Free Gemini Falling by Eleanor Wood Page A

always have all these family events together, so she has her own sneaky way in – even though according to social politics he should really have nothing to do with her, ever. Unfortunately for Sorana, Lexy is so crazily crushed-out on Josh that she would be prepared to kill – in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Underneath her semi-wholesome exterior, I sometimes think Lexy might actually be a proper psycho. I do genuinely worry about her sometimes, when I let myself.
    However, she’s so hot that Josh – or any other boy – would never suspect a thing. I have blonde hair and all the bits in the right places, so I’m quite good at giving out a general impression of hotness. I’m popular, so everyone assumes I’m pretty. I’m OK, nothing that special – a solid seven-and-a-half. I’m fine with that, by the way. Lexy, at first glance, is way more of a hot mess – bleached hair, slightly feral face with tiny teeth; however, if you look at her closely, you actually start to notice that she’s got the bones of a French movie star under there. Damn her.
    Anyway, Lexy can be as bitchy as she likes today. I’ve got a secret, and she’d be furious if she knew.
    *  *  *
    In the short time I’ve known her, I’ve learned that the great thing about Elyse is that she just doesn’t care.
    I learned early on that the clever thing to do is to pretend not to care about anything – that way no one can ever get you. I’ve got pretty good at it over the years. Hardly anyone except Lexy knows that underneath it all I do care about quite a few things, so I always make sure that I stay just on the right side of the line so as not to risk too much – my parents, my friends, my beautiful Siamese cat Lila Grace, dance classes… Let’s pretend this little list never happened, OK?
    But as far as I can tell, Elyse genuinely doesn’t care about anyone or anything. Between us it feels like we’re invincible. I’ve always enjoyed being the most-admired fish in the small, polluted pond that is St Therese’s, but it’s gone up a notch since the twins started in our class a few weeks ago in the middle of term and immediately joined the gang.
    Still, all day today, I find myself worrying in a way that is most unlike me. It was Elyse’s idea not to invite Lexy or any of the others tonight – usually with my parents away I’d be having a full-on house party with half of Facebook turning up, but I’m actually looking forward to a night hanging out with just the twins, Elyse and her sister Melanie. I’m glad Elyse is too, but I wish she would be a
tiny
bit more subtle about it.
    ‘Hey, Amie – I brought some
special supplies
for tonight.’ Elyse turns up in the common room with a suitcase-sized bag and sits down on my other side, ignoring Lexy.
    If Lexy is annoyed at being left out, she refuses to show it, even though she’s still sitting there right next to me; so I just about manage to smile awkwardly and shrug it off. Like I said, it wouldn’t kill Lexy to be reminded of her place in the social pecking order, but I stillhave to keep the peace. Watch my back, more like.
    It continues like this all day.
    ‘Ready to go?’ Elyse asks as she grabs me back in the common room as soon as lessons finish.
    ‘Yep, right behind you. Um, Lex, we’re just…’
    By this point, Lexy doesn’t bother to say anything. She just rolls her eyes and huffs off. I watch her make a big point of leaving with Alice, no doubt taking every opportunity to slag me off behind my back. Even though I’m happy that Elyse chose me, I’m surprised that it hurts just a tiny bit to see my other friends gang up on me so quickly.
    ‘Is Lexy all right?’ Elyse asks. ‘She looks kind of…bitch-faced.’
    I laugh in spite of myself, instantly feeling better. ‘Yeah, that sounds about right. She’ll be fine. If we’re busy tonight, it will give her more precious time to obsess over Josh bloody Green. Come on, we can walk round to mine.’
    As