Envious Stepsister
“Did you say your stepdaughter dragged her bed into my granddaughters room?
That girl is no fool. We should set up a hidden camera and bug the room to see what shes really up to,” suggested Catherines mother.
***
“Emily, lets go to the canteen, Im starving,” Rebecca suggested. “I couldnt eat the soup they served for lunch, and I didnt fancy the main course. It feels like the cooks made a secret pact to serve fish today, and you know I hate fish. Lets just get a bun and a juice, then get back to revising in the library.”
The girls were cramming for their GCSEs and had stayed at school after lessons to revise together.
“Alright,” Emily replied, her face clouded.
She had stopped going to the lunch hall ever since her mother had started working there. If only her mum were a regular cookbut no, she was just the kitchen assistant, constantly out in the open scrubbing tables and scraping leftovers off plates for all of Emilys classmates to see.
Emily burned with shame whenever she saw her mother there.
She had begged her mum to find a new job, but her mother stood firm, only talking up how lovely the school workplace was.
“But why would I leave, Em? Everyones so friendly, and the children are so politethey always say hello! The pays decent, and sometimes I can take home leftovers.”
“As if thats something to boast about,” Emily fumed. “She drags home scraps from the cafeteria and humiliates me in front of everyone!”
While Rebecca bounded into the half-empty canteen, calling out affectionately to the kitchen staff, Emily dragged her heels, head down. She caught a scowl from her mother, who was filling a mop bucket.
“Is she really going to mop the floor in here now? Ugh, just what I need.”
The lunch supervisor, Mrs. Johnson, shot Emily a glance before telling Rebecca,
“You dont have to pay today, love. Take some juice as well, weve got extra from lunch.”
Rebecca grinned, grabbing the drinks for them both.
“Em, can you grab the buns?” she called.
Emily trudged over, grabbed the plate, and stomped off without a word of thanks, aware of her mothers sad look.
She sat at the table, refusing to eat.
“Why did we even bother coming here?” she muttered.
Rebecca looked up, halfway through her bun.
“Whats wrong, Em? Youre being weird today.”
Emily shoved her juice at her. “Here, have mine. Im not hungry.”
Rebeccas eyes widened. “Okay Want me to take the bun for later?”
“No, I dont want anything,” Emily snapped.
“Whats up with you? Did something happen?”
“Nothing! Dont pretend like you dont know!”
“But what happened, Em?”
Rebeccas mum worked as a GP at the local surgery, so it was no wonder her friend didnt understand what it was like, having a mum cleaning up after your peers every day.
***
Back at home, Emily dumped her rucksack on the floor and collapsed onto the ottoman.
A stampede of children came tearing out from the kitchen. The twins, whod just turned eight, were her stepdads daughters from a previous marriageher mother had taken them in after their birth mum disappeared. Only little Hannah was Emilys real sister. Her mum had her with her stepdad, so Hannah was their only child together.
“What did you bring us, Em?” Hannah asked, peeking around the door.
“Nothing! Just wait for Mum, shell bring home those fishcakes they served at lunch. No one ate them anyway,” Emily huffed, closing her eyes and thumping her fists against the dresser.
“Why is everything getting on my nerves? Is it because we live like this?” she wondered.
Her stepdad appeared, giving her a stern look.
“Dont talk like that. Your mum works hard enough already. Why cant you help her? Youre not expected to help at the canteen, but you could at least pick Hannah up if youre already at the school. Instead, I have to leave work every time!”
“Theyre your kids, not mine,” Emily said, glaring.
“I never asked for them, never wanted a new baby sister either. I was fine with just me and Mum. Then you showed up with your baggage, Mum had to go back to work I cant stand any of you.”
“Say youre sorry.”
“Go away.”
Emily darted for her room and slammed the door behind her.
***
That night, Emily woke with stomach pains.
She went to the toilet, but the pain wouldnt subside. Sometime around dawn, she knocked on her mothers door.
Hannah was asleep with the twins and their mum, which meant her stepdad must be on the sofa again, as usual.
There were only two bedrooms in their flat, and Emily, the eldest, had one to herself. (Her sisters slept in the living room. Mum was clearly waiting until Emily finished school to reclaim the room for her own “real” family.)
“Mum, my stomach hurts.”
Her mum leapt up, flicking on the bedside lamp.
“Where? How bad? I knew ityou barely eat anything!”
“Its here and its been an hour now. I feel sick too,” Emily managed before doubling over.
“James!” her mum shouted.
Her stepdad ran in, wrapped in a duvet, only in boxers.
“Call an ambulanceEmilys not well!”
“That bad? Lets take her ourselves; Ill get the car. No point waiting for an ambulance. Grab her documents. Ill drive her to A&E,” he said. “Dont argue, Helen. Im off work anyway. You stay with the girls in the morning.”
***
“Looks like appendicitis,” declared the doctor.
“Appendicitis? So shell need an operation?” her stepdad asked, eyes wide.
Emily could barely turn over from the pain.
“Well check after the tests. Emily, be honestare you seeing any boys?”
“Boys? Of course not,” snapped her stepdad.
“Look at her, shes just a child.”
“Dont shout. Please step outside,” the doctor said.
James squeezed Emilys hand. “Dont fret, Em. Youll nod off for the op, and when you wake up the painll be gone.”
“I want to see Mum,” Emily sobbed.
“Ill bring her straight away, promise.”
***
Emily recovered quickly after the operation, though the first two days were tough. Her mum didnt leave her side, helping her learn to walk again, but finally returned home once Emily was moved to a regular ward.
The room was almost empty except for another girl at the window. Emily immediately noticed that her roommate had her own fresh, crisply ironed beddingunlike the drab hospital issue that Emily lay on. And her cupboard was packed with fruit baskets, bouquets, soft toys. On the windowsill sat a laptop streaming cartoons.
Even in the hospital, Lucy managed to look immaculate in a satin pyjama set, hair styled, smelling clean and floweryshe was clearly from a well-off family.
That evening, Emilys mum visited with a bottle of cranberry squash and a jar of chicken broth.
“I wish youd brought some fruitsome tangerines, some plums or something,” Emily grumbled.
“Ill ask the doctor. If youre allowed, Ill bring some,” her mum said.
Emily didnt reply, sulking. She wanted lots of thingsa laptop, nice new bedding, a beautiful pyjama set, not a faded old dressing gown Mum had bought “to grow into” last year. Emily was still wearing it, but it was still far too big.
Just then, a striking couple came in. The man was tall and blond, wearing a spotless white jumper and carrying crisply wrapped gifts. The woman with him was stunning in a green dress and sky-high heels. Even her shoe covers didnt hide her elegance.
“Lucy, dear,” the woman cooed, gliding over to her daughter and enveloping her in a warm, fragrant hug.
The man looked at Emilys mum, then at Emily.
“Helen? Is that you?”
Mum stood up slowly. “Malcolm? Is that really you?”
Emily pulled herself upright. Malcolm was staring right at her.
“Is this your daughter? What happened?”
“Yes, this is my daughter, Emily. She had her appendix out.”
“Is she alright?”
“Shes recovering fine. And yoursappendicitis, too?”
“Yes, same thing. Nightmare.”
Malcolm paused for a moment, still looking at Emily, then moved away.
“Mum, who was that?” Emily whispered.
“Hes an old classmate of mine. Ages ago.”
“Why was he looking at me like that?”
“He wasnt looking oddly at all,” her mum insisted.
After the visitors left, Emily slipped into the hallway, watching as Malcolm argued at the nurses station, desperate for updates about Emily.
When her mum visited next morning, Emily dragged her outside.
“Mum, is MalcolmLucys dadmy real father?”
Mum paled.
“Why would you think that?”
“He is, isnt he? Someone must be,” Emily said. “If you dont tell me, Ill ask him. He wont lie to me.”
Helen seemed to shrink in on herself.
“How did you guess? Yes, hes your real father. I left after you were born and broke off all contact.”
“And then you married a plumber with two daughters,” Emily said bitingly. “Stuck me with a new dad to match. Did you?”
Her mum flared with anger.
“What would you know? Malcolm never wanted to marry me. When I said I was pregnant, he told me to get rid of you! I chose to have you and raise you, and James treated you as his own. Thats who you should care aboutwere your family!”
“So Lucys my sister,” Emily whispered.
Her mum tried to protest, but Emily stormed off, her mind made up.
Back in the ward, she sidled over to Lucy and started prodding her about her family. Lucy eagerly described her loving parents and doting grandparents, all so affluent and cultured.
“Were you an only child?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” Lucy said with a sigh. “I always wanted a brother or sister, especially a sister. But Mum cant have any more children.”
“But she had you”
“She was really ill when she was having me, and I turned out quite frail. Im always in and out of hospital.”
Lucy revealed her asthma, diabetes, and cancer scare at age seven. Emily saw that Lucy looked pale and thin, with dark circles under her eyes.
“I like you, Lucy. Ive never had a proper friend. Can I visit after I get out?”
“Of course! Ill tell you where we live!”
***
Emily wasted no time.
Days after leaving hospital, Emily turned up at the Spencers big house, crying. It was ten at night, but she pressed the buzzer, voice trembling.
“Is Lucy in? Im her friend, Emily Ross.”
“Its late, love, Lucys already in bed,” said a woman who came to the gate.
“Whos that?” called Malcolm from the doorway. “Emily? You?”
He opened the gate wide.
“Has something happened?”
Emily sniffled convincingly and broke down.
“My stepdads being mean Im scared to go home. Please, can I stay just tonight?”
Malcolm put an arm around her. “Come in, lets get you a cup of tea.”
***
Emily couldnt believe how fast things snowballed.
Malcolm, unused to tearful drama from an unknown daughter, stormed over to the Rosses flat the next morning, ready to attack James:
“Dont think you can treat Em badly and get away with it! Im her father now, and if you so much as touch a hair on her head”
Helen intervened.
“For heavens sake, Malcolm! James loves Em as if she were his own. You have no rights over her!”
“Well see about that,” Malcolm replied. “Ill go to court, get a DNA test, then take Emily to live with me!”
Helen was indignant.
“Bit late to play dad after fifteen years, isnt it? You never cared before!”
Malcolm was convinced Emily belonged with him and, after a custody battle, she moved into the Spencer home.
***
With Malcolm around her, Emily grew bolder.
“Hello, sis!” she said one morning, barging into Lucys room to poke around.
She snatched Lucys phone from the table.
“Ooh, iPhone fifteen! Lucky. Maybe I can get Dad to buy me the sixteenth one soon.”
Lucy, writing in her diary, only glanced up. “Nan and Grandad gave me the phone for my birthday; I never asked for it.”
“Oh, your Nans a lecturer, isnt she? Maybe she can help me get into uni one day.”
Emilys attitude had switched completely from grateful friend to entitled sister. Displeased, Lucy kept her distance.
Glancing around the room, Emily remarked, “Yours is a lot bigger. Mines tiny. I should move in here with you.”
No one expected it when Emily dragged her bed into Lucys room. Everyone in the house was perplexed.
“Whats this nonsense?” demanded Lucys mother, Mrs. Kate Spencer.
Emily replied airily, “The other rooms too dark, I cant sleep. I need to be in here with my sister.”
“Dont be silly, youre fifteen. Has your eye on the room, have you?” Mrs. Spencer muttered. “Well, youll just have to wait until we redecorate Nans room.”
Lucys grandmother, Gladys, didnt live with them full time, but when Kate asked her to give up her room for Emily, the old lady was bemused but obliged.
But she confided in her daughter one evening,
“So Malcolms girl has dragged her bed into Lucys room? Mark my words, that ones up to something. We should keep an eye on herperhaps install a discreet camera.”
“What if Malcolm finds out?” Kate whispered nervously.
“Leave it to me,” Gladys said, eyes glinting. “Frankly, I never liked Malcolm. He left his pregnant girlfriend for you. The years match up, you know. Emily was conceived the same year he started seeing you.”
“Dont rush to judge, Mum,” Kate protested. “He was very popular back then.”
Gladys just shrugged.
***
First, Lucys charm bracelet collection disappeared. Then her iPhone was gone.
Emily shrugged, “No idea, Luce. You always leave your things lying around. Maybe your friend took it.”
Lucy retorted, “Thats not true! You were eyeing my phone! My stuff never used to go missing before you moved in!”
“So youre calling me a thief?” Emily replied, feigning outrage.
She started stuffing her things in a bag.
“Where are you going?” Malcolm asked, worried.
Tears rolling down her face, Emily cried, “No one wants me here. Maybe I should just leave!”
The tension in the house rose.
Kate, knowing full well from the hidden camera who took Lucys things, tried brushing matters off:
“Lucy, enough. Dont accuse your sister of stealing. Ill get you a new phone.”
No matter what Lucy said, her mother stonewalled her complaints. Lucy grew ever more miserable, while Emily felt unstoppable, bullying her new sister.
***
“For the last time, Emily, just leave me be,” Lucy snapped, slamming her diary on the table.
Emily grinned mockingly, trying on Lucys precious hairband in the mirror.
“Be careful with that, Dad brought it back from China,” Lucy said.
Emily tore it in two. “Oops,” she smirked.
“You did that on purpose! I never want to see you again, get out of my house!”
Emily snatched the diary and flung it out the window.
“I hate you!” Lucy yelled, attacking her.
Their parents burst in to find Lucy pinning Emily to the floor.
“Stop this at once!” cried Kate.
“She broke my hairband and threw my diary out the window!” Lucy shouted.
“I just wanted to look at your diary, but she started stomping her feet and shouting,” Emily said, standing with tears rolling down.
“I want to leave! Lucy said theres no place for a pauper like me in this house.”
Kates heart ached for her daughter, but Lucy, sadly used to no one believing her, just packed her rucksack and left the room.
“Ill swap, Emily can have this room. Ill take hers,” Lucy declared.
“Fine,” Malcolm said. “Lucy, weve made a rod for our own backs spoiling you. Maybe youll learn something from this.”
“You nettleno, you snake!” Kate suddenly hissed, glaring at Emily.
“Kate, what are you saying?” Malcolm gasped.
“Your daughter isnt as innocent as you think. Come with me,” Kate said, pulling Lucy away.
Worried, Emily pressed her ear to the door.
“So, the old witch installed a hidden camera! Great. This is bad. Im done for.”
With a sigh, Emily raced back, scooped expensive things into her bag, and dumped Lucys stolen trinkets under her sisters bed before slamming the door behind her.
She left, before Malcolm could review the videos and confront her.
Epilogue
Helen, who had cried herself dry over her vanished daughter, opened the door in shock.
Emily stood outside, her expression hard.
“Mum, Ive been thinking I cant stay there without you. It doesnt work.”
“Really?” Helen beamed.
“Yeah. Its nice at Dads, but I missed you.”
“Come in, love,” her mum replied, pulling her close.
James emerged from the kitchen, and Emily forced a smile.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Emily, welcome home. Come in.”
Emily turned down dinner and went to her room.
Her mum followed.
“Sorry, love, weve turned yours into a nursery now.”
“No worries. Theres a saying: close quarters but no hard feelings,” Emily grimaced. “Its all fine, Mum.”
“Ill fetch some bedding,” her mum said happily.
Emily sat on the bed glaring at her sisters.
“Where have you been, Em?” they asked, crowding around.
Emily ignored them, lost in thought.
“Never mind, Dad will regret this in the end. If Lucy gets ill, hell remember me. I just need to figure out how to get my sisters out of this room, to the living room instead.”
Emily was sure Malcolm would keep quiet about her stealing and bullying Lucy. Sure, she hadnt managed to fit into the wealthy new family, but that was fine.
She was convinced her time would comethat Malcolm would forgive her, forget these childish tiffs.
After all, she hadnt really stolen Lucys thingsjust hidden them. It could all be chalked up to a jealous fit.
“Ill grow up a bit and go back to Dads, tear his family apart,” Emily thought as she drifted to sleep.
Personal lesson: Looking back, I realised how jealousy and resentment poisoned everything for me, no matter where I went. In the end, trying to hurt others only left me lonely. I learned that no family could ever truly accept me until I stopped fighting and learned to accept myself.
