Page 8 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
Great. And the hot bad boy is a total flirt. I’m in way over my head.
I take a breath.Fight the curse, I tell myself.Mind over matter.
I force a fake smile. “If you thinkroyaltywould hate you, then why would you think I’d be interested? I’m just here to get my service hours, not date stoners.”
Noah blinks, his smile dropping. “Fair enough. I won’t ask you again.” He turns and plunges his weed puller into another weed. “And I’m not a stoner.”
Huh. That was easy. Now I feel kind of bad. Did I insult him? “And you know my name, so you can stop calling me ‘Princess.’?”
“Touché, Noorani.” He stands up straight suddenly and holds out the weed puller. His expression is friendly. “Want to keep things interesting and switch roles?”
I shrug and take the weed puller from him. There’s something…intriguingabout Noah Jacobs. The fact that Kennedy gave him my earbuds the moment he asked. The fact that he respectfully backed off when I told him I wasn’t interested in him.And that he’s quite efficiently doing the work that Lainey told us to do. I kind of want to ask him if he’s here for community service like me? Or how old is he? Also, what does he mean bynever cross the bridgetypes of people? And does he really think I’m pretty?
But I don’t ask, because I’m not supposed to be eventalkingto a guy, especially one with an expressive face and strong arms. I’m going to have to pretend I’m not already completely fascinated by Noah Jacobs.
Should be as easy as enduring Cherrybridge this summer.
CHAPTER FOURMore Beautiful Cherrybridge People
Somehow I get through the rest of my first day of community service without Kennedy growling at me again, or Noah flirting with me, which I consider a win. In fact, Noah barely talks. I can’t tell if he’s irritated or indifferent toward me, as his expression flips between bored and eye-rolling exasperation.
What kind of vibe am I giving off that the guy thinks I’m some sort of out-of-touch rich princess? I mean, Mom and I weren’t exactlypoorback in Toronto, but we were definitely the lowest on the income spectrum of my friends. I knew Jason and his family had money, but I didn’t really think about what people would think ofmeafter the wedding. I mean, I didn’t choose to join this family. I’m not benefiting from his wealth.
Although… I guess I am. The earbuds, phone, and shoes. That magazine-worthy bedroom. Not to mention the lawyer who helped after I was arrested.
When Lainey finally rounds us all up to collect the garden tools, I realize that it’s only me, Noah, and one other pair still at the park. The others seem to have ditched the first moment they could. After getting Lainey to sign the paper I need to give to my social worker, I head to the road where Jason dropped me off.
“Bye, Noorani,” Noah calls out as I’m walking away. I turn, and he’s waving at me with a wide grin. I awkwardly wave back.
“Meera!” someone calls out. I turn, and a blond girl is getting out of the front seat of a shiny dark blue SUV, also waving at me. It’s Sadie, Jason’s niece, and she’s wearing light blue jean shorts and a pink cropped T-shirt. I smile and jog toward her.
“Hey, Sadie. What are you doing here?”
“We came to pick you up!” Sadie gives me a hug, then motions me into the car, so I slide into the back seat. Alt-folk music is playing softly inside.
“This is my girlfriend Liv,” Sadie says. The girl driving turns to me and smiles. She’s Black, with medium-brown skin and curly hair pushed off her forehead with a rainbow headband. Her smile is as wide as Sadie’s. I say hello and thanks for picking me up.
“No problem!” Sadie says. “Uncle Jason asked if we could come get you because there was a city council emergency or something, and your mom’s having lunch at the club with my mom. We were about to hang downtown at The Brewberry—that’s a café. They have the best matcha lattes! Want to come?”
I blink, taking a moment to process all the information Sadie just threw at me. I guess “club” is the country club? Sadie was super enthusiastic and just genuinely nice the other times I saw her, so I’m not surprised that she seems so excited now. At the wedding she and I talked for a while about universities and stuff. She’s also super into academics, and wants to be a structural engineer, which isn’t so, so far off from architecture. It doesn’t look like I’ll make friends at the CROPprogram based on how they treated me today, so I’m happy I’ll have Sadie in Cherrybridge.
I almost text Mom to ask if I can go, but she’s never had an issue with me going to cafés without telling her before, so I’m not breaking any rules. “Yeah, sure. I’ll come.”
Liv starts the car.
“It’s so cool that you’ll be here all summer, Meera,” Sadie says. “Even if you have to work in that park, we can still have so much fun! I hang out at Uncle Jason’s pool all the time, since my father refuses to get one. My brothers are little monsters. Dad’s worried they’ll drown each other or something. Do you swim?”
I nod. “A little.” I chuckle awkwardly. “I was afraid that the only people I’d talk to all summer would be my mom and Jason, and the kids from the park restoration project. They seem… not really my vibe.”
Liv laughs at that. “Yeah, most of those kids are at Cherrybridge High. It’s a whole different planet from our school.” Liv clicks on a blinker before looking over her shoulder to make a turn. “Who was that guy waving at you? He’s cute.”
I’m glad to hear someone else call Noah cute. Objectively he’s cute. I wasn’t going boy crazy because of the curse. “Noah Jacobs,” I say. “He’s pretty much the only person who talked to me, other than the youth worker.” I kind of want to tell them about Noah flirting with me, because that doesn’t happen to me very often, but I shut my mouth when I catch Sadie’s reaction to Noah’s name.
Sadie turns around in the front seat to gape at me, herblue eyes wide with shock. “Noah Jacobs, as inAaron Jacobs’sbrother?”
I frown. “I dunno. He didn’t tell me his brother’s name.”
Sadie whistles low, then turns back around. “It’sgotto be him. The Jacobs brothers arenotorious. Aaron’s like a drug dealer or something, and he’s been in jail. He’s a few years older than us, and when I was in grade nine, he came to Randell—my old school—to sell weed or something, and he got into this major fight with these guys from the rugby team. Aaron was sent to juvenile hall, and I heard he dropped out of school after that. Apparently, their mom died of an overdose on Main Street, and their dad’s an addict too. I’ve heard evenworsestuff about Noah.”
