Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
Authors: Rachel Cohn
Tags: Fiction, General, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12), Social Issues, Interpersonal relations, Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9), Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General, Adolescence, Family - General, Social Issues - Adolescence, Mothers and daughters, Stepfamilies, Family - Stepfamilies, Social Situations - Adolescence
Ads: Link
of my sweater to pull me back downstairs.
"That could be construed as child abuse in a court of law!" I snapped at her.
53
Nancy's face was all blotchy and furious when I turned around to face her. "I will not tolerate your fresh mouth any longer," she said, trying to stay calm.
"Little Hellion," Sid called from the study. "In here. Now."
I turned my cheek to Nancy, who followed me into the study.
Leila came to take my half-sibs back to bed. She shot me a look of pure hatred and for a second I almost felt bad. Leila hates to be woken up in the middle of the night. She has a hard time falling back asleep. I promised myself I would bring Leila some tea in bed after I dealt with the Sid and Nancy situation. I figured bedside tea service from an actual almost-waitress like myself was the least I could do for Leila.
I stood before Sid, who was actually wearing a smoking jacket as he smoked his cigar. I had to admire his style.
He was giving me a look of such disappointment I had to look away from him. I looked past him to the bookcase filled with all his favorite memorabilia: framed pix of me, Josh, and Ash; his college baseball glove; and the trophy we won together for winning the father-daughter potato sack race at his company picnic a few years earlier. Next to the trophy was the baseball we always used to throw together when I was little and just getting used to our new home in San Francisco, before Josh and Ash were born. Back then, Sid-dad used to come home from work early to play catch with me and read books with me; later, when I played Little League, he sometimes sent Fernando to take me to his office after school, and then Sid-dad and I would go over to this park near his office and hit balls and play catch. You throw
53
54
like a girl, he used to tease me. And I would always remind him, I am a girl.
"Da ...," I started to say, but he cut me off lickety-split.
"Sit down," he said. When I hesitated, he announced, "Now!" and my butt hopped onto the leather sofa like that, almost like it was separated from my body and had a mind of its own.
Nancy stood at the door, wiping her nose with a Kleenex and trying to choke back tears.
"I don't get what the big deal is," I said.
"That's right you don't," Sid said. "But it's a very big deal, spending the night at that boy's ."
"But we weren't even having sex!" I protested.
There is such a thing as being too helpful with giving out information.
Sid-dad is very bald, so blushes on his face appear very obvious. Almost-daughters who throw like girls aren't supposed to grow up and have sex.
Sid did not look me in the eyes when he said, "You were out without permission and when you promised your mother you'd be home by eleven. You have abused the new trust we have tried to place in you and shown nothing but contempt for our good faith in you."
Good faith wha? I crossed over my leg and dangled my ankle around before announcing, "I've spent the night there before and you've never noticed or cared."
There was a silence in the room that felt good. My pronouncement was news to Sid and Nancy. They hadn't realized I had been sneaking in and out. I had gotten one over on them.
55
Fifteen
Apparently, I am no longer going to be getting one over on Sid and Nancy. Apparently, now they are going to notice everything I do, and they are going to care, big time. I am grounded for, like, ever.
1 can't work at Java the Hut any longer. I can see Sugar Pie once a week, but only because Fernando intervened and told Sid and Nancy they really need me at the home.
But now I have to spend as much time cleaning bathrooms at the home as I do visiting with Sugar Pie. Fernando's Revenge.
Oh, and now that I no longer have a job that pays me, I will not be able to afford that lawyer who might have taken care of the whole emancipation thing.
I am confined to this House Beautiful that looks like it should be a museum instead of a home where people live and breathe. From my room overlooking
"That could be construed as child abuse in a court of law!" I snapped at her.
53
Nancy's face was all blotchy and furious when I turned around to face her. "I will not tolerate your fresh mouth any longer," she said, trying to stay calm.
"Little Hellion," Sid called from the study. "In here. Now."
I turned my cheek to Nancy, who followed me into the study.
Leila came to take my half-sibs back to bed. She shot me a look of pure hatred and for a second I almost felt bad. Leila hates to be woken up in the middle of the night. She has a hard time falling back asleep. I promised myself I would bring Leila some tea in bed after I dealt with the Sid and Nancy situation. I figured bedside tea service from an actual almost-waitress like myself was the least I could do for Leila.
I stood before Sid, who was actually wearing a smoking jacket as he smoked his cigar. I had to admire his style.
He was giving me a look of such disappointment I had to look away from him. I looked past him to the bookcase filled with all his favorite memorabilia: framed pix of me, Josh, and Ash; his college baseball glove; and the trophy we won together for winning the father-daughter potato sack race at his company picnic a few years earlier. Next to the trophy was the baseball we always used to throw together when I was little and just getting used to our new home in San Francisco, before Josh and Ash were born. Back then, Sid-dad used to come home from work early to play catch with me and read books with me; later, when I played Little League, he sometimes sent Fernando to take me to his office after school, and then Sid-dad and I would go over to this park near his office and hit balls and play catch. You throw
53
54
like a girl, he used to tease me. And I would always remind him, I am a girl.
"Da ...," I started to say, but he cut me off lickety-split.
"Sit down," he said. When I hesitated, he announced, "Now!" and my butt hopped onto the leather sofa like that, almost like it was separated from my body and had a mind of its own.
Nancy stood at the door, wiping her nose with a Kleenex and trying to choke back tears.
"I don't get what the big deal is," I said.
"That's right you don't," Sid said. "But it's a very big deal, spending the night at that boy's ."
"But we weren't even having sex!" I protested.
There is such a thing as being too helpful with giving out information.
Sid-dad is very bald, so blushes on his face appear very obvious. Almost-daughters who throw like girls aren't supposed to grow up and have sex.
Sid did not look me in the eyes when he said, "You were out without permission and when you promised your mother you'd be home by eleven. You have abused the new trust we have tried to place in you and shown nothing but contempt for our good faith in you."
Good faith wha? I crossed over my leg and dangled my ankle around before announcing, "I've spent the night there before and you've never noticed or cared."
There was a silence in the room that felt good. My pronouncement was news to Sid and Nancy. They hadn't realized I had been sneaking in and out. I had gotten one over on them.
55
Fifteen
Apparently, I am no longer going to be getting one over on Sid and Nancy. Apparently, now they are going to notice everything I do, and they are going to care, big time. I am grounded for, like, ever.
1 can't work at Java the Hut any longer. I can see Sugar Pie once a week, but only because Fernando intervened and told Sid and Nancy they really need me at the home.
But now I have to spend as much time cleaning bathrooms at the home as I do visiting with Sugar Pie. Fernando's Revenge.
Oh, and now that I no longer have a job that pays me, I will not be able to afford that lawyer who might have taken care of the whole emancipation thing.
I am confined to this House Beautiful that looks like it should be a museum instead of a home where people live and breathe. From my room overlooking
Similar Books
