BSC031 - Dawn's Wicked Stepsister - Martin, Ann M.

Chapter 1.

Mom's wedding bouquet was flying through the air. Mary Anne, my new stepsister, and I were both leaping for it. At the last second, Mary Anne's arms seemed to grow about five inches, and even though she is not terribly coordinated, she caught the bouquet.

I couldn't believe it.

The bouquet was my mother's. I should have caught it. Well, that wasn't quite true. I don't know of any rule that says a daughter should catch her mom's bouquet. Plus, there were several people behind Mary Anne and me - several other women who wanted to catch it, too - and we were all supposed to have an equal shot at it. Why did we want to catch it so badly? Because there's this belief that if an unmarried woman catches the bride's bouquet after the bride has tossed it, that woman will be the next to get married.

Now Mary Anne and I are only thirteen, so we didn't have any plans to get married, but I still thought I should have caught my own mother's bouquet. Anyway, I guess Mary Anne just tried a little harder than I did. After all, she's got a boyfriend. Logan Bruno. Maybe she hopes they'll get married someday, when they're older and ready for it.

Anyway, Mary Anne was holding the bouquet triumphantly over her head. "I caught it!" she said with a gasp.

Well, of course she'd caught it. She'd practically killed the rest of us in the process. I don't know why she was so surprised.

Everyone was laughing and cheering.

"All right, Mary Anne!" called Kristy Thomas, one of her best friends.

I got into the spirit of things. Mary Anne is shy - extremely shy. And she's one of the nicest people I know. She's my best friend, she's now my stepsister, and she does have a boyfriend, while I don't. So I didn't mind too much that she'd caught the bouquet. I found myself turning to her and giving her a big hug.

"Congratulations . . . sis!" I said.