In the Age of Love and Chocolate by Gabrielle Zevin Read Free Book Online Page A

forbid you to do anything I want. If you don’t break this off, I will call Pierce’s parents, and I will let them know that if he tries anything with you, I will press charges. Do you know what statutory rape is?”
    “You wouldn’t!”
    “I would, Natty. Don’t test me.” I felt absurd even as I was saying this.
    Natty had started to cry. “Why have you become so horrible?”
    “I don’t want to be,” I said. “I’m trying to protect you.”
    “Protect me from what? Protect me from having friends? Protect me from having a life? I have no friends at school, do you know that? I’m, like, a freak. Pierce is seriously my only friend there, Annie.”
    I looked at my sister and realized I had no idea what was going on with her. “Natty, listen. We have to get ready for tonight. We can talk about this later. I’m sorry I haven’t been here more. I really do want to know what’s happening in your life.”
    Natty nodded. She went to her room, and I went to mine. I no longer had time to shower.
    For the opening, the branding people had chosen for me a pure white dress, skintight, made from a stretchy silk-wool blend. The dress had a very low back with multiple straps running horizontally across it. The neckline was an extreme V that ended in the southernmost region of my cleavage. The dress left nothing to the imagination. I was told that the color of the dress was meant to convey innocence, but that the cut said the Dark Room was the most exciting place in New York. What the dress said to me was nudity.
    I flat-ironed my hair, put on red lipstick and dark eyeliner, threw on black bondage-style heels that Scarlet had picked out, and went down the hall to Natty’s room.
    Natty was lying in bed with her head under the covers. “Annie,” she said, “I don’t feel well.”
    “You have to get ready. The car is going to be here in two minutes, and you’re supposed to be my date.”
    She poked her head out. “Oh, you look pretty.”
    “Thank you, but seriously, Natty, you have to hurry up. I can’t be late.”
    Natty didn’t move.
    “If you’re doing this because you’re mad at me, I think it’s incredibly childish.”
    “I’m a child. Isn’t that what you said before?” I started to pull the blanket off her, and she pulled back even harder.
    “Please, Natty. Come on.”
    “I don’t want to go.”
    “I want you there.”
    “You didn’t want me there before. So, what? Am I supposed to show up now? Your obedient little sister? I had nothing to do with the club so I’d like to continue to have nothing to do with it.”
    I did not have time for this. “Fine. Don’t come,” I said, and then I left.
    *   *   *
    At the club, the steps were already scattered with people. I could see photographers and journalists lining the red carpet, preparing for the VIP arrivals. The media blitz had worked. Now we’d have to see if actual people came. One of the journalists called me over. “Anya Balanchine! Have a minute for an interview with the New York Daily Interrogator ?”
    I was in a terrible mood after my discussion with Natty, and I did not like giving interviews in the first place. But I was a grownup and that meant doing things I didn’t want to do. I shook off my bad mood, smiled, and went over to the reporter.
    “This is fantastic!” the reporter enthused. “The buzz is deafening! How does it feel to be the girl who is single-handedly giving chocolate back to New York City?”
    “Well, it’s not chocolate per se. It’s cacao. Cacao is the—”
    The reporter cut me off. “In two short years, you’ve gone from being the most infamous teenager in New York City to a club impresario with the most audacious idea this city has seen in a decade. How did it happen?”
    “Back to your other question. I wouldn’t say single-handedly—I’ve had a lot of help in making this come together. Theo Marquez and Charles Delacroix, for instance, have both been instrumental.” Theo was inside, but I