Movers and Fakers (18 page)

“We’ll see,” Skye said to his retreating back. She was like human Ritalin—she would keep Taz focused, and with minimal side
effects.

Ping!

A text on Skye’s aPod killed her peaceful moment dead.

What now???

SHIRA: REPORT TO MY OFFICE AFTER YOUR NEXT CLASS.

HAD No. 8: Mercy.

THE THINKER
’S GROTTO

STONE BENCH

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH

4:58 P.M.

Allie plopped down onto the stone bench and stared up at the shimmering gold statue, a replica of Rodin’s
Thinker
coated in 24-karat gold like a giant Oscar award. The grotto was at the end of a gravel walkway, in the center of a grove
of poplars between the Pavilion and the dorms. Late-afternoon sun bounced off
The Thinker
’s melancholy eyes, and Allie squinted against it, wondering what he would be thinking if he were real. He was probably thinking
about someone who broke his heart, just like she was. Only now she wasn’t sure who had left her more heartbroken: Darwin when
he ran off after depositing her at the door of Jackie O or Charlie for setting her up to get caught.

Now that Allie thought about it, she was suffering from three heartbreaks: over Charlie, Darwin, and herself. Now she’d never
get to find out if she had real potential, if she could actually hack it as an Alpha. She had about as much chance of not
getting kicked off the island as AJ had of showing up to class in a leather bomber jacket and snakeskin boots.

Her crazy schedule was wearing her out faster than Jessica Simpson went through boyfriends, and she was no closer to figuring
out what she was good at. Today in Social Networking for Future Moguls, the girls were supposed to use Twitter to post Alphas-inspired
nursery rhymes. After listlessly clicking around for a while, the highlight of Allie’s day came when she settled on a few
choice hate-tweets:

Roses are red, violets are blue, I trusted a friend, now I feel like poo.

Eenie meanie Charlie foe, catch a liar by the toe. When she frames you, it will show. Charlie dearest, now I know.

Charlie Charlie oh-so-gnarly,

how does your cold heart grow?

With evil plans and techno-scams

And broken hearts all in a row.

In Romance Languages, Allie was informed she had flunked her quiz in three languages. In her Art of Excellence class, when
asked to draw a picture of her life plan, Allie drew a picture of herself working at Hot Dog on a Stick. Soon enough, Shira
would most likely be dipping her in batter and frying her butt.

“If you lack vision in this class, you lack vision in life,” her teacher Eunice Vanderlawn, life coach to the stars, had said.
She’d given Allie a worried look, adding: “Failure isn’t as hard to come by as you might think at your age.” Allie didn’t
think failure was hard to come by at all. She lived it every day. She promised to try harder from now on, but when she imagined
her future, all she saw was a blank page.

And in Iyengar Yoga and Meditation, Allie tried for pigeon pose and ended up closer to dead duck, pulling a muscle in her
back that sent her into agonizing spasms for an hour afterward. It still hurt, which was why she’d stopped to rest next to
The Thinker
on her way to Jackie O. Staring glumly at the statue, Allie willed her back to stop throbbing so she could crawl between
her sheets and close her eyes.

And to think she was feeling so hopeful just last night—less than twenty-four hours ago! Before the cameras blinked on and
ruined her perfect rom-com makeup moment with Darwin, Allie actually thought she might find happiness again at Alpha Academy.
But all she’d found last night was more exhaustion and a stronger-than-ever feeling of not belonging here. None of her nine
classes spoke to her; she wasn’t better than average in any of them. And at this school, surrounded by the most competitive,
talented, driven-to-succeed girls on earth, just being average was the same as being a failure. Allie was an Alpha in Reverse:
as insubstantial as AIR. She had no talent, no friends, and no future.

What am I doing here?

Allie beamed her question at
The Thinker
, willing him to provide some sort of answer, but his chin remained planted on his hand, his eyes fixed on some inscrutable
point in the distance.

“If you’re trying to start a staring contest, he’ll beat you every time.”

Charlie.

Allie stood up and faced her former friend, who smiled at her like nothing was wrong, like she hadn’t betrayed her last night,
framing her like they were sorority rivals in
The House Bunny
. In fact, Charlie looked weirdly happy to see Allie.

So you’re my friend to my face, and you stab me in the back only when you’re bored at night?

“So…?” Charlie smiled, seemingly oblivious to the death-daggers shooting out of Allie’s eyes. “What happened last night? How
did everything go with Darwin? Did AJ get on the party train? Did Skye choose between Syd and Taz? Fill a girl in!”

Allie couldn’t believe Charlie’s nerve! Did she seriously think Allie wouldn’t figure out the setup?

“You’re a better actress than I am,” she finally said, crossing her arms protectively over her Alpha uniform, shielding herself
against Charlie’s syrupy-sweet lies.

Charlie blinked, cocking her head at Allie as if to ask if she’d watched one too many episodes of
One Life to Live
. “What am I acting like?”

“A friend!” Allie exploded. “But you were never a friend! You were always just a spy for Shira, out for your own best interests.
But the worst part of all of this is that you let me believe you were over Darwin! That is so… so… freaky!”

Allie stared at the ground, spotting a small brown lizard. She watched as it crawled up
The Thinker
’s leg and instantly changed from tan to gold.
How perfect
. Just like Charlie—changing colors to get what she wants. “And also, it’s just sad,” Allie added, turning back to face Charlie.

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I told you, I’m over Darwin.” Charlie continued to blink her big brown eyes
at Allie like she’d just sprouted a unicorn’s horn, but her face had turned beet red.

“Ha.” Allie smiled bitterly. “Then it would have been
nice
,” she hissed, turning away from her frenemy and focusing her navy blue eyes on the lizard, which was now crawling along
The Thinker
’s arm, “to give me a warning before you turned the cameras on. A
friend
would have done that. An
acquaintance
would have done it. Only someone who was trying to get me
kicked out
would turn the cameras on at the exact moment I was about to make up with Darwin on the beach!”

“The beach?” Charlie groaned. “You were on the beach?”

“Where else would we have a rom-com make-up moment!?” Allie spat. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know exactly where Darwin would
want to go.”

“Ugh!” Charlie smacked her forehead loud enough to make Allie flinch. “Honestly, I didn’t think about it. I guess I thought
you were going to find Darwin and meet up with Skye on the train. I texted Skye, thinking she’d take care of—” Her eyes filled
with tears as she trailed off, staring imploringly at Allie. “I’m sorry. I was really overwhelmed. I should have texted you,
too.”

Allie looked away, hurt and anger roaring in her ears. She wasn’t going to let Charlie manipulate her any further. She’d been
her pawn long enough.

“Puh-lease, Charlie.” Allie’s hands shook with righteous fury. She stood up, balling them into fists and shoving them roughly
into her pockets. “Enough. Just admit you did it on purpose. Tell the truth.”
The Thinker
kept on thinking in front of them, but Allie was done pondering this relationship. It was all just too convenient not to
be true. Charlie hadn’t forgotten; she just wanted Allie out of her way.

“Allie, think!” Charlie stood in front of Allie, her voice pinched and pleading. “Why would I deliberately—”

“I can’t listen to this anymore. You’re either lying to me, or you’re lying to yourself. Either way, we’re done here,” Allie
snipped. She turned on her heel and stormed away, leaving a speechless Charlie in the grotto with her mouth hanging open in
a perfectly round
O
.

Allie staggered down the gravel path away from Charlie and Jackie O. Her back was killing her. Every cell in her body cried
out for rest, but the only real comfort she might find was in the Brazille compound. Darwin was the only person on the island
who might still care about her, and she was determined to tell him what Charlie had done—even if it was her last move before
getting expelled. So what if the cameras caught her now?

Allie had no business being at the Academy. The only talent she had was picking terrible friends.

OUTSKIRTS OF ALPHA ISLAND

PINK SAND BEACH

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH

5:16 P.M.

By the time Charlie ran all the way to the beach, everything burned: her lungs, her legs, her eyes, and her heart. She wanted
to cry in peace, where nosy Alpha girls wouldn’t catch her in the act and start the inevitable cascade of gossipy texts that
followed every piece of news at the Academy.

Her legs, rubbery from the sprint down the walkway, automatically propelled her to the spot on the beach where she and Darwin
used to hang out. But for the first time, she didn’t watch the gentle waves lap the pink sand and think about him. Not his
lip freckle, not his goofy jokes, not even the safe feeling of his arms wrapped around her. Today, Charlie was thinking exclusively
about Allie.

How could Allie jump to such awful conclusions about her? How could she accuse her of doing something so callous and manipulative?
How could she toss Charlie’s friendship away like expired, clumpy mascara? The fact that she hadn’t even let Charlie explain
herself proved just how little she’d trusted Charlie to begin with. Charlie’s eyes welled up with tears as she absently traced
broken-heart shapes in the sand.

Plop!

Plunk!

Whiz!

A rock flew by, just missing Charlie’s ear. It skipped along the surface of the water before plunging in, rippling the glassy
surface of Shira’s woman-made sea. Charlie looked over her shoulder through her bangs, and her teary brown eyes made contact
with Darwin’s wary hazel ones. It was almost scary how Darwin always managed to turn up when she needed him. Maybe their years
of togetherness had created some kind of psychic connection, even if he didn’t care about her the way he used to. Charlie
sobbed inwardly, feeling more hopeless and broken than ever. The invisible ties that bound them together used to be made of
unbreakable steel, but now they felt thinner than dental floss.

“Hi,” she managed. He sat down next to her in the sand. It was almost like they were still a couple; his movements in relation
to hers were automatic, embedded in his muscle memory.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Charlie didn’t dare look into his eyes again. If she did, her sprinkling of tears would turn into
an avalanche.

Darwin shifted in the sand. “I’m hiding.”

“From who?” Charlie stole a sidelong glance at him from under her bangs. Darwin didn’t used to be the type of guy to hide
from his problems.

“Allie.”

Which one?
Life had become so confusing. Charlie hardly knew who was who anymore, or what anyone really wanted. She longed for the days
before Shira started the Academy, when she knew her place in the world and among the Brazilles. When she and Darwin were twelve
and just starting to be a real couple, things had been so simple. They were gaga for each other, and the world was their playground.
They played cards for hours on transatlantic flights, knowing that wherever Shira dragged the entourage, they would discover
it together. It was only once their world had shrunk to the size of this little island that they had become distracted by
everyone else.

“AJ or Allie A?” Had he finally realized that AJ’s eco-shtick was as artificial as the beach they now sat on?

“Allie A. She wants to talk.” Darwin sounded a lot like the way Charlie felt.

“And… you don’t want to?” Charlie assumed it had gone well between Allie and Darwin last night, at least until the cameras
came on.

He sighed loudly. “Last night, I met her on the beach—”

“I know,” Charlie murmured. “I heard.”

“But that’s not the whole story. I was trying to tell her I wasn’t interested. And then the cameras went on, and… well, she
probably told you the rest. Now she thinks I’m into her, and I’m definitely,
definitely
not.”

“Wait.” Charlie turned to look at Darwin’s profile, wondering how the boy she knew so well had become so unreadable. “You
mean you don’t want to get back together with Allie?”

“Uh-uh.” Darwin shook his head vehemently, and a sun-bleached thatch of hair fell into his eyes.

“So… why did you meet her and give her false hope? Why not just keep avoiding her?” Charlie felt hurt on Allie’s behalf, shivering
at the thought that Allie had come all the way down here expecting to really open up, only to be tossed away unopened like
a piece of junk mail.

“For closure. It seemed like the right thing to do to tell her in person.” Darwin looked sideways at Charlie. The next part
of the sentence remained unsaid, but they both heard it.
Unlike the way you dumped me.

“The right thing to do would be to hear her out,” Charlie said gently, burying her feet in the sand as she talked. “Before
you make up your mind, I mean.”

Darwin snorted incredulously. “Come on, Charlie. She lied. End of story.”

“Yeah, but…” Charlie groped for the words to explain things on her ex-friend’s behalf. “She had to lie to get into this school.
This was her one chance, and she took it.”

“Irrelevant. She lied to all of us! If you trust her now, that’s your mistake.” Darwin threw a large white stone into the
water and they both watched the ripples travel across the water’s glassy surface.