Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel Read Free Book Online Page A

smile. Brandi calms right down after the waitress promises to bring a new latte.
    Beside me, Dylan rips open three packs of sweetener and pours them into her cup. I can hear the chemicals fizzling as they sink into her coffee.
    â€œSo, how much do you have left to spend?” she asks, stirring her drink with a little brown stick.
    I do a quick mental calculation.
    â€œAbout a hundred bucks.”
    The twins smile and rub their hands together with greedy excitement. Shopping is their all-time favourite hobby — especially when they’re spending someone else’s money.
    I turn and look at all the shopping bags balancing on the chair next to me and feel a big, empty hole open up inside my chest. Brandi and Dylan can have this stuff for all I care.
    I think about Grandma and how much I miss her and the hole widens so deep that I think it might just suck the rest of me in and swallow me up. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I blink them away. I want to run home, crawl into my safe bed, listen to my drippy faucet and never come out again.
    I don’t want the crap in these bags. I don’t want these parasites for friends. Yeah, we have a lot of fun together, but I don’t kid myself. Deep down, Dylan and Brandi are no different from anybody else in my school. I know they only like me because my family’s rich. I know they’re jealous of my house and my clothes and my parents’ status. And I know, without a shred of doubt, that they would stab me in the back the first chance they got.
    They aren’t real friends … I know that because the nastier I treat them, the more desperately they cling to me and kiss my ass. A real friend would call you out for being a bitch, tell you the truth about yourself, not put up with any crap.
    A real friend would like you for who you are — not what you own.
    Lora
    â€œLora, I need you to restock the stir sticks! ASAP !” bellows a voice from behind me.
    I don’t have to turn around to know that it’s Mike. He’s my boss at the coffee shop where I work on weekends — a short, stocky college freshman with the loudest mouth, pointiest teeth, and hairiest arms of anyone I’ve ever met. Mike’s on a massive power trip. It’s obvious to everyone within earshot how much he enjoys managing an all-female team of adolescent baristas. He loves ordering us around and never says please or thank you for anything. Totally typical alpha male. In fact, if I had to choose a primate subgroup to classify him into, I’d definitely have to go with baboon. Still, I’m careful not to let him know how I really feel. This job is too important.
    I’ve been working here part-time since the beginning of the school year. Daddy watches the kids while I’m gone — unless, of course, he’s on duty at the fire station. Then one of the other firefighters’ wives comes over to help out. It’s only twelve hours a week, but I know the extra little bit I earn here really helps our family. And, even though I’d rather be reading or doing homework, I actually don’t mind making moccaccinos and espressos for over-indulged, caffeine-addicted yuppies. It’s a nice break from the stresses of home and school.
    I’ve even made a friend here. Her name is Madison, she’s sixteen, has green hair, a nose ring, and dropped out of school earlier this year. She’s the only person who knows the truth about what’s going on with my family.
    Next month, we’re going to start staying open late on Sunday nights for poetry readings. After half an hour of begging, Daddy agreed to let me stay and work late those nights — on the condition, of course, that I always have a lift home. I worked it out with Madison — on the nights Daddy’s at the fire station, she’s promised to drive me.
    â€œDid you hear me, Froggett?” Mike hollers. “I need stir sticks now!”
    â€œOkay, sure,