Free Games of Fire by Airicka Phoenix Page B

idiot for hoping he would do this one decent thing for her, when he’d been nothing but a jerk from the start. It wasn’t as if he’d ever given her the impression he was a good guy.
    Okay maybe that held no truth. The guy had saved her life, even if she had to admit it grudgingly and there was a moment t he morning he’d given back her umbrella where she’d seen something in him, a softness that made him appear to be a sweet, normal, gorgeous guy with a funny side, who didn’t hate her. It had been so fleeting she wondered if it actually happened. A trick of the light, she decided bitterly. She was clearly losing her ability to read people.
    Pushing away thoughts of Spencer Rowth, she dug out her phone and texted Lauren, telling her there was a possibility she would be unable to go to the party.
    Lauren must have been waiting for her, because the response was almost instant. “Plan B!”
    Sophie tried to recall what plan A had been, but decided not to ask. “I’m game.”
    Again, fast-typer Lauren replied within seconds . “Talk 2morw @ lch.”
    They said goodnight and Sophie climbed into bed.
    That night, Sophie had a dream about walking into school naked. Everyone laughed and pointed. The teachers yelled at her for not being prepared, while she insisted she’d been dressed. Spencer was in the background, not joining in her humiliation, but doing nothing to stop it either. She called to him, asking him to give her his jacket, but he ignored her. She woke up with a jolt, clammy with cold sweat and breathing hard.
    In a single jerky motion, she swiped back the blankets and tumbled out of bed. Her joints ached as she shuffled to the bathroom for a shower.
    The dream, minus the nudity, followed her into reality when she got to school and walked into her first class late. Then she dozed in her second class and was caught snoring by the teacher. By her third class, she was ready to just go home sick and throw herself at the mercy of her mother. It was only because lunch was right after that she even bothered to stick it out. But then she got to Algebra II and remembered too late she’d forgotten her textbook in her locker and they had an open book quiz.
    “You look terrible!” Jessie kindly pointed out when Sophie joined her and Joe at their usual table. “What happened?”
    “Didn’t sleep well,” Sophie mumbled, staring at her ham sandwich, wondering if it could double as a pillow. “Where’s Lauren?”
    “Here!” The girl hurried around the table and flopped down in her seat next to Jessie. She threw down her bag beneath the table and slammed both hands on the table. “Okay, I have a plan!”

Chapter Six
     
    Lauren’s plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. It was so ridiculous, Sophie wondered why she didn’t just admit defeat from the start and forgo the party. But she stuck to it, part of her hoping against all odds that it worked.
    “This won’t work!” she told Lauren as they adjusted the pillows beneath her blankets. “My mom isn’t stupid!”
    Lauren ignored her as she pulled out a makeup doll head from her backpack and laid it down on the pillow, facing the wall. Next she withdrew a wig a few shades too blonde to match Sophie’s hair and positioned it over the doll head and fanned several strands across the pillow in a natural sort of way. She drew the blanket up to cover the flat base where the doll’s neck should have been, pulled some strands of hair over the blanket and stepped back to survey her handiwork.
    “What do you think?”
    Sophie sighed. “I think you’ve finally lost your mind.”
    Lauren ignored the flat statement. “And finally …” She snatched a small, black device from her bag, flicked a switch and stashed the recorder next to their makeshift person. The room was filled with soft breathing, occasionally broken by a grunt, or a groan, or the rustle of fabric and jingling springs. It was so authentic Sophie almost believed someone was sleeping in her