Page 88 of Light Up My Life

“Hard,” she said.

A door opened and shut next door, and Mr. Moreno stepped onto his porch and gave us all a long stare. My breath caught in my throat. Had he learned about me and Ryan? Caught him sneaking home the night before?

Ryan would’ve texted me if he had, right?

“I had my gardener send you a bill for the shrubs,” Mr. Moreno said, pointing at the bushes between our yards that used to be twice the size they were now. “I went ahead and split the cost with you. Merry Christmas.” His words could’ve sounded sincere, kind even, if he had wanted them to. He didn’t, and that’s why they came out cold and sarcastic. He walked back inside his house.

Mom let out a low growl. “We are not paying for that hack job.”

“Happy thoughts,” Momma said. “He won’t ruin our holiday.”

Marcus’s eyes found mine in a questioning stare. I wasn’t sure what his question was, though. Was he asking if I was going to ruin our holiday? If I was making a huge mistake wanting to be involved in any way with the family that my family hated?

I didn’t have an answer to either of those questions. So I turned around and walked inside the house.

Chapter 31

“What do you really want to do on Friday?” Marcus asked on our way to school the next morning.

There was no use in lying. “Ryan invited me to the masquerade ball.”

“At the country club?” he asked in an even voice. “And you want to go to that? Who even are you?”

“Are you going to be mad at me forever?” I asked. It felt like he was just being rude now, and it was really hurting my feelings.

He sighed. “No. I just don’t understand, Jasmine.”

I turned down the heat in the car a couple notches. It was starting to feel stuffy, suffocating. “I don’t either. I don’t know why I like him. I just do. It’s not exactly something I can control.”

“You like him because you’re not supposed to. You’re finally going through your rebellious stage.”

“That’s not true. You don’t even know him!” I protested.

“Do you? It’s been, what? A couple weeks? You’re going to break our moms’ hearts over a couple weeks?”

“Stop making me feel guilty! I already do!”

“I don’t know if you’ve thought this through.”

“All I do is think about it. It’s all I do.”

“Good. You should. Think about it for at least another couple weeks.”

I stared out the window, my jaw tight with frustration. This was why I hadn’t wanted Marcus to know. I wished he’d never found out.

“Okay, I made a list of who you need to eavesdrop on when you’re at the ball,” Fiona said at lunch, holding up her phone to show me various social media accounts. “They are the most likely to know something about the lawsuit. This girl’s dad is on the town council. This guy’s mom works with Ryan’s dad. If they don’t say anything, you’ll have to think of some leading questions.” She put on a higher-pitched voice than her own. “‘What do you think about the Cherry Ridge lights? So many cars!’”

“Is that what I sound like?” I asked.

She smiled. “Close enough.”

I stared at Fiona’s phone for a moment. The dark-haired girl whose dad was supposedly on the town council stared back at me from her screen. She didn’t look familiar. She looked older. Maybe she had graduated before we’d started high school. “I don’t think I’m going.”

“What?” Fiona asked, looking up from her phone. “Why not?”

“Marcus found out about Ryan, and his reaction was worse than I thought it would be. Also, Mom has her office holiday party on the same night, and there’s no way I can miss it without feeling like the worst daughter in the world. This is my family. And he’s just…”

“The hot neighbor?” Fiona asked.