Cutting Up The Competition (Horror High #2) by Carissa Ann Lynch Read Free Book Online Page A

parking lot. We are still investigating the scene. This entire school is a crime scene now. So, please have your parents pick you up immediately,” Detective Simms repeated, his voice gruff.
    “I can’t call mine. Neither can Sydney or Dakota. You have our cell phones, remember?” I asked.
    The detective nodded, looking exasperated by my question. “You will have your phone back soon enough. In the meantime, I already called all three of your parents. Your mother is picking you up, Amanda.”
    I groaned, throwing up my hands. I felt disgusted.
    For the next hour, I watched other people’s parents come and go. Dakota’s mother took home Dakota and Sydney. Mariella’s stepmom and sister came after that. I even watched Jordan and Winter leave. He waved to me and to his girlfriend , climbing in the back of a fancy black sports car.
    When Mom finally showed up, I didn’t even know it was her. I squinted at a cherry red antique car, surprised to see my mother sitting behind the wheel.
    I climbed in tentatively, then stared at her with questioning eyes.
    “What’d you do to get this? Rob a bank?”
    It was a low blow. Very low, in fact, considering my father did exactly that when he was hard up for cash. His decision cost many people their lives that day at the bank, including a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old son. It even cost him his own life…
    “You need to apologize.” I could feel her glaring at me.
    “I’m sorry,” I muttered, but I really wasn’t. She was as much to blame for me living with Grandma Mimi as my dad was. Unlike him, she was able to take care of me…she just chose not to.
    My mom put the ancient car in gear, rolling through the parking lot and out toward the main road.
    She spoke up suddenly. “As a matter of fact, this is your grandmother’s car. It’s been sitting in her garage for ages. It took me a few minutes to get it started.”
    “Wait. Grandma’s car?”
    I ran my palms across the smooth, faded leather seats. It was nice, a luxury car for someone in the forties or fifties.
    “It’s from the fifties,” my mom said, reading my mind.
    “It’s hard to imagine Grandma driving this…driving anything or anywhere…”
    “Oh, Mimi was quite a showboat in her day. She had money and fame, all of it…she was beautiful and glamorous—quite the charmer, indeed.”
    “Like my father?” I turned to look at her, really seeing her for the first time since she showed back up in my life. She seemed harder, worn out…but her hands around the wheel were soft, gentle. Images of her tickling behind my ears, pressing her face against mine…the images fluttered in and then they went back out…
    “Yes, like your father.”
    I realized then that she was pulling over, slowing down against a grassy patch on the side of Utica.
    “Why are you stopping?” I asked. But she didn’t answer—just put the car in park, unbuckled her seatbelt, and turned to look at me.
    “Look, I’m not going to make any promises this time…”
    Oh boy, here we go again.
    “But I love you, Mandy. Always have and always will. You captured my heart the day you were born. You’ve had my heart ever since. I know my actions don’t always match what’s inside, but God…I love you, Mandy. I love you so much.”
    Her eyes brimmed over with tears. Surprisingly, I wanted to hug her.
    I realized then how long it’d been since anyone touched me. I saw Mimi every day, but she wasn’t like a mother and I didn’t have a boyfriend to hold me… Jordan was the first guy to really hold me and when he pulled me close today, it felt so good …
    But then I remembered his girlfriend, Lauren.
    My mother reached across the seat, pulling me in for a hug. I let her hug me, enjoying it more than I’d like to admit.
    “Tell me what’s going on at school,” she said, finally pulling away and looking straight into my face. She looked serious, worried. “Do I need to take you out of that school?”
    “Mom, you don’t even