17. Leaving the Nest

ADRIAN

Everyone was always right except me! What did I do to my parents to make them always, always, always take the other side against me?

In some bizarro world, I could blame Natasha's behavior on her trying to live up to the Evil Stepmother stereotype. She might just be hardwired from pop culture to think it was her "job" to be mean to me.

I'd buy it except Natasha had never been remotely Evil Stepmother material from the first date she'd gone on with my dad. There was something kind about her I could sense from the very first meeting; she reminded me of Meghan which had always made me think Meghan must have taken her sweetness after her mom.

My dad might claim he had issues with me because I looked so much like my dead mother, but what the Hell? He was taking his heartbreak out on me after he'd already moved on? Remarried and started a new life with a new wife?

Neither of my parents had any obvious reason to be biased against me.

I didn't do drugs, wasn't a terrible student, d