Chapter Five
Nothing happens.
Apparently these girls are supposed to sleep in a perfect pose and Ella can't do it.
Ella sees Penn and a girl swimming in the pool through her window. They kiss. Ella feels funny. Because she totally knows to be jealous considering her upbringing. Yeesh.
The next morning, Ella wanders around the fancy yard.
Ruby's room overlooked the front of the house, but one of those windows might belong to Penn. The thought of him made my face flush.
Great. She discovered she has hormones.
My feet were cold from walking barefoot across the lawn, and I laid them in a patch of sun at the bottom of the cushions and closed my eyes [. . .]
That is such an awkward way to phrase the fact that she put her feet on a cushion. She thinks about the books that Ruby offered to let her borrow.
HOLY SHIT SO.... APPARENTLY THE GIRLS AREN'T TAUGHT TO READ. WHAT. HOW. NO. STOP. HOLD THE FUCK UP.
So they raise girls to be the perfect companions, and read aloud to them, but don't bother to teach them fucking anything but how to play music and dance and paint a little? What the actual hell, these are living breathing dolls, what the actual hell?!
That doesn't make ANY SENSE unless they really are just supposed to be sex dolls. It's just like, you're trying to create the perfect companion who is specifically stated to have "conversation classes" and you don't even give them the ability to read and have intelligence to have INTELLIGENT conversation. Futher proof they're just sex dolls with a pulse. She can read music, btw. I guess she learns all her lyrics by rote.
Penn shows up, because he wanted to outside to write some song lyrics, and they talk a bit about the landscaping. Ella stutters a couple times.
Y'know, for someone trained in conversation, she's really socially awkward. I think she's had maybe two conversations in the entire book where she didn't bumble and cry or feel stupid for "messing up".
Penn brings up the fact that it's only been a very short while since their last "pet" went back, and he's not happy with his dad.
"He's so obsessed with what it would look like if we don't have one after all the time he spent getting the legislation passed and everything."
John deserves death.
Penn picks a flower and puts it behind Ella's ear and then leaves. Okay then.
Then John shows up, all worried because he thought she ran away.
His gaze skimmed my nightgown and then quickly went back up to my face. The blush that crept up my neck and onto my cheeks made me feel more exposed than the sheer fabric, but I didn't make a move to cover myself for fear I'd offend him.
YIKES.
just. YIKES.
WHY IS THIS BOOK SO CREEPY OMG.
John tells a story about a beagle he had who ran away, and then asks for assurance that Ella won't run away.
I didn't like being compared to a dog.
....You bonehead you grew up in a place called the Kennels.
Chapter Six
Ruby wants to go swimming, and Ella is afraid because she can't swim. At least that makes sense. Elise is outside when they go out, and she makes some comment about Ruby putting sunscreen on Ella so she doesn't get freckles or burn.
Or you could teach Ella how to do it since she's capable of performing complex piano arrangements.
And then Ruby completely forgoes actually putting sunscreen on Ella.
This gon' be Ella
Ella is very hesitant to do much in the water because she's afraid, and Ruby keeps coaxing her to do more. Ruby tackles her, and Ella freaks out because, hi, drowning.
Penn the Lifeguard saves the day and pulls her out. Thankfully he does not try CPR.
Ruby apologizes and asks why Ella didn't say she couldn't swim.
"Just leave her alone," Penn said, swatting his little sister away. "She's not a toy."
I mean, yeah, that's true, but Ruby was asking a legit, honest question. Penn's response doesn't really have anything to do with a child's confusion over people NOT TELLING HER IMPORTANT SHIT.
I really hate doormat protagonists, and Ella was TRAINED to be one. So I guess at least it makes sense, but I still hate it.
Penn leaves once he sees Ella is okay. She ogles his back and shoulders. I was going to make some comment about priorities after nearly drowning but I once got rescued by a lifeguard at the beach and yes, I totally noticed he was hot. But I didn't nearly die (I just kept getting caught in the undertow and my hair kept getting in my face), so there's that.
Even now, with my throat and eyes stinging from the water, I could still picture the look of his bare skin floating in the pool the night before.
Okay yeah, that's weird. I wasn't thinking "HOT LIFEGUARD PRETTY" when I sat on the beach coughing up water after being rescued. I mostly thought "god I feel like an idiot and now I have sand everywhere".
Ruby gets a phone call and towels off to grab the phone from the maid Rosa. So super rich ten year olds in the future don't have their own cell phones? I call shenanigans.
Wait I don't even know if it's in the future, since this world building sucks!
So apparently Ruby didn't get invited to some function and apparently she has no friends. Not surprising, if her dad is a douchebag politician. I feel bad for her though, she's obviously a product of her upbringing and she treats Ella better than almost anyone (Penn has barely been in the story so far though I can't say much about him even though they're gonna fall in love).
And then that chapter is abruptly over. Okay.
Yanno, the book actually isn't too bad when she's playing with Ruby. It's actually pretty cute. Ruby sometimes acts younger than ten, but she's a nice kid and so far I think, as written, she could grow up to be a good adult if she realizes the girls are normal people who have fundamental human rights, no matter what her douchechill of a dad does.
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