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As a little girl, I was selfish and cruel. I believed I took after my mother in that respect. I never knew the woman, but I imagined it was such traits that had led her to abandon me mere hours after I was born. I spent the first few years of my life in an orphanage. I had no idea what it meant to have a home. I developed a mean streak early on.

When I was seven years old I had an adoption interview with the Porters. Many of the other kids at the orphanage were so desperate to be adopted they would bend over backwards to impress prospective parents. Frankly, I didn’t care what happened to me, so I made no such special efforts. In fact, I was about as disagreeable as possible. They told me they lived in the suburbs. I told them I hated the suburbs, even though I had never been there. They told me I would have a big brother and a pet dog. I told them I hated boys and preferred cats. If they said white, I said black. If they said up, I said down. When the interview had ended I was positive that I had chased them away. They returned a few days later and adopted me.

I was determined not to be happy in my new habitat. Mr. and Mrs. Porter told me I could call them Dad and Mom. I preferred Terry and Dana, at least in the beginning. When I got to their house I met their dog, Max. Max was a huge black Labrador. He was bigger than me, and the friendliest dog I had ever met. His slobbery tongue was all over me right away. It tickled and made me want to giggle, but I forced myself to scowl and rudely push him away. Terry and Dana showed me my new bedroom. I had never had a room all to myself before, and it was so pretty the way it had been decorated. I told them it was cramped and drab. I saw Dana shed a single tear before quickly wiping it away and pretending my complaints didn’t bother her. The devil inside me leapt for joy at this tiny victory.

A few hours later, I met my new brother when he came home from school. He was twice my age, almost to the day.

“This is our son, Drake.” Terry introduced us. “Drake, this is Lizzy.”

“I’m so excited to meet you Lizzy.” Drake said enthusiastically. “I could hardly wait to get home today.”

“You’re ugly.” I told him. I could see the disappointment in his face, but he pretended I hadn’t said anything mean.

I found out that Drake was an artist. He showed me his room where he had a really nice desk surrounded by pens, colored pencils, and even paints. He had a neat drawing of a space ship on his desk, waiting to be colored. It was very cool, but I told him it looked stupid.

Patiently, the Porters tried to make conversation with me while we ate dinner that evening. I refused to give more than a one word answer to any of their inquiries. I picked at my food, eating very little, even of the foods that I liked. I finished before the rest of them and asked if I could go to my room. Terry said that I could. On my way there, I slipped quietly into Drake’s bedroom. I admired his space ship again for a moment, wishing jealously that I could draw as well as he could. Then I grabbed one of his markers and scribbled over the picture thoroughly.

Over the next few days, I continued to be as contrary as possible. I would stay in bed as late as I could. When Terry or Dana finally made me get up I would just mope around the house. Dana took me shopping for new clothes. I refused to get excited about anything she picked out, even the cute outfits. I would openly insult Drake at every opportunity. I wasn’t quite so brazen towards Terry and Dana, but I did my best to frustrate and disappoint them. One afternoon, before Terry or Drake had come home, I think I had Dana on the verge of tears. She insisted that I go play in the yard. I was angry at being sent out of the house, and wondered what I could do to push Dana into a total meltdown. I considered running away, but the neighborhood was unfamiliar to me, so I was a little bit frightened by the idea. Instead, I opened the gate and let Max out of the yard. When Dana discovered he was lose she became frantic. I watched with an evil smirk as she stood outside anxiously calling his name. When Drake came home from school Dana sent him to search the neighborhood. Drake finally brought Max back more than an hour later.