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“I need my phone,” I said and pointed to the room of portraits to go into. He opened the door for me as I began to dial.
It rang and rang and rang…until finally, she answered.
“What do you want?” a groggy, sore-sounding voice that faintly reminded me of my sister answered the line.
“Augusta.” I sighed.
“Oh, you must have heard already? Bad news travels fast. I see…it even goes across the pond. Is that the only reason you would call me?”
“You have not made it very easy to talk to you, Augusta.”
“There you go! Blaming me!” She sniffled. “It’s always my fault. I’m always the bad one.”
“I am not trying to say that—”
“You’ve never had to say it!” she screamed and cried into the phone, and hearing her like this was so hard. “All my life, I’ve always been compared to you! By dad, by everyone. Everyone always loved you more! Dad always loved you more!”
“Augusta, that is not true. He loved us both—remember ‘different, beautiful, opposite, perfect—’”
“No better or worse than each other?” she finished and laughed.
“Yes. Dad always said that—”
“Then why did he always compare me to you!” she yelled. “Every time it was, why can’t you be more mature like your sister! Why don’t you try harder like your sister! Why don’t you make something of yourself like your sister! Over and over, he would always talk about you, praise you. Defend you from my mom. Whenever you had something going on, he always had someone record it so he could watch it later if he couldn’t be there. It was always you! And you made it worse! Little miss perfect! Never complaining to him. Always being on your very best behavior, and in doing so, anytime, I tried to be just like everyone else, I was seen as the troublemaker! The rebel! The party-heiress! Whenever I did anything, it was ten times worse because you never did anything but stay locked inside and sing!”
My throat was dry as I tried to find the right words and not scream right back. “Augusta, I was only ever trying to be good to make sure my mom wasn’t seen as the bad one because your mom—”
“I don’t care about what my mom did!” she screamed so loudly, it hurt to listen. “You always tell what she did, but the truth is I never cared because she was all I had. They betrayed me for you, too! Because the stupid company meant more to her than me! Your mother was willing to give up everything for you! My mother was willing to sacrifice me. Do you know what that feels like? Knowing that even to your own mother, you are second? Do you know what it is like getting on any social media? Everyone is messaging me on how pitiful I am compared to you? I get it every day. Before, it was just those stupid people who told me I wasn’t black enough. That I was the white-sister hating. Or that I was Dad’s mistake baby. That Dad really screwed up leaving your mom and getting stuck with us. Now every day, I get your mega fans ripping into me, too. All the world is out to protect you! What about me? Who protects me?”
“Augusta…I’m so sorry that is happening to you! But it isn’t my fault! Is Malik there too—”
“Malik?” She laughed bitterly…maniacally. “Malik left. He’s trying to take Adele from me now, too!”
Shit.
“Having you as the sister is the worst thing that could have happened to me.”
“Augusta! Do you think having you as a sister was easy? Don’t act like you are the only victim here! I never did anything to you! I always tried—”
“I don’t care! We are talking about me! For once, can’t it be about me?”
“Not if you are going to have to shit on me to do it!” I screamed back. “We didn’t have to be this way! I’ve always let shit go between us! And you come back, spitting in my face each and every time. You scream at me and blame me! But it’s not my fault if you are unhappy! Have you ever thought that maybe some of this was your fault? Have you ever thought that maybe you are the problem? No, it’s always someone else! Dad. Me. Your own mom. My mom. Everyone is out to ruin or hurt poor little Augusta! Bullshit! You aren’t a little girl anymore. Own up to your own shit!”
“Fuck you. I hate you. Really, I hate you so much that if I never saw your face again, I’d be so happy.”
“Don’t worry! You won’t see me. It not like you can! I am sick and tired of you acting like a spoiled brat! We are done! I am done. It was stupid of me to call anyway. Do whatever the hell you want! I don’t care! At least I tried!”
“If it’s true and you are pregnant, I hope you both die!” she screamed, hanging up the phone.
I sucked in oxygen… It felt like she had knocked the air out of my lungs. She’d said and did horrible things to me before…but that was…beyond everything.
I placed my hand on my bump…looking up, so the tears didn’t come down. We still hadn’t announced it. But it was getting obvious, so of course, people were already reporting. I wanted to keep it a secret longer, hide from the people who might curse me or try to hurt me; I wanted to stay in the safety of the palace bubble, and just like that, my own little sister had to burst it right open.
There really would not be any way for us to make up. That tiny part of me that wanted to forgive her and move on…she had just killed it.
“Breathe, Odette. Breathe. You’re okay. Both of you are okay,” I whispered, putting my hands on my stomach.
I’m sorry, Dad… I don’t have a sister anymore.
