Page 18 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
I laugh at that. Not at the possibility of me being happy that Jason’s my stepfather, but more at the thought of straitlaced Jason being rebellious. Would a true rebel ever run for mayor? Talk about selling out.
They both stare at me for laughing, and I do feel a bit bad. I don’t fully know what’s come over me either. I blow out a puff of air, but I don’t explain and I don’t apologize. “Okay. I’ll go to your events. And we can go to the mall, too.”
That evening after dinner Sadie and her brothers walk over to use Jason’s pool. They apparently do that a lot, since her brothers, who are twelve-year-old twins, love swimming but they don’t have a pool of their own. I put on my own swimsuit when they get here and join Sadie on the lounge chairs, where she’s watching to make sure the twins don’t kill each other. Sadie is wearing a pink-and-blue bikini. All I have is the plain black one-piece that Mom bought me when we had our swimming unit in grade-nine gym. Maybe I should get Mom to buy me a swimsuit at the mall too. I mean, since we’re now flush with cash and Mom is so eager to spend it.
The pool area is quite minimalist, with a deep navy rectangular pool and a simple gray patio around it. There are white lounge chairs surrounding it, and the only decorative elementis the waterfall on one end. I actually like the landscaping out here more than the interior of the house.
“Be happy you’re an only child, Meera,” Sadie says after yelling at the boys to stop running on the pool deck. “I remember the blissful years before those two demons were born.”
Evan, one of the twins, heard Sadie and blows her a kiss and says, “Love you, Big Sis!”
I laugh. I actually like the twins, Evan and Emmet, even though I feel sorry for them because of their matchy names. The boys are fun. Like, they aren’t broody, or too snobby, and don’t even seem sexist, which I know a lot of twelve-year-old boys are. I ended up talking to them for a while at the wedding. They’re both huge music nerds and would love to go to concerts in the city, but their parents say they’re too young to travel into Toronto alone. And apparently, adult LeClairs hate music, so the boys’ parents won’t take them.
“Yeah, I can’t imagine growing up in a big family,” I say. I didn’t even have a cousin before now, because Mom’s only brother doesn’t have kids.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. It’s absolutely the best thing ever to have a girl my age in the family.”
I smile at Sadie. I can tell she means it. It’s funny. Now that I’ve met Sadie’s girlfriend and some of her friends, Sadie feels so different from them. She’s almost naïve, likely because of how privileged she was growing up. I don’t think Sadie would last a minute in a Toronto high school—she’s much too nice. But privilege and naïveté aside, she’s real and earnest, and maybe about the only person in Cherrybridge whom I can trust without second-guessing their intentions.
“Hey, is it true that Jason used to be a rebel?” I ask.
Sadie thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “He’s always been super responsible to me. My dad says Jason works too hard and has been on Jason to settle down forever.” Her eyes flit quickly over to the pool. “Emmet, stop whipping the ball at Evan’s face!Ugh.Boys are the worst. I’msoglad I’m a lesbian.”
I laugh at that. But yeah, Jason working hard his whole life—for the town and his family business—doesn’t sound very rebellious. “You know he’s running for mayor, right?” I only mention it because Jason said his brother’s family knows.
Sadie nods. “Wasn’t sure they’d told you yet.”
“They did over dinner.” I sigh, then take a long sip of my drink. “They want me to go to all these events and stand next to them looking like the perfect stepdaughter. I mean, I’m happy for him and all, but this isnotwhat I signed up for. Mom married the man, but now I’m stuck here, even after she promised me she’d never force me to leave Toronto.”
“It’s only for the summer, though. And I’ll be at those events. Liv, too, for some of them.”
“I know.” I smile at her. The events will be better with Sadie there. “But… hey, Sadie, can you keep a secret?”
Sadie’s eyes widen, and she nods. She slides her lounge chair closer to me. “What’s up?”
“I overheard Jason say that it would be better for his campaign if I went to Randell in the fall. Because that’s where all LeClairs go, and he wants Mom and me to seem like we… you know. Belong here. Belong in the family.” I guess because I don’t look like a LeClair, he wants me to learn to act like one.
Sadie’s nose wrinkles. “That would suck. I can’t understand why everyone thinks Randell is so great. My mother’s still trying to get me to transfer back. My brothers are there, and they hate it.”
“Is the school racist?” I ask. I know Liv kind of implied that some of the teachers are.
“Not outwardly. I mean, I didn’t really notice it until I got closer to Liv. I’ve seen the stuff people subtly say to her. And I’ve seen people who seem to want congratulations for being nice to her. I don’t think you’d be bullied or anything, but you’d be different. I was the first girl to come out in our grade, and it wasn’t great.”
I stand corrected about Sadie. Coming out before anyone else in her grade in a posh private school is brave. She’s a lot tougher than she seems. I smile sympathetically at her. Sadie really is the best silver lining in Cherrybridge. “Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Being different isn’t something I’m used to.” I shake my head. “I’m so mad at Mom for forcing me to be here for the summer, and now she wants me here in September, too? I only got into trouble because of the stupid curse. So why is she punishing me for it?”
Sadie looks at me, confused. “Curse? What curse?”
Right. Sadie wouldn’t know about my family’s affliction. “Okay,” I say. “Again, keep this in your vault, but all the girls in my family have the same curse going back four generations… It all started when my great-great-grandmother pulled a gun on her fiancé, and his uncle cursed her.”
Sadie’s eyes widen in shock. I tell her all about the curse and how it specifically affected my grandmother, mother, andnow me. “So, I get that, yeah, I was pretty dumb to go along with the guy’s plan, but this punishment is too harsh,” I say. “Mom made mistakes because of the curse too.”
Sadie shakes her head. “I’m sure your mother doesn’t think having you was amistake.”
I shrug. “Well, they’re acting like I’m a bad kid that can’t be trusted, even though I’ve been basically on my own since I was fourteen. I’m an honor student who wants to be an architect! I mean, you should see this girl Kennedy in CROP. She growls at people. And she stole my AirPods from my pocket the day I met her. Jason should be glad I’m not like her.”
Sadie winces at my description of Kennedy.
I slump down in my lounge chair. “Maybe I should show him what a realliabilityto his campaign is, so he’ll send me home.”
