My Life as the Ugly Stepsister

I winced and started backing away from the fence. “Shut up you guys! You’ll wake everybody up.” I doubted Jonathan’s parents wanted me lurking in their yard after midnight.

Crap! I gave up and ran back to the porch. Mojo and Buddy gave a few last barks, of joy if I wasn’t mistaken, and then calmed down.

If I was stuck here, I was going for the swing where I could stretch out. Buddy would just have to share.

I sat on the swing and swung my legs up onto the cushions. I leaned back, not too sure what I’d be putting my head in, but I was too tired to care. Buddy jumped up instantly and rested his head on my chest. Mojo must have realized we were in Buddy’s territory because he settled for climbing up next to my feet.

I hadn’t even realized I’d been getting a little cold until the heat from the dogs warmed me up. A blanket might have been more effective, and more sanitary, but I was resigned to spending the night on the porch.

Buddy raised his head an instant before the sliding glass door opened. I jumped but didn’t bother getting up. Running away would look even stranger than lounging with the dogs.

Jonathan slipped out the door. “Hey, I wondered if they were barking at you.”

In the dim light, I could see that his hair was tousled from his pillow. My heart thumped in my chest. Buddy stayed put. I guessed he was comfortable.

“Sorry,” I said in a half-whisper. “They started barking when I tried to leave. So I thought this would be better.”

He eyed me and my two bedfellows for a minute. “You guys look pretty comfy there.”

I was hoping he couldn’t see me blush in the darkness. “I, um, tried the chair at first, but no way could I spend the whole night in that.”

“You do know what they say about lying down with the dogs.”

One of my dad’s favorite sayings. “Yeah, I know. I’ll get up with fleas.” Yuck. “Mojo’s been treated. Plus, that’s really just an expression, right?”

Jonathan smiled. “Buddy usually sleeps in my bed. So I think you’re pretty safe.”

“Did we wake your parents up?”

He shook his head. “I doubt it. I’m just really tuned in to Buddy. I expected him to have some problems, but I didn’t want Mojo to have to be alone. Dad drew the line at two dogs in the house.”

Poor Buddy. He’d been booted out because of Mojo.

“It’s okay, though,” Jonathan hurried to say. “Buddy is having a blast with another dog around.”

Hopefully, he meant it and wasn’t just trying to make me feel better. I didn’t know whether to stay or go. “Mojo will probably be okay now, if I go…” I didn’t sound the least bit convinced.

“Do you want me to stay out here so you can go home?” he asked somehow reading my thoughts. “I don’t mind sleeping here if it would make you feel better.”

“No. I don’t really mind staying. I hate to make you do it.” I was afraid he’d argue, so I said, “Besides, it isn’t really home over there anyway.”

“At least let me get you a blanket and a pillow. I’ll set my alarm for early so you can leave before my parents wake up.”

“You don’t—”

“It’s the least I can do,” he said and slipped back into the house.

He didn’t seem to think I was a total freak for sleeping on his patio.

He came back loaded down with blankets and pillows.

“Thanks, Jonathan. It’s really not that cold out here.” It was still August after all. The nights were cooler but not cold.

He handed me a blanket and pillow and then set another pair down on the ground. “Be right back,” he said.

I tucked the pillow under my head relieving the tension on my neck. Much better. Then I covered myself with the blanket as much as I could without burying the dogs. After just the vinyl cushions on the metal frame, the bedding felt decadent.

Jonathan came around the side of the house carrying a cot.

“The swing is fine, Jonathan,” I said when he reached me. “But thanks.”

“The cot’s for me,” he said, setting it up a few feet away and putting the pillow and blanket on it. “I’m not letting you have all the fun.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “You’re sleeping out here with me?”

“That’s the plan.”

He really was nice. Or else he just didn’t want Buddy hanging out with me all night. “Are you jealous?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized he probably thought I meant jealous of the dogs because they were in bed with me. “I, um, mean because Buddy’s hanging out with me.”

“No.” I thought I heard a trace of laughter in his voice. “You’re welcome to him. He snores.”

Buddy gave a loud sigh.

I giggled. “He says you’re lying.” Relaxing a little, I sank into the cushions.

“You’ll see,” Jonathan said as he lay down on the cot.

It wasn’t until he was lying down that it hit me. I was practically sleeping with a guy. Sure, it was innocent, but it was also strangely intimate. Being out in the darkness, late at night, stretched out with our pillow and blankets.

It was kind of magical.

“So was today your first day of school?” His voice sounded different somehow when he wasn’t standing up.

“Yeah. It was okay.” Were we really going to have a conversation? “What about you? You started yesterday.”

“It seems okay so far.”

“You didn’t get knifed already? You know that’s what they tell us at parochial school, that the public schools are crawling with knives and guns. Plus, with you being a guy, and a freshman, there’s probably a whole gang of delinquent seniors out to kill you.” He didn’t look like a freshman to me.

His deep laughter filled the air and teased my ears. “As far as I know, nobody wants me dead. Yet.”

“I’m sure Sister Teresa would say it’s just a matter of time.”

“She could be right.”

Sister Teresa was never right. “So, are you going out for basketball?”

He rolled over onto his side and tucked his arm under his head. He seemed even closer to me. “I don’t know. Probably not. I’d rather play church league. The competition’s pretty fierce for junior varsity at Plum. I might wait until next year.”

My church was my school, so it was weird to think of them as two separate things. “What church do you go to?”

“Well,” he said quietly. “We go to a Methodist church sometimes. But I play over at the Presbyterian church with a bunch of my friends. They do a lot of things with teens…lock-ins and stuff.”

“That’s cool. I get tired of the people at my church. You know, because I see them all the time.”

“You can come over to Second Pres. Everybody’s welcome. I don’t know if Caroline’s been there or not. She probably has though. Lots of kids from Plum High and Jefferson Middle go. You could ask her about it.”

Caroline’s been everywhere. I didn’t welcome the reminder. I didn’t have the guts to ask if he had a crush on her; plus I knew he’d never tell me the truth. I wouldn’t want to embarrass him when he was being so nice.

“It must be pretty cool having a stepsister your age. Not like having a bratty little brother.”

How on earth did I answer that one? When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “You get along with Caroline, don’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” I answered. “She’s nice to me. It’s just weird. My dad only married her mom two years ago. And with us being the same age…I don’t know. It’s just, weird.”

He was quiet for a minute. “I hadn’t really thought about that. Do you like Diane?”

I groaned. “I’d really rather not answer that question.”

“I think you just did.”

“Don’t mention anything to Caroline please. She probably suspects how I feel, but it would be rude to actually say it.”

“No problem. I see you way more than her anyway. The only time I see Caroline is when she’s dashing f

rom the door to the car.”

With a smile, I said, “She does have an active social life.”

“But then don’t we all,” he said, and I totally got that he was mocking himself and not just me.

“My social calendar takes up all my RAM memory,” I teased.

“I have to keep track of mine on the walls of my room.”

I could picture his walls covered with appointments and parties. “Like your parents would let you do that.”

“What are they going to say to me? You should see what Ben’s done with crayon in the living room.”

Having a little brother would be fun. “He’s a cute kid.”

“He’s okay.”

I started to offer a trade—Ben for Caroline. Then I realized he might take me up on it, and that would tick me off.