s such a gold digger. We aren’t even rich. How did she act so well to make us all like her and think she would be a nice new mom?

She called out to me, as if she really loved me. “-Helena, let’s go out to eat! It’ll be fun.-”

I fell into that trap.

“Okay!”

She was smiling so brightly.

She brought us to the toy store and happily declared, “Pick one thing you want.”

That smile. I should have known it was fake. It was broken. It was robotic.

Adrian and I were so happy. Like fools.