Page 71 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
I scowl. “The school that Mom’s enrolling me in.”
“Don’t let her,” Liv says. “Pineview is better if you have to stay in town. Randell kids are… phony.”
“Backstabbing,” Sadie adds. “This jealousy is so toxic. Neither you nor Noah ever did anything to her. Noah getting a gig doesn’t remove her opportunities in music. And it’s not his fault that he’s, like, monumentally more talented than her.”
I stab my spoon into the carton, scooping out a big spoonful of ice cream. “It’s not just talent, though,” I say. “Noah works his ass off. He deserves all the opportunities he gets.”
“And Kaitlyn thinks she’s entitled to be a pop star because she’s rich,” Liv adds in a monotone.
Kaitlyn and I weren’t exactly close, but Istillcan’t believe she did this to me. “And it wasn’t just because of Noah. They wrote it because Stuart Chambers doesn’t approve of Jason marrying my mother.” I tell them what Kaitlyn’s dad said to Noah and me at the country club.
“Disgusting,” Sadie says. “The club is still mostly rich white men, and there are many who would prefer that it stay that way.”
I exhale. “Noah’s right. There’s no point in trying to fit into their world, because people like them will do anything to make sure we stay below them.”
No one says anything for a while, because they know I’m right.
“By the way,” Liv says. “James, Reagan, and Quinn aredisgusted with Kaitlyn too. Especially Quinn. He said you probably don’t want to talk to him right now, but he told me to tell you he’s appalled, and he’s already drafting a rebuttal op-ed, and if he can do anything else, let him know.”
I smile. It’s nice to know that not all the country club crew are terrible.
“Your mother doesn’t deserve any of this,” Sadie says. “I know you two aren’t really getting along right now, but Iadoreyour mom. She’s such… Don’t take this the wrong way, but she really is aninspiration.”
I shake my head, laughing bitterly. “How is she an inspiration? Since she got here, she’s done nothing but take tennis and golf lessons and cook dinner every night.”
Sadie frowns. “I mean with that teen clinic she and my mom are trying to open.”
I drop my spoon and turn to look at Sadie. “What teen clinic?”
“I don’t think it’s a secret,” Sadie says, clearly surprised I didn’t know. “My mother, yours, and some other ladies from the club are trying to open a teen health clinic in the hospital. Like, with drop-in counseling; mental, physical, and sexual health support; and free birth control. It’s a really cool idea. Apparently they thought up the plan after a doubles tennis match. Cherrybridge needs something like that. My mother is trying to get 2SLGBTQI+ counseling added too.”
I’m speechless. Really? I know that Mom had shifts in a similar clinic at the hospital back home. Because she was a teen mother, teen sexual health has always been important to her. Setting up something like that here is… actually verycool. I don’t understand why Mom didn’t tell me about it.
“Also your mom’s just… nice,” Sadie adds. “She’s easy to talk to. I loved it when she would come to our family dinners before the wedding. She’s, like, real. This family,this townneeded someone like your mother in it. And most people see that. Don’t even worry about people like Stuart.”
Why is my mother like a completely different person with me?
“It’s easy for you to sayDon’t worry about what others think, Sadie,” Liv says.
I understand Liv’s point perfectly. Sadie, with her blond hair, blue eyes, and LeClair last name is one of the most privileged kids in this town. Sure, she’s queer, but considering how supportive her family is about that, her immense privilege shields her from most of the discrimination she would face. She can ignore people like Stuart Chambers. Liv, Noah, Mom, the other CROP kids, and I can’t.
“Do you think…,” I begin. I bite my lip, unsure how to phrase my question. “I mean, you two know the town way better than I do. Do people not accept my mother because she’s Brown, or because she’s not rich? Or both?”
Neither of them says anything for a while, but they both look like they’re thinking seriously about their answer.
“Both,” Sadie finally says, looking me in the eye. “There was gossip when they started dating. People called her a gold digger. Meanwhile, all the unmarried women in the club were fighting each other for Jason’s attention, so doesn’t that make them gold diggers too? And people said other stuff. Like,Women like her are always trying to snag a rich white man.”
I blow out a long puff of air.Ugh. I really, really hate people right now. Mom’s probably had to deal with that crap a lot more than I have.
“Well, at least the LeClairs accepted her,” I say.
Sadie shakes her head. “Not always.” She sighs. “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but after the first time Uncle Jason brought your mom to a family dinner at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, they…” She looks at Liv, like she isn’t sure she should say it in front of her girlfriend, either. “They asked if Neelam was really the kind of woman he should settle down with. They talked about her being a single parent, and not from the same class as us. And Grandpa said it would be better for the family, for the LeClair name, if he was with a white woman.”
Liv’s back straightens and her eyes are wide with shock. “Holy crap, hedidn’tsay that, did he? Ilikeyour grandfather.”
I’ve only met Jason’s parents a few times, but they were always nice to me. I never got the impression that they were racist. I think back to when Mom and Jason were dating. She used to come here to Cherrybridge to see him all the time. Did she know then that many people, including Jason’s own parents, didn’t approve of their relationship?
“I wonder if that’s why she’s trying so hard to be perfect,” I say.
