"A, it's your turn to do the dishes", Lisa said flatly.
She swallowed the morsel she was chewing slowly. "But I did the dishes yesterday and it's Alaska's turn according to the roster".
" I'm not gonna banter words with you, just do what you're told".
" But I've got something to do," she cried.
" Sniffing flowers in the garden isn't part of your chores".
She exhaled and everyone finished up their meal and left.
" Suck it up tyke", Alaska said and patted her shoulder.
She shrugged off her hand and Alaska laughed. " Why am I doing your chores?"
" I've got tennis practice. Go find something to do with your life, A", she said and strutted off.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and furiously cleared the dishes. She put the dishes into the sink and walked around the kitchen, trying to calm her nerves down.
She sighed and went over to the sink. She began to sing I am Moana (Song of the ancestors). Just as she finished the song, a plate and fell on the ground and broke to pieces.
"Oh no", she whispered, "I'm not Moana. I'm a lousy little girl who can't do anything right". She huffed and picked up the broken pieces of the plate.
" Did you break my plate agnellino?"
She gulped and her heart sped up in her chest. Lisa only called her agnellino when she was in deep trouble.
" I'm sorry. It was an accident".
" Of course it was, but you were playing around with my plates, hmm?"
" A you okay?", Noelle asked, the genuine concern in her voice startled her. She walked into the kitchen and her face quickly hardened as she saw Lisa, "I heard a plate break".
"Exactly what I was addressing Noelle. A here broke the plate because I asked her to do the dishes though it was Alaska's turn".
Noelle gasped.
"No, no, it was an accident. I swear it".
"I heard you singing, are you supposed to be singing while doing the dishes?" Noelle asked with a disdainful look on her face.
"It was an accident, I didn't do it on purpose".
Lisa raised her brow and gave her an ascerbic smile. " So I'm lying? You break my plate and call me a liar?"
" No, I didn't…" She was cut by a slap across the face.
"Clean up this mess and go up to your room", Lisa said and walked out of the kitchen.
"I thought you were a good kid", Noelle said in an accusatory tone.
"I…", she stopped herself. It wasn't worth it.
Noelle clicked her tongue severally and strutted out.
She let out a breathy sob and mechanically picked up the broken pieces of the plate.
****
"Why would you break that plate A?" Kole said quietly after lights out.
She ran her hand down her face. " It was an accident. I didn't mean to", she said exasperatedly. She was tired of repeating herself. What's the point if no one believed her? But somehow she felt Kole would.
" Yeah right" , Kole scoffed, "Like I believe that. You're so very stubborn A. It's hard to believe that you didn't do that in retaliation for being given Alaska's duties".
Her heart stopped beating as it felt like a huge spear had been driven through her heart.
Even Kole didn't believe her.
She sighed and turned around to sleep.
"A, you still awake?", Kole asked fearing she'd hurt her sister.
She didn't respond.
Kole sighed. "I like the fact that you're confident and outspoken. But you shouldn't do things that'll make the authorities dislike you. That's not how a child of God behaves".
She snorted quietly.
She'd heard the same line everyday of the three weeks she was here. If she was wasn't regarded as a child of God because she spoke up for herself and refused injustice, she wondered how much of a child of God Lisa was.
She did slap her around, refuse her from going into the garden and worse of all, painted her black in front of the rest of the kids. She even refused her from seeing Ava when she came visiting.
She snorted again.
Lisa was a hypocrite, she didn't know the first thing about being a child of God, but she wasn't gonna show her because she didn't know it too.