Chapter 72

Reality Check

I found my mom sitting on the couch reading a book. I always found her easier to deal with than my dad. Even if she took Olivia's side, she would at least hear me out. I couldn't get that sort of guarantee from Dad.

"Hi Mom," I said.

"Hello Isabelle," she replied. "What can I do for you?"

I sighed. This was going to be hard to tell Mom. "Have you ever wondered why Olivia gets perfect scores on all of her tests?"

"Your sister is very smart," Mom said. "It's as simple as that."

"No, it's not," I said. "Mom, Olivia's been cheating on all of her tests and I have proof."

"Don't be silly, Isabelle. Olivia wouldn't do that. Speaking of which, your grade in English could use some work."

"This is not about me!" I shouted.

"Then stop wasting my time by being an attention-seeker."

"I'm not an attention seeker! This is real, Mom." I showed her the answer key that I had found in Olivia's room. "How else do you explain this?"

Mom grabbed the answer key and briefly looked over it before handing it back to me. "I'll ask Olivia about it."

Knowing Olivia, she would probably come up with some flimsy lie to cover it up. Mom would undoubtedly believe it. Sometimes it was just easier to believe a lie than to see the harsh truth, even when it was shoved in your face. But there was nothing else I could do. Hopefully my parents would believe me over Olivia, but I knew that wouldn't happen.

"Isabelle, you do realize that it's not a good idea to tattle on your sister, right?" Mom said.

"This isn't tattling!"

"Yes it is. You're just trying to get Olivia punished."

"She did something wrong and she deserves it!" I shouted.

"Olivia would never do something like this," Mom said.

"That just goes to show how little you know about your own children!" I screamed. "You spend so much of your time deluding yourself into thinking that Olivia is perfect that you forget about Jimmy and I!"

"There's no need to bring Jimmy into this," Mom said. "Isabelle, you need to think through this a little more. You have no idea what you're saying."

"I KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING! I'm thinking about this more than you are! You just don't understand me. You never will."

I stormed away. Mom just didn't get it. This wasn't even about Olivia anymore. By leaving the Magic 8 Ball behind, I thought I was giving myself a voice, but all I was doing was pretending that I could change things when I couldn't. That's all I had ever been doing. In reality though, I was just a girl, not a hero. It was useless to pretend I was more than that.