My mother wrapped both arms around me to stop me from grabbing it back.
And Vanessa laughed.
“Congratulations, Claire. Now neither of us has a job.”
For three full seconds, the university ballroom went completely silent.
Then someone gasped.
Pieces of cream-colored paper floated onto the polished floor between us.
I stared down at them.
Six years of evening classes.
Two internships.
Student debt.
Weekends spent coding while Vanessa traveled, went to parties, and filled social media with quotes about “manifesting success.”
All of it reduced to scraps beneath her silver heels.
“Vanessa,” Dad said from behind us. “What the hell are you doing?”
She smiled.
“Saving her from becoming even more unbearable.”
Mom tightened her grip around my arms.
“Claire, don’t cause a scene.”
For a second, I almost laughed.
Apparently, I was the one causing trouble.
Vanessa had lost her marketing job three months earlier after repeatedly missing deadlines and blaming her manager.
Ever since then, every good thing that happened to me seemed to offend her personally.
When I graduated at the top of my computer engineering class, Mom asked me not to mention it during dinner because Vanessa was “going through a difficult time.”
When I received a scholarship award, Mom suggested I hide the plaque before Vanessa came over.
And when I told them Meridian Dynamics had offered me a senior systems position paying $120,000 a year, Vanessa stopped speaking to me for nearly two weeks.
Apparently ignoring me hadn’t been enough.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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