Chapter Three

Clara's POV

We'd just gotten back from the steakhouse. I'd barely tossed my keys into the bowl by the door when my mom stopped me at the stairs.

"Brooke's moving in tomorrow. I need you to clear out your room tonight."

Behind her, the hallway was stacked with unopened boxes. The one on top had a picture of a white vanity on it. A set of lavender bedding was piled next to the boxes.

Lavender had been Brooke's favorite color since middle school.

"Her mom took a year-long contract in Arizona, and their house is already rented out," my mom said, like it was no big deal. "Brooke starts work at the end of the month. We can't have her sleeping on the couch."

"So which room is she getting?"

"Yours, of course. It's not like we've got rooms to spare."

She nodded toward the basement. "Clear out the storage room down there. There's plenty of space for a cot. Brooke's our guest. You can put up with it for a little while."

The basement was always damp. The old couch and boxes of Christmas decorations blocked half the little window, and there was a musty smell along the bottom of the walls.

When we were kids and Brooke slept over, I'd camped out on the floor down there.

Back then, my mom would lay out a blanket for me and tell me I was the most generous, most grown-up girl she knew.

I held onto that compliment for years. I thought every time I gave a little more ground, she'd notice me a little more.

It took me a long time to realize that after the first time I gave in, everyone just expected it from me.

"I'm not moving."

My mom froze. I don't think she'd ever imagined those words coming out of my mouth.

"Brooke's about to start work. She has to be up early every day, and she needs a real room so she can get some sleep. You don't even have anything lined up yet. What difference does it make where you sleep?"

"It's my room. And I'm paying four hundred a month in rent."

She actually laughed, like I'd said something hilarious. "Your room? Is there one single thing in this house we didn't give you?"

I looked at her and asked anyway. "What if the job I found is better than Brooke's?"

Her eyebrows pulled together. "Clara, making up stories to steal the spotlight isn't a good look. I didn't raise you to lie."

The offer email from the lab was sitting right there on the phone in my pocket. I opened my mouth, then closed it again without saying anything.

My dad leaned out from the living room, sounding fed up. "If you don't want to sleep in the basement, then move out. There's the door. Nobody's stopping you."

"Fine."

They probably all thought I was just throwing a tantrum. My mom didn't even ask me to stay. She just reminded me to empty my closet before morning so I wouldn't hold up the movers.

That night, I found a hostel downtown. Eight beds to a room. I got the top bunk by the window for thirty dollars a night.

The girl on the bunk below me snored, and the whole frame creaked every time she moved.

But the moment I lay down, I felt strangely calm. I'd paid for this narrow little bed myself. Nobody had the right to make me give it up.

The next morning, I went back to the house to pack up the rest of my stuff.

When I pulled open my dresser drawer, the little velvet box was empty.

It was where I kept a cameo pendant. My grandma had left it to me.

When I was nine, I fell off my bike and my elbow swelled up to twice its size.

My mom was at the pool watching Brooke's swim meet, so Grandma was the one who drove me to the ER.

While we waited, she held my good hand and told me it was okay to cry if it hurt. I didn't have to be brave around her.

After she passed, that pendant was the only thing I had left of her.

I went downstairs clutching the empty box. My mom was pulling the duvet cover off my bed.

"Mom, where's Grandma's pendant?"

Her hands stopped for a second, then kept going like nothing happened. "That old thing? How should I know where you stuck it?"

Before she'd even finished, my phone buzzed.

My dad had posted a photo in the family group chat. In it, he was sitting at a table at the country club, introducing Brooke to Gary and Gary's boss.

Brooke was wearing the beige suit from yesterday. Hanging just below her collar was Grandma's pendant.

I held my phone up in front of my mom's face.

She glanced at it and didn't even bother pretending anymore. "She's meeting the higher-ups today. She'd look so plain with nothing around her neck, so I let her borrow it. You just keep it shut in a drawer anyway. It's not like you ever wear it."

"Grandma gave that to me."

"This is my house. Since when do I need your permission to take something?" She tossed the duvet cover onto the bed. "If your grandma were still here, she'd be so disappointed to see you yelling at me over a piece of jewelry."

"You didn't know her at all."

My eyes blurred, and my voice started shaking. "Grandma was the only one who ever snuck me nice things. She told me not to hand them over, no matter who asked."

I grabbed my car keys and headed for the door. My mom stepped in front of me and blocked it.

"Gary's boss is still there! You go storming in now, and you'll blow Brooke's shot at this job. Is that what you want?"

We were still standing there in the entryway when the lock turned. Brooke walked in, holding a gift bag from the club.

She glanced down and lifted the pendant between her fingers. "Clara, is this what you're looking for?"

She undid the clasp and held the pendant out in her palm. "I swear I had no idea it was your grandma's. Mrs. Hollis said it was a gift for my new job."

"Give it back."

I walked over to her. My fingers had barely touched the thin chain when Brooke suddenly cried out and fell back hard against the doorframe.

The pendant flew out of her hand and hit the floor. It broke in two.

Brooke clutched her shoulder, and tears flooded her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Clara. But why did you push me?"