They Just Don't Know You

Chapter 3

Perrie's POV

Wednesday, September 4

My dress is way too stiff. It practically crackles when I bend my arms to zip it up at the back. I watch my hands in the mirror, trying and failing to reach the zip, and give up when it's at least half way up. The mirror looks old and expensive, like everything in the Pinnock's house. It reflects a bedroom that could fit three of my old one. And at least half of Jonnie's apartment.

What's it like living in that house? my brother asked last night, scraping the last of his birthday cake off a plate while Mom was in the bathroom. She'd brought a bunch of balloons that looked tiny in the Pinnock's foyer, but kept batting Jonnie in the head in the cramped alcove he calls a kitchen.

Fucked up, I said. Which is true. But no more fucked up than the past five years have been. Jonnie's spent most of them living four hours away in New Hampshire, renting a basement apartment from our Aunt.

A sharp knock sounds at my bedroom door, and hinges squeak as my stepsister pokes her head in without waiting for an answer. "You ready?" she asks.

"Yep," I say, picking up a smart navy blue blazer from my bed, which compliments my light blue dress well, and shrugging it on. Leigh-Anne tilts her head and frowns, jet black curls spilling over shoulder. I know that look: There's something wrong with you, and I'm about to tell you exactly what it is and how to fix it. I've been seeing it for months now. 

"Your dress isn't zipped properly," she says, heels clicking on the floor as she walks towards me, hands outstretched. I can see in the mirror that a crease appears between her eyes as she tugs at the zip, then disappears when she steps back to view her good deed. "There," she says, patting my shoulder with a satisfied expression. "Much better." Her hand skims down to my chest and she plucks a piece of lint from my blazer with two pale-pink fingernails and lets it drop to the floor. "You clean up alright, Pez. Who would've thought?"

Not her. Leigh-Anne Pinnock barely spoke to me until her father started dating my mother last winter. She's the queen of Echo Ridge High, and I'm the band nerd with the disreputable family. But now that we live under the same roof, Leigh has to acknowledge my existence. She copes by treating me like either a project or a nuisance, depending on her mood.

"Let's go," she says, tugging lightly at my arm. Her black dress hugs her curves but stops right above her knees. She'd almost be conservative if she weren't wearing tall, spiky heels that basically force you to look at her legs. So I do. My new stepsister might be a pain in the ass, but she's undeniably hot. And she knows it. She also knows that I'm into girls, so she just loves to catch me out when I'm staring.

I follow Leigh into the hallway to the balcony staircase overlooking the massive foyer downstairs. My mother and John are at the bottom waiting for us, and I drop my eyes because whenever they're standing that close, his hands are usually someplace I don't want to see. Leigh and her superjock boyfriend commit less PDA than those two.

But Mom's happy, and I guess that's good.

John looks up and takes a break from manhandling my Mom. "Don't you two look nice!" he calls out. He's in a suit, the same navy blue as my blazer. He gets them tailored to they fit him perfectly. John's like one of those suave GQ watch ads come to life; handsome face, penetrating gaze, sharply cut jet black hair with just enough grey to be distinguished. Nobody could believe he was interested in my mother when they first started dating. People were even more shocked when he married her.

He saved them. That's what the entire town thinks. John Pinnock, the rich and charming owner of the only law firm in town, took us from town rejects to town royalty with one tasteful justice of the peace ceremony at Echo Ridge Lake. And maybe he did. People don't avoid my mother anymore, or whisper behind her back. She gets invited to the garden club, school committees, tonight's fundraiser, and all that other shit.