Survival of the Fiercest by Anna Carey

Author:Anna Carey
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

“You’re completely insane,” Cindy hissed, throwing her long jet-black hair over her shoulder. They turned down Madison Avenue, nearly knocking over a chubby-cheeked toddler who’d escaped from his mother. “When Lola sees you two together she’s going to kill you.”

It was a cool, breezy afternoon, but Andie’s skin felt hot, like she’d gotten a second-degree sunburn. “What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t not invite him.”

Cindy shook her head. “You should have told him you weren’t going to the party—anything. Now he’s going to be there tomorrow, and so is Lola. She’s going to figure out that you two have been talking. This is bad. Really, really bad.” She let out a low cough. Cindy was great at making Andie feel like she was just as smart and talented as Cate, shooting mock fashion spreads on her Nikon Coolpix, or consoling her when the Ashton soccer team lost. But in crisis situations, she went into complete panic mode.

Cindy pulled off her fedora and smoothed down her hair. “You just have to tell Lola—she can’t be mad at you. She’s modeling for Gunther Gunta!”

“I tried,” Andie mumbled. “There hasn’t been a good time.”

“Try again!” Cindy said, shaking her head. “She’s going to know something is wrong when Kyle is wandering around the party looking for you.” She blew Andie a kiss before taking off toward her apartment building, the Stagecoach, which had a blown-glass sculpture of a horse and buggy in the lobby.

Andie turned down Eighty-second Street. Cindy’s words were still ringing in her ears when she spotted Clay in front of her town house. He was leaning against the wrought iron fence, kicking around a crumpled Coke can. “Sloane! Where you been?” he called.

Andie tried hard to smile, but couldn’t. Right now Kyle was in a loft space in SoHo, probably talking about the Shins or playing Wii bowling with his bassist, Mark.

She pushed open the wrought iron gate. It felt like it weighed five hundred pounds. “Hey…sorry I’m late,” she said, not feeling even the slightest bit sorry.

“No worries, yo. He pulled down his Yankees hat over his shaggy blond hair. “I told Brandon we were hanging out; he might come over later.”

“Sure,” Andie mumbled. “I love Brandon.” The only thing worse than spending the afternoon with Clay was spending the afternoon with Clay and Brandon. They’d probably pants each other in the middle of the kitchen as Margot looked on in horror.

They walked into the foyer just as Lola was bounding down the stairs. She was wearing her red plaid Gap boxers and a Sherwood Academy sweatshirt. Her dirty blond hair looked just that—dirty. Instead of its usual dry, frizzy texture, it was greasy, like she’d washed it with vegetable oil. She looked from Clay to Andie, her green eyes bright. “Hello!” she said in her little British accent, a little too cheerfully.

Andie let out a deep breath, reminding herself that Lola was the reason Clay was over in the first place. As an aspiring model, Andie knew how to channel every emotion: happy, scared, mysterious, or bold.

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