Chapter Five So Now I’m a Liability?
CHAPTER FIVE So Now I’m a Liability?
We stay at the café for a few hours, and it’s actually kind of fun.
No one says anything else classist, and Sadie and Liv are trying hard to include me.
Maybe the summer won’t be that bad after all?
Not that I wouldn’t jump at the chance to go back home right now if Mom would let me, but at least there might be people here I can hang out with who won’t steal my headphones.
After Liv drops me off, I let myself into Jason’s house with the key he gave me.
I’m not sure if Jason or Mom is here, because they both keep their cars in the enormous garage.
But as I walk in, there are voices coming from the kitchen.
I’m about to yell that I’m back, when I hear Jason say, “I really hope moving her here wasn’t a mistake. ”
I frown, quieting my steps. Moving who where?
Is Jason talking about Mom? Is he already regretting marrying her and moving her into his massive Cherrybridge house?
My fist clenches. I guess the curse really never ends, because Mom picked a man who has second thoughts less than a month after their wedding.
“I know you don’t mean that,” my mother says. Okay, so if Mom’s the one Jason’s talking to, then… he’s talking about me.
I scowl. Mom promised me I wouldn’t have to live with him after the wedding, and she probably promised Jason the same thing, and now he has regrets. This morning he was pretending to be the cool stepfather showing me around town, all while he was wishing I wasn’t in Cherrybridge at all.
No one speaks for a moment. I wonder if they heard me come in.
“I’m sorry, Neelam,” Jason finally says.
“I shouldn’t have said that. Meera is always welcome here.
It’s just…” He sighs. “I’ve been a councilor so long that I thought the mayoral campaign would be straightforward.
But it looks like my family, including you and Meera, are going to be scrutinized closely. ”
Wait. Jason is running for mayor? That’s huge. No one told me that.
Mom’s going to be the mayor’s wife.
“Jason, you have to trust me,” Mom says.
“Meera’s a good girl. She hasn’t had a rebellious bone in her body until now.
She’s na?ve and needs to grow up a bit, and she can be a little sassy, but she’s seventeen.
Who doesn’t hate their parents at that age?
She’s a straight-A student and a compulsive rule-follower.
And even if she wasn’t, as I told you on our first date, Meera and I are a package deal.
You want me here with you, then you have to have her in your life too. ”
“I know,” Jason says, his voice lowering.
“And you know I want you here. I want you with me more than I want air to breathe.” They’re both quiet for a while, and I wonder if they’re kissing.
Ugh. So gross. I’m about to sneak upstairs when Jason speaks again.
“I think it would be better if Meera agrees to stay here in September and attend Randell like I did. It’s an excellent school.
She’d be seen as a LeClair instead of as an outsider. ”
“I agree with you, but Meera will not,” Mom says. “She’s dead set on finishing high school in Toronto. I have the summer to convince her to stay.”
“Well, at least she went with Sadie and her friends today. They’re good kids. As a juvenile, her criminal history is sealed, so that shouldn’t be an issue. But if anyone asks, we can say she’s volunteering in the CROP program because conservation of natural spaces is important to her.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Mom says. “Meera doesn’t like change, but once she settles in, you’ll see. She’ll be an asset to your campaign. I promise.”
They’re quiet again, so I take the opportunity to sneak upstairs, because I really don’t want to listen to my mother making out with her husband. Ew.
As I climb up the stairs to my room, thinking about their conversation, a pang hits my heart.
Did Mom really just call her own daughter an asset?
I flop onto my bed and open a video call with Keeley and Adanna. I need my two best friends to process that whole conversation.
They’re both in the same place: Keeley’s dad’s vet clinic, where I also worked part-time until I came here. Keeley’s working at the front desk, and Adanna is hanging out with her because Dr. Tan is very cool about us chilling behind the desk while one of us is working.
Keeley is my oldest friend. We met in junior kindergarten when we were four.
She’s Chinese and white, and is a piano prodigy who actually travels the world to perform in big concert halls.
Adanna is a newer friend; Keeley and I met her in grade nine when we started at the arts school.
Adanna is Nigerian Canadian and is easily the best illustrator in our school—and the sweetest person.
It makes sense that she wants to be an art therapist.
After I tell them everything about my first day at CROP and about hanging out with Sadie and her friends at The Brewberry Café, I tell them what I overheard Mom and Jason saying.
“Wow,” Adanna says. “Your stepfather is going to be the mayor of Cherrybridge?” She pauses, then laughs. “That doesn’t sound like a real place. It sounds like ‘mayor of Busytown.’ ”
“Oh, Cherrybridge is a real place all right. And he’s not mayor yet; he’s just running for mayor.”
“Yeah, but he’s, like, from the most important family in town,” Keeley says. She did a whole bunch of research on Jason and the LeClairs when Mom started dating him, calling it a fairy-tale romance, despite my lukewarm feelings about it. “He’ll win.”
“Not if his delinquent new stepdaughter ends up being a liability instead of an asset to his campaign,” I mumble bitterly.
“No,” Adanna says emphatically. “You’re not a delinquent, Meera. And you’re not a liability, either. You’re his family now. Except, unlike most family, he chose you.”
“He chose Mom… I just came with the deal.” I sigh.
Months ago my only worry was whether I’d get the best math teacher for calculus next year, and now I’m worried about whether my criminal record will get in the way of my stepfather’s mayoral campaign.
“If he thought I was going to be such a problem, then he should have insisted Mom let me stay in Toronto with Nani and Nanabapa. Then everyone would be happy. Me and Jason.”
“Not your mother,” Adanna says.
I exhale. That’s the part I don’t get. Mom and I have never been close. Why does she care if I’m here or in Toronto?
“I’m so mad at her,” I say. “She wants me to be miserable because of one mistake that wasn’t my fault. It’s the stupid curse’s fault.”
“It’s not just the curse’s fault,” Keeley says, throwing me a look. “You didn’t say no when Gabe asked you to film him that night, did you? Or sneak into that carnival?”
I bite my lip, feeling caught. “Okay, but I can blame the curse for making me be attracted to an idiot like Gabe in the first place. And heck, the curse could be the reason Mom’s into Jason!
Nani said our bad luck doesn’t really end at seventeen at all; when the curse comes, it’s here to stay.
” I sigh again. “This would be easier if I wasn’t straight. ”
Adanna laughs at that. She’s bisexual, and coming out to her parents wasn’t the slightest bit easy. “You don’t know that. This totally could have happened if you were into girls.”
Yeah, she’s probably right. It’s such a waste.
I wasn’t even that into Gabe. I was just flattered because he said he’d always liked me.
“Jason thinks I should go to that snooty private school in September. Sadie said that the teachers there are all old-fashioned and conservative, and Liv implied they’re a little racist, too.
But all of that doesn’t even matter, because I can’t do the architecture mentorship program from Cherrybridge.
I need to be in Toronto so I can network and go to the events at the university! ”
“You’re spiraling, Meera,” Adanna warns.
I take a breath, feeling lightheaded. Breathe in and out. When I look back at my phone screen, my friends have worried looks on their faces.
“You can live with us in September if you need to,” Keeley offers. “Dad’s already saying it feels like he lost a daughter when you left.”
“Thanks, Keeley.” I actually tear up a bit, thinking about how much I wish I was with them right now. “You guys are still going to come here to see me this summer, right?”
“Totally.” Adanna nods vigorously. “Don’t know when, though. Maybe in August? Keeley has a performance downtown next week. And you know my cousin’s wedding stuff will be happening all month. Plus, we’re going to that music festival in Montreal.”
I don’t say anything because I was supposed to be going to that festival with them.
Trust Keeley to pick up on my feelings even when we’re long-distance. “Don’t worry, Meera,” Keeley adds. “We’ll see each other. We’ll figure something out. Gotta go now. Mr. Muffins just came in.”
I laugh. Mr. Muffins is the grumpiest cat in existence, who comes to the clinic once a week for an injection. It’s usually an all-hands-on-deck situation so that no one gets any permanent scars.
“Okay. Be safe. I’ll call you guys tomorrow night. And every night I’m here.”
“We’ll be here,” Adanna says. “This summer will fly right by. There’s no way that your mom will force you to go to that private school. She’ll have your back.”
I exhale. “I hope so.”
After finishing the video call, I pick Rosie up. She starts purring loudly. “You are, without a doubt, the best thing about Cherrybridge.” She rubs up against my face as if to tell me ditto.