Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,8

round in the microwave probably wouldn't help matters. As I sat on my bed and began picking through the pasta primavera, I thought about my dad and the teen lessons. Although my first inclination was to be enraged, I tried to find the bright side, like my mom always told me to do.

Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Maybe if Dad got to know me, really know me, as a person and not as his daughter or the next in the line of Bhattas, he would know that this marriage by arrangement wasn't right for me.

I finished my show and went to sleep feeling hopeful about the lessons, and that somehow, I could make my dad see the real me.

Seven

“Your dad wants you to do what?” Jordan asked, punctuating her question with a slam of her locker door.

“He wants me to tell him about being a teenager,” I said to her and our small group of friends hanging around the lockers. “I guess there could be worse things to do on a Thursday night.”

Ginger laughed, making her green eyes crinkle at the corners. “Watch him show up with a notebook and start taking notes on you.”

I grinned, as that was exactly something my dad would do. I just hoped it would work. “The first lesson’s tonight, so I'll text you guys and let you know how it goes.”

Rory hugged me, her long hair tickling my cheek. “I have to go catch up with Beckett for dinner, but you’ve got this. You’re the most articulate person I know.”

“Exactly.” Callie patted my shoulder comfortingly. “Please text us what happens so we can laugh about it later.”

I rolled my eyes. “We’re going to have plenty of material.”

We went our separate ways for the day, and I couldn’t help but wish I were a “normal” teen like them. While they could go home to their families and worry about schoolwork or hang out with their boyfriends without pressure for the future, I had a reputation to uphold. Dad was always dragging me along to a mixer for work or a dinner with actors he wanted to schmooze or making up for the kind of life we lived by taking me to cultural events at Brentwood U.

As I walked to the parking lot, I thought about what it would be like to be them. To see the guys around me and think of the possibilities. But all the guys around me seemed so...lackluster. Not that there was anything wrong with my friends’ boyfriends. They were perfect for each other. But all the available guys at the Academy? I couldn’t even fathom being interested in them, feeling a spark like I had with that delivery driver I hardly knew. And really, maybe that was a good thing. You couldn’t miss what you never had, right?

I got in my car and drove across town, playing music so loud I couldn’t think. A valet took my car at Halfway Café, since it was nearing dinner time, and I approached my dad's table. But someone else was sitting with him. Ryde.

I reached them and pasted an unconvincing smile on my face. “What are you doing here?”

Ryde gave his best smile in return, putting on a show for my dad. “Hi, honey.” Gag. “Your dad told me about lessons, and he thought it would be great if I joined so he could get the male perspective too.”

“There certainly isn't enough of that in the world.” I took the seat at the table as far from both of them as possible.

Dad shook his head at me while Ryde just smirked. The last thing I wanted to be was his entertainment. Scratch that. The last thing I wanted to be was his wife, but entertainment was high on the list.

Undeterred, Dad held his pen poised over the yellow legal pad tucked into an expensive-looking portfolio. “What are the main things I need to know?”

Ryde shrugged and looked to me. I let out a massive sigh. “I'm going to need something to drink for this.”

Dad chuckled. “So jokes about alcohol are in.”

Shaking my head, I got up and went to the ordering counter. I got myself a big caffeinated drink, knowing I would need the energy to deal with all of the events that were sure to ensue. I also grabbed the most edible looking thing on the menu that didn't include seaweed. I wished I could be at Waldo's Diner, drinking milkshakes with the girls, but no. I