Chapter 1 Maddie McMatthews was pretty sure she had the worst stepbrother in the entire world True there might be an eleven-year-old girl in Portugal or Tajikistan whose perfectly nice stepmom had a sarcastic prank-pulling punk for a son Maybe that poor girl was also forced to live under the same roof as the terrible troublemaker There was no way though that that girl had to put up with a boy as infuriating as Holden McNeal of Middle Grove New Jersey He was the obnoxious jerk with whom Maddie shared a wall a bathroom and a furious dislike The two stepsiblings even shared a birthday but Maddie was quick to correct anyone who mistakenly thought that they were twins We’re barely even related she’d say with a sigh and an eye-roll When her dad first announced that he was marrying Carol Maddie was thrilled She’d always wanted a brother She offered to show Holden around school and introduce him to everyone she knew Then how did he repay her By getting them all to follow him on Instagram and posting a picture of what Maddie’s hair looks like in the morning The image got shared dozens of times and became so well-known around school that three different girls dressed as Morning Maddie for Halloween Holden became known as the class clown She became known as the girl with clown hair It didn’t end there Holden erased all of Maddie’s favorite shows from the DVR so he could record wrestling matches He left his pet tarantula on her pillow so she would scream when she got into bed None of this even came close to the worst thing he had ever done the thing that put him in the Rotten Weasel Hall of Fame for all eternity and changed Maddie’s life forever Her stepbrother Holden McNeal broke up Cinderella’s wedding forcing her to go back to scrubbing floors for her wicked stepmother
Who even knew a fifth grader could do that It all started with a school assignment Maddie had to give an oral report on her favorite story and she chose Cinderella She had always found it so beautiful and romantic how a poor miserable girl could fall in love with a prince and end up the most envied woman in the kingdom Plus lately she related to the part about having wicked stepsiblings As usual Holden was determined to ruin her report the same way he ruined everything else First he mocked her diorama which she had spent weeks working on It showed Cinderella walking down the aisle to marry the prince looking stunning in a blue and white dress and her glass slippers Maddie made tiny dolls out of old T-shirts to represent Cinderella the prince the wicked stepmother and the two cruel stepsisters who wept watching Cinderella’s happily ever after She couldn’t wait to show her family the finished work The moment the glue dried she carried the shoe box downstairs to present it to them in the living room Ta-dah she announced with a flourish Her dad and Carol were so impressed they actually started clapping Maddie you’ve outdone yourself her dad cheered Carol gave her a giant hug All that hard work paid off she gushed I smell an A plus But her snot of a stepbrother refused to join in the praise He sat with his arms folded and huffed Why would she invite her wicked stepmother to her wedding Holden that’s not nice Dad said to him It’s a beautiful diorama Yeah for a lousy story Maddie was so hurt she responded with the meanest statement she could think of We’ll see if I invite you to my wedding someday Holden sneered as he did often and answered back with what seemed to be the meanest response he could think of Ugh like I’d want to go to your wedding Guys stop it Carol scolded Holden tried to act innocent What I said her diorama was nice It’s just that the
