Belle of the Brawl by Lisi Harrison Read Free Book Online

“She’s just telling me about our homework for, um, a project we’re doing.”
    Once Nurse Nightengale slid Allie’s door shut, she resumed her discussion with Charlie.
    “So anyway, yeah. I’m emotionally ill. I threw myself at Darwin and he rejected me. Not to mention that AJ sings these vicious songs about me, and everyone else in schoolexcept you and Skye still thinks I’m a psycho identity thief who deserves to be avoided like the plague.”
    “But you’re about to hit your stride. All of this will just make you stronger!” Charlie smoothed out a wrinkle in her pleated mini and furrowed her brow emphatically.
    “No, all of this would make
you
stronger,” Allie said, her voice wavering. She sat up and looked Charlie in the eye. “I’m not like you, Charlie. I’m not a real Alpha. I don’t have a real talent, or any idea of what it could be. It’s different for you. You go into that lab and you know exactly what you’re doing. I have no idea what I’m doing here. And without Darwin, I have no purpose—”
    Just then, the door to her room opened, interrupting Allie and Charlie yet again.
Seriousleh, can’t they let a girl recuperate?
But she reasoned that it wouldn’t be the Alpha Island infirmary unless they pulled out all the stops.
    “Knock knock, Allie,” Nurse Nightengale said, the mole on her chin wobbling as she talked. “I brought you a cool compress with juniper and begonia essence. Proven to reduce fever.”
    Allie took the pink washcloth, monogrammed with two A’s in darker pink script, and fell back on her pillow. She whispered a tortured “thanks” before slapping the cloth onto her forehead and shutting her eyes.
    “I’m going soon, I promise,” she heard Charlie say to the nurse.
    When her door slid shut again, Allie continued.
    “So for now, this is where I belong. In hiding. If I can’t be an Alpha at least I can do a great job of faking sick.”
    “Faking sick is no way to get over…” Charlie stopped mid-rant and stared at Allie like she was her own personal science experiment. “Wait a second. Your performance in here, in front of the nurse! It’s Oscar-worthy, Allie. You’ve been sitting on this huge talent and calling it
faking
.”
    “Faking is a
talent
?”
    “Yeah,” Charlie laughed. “It is. It’s called
acting
.”
    Allie ran an unsure hand through her honey-blond hair.
Acting?
She’d always been a good fake—she was great at faking being AJ, until the real AJ showed up and ruined it. She was great at faking deafness when AJ sang her crappy songs about her. She’d faked Cream of Wheat tasting good when she’d posed as a model for a supermarket coupon spread. And when she was ten, she’d done such a good job of faking sadness over the death of Sir Swimmy, her goldfish, that her father had gone out and bought her a kitten. Then she’d faked being allergic to Sizzles the kitten so she wouldn’t have to change his litter box.
    “Maybe you’re right,” she conceded. “They are pretty much the same thing.”
    “Of course I’m right.” Charlie grinned. “And I have a way to put your acting skills to use.”
    “How?” asked Allie.
    “I brought you this,” Charlie said, reaching into her bra. She rolled her brown eyes toward the ceiling as she pulled out a glossy page of a magazine that had been folded to the size of a stick of gum. “It’s from Italian
Vogue
.” Charlie passed it to Allie.
    “You want me to fake being Kate Moss in Italy?” Allie unfolded it slowly, careful not to rip the glossy paper.
    “Just open it,” Charlie said.
    Gently smoothing out the paper on her rolling hospital tray, Allie sucked in her breath.
Adorable!
It was Darwin’s older brother, the blond and chiseled Melbourne, posing in an ad for an Italian denim company called Cara Mio. In the black-and-white picture, Melbourne was shirtless and leaning up against a wall, eyeing a miniskirted girl who was halfway out of the frame.
    “Nice six-pack. Nice jaw. Good