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Beyond the Score, I'm Perfect in My Own Right
Novelix
Completed
Nora has spent years trapped in a cruel family scoring system where pleasing her sensitive sister Poppy earns points and upsetting her brings deductions. After a dog bite leaves her needing rabies treatment, her parents steal her borrowed money to buy Poppy a bracelet. When they refuse to pay for her medical care and threaten her mentor's reputation, Nora finally breaks free. She leaves home, pursues her physics talent, and builds a new life nearly eight hundred miles away. This is a powerful story about escaping emotional abuse, reclaiming self-worth, and refusing to earn love through points.
Chapters (3)
第1章
At my sister Poppy’s sixteenth birthday party, she burst into tears because I showed up in a short skirt that exposed my legs.
Dad’s face darkened instantly.
“You upset Poppy. Minus one hundred points.”
Mom looked at me with undisguised disgust.
“You knew Poppy had just scraped her leg, and you still deliberately wore a short skirt in front of her. How shameless can you be?”
“Go to the restroom and change right now. Otherwise, that’s another three hundred points off.”
I didn’t move.
Poppy was a highly sensitive child, which meant her emotions fluctuated more easily than other kids’. Because of that, our family kept a special emotional scorebook just for her.
Make Poppy happy: plus five points.
Make Poppy angry: minus one hundred.
Do something for Poppy: plus ten.
Refuse Poppy’s request: minus two hundred.
Mom said however many points I had was how many dollars they’d give me for college tuition when school started.
So I’d spent the entire summer bending over backward to please Poppy. By the time school was about to start, I’d finally saved up five thousand points.
Then I poured her a glass of milk.
She said it was too cold.
Minus one hundred.
I held a sun umbrella over her when we went out.
She cried because I was blocking her view.
Minus five hundred.
And today, my score had finally dropped below zero.
When I still didn’t move, Mom gave me a shove.
“What are you standing there for? You’re at negative seventy now. Spend a few hundred dollars of your own money and buy your sister a birthday present to make it up to her. Then we’ll call it even and let you start over from zero.”
I said nothing.
I simply pulled on long sleeves and pants.
What they didn’t know was that I’d already changed my college choice from the school near our home to one almost eight hundred miles away.
I was done playing their point game.
...
I hadn’t brought a change of clothes to the banquet hall.
The long sleeves and pants I wore were actually part of a winter uniform I’d borrowed from a hotel employee.
They didn’t fit.
I looked ridiculous.
Some of the relatives around us couldn’t stand watching anymore.
“Nora’s still a kid. Poppy only scraped her leg. It’ll heal in a few days.”
“Girls like looking pretty. Nora wore the wrong skirt. It’s not that big a deal.”
“It’s so hot outside. What if she gets sick wearing that thick vest?”
Poppy immediately burst into tears.
“Uncle Grant, are you saying I’m being dramatic?”
She threw down whatever she was holding and ran toward the door.
“This is all my fault! I’ll leave right now!”
The entire room descended into chaos.
By the time they finally coaxed Poppy back inside, Dad was glaring at me with a terrifying expression.
“Nora, you were the one who screwed up and lost all your points.”
“Stop looking so wronged, like we’re the ones who owe you something.”
Mom stared at me with the same disgust.
“Poppy wants that new limited-edition doll. It’s two hundred dollars. Give her the money and apologize properly.”
“Otherwise, you lose another hundred points.”
The relatives exchanged glances.
No one dared say another word.
I wanted to tell them that Poppy had shoved that skirt into my hands before we left the house.
I wanted to explain that she’d threatened to get mad and have Mom deduct my points if I refused to wear it.
So I wore it.
Then she sobbed at her own birthday party because I did.
All the explanations rose to my lips.
I swallowed them back down.
Just like every other time.
Whenever Poppy cried, everyone expected me to give in.
The thick fleece lining of the vest trapped the heat against my body, and sweat poured down my skin.
My head spun.
A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.
When I was seven, Mom came home from a business trip with two identical gifts for Poppy and me.
Poppy threw a screaming fit because she didn’t want Mom buying anything for me.
After that, whenever our parents brought something home, there was only something for Poppy.
Never for me.
When I was thirteen, Poppy ran away on my birthday and left a note saying she couldn’t stand everyone paying attention to me because it made her feel ignored.
Everyone abandoned me to go look for her.
I waited at home all night.
By the time my ice cream cake had melted into a sticky puddle of cream, Mom and Dad finally came home with Poppy, carrying bags of things after taking her out for seafood.
I never celebrated another birthday after that.
Later, Poppy was diagnosed as a highly sensitive child.
That was when the emotional scorebook became part of our family.
A negative score meant punishment.
When I was little, Mom hit my palms with a wooden spoon.
When I got older, they tied the score to my allowance.
If Poppy was unhappy, I wouldn’t get a single dollar for an entire month.
At school, I survived on tap water and the cheapest white bread I could find.
I pulled the two hundred dollars I’d saved from my part-time job out of my pocket and walked over to Poppy.
Then I apologized.
“I’m sorry, Poppy. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have worn a skirt today.”
“Happy birthday. Here’s two hundred dollars for your present. I hope you can forgive me.”
Poppy grabbed the money.
Finally, she smiled.
“Thanks, Nora!”
Dad’s expression softened.
“That’s more like it. Nora, you’re the older sister. Stop picking fights with Poppy all the time.”
The relatives seemed relieved too.
“Nora’s always been such an easy kid.”
Then they stopped paying attention to me.
Everyone hurried to make Poppy happy.
Poppy wore her birthday hat while Dad cut her cake and Mom held the drink she hadn’t finished.
The relatives crowded around her, clapping and singing “Happy Birthday.”
I stood alone in the corner of the banquet hall.
Like a complete outsider.
When the party ended, I returned the uniform.
My entire face was flushed an unnatural red from the heat.
Mom came over and pressed a small piece of chocolate into my hand.
“Poppy’s just sensitive. She isn’t deliberately targeting you.”
“There are still a few days left in summer break. Be nicer to her and earn some points back. We’re not going to give you nothing.”
I didn’t look up.
“Okay.”
I didn’t want money I had to earn with points anymore.
Seven days from now, my mentor from the summer research program would personally meet me at the train station.
I was leaving this family.
And I was never coming back.
第2章
When we finished packing up and were ready to head home, I tried to get into the car.
Poppy gripped the door and blocked me.
“Nora, you’re drenched in sweat. You’ll make the whole car stink. You’re not getting in.”
Mom frowned.
“It’s only two miles. Nora, just walk home. Stop acting like a child.”
“That settles it. I’ll give you ten points when you get home.”
The car sped away.
I stood on the side of the road beneath the blazing sun, sweat still pouring down my forehead.
My whole body felt like it was burning.
Relatives drove past one after another.
They stopped to talk to me.
But none of them dared give me a ride.
“Nora, it’s not that I don’t want to take you. If Poppy sees you, she’ll make a scene again.”
“With that point system of yours, getting a ride now could cost you another three hundred points. It’s not worth it.”
I nodded.
I didn’t even have the strength to say, “Okay.”
By the time I finally reached our apartment building, I discovered that the elevator was under maintenance.
Holding onto the railing, my legs shaking so badly I could barely stand, I dragged myself all the way up to our apartment on the twenty-eighth floor.
The second I opened the door, a party popper exploded beside my ear.
Streamers and confetti covered my face.
Poppy screamed excitedly.
“I won the bet!”
“Look at Nora! She’s drenched in sweat. She really walked up twenty-eight floors!”
Mom affectionately ruffled her hair.
“You little troublemaker. You deliberately put up that maintenance sign? What if someone really needed the elevator and you delayed them?”
Poppy lifted her chin smugly.
“No one else is as stupid as Nora. Who actually sees a maintenance sign and climbs all those stairs?”
She smiled sweetly.
Her eyes were completely innocent.
Mom and Dad had given her everything she wanted since she was little.
To her, maybe this really was nothing more than a harmless prank.
But my head was spinning harder.
Everything in front of me had doubled.
I gently pushed her aside.
“I need to lie down.”
Poppy stomped behind me.
“What kind of attitude is that? Mom, take fifty points off!”
“I was going to give you ten points for climbing twenty-eight floors, but look at you. You never appreciate anything.”
My steps faltered.
So pushing myself to the edge of collapse was worth ten points.
And one second later, having the wrong attitude toward Poppy cost me fifty.
I didn’t want to argue anymore.
I opened my bedroom door and pulled back the blanket, intending to sleep.
A dog suddenly leaped up from my bed.
Its teeth sank hard into my leg.
The pain shocked some clarity back into me.
I desperately kicked the dog away and stumbled out of the room.
“Why is there a dog in my bedroom?”
Poppy widened her eyes innocently.
“I found him on the way home.”
“He’s so cute! I hid him in your bed because I wanted to surprise you!”
“Well, you’re awake now, right? Go give him a bath and I won’t deduct those fifty points.”
She carried the dog out of my room and started bringing it toward me.
A memory suddenly came rushing back.
I’d been bitten by a dog when I was little.
The experience had left me deeply traumatized.
Even hearing a dog bark made me instinctively afraid.
And now she’d hidden a stray dog she’d picked up off the street in my bed.
Then she expected me to bathe it.
I backed away step by step.
Blood was still seeping from the wound on my leg.
The dog smelled it.
It started barking wildly, struggled free from Poppy’s arms, and charged straight at me.
Terror overwhelmed me.
My vision went black.
Then I lost consciousness.
第3章
When I woke again, I was lying in an emergency room bed.
The doctor looked grim.
“You have severe heat exhaustion, and you were bitten by a dog. You need rabies shots immediately.”
“The vaccine and immunoglobulin will cost eight hundred dollars total. You can pay at the front desk.”
My throat was painfully dry.
There was no one beside me.
I called my parents and asked them for the money.
Mom’s shocked voice came through the phone.
“Eight hundred dollars because a little dog barely bit you? That’s robbery!”
“You don’t have enough points. We can’t approve that kind of expense. You’ll start thinking you can get whatever you want without earning it.”
Her voice turned impatient.
“Enough. We’re taking Poppy out to buy strawberry cake. We don’t have time for this nonsense.”
She hung up.
The doctor looked at my pale face, clearly uncomfortable.
“Leaving a dog bite untreated isn’t something to take lightly. Try borrowing the money from someone. Your health comes first.”
I gripped my phone and started calling people.
One after another.
My relatives comforted me.
But none of them agreed to lend me money.
They promised to speak up for me instead and tagged my parents in the family group chat.
“My brother works at the hospital. That really is what rabies treatment costs. Nora isn’t lying.”
“It’s only eight hundred dollars. Just pay for the kid’s treatment.”
Mom sent me twenty dollars in the group chat.
Her message was almost casual.
“Rabies vaccine? She’s just jealous because we took Poppy out without her, so she’s creating drama.”
“I have the money, but I’m not encouraging this attitude that she deserves things she didn’t earn.”
“Just block her. Don’t listen to her nonsense.”
With trembling fingers, I tried calling again.
Sure enough, the call wouldn’t even go through this time.
I had competition scholarship money coming.
But it needed approval and paperwork.
It might take a month to arrive.
I couldn’t wait that long.
I called almost everyone in my contacts.
In the end, Mr. Moretti, the owner of the Italian restaurant where I worked part-time, agreed to lend me the money.
The moment it arrived, I got up to pay for my treatment.
Then my phone buzzed.
Eight hundred dollars had just been charged to my bank account.
The merchant name read:
Sterling Silver.
When I was a minor, the account I used for my part-time wages had been a joint account under Dad’s name.
They’d promised they would never touch my money.
So even after I turned eighteen, I hadn’t immediately moved everything into an account of my own.
I never imagined they would take the money the exact moment I borrowed it.
My face went white.
The nurse at the front desk asked whether I had another way to pay.
I gave her a bitter smile.
“I’m sorry. I can’t pay right now.”
I dragged myself home.
Then I ran into Poppy coming through the door with bags piled in her arms.
A silver bracelet gleamed around her wrist.
She beamed at me.
“Nora, look! Dad just bought this for me.”
“It was eight hundred dollars. Isn’t it pretty?”
Eight hundred dollars.
Exactly how much I’d borrowed.
My eyes burned red.
“That money in my account was for my rabies shots! Why did you take my money to buy Poppy something?”
The hurt inside me swelled until I thought I might burst.
My whole body went cold.
Dad jumped at my shout.
“Why are you yelling?”
“There was a problem with the card when we tried to pay, so we used yours. We raised you all these years. What’s wrong with using a little of your money?”
Mom hurried to smooth things over.
“Enough, Nora. We used your money this time, so we’ll give you thirty points as compensation. Happy?”
