Chapter 1

1

Last time around, both Summer and I got adopted. Talk about hitting the lottery twice, right?

Little Miss Sunshine, Summer, got picked up by this ice-cold, Stepford Wives family. They squeezed the life out of her until she was diagnosed with depression, and eventually, she… well, let's just say she checked out early. Real shame.

Me? Let's just say that my default setting is permanently set to Grumpy Cat so I ended up getting returned by some overly enthusiastic family who thought they could magically transform me into a ray of sunshine.

After that little "oops, we don't want her" stunt, I became Public Enemy Number One at the orphanage. My social life went straight into the toilet and I basically followed in Summer's footsteps.

This time around, Summer asks, "Maybe we could…"

I cut her off. "Swap." No hesitation.

......

When the two couples came to pick their new kid, I saw Summer's hand was shaking. Not like last time, when she was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

Yeah, Summer definitely remembers.

Me? I was rocking my usual "I'd rather be anywhere else" look.

Summer, bless her heart, tried to give me some words of encouragement. "Don't worry, they'll definitely pick you."

I just shrugged. "They'll just return me anyway."

Summer's eyes practically popped out.

One look, and we were both back in that dingy orphanage.

Last time, Summer got adopted by the wealthy Chiang family. Seriously, they had more money than God.

But when Summer went all-in to make her new family happy, the ice-cold Chiang family knocked her flat on her back.

Turns out, adopting a kid was just something they had to tick off on some stupid "Rich People To-Do List".

They didn't give a crap about Summer. They just went through the motions, like some kind of automated customer service robot. And don't even get me started on the laundry list of rules.

Summer tried. God, she tried. She tried being all sunshine and rainbows, hoping to thaw out their icy hearts. But all she got was a first class ticket to the self-doubt express.

She suffocated in that environment and ended up jumping from the highest building she could find. At least she found a way out.

As for me, I got hauled off to the Peterson's house.

Mr. Peterson was a high school principal, and Mrs. Peterson ran a pre-school. They were basically overflowing with enthusiasm for kids. They were eager to see me return the favor, but turns out, all I had to offer was a permanent frown.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fake it.

In the end, the Petersons gave up and sent me back.

Back at the orphanage, I became the "ungrateful brat" everyone loved to hate. Every other kid at the orphanage blamed me for wasting an adoption opportunity, so I was ostracized and basically left to rot.

Then, when I heard about Summer's suicide, I lost my last reason to stick around.

Go figure, we both got a do-over.