Movers and Fakers (21 page)

Charlie:
Hi, Mom! Things are good here. We lost a few more girls….

Charlie tallied up the numbers in her head. So far, twenty-two girls had already been kicked off the island. Twenty-one once
you factored in that Ivy Lambert was a fake. And more would probably be going soon. Shira wanted to find the one girl with
enough potential and smarts to be as successful as she was, but there wasn’t room for too many like Shira in the world. Charlie
wondered if two would be chosen, or even three. She lapsed into a fantasy where Allie, Skye, and herself were the three left
standing on the island by the end of the school year and were given Shira’s blessing to create a new multimedia empire they
would run together.

Don’t get ahead of yourself. One day at a time.

Bee:
But you’re still there. And I got a progress report that said you earned a ride in a PAP and contributed to fixing a technology
glitch!

Charlie grinned, remembering the look on Shira’s face after she’d fixed the cameras. Bee didn’t need to know that she’d also
been the one to break them. Not now, when the lab felt more like a home than any of the hotel rooms and temporary apartments
she’d lived in with Bee, and her workspace was full of things she’d created all on her own—not a bit of it belonged to Shira.
And now that Allie had forgiven her, the future was all theirs.

Charlie:
Yep. I got some help from a friend in Thailand.

Charlie could picture it like it had already happened: Jess and Charlie, the cute new couple, would hang out on the pink-sand
beach with Darwin and Allie, and everyone would be best friends. There would be romance, friendship, and the promise of unbridled
Shira-sanctioned success in her life now: It was a new time, and anything was possible. She really could have it all.

Ping!

Charlie turned away from her laptop and grabbed her aPod, switching it from teleportation mode to Alpha mode. Who would be
texting her during class? Maybe it was another forgive-n-forget text from Allie? Or maybe it was Darwin, apologizing for running
away from her on the beach and admitting that Allie was the best choice for him.

When the text appeared on the screen, she suddenly felt like she’d teleported a grenade directly to her stomach.

Darwin:
I understand why you did it. I’m tired of my mom controlling my life. I am going to fight 4 you. 4 us. 4 ever.

Reading the text again and again in case she’d somehow misinterpreted it, Charlie’s perma-grin dissolved on her lips like
Alka-Seltzer in water, replaced by a nauseous, nervous certainty of her inability to stop the impending disaster. All the
fantasies she’d been nurturing only a moment ago had been instantly erased by what she had just read.

Her hands shaking, Charlie typed a quick note to Bee. She needed to think.

Charlie:
Sorry, Mom, gotta run. Will get back to you soon! Love u.

Staring at her blue nails, Charlie felt like a computer whose hard drive had been erased entirely. Her life would have to
be rebuilt from a bunch of spare parts.

And yet…

Her head swam with visions of Darwin—his arms around her again, taking away all of her worries. All of their inside jokes,
created over a lifetime together. The feeling that she was her best self with him, that no matter what her days held, her
nights would be filled with adventures she could share with her best friend and better half.

Of course, there would be issues to work out with Allie. And Charlie couldn’t imagine Shira ever approving of the two of them.
And what about Jess? Was she just going to toss him aside like a cheap umbrella now that she’d found shelter from the storm
with Darwin? Her head spun with the uncertainty of it all.

But the one thing Charlie was sure of was Darwin. He was the flame to her moth, the chocolate to her peanut butter, the moon
to her inner werewolf. If he wanted her back, she wouldn’t hesitate. She
couldn’t
. And so her thumbs did the only thing her mind would let them. They typed a message back.

Charlie:
Can’t wait to tell u in person how happy you just made me.

Ping!

The thought of being with Darwin again was like swimming to the surface of a pool. Without him, she was just treading water,
holding her breath, and trying to survive. Now that they were back together, she could breathe again. They would find a way
to make it work, Charlie thought. They belonged together, and the universe would adjust. Feeling confident in her decision
and waiting for Darwin to text again, Charlie ran her finger over the cameo on her bracelet. Soon, Darwin’s picture would
be back inside the empty oval where it belonged, keeping her safe.

Ping!

Allie:
Thanks again. So happy we made up! You’re a real friend.

Uh-oh.
Charlie blinked, not knowing what to say or to whom. She bit her index fingernail anxiously, then remembered to check her
polish. It had turned from peaceful pale blue to bad-luck black. Her stomach clenched as she tried to imagine telling Allie
that after all they’d been through, Darwin had chosen
her
. Charlie looked desperately around the lab, but there were no answers to be found here. In the space of five minutes, her
life had become a giant snowball rolling down a mountain, gathering snow until it was so big it would crush everything she
had built with Shira, with Jess, but most of all, with Allie.

Breaking a friend’s heart or breaking her own: Those were Charlie’s only two options now.

Either way, she lost.