Free Belle of the Brawl by Lisi Harrison Page A

Skye was overjoyed to see that he looked desperate to get as far away from her as possible.
    When the elevator doors closed, Skye high-fived Ophelia. “You are a genius!” she yelled.
    “I have two older brothers.” Ophelia shrugged. “Guess they taught me something.”
    Skye’s spirits did a pirouette, rebounding after her mortifying maneuver during their last run-through. The prospect of being rid of Syd was a bigger relief than releasing a pent-up fart could ever be.

13
    SOMEWHERE OVER ALPHA ISLAND
DARWIN’S PAP
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 4TH
5:18 P.M.
    Charlie sighed with contentment in the passenger seat of Darwin’s PAP (Personal Alpha Plane) as they floated higher in the sun-streaked sky. She pressed one hand against the cool glass of the curved window and gazed beneath them at the @-shaped island. To the west, the sun had begun its descent toward the horizon. It glowed a fiery orange as it hovered above the ocean, lighting up each building on the island in its wake. To the east, a brief spattering of rain had cleared only a few minutes ago, and a thin rainbow arched above the island like a silk ribbon decorating a wrapped gift.
    This plane ride
was
a gift, Charlie mused as Darwin grinned at her and pulled the throttle on the PAP so the plane faced the rainbow. Darwin hadbeen flying since he was twelve, and the ride was as smooth as foundation primer. Charlie looked around at the postcards Darwin had taped up on the PAP’s white leather interior—each place was somewhere they’d been together, and each one sparked a different, gooey-sweet memory. Belize, where they had swum with sea turtles. Rio, where they’d been in a parade during Carnival. Nova Scotia, where Darwin and Charlie had learned to pilot a sailboat. Iceland, where they’d eaten fermented shark and swum in steaming hot springs. Madagascar, where a monkey had stolen Darwin’s guitar.
    “Did you
plan
that?” Charlie whispered, pointing to the rainbow and half-believing that Darwin had, in fact, found a way to orchestrate the perfect combination of rain and sun. After all, he was a Brazille, which meant he had access to technology most people didn’t even know existed yet.
    “I’m good,” Darwin said, flashing a half-smile and crinkling his gorgeous hazel eyes, “but I’m not
that
good. The universe just wants to entertain us, I guess.”
    “Guess so.” They were doing a pretty good job of entertaining the universe, too, thought Charlie. She shivered as she recalled the dark cloud of hurt moving across Darwin’s face as, one by one, she’d shot down four of his proposed meeting places (the beach? No way—too public! The Zen Garden? Uh-uh. Mount Olympus? Nixed. The yacht? Was he crazy?). She’d been the one to propose a ride in the PAP—it was the only place safe from prying eyes and picture-snapping aPods. Because no matter how badly Darwin wanted to be with her, Charlie just wasn’t ready to gopublic. Not until the Allie mess was cleaned up, anyway.
    “Girls must be throwing themselves at you left and right,” said Charlie, trying to steer the conversation in a less romantic direction. “Now that Shira lifted the ban, you five are all anyone can think about.”
    “A little, I guess,” said Darwin, running his finger along the touch-screen steering panel and sending the plane swooping beneath the rainbow. “I’ve gotten some texts. I just delete ’em. My brothers are having the time of their lives, though.”
    “What about Mel?” Charlie asked, hoping to keep her voice light. She didn’t want Darwin to think she was desperate for Mel to hook up with Allie. He would see her desperation as controlling and manipulative instead of what it was—the only way for all four of them to be happy.
    “He’s into Allie, I think.” Darwin stuck a cinnamon-scented toothpick between his lips. “But he’s probably into a lot of girls. His phone beeps more often than R2D2.”
    Charlie wondered if there had been any scientific advances in