Puck Me, Stepbrother

on's

n buzzing nonsto

ach one more excited than the last, full of heart emojis

s going? Have you ma

out - this is your chance t

amazing clubs and activities.

How do I tell her that her new husband's son's friends have made me their personal entertainment? Ho

She's t

float. She deserves Richard and his fancy house, and not having to worry about money anymore. She deserves to believe

f it's

Mom. Still settling

fore I can ch

, and apparently, he runs this entire school. Everywhere I go, I hear his name. Girls talking about how hot he is, gu

d I'm the peasant who dared

a good way. Every time I see him across the quad with his perfect hair and that confident smile,

even when he's humiliating me in front of half the sch

me hate hi

s again-anothe

really into hockey. Maybe you should try o

he sound echoes in my empty

d is to embarrass myself even more, this

I keep

soccer in high school? Richard says the Hayes family has been involved with B

guy who's been making my life hell. Probably not - Hayes is a com

it is. But then I think about how excited she sounded when she called last night

s this s

about it,"

e it would be to step onto ice I've never skated on in my life, wearing gear I

t our "new family." I'm thinking about how hard she's tryin

o do almost anythin

iate mysel

by. Nothing obvious enough to report - they're too smart for that. Just constant little things.

hear Tyler say as I pass

watch where he's walk

p walking, but my hands cle

ant to punch something. But I also can't stop staring. He moves like he knows everyone's watching

infur

, which makes me hate myself

ally looking up application deadlines for other coll

he says, dropping his backpack and flopping onto his be

t pa

f campus, and apparently, they're throwing some massive thing. The

s. The hockey t

back to my laptop. "Parti

in this room all week. When's th

n't mean I want to go somewhere I'll be s

d I'm

onvince me, listing all the reasons why I should go. Free alco

cle here is basically him and the girl in my eco

evolved into full paragraphs about hockey tryouts and family bo

out there. I've been

s part of t

hen he gets back from his afternoon classe

u w

g in, but you can't hide forever. These p

ly he

m's texts about being brave and trying new things. Maybe it's the memory of Julia

ready, I find myself digging through my closet fo

?" Danny asks, pausing with hi

othing special, just a dark blue button-down that Mom bought m

You're going to have a

tired of everyone at this school thinking I'm some fragile

red of

see me as weak, fine. But I'm not going

t myself in the mirror.

shoulder. "That's the spirit! Tr

epic is the