Chapter 5

Tranquility, Joanne finally got the only thing she craved for. Between the crowded school and the overstaffed house, she could hardly find the peace and quiet she needed to study for her upcoming exam. To be frank, she wasn’t doing well at school either. She was too proud to ask for Russell’s help although he excelled in all of his classes, and they shared around 7 classes.

Joanne always envied how Russell and Annette never seemed to struggle with their studies. She even wondered if them being partly Asians have something to do with their high intelligence. Joanne often passed Annette’s room on purpose just out of curiosity. Joanne never caught her studying, not even once. She always blasted the volume to whatever movie Annette and her boyfriend, Nicolas Hasting was watching that day.

From all that Joanne could gather from all the conversations she had either witnessed or been a part of, Nicolas’ father is the count. He and his family had resided in Manhattan, where Annette was born and raised, until around a decade ago. This whole relationship is, of course, arranged by Nicolas’ mother, Countess Grace. This was brought on to the dinner table several times when the Hastings came over one weekend.

This was no surprise, considering that Victoria and Countess Grace had been inseparable since birth. They grew up together on the Upper West Side, they attended the same schools, even went to Harvard at the same time. When Victoria found out the gender of her fetus, the countess promised that Nicolas and Vicky’s unborn child should marry in their 20s.

Those facts are beside the point. Joanne caught her mind wandering again while reading some materials for her upcoming exam. She let out a deep sigh, releasing her overflowing frustration. Joanne rose from her bed, taking a wrinkled paper from her Louis Vuitton backpack that Victoria gifted to her earlier that week. She un-crumbled the paper, revealing a big red F written on one corner of it. Her teacher even took the time to insert a quote that Joanne found on the internet years ago, ‘Don’t stress. Do your best.’, of course, he only managed to write a snippet of the original, but she knew he meant well.

Joanne then curled into a ball on her sister’s bed. Without her even realizing it, tears started flowing from her eyes, down to the silk sheets under her face. Her new life was so stressful. She was constantly worrying about her mother’s wellbeing, she was also required to master all the classes that she took a semester late.

Swallowing her pride, Joanne rose, then she walked outside of the room, before knocking on Annette’s door.

After a few loud taps, Annette finally answered the door. Joanne took a peek inside, she found Nicolas laying casually on Annette’s king-sized bed. Man, if she thought Lucille’s room was enormous, this was on another level of gigantic. Joanne proposed her crazy scheme that she just thought of on the spot. Annette shrugged, not opposing the idea. From weeks of living under the same roof, this was probably the first thing they agreed upon. Joanne left her stepsister’s room with a huge smile on her face. At least she was certain that she wouldn’t face the next day alone.

**

Nicolas’ presence distracted Joanne’s attention entirely. She could not focus on the words Annette was saying. The closest Joanne was to find a boy in her room was when her mother used to date a fresh high school graduate who supplied weed for her. Joanne and her mother shared a room in their small trailer shelter. He would often crash on their shared bed, so Joanne had to sleep on the couch. However, she didn’t mind this as she used to have a massive crush on the guy.

Annette snapped her fingers, causing Joanne to fall back to reality. “Please just come back to my room whenever you feel like studying. This doesn’t seem to be working for either of us. I have a movie to catch.”, Annette said.

Nicolas shifted his gaze from his phone, now to his girlfriend who was angered by Joanne’s lack of enthusiasm. This whole was her idea in the first place, which annoyed Annette even more. He noticed the subtle displeasure that Annette consciously showed.

“Does this mean we’re going?”, Nicolas’s face lightened. He was so jaded from all the games he had been playing for the past hour.

“We could stay if Joanne knows the answer to this question.”, Annette pointed on the sheet before she crossed her long arms. “What is it going to be?”, she raised her eyebrows.

**

Joanne could not believe what her stepsister made her do. Annette could have just gone without humiliating her. Joanne realized that she could not afford to fail her next exam. Since Annette was the only decent person in the house that she entrusted in teaching her, she had no other option than to cave in and apologize. However, there’s another thing that Joanne could try.