I’d told Claire about my agreement with Madeline so she wouldn’t do something incriminating when my mother mentioned my new girlfriend, like gasp and say, “Why did you insist a couple of hours ago that you didn’t like her? All you saidthenwas that you’d do anything to get out of having Madeline for a stepsister.”
Claire had been far from approving of our plan. “What if Mom really likes Mr. Seibold?” she asked.
“Then she has bad taste in men, and this intervention is necessary.”
Claire said a few more things, which I chose to ignore, and flounced off.
While Mr. Seibold was at the house, Mom called Claire into the living room to introduce them.
Claire was all politeness and charm, which annoyed me. Why was she trying to make a good impression on him? When Dad left for Alaska, he’d told us that he knew the rest of thefamily couldn’t move out of California while I was still in school—senior year was when the college football recruiters got serious—but he hoped that after I’d made a decision about college, Mom and Claire would move to Alaska to join him.
I still felt guilty about that. If I wasn’t playing football, if I wasn’t hoping that scouts would see me playing and offer a scholarship, maybe Mom would have decided to take Claire and me to Alaska with Dad.
After Mr. Seibold went home, Mom informed me that I was grounded for two and a half weeks because that’s how long Mr. Seibold was grounding Madeline. Way too harsh, and another reason why our parents shouldn’t have any contact with each other—they’d decided to give us matching punishments.
Later that night, Jasper called me. “I came through for you,” he said, making it clear I owed him for this favor. “After the game, we’ll take Amelia and Dahlia out for something to eat.”
It took me several seconds to figure out what he was talking about. That’s how all-consuming thoughts of Madeline and her father had been. I’d completely forgotten that Jasper wanted to set me up with Dahlia. “I can’t. I’m grounded for two and a half weeks.”
“Seriously? Your mom wasthatmad about you getting hauled into the principal’s office?”
“Oh, she went all sorts of crazy.”
“Dude, you know Dahlia won’t stay single long. Explain the situation to your mom.”
I couldn’t do that, not when I was supposed to be dating someone else. “She decided on the punishment after going out with Madeline’s dad. Madeline has the same punishment, so there’s no chance she’ll budge.” I had to explain the rest of it tohim, tell him that the unthinkable had happened. “Our parents are going to the football game together.”
There was a pause. “Like on a date?”
“Yeah.”
Jasper started laughing.
“It isn’t funny,” I said. “After the game, they’re going out for ice cream, and they’re taking Madeline, Claire, and me with them—on their date.”
Jasper only stopped laughing long enough to say, “I’m so glad my parents aren’t divorced.”
He’d laugh harder if he knew that Madeline and I would have to pretend to like each other during that date.
I was about to find out just how good her acting skills were.
10
Madeline
“So you’re going to be his secret fake girlfriend?” Selena considered me from the passenger side of my convertible in blank astonishment.
I’d shown up at her house early that morning to convince her to come with me to act as a lookout while I cut the lock off the cafeteria dumpster. She refused to do that, by the way, but had given me a bowl full of cat food to leave nearby for Mascot.
“I only agreed to fake date Cooper because it’s for a good cause,” I said.
“The cause being that you want your parents to die lonely?”
I shouldn’t have expected her to understand. “No, I just don’t want Cooper as my stepbrother. That’s a very good cause.”
Selena pushed away strands of hair that the wind blew in her face. This was the downside of riding in a convertible—hair control. “Your parents only have a couple of dates lined up. Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun?”
“No, because if they got really attached to each other and then we broke them up, I’d feel horrible. This way is better.”
