Work Text:
Not Like the Others
Amena handed her second mom her latest test.
“Oh!” Ayda said. “A C! Congratulations! I know this class is hard for you.”
Amena stared at the paper, avoiding her mother’s eyes. She heard a snort behind her.
“It’s just algebra, and you got a C?” her sister snickered. Amena flushed.
“Aashka! Room! Now!” Ayda ordered, looking away from Amena to glare at Aashka. She turned back to her where her daughter had been standing, ready to comfort, but Amena had already slipped away, throwing the test in the trash behind her.
Amena handed her first mom a flyer.
“Oh, is this for your play?” Farai asked. Amena nodded. Farai smiled.
“Well, we must go see you!” she said. “I know you’ve been practicing.”
Shivani walked past, bouncing a ball. “Don’t you have like two lines?” they asked.
“No balls in the house,” Farai said. “And she’ll say them perfectly, won’t you, dear?”
Shivani shrugged, and cradled the ball in their arms. “Cousin Tobias has the lead, you know.”
Amena crumpled up the paper.
“Ugh, why is your little sister here?” one of Aashka’s friends drawled as they approached the playground. Aashka rolled her eyes.
“Second Mom said to bring her,” she grumbled.
“I don’t want to be here either,” Amena snapped.
“Good. Go play on the playground. We’ve got things to talk about.”
Amena stared at the playground. It was full of kids, sliding down slides, hanging off monkey bars, all chattering and laughing at each other.
“I don’t know anyone.”
“Go make friends, then! Do I have to do everything for you?”
Amena stared at the ground as her sister’s friend laughed.
Amena watched as her brother accepted first place in the science fair, grinning as an adult pinned a huge ribbon to his chest. Apparently Neyssan’s experiments with anti-gravity were groundbreaking or something like that. Amena’s submission had been glanced over. She held a consolation ribbon in her right hand. The pin dug into her palm.
“Let’s go out to celebrate!” Tano said, beaming as they watched Neyssan approach with his huge, shiny ribbon. “Neyssan, you get to pick where we go!”
“Starchy Foods!” Neyssan grinned. Tano sighed. Starchy Foods was on the no-go list for being too unhealthy, but eventually they gave in.
“All right, just this once,” they allowed.
Amena never did anything worth a trip to Starchy Foods. When no one was looking, she grabbed her experiment and threw it in the trash, along with her ribbon.
It was Parent-Teacher Night, and Amena was dreading her parents’ return. She knew Miss Suzuki was going to talk to them tonight, and she didn’t want to hear it. They’d heard it before, after all. She struggled in math, and science, and language. She had no friends, and her classmates barely spoke to her (and if they did, it was to mock her). She was a complete failure compared to her cousins and siblings. Miss Suzuki was going to tell her parents all that, and then they’d come home, sad, and then—
She heard a knock on her bedroom door.
“Little star?” Ayda said from behind. “Can we talk?”
Ugh. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep, she could avoid this. She hugged her stuffed fauna and closed her eyes as Ayda quietly opened the door.
“Little star, are you awake?”
Amena tried to breathe evenly. Nothing to see here. Just a sleeping child who would like very much to be left alone.
Ayda stayed in the room a little longer, making Amena feel more and more uncomfortable. Finally she sighed.
“Good night, little star,” she said, and left, gently closing the door behind her. Amena felt tears sting her eyes, and curled tighter around her toy. She sniffed.
It didn’t matter. She was just dumb, boring, ordinary Amena. She’d never be as smart as her siblings, or know how to make friends, or amount to anything. She was just herself, someone no one liked and no one expected anything from, and nothing would change that.
Nothing.