Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn Read Free Book Online Page B

tell myself not to panic,
    that this was all just a coincidence. It didn’t mean that this girl
    was his sister. I mean, this could have been his girlfriend.
    “Come on, loser!” the girl yelled.
    Maybe it was his girlfriend and they had a very strange
    relationship.
    “That’s my sister,” Josh said, and the last of my illusions were
    crushed. “Coming!” he yelled toward the Jeep, but I saw to my horror
    that the girl had parked the car and was heading toward us. It was
    her, it had to be, but I still couldn’t quite believe it until she walked
    up the three steps to the platform and was standing in front of me.
    Hallie.
    The girl who I tried never to think about, but who nonetheless
    came into my head whenever I thought about the worst things I’d
    ever done. The girl who I’d been crueler to than anyone else, ever.
    The girl whose life I had tried to ruin— and had come damn close—
    fi ve years before.
    “Hey,” she said, bumping him with her shoulder, then shriek-
    ing when he picked her up in a sudden bear hug, then dropped
    her when she was still a few inches off the ground. “Stop,” she
    said, but she was laughing as she whacked his arm. “Ready to go?”
    “Sure,” Josh said as he shouldered his bag. Hallie looked right
    at me then, full on. I saw confusion and then shock pass over her
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    features as she looked closer, frowning.
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    “Sorry,” she said, not taking her eyes from me, and I noticed
    her voice was the same, raspier than you’d expect, like she’d been
    a lifelong smoker, even at eleven. And though she didn’t look just
    like as she had when we were kids, it was unmistakably her. She
    had the same eyes, green and almond- shaped. Her hair was a
    slightly darker shade than the bright blond I remembered, but it
    was still long and curly, and it fl owed over her shoulders and down
    her back.
    I registered in a far- off, panicky way that she hadn’t taken
    her eyes from me, and I could practically hear her brain whirring
    as she leaned closer to me, studying my features. She narrowed
    her eyes and a terrible, sick feeling overcame me. It was as though
    I had just found myself in one of my worst nightmares. “Wait a sec-
    ond,” she said, her voice cold. “Are you . . .”
    “Where are my manners?” Josh said, smiling at me, clearly
    not picking up on what was happening— namely, that I was prob-
    ably about fi ve seconds away from getting my butt kicked. “This
    is my sister, Henrietta. Hallie,” he corrected quickly after seeing
    the murderous glance she shot him. “Hallie, this is Sophie . . .”
    He paused, looking at me expectantly. “Curtis,” I said auto-
    matically, because that’s just what I always said after Sophie. “But
    wait,” I corrected quickly. “That’s not my—”
    “Sophie,” Hallie repeated. I saw her eyes fl ick down to my S
    necklace, the name on the cup in my hand, then to my hair and
    back to my face. “Sorry,” she said. The confusion— and fury— that
    had been in her expression just a second before were now fading
    -1—
    away. “I thought you were . . .” She shook her head. “I guess not.
    0—
    Never mind.”
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    “No,” I said, but so faintly that even I could barely hear my-
    self. “I’m not . . .”
    “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said with a big smile.
    Nice to meet me. Nice . To meet me. These words reverberated
    in my head. I knew that brave— and sane— people would have used
    the moment to explain that, actually, we’d met before, we knew
    each other quite well, and she was justifi ed in her hatred of me.
    But I couldn’t help thinking about all the things that were
    suddenly falling into place. My hair was an unrecognizable shade.
    My nose was straight. And there was the simple fact that I