My Life as the Ugly Stepsister Read Online Free PDF Page B

vagina, and then press with my other hand on you abdomen to feel your uterus and ovaries. It won’t hurt, either.”
    “Great,” I said. Sounds delightful. Mom had done this every year since she was twelve?
    I was starting to feel kind of violated. Even though I knew it was all legitimate. And my mother was right. It was over with faster than a trip to the dentist.
    “We’re all finished here.” Dr. Peeden stripped off her gloves and threw them in the trash. She turned off the light. “Go ahead and get dressed. And I’ll see you in a year.”
    Yeah. Right.
    “Don’t forget to go over those pamphlets on the HPV vaccine with your mother.”
     
     
    Mom took me for lunch at my favorite restaurant and then bought me two new CD’s. It didn’t buy her my forgiveness, but I wasn’t going to turn down good stuff either.
    I’d already been through a lot today, so I tried to convince her to wait on introducing Mojo to Jonathan’s dog.
    “I don’t want to put it off, Ally.” Mom said when we pulled up at our house. “We need to know if they hate each other so I can make other arrangements.”
    I wasted no time ejecting my CD and sticking it in the gem case. “Like forcing Diane to let me keep him in the house?”
    Mom grimaced. “No. Like find someone else to watch him.”
    We’d already had two hours of discussion about Diane and Mojo. Mom couldn’t force Dad and Diane to do anything. Of course Mom thought keeping him next door was absolutely reasonable since I’d get to see Mojo as much as I wanted.
    Watching two dogs sniff each other’s butts didn’t sound good to me after being felt up at the gynecologist. Dealing with a cute guy was enough of a challenge when I hadn’t just had a woman’s hands all over me. When you start off your day in a paper gown, you don’t have the strength left for another crisis.
    Mojo greeted me excitedly when I entered the house and I rubbed his head. “Hey, baby,” I said in my puppy dog voice. “You want to go meet a new friend?”
    Mojo seemed to like the idea because he jumped up with his paws on my stomach, but then he had no clue what I was saying. He didn’t usually play with other dogs and when I walked him and he sniffed other dogs in the park, well, he tried to eat them. So no pressure. The chances of him getting along with Jonathan’s dog were…great.
    The way my life was going, I really just wanted to hug my dog, cry, and hide under my bed. I ran to my room, wiggled out of my skirt, and pulled on a pair of shorts. Mojo wagged his tail as he followed me back to the door.
    My dog loves to ride in the car so Mom keeps an old blanket over the back seat. Sometimes Mom takes him along when she’s running errands. The drive-thru at our bank will even give him a dog biscuit. And sometimes, the guy at Wendy’s gives him a free burger. My friend says they chop up the overcooked burgers and put them in the chili, but every now and then one goes to Mojo.
    I hooked his leash to his collar, and he practically bounced off the walls. He jumped right into Mom’s Camry, and I shut the back door. I knew better than to ride over there in the back with him. He liked to run from side to side to see out both windows. I climbed in the front, and we headed over to my dad’s.
    Dad and Diane had bought a house as far away from ours as possible in Charlotte. I wondered if they’d opened a map and done it on purpose. Probably. It would be just like Dad to do something like that. And I wouldn’t put anything past Diane.
    At home, we didn’t have a fence for Mojo. I just walked him every day, and he sometimes stayed on a line outside. I knew it would be good for him to get to run. It was just the being away from him part that worried me. Well, that and the other dog. It didn’t matter which one came out on top. If they fought, it would be bad for me. And Mojo.
    Mojo stuck his black and brown head between the seats to see out the front, and I rubbed behind his ears. Years of