My Life as the Ugly Stepsister

“Oh my God!” MC said. “This is big.”

And Madison started singing off key, “Ally has a boyfriend…”

I just kept walking. I knew I was blushing, and it was silly to be so embarrassed. These were my best friends. But I didn’t think I could answer all their questions.

“What did it feel like?”

“Was he a good kisser?”

“Did you wake up and just know it was love?”

They had way more questions than I had answers. The truth was that I was starting to forget exactly what it all felt like. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

MC finally grabbed my arm and slowed the whole parade to a halt. “What did he say last night? Did you get to talk to him?”

I shrugged. “He said my dad wasn’t too terrible.”

“That’s it?” Madison asked.

I looked down at my sneakers. “And he kissed me on the cheek.”

More squealing followed. I tugged at the leash and took off in a full run back to the house.

Madison and MC giggled behind me exciting Buddy to enthusiastic barking.

“C’mon Mojo,” I said not as winded as I would have been a month ago. “Let’s ditch those dorks.”

Mojo was happy to oblige.

Later, we were snagging some magazines from Caroline’s room when a familiar thudding noise caught my attention.

“What is that?” Madison asked after grabbing the latest Teen People from the top of the pile.

“I think somebody’s jumping up and down on your roof,” MC said, staring at the ceiling.

With a shake of my head, I said, “No. It’s worse. Way worse.”

Madison’s eyes widened in alarm.

MC narrowed her eyes to tell me she wasn’t buying my dramatic act.

“It’s,” I paused, “Jonathan playing B-ball.”

MC squealed. Madison jumped up and down and then headed for the door.

“Wait,” I cried.

MC turned back to me. “No way. We are so meeting this guy.”

“Please don’t embarrass me,” I begged as I ran after them.

Hopefully, Jonathan wouldn’t mind my friends gaping at him like he was on display at the museum. The long awaited boy who likes Ally. Scientists thought it would never happen…

Jonathan was a good sport. Right? He’d have to be to like me. And I was starting to believe he actually did like me.

I ran down the steps, out the door, and around the corner and almost slammed into MC and Madison. They’d frozen in their tracks. Instead of just Jonathan out there shooting baskets, there were three guys. MC and Madison were regrouping. They wanted to look cool to these new guys more than they wanted to embarrass me.

Dave had noticed our clumsy arrival. From the way he immediately perked up and starting acting even more cocky than usual, I figured he didn’t peg us all as losers. “Hey man, we’ve got company.”

Jonathan turned and gave me a big smile that made my heart pitter patter. “Ally!”

Unfortunately, he hadn’t realized Colin was taking a shot and the ball bounced off the rim and smashed into his head. His head snapped sideways. He grabbed his head, and then grimaced and socked Colin.

“Sorry, Man,” Colin said. He finally noticed MC and Madison.

Jonathan was still wincing with pain, so I decided to do the introductions. “Colin and Dave, these are my friends MC and Madison.”

From the way Madison was eyeing Dave, I guessed she had forgotten me telling her about the whole wrinkly Diane breasts incident.

“Do you play?” Colin asked.

“Yes,” MC practically shouted before either of us could answer otherwise.

“I’m really not that good,” Madison admitted.

If they started simpering and giggling, I was going to kill them. At least Colin and Dave kept them from staring at Jonathan like a bug under a microscope.

“I think I should check on Mojo,” I said, mostly because I didn’t want to stick around to see what happened next.

Jonathan still had his hand on his head, but he said he’d come with me so fast that I knew he was okay.

As I was opening the gate, I heard Dave saying, “We could play two on two, or we could play horse.”

“Let’s start with horse,” MC said.

Jonathan closed the gate, and I realized we were alone again for the first time in two days. Mojo and Buddy ran up for some attention, but they were apparently worn out from all the company and they walked back over to the patio, slurped up some water, and laid down.

I started to reach out and touch his head but stopped myself. “Is your head okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. That jerk.” He glanced back at the driveway. “Where are your chaperones?”

“I think your hot friends distracted them.”

With a grimace, he asked, “You think my friends are hot?”

“No, but MC and Madison do.”

His smile returned. “But you don’t?”

It took all the guts I had to blurt out, “I think you’re hot.” The blushing took some of the coolness out of my comment.

Jonathan reached out and grabbed my hand. “I think you’re hot too.” He said, his voice all low and husky.

I glanced toward my Dad’s house to see if Diane had her binoculars or worse, a shotgun trained on us. No sign of anyone.

When I turned back to Jonathan, I discovered that he’d moved a whole lot closer. He took my other hand in his, and leaned forward to kiss me.

My breath caught, and I stretched to reach him.

His lips met mine, and the dizzying sensation of a heated kiss swept through me. He prodded my lips with his velvety tongue, and I opened for him. The next thing I knew, our tongues were tangled in the most amazing dance. He let go of my hands and wrapped them around my back pressing me into him. No one had told me that kissing was like magic. I could feel it sizzling between us. This nameless power. An energy like nothing I’d ever experienced.

The sound of a baby-ish voice broke through the fog. “Mom, that big, scary man was right. Look! They’re kissing!”

Jonathan pulled back and I closed my eyes. I so did not need this.

Jonathan’s mother smiled at me when I dared to look. “Ben, that man wasn’t scary. He was just upset. He’s Ally’s father.”

“And,” Jonathan added quickly, “we weren’t kissing, Ben. I was helping Ally, with um, an eyelash in her eye.”

His mother beamed. “You see, Ben. They weren’t kissing.” She winked at us. “Maybe you two better join the others, just in case Ben isn’t the only one curious about your…eyelashes.”

I could have died right there.

“Thanks, Mom,” Jonathan said, and we slipped

back through the gate. “Don’t worry.” He squeezed my hand. “My mom likes you.”

I glanced at my friends and wished for the first time in memory that they were not there. “I guess we can try to talk tomorrow,” I said.

Jonathan released my hand. “We have to go see my grandmother tomorrow. We’ll be gone all day.”

If you could go to hell for thinking mean thoughts about someone’s grandmother, I was in big trouble.

MC and Madison were giggling as they battled against Jonathan’s friends. They must have been playing boys against girls. The girls were obviously getting cremated.

Dave reached around and stole the ball right out of MC’s hands.

“I thought they were playing horse,” I said to Jonathan.

He shook his head. “I guess they wanted something with more contact.”

He was right. Madison had her hands all over Colin as she supposedly went for the ball.

“How come we got busted, and they’re out here practically fondling each other in plain sight?”

Dave crashed into MC and sent her sprawling on the front lawn. She was laughing hysterically and he offered his hand to help her up. She refused, and he ended up flailing on the ground next to her. The guys and girls were equally transparent.

Before they could actually jump each other’s bones (because honestly, I thought it was coming), Ben made his way out the front door.

“He’s like the PDA police,” Jonathan mumbled.

“Hey, Man.” Colin pointed in Ben’s direction. “It’s mini-J.”

While MC and Madison took in Ben’s adorable cuteness, Jonathan explained. “They think he’s a mini me.”

I glanced from Ben to the hottie at my side. “He does look like you, but I think your friends watch way too much television.”

“You have no idea.”

Colin overheard us and took offense. “You’ve seen the whole Scary Movie series twenty times.”

Jonathan blushed.

“Yeah, Dude.” Dave got up and came over. “You know that because you’ve watched it with him.”

“Those movies are hilarious,” MC said.

I gave her a sharp look. She hated those movies. She said they were idiotic.