Page 16 of The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back

"She lives here."Unlike you, I refrained from adding.

I wondered what way the conversation would go now. Odds were she would either yell at me about not honoring my Japanese heritage or interrogate me about applying to Wellesley.

To my surprise she asked, "Is anything new happening at school?"

I felt a pang of regret that we didn't have anything approaching a relationship because even if I never admitted it to anyone else, I would have loved having a mother I could talk to about Jake Kingston. I wanted advice. I wanted to know that I was normal. I wanted to know that things would get better, that I wouldn't always feel so helpless and hopeless where he was concerned. I wanted to talk about how Jake made me feel earlier today.

But I couldn't.

I had to tell her something. "Um, I decided to run for senior class president."

"You're running for senior class president?" Only she said it the same way someone else might say, "You're going to eat dog food?"

"Yep."

"Be sure to emphasize that you are Japanese-American."

And there we had it. We took a slight detour to get there, but we had arrived.

"I'm just American, Pearl." Her eyes narrowed and I knew it was time to move in for the kill. "I mean, I don't know what good it does me to be one-quarter Japanese. I didn't get any of the good traits. I suck at math. I'm uncoordinated so there's no way I could ever be a ninja, and I think Harajuku fashion is weird. On the flip side though, I am a very bad driver." To be honest, I was proud of my heritage. But I would never let Pearl know that. It's why I refused to tell her about my anime/manga obsession. She'd take too much satisfaction in my loving something Japanese, and then lecture me about wasting my time on such a meaningless art form. Because the sculptures she made out of actual trash were so much more meaningful and important.

So instead I gave backhanded stereotyping insults, hoping it would tick her off enough that she wouldn't speak to me for another six months.

"Mother," she corrected. She wanted me to call her "Mother" as a sign of respect, so I basically called her Pearl every chance I got. I guess I'd called her Pearl one too many times.

I knew what she was doing and why, but I chose to play dumb. "Mother? Is Grandma there with you?"

"No, I'm reminding you to call me Mother."

"Sure thing, Pearl." I knew this made me sound like a total brat, but you had to know her.

She glared at me and then said, "We will resume this discussion when you stop being so deliberately obtuse." She disconnected from our video chat.

I let out a squawk of indignation. Had my own mother just called me fat?

Chapter 7

The next morning at school the rumor mill was spiraling out of control. I heard whispers and snatches of conversation saying that Jake had tired of Ella and dumped her. "Hey! She broke up with him!" I told a group of juniors, but I could tell none of them believed me.

I ran into Ella right before English and expressed my total outrage over the gossip.

She just shrugged. "People will believe what they want to believe."

"What if Jake started the rumors?" It would be one more thing to hold against him.

"He wouldn't do that. But even if he did, if it makes it easier for him to let people think he dumped me, I'm okay with that."

See? She was too good to be true.

I stood there staring at her. "How are you not mad?" I'd want his head on a pike. Okay, not really because it's Jake, but a little maiming might be in order.

She spun the dial on her locker and pulled the door open. While putting her books away, she said, "I try not to sweat the small stuff. But like I said, Jake just wouldn't do something like this. His friends, maybe, but not Jake." She got what she needed for her next class and shut her locker.

"Everything will be fine. Go to class." Ella said as she pushed me in the direction of my classroom.

She walked away from me and I saw several sets of eyes follow her, and heard the dramatic "whispers" and giggles as she passed. It wouldn't do me any good to go to each of those people and tell them the truth. Jake Kingston was always the dumper, not the dumpee, and he had the trail of broken hearts to prove it.

Including mine.

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