Tiffani headed up to her bedroom, wanting to slam the door, to yell and scream, she was so frustrated. Instead, she quietly shut the door behind her, took off the “casual” outfit, folded it up, and rummaged through her wardrobe for a nicer outfit.

“Something nice. Something non-casual,” she muttered. “Something that won’t put the damn family to shame. Something that’ll make Miss Perfect proud to be part of the family.” She snorted. “God, I hate my family.”

She paused in her thoughts. “I wonder if all families are like this-- nothing given without strings attached, always expected to act a certain way.” The answer popped into her head immediately. “No… no, they don’t.”

She thought about Emily and AJ. They were twins, but despite being very different, they shared a close bond and clearly cared about each other. Hell, AJ even chewed me out for talking bad about Emily, Tiffani thought. Becky and Nikki wouldn’t do that for me. She thought about Charise and Ophelia. Those two are totally different, about as different as day and night, she thought, but they get along well and don’t try to outdo each other. Must be nice.


Tiffani sighed and pulled a cute dress out. She pulled it over her head and examined her reflection. “Guess this’ll have to do,” she muttered, smoothing her hair back. “And if Miss Perfect has a problem with it, tough.”


She walked out of her bedroom and back to the living room, where the rest of the household members were sitting and waiting for Nikki to arrive.

“That’s much better,” her mother said approvingly, “but that dress is at least a year old. It’s so out of style!”

Never can please you, can I? Tiffani thought.


Just then, the doorbell rang. Her mother rose. “That’s Nikki,” she said. “She must have arrived a little early.” She smoothed her hair into place, brushed invisible lint off of her dress, and hurried over to the front door. She opened the front door, allowing Nikki into the house.

Nikki was a pretty woman, as blonde as her other family members, and just barely showing her pregnancy. “Mommy,” she squealed, embracing her mother tightly. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, sweetheart. Where did you get the outfit?”

“It’s the newest thing from Europe. John bought it for me.”

“Oh, that was nice of him. It’s adorable! Well, let’s go to the living room. Everyone’s waiting for you.”


“Oh, wonderful!” Nikki said, grinning broadly. She glided into the living room, followed by her mother. “Daddy, it’s so good to see you again,” she said, tightly hugging her father. “Becky, that’s an adorable headband-- is it new? And the dye job really suits you! Em, you’re so cute-- you’ll be a real heartbreaker one day, honey.” She turned to Tiffani. “Tiff, you’re looking… uh… well. Why’s Mom letting you wear something so out of fashion? Tell you what, if you can find some time, I’ll go take you shopping for something more… um… up to date.”

“No, Nikki,” their mother said immediately. “Tiffani isn’t allowed any new clothes until she loses weight. It’s a bad idea to waste money.”

“Oh,” Nikki said. “Well, I’m glad I never went through that sort of thing when I was young. But I guess we all can’t be that lucky, right?”

“Oh, definitely,” their mother said. “Look at you-- who’d guess that you’ve had two children already? Also, you’ve won so many awards, and were prom queen and head cheerleader and head of the dance team. Tiffani, on the other hand… she was kicked off of the dance team and cheerleading squad for being so fat.”

“Wow, that’s really bad. Tiff, why aren’t you on a diet by now?” Nikki asked. “I mean, I didn’t have those kinds of problems growing up, so you have no excuse.”

Tiffani narrowed her eyes and thought, Because you didn’t have an older sister like you to live up to.