Free The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard

of younger siblings and cousins, working Sundays at the Sunglass Nook in Deptford. She didn’t even date. The twins’ uncle, Kevin Brynn, was a real-estate lawyer. No one was in jail because of his job. No one was even angry with him over a divorce.
    No one in Ridgeline had a bad word to say about any of the Brynns.
    At last, there was nothing left to ask, nothing left to tell, nothing.
    The town as a whole seemed to make a summary decision to let the girls get on with their lives—at least, the adults did. The kids wouldn’t have let go of this drama if they were paid to do it. Gossip about the fire still raced through the halls of the middle school and high school. At the Brynns’ house, there was a constant parade of visitors—everyone standing in front of the TV as Mally tried to watch Days or General Hospital . The girls’ bedroom was like a florist’s shop. Music boxes, teddy bears, and earrings were brought, like offerings. For Merry, it was like a second Christmas or birthday—with the added drama of all her friends’ complete and utter fascination.
    Even David Jellico visited once (Mally noticed he had a sweater tied around his neck and one half of his shirt tucked into his pants, with the other end out in front in a show-off way). And though he seemed bored and waiting for a chance to escape the whole time, Meredith acted like there was a rock band in the living room and was annoyed when Mallory kept turning the volume up on the TV. Frankly, Meredith was worn out from having to change outfits for the arrival of different boys.
    Will Brent and Dane Greenberg came.
    “Someone is going to pay,” Dane said.
    “No one hurts the M and M and gets away with it,” Will said.
    Meredith loved this even more.
    “It’s like being the total girl of the school,” she said. “Like being homecoming queen or something.”
    “It’s like being a weenie,” Mallory told her. “All you had to do to get so popular was almost burn up.” Even Tim kept walking around, punching the air and swearing he was going to black somebody’s eye. Like their father would ever punch anyone out. Please. Mallory got aggravated with being treated like a little dumpling someone had to protect.
    Everyone was convinced that the villain was someone they knew.
    Mally was convinced of that much, too. She had the unkind, creepy thought that David Jellico did it—not meaning to hurt anyone, but to scare her for standing up to him at Kim’s party two years ago.
    “I don’t think he meant it to go that far, but he’s an ass,” she told Merry.
    “You’re the ass,” Merry said. “That’s so mean and stupid. Bonnie is Mom’s best friend.”
    “So David can’t be a wingnut. I see.”
    “He was at a party in Deptford with Deirdre Bradshaw,” Merry said. “They got there at, like, nine. Deidre is so beautiful. I would have a hard time getting him away from her.”
    “Being in Deptford would still give him time, you twit!” Mally said.
    “I think you’re the one who really has a crush on him,” said Merry. “Like he’s going to say, ‘Hey, I have to stop and set fire to Kevin Brynn’s house before we go to the party’?”
    Mally gave up.
    They missed the first two weeks of the second semester, but all their teachers were so sympathetic, neither one had to make up a single thing. Most even gave them all the class notes. Boys fell all over Merry, carrying her book bag because of her injury. Merry felt like a medieval princess with champions vying for her hand.
    Her hand.
    The scars were getting better, but they were still a mess.
    All the attention was small compensation for missing her whole basketball cheering season, but still. Every week, the bandages were smaller. Every week, there was more healthy tissue that her mother carefully treated with antibiotics and gels. But she still couldn’t hold a pencil. Her teachers wrote down all her answers for her.
    Well.
    At least the lower half of her body was undamaged.
    Merry was