Second Nature Read Online Free PDF Page B

made me a double zero. Mommy Dearest’s proudest day. I went from a two to a double
zero. No wonder the girls my age were getting their calories from gum. A
flesh-colored girdle on a skinny girl was absolute insanity.
    Lindsey smiled wide when
she saw my reaction to the cafe. “Not you too? I thought you didn't mind it
here.”
    “I suspect what I mind
about it and what the others mind are very different.”
    “You are such a snob.”
She laughed and led me inside. I wanted to argue that I was, in fact, the
opposite of a snob and much more of a realist and opposed to recreational drug
use. But I knew she would counter, saying I was judging these people for being
so fake and that made me a snob.
    I sighed, realizing she
had a point, even if the argument was something I had conjured in my mind.
    “The pumpkin spice latte
is out. It’s fall,” she spoke as if she were tempting me.
    “And I am a white girl.”
I succumbed and walked to the counter where a girl with a nose ring and a lip
ring gave us a weird look—surprised maybe.
    Her face took half a
second to register in my memory.
    Emo Coffeehouse Whore.
    The words Sage had
screamed echoed in my mind.
    This was the girl in the
mist at Lindsey’s house the night Rachel had died. This was the girl who had
come over to hang out at midnight. It was weird she had shown up so late. We
were in the hot tub, soaking the leftover blood and DNA from our bodies. We
needed the chemicals to kill anything that was on us after we had found Rachel
and Sage in the woods. The memory actually hurt with physical pain as my eyes
lowered to my hands in a very Lady Macbeth fashion. I forced my gaze back up to
stop the memories from playing on repeat.
    The feel of Rachel and
Sage as I shook them both, desperately screaming for them to wake up, was so
fresh the smells and sounds of the forest came with the memory.
    “Hey, Linds.” The girl
smiled, looking awkward. As awkward as a girl as beautiful as her could. She
matched the coffeehouse with her grungy hipster clothes, but she was stunningly
beautiful. Her light skin was flawless, not weathered from hiking and skiing or
traveling the world. She had a dimple in her cheek when she smiled. Her
amazingly bright-blue eyes were mesmerizing. And her lush dark hair looked like it was cared for by a top stylist in New York . The
beachy waves were fabulous. She even had a streak of pale purple running
through, creating a contrast.
    “Hey, Hailey. How’s it
going?” Lindsey sounded weird. Her voice was doing the high-pitched thing it
did when she lied.
    Had Sage been right about
them? Were they a thing before she got together with Vincent?
    “Great.” The girl’s blue
eyes darted about. “You guys want some coffees?”
    It was impossible to hide
the discomfort so I nodded and looked down. “Two pumpkin spice lattes please.”
I couldn't imagine what else we would be here for.
    “Soy for you still,
Lindsey?”
    “Both of us please,” I
added, giving Lindsey a look.
    She had some explaining
to do but instead, she gushed and leaned forward. “I love your hair.”
    “Thanks. So this is my
last shift.” She started our coffees but chatted with Lindsey. “I go back to
school in the city tomorrow.”
    “Oh bummer. School just
started here.” She said it so weirdly, like she was trying to fill the air.
    “Right.” The barista
handed me my drink, but her eyes never left Lindsey’s. “I assumed it had
started earlier when you didn't come in.”
    Lindsey’s cheeks flushed.
“I got super busy.”
    “Cool. I was busy too.”
The girl looked miserable.
    The tension was so thick
you could dollop it onto the lattes and no one would have known it wasn't foam.
    The whole story started
making sense.
    Sage was right.
    That was why Coffee Shop
Girl showed up that night when we were all in the hot tub. That was also why
Lindsey was so upset after the girl left. She hadn’t wanted to hurt her
feelings and it looked like she’d bailed on plans. But