Chapter Six Don’t Stop Be-Leafing
CHAPTER SIX Don’t Stop Be-Leafing
I want to get to Gordon Park early the next morning, so the other kids don’t see me get dropped off in a Porsche again, but I have no choice but to go when Jason’s on his way to work.
So once again I see judgmental eyes on me as I get out of his car and walk toward the tables.
Straightening my spine, I head to the only empty seat—the same one I was in yesterday.
Beside Kennedy, and across from Noah. Noah doesn’t acknowledge me and turns to say something to the blond guy whose name I can’t remember. I think it’s Hash, or something. Cash?
Kennedy, shockingly, smiles at me. She might not be so happy when she realizes that I left my earbuds at home.
Kennedy’s hair is down today, so I can see that it’s not dyed black but dark purple. Her septum piercing is different, a black horseshoe with metallic purple balls on the ends.
I open Instagram on my phone. Adanna and Keeley both posted pictures of the sunset last night at Riverdale Park in Toronto.
Why didn’t they tell me they were going there when I talked to them yesterday?
That park is my favorite place in the whole city because it’s the best view of the downtown skyline with all the different architectural styles together.
I close my Instagram app and open my avoid-curse spreadsheet.
All these methods, like avoiding boys, only hanging out with other high achievers, and even taking weird, salty candle baths and wearing an evil-eye pendant, were to-dos meant to protect me from the curse.
Maybe I need to try something different to ward off the curse, if it’s really trying to ruin my life.
Burn incense instead of a candle? Or eat some herbs?
I close the spreadsheet. I’m an intelligent, logical person—I know that incense or herbs can’t fix my life.
Finally, Lainey, who’s in shorts and her yellow windbreaker again, slams her hand onto her clipboard to get our attention.
“Hope you’re all ready for more hard work!
Today half of you will be weeding like yesterday, and the rest will work with Jeff from the parks department.
The trees at the far end of the park badly need some maintenance.
” She looks to the table of boys to her right.
“Okay, how about those at this table weed again.” Then she points at my table.
“And the rest of you will work with Jeff. Tomorrow we’ll switch roles.
Choose your own partners, because I don’t want anyone working with someone they don’t like while having access to sharp pruning shears. ”
I exhale. None of these people likes me.
“I’ll be your partner,” Kennedy says to me. She still has that wide smile, and I can’t tell if she’s being serious. Maybe she decided we should be friends since we’re the only girls here? Or maybe she wants to steal my phone this time.
“Nah, Kennedy,” Noah says. “Meera and I said we’d be partners again today.” My eyes widen at him. When exactly did he and I decide to be partners again?
Working with flirty Noah seems like a bad idea, so I’m about to tell him I’d rather work with Kennedy, when she does her little growl.
“Stay out of this, Jacobs.” She turns to me again, smiling widely in the blink of an eye. Okay, she’s definitely acting suspiciously. “C’mon, Meera. Girls should stick together, don’t you think?”
“Kennedy, leave her alone,” Noah says with a warning tone in his voice.
He gives me an intense look, and honestly, it kind of leaves me a little breathless.
Noah knows exactly how to use those striking eyes of his.
They’re really more warm brown than the black I thought they were yesterday.
And his eyelashes are long with the slightest curl to them.
And… This is why I shouldn’t work with Noah Jacobs.
I’m about to turn to Kennedy to acquiesce, but I catch Noah’s eyes—and there’s something in his expression, something that reminds me of when he backed off when I told him I wasn’t interested in him.
Something that makes me think I’m safe with him.
I nod slightly to Noah. “Yup. You and me again,” I say.
Kennedy growls and stomps off to go with the blond guy.
“All right,” Lainey yells. “Weeders, grab your tools and bags. The rest of you, follow me. I’ll take you to Jeff.”
I let Kennedy and Noah’s blond friend go ahead, hanging back a bit because I have no idea how mad Kennedy is. Noah also hangs back and walks with me.
“When Kennedy saw the pruning shears, she said she was going to prune your hair,” Noah says. He’s not looking at me, and he’s being quiet enough that I doubt anyone else heard him.
I wince as my hand instinctively goes to my hair. I’ve been growing it for years, and Kennedy was about to lop it all off. So much for wanting to be friends.
Why is Noah protecting me? Or is he trying to be my savior? Sadie did tell me not to trust him. But yesterday he got my earbuds back and was respectful of my boundaries, and now this. It really seems like he’s actually a stand-up guy.
But I can’t start liking him too much. I may not be able to control the curse, but like Keeley said, I can control my choices.
I adjust my hairband, also avoiding looking at him. “Thanks. It’s cool of you to help me out.”
He doesn’t say anything, just shrugs.
“Why does Kennedy hate me so much?”
He laughs at that. “Kennedy hates everyone. She’s… had it rough, though. Don’t worry about her.”
As we follow Lainey toward the back of the park, we walk past an old falling-apart gazebo near the fence that separates the park from the LeClair grounds.
It looks like it used to be white but is now grayish with chipped paint and has a ton of missing shingles on the roof.
It probably used to be pretty, though, with a vented double roof and lots of decorative wood accents.
“They should tear that thing down.” I nod at the gazebo. “I feel like I need a tetanus shot, just looking at it.”
“Yeah, they probably will,” Noah says, and I think I hear something sad in his voice. “It’ll never be what it used to be. I’m sure the fancy LeClair executives in their gilded tower hate looking at the thing. I mean, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
I decide not to mention that my stepfather is a LeClair executive, and an actual LeClair. “What do you mean, that’s why we’re here?”
He raises a brow at me. “You know that LeClair Industries is bankrolling this whole cleanup, right? They got tired of a place that looks like the real Cherrybridge right next to their perfect plant. Meanwhile, their plant is literally a factory, despite them trying to make it look like a country club or something. But that’s what this town is all about. Hiding the real in favor of the fake.”
I tilt my head. Yesterday Kaitlyn said that south of the river—where this park, LeClair Industries, and Cherrybridge High are—isn’t the real Cherrybridge and that the rich neighborhoods north of the river are. Now Noah is saying the opposite, but what’s the truth?
“Not that I know what the country club looks like,” Noah says, breaking into my thoughts. “Never been to it. Always been curious, though.” He chuckles to himself. “I’d love to see the looks on their faces if I walked in there.”
Mom and Jason’s wedding was at the country club. But like my LeClair connection, I don’t mention it.
Jeff is waiting for us when we get to the row of large spruce trees that line one portion of the back of the park.
He’s a white man with red hair and skinny arms and legs, and he’s wearing a dark green polo shirt and khaki shorts.
I don’t know why, but he reminds me of Animal from the Muppets.
After showing us what branches to cut, he gives us one set of long-handled shears, one pair of gloves, and one paper compost bag.
He tells us to get to work on opposite ends of the row of trees.
Noah takes the shears and starts walking.
I quickly pick up the bag and gloves and follow him.
“So, you’ll do the pruning for a while, and then we’ll switch?” I ask when we get to the last tree at the far end of the fence.
“Sure.” He lines up the blades on an unruly branch and snips it off. I pluck it off the ground and put it into the paper compost bag.
We work silently for a while. It’s awkward.
Not that I’m a particularly chatty person, but if we’re going to be spending hours in each other’s company while on this job, talking does help the time go faster.
I take a breath. “What did you mean before, It’ll never be what it used to be? Did that gazebo used to be pretty?”
“No, not in my lifetime. And it’s not a gazebo. It’s a bandstand. I’ve seen some pictures of my dad’s old band performing on it. Cherrybridge used to have this huge music scene, believe it or not.”
I didn’t know that. Cherrybridge is technically a small city, not a town, but with a population of barely fifty thousand, it feels tiny compared to Toronto.
I wouldn’t have thought it was big enough to have a music scene.
But then again, everything I knew about Cherrybridge before two days ago was filtered through my LeClair executive stepfather.
And Jason’s probably always been too buttoned-up to enjoy live music.
“That’s actually really cool,” I say. “What genre was popular?”
“Everything,” he says, still trimming branches.
“You know that folk singer Abbey Shields from the seventies? She’s originally from Cherrybridge.
And this metal band, Crack in the Pavement.
Lots of indie bands too. My dad and his friends had a grunge band in the nineties.
They almost made it big. The city used to have weekly free concerts here in Gordon Park and bring in musicians from all over.
Dad played a bunch of times.” Noah smiles to himself.
He clearly adores his dad. “Cherrybridge still has live music performances in pretty much every bar on the weekends, though my dad doesn’t really play anymore. ”