The Sister Code (D.O.R.K #2) (20 page)

Chapter 30

November 1, 2015

Worst Day of My Life, and That’s Saying A Lot

I’m back at home now and everything’s cleaned up from the party I’ll never forget. Between Raven and Gio’s revelation and Logan’s breakup, the entire weekend felt like one big nightmare.

I stayed at Logan’s until Dad and Cass got home from Santa Barbara and he took me home. One look at my face, and Dad knew something horrible had happened. I told him all about how Raven and Gio had plotted against me and he was so furious with Raven that he called her up and told her she is never welcome in our house again. We’re not going to be seeing Raven anymore except at school. Visiting Jess is going to be interesting now.

I don’t know how I’m going to walk into school tomorrow and face both of them. Gio faked a relationship with me and Raven was in on the whole thing. I didn’t even know it was possible to feel so betrayed. They must have sent the video to the press, because our names are plastered all over social media again. People think Raven and I are closer than ever, but of course that couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t know how she can even think I’d ever want to see her again after this.

I hope Logan’s all right. Breaking up with Claire really destroyed him. He told me he had bought her a ring and everything before he realized she was cheating on him. Both of us have shattered hearts now. We’ll have to be each other’s friend and rock in this time of heartbreak. Maybe more, but I think we need some time to recover first.

Here goes the worst week of my entire life. I take a tiny drop of comfort in knowing I can’t get any lower than this.

Ttyl,

Mads

***

When I walk into school on Monday morning, I scan the hallway thoroughly to make sure Gio is nowhere to be found before approaching my locker. Liam Wellington is there, but I don’t even offer him a sideways glance as I twist my combination. I open the door for five seconds to get what I need and close it again. Soft whispers serenade me all the way through the building on my way to homeroom. Tears prick their way to the surface of my eyes, but I blink them back.

Just eight hours
, I tell myself.
Eight more hours, and I can go home and cry.

Just outside my classroom door, Chandler is waiting for me. I wrap my arms around her, still blinking to force the tears to stay inside.

“Mads, I’m so sorry. I had no idea what was going on. You have to believe me—”

“I believe you,” I assure her. “You wouldn’t have come to get me if you were loyal to her.”

Chandler pulls back with tears glistening in her eyes. “I just want you to know I quit working for Raven. I think of you as a friend, and she hurt my friend. I can’t work for someone like that anymore. She never liked me anyway, so she didn’t mind too much.”

I pull her into my embrace again. “Thank you, Chan. You’re one of my girls now.”

***

Chandler and I eat lunch at a table indoors by ourselves. She watches me stir my pasta aimlessly for ten minutes before speaking up.

“Mads, you have to eat something,” she ventures softly.

I shrug. “I can’t. I’d probably puke it all up.”

Raven passes by with some of the assistants, stares me down, and brushes against our table on her way. I shudder at the pure soulless hatred I see there in her eyes. For some unknown reason, she despises me. She did even before she ever met me. It’s clear now. There’s no other reason she would concoct that plan against me from the moment I got in town.

“You have to stand up to her,” Chandler surprises me by saying. I meet her deep green gaze. “Don’t let her win. You’ve done so well at keeping her in check, Mads. You’re our only hope.”

“I’m not anybody’s hope,” I grumble. “I don’t even have any hope of my own.”

Chandler grasps my hand across the table. She levels her gaze with mine, almost peering into my soul. “You are the strongest, most hopeful person I know. A superhero. She can only break you if you let her.”

I let Chandler’s words sink in for the rest of lunch period. I was strong. I had hope. Now I just feel like all the life has been squeezed from my veins. How do I find the courage to go on in the face of an enemy like Raven? How can I face Gio and work as his lab partner for the rest of the year?

After we drop our trays off, Chandler walks me to Physics, looking even more worried than I am. As soon as we get to the door, we both poke our heads in and groan when we see Gio sitting at his place next to my chair.

“I don’t know if I can go in there,” I mutter.

“You got this, girl. I believe in you,” Chandler whispers.

I consider skipping class for a brief moment, but then I square my shoulders and draw up straight as if there’s a string attached to my back. I might be crushed, but I am not defeated. Gio is not going to be the reason I tarnish my perfect school attendance record. There is one little bit of business I need to take care of, though.

The girl who had the braids and sat next to me on the first day of school is on the other end of the room from Gio. I’ve seen her lab partner eyeing him hungrily for the past six weeks. I walk up to the sly brunette with the dancing hazel eyes and ask if she’d like to trade partners with me. She practically squeals her “Yes!” and darts over to his side of the room. I avoid watching as I settle into my seat beside Braids Girl, whose hair is now relaxed into a beautiful black wave.

“Hi, I’m Michelle,” she says, stretching a hand out to me.

I accept her hand and shake it. “Mads.”

Her dark eyes give me the same pitying look I get from everyone. “So sorry about what happened with Gio.”

I shrug and look down at my iPad. “I’ll get over it. I just don’t think I can work with him anymore. Hopefully Ms. Dawson won’t mind.”

Ms. Dawson comes to the front of the classroom and calls out attendance. She immediately notices the change when she calls “Giovanni Abate” and I’m not next to him. She searches the room for me, and I watch as she locates me and considers making me move for a second. She purses her lips, shakes her head dismissively, and goes back to calling out names.

I glance at Michelle and see a relieved smile on her face. “Thank God,” she whispers. I laugh quietly and agree.

***

After school, Chandler walks me to my locker from my last class so she can help me search the hallways for my formidable foes. When the coast is clear, I hurriedly open my locker and drop off what I don’t need to take home. I’m slamming the door shut and thinking I got off easy today when I hear a voice behind me that makes my blood curdle.

“Running away, are we?”

I stay facing my locker, afraid to even look Raven in the eye. “Go away. We have nothing left to say to each other.”

Raven comes around to my side so I have to face her. She’s surrounded by her minions, including Mari, who’s gone back to faithfully serving her.

“You have a lot of nerve telling Mike about what happened that night,” she growls in a lowered tone. I turn and see her eyes shooting ice shards at me. “Our deal was confidential. You’d better not be thinking of telling anyone else. I will not hesitate to bring you down if you do.”

“Haven’t you already brought me low enough?” I spit back.

“I did what I did to help you. To help us,” Raven insists.

I scoff. “If you think you were helping me, you are more hopeless than I thought. You’re not getting anything else out of me.”

“We had a deal—”

“The ‘deal’ is over. We are over. You are no longer my sister, and I never want to speak to you again. Come on Chan, let’s go.”

I turn to leave with Chandler in tow, but my sister’s low, rich chuckle sounds behind me.

“Congratulations, my darling twin, you just declared war.”

In this moment, normally I would have only had two choices. I could stoop to her level and fight back, or I could run like a coward and let her have her victory. Neither of those options appeals to me. But a third option was given to me by Chandler earlier today…

Being my own superhero.

If I don’t stand up to her, no one will. We’re on a level playing field. I have everything she has and then some, because I have real friends. I’m the only one who can defeat her, and the only way to do that is to play her game.

As if I’ve left my own body, I hear the same chuckle gurgle out of my own throat. I stop in my tracks and smirk over my shoulder. She doesn’t have the last word anymore. I’ll never let her have that again.

“Bring it on.”

To be continued…

***Sneak Peek***

Twin Wars

D.O.R.K. Series

Book Three

Coming November 2016

Chapter 1

Sitting in my bed, I stare at the tarp-covered swimming pool outside my window, fighting a war within myself. Daily, I ping-pong between regret at ever coming to Los Angeles in the first place and fear at the thought of going back “home” and losing everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. I met my mother. I brought Dad back to his roots. I found my band. I got into the school of my dreams. And now, I’m teetering on the brink of throwing it all away because my menace of a sister is here and I don’t even know if I can stand to be within five hundred miles of her or Giovanni Abate.

An uninvited tear emerges and turns cold on its way down my cheek. I especially can’t stand living next door to Gio. Right now, I can hear the pumping of his EDM music rumbling all the way across our two yards and under our house. It’s almost as if he takes every possible opportunity to remind me he’s here and he’s not mine, yet that’s impossible. He doesn’t even care that I exist.

I take my laptop from the little shelf inside my modern black nightstand and open it up, preparing for one hell of a blog post to distract myself.

***

November 2, 2015

The Aftershock

I’m here alone in my bed just two days after the cutting betrayal by Raven and Gio. Now that she’s ripped my heart out of my chest, chewed it up, spit it out, and ground it into the floor with her stiletto heel, it’s official. Raven and I are now opposing parties in a full-on feud. No doubt she’ll be announcing it to the media soon just to get the headlines…not that I care. Nothing can hurt me more than what she and Gio have already done to me.

Amazing how someone you thought was such a nice guy could turn out to be such a bastard. I already knew Raven was trouble, but I never thought Gio was capable of such a lowbrow play on someone else’s emotions. He’s either the greatest actor of all time or the most twisted human being I’ve ever come across…probably both. I keep replaying our times together in my mind and trying to figure out why someone would do a thing like this. He was already famous. Why did he need Raven’s plot? Is he actually in love with her and did it to get on her good side? Is there more to this plan that they haven’t had time to carry out yet?

***

My stomach jumps. I physically jerk with fear at the thought and start trembling.

***

That last thought terrifies me more than I want to admit. Raven’s talons have come out, and I’m on the receiving end of whatever evil she plans to carry out next. I have no protection this time. No deal to prevent her from harming me. No superhero to swoop in and save the day except myself, and as much as I want to be strong and fight back, I don’t have very much strength right now. I know she’s going to pound me down as much as she can while I’m still vulnerable. In front of the other girls, I can act strong, but I’m not. Not even the slightest little bit. Not yet, anyway.

I just don’t get it. Raven didn’t even give Dad and me a chance before she concocted a scheme that was guaranteed to get her on our bad side. What is her game? I wish I could get inside her head, just for a day, and see what’s going on in there. Jess must have fucked her up real bad. Whether or not it was on purpose, she’s partly to blame for all this. Raven got her conniving ways from our mother. I am absolutely sure of that.

I’m scared to go back to school tomorrow, but I can’t fake sick and avoid this. Going back to Kentucky after this semester is a tempting option, but the more I think about it, the more my dogged determination not to look weak won’t let me. Leaving is running away. I don’t want to show them they have that power over me. I don’t want to give them that satisfaction.

I’m Madison Fucking Daley. I’ve dealt with abandonment, worldwide humiliation, and my mother’s cancer diagnosis and I’m still in one piece. Surely I can handle this. It’s just one day at a time, choosing to keep the life I’ve made for myself and not giving in.

Raven can make whatever threats she wants, but it’s not going to stop me from living my life. I’ll probably cling to Devon and Chandler like a magnet, though. Thank God for Chorus. It gives me an excuse to escape with my friends after the school day is over.

Dalton still hasn’t heard anything about this. He was out sick yesterday. I wonder what Gio’s been telling him. Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Ttyl,

Mads

***

I watch my shadow lengthen in front of me as I trudge down the sidewalk toward Wilcox High. I parked as far away from the school as I could so I’d have time to work up my courage before facing the inquisitive mob at the front of the school. Student media isn’t quite as bad as the main media, but they can still corner you when you least expect it. The last thing I want to do right now is have to answer questions about how I am after the weekend’s events.

Of course I’m not okay.

Of course it was a shock.

Of course I hate Gio.

What they didn’t know until yesterday is that the one person I hate more than Giovanni Abate is my identical twin sister.

When I reach the covered walkway at the front of the school, Raven is perched on a bench with five minions clustered around her. She catches my gaze and her blood-red lips curl into a sinister smirk. That look makes it official: she planned this from the start. I wish I knew why. If I understood, it might make this easier, but I never even knew her. I had no chance to hurt her before I came to town back in June.

Maybe she’s just your typical sick mean girl, except even her own sister isn’t safe from her schemes. That makes her one of the worst forces of evil I’ve ever met in person. Once again, I feel compelled to stop her path of destruction, but how? I’m still so clueless about school life and making it in this world. I’m not capable of coming up with a rescue plan for an entire high school.

Brushing by the school reporters crowding the doors, I step inside the school lobby, feeling relieved when none of Raven’s minions follow me in. Some people call out after me from outside the building, but I ignore them, sure that giving any kind of response right now is not a good idea. After a quick scan of the faces around me, I duck and dart toward my locker, ignoring their pitying stares. Just once, it would be nice if my classmates didn’t know my personal business when I walk in the door. It’s a pipe dream, I know…

Chandler and Devon join me at my locker to help block me from Liam and other prying eyes. A couple of girls from the school newspaper try to shove their way past them, but thankfully Chandler makes a good, sturdy bodyguard. She has actually been slimming down some lately, but her frame is still thick. One scowl from her, and the scrawny sophomores scurry away, whispering as they go.

“Don’t look behind you,” Devon whispers. My heart clenches painfully. Without looking, I know who just walked in the hallway. I can hear his ugly voice greeting his friends and laughing it up. I want to punch his ugly face and make it match his ugly heart. Unfortunately, I can’t get away with that in school, and if I tried hopping the fence at home to plant my fist in his face, I’d face the wrath of Alfonzo Abate.

Maybe someday…

Violence has always been something I kept strictly limited to video games and shooting my rifle at a gong target back at home, but this pain I’m going through has me ready to punch a koala. The visual of punching a koala has me almost giggling as I pull the last school essential from my locker and prepare to close it up for the day. I must be in a horrible mood if such a thing could even enter my head. Shaking it off, I reach down in my bag to get my phone.

All of a sudden, as I’m about to lock my phone up per school rules, my text alert goes off.

Logan: I woke up early today just so I could send you virtual hugs. Hang in there. I’m rooting for you, heartbreak buddy.

I chuckle, feeling warmed by his sweet gesture.

Me: “Heartbreak buddy.” That has to be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Thanks, though.

Logan: Yeah, we’re pretty pathetic. Guess we can be pathetic together at BlizzCon this weekend.

My heart sinks low in my chest. I had completely forgotten about our plans for the weekend.

Me: Actually, I’m not so sure I’m up to that.

Logan: Thank God. I’m not either.

Me: Why don’t you just come over and we can watch it together in our living room? I can stream the live broadcast from my computer. That way we don’t have to see people, but we won’t miss anything.

Logan: What about our tickets?

Me: We can sell them or give them away. I’m sure somebody would want them around here.

Logan: Sounds like a good idea. So I’m coming to your place then. Should I bring anything?

Me: Nah, we’ve got you covered.

Logan: Okay, cool. See you Friday, sweets.

Me: See you then :)

Sweets…

A smile I only get for Logan tugs at my lips. Chandler notices and clears her throat.

“What’s going on?” When I glance up at her, she’s grinning at me with deep dimples.

“I’m hanging out with Logan this weekend.”

Devon exaggerates a groan. “Ew. She’s drooling over my cousin.”

“Oh…you don’t mind, do you?” I search her face for any warning signs.

She smirks teasingly. “Nah, go for it. You two are cute together.”

“Thanks.” I smile, and Devon reaches for my upper arm.

“You sure about this?” She searches my eyes with her deep brown ones. “I’m all for you and Logan hanging out, but I know both of you just got broken up with.”

I shrug. “I don’t think anything’s going to happen. I have a foolproof plan for keeping our hands off each other.”

“Oh really? What’s that?”

I lean over and whisper in her ear, “My virginal dorky glasses.”

***

I arrive at Chorus class early, and as usual, Dalton’s already in his seat studying before class begins. When he glances up and sees me, he motions for me to sit in the seat next to him. I cross the room and set my books on the desk next to me as I take the seat.

“Hey…what happened this weekend? I heard you and Gio broke up, but I don’t know the rest of it,” he starts gently.

A deep sigh escapes me. The last thing I want to do right now is relive the events of the worst weekend of my life, but Dalton deserves to know. I go on to tell him everything I know, right down to seeing Raven and Gio kissing in his bedroom and Kiki filming the whole thing. Dalton drops his head into his palm with his elbows braced on the pull-down desk at the end of my story.

“Goddamn. I knew Raven was crazy, but Gio? I…” He sighs into his palms, shaking his head in disbelief. “Believe me, I had no idea.”

“I know you didn’t.” I lay a hand on Dalton’s shoulder. “Guess we’ve both been played for fools.”

“Gio fooled me good. I thought he was legit. Everyone did. People love him in this school, and now to find out he’s just another one of the bad guys…and what he had the nerve to do to you…” Dalton slams his fist down on the desk with a caveman grunt. “I should punch that fucker in the face.”

“But he’s your best friend, Dalton—”

“Not anymore.” Clenching his teeth, Dalton huffs toward the front of the room. “No friend of mine would treat an innocent girl like this. He’s just an asshole.”

“Dalton, I’m going to be okay. I’m strong.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you deserve to suffer.” When he turns back to look at me, I can clearly see the pain written in his hazel eyes. “Neither of us do.”

I squint at him. “Are you talking about Raven?”

A muscle in Dalton’s jaw bulges with tension. Looking back toward the front of the room, he nods. “You know that song “Over and Over” by Three Days Grace?”

“Of course.”

He swallows and drops his gaze to his clenched fists on the table. “That song sums up the way I feel about your sister.”

Tears prick my eyes. It’s the first time Dalton’s admitted to me outright he has feelings for Raven. People trickle into the room, but before I leave to go to my seat, I lay my hand on his forearm. I can’t even imagine being in love with someone that ruthless…

Or maybe I can.

“I’m sorry, Dalton.”

He folds his hand over mine and nods. Squeezing his arm, I stand. Then I grab my books and head to the alto section, wishing not for the first time that I didn’t have an evil twin.