I was seventeen the year my little brother made me a prom dress out of our late mother\u2019s jeans, and by the end of that night, the whole school knew exactly what kind of woman my stepmother was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She laughed then, one of those tiny cutting laughs that somehow hurts worse than yelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd honestly?\u201d she said. \u201cNo one wants to see you prancing around in some overpriced princess costume.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt the words hit like a slap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My brother Noah was fifteen. He had always been quiet in the way people mistake for softness, but there was steel in him when it mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our mom died when I was twelve. Dad remarried Carla two years later, and when he died of a heart attack last year, the house changed faster than grief could settle. Carla took over everything at once\u2014the bills, the mail, the bank accounts, the locks on the filing cabinet, the tone of every room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mom had left money behind for Noah and me. Dad used to call it our \u201cimportant-things fund.\u201d College. Emergencies. Milestones. The kind of moments parents save for because they want their kids to feel protected, even if they aren\u2019t there to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apparently Carla had her own definition of important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I brought up prom, she was in the kitchen scrolling through her phone like the rest of us were background noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProm is in three weeks,\u201d I said. \u201cI need a dress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She didn\u2019t even look up at first. \u201cProm dresses are a ridiculous waste of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMom left money for things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That made her glance at me. Not kindly. Just enough to let me know she\u2019d heard me and planned to hurt me with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat money keeps this house running now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stood there, trying to keep my voice even. \u201cDad said it was ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo there is money,\u201d I said. \u201cYou\u2019re just not letting me use it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her chair scraped back against the floor. \u201cWatch your tone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re using our money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her face went flat in a way that always meant danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am keeping this family afloat,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have no idea what things cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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