Chapter Four More 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 exactly poor back 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 of me after 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 CROP program 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, her blue eyes wide with shock. “Noah Jacobs, as in Aaron Jacobs’s brother?”
I frown. “I dunno. He didn’t tell me his brother’s name.”
Sadie whistles low, then turns back around.
“It’s got to be him. The Jacobs brothers are notorious.
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 even worse stuff about Noah.”
“Like, what kind of stuff?” I ask. I remember that kid yelling out “vodka” as one of Noah’s favorite things. Of course the curse would draw me to trouble.
“Like, there’s this lady,” Sadie says. “I think she used to be a teacher, but now she works at Donut Den. She has a two-year-old, and I heard that Noah is the kid’s father.”
“Sadie, don’t spread gossip you don’t know is true,” Liv says. “He would have been like… fifteen when the kid was born? You could get that woman into a lot of trouble.”
“If it’s true, then she should be in trouble,” Sadie says.
Liv turns to look at me for a moment, then turns back at the road. “I don’t believe it. People say the little kid looks like Noah, but the lady is Asian. Of course her kid looks half-Asian.”
I bite my lip. To me it sounds like racism is fueling this rumor.
I actually feel bad for Noah. He was a bit of a flirt, but these stories about him and his family feel like they’re just nasty, unsubstantiated rumors.
And while his kindness to me doesn’t necessarily make him a “good” person, I don’t know Noah or his story well enough to feel comfortable talking about him like this.
“Either way, don’t trust Noah,” Sadie says. “I mean, the dirt about his brother is definitely true. So Noah’s probably done illegal stuff too.”
My brows knit together. I’ve done illegal stuff.
That’s why I’m in CROP. I wasn’t selling drugs or anything, but I can’t assume that Noah was either.
He didn’t steal from me like that Kennedy girl—in fact, he got me my earbuds back.
I can’t imagine him selling drugs to kids.
Or getting an adult pregnant when he was fifteen.
And that would be the adult’s fault anyway, not Noah’s.
And… now I’ve been thinking about Noah Jacobs altogether too much today.
“No need to warn me,” I say. “I’m not planning to spend more time than I have to with any of those kids.
” I wince, belatedly realizing that my statement sounds super classist. “I mean… because none of them seemed to like me, and one of them even stole my earbuds. I got them back, though.”
When we get downtown, Liv parks on the street in front of the café. I get a better look at Liv when she gets out of her car. She’s tall and is wearing black overall shorts with an orange T-shirt. She’s pretty. She and Sadie make a cute couple.
The Brewberry Café is adorable. It would fit in well in Toronto, with its concrete floors, pale pink walls, wood furniture, and plants in wicker baskets everywhere.
It has the regular café stuff like coffees and teas but also has boba tea and some tasty-looking pastries.
It reminds me a lot of the café in Chinatown where Keeley, Adanna, and I always hang out.
After we order our drinks, we join Sadie and Liv’s friends, who are sitting in this little couch area at the back of the café.
“This is my cousin Meera!” Sadie says. “She’s going to be in Cherrybridge all summer!”
I tilt my head, thinking about her intro. I guess she’s right. We are cousins now. Stepcousins.
The four kids on the couches are smiling.
Sadie introduces them to me: James, Reagan, Kaitlyn, and Quinn.
They’re all white except Reagan, who looks East Asian.
Reagan and James are practically sitting on each other, so I assume they’re a couple.
The whole group is all dressed similarly, kind of preppy and in light colors.
Kaitlyn even has a pink headband on just like the one I’m wearing.
They ask me what grade I’m in and where I live in the city.
But soon they change the topic to sports.
Kaitlyn, Reagan, and Liv are apparently on the same soccer team.
“I’m so not sporty,” Sadie tells me.
Liv laughs. “Golf is a sport, babe. You were in the National Youth Champion Tournament last year. That makes you an athlete.”
“I’m with Sadie,” Quinn says. His voice is deep, nasally, and kind of posh. “Golf isn’t a sport; it’s a way of life. Do you play, Meera?”
I shake my head. “Um… no. Golf is expensive.” And where the heck would I play golf of all things? I live in a city.
James frowns. “I’m sure there are grants at the club for disadvantaged—”
Reagan taps his arm to make him stop talking, and it works.
I swallow hard. We weren’t wealthy, but we weren’t disadvantaged, either.
So far I’m not fitting in with Sadie’s friends any more than I fit in with the CROP kids.
Only difference is that the CROP kids didn’t like me because they thought I was rich, and these kids don’t like me because they think I am, or was, poor.