Page 24 of Beg, Borrow, or Steal

Emily (8:50 AM):That was my twin.

Jack (8:55 AM):Tell her thank you. It was the best casserole I’ve ever eaten in my life.

June 1

Jack (7:04 AM):I take back all my charitable words from yesterday. Did you flip the breaker to my AC last night and then put a bike lock on my fuse box?

Emily (7:06 AM):That was my twin…?

Jack (7:07 AM):Your twin forgot to Sharpie over PROPERTY OF EMILY WALKER from the back of the lock.

Emily (7:10 AM):Hm. Maybe you should have stopped construction last night after I asked nicely the first time.

Jack (7:12 AM):My mistake. I didn’t realize yelling “knock it off” through my window was you asking nicely.

Emily (7:15 AM):You know…you sound like someone who is very unhappy with his neighbor. Maybe you should consider moving somewhere else with a neighbor you could enjoy living by.

Jack (7:25 AM):Who said I don’t enjoy living by you?

Jack (7:30 AM):*Picture of broken bike lock outside Emily’s front door*

Jack (7:31 AM):Your move…

Chapter Eight

Emily

“Thanks again for helping, Em,” says Annie, as I carry another bucket of flowers to the trailer hitched to the four-wheeler. “I feel bad you’re sacrificing your morning to do this for me—but it’s a huge help.”

And I know she means it. Annie hates taking up any kind of space—especially when she thinks it’s at a cost for anyone else.

“Annie,” I say, turning to face my overalls-clad sister. “Helping you is literally a fun activity for me.” I wish I could say I was joking, but I couldn’t get my boots on fast enough when she called this morning. “And getting to do it on a sunny day at the farm, surrounded by flowers instead of asking twenty second-graders if they heard what I said for the tenth time in an hour? That pretty much makes it a vacation.”

She smiles fully, looking like some sort of royal flower nymph in her magical garden. The woman is stunning and glows kindness. She and Maddie share that quality. They possess a charm that makes you want to either be them or be their best friend. Annie istender, and Maddie is wild, but they’re two sides of the same coin. But me…I don’t think anyone would ever accuse me of being soft.

For instance, a few nights ago when Jack told me Zoe didn’t like him in glasses, I have never felt sounsoftin all my life. How dare she? First, she’s wrong. He looks so sexy in glasses it physically hurts. Second, it’s clear he prefers to wear them. What kind of partner would make someone they love feel insecure over something they need to wear? I know from watching Madison’s experience with glasses that wearing contacts all the time is miserable. And yet one day, he found out Zoe thought he looked dorky in glasses, so he just took them off and put them in a drawer and left them there. Because that’s what he does. He’s so considerate of everyone else’s feelings (except mine) that he just bends over backward for them. And Zoe took advantage of it.

Why didn’t he wear them anyway? Why is he always so damn nice to everyone? And why doesn’t he treat anyone else like he treats me? I mean, he’s had no trouble pissing me off all week by waiting to start construction until right after I turn off my light to go to sleep. Or intentionally taking my corner table again last Saturday.

I’ve been retaliating in kind, however. The bike lock on his breaker box was my favorite. But sneaking into his house while he was gone the other day to steal all his nails was a close second. And I even managed to talk Phil into moving all of his boxes of nails to the back and claiming they were out of stock when Jack came sniffing around for more.

It’s killing my poor town to ostracize Jack, though. I don’t know how much longer I can ask them to keep it up. They like him—and of course they do because everyone loves Jack. He’s charming like my sisters—which makes him so much harder to compete with when charm doesn’t come naturally for me. It makes me wonderhow long it will take for him to sweep everyone off their feet entirely—until they like him better than me.

“Where’s Will today?” I ask to distract myself.

Usually Will loves to help Annie any chance he gets. It’s rare for her to ask me for anything instead of him these days.

Annie sets another bucket of flowers on the trailer and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand. “He’s studying for a test tomorrow.”

“Ugh—I do not miss those days.”

Annie looks at me with a knowing smile. “Yes, you do.”

I laugh. “Fine. I do. Actually, does he need any help? I have excellent study techniques that are just going to waste.” Back in college, the only other person I found in the library as often as me was Jack. We were usually the ones closing down the place. I remember how sometimes, when it would get exceptionally late, the empty library would pulse around me. I would feel so alone and sometimes even nervous, until I’d look around and find Jackson several tables away, his nose in a textbook. He never left until I did, and sometimes I wonder if—

“He’s thriving actually,” says Annie, snapping my attention back into the garden. “I knew he was smart, but it’s been incredible to see just how intelligent he really is.”

Will has recently had a massive life change. Before he was Amelia’s bodyguard, he was in the Air Force. But what he’s really always wanted to be is a teacher. Apparently he’s always been academically gifted and was even accepted into MIT after high school but chose the military instead as a way to get out from under his toxic parents. But with Annie’s support, he decided to finally go for those dreams and enrolled in our nearest private college (my alma mater, I might add). I tried to talk him into working with me at the elementary school, but he’s pretty set on either junior high or high school.

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