After watching my brother get publicly
humiliated by his roommate, I went back to
my own room, took off the Hello Kitty tee and
put on my own clothes.
Sure, there were a few people that had
witnessed “Hello Kitty–gate“, but with the
busy orientation schedule, no one was
thinking about it anymore.
And my mom and Josh? Of course they were
く
mad, but at the moment, they couldn’t do
anything to me.
After all, before I walked out the door in that
getup, my mom actually complimented me.
“It’s nice to see a young lady dress so well-
behaved.”
And Josh was like, “That outfit makes you a
perfect servant girl for me.”
They had been putting me down for so long,
that they had actually convinced themselves
that they were right.
Turns out, they’re the ones who aren’t
normal.
But I underestimated my mom.
She posted a picture of herself and Josh at
the school entrance in the family group chat.
“Look at my handsome son. He was turning
heads all day!”
My aunt asked casually, “Where’s Ashley? Did
she start classes, too?”
<
My mom hemmed and hawed. Then she said,
“She’s being difficult, and she just ran off
somewhere.”
I smirked, grabbed my phone, went out to the
quad, kicked off my shoes and shot a video in
the group chat.
“Here I am, Mommm.”
- 10.
“Oh my goodness, Ashley, why aren’t you wearing shoes?”
“Sweetheart, where did your shoes go?
Walking barefoot must hurt!”
I made a sad voice, “It’s okay, Auntie, it
doesn’t hurt.”
“I don’t have any new shoes. My old ones
broke, so I have to go barefoot.”
My message triggered the group chat like a
landmine.
Dozens of messages went off immediately.
<
Everyone was tagging my parents.
“What in the world is going on? Why doesn’t
Ashley have any shoes?”
“Kids need to start their college experience
with a new pair of shoes, it’s a tradition.”
Sensing the change in tone, my mom said,
“She was the one who wanted to buy cheap,
garbage shoes. I’ve bought her shoes
before!”
I jumped in, “Yeah, don’t blame mom,
Aunties, she said that girls need to be thrifty.
This is my choice.
They just felt even worse for me after that,
they saw how “good” I was.
“Well, I’m telling you, Wang, you need to treat
Ashley better, especially since she’s such a
good girl.”
“Yes! You better buy that girl a good pair of
shoes before she gets sick!”
My mom went silent.
Ten minutes later, she called me.
“Ashley, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t
you? You’re making me look bad because I
didn’t buy you new shoes!”
I said, “Mom, aren’t I just the best behaved
girl?”
She didn’t answer.
Before she hung up, she said, “Don’t even
think about getting any shoes. And as for
your allowance, I was going to give you a little
bit more, but now I’m giving it all to Josh.”
I just stared at my phone, biting my lip.
When is she going to get it? It’s not about
new shoes, or money.
It’s about just wanting fair, equal treatment.
But it looks like I am never going to get that.
I clicked to my online art profile.
The money transfer page displayed a very
nice balance of: $1,500.
That’s right, I’m a freelance digital artist.
<
My first month of commissions netted me a
pretty sweet profit.
- 11.
I couldn’t let my mom know that I was doing
just fine with my measly $50 budget.
She’d go off the rails and cause trouble with
my dad.
Like she did earlier.
On the phone, she was trying to bait Josh,
asking if I had been asking my dad for money.
At the cafeteria.
Josh sat about 20 feet away from me.
“No, she still dresses like a homeless person.
She’s even come to…”
He saw his roommate watching him, and
quickly stopped being a jerk.
“Don’t worry, mom, I’m watching her.‘
After hanging up, Josh glared at me.
33
“You have your own money, why are you
L
always hitting me up for food?”
I stared at him for a moment and then turned
to his roommate with a pitiful look. “I only
have three dollars a day for food, and now I
don’t even have enough to get dinner.”
Josh’s hot roommate frowned.
He didn’t say anything to Josh, he just slid a
plate of chicken over to me.
I started to fake–cry. “Thank you so much.”
Josh snapped, “Ashley!”
Then, he looked at his roommate. “Don’t
listen to her, she’s being melodramatic.”
Turns out, that hottie’s name was Ryan.
I was about to dive into the chicken when
Ryan couldn’t take it anymore.
“Josh, you are being totally awful to your
sister.”
His other roommate agreed.
“Yeah, she is clearly having a rough time, and
you’re being so mean to her.”
<
Josh said, “What are you talking about?
She’s just playing you guys!”
Too bad for him, that was my cue to burst
into tears.
