Mission (Un)Popular by Anna Humphrey Read Free Book Online

wallpaper and a snap of her fingers, she could make it beautiful. Now, if only she could come fix my life.…
    Bryan stood, staring over my shoulder while they panned the camera around for the “before” shot of the bedroom. It had bright purple walls and curtains with geometric shapes on them. It looked like it had been decorated by a first grade math teacher.
    I could hear him take a deep breath, trying to center himself. It’s part of this new yogic-peacefulness thing he’s doing. You’re supposed to “rise above your challenges” and “ride a wave of calm.” I know it’s mean, but sometimes I like to see how far I can push him.
    â€œCouldn’t you turn it off?” he tried again. “I’d be back from the store in half the time. Also, you and your sisters could spend some quality time together. We would all benefit.”
    â€œThat might be true, Bryan,” I said, still not looking at him, “but I think I would benefit more from watching this show because I really want to redecorate my room.”
    I could hear him breathing even more deeply; so deeply I had this vision of him accidentally inhaling the magazines I had lying on the coffee table. And, I swear, the pages of the September CosmoGirl did flutter when he exhaled.
    â€œI understand that you’re enjoying your television program, Margot, but sometimes we need to make sacrifices in this family to help each other out.” His voice was less yogicly peaceful now, but I honestly didn’t care. I can’t stand when he pulls that “in this family” stuff on me; like he suddenly gets to decide what “this family” does and doesn’t do. He’s not my father, and it’s not like I asked for three sisters.
    â€œI need some time alone right now, okay?” I said, looking up from the couch. “I’m dealing with a lot. And in case you don’t remember, I spent quality time with my sisters pretty much every day this summer. Can’t you please take your children to the store so I can mourn the loss of my best friend in private?”
    Bryan took another deep breath, then turned and left the room. Thank God, I thought, directing my full attention back to the show.
    But before you go thinking I’m a big unhelpful jerk, let me explain. It’s not that I don’t love my sisters. I do. I’ve loved them right from the start, but that doesn’t mean I want to be with them constantly, and it doesn’t mean I feel the same way about Bryan.
    I was just about to start fourth grade the summer my mom met him at a vegan potluck dinner. (They brought almost exactly the same couscous salad with raisins, so it was like fate or something.) If I’d only known how much damage he was going to do to my life, I would have definitely tried harder to scare him off. But Bryan looked so harmless with his flaxseed cereal and drippy sentimental ways that he hardly seemed worth the trouble. Plus, Mom had never gotten very serious about the other guys she’d dated, and I figured it would be the same. Huge mistake.
    Eight months later he gave my mom a moon-and-star engagement ring and proposed by candlelight on the winter solstice—something she thought was totally romantic, but I thought was kind of cheap. He could have at least sprung for a diamond and some electricity. I mean, my mom’s pretty amazing, as moms go. She’s smart and resourceful, not to mention beautiful—with light blue eyes and long blond hair that reaches all the way down her back and is just starting to go gray.
    Still, she said yes, and four months later I was the flower girl at their riverside wedding. All of Bryan’s family came, including his horrible mother, Dotty.
    â€œI think it will be nice for Margot,” she’d said to her cousin Flo, as they heaped their plates full of salads and casseroles at the homemade buffet. “It’s sad, you know, her father