Page 29 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
“I hope you’ll forgive me one day for bringing you here,” she says. “I… I just want more for you than what I had.”
Does that mean she wants me to be like Sadie, Reagan, and Kaitlyn?
“I love you, Meera,” she says. “Don’t forget that.”
“I know.” She locks eyes with me in the mirror, and she does look sorry. I feel bad. Maybe I should give her one last chance before I potentially embarrass her and Jason at the party. I square my shoulders. “I don’t want to be here, Mom. Yeah, I’ve made a few friends, and it’ll be great to hang out with them when I come to Cherrybridge to visit you, which I promise I’ll do. But I want tolivein Toronto for the rest of the summer, and in September. This town… it’s not me. People are snobby, or they’re rude to me, and I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable.”
I have never been direct with my feelings with Mom like this. Not because I didn’t think I could be. More like I never really got the chance to be. I start to plead. “Please let me go home. I can finish my community service in the city. I’ll still go to your party tonight. I’ll even come back for all those other parties and support Jason’s campaign. But I want to live in Toronto. Please, Mom.” My voice cracks. I’m not used to showing this kind of emotion, and I quickly want to brush the feeling away. I need to offer a doable solution, to make things easier. “Nani said I can still stay with her.”
I wonder if this time she’ll say yes. If she does, I’ll tell Noah not to come. I’ll go to the party alone tonight and be the perfect daughter she wants me to be.
Mom blinks. She looks almost… sad. She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but no, Meera. You have to trust me. This is what’s best for you. For the family.”
My eyes narrow. I don’t know why I even bothered. She isn’t the person she used to be. I turn to fuss with makeup, not making eye contact with her.
“Right. Then I guess I’ll see you at the party.” I get up from my dressing table and go into my bathroom, closing the door behind me. I hear Mom sigh before she quietly leaves the room.
About fifteen minutes after I hear Mom and Jason leave, my phone rings. It’s Sadie.
“We have a problem, Meera. Liv’s mother was in a car accident.”
I sit on my bed. “What? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine, but her car’s wrecked. We’re with her now. I’m not sure we’re going to make it to the club tonight. Can you ride with your parents?”
“Mom and Jason already left.” And after my conversation with Mom, I’m grateful they did. “I’ll just take a cab.”
“Are you sure, Meera? I feel bad. I know you were nervous about this party.”
“Of course I’m sure. You stay with Liv’s mom. Tell her I’m glad she’s okay!”
I call a car the moment I hang up with Sadie. Mom set up a ride-share account for me with her credit card a few daysago when I complained about how annoying it is that I can’t get around on my own here. It seems Mom’s answer to any of my complaints lately is to throw money at it, but I guess that’s handy now.
I run downstairs and realize that the silver ballet flats Mom bought me to wear are still upstairs. Yet another thing that doesn’t feel like me. I put on my purple platform Converse high-tops instead. Mom technically didn’t forbid me to wear them, but maybe these will make it even clearer to Jason that I don’t belong in his perfect politician’s family. I gave Mom one more chance, but now this is war.
When the car pulls up to Noah’s house, he’s already waiting outside. It’s a brown brick town house that looks like it was built in the 1970s. The driveway needs to be repaved, and I can see chipping paint on the windows, but the house isn’t in terrible condition. It kind of reminds me of my grandparents’ house.
Noah slides into the back seat with me, and he looks… perfect. His outfit is absolutely on point. He’s dressy enough that he’ll get into the country club without a problem, but he looks even more like a bad boy than he normally does.
He’s got black dress pants on, and as expected, they’re huge. They’re staying up with a black studded belt, and he’s got a thick silver chain clipped to one of his belt loops that disappears into his pocket. What’s surprising is that his black dress shirt fits his slim build perfectly. His sleeves are rolled up to the elbows so the spiderweb tattoo is on full display. He’s got his eyebrow rings and a septum hoop in, and the bestpart, he has a sword earring in one ear and a silver hoop in the other.
Actually that’s not the best part. The best part is that he appears to be wearing eyeliner, which makes his eyes seem darker and more mysterious, and I had no idea I had a thing for guyliner until this very moment.
I grin. I can’t help myself. “You look…”
He smiles back. “Dangerous?”
“Like a perfect bad boyfriend.”
He laughs. “Your shoes really make your outfit.”
“Thanks,” I say, laughing back. At least I know someone at the club appreciates my style choice. “You sure you want to do this?”
He gives me that slow sultry smile, the same one he gave me the day we met. “Let’s go crash the country club, Noorani.”
The Cherrybridge Mews Golf and Country Club is a fancy Victorian-inspired building right next to the golf course. I say “Victorian-inspired” because the building itself is pretty new—like, ten years old. The driver drops us off right in front of the building near the valet parking stand.
“Ready?” I ask before we walk in. My hands are sweating. I don’t know why I’m so terrified… It’s just a party.
