Page 22 of Talk Nerdy To Me
Which means soon they’ll be leaving. And I’ll be here alone. As usual.
Krysta never hangs out with the group. Maybe she has even fewer friends than me.
ME: I’ll go.
KRYSTA: Great! I’ll pick you up in twenty.
Leaving Dale to argue with Harley about the numerous ‘appropriate curriculums an Ivy League college has to offer a girl’s mind,’ I go to grab my things, checking myself in the mirror to see how much work I can do in twenty minutes.
In the span of time it took me to go to my bedroom, the arguing has ceased, and the telltale smacking sounds have begun.
I may not understand why they do the things they do, but I have learned to predict what they’ll be doing.
Deciding not to change, I go outside to wait on Krysta, just as Harley calls out, “Bye, Britt! We’ll work on your paper more tomorrow!”
“Okay,” is my only response.
I’m getting good at this fewer words responding thing. Even though I know the both of them would listen to me regardless of how many words I had to say to relay my point.
It’s still good practice.
Krysta shows up almost directly after they leave, and I decide not to point out that it’s only been twelve minutes instead of twenty, like she said.
When I get in the car, she smiles over at me.
“Thanks for doing this. I know it’s sort of last minute, but I’ve seriously been trying to get an invite to one of these parties for a while.”
I just return her smile, hoping she can’t tell I’m already uncomfortable. Her gaze flicks to my shorts, then up to my shirt, and she shakes her head with a small smile still on her lips.
She’s dressed in leather pants and a hot pink crop top. I’m wearing a Suicide Squad t-shirt and frayed jean shorts with flip flops.
“Should I have dressed up more?” I decide to ask.
“Nope. I should have dressed down, but there’s a boy.”
I don’t really know what to say to that.
After a few minutes of silence, Krysta asks, “Does it bother you? That people invite you places because of you’re a Sterling?”
“No,” I say with a shrug.
She laughs quietly. “That’s all you’re going to tell me? Just no?”
“My name before meant nothing. And when it was attached to me, it was a reminder that I had a name, but no family to go with it. Sterling was a name my brother was proud to give me, and when people want me to go somewhere because of that name, I try my best to show gratitude. Before Sterling, I might as well have been nameless. It’s daunting at times, sure, but I still enjoy it.”
When she smiles, I relax, seeing that I haven’t blurted out too much.
“Corbin thinks I should get my name changed, even though my bio dad doesn’t want to claim me. He says the name is as much his as it is our father’s, but…I don’t know. It makes me feel like I’d look desperate,” she confesses.
“Why would it make you look desperate?”
She laughs again. “I just know people would talk, and that’s what they’d be saying.”
She doesn’t really make any sense if she’d think about it logically. “People always have something bad to say about Sterlings, so you’d blend in.”
She glances over at me as she grimaces.
“But people talk about you because they hate that you’re living the fairytale. Long, lost, rich, incredibly doting brother comes to find you, saves you from poverty, and brings you home where you’re immediately loved and part of their extremely wealthy inner circle. I’m the slightly unstable daughter of a deranged woman with fatal attraction symptoms whose bio dad didn’t want anything to do with her. It’s less fairytale and more Jeepers Creepers.”
