The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back (15 page)

"You may not want to count your chickens on that one. You know how Ms. Aprils feels about me."

"It's cool. Aprils loves me."

He said it in that cocky, offhand way that only the truly popular and confident could. A pretty blonde walked past our table and Jake's eyes flickered briefly to look at her before returning his full attention to me. She had a passing resemblance to Ella.

Mercedes's venomous words rolled around inside my head. Of course anyone would choose Ella over me. Miss early admissions to UCLA. Boys falling at her feet. All gorgeous and perfect.

I stopped myself. In the past I would have kept going, comparing myself to her. I would have blamed Ella for Jake using me and added it to my List of Grievances. But I could finally see that none of this was Ella's fault. She had stepped aside and practically gift wrapped Jake for me. She had even schemed to try and get us together. She had done nothing but support and love me and I was not about to pay that back by blaming her.

Even if Jake still wanted Ella, Ella didn't want Jake.

The chef, a man named Toshi, brought our plates over personally. He told us to enjoy, and Jake handed me a pair of chopsticks. I refused them on principle and used a fork.

"I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and ordered their green tea ice cream. Sometimes it's fun to have dessert before dinner."

I didn't know what to try first, but I generally liked lobster. Jake pointed out the right one, and I had a piece.

"Ugh," I said.

He looked worried. "What, you don't like it?"

"No, I love it." If my mother ever found out, I'd never hear the end of it. The lobster was sweet and crisp and had a spicy mayo which seemed to make it even sweeter. I tried the toro next, and it was fresh and delicious and practically disintegrated in my mouth. I had never tasted anything so good. I dug into the ice cream next, and a mixture of green tea tempura, cinnamon and orange exploded inside my mouth.

I would have to leave this restaurant soon or I would blow up like Violet Beauregarde in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and Jake would have to roll me out the door.

"I'm glad."

Jake tried to initiate conversation for the next few minutes, but I stuck to one-syllable answers. Partly because I just wanted to eat, but mostly because I didn't want to get sucked in. I tried to read him. Was he lying to me and I had missed all the signs? Or was he just that good? Maybe he was some kind of relationship card shark. I waited for him to touch his face, especially his mouth. This felt like the poker game all over again. Only instead of playing poker, he was playing with my heart.

But he never touched his face.

I hate to admit, but it softened me. How could it not? How could I not want to pretend this was real? Even if I knew, in the back of my mind, that fairytales didn't come true for girls like me. Prince Charming never ended up with the ugly stepsister. I was just fooling myself because I so desperately wanted it.

"So, any hints on what you plan on saying in your speech tomorrow?"

It was like he had thrown a bucket of ice water over my head. Suddenly the lobster tasted rubbery in my mouth. I took a drink to force it down. It hadn't taken long for him to bring the election up. I wondered how much longer I had until he started talking about Ella.

"I think talking about the election should be off-limits, don't you?"

"Uh, sure." I had made him uncomfortable, but he quickly rebounded. "I guess we have to have some surprises for tomorrow, right?"

I gave him a tight smile in return.

Was this a real date? A distraction? Was he trying to throw me off my game? Or had Mercedes made the whole thing up to mess with my head and I was ruining an actual date? Unfortunately, it was too easy to believe her. Why would Jake like me? What was so special about me that he would give me any attention?

We learned in science about this theory called Occam's razor that basically said that when there's more than one explanation, the simplest one is usually right.

And the simplest explanation here was that Mercedes had told the truth and I was an idiot to have ever believed that Jake might like me.

"You know, I don't think the sushi's really agreeing with me. I'm going to head home."

I stood up, and Jake sat there for a second, looking surprised. Finally he asked, "Are you okay? Do you need me to drive you?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just going to go."

He reached out and grabbed my hand, and I forced myself to ignore the electricity that passed between us. "Listen, whatever happens tomorrow, I still want us to be friends."

I immediately pulled my hand away. I couldn't risk it. "Sure, whatever. See you."

I left him sitting in his chair. Once I got outside, I practically ran to my car. I didn't care if he could see me or not.

My tires squealed as I left the parking lot and got back onto the PCH. I let all my frustration out on the pavement, pushing the accelerator down. I realized that I should have left some cash to help pay for dinner, until I decided that if he did plan to use me for information, the least he could do was pay.

It wasn't until I nearly got home that I remembered what he had said as I left the restaurant.

What had he meant? What would happen tomorrow?

Chapter 14

Needless to say, sleep was pretty much out of the question. I tossed and turned the entire night. If he had been lying, he had nearly convinced me.

My head throbbed the next morning and my head felt stuffy. Stress completely wrecked my immune system and I started to feel sick.

Ella took one look at me and came back with a glass of orange juice and a cup of green tea. "You cannot get sick. Not today."

"I know, I know," I said before I blew my nose into a tissue. I took some Dayquil and put the box into my bag. Today I would stand in front of the entire school and tell them why they should elect me as their senior class president.

I had been so caught up in my Jake obsession that I hadn't spent much time working on my speech. At about three in the morning, I finally got up and finished it.

I was not a great public speaker, but I would just have to do the best I could. Cold or no cold.

Jake would be at the house soon for school. I sent him a text saying that I wasn't feeling too well and that I would just see him later at school. It took a few minutes, but he finally responded with an "okay." I wished I could stay home and crawl under my covers, but I had to turn in our English project, and I had to be there for the speeches. It would be my one chance to talk to the student body before they voted.

At school, Scott had put up new campaign posters for Jake, but Ella had convinced Trent to help us stick a note on every locker in the school telling them to vote for me.

After calculus, I saw Jake. He waved at me, but I turned around and walked in the opposite direction. I could not let him inside my head right now. I wasn't prepared to talk to him yet.

I couldn't keep away from him in English, though. He sat down in front of me. "Hey, are you avoiding me?"

"What? No. Of course not. Why would you think that?" Duh, I was obviously avoiding him. I just couldn't have this conversation with him here. I couldn't keep it together for the speech if I had some emotional blowout with him. I gave him the manga assignment, and he turned it into Ms. Aprils at her desk. She flipped through it and smiled at him. Maybe he was right. Aprils did love him and we probably would get an A.

With the project finally out of the way, I could focus all my attention on the speech. The assembly was scheduled for right after lunch. And lunchtime came all too quickly. My throat started to feel sore. Ella made me drink more orange juice, and I took some more medication.

The bell rang, and my heart beat ridiculously fast. I wasn't one of those people who would rather be in the casket at a funeral than the guy giving the eulogy, but public speaking wasn't exactly high on my fun things to do list.

Ella walked on one side of me, Trent on the other, as we headed down the hallway. We went into the auditorium and nearly knocked over the school's mascot, Edgar the Eagle. He made some obscene gestures with his arms/wings despite Ella apologizing. Trent grabbed a couple of seats in the front row, and Ella walked all the way to the front with me. Ms. Rathbone showed me where to sit.

"You are going to do so great," Ella said.

"What if I'm terrible?"

"Then I'm sending Trent up here and he's going to Napoleon Dynamite his way into winning this election for you." That did get a smile out of me. She left the stage to sit with Trent.

I watched them for a little while, but they were watching me and whispering, and it felt weird. The only thing left for me to look at was all the seats in the auditorium filling up with people. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, and the sound was deafening.

Jake finally arrived, and sat down in the empty seat next to me. He said hi, I said hi back. Before he could say anything else, Scott sat down on the other side of Jake, and handed Jake some big index cards. I ignored them both as I read over my speech again. I hoped it was good enough. My stomach twisted and turned in anticipation.

Ms. Rathbone stepped to the microphone and ordered the audience to quiet down. They settled down pretty quickly and she rambled off a list of announcements that I completely tuned out. All I could think about was not humiliating myself, and how I was absolutely not allowed to sneak a look at Jake.

The headmistress outlined who would be speaking. Several student council positions only had one person running. They were Jake's friends. Football players, cheerleaders. People no one would dare run against. They mostly got up to the microphone, introduced themselves and the office they were running for, and sat back down. I was going to have to speak sooner than I had anticipated.

The people running for treasurer and secretary had to give speeches since those offices were contested. I looked at them and pretended to listen, but I couldn't. I had to stay focused on my speech. I started to worry that it wasn't sophisticated enough or clever enough.

Scott got up to say that he was running for vice-president and got a huge round of applause. It sickened me—how could people be taken in by that slimeball? It was amazing what being somewhat attractive and athletic would get you.

Then it was my turn. I had thought Jake might go first, thinking it might be an alphabetical thing, but Ms. Rathbone called my name and I had to go. I walked up to the podium, and laid my papers down.

It was disconcerting to have every person in the room staring at me. I had never done anything like this before. I tried to speak, but my throat froze shut.

I widened my eyes and looked over at Ella and Trent. Trent smiled at me. Ella gave me the thumbs up, and mouthed, "You can do this!"

I could do this. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. "My name is Mattie Lowe and I'm running for senior class president."

I didn't get any applause like the popular kids had. So I kept going. "A lot of things have changed recently at Malibu Prep. Things that were done behind our backs and without our input. I think since those changes affect us directly, we should have had some say in what goes on at this school. I think these uniforms are hideous. I think that seniors should have priority parking. I think we should be able to use our phones and text during school hours. Maybe not in class, but in between classes or during lunch. And speaking of lunch, I think it is crazy that we're so close to so many amazing restaurants, and we're not allowed to go off campus at lunchtime. It's also ridiculous that we can't bring our lunch from home and that all the vending machines were taken away. These rules have taken away our choices. What to wear, what we can eat. Who we can talk to. I think that's wrong. All the adults in our lives, our teachers, our parents, they're always telling us to be more responsible. They want us to hurry and grow up. Well, part of maturing is making your own decisions. How are we supposed to prove that we're responsible or grown up if we're never given the chance to make any decisions of our own? So if I'm elected president, I plan on changing all of that. I want us to get our choices back. A vote for Mattie Lowe is a vote for your voice to be heard. Thank you."

I had done it. Everyone clapped for me. I returned to my chair and saw that Ella was standing up and applauding. She pulled Trent up and they gave me my own personal standing ovation. I smiled at them. As I sat down, I noticed that my legs felt shaky and my hands trembled.

Jake leaned over to whisper, "Good job," before Ms. Rathbone called him up. I was curious about what he would say, but it was just the typical things jocks always said. I thought Jake was different. That his speech would be different. Nope. He wanted more dances, more parties, and more money for sports.

"And in conclusion, I just want to remind you to think of Edgar, our school mascot, and vote for me. Because eagles soar high, not…"

Lowe. He was going to say that eagles soar high, not Lowe. I knew it, he knew it, every person in the room knew it. I could feel my face turning a scarlet red and berated myself for my own stupidity. Mercedes had been right. Look at what he was doing. About to humiliate me in front of the entire school.

I've never felt such an oppressive silence. Everyone seemed stunned, until somebody yelled, "Burn!" That got a couple of laughs and some low moans. I could feel a thousand sets of eyes staring at me. It's just like that dream where you're at school naked, only it was really happening.

How could Jake do this?

Jake stood at the podium, looking as mortified as I felt. He could easily do it. Finish the sentence. Everyone would be impressed with his wit and cleverness.

I wanted to leave, but my feet felt glued to the floor. I waited for him to finish me off.

But he didn't do it. Jake crumpled up his index card and sat back in the seat next to me. Everyone still seemed shocked. Not a single person clapped for him. Ms. Rathbone practically sprinted to the podium to dismiss the assembly and to remind them to head out now and vote.