Page 11 of The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back

"Since I was nine."

She looked thoughtful. "And you've never been interested in any other guy?"

"I've never even kissed…" Suddenly realizing what I was admitting to, I looked down and could feel my cheeks turning hotter.

"I mean, Spin the Bottle yes, but not for real." I risked glancing at her face. She seemed stunned.

"How could I with a mouth full of metal?" I said in my defense. That made Ella smile. I had certainly needed those braces. My dad once said that we have the Austin Powers gene when it comes to teeth, which I didn't get and had to go to YouTube to understand. "But now that those suckers are off, I make no promises about retaining the virtue of my lips."

Ella giggled, and the awkward moment was over. Until she said, "I can't believe that you and Trent have never kissed."

"Me and Trent? Seriously? Ugh. It would be like kissing a brother." I mean, I can sort of see the appeal. I know there had been girls who have liked him, but he never seemed to notice anyone in return. It was sort of what made us friends. We both hated everyone.

We sat in silence for a little while. I started to sniff and Ella got up to grab me some tissues. She handed me the box and said, "I don't think I've ever seen Jake mad about anything before."

"Apparently, I'm the only one who gets to see that delightful side of him."

She watched me with a weird expression on her face. "No, it just reminds me of that saying about there being a fine line between love and hate."

I couldn't help it. I snorted. She was so very delusional. It was just like Ella to take a bad situation and try to spin it into a fairy tale.

"It makes sense. Boys like girls like me in high school. They like girls like you once they grow up. The good ones do, anyway."

I didn't feel like again explaining to Ella about how the real world works for those of us who don't look like supermodels. Prince Charmings were only interested in Cinderellas.

"This must have been really hard on you." She gave me a little hug and then said, "So now all I have to do is break up with him."

Of all the responses I'd imagined Ella having to my confession I can honestly say that was the only one I hadn't ever considered.

Now it was my turn to say, "What?" in disbelief.

She just smiled at me.

"Girl slash Stepsister Code says that even if you break up with Jake I can't date him," I said. A tiny flutter of hope started up in my stomach, and I knew from past experience it was best to squash it as soon as possible.

Her smile got bigger. "I absolutely promise you I won't be jealous or care if you two date. It won't hurt me to let him go."

"How can you say that?" I couldn't fathom how such a thing was possible. It was actually beyond my comprehension. "You're acting like you don't even like him all that much."

Ella shrugged, as if she agreed with what I said. "Don't get me wrong—he's a nice guy. But we never had much in common or anything to talk about. I mean, it was fun to be seen with him the few times we went out. And I guess he's cute and everything."

Cute?Cute?I was insulted even though I was still mad at him. Jake Kingston was insanely hot. Like, God's gift to women hot. And fun to be seen with? There was so much more to him than that, but I realized in that moment that Ella didn't see him the way that I did.

Then it occurred to me that Ella never really had a chance to get to know Jake very well. I didn't like to ever think about the two of them as a couple, but what Ella said made me think about everything in a new light. He had traveled the entire summer with his family at some chateau in France. Since he had returned, with her volunteering, schoolwork and job, and with his extracurriculars, they never spent much time together. Jake had started his pursuit of her last fall, and I thought Ella was just playing hard to get, but now it sounded like she had never been interested in him. He finally got her to agree to go out with him at the end of the year, where they were oh-so-predictably and nauseatingly crowned Queen and King at Malibu Prep's version of the prom. They were not the PDA type. You would never have even guessed they were dating if you didn't know better. Everyone at school always speculated and gossiped about it. I had been approached a few times for intel, but I honestly knew nothing. Ella and I never talked about Jake. She had tried once or twice, but I'd always shut her down. I couldn't bear it. Now I wondered what she would have told me had I ever let her talk. If she would have admitted to how things actually were between them.

If she would have explained why their relationship had been even weirder since he got back. Since around the time of the Bathroom Incident.

Even if it gave me some hope and made my long-standing guilt melt away, I couldn't do it. "I don't want you to break up with Jake for me."

"It would have happened anyway. You just gave me the excuse I've been looking for. And I'm not breaking up with him for you. I'm doing it for me." Ella turned her head to study my manga wall. She suddenly sounded unhappy. "There's a boy I've been sort of interested in, and I've wanted to go for it and I realized I didn't know how so I just stayed in something that felt comfortable which was dumb." She turned back to face me, and took both of my hands in hers. "If I'd known it would hurt you, I never would have even dated him in the first place."

I realized that I might have to reassess the Ella situation. I might even have to cross off some numbers on my List of Grievances. No wonder everyone loved Ella. She was pretty awesome, even if I had been blindly jealous over something that I apparently didn't need to even worry about.

"Why did you date him?" I know I had my no-Jake rule with Ella, but I wanted to understand.

She shrugged again. "I guess because everyone expected me to date the quarterback."

"It's very high school cliché of you."

---