Dead Ringer by Jessie Rosen Read Free Book Online Page A

spend time pretending to be her friend. Laura didn’t respond for a
moment, which Amanda took as an invitation to explain herself further.
    “Listen, Laura, Charlie is damaged goods. Seriously damaged.
Even if you could have him, you wouldn’t want him.” Now Amanda actually seemed
genuine.
    “What’s wrong with him?” Laura asked.
    “It’s not my place to tell you, but let’s just say he’s been
through a really hard time, and he’s only just getting over it all.”
    “So then why do you want him?” Laura asked. Amanda’s
eyebrows almost shot out of her head. It took her another second or so to
respond, and when she did it was with a tone so scary that Laura’s skin
actually tingled.
    “I’ll just say that Charlie and I are eternally bound, and
nothing can change that.”

 
     
    Charlie
     
    “Let’s go, Sanders! Belly flop
contest out back! Get your ass in the pool!” Miller yelled from the kitchen
through to the living room where Charlie was standing with Billy Cosentino and
Cole Williams-Ficarra, two senior guys from the team.
    Charlie turned to yell out the sliding glass doors, “Nice!
Be out in a minute!” In a minute, Miller would forget the whole thing.
    Miller could make a competition out of absolutely anything,
but Charlie wasn’t in the mood. A lot of that had to do with the fact that he
couldn’t look at him without hearing the recording from that creepy VidBit
playing over and over in his head.
    All week long, Charlie had been trying to figure out the
source of what he assumed was a prank. Maybe Miller was just being a dick. It
was possible considering he was known for hiding various vile-smelling things
in the lockers of their teammates. And one time, every single player found
their boxers replaced with ladies’ thongs when they came in to change after
practice. But Charlie had trouble believing that Miller would joke about that
night, which left him clueless about the source. The obvious next step should
have been to discuss it with Kit or Amanda, but Charlie couldn’t bring himself
to ruffle those feathers. They didn’t need an excuse to turn on the paranoia
again. For now, Charlie would wait.
    As Charlie turned back to Billy and Cole, he saw Amanda
slink into the room. The guys clearly saw her, too. She wore dark, tight jeans
with tan boots and a simple, white V-neck T-shirt. Charlie could make out the
lace of her bra underneath the shirt, and he knew that was the detail Amanda
had spent the most time deciding on—which lace bra would peek out just
enough to be noticed? Most girls went through some period of awkwardness
somewhere around the middle-school years, but Amanda had gone straight from
cute to hot.
    She smiled in his direction and Charlie smiled back. Charlie
often wondered if things would have been easier for him had he and Amanda
stayed together after everything. She certainly made the case for that when he
finally called it off. Charlie thought back on that painful moment now—Amanda’s
uncharacteristic tears and her even more uncharacteristic begging.
    “We need each other, Carly,” she’d said. “Who’ll tell you to
stop being so naïve and me to stop being such a bitch?” She wasn’t entirely
wrong, but Charlie was of the opinion that what they needed most after
everything that happened was space. He would have preferred that Amanda didn’t
claim to have dumped him, but it wasn’t worth correcting the rumor mill. At the
time, he just needed to be apart from her. Of course, since then Amanda had
taken it upon herself to treat him like they’d never broken up, insofar as the
typical girlfriend discipline was concerned.
    “Are you going to wear that dirty polo?” she’d say if he
picked her up for a party, or, “were you going to tell me you invited Cassie
Butler to homecoming?” Charlie doubted much would change if they became a
couple again; Amanda would just be able to do all those things out in the open.
    “How are you tonight, Charlie?” Kit