Then stopped. “Although…”
I raised an eyebrow.
She sat back down. “I failed pretty badly.”
“Spectacularly.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
The first week was awkward.
But Chloe surprised me.
She apologized to my parents.
Actually apologized.
She called my mom and said:
“I made assumptions based on how you looked, and then I treated Emma differently. I’m embarrassed by that.”
Mom accepted.
Dad said, “Embarrassment is useful if you don’t waste it.”
I told him that sounded like something printed on a mug.
Chloe changed too.
Not overnight. But noticeably.
She stopped asking what things cost. If someone on our floor couldn’t afford a restaurant, she didn’t make it weird.
We found cheap things to do.
Free concerts. Movie nights. Dollar taco Tuesdays.
And something changed in me too.
Because Dad’s stunt hadn’t only exposed Chloe.
It exposed me.
The reason I’d been so mortified wasn’t just because my parents looked ridiculous.
