Page 59 of My Twin Sister's Ex

“Jackilyn grabbed my boyfriend at prom and kissed him and then tried to blame it on him.”

“How do you know that’s how it really happened?” my dad asked.

“Because Bennett came to me and apologized. He told me he shouldn’t have danced with Jackilyn in the first place but that he hadn’t expected her to kiss him. He’s a good guy. Sure, he’s a little rough around the edges, but I don’t care about that. I love Bennett for who he is. He’s good to me, and that’s what’s important.”

My parents stared at me wordlessly for a moment.

“I see,” my dad finally said.

“Jackilyn, did you really grab Bennett and kiss him?” my mom asked.

Her eyes widened. “It just kind of happened.”

“Why would you do that?” she asked.

“I thought he wanted me to,” Jackilyn said.

“You knew he’d asked your sister to prom. Why would you think he wanted you to kiss him? If he’d wanted that, he would have given you some kind of indication,” Mom said.

“I’m sorry I kissed Bennett,” Jackilyn said to me. “If I’d realized how much you liked him, I wouldn’t have done it. I thought you just wanted to be with him because he was the first guy to want to be your boyfriend.”

My heart warmed to hear her apology. “I accept your apology. I do really like him.”

Jackilyn stood up. “Can I go to bed now?”

“Not so fast,” Mom said. “You’re in big trouble for the way you treated your sister.”

“I didn’t realize she liked him so much.”

“That’s not good enough,” Dad said. “You should have known it was a possibility that it would deeply hurt her.”

“You’re grounded for a month, young lady,” Mom said.

Dad nodded his agreement. “That seems appropriate.”

Jackilyn’s mouth dropped. “A month? But I had big plans with Kellen this weekend!”

“I guess you’re going to have to cancel them,” Mom said.

“Whatever,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “Are we done here?”

My parents exchanged a glance. Dad gave her a slight nod.

“I’d say so,” Mom said.

Jackilyn walked past us and headed upstairs.

“I’m sorry that we doubted Bennett,” Dad said. “I’m impressed that he apologized for dancing with her. He took responsibility, and that’s huge.”

“Jackilyn kept making it sound like it was him coming on to her. I wasn’t sure who to believe at first.”

“Your sister can be . . . difficult,” Dad said.

That was an understatement.

“I think we may have misjudged Bennett,” Dad said.

“He’s not the guy Jackilyn painted him to be. Did you know that I saw him defend Colby Jennings when Kellen and his buddies were picking on him? Bennett didn’t have to get involved at all. We were nowhere near them, but he stood up for a kid who was half the size of the bullies messing with him.”

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