And a request to help my sister.
I stood there for seventeen seconds waiting for something more. I counted every one of them.
Nothing came.
I carried the trophy to my windowless room and put it on my desk, where it sat gathering dust for years.
That same week, Victoria got a C-plus on an English essay.
My mother posted on Facebook: So proud of my baby girl for working so hard. Victoria studied all week for this and it shows. Hard work pays off.
The post got forty-seven likes.
That Saturday, we went to Olive Garden to celebrate Victoria’s improvement. I sat at my usual place at the end of the table and ate breadsticks in silence while no one mentioned my trophy, my scholarship, or the fact that I had beaten three hundred and twelve students from across the state.
When I was seventeen, I found out the truth about college.
I was filling out scholarship applications at the kitchen table when I noticed a bank statement lying on the counter. I was not snooping, but the number was impossible to miss.
Victoria Harrison College Fund: $85,000.
I stared at it for a long time.
Then I walked into the living room where my parents sat watching television with Victoria.
“Dad,” I said, “I need to talk to you about college.”
He did not take his eyes off the screen. “What about it?”
“Do I have a college fund too?”
The silence lasted four seconds.
I know because, by then, I had a habit of counting silence.
My mother shifted on the couch. Victoria smirked at something on her phone.
“College fund?” my father said, and laughed. “For you? Evelyn, student loans build character. You’re the smart one. You’ll figure out scholarships.”
“But Victoria has eighty-five thousand.”
“Victoria has different needs,” my mother snapped. “She struggles academically. She needs a safety net. You don’t.”
I looked at Victoria. She was taking a selfie, completely untouched by the conversation.
“So I get nothing.”
My father finally turned and looked at me. His eyes were cold.
“You get a roof over your head. Food on the table. More than a lot of kids ever get. Stop acting ungrateful.”
I worked two jobs my entire senior year.
Coffee shop mornings from 4:30 to 7:00 before school. Grocery store evenings from 5:00 to 10:00 after homework. Weekends at both places.
By graduation, I had saved eleven thousand dollars.
