Playing with Fire Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t always believe rumors…or Aunt Christine.
    â€œWhat if Aunt Helen gets cleared?” she asked, popping up and letting the water stream down her hair and face.
    â€œOh, she’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
    â€œReally? You think Grandmother will get mixed up in this?”
    â€œOh, Kelly, don’t be naive.” Aunt Christinemotioned with her eyes toward the open French doors where Grandmother Diamond was silhouetted. She stood, barely moving, smugly surveying her pool and back gardens.
    â€œShe’s already gone beyond stirring the pot.” Christine smiled slyly, her voice a whisper. “She cooked this whole thing up. In fact, it’s an old family recipe.”

Chapter Eight
    Way too early on Monday morning, Zoey Ramirez followed her twin brother, Tom, into Stafford Academy. She had fallen back to sleep in the car on the way there and had almost missed the winding drive, clipped hedges, and just-as-clipped students gathering on campus. Stafford did not require its students to wear uniforms like they did at her last school, but it may as well have. To Zoey, every kid there looked like they’d gotten a memo regarding the style du jour and followed it to the letter.
    Slinging her messenger bag over her other shoulder, Zoey flipped her long, dark, blond-streaked bangs out of her face. Zoey hadn’t goneto school in Silver Spring since the fifth grade, and she was not particularly happy to be back. She gave the inside of Stafford a once-over and sniffed. The long, clean halls were lined with overflowing trophy cases sending a crystal-clear message: Stafford was for winners.
    So what am I doing here? Zoey wondered. School had already been in session for a few weeks. For Zoey it was the first day. She knew she should concentrate on fitting in and catching up. But Zoey was not particularly good at doing what she should.
    Farther down the corridor, trophy cases gave way to lockers—the one thing that made tenth grade different from fifth. Students clustered with their kind. Zoey scowled past the jock block and waded through cheerleaders watching Tom make his way down the hall. His confident stride and winning smile reminded Zoey of the way their father, the district attorney, worked the room at schmoozy political events. Ugh. Since when did Tom get so popular?
    Before she left for boarding school all those years ago, Zoey and her twin had been close.Now she felt like she hardly knew him. Granted, it had only been a few days since she had moved back to Silver Spring, but she and Tom had barely even spoken. He certainly hadn’t asked her how she’d liked her most recent boarding school (the last in a long line), or why she was back so soon—or so suddenly. Not that Zoey felt like spilling her guts to him…or anybody. But it would have been nice for her brother, at least, to ask for her side of the story.
    Zoey followed Tom’s back, wondering where he was going and how long she should stick with him. She didn’t know if she could hang with his crowd and did not want to look like she was leeching. On the other hand, she didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go…
    But the moment Zoey saw where Tom was headed, she stopped dead in her tracks. Chad Simon was leaning against his locker at the end of the hall. He raised a hand in greeting when he spotted Tom. Chad had been Tom’s best friend forever and was harmless enough. What made Zoey stop was the green-eyed snake draped over his shoulder—Kelly Reeves.
    What in the world was Chad doing with Kelly? Last Zoey had heard, Chad belonged to Alison Rose. Those cousins shared too much.
    The thought of Alison and the sight of Kelly combined to knock the wind right out of Zoey. She staggered back against a locker, hoping nobody would notice the look of pain and disgust on her face. The sting of what Alison and her cousin had done to Zoey back in fifth grade hadn’t mellowed a bit,