Cassie was calm on the way home, listening to her music and enjoying the lack of traffic. As she retraced the procession of gradually larger roads that lead back to her town, she could believe in the things that Leigha had said – that the world was a bounty of possibilities, many of them sexy, just waiting for her to grab them. She even felt a little tingle on her belly, where Leigha had cast her alleged spell. But then Cassie pulled up to her house, and found her family yelling at each other on the lawn, and she was yanked back down to hard reality.
"Mom, everyone else in my class has one. It's not a luxury!"
"You bet your ass an iPhone is a luxury, missy. How much do you think these things cost?"
"It's not that much! You work all week and you can't even–"
Cassie's father was, as usual, in the middle and trying to make peace. "Girls, can't we go inside? The whole neighbourhood is watching."
Charlotte, Cassie's stepmom, just pursed her lips in that pouty way Cassie hated. "There's nothing worth looking at here! Just a parent doing what every parent should do, but most of them don't – saying no to her daughter."
"Oh God, like you can judge anyone else for their parenting?" This was Mindy, daughter of Charlotte, stepsister of Cassie, and desirer of Apple products.
Cassie made a calculated decision to avoid the fray altogether and walk past the trio on the lawn into her house. She lived most of her life like this, trying to avoid her step-relations as much as possible and ignore them most of the time she couldn't avoid them. But her father was desperately looking for a distraction, and so grabbed Cassie by the shoulder and steered her into the group huddle.
"Hey everyone. Cassie's home. How was your night, Cass?"
"Did you have a good time at queer camp?" said Mindy, with that mocking tone to her voice that made her seem like the villain in a teen soap opera.
"I told you to watch your language, missy," said Charlotte.
"What? If she can say it, why can't I?"
Cassie pivoted on her heel. "All right. I'm going up to my room. Let me know when dinner's ready."
"Take it easy, Mindy," said Cassie's father. "And Cassie, don't shut yourself up there again. We've hardly seen you this weekend."
"You know," Mindy said, crossing her arms, "if I had gone out to the woods and banged some guy all night, you guys would be freaking out. But because it's sweet little Cassie and she's fucking a fat girl, you're fine with it."
Cassie dug her nails into her palm, so as not to dig them into Mindy's eyes. She knew that it was an intentional provocation, and to fall into it would just feed her stepsister's need for drama. But insulting Leigha was a cheap shot that Cassie couldn't forgive.
"Well Mindy," Cassie said, doing her best to maintain a cool and sarcastic tone. "I'm sure you've banged plenty of guys in the woods, and you're still living here. Speaking of which, at your age aren't most women moved out of their parents' house?"
Somewhere in there, Mindy had stomped over towards Cassie, raising her shop pink nails up above her head, but before she could actually strike, Charlotte grabbed her hand. "Let go of me!" Mother and daughter tussled on the lawn as Mindy's father buried his head in his hands.
Cassie threw her overnight bag over her shoulder. "Well, like I said, I'm going upstairs. Let me know when Jerry Springer shows up."
When she finally made it to her room, Cassie let out her frustration by pounding the pillow a bit. How could Mindy say those things about Leigha – a girl she didn't even know, but thought she could dismiss and deride just by taking one look at her? Cassie wanted to wring her neck, and only the thought that she would be free of this house in a few months stayed her hand.
It had been two years since her father had married Charlotte, and Cassie was still no closer to getting along with the new half of her family. She also had yet to find anything about Charlotte that would cause her cool graphic-designer-cum-guitarist father to give up their urban life and marry a small-town divorcee. And, for that matter, she was still searching for any redeeming quality possessed by Mindy.
Cassie tried to slow her breathing and calm herself. She really shouldn't let Mindy get her so worked up. After all, if she got through this summer – during which she planned to spend most of her time out of the house working or hanging out with friends – then she would be across the country and among other intelligent people. Now that her much-anticipated weekend with Leigha was over, that thought was the only thing keeping her going.
–-
There were advantages to living in a small town For instance, a good word from your dad could get you a summer job at the local grocery store, even if that store didn't need (or perhaps couldn't afford) an extra clerk. Things seemed to operate on a more informal, familial basis around here, and Cassie's father had taken advantage of it, making friends with everyone from her teachers (who had always given her good grades) to the clerk at the corner store (who always gave him a discount). Somehow, in this environment he had developed an incredible charm.
And so Cassie had been making shopping money at Danny's Grocery and Deli since she was sixteen. Danny had, of course, been accommodating in giving her a weekend off, but now Cassie had to put on the familiar green apron and go back behind the cashier. It wasn't hard work, but she did get exhausted smiling at someone all day – especially with the town's middle-aged women who liked to gossip.
"Hey Cass," said Danny, the mostly benevolent middle-aged manager. (Not the Danny the store was named after, but that was a long story.) "How was your weekend."
"Lovely," said Cassie as she walked in. She paused to tie her chestnut-brown hair into a bun as she talked to Danny.
