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PROLOGUE
Haley
Age 13
I staredat the silver flecks clinging to my fingers.
Mom warned me that the glitter would get everywhere, and as I clung to the edge of the kitchen table, I realized she was right. It was everywhere—all over the shimmery tablecloth, gleaming on the edges of the wooden chairs, and yep, there was even a little on the carpet. Mom was going to kill me. That was, of course, if she didn’t first disown me for being a total loser.
My party started at two. It was already half past and not a single friend had shown up. I knew Pricilla James was having a party this weekend too, but hers was supposed to be tomorrow. Mine wasn’t even going to be a big event…we were going to play in the pool, watch a scary movie in the theater room, and stuff our faces with junk food.
Tillie helped me plan out everything and was the brains behind the glitter covering the table. She said glitter was in…that it would be cute and make my party pop.
The three-tier cake had edible glitter frosting, with thirteen tall candles already placed strategically along the surface, so as not to interrupt the largeHappy Birthdaywax piece that was covered in glitzy paint.
My mother hardly approved, and I knew the only reason she wasn’t saying anything now was because she was expecting an audience. I didn’t want her to come in here and see me sitting alone, but there was nowhere to go. I was frozen to my seat, staring at the clock, hoping my friends were all just running late.
The sound of my mother’s expensive shoes echoed along the hardwood. She sauntered in with her hair in a low twist, her lips painted red, and a tight black blouse. Her mouth turned down, angrily as she walked closer, and all I could ever remember of her in this house was that expression. She hated this house, always had, probably because it belonged to my dad’s first wife. Dad had once fought with my mother over moving, saying he needed a familiar place for his sons. He never mentioned what I might need. He never really looked at me much, unless it was to discuss a trip, lessons, or something business related. Once in a while I could get him to hug me, but it was just never for very long. Never too many hugs, no compliments of any kind, and never too much attention.
Especially if one of my brothers were around.
“Haley, where are your guests?” Mother trilled from the arch of the hallway.
My palms were sweaty, and my stomach tied itself into knots as I glanced at the clock once more. Thirty after…and not a single friend had shown.
“Let me text Tillie and see,” I mumbled, but my mother clicked her tongue loud enough to stop me.
“Tillie’s mother already called and said she was going out of town this weekend.”
My stomach dropped.
No, she wouldn’t do that. Furrowing my brows, I dug my cell out of my back pocket and pulled up Snapchat, about ready to message her when her most recent story caught my attention.
Pressing my thumb onto the image, a video played, showing my three best friends dancing together at a birthday celebration. Pricilla had moved her party, and no one told me.
A sickening feeling began to expand in my stomach as tears rushed to my eyes. I didn’t like to cry in front of my mother; she would always chide me and tell me to grow a backbone. It always hurt, but I knew it would devastate me if she said it right now.
Pressing my fingers to the screen, I pulled up my group text with the girls and saw there were no new messages. Then went to my private messages with Tillie.
Nothing.
No warning, no apology…absolutely no explanation as to why my three best friends had blown me off.
“What about the other kids in your school?” Mother asked, impatiently.
She assumed because I was a Hanes that I was popular.
I wasn’t.
I had three friends, and every single one of them had just bailed on me without saying a word, which meant I never really had them at all.
I wasn’t even sure what to say to get her off my back, or how to fix this. No one was coming, but if I told her, she’d throw a fit. She’d cry, go find a drink, and mix it with happy pills, all because her daughter isn’t the popular girl in school. It would be one more thing she could blame me for. It wasn’t enough that I ruined her life by existing, or that I ruined my brother’s lives by moving in.
My oldest brother, Colson, hated me more than the others. My other siblings, Brock, Nathan, and Trevor treated me more like a houseplant that could occasionally pop in Bagel Bites if they were hungry. But not Colson. He wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence after my dad broke the news that I wasn’t just his secretary’s daughter, but alsohisdaughter…his dirty secret.
I was an unwanted reality that haunted them by walking these hallways and breathing the same air as them. No one in the family tried to hide it. My mother used me as a weapon to hurt my father or brothers. My father ignored me, mostly, and my brothers…their hatred was as tangible as the waves crashing below our house.
I looked up to say something to my mom, but she was already gone, striding back into the kitchen.
