Movers and Fakers Read online

  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.

  Thousands applied.

  One hundred got in.

  Only one will win.

  BELLE OF THE BRAWL

  Who will it be?Dont’t miss the third novel in

  the ALPHAS series—Coming October 2010.

  www.pickapoppy.com

  The only thing harder than

  getting in is saying goodbye.

  MY LITTLE

  PHONY

  THE CLIQUE

  The second to last book in

  the fah-bulous series.

  Coming July 2010.

  www.pickapoppy.com

  They didn’t ask for fame.

  They were born with it.

  the

  daughters

  by JOANNA PHILBIN

  As daughters of famous people, Lizzie, Carina and Hudson were born into the spotlight, and when the world is watching, sometimes the only place to hide is in the arms of your best friends.

  Fourteen-year-old Lizzie Summers always expects fawning photographers and adoring fans to surround her gorgeous supermodel mother. But when Lizzie is approached by a fashion photographer who believes that she’s “the new face of beauty,” Lizzie surprises herself and her family by becoming the newest Summers woman to capture the media’s spotlight.