Chapter Ten The Rock God
On Friday after dinner I’m in the living room watching TV and trying to ignore Mom and Jason talking in the dining room. Mom’s stressing about catering or something for the party tomorrow, and Jason keeps telling her the club can handle it and not to worry.
“Of course I’m going to worry!” Mom says. “You do realize that every one of those wives is waiting for me to make a mistake, don’t you? This is the first major event that I’m hosting as your wife. They already barely accept me because of my background.”
I frown. Does “background” mean the fact that she’s Indian? Or was a teen mom? Or has never been a part of high society until now?
I don’t say anything and keep eating the caramel popcorn Mom bought me at the mall yesterday. I let Mom choose my dress for the party, and she picked one that I don’t really like much but didn’t fight her on. I’ll only have to wear it once anyway.
“They’ll grow to love you, Neelam,” Jason says.
Grow to love her? Does everyone really hate her now? I don’t understand why she cares what a bunch of society housewives feel. I don’t ever remember my mother caring what people think of her.
My text tone goes off. It’s Sadie. I read the message.
“Hey, Mom. Sadie’s asking if I can go out tonight,” I say as I get up and join Mom and Jason in the dining room.
“With whom? And where?”
Rolling my eyes, I text Mom’s questions to Sadie.
Sadie texts back.
Me, Liv, James, Kaitlyn, Quinn & Reagan
We’re gonna hang at Grandma’s but Kaitlyn wants to go to Donut Den later for their open mic night
Don’t tell your parents about Donut Den tho
My parents don’t let me go there at night
I squeeze my lips together. I really want to get out of the house—I’m sick of hearing Mom stress about this party—and Mom said she didn’t have location tracking on my new phone, so who could it hurt if she doesn’t know about Donut Den?
“Sadie, Liv, Quinn, James, Reagan, and Kaitlyn,” I say. “Sadie says they’re hanging out at Sadie’s grandma’s… Wait, aren’t they in Spain?”
“My parents let Sadie and her friends hang out at their house in the summer in return for watering their plants,” Jason explains. “And I know all those kids’ parents. Meera should be fine with them.”
Mom still looks suspicious. I’ve never lied to Mom about where I’m going because I’ve never had to, but she also usually doesn’t even ask because she trusts me. I want to remind her that I haven’t had to ask her to go out in Toronto for over a year, but I don’t want to give her a reason to say no.
Mom sighs, finally agreeing. “Text me when you get there, and don’t drink or do drugs. If you’re uncomfortable, call me and I’ll come and get you.”
I sigh. “I know, Mom.” I text Sadie that I’m allowed to go, then run up two stairs at a time to change.
Sadie’s grandma’s house turns out to be closer than I expected.
After Liv picks me up, we’re at the house in about one minute.
It’s smaller than Jason’s and has a perfectly manicured lawn and gardens and a brick path to the front door.
Inside it’s clean with a shiny new marble-and-stainless-steel kitchen, but the decor is a bit old lady.
Sadie immediately starts taking things out of the fridge.
“Mom stocked up on drinks and snacks. Help yourself. The others will be here soon.”
“Oh, by the way,” I say, chuckling nervously, “I know I asked you before to keep this thing with Noah a secret, but I want to make sure—”
“Don’t worry, Meera!” Sadie says, smiling. “We’re family now. We’re not going to say anything about your big date tomorrow. Right, Liv?”
“Absolutely.” Liv mimes zipping her mouth shut.
When the others arrive, they have boxes of pizza and more drinks… including wine. I tense. I’ve seen teens drink before, but I’ve never tried it. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this.
“Sadie and Liv!” James says. “And your big-city cousin! I’m starving, and the smell of this pizza has been killing me.”
We sit at the dining table, and I end up next to Quinn.
Up close his eyes are the exact same shade of blue as Jason’s swimming pool, and he’s wearing a blue-and-white-striped sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows.
He’s drinking red wine from a wineglass, which makes him look even more like a magazine model.
I’m so distracted by being close to a guy this hot that I barely notice when James pushes a disposable cup of wine in front of me with a slice of cheese pizza.
I have no idea what’s wrong with me lately.
Getting hit with the curse seems to have opened the floodgates of my attraction to boys.
I touch the eye pendant on my necklace, reminding myself that I am stronger than the curse.
I look around at the others. They’re drinking too, also in red Solo cups instead of wineglasses.
Not Liv, or Kaitlyn, though, who drove here.
But even Sadie, who’s younger than me, is drinking.
I know I’ll seem like a na?ve child if I push my cup away, so I don’t do anything.
Maybe no one will notice that I’m not drinking from it.
It’s not like they asked if I wanted one.
“So how long are you going to be in Cherrybridge?” Quinn asks me.
“Just for the summer.”
He smiles. “We’ll be leaving Cherrybridge at the same time, then.”
“Oh, where are you going?”
“University of Toronto. I graduated high school in June.”
So Quinn is Noah’s age? I don’t know what to say next because Quinn’s eyes are way too blue and distracting. I absently take a sip of my drink, completely forgetting it’s wine. Thankfully, I don’t make a fool of myself by spitting it out, but I wince. It’s way more sour than I thought it would be.
“You’ll have to show me the cool spots in Toronto when I get there,” Quinn says. “The only places I go with my parents are museums and restaurants. I’m sure you know more about the underground scene.”
“Oh, yeah. U-um,” I stutter. How would I know anything about an underground scene in Toronto? I’m a nerd who takes pictures of buildings for fun. “I guess. I can show you Chinatown?”
Kaitlyn suddenly shakes her hands in a hurry-up motion. “We’re wasting time, guys. I’ve been practicing all week. Drink up. We need to get to Donut Den!”
“Relax, Kait,” Reagan says, swirling her cup. “Open mic doesn’t even start till nine.”
“What’s the open mic for?” I ask. “Is it a comedy thing?” I have a friend from school who’s trying to be a stand-up comedian, and he dragged us all to an open mic afternoon at a comedy club once.
“Nah, music,” James says. “Kaitlyn wants to be the next Taylor Swift.”
Kaitlyn rolls her eyes at that. “My style is more Sabrina Carpenter than Taylor Swift.” She looks at me with an excited grin on her face.
“So, like, Donut Den started these music open mic nights once a week a few months ago. I never bothered to go because I figured it would all be, like, country or rock or something. But apparently a music scout from Toronto showed up last month and offered someone some big gig in Montreal. This is the first week I’m free to go to an open mic night. ”
Noah said that Cherrybridge still has a bit of a music scene, but it seems a little odd that a music scout would come to a coffee shop. “Who was scouted?”
Kaitlyn scoffs, “Probably some punk from south of the river who didn’t deserve it. I’ve been in music lessons forever. My parents are so unsupportive, though. They’d kill me if they knew I was going to this. They’ll only accept me being a doctor or a lawyer.”
It makes me feel a bit better to know I’m not the only one lying to their parents tonight.
But, also, it sounds like Kaitlyn’s parents are being supportive if they’re paying for her music lessons.
Maybe they want her to have a practical, money-making career instead of putting all her hopes on such a long shot.
I mean, Keeley’s a musical prodigy, and her goal is to be a music teacher, because she knows being a professional musician isn’t a sure thing.
But it’s not like I can say all that to someone I barely know. So instead I take a gulp of my wine. It tastes a little better this time.
Kaitlyn keeps talking about what she’s going to do after she signs a record deal, like move to New York, and even promises to take all her friends to the Grammys.
Her friends give her enthusiastic support—all except Quinn, who’s quiet.
He gives me a look that fully says, I know she’s delusional, then gives me a small private smile before taking a sip from his wineglass.
I blush. He’s flirting. First Noah and now Quinn. Why are hot guys flirting with me? Is this because of the curse? Maybe I should tell him that I’m planning to die single, so he’s barking up the wrong tree.
But then “tree” makes me think about Noah, and I blush even more. I take another gulp from my wine. The sour taste is really growing on me, and I like the warmth I feel when it goes down my throat. And I don’t feel drunk at all. Not that I know what that would feel like.
“I can’t wait to get out of this place,” Kaitlyn says. “If I get scouted, maybe my folks will let me move to Toronto or Montreal now. You know, Chappell Roan moved to LA on her own to pursue her music.”
“Do you all want to leave Cherrybridge after high school?” I ask.
“We have to,” Reagan says. “There’s no university here.”
James nods. “You could drive into London or Waterloo for university, but I plan to get as far from this place as possible. This town has nothing.”
They all talk about how and when they plan to leave, and I’m a little surprised.
I mean, I don’t want to be here either, but I assumed these kids with their huge houses and country club memberships would want to stay right here, but they don’t seem to like Cherrybridge just like Noah doesn’t.
Only difference was that these kids have the ability to leave.
I wish Mom and Jason could hear this conversation.
They would see that all teens want to get out of this place, not just me.