Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter Read Free Book Online

mother say, "Senator, Mrs. McHenry, it's so nice to see you
both again. I'm only sorry it has to be under such troubling
circumstances." She gestured toward the front doors. "Won't you come
in?"
    Just
when I felt myself getting pushed out of the picture, the procession stopped.
The senior senator from Virginia stepped toward me and said,
"Cammie?" He placed his large hands on both of my shoulders, gripping
tightly.
    "Thank
you," he said, and I could have sworn I heard his voice crack. When he
looked into my eyes, I couldn't help myself: I felt my lips tremble. My vision
blurred. It was easy to remember what having a father feels like as the senator
whispered, "And I'm so sorry."
    It
might have been about the sweetest, most genuine moment in McHenry family
history, if Macey's mother hadn't then turned to her daughter and whispered,
"Go to the bathroom and put some concealer on that." She pointed to
the bruise at the corner of Macey's eye. "Really," she told her
daughter, "there's no need to look like a common street thug when there
aren't even any cameras around."
    And, like that, the moment was
over.
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    There are
many things to love about the welcome-back dinner.
    1.                 Hearing
what everyone did over their summer vacation (which is probably far more
interesting at a school where there's a very good possibility that the stories
include actual gunfire).
    2.                 The
fact that even though Grandma Morgan probably makes the best chicken and
dumplings in the entire world, our chef used to work at the White House, and
sometimes a girl just needs a little crème brûlée.
    3.                 Gossip.
     
     
    But
that night, neither I nor 2 could really hold a candle to 3. At all.
    "So,
Cammie," Tina Walters said as she squeezed onto
    the
bench across from me, squishing Liz and Anna Fetterman together, "I heard
you put three of them in the hospital."
    "Tina," I sighed,
"it wasn't like that."
    Eva
Alvarez was trying to sign Macey's cast, which was difficult because the
campaign manager didn't want anything to obscure the big Winters-McHenry
sticker already plastered on Macey's forearm. Bex was picking apart one of the
rolls from the basket on the table (even though the teachers hadn't made their
entrance yet and, therefore, eating could be punishable by death—or at the very
least some serious Culture and Assimilation extra homework if Madame Dabney
caught you.)
    "And,
Macey"—Tina whirled on the girl beside me— "rumor has it you were
spotted In a compromising position with a certain future first son."
    And just like that, everything
got quiet again.
    The
entire junior class turned and stared, but I kept doing exactly what I had
been: studying Macey. The snob who had come to us a year before would have
scoffed; the girl who had covered two years' worth of advanced encryption in
nine months might have rolled her eyes; but the girl beside me simply said,
"Someone needs better sources."
    It
was the first time she'd spoken, and something in her tone made me wonder
whether or not the girl by the lake was gone for good.
    "So,
who thinks we'll have to stay in Code Red all semester?" Anna Fetterman
asked, not even trying to disguise the fear in her voice.
    My
roommates and I all looked at each other, the scene that we'd witnessed outside
playing over all of our faces.
    "Well,
they are going to give you a full-time Secret Service detail, aren't
they?" Tina asked.
    Macey nodded.
    "Maybe
the Secret Service … you know"—Liz hesitated and then lowered her voice to
a whisper— "knows."
    But
all I could think about were the agents who had questioned me after Boston, the
lies I'd already had to tell to keep our secret safe.
    "Mom
wouldn't," I started. "She wouldn't agree to that."
    "It
would be a pretty good test, though, wouldn't it?" Bex asked. I could tell
by the tone of her voice that she was already gearing up for the challenge—the
thought