Envy Read Online Free PDF Page A

compliment,” she said.
    “It wasn’t meant to be a positive reflection on you or the situation.”
    “Whatever. Anyway, I heard something about her,” Beth said, changing the subject like she was baiting a hook.
    Of course Starla Larsen-centric gossip was always good. She was the Port Gamble girl everyone love-hated.
    Taylor leaned forward expectantly. “Are you gonna tell us or what? Just pop that disgusting zit already and spill it!”
    “That’s so gross,” Beth said. “And kind of mean.” She waited a beat, watching the twins, measuring their interest in all she had to say. The hook had been set.
    Another beat.
    “Starla and Katelyn had a major falling out,” she finally said.
    “How major?” Taylor asked.
    “Big time. Before she died, Katelyn told her mother that she hated Starla and that she wished Starla was dead or something.”
    This time Hayley pressed for more. Her father would have been proud. “How do you know she said that?”
    Beth rotated the hand mirror to get a better look at herself. “I heard Mrs. Larsen and Mrs. Berkley talking a few weeks ago. They were in the store buying coffee or hairspray or whatever it is women of their age need to get through the day. Mrs. Larsen was defending Starla, saying that it had been a big misunderstanding. But Mrs. Berkley wasn’t having any of it.”
    Beth stopped talking. Her face beamed with a satisfied grin. “Got it,” she said, as she held out her tweezers. “Popped and no nasty hole. Who wants something to eat?”
    Hayley and Taylor, thoroughly grossed out by what they’d seen, shook their heads in unison.
    “That’s it? Was there more?” Taylor asked, pushing.
    “I really didn’t listen, Taylor,” Beth said, clearly ready to move on from the Starla/Katelyn drama. “I saw that new kid Eli there, and I was trying to get him to notice me.”
    Taylor smiled to herself and looked at her sister. Despite Beth’s constant need to be aloof, pretending indifference all the time, she knew who was who. “Hay-Tay” had always been her way of pretending to put up a wall. So what if Beth was completely self-absorbed? She was also an astute judge of what was worth passing along and when. They liked her.
    Besides, in Port Gamble there weren’t a lot of choices for the mantle of best friend.
    “But, Beth, didn’t you really like Zander?” Hayley asked. “Of all your boyfriends, he seemed to stay in your good graces the longest.”
    “And that’s no easy feat,” Taylor added.
    Beth curled up on the couch. “Is this pick-on-me time or what?” “No, not at all,” Hayley said.
    Beth shrugged a little. “Too bad. I like it when you tease me a little. Makes me feel kind of like I’m the third twin,” she said, pausing a beat. “The smart one. The pretty one.”
    Both twins knew there was some truth to that. Not that Beth was prettier or smarter, but that Beth was sometimes lonely being an only child. They’d never known a moment when they hadn’t had each other.
    “You can be whatever you want to be, Beth. But please, promise that next time you’ll pay attention when you’re in the vicinity of some good info.”
    Beth smiled. “All right. And I’ll make sure that you’re two of the top ten people I’ll tell first.”
    Hayley’s and Taylor’s phones buzzed.
    “That must be Mom,” Hayley said. “She’s spamming us with mass texts.”
    Taylor looked at the message from their mother and closed the phone. She looked a little upset, but she tried to hide it as she slid the phone back into her pocket.
    “What’s up?” Beth asked, watching Hayley as she shut her phone with the same kind of reaction.
    “A reporter found out that Katelyn was in the crash,” Hayley explained. “She’s writing a story about Katelyn, her death, and the crash.”
    Again, the crash.
    “Freak! Haven’t they milked that one for all it’s worth by now?” Beth asked.
    “Not from this angle,” Taylor said. “Katelyn surviving the crash only to die