They're Made of Glass | SEVENTEEN

01 | wishes are for chumps

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The stars were as taunting as ever. They seemed to sparkle even brighter tonight, egging me on. Make a wish, they seemed to say.

Okay.

I wish for my scar to be gone.

Did it work?

I looked into the mirror next to me.

Of course it didn't.

I quickly moved my bangs back over my forehead. Inha, my new mother, didn't like the scar. She said it spreads too much negative energy (whatever that means). Hyemi, being the best sister there is, then suggested that we just put a bag over my head. Apparently my hair was so bad, it spread enough negative energy to make her want to throw up in her Gucci bag (Love you too Hyemi!).

But it's not like I wanted to cut my hair. Papa used cheap moves when he was drunk. He went straight for the hair like any other sixteen year old girl would do. It was either cut the hair, or suffer ten minutes of excruciating pain. Yeah, okay, maybe using scissors meant for cutting beef wasn't really a good idea, but it worked! Papa never went for my hair again. He just went straight to the hitting.

Ironically, the very day I decided to cut my hair I got my scar. Fun times! (I'll spare you the gory details. Basically, Papa was a sucker for beer and didn't quite agree with me over the fate of the last few cans. One thing led to another and somehow, I wound up in the ER with a bandage wrapped around my head.)

"Shuri." Inha said through the door. "Are you done?" Smoothing down the skirt of my dress, I took one last look in the mirror. It was really pink and really frilly. I looked like the cake Hyemi had at her seventeenth birthday party. Sighing, I turned the handle of the bathroom door and stepped out. Inha was waiting expectantly with Hana at her side.

Hana was the only good thing that came out of moving in with my supposed stepmom and sister I had no idea existed. Without her sarcasm, I surely would've already gorged out my eyes with a pair of Hyemi's heels. As soon as I entered, Hana rolled her eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly. I sighed in response.

"That one's...nice." Inha said, forcing a smile. There was a scoff.

"She looks like that cake I had at last year's party." Hyemi said from across the room with a scowl. Hana snorted.

Inha gave out a little laugh as she reached for another dress. "Why don't you try on this one? I feel like this color will be much better than pink."

I gladly took the dress into the bathroom and tried it on. Thankfully, there were no ruffles and not a hint of pink. It was white and had a nice long skirt that covered my legs. When I emerged from the bathroom in the new dress, Hana raised her eyebrows as if to say, Wow you actually look nice for once. I rolled my eyes.

"Much better." Inha said with an approving nod. "Although...that necklace doesn't really match. Hyemi, why don't you go get some from your room?"

"What's wrong with this one?" I asked, looking down at the silver chain around my neck. It was Mama's old necklace - this simple silver charm with two hearts crisscrossing and a small diamond heart hanging in the center. I liked it.

"It's not very...appropriate for the Invitational." Inha said gently. As soon as she mentioned the Invitational, my stomach twisted into knots. The Invitational was like a back to school dance. That is, if you swapped the poorly paid DJ with a string quartet and the gross gym with a ginormous ballroom. Basically they were the same thing.

"I don't understand how it's not appropriate." I sighed, swinging the charm back and forth on the chain. Hyemi scoffed again, narrowing her eyes at me from across the room.