DupliKate by Cherry Cheva Read Free Book Online Page A

rolling her shoulders in a circle. “Okay, I’ll tell you when it gets here. You go back to studying, or…cleaning. Good lord.” She looked around at the complete and utter disaster that was my room, and I suppressed the urge to yell, “It wasn’t me!”
    I waited a few minutes after she left, then stuck my head inside my closet. Rina was sitting cross-legged on the floor and opened her mouth to say something. I quickly made a “shhhh” gesture with my finger.
    “She wants me to come down for dinner. Just stay in here, okay?” I whispered. “You can use my computer or something but if you even hear one stair squeaking, you gotta go back in the closet.” Rina nodded.
    I closed the door on her, then went downstairs and plopped down on the living room couch, pondering whether “Mommy and Me: The Adventures of Two Single Ladies Who Both Suck at Cooking” would be a good essay idea. Hmm, maybe. I jotted it down on a Post-it, then opened my AP Euro book, psyched to be away from Rina for a bit. Worst-case scenario, she would just have to…what? Shecouldn’t move in permanently. I couldn’t kick her out in the street, or send her to a homeless shelter, or stick her in the state foster care system.
    I was gonna have to figure this out somehow.
    Just not right now.

 
     
    MORE THINGS TO DO
Anything Paul asks
Figure out how to get rid of clone
Attempt not to go insaner
Essay!!!

CHAPTER SEVEN
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5
    THE NEXT MORNING IN THE MIDDLE OF EURO, Kyla leaned over and wrote, “Long lunch?” on my notebook. That’s Kyla-speak for ditching fifth period and going to the mall. I started to write back to her, but she flicked my pen aside and wrote, “Let me guess. No. Too much work.”
    I smiled ruefully and nodded. She rolled her eyes at me and wrote, “Sucks to be you!” I managed to scribble, “Thanks,” before we both got the feeling we were missing too much of the French Revolution lecture currently being spewed forth at the front of the room.
    Before lunch Kyla dangled her car keys in my face with her “one last chance!” look, but I waved her off as Anne walked up to me.
    “Hey, thanks for forwarding me that physics e-mail,” she said, fiddling with the end of her blond ponytail. “I can’tbelieve you were already home when I called yesterday. I figured I would just leave you a message.”
    I smiled and nodded at her, my fingers clenching slightly as I imagined strangling Rina. “Yeah, I was kinda speeding,” I said casually.
    “You sounded a little weird on the phone, though. Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, I just had a bad headache yesterday,” I explained, willing myself not to panic. She doesn’t know anything. She couldn’t possibly know anything! She’s just making conversation. I shook my head when Anne asked if I was coming to lunch, not relishing the thought of sitting down at a table with her, even with a bunch of our other friends. Instead, I bypassed the cafeteria altogether and dragged Paul to the yearbook office with me.
    “Hooking up on school grounds is your way of making up for practice yesterday, huh?” he asked, grinning as I pulled him inside and shut the door.
    “Shut up,” I said, chucking my bag onto the table in the middle of the room and sinking into a chair. The yearbook office is actually just a conference room inside the library, but the door is really thick, so you can make as much noise as you want. “This is me spending quality time with my boyfriend while also getting work done. Are you in or out?”
    “I’m in,” Paul said, leaning over to give me a quick kiss. “It’s far better for me to sit here and silently watch you workthan go back to the cafeteria, where people are actually having fun.” I shot him a warning look and he grinned. “Kidding, of course.” He sat down across from me and started eating, while I took out my laptop and opened up a blank document. The mom essay from last night had, predictably, fizzled out after half a page, so