Their Fair Split Never Included Me
884 Views · Ongoing · Piper Hayes
In our family, fairness was the one rule nobody broke.
My brother Brody and my sister Raegan are twins.
Growing up, if one of them got an extra cookie, the other would tear the whole house apart.
To keep the peace, Mom and Dad split everything down the middle. Half went to Brody, half went to Raegan.
Which meant nothing in this house was ever mine.
I was the third kid. The one my parents never planned on.
Dad had just bought a new six-seater SUV and announced the whole family was going to the beach for the weekend.
I dragged my bag out to the car and found the last two seats already taken by Raegan's boyfriend and Brody's girlfriend.
"One for me, one for Brody. That's fair," Raegan said, raising an eyebrow at me.
It had started to sprinkle. Dad rolled down his window and frowned at me. "Just stay home, okay? We don't need the extra hassle."
I nodded and watched the car turn the corner.
The application for my school's study abroad program had been sitting in my inbox for months.
I'd opened it more times than I could count and closed it every time, because part of me still believed this family might save a spot for me.
This time, standing there in the rain, I hit submit without a second thought.
This family owed me twenty-one years of fairness. I was done waiting.
My brother Brody and my sister Raegan are twins.
Growing up, if one of them got an extra cookie, the other would tear the whole house apart.
To keep the peace, Mom and Dad split everything down the middle. Half went to Brody, half went to Raegan.
Which meant nothing in this house was ever mine.
I was the third kid. The one my parents never planned on.
Dad had just bought a new six-seater SUV and announced the whole family was going to the beach for the weekend.
I dragged my bag out to the car and found the last two seats already taken by Raegan's boyfriend and Brody's girlfriend.
"One for me, one for Brody. That's fair," Raegan said, raising an eyebrow at me.
It had started to sprinkle. Dad rolled down his window and frowned at me. "Just stay home, okay? We don't need the extra hassle."
I nodded and watched the car turn the corner.
The application for my school's study abroad program had been sitting in my inbox for months.
I'd opened it more times than I could count and closed it every time, because part of me still believed this family might save a spot for me.
This time, standing there in the rain, I hit submit without a second thought.
This family owed me twenty-one years of fairness. I was done waiting.


















































