Free A Tale of Two Pretties by Lisi Harrison

nodded when they did.
How does everyone know what’s going on but me?
Dylan assumed that was the price she paid for being late and finger-dragged it to the
oh-well
pile. Technically this was a
reality
TV show, so a little reality every now and then couldn’t hurt.
    “Jaime-doll, what was it like to see Hunter after all that time apart?”
    Hunter Templeton was Jaime’s longtime crush. Dylan rolled her eyes. Like Claire in a candy shop, once Jaime got started on
     the Hunter subject, she couldn’t stop.
    “It was so sweet,” Jaime recalled dreamily. “He met me at the mall and—”
    The doorbell interrupted her. Dylan slumped in her seat and waited for the producer to yell “Cut!” but instead, some random
     maid entered the dining room, followed by a teenager in a Flowers by Algernon polo. He was carrying a massive bouquet of tulips
     and orchids.
    “Ryan Marvil? Flower delivery,” he said dully. Everyone looked on in surprise as Ryan accepted the bouquet and opened the
     card. Everyone, Dylan noticed, except Merri-Lee. Dylan could even swear she caught her mother wink at Walkie-Talkie.
    “ ‘Dear Ryan, I saw these flowers and thought of you. Hope you’re thinking of me, too. XOXO, Hun—’ ” Ryan stopped and gaped
     at Jaime. Jaime leapt up and ripped the card from Ryan’s hands.
    “Hunter?
My
Hunter sent you flowers?!” She started ripping up the card, sending little white speckles of cardboard across the table.
    “Ew, nawt in the lasagna!” Dylan yelled, cupping her hands over her plate.
    “I swear, I don’t know why he sent these!” Ryan cried. A camera zoomed in and captured the look of anguish on her face.
    “Liar! I know he gave you a ride home from Julie’s yesterday.”
    “Yeah, but that was nothing,” she said. “He did say I looked good with a tan, but I didn’t think—”
    “You never do!” Jaime reached out and grabbed the bouquet, spilling green plant food all over the garlic bread. Dylan snagged
     an unblemished piece before it was ruined, and then froze.
    If this had been any other family, she’d have hunkered down with popcorn to watch the fight. But this was
her
family, and something about the whole thing smelled moresuspicious than the combination of Italian food and fertilizer.
    Another cameraman ran into the room, taking position behind Jaime just as she started shrieking and ripping up the orchids.
     “I’ll never forgive you, Ryan!”
    “Loves, can’t we figure this out rationally?” Merri-Lee tried to broker the peace, but Jamie just shrieked again and Ryan
     started openly sobbing.
    Dylan looked up at Merri-Lee for help. Behind her mother, she caught sight of the producer low-fiving the cameramen. The looks
     of glee on their faces told Dylan all she needed to know: This whole thing had been a setup. And it would make great (reality)
     TV.
    “Don’t you guys see what’s happening here?” Dylan screeched. Someone had to be the Bruce Jenner in this scene, and it may
     as well be her.
    “Shut! Up!” Jamie yelled. “You always take her side!”
    “Ehma-what?” Dylan said, dumbfounded.
    “Girls, let’s—” Merri-Lee tried, but not really.
    “And
you
always take
her
side!” Ryan screamed. She stood up and threw her napkin down on the table. “Screw this. I’m going to go have dinner with
     Hunter. At least
he
likes me!”
    Jaime looked like she’d been slapped in the face.
    The director yelled “Cut!”
    So Dylan did. Taking her knife, she sliced into another piece of lasagna and ate around the petals. For the sake of “reality.”
    CUT TO:
    Merri-Lee opened a cabinet, scanned its contents, and then closed it. She tried the next one, and then the one after that.
    “The serving dishes go over here, Mom,” Dylan said patiently.
    “Silly me! I always forget.” Merri-Lee laughed.
    Forget? Like you ever knew
, Dylan thought—something she was getting used to doing when the cameras were around.
    She and her mother were “cleaning up the kitchen”