The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,1
ready to go.
There are only three months until graduation, and as far as I’m concerned, it can’t come soon enough.
“Hey, Abigail.”
I look up from my spot at the kitchen table, where I’m ignoring my homework in favor of watching a new makeup tutorial from my favorite blogger on my phone, and I see my mom tottering in on her high heels, arms laden with designer shopping bags.
“Hey Mom.”
She drops them on our large countertop then heads straight to the fridge and pours herself a large glass of wine before leaning against the counter and peering over at me. I eye her wineglass but don’t comment on it. There’s no point. It’s not like it’s unusual to see her drinking before six in the evening, and it’s not like she won’t be drinking for the next couple of hours.
Her eyes narrow on the bag of chips I have next to me, which I’ve been dipping into a huge bowl of guacamole. The bowl of chips is practically empty; I’ve been devouring them ever since I got home.
“Did you eat that whole bag?”
“There are some left,” I mutter.
She frowns. “You’ll put on weight,” she chides. “You need to be careful. It’ll go to your face first.”
I sigh. I wasn’t the skinniest of kids up until I was thirteen, and my mom never lets me forget it. She acts like it’s a crime if I even look at junk food.
She doesn’t have to worry. This is the only thing I’ve eaten today; I didn’t touch my lunch, which isn’t unusual for me. I’ll never let myself get big again.
“How was school?”
“It was fine.”
“Did you see Chase?”
My body tenses, but I try my hardest not to let it show. She’s asked me the same question every couple of days since she found out we broke up. “Yes, Mom. We go to the same school.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Have you spoken to him about getting back together?”
“He’s still just as happy in his new relationship as he was last time you asked. We’re not getting back together.”
She tuts loudly and dismissively flips her hand in my direction, making it perfectly clear that she doesn’t see his happiness with Livy as any kind of problem in our reconciliation. “Of course you are. You’ve been together a long time, and you should have known better than to let him lose interest and go off with someone else.”
I try not to let it bother me that, despite knowing how long we’ve been together and therefore how upset our breakup will have made me, she chooses to blame me for the fact that he’s with someone else.
“We’re just friends now.”
She scoffs. “For now. You know what to do.”
She means what to do to somehow get back in Chase’s good graces and, when the time is right, make a play for him. She doesn’t think I should move on and find someone better who worships me and appreciates me, but rather that I should hold out for Chase.
Because Chase’s family has money.
A lot of it.
And that’s what she’s bred her daughters to do: seek out money and lock it down. It’s what she did when she married my dad at nineteen when he was already twenty-six and had a promising law career ahead of him, and it’s why she’s stayed with him despite everything he’s done to her. It’s also why my older sister is twenty-four, with a baby and married to the nephew of a senator who has future plans to move into politics himself.
And it’s why my mom’s been giving me a hard time about why I let someone as eligible as Chase get away when, in her mind, I should have been securing my future. Which is ridiculous because Chase could have no money and still be the most popular kid in school with a line of girls waiting to date him. I know for a fact I would have still been crazy about Chase, even if he had no money. That was just an added bonus in my mom’s eyes.
The more I think about it, the more I realize what utter bullshit it is.
Especially since I don’t even need the money. My dad makes more than enough, but my mom sees marrying well as something you have to work toward from a young age.
“It’s not going to happen, Mom.”
She rolls her eyes but puts down her glass and turns to her bags. She rifles through a couple of them before pulling out a strapless, floor-length dress in a light