Boys R Us

by Lisi Harrison

  Since then, they had traveled the world together, getting homeschooled by life experience and a tutor who was legally bound to make sure their education was up to conventional standards, should they ever choose to enter society. Once she turned twelve, the tutor resigned. They had successfully passed their tenth-grade finals and were given the green light to sit back and enjoy the ride. A ride, that thanks to their hardworking mothers, took them to the most exotic places on the planet and left them alone to explore. A ride that filled their digital cameras with more romantic shots than a season of The Bachelor. A ride that, thanks to Shira, was about to end in a devastating crash.

  “She’s doing it on purpose.” Charlie dabbed the corner of her eye with her champagne-colored sleeve, a flulike ache pulsing thorough her entire body.

  “I sincerely doubt she built all this to break you and Darwin up.” Bee splayed her arms, indicating the acres of state of the art architecture, woman-made beaches, and advanced technology.

  “Then why am I getting sent back east to some boarding school while Darwin stays here, with a pack of alpha females?”

  Bee sighed, like she was tired of saying what she was about to say but would say it one last time. “Every girl at the academy has been hand-selected by Shira because of her outstanding abilities. And after giving it a lot of thought, she figured it wouldn’t be fair to admit you based on family connections. Not fair to them and not fair to you.”

  Charlie clenched her fists, wanting to punch the fawn right out of Bambi.

  “Besides, do you really think a few months apart is going to undo twelve years?” Bee raised her light, arched brows and shook her head in disbelief. “Since when are you insecure about Darwin?”

  “I’m not insecure about Darwin,” Charlie insisted. “I’m insecure about me.”

  Charlie, despite her advanced brain and waist-length locks, always saw herself as a medium. Medium brown hair. Medium texture between a wave and a curve. Medium-size brown eyes. Medium hotness—more Aniston than Angie.

  “We Deery women have a quiet beauty that sneaks up on people. At least that’s what your father used to say.” Bee smiled fondly at his memory.

  Charlie twisted the three silver bracelets on her wrist. “Mom, guys don’t want beauty that creeps. They want beauty that comes up and slaps them across the face. And that’s what’s about to land here. One hundred times over.”

  The rain stopped suddenly. Bee squinted up at the sky. The copper-colored kisses were getting bigger. “You are more talented than any of those girls, and Darwin knows that.”

  “Yeah, but Shira doesn’t,” Charlie hissed. “She has no idea that I took apart her robo dog when I was ten and reprogrammed it to act like a cat. Or that I used to take the engines out of Darwin’s electric cars and put them in my Bratz dolls so they could braid each other’s hair. Or that I put wings on her cell so it would fly back when she lost it. Or that I invented the digital-camo iPhone case that changed color to match her outfits. She doesn’t know you gave my blueprints to the Alpha lab and that most of this place was designed by me. Maybe if she did, she’d let me stay here with you and Darwin. But she’s too arrogant to see it and you’re too afraid to tell her.”

  “Lower your voice,” Bee whisper-snapped.

  But Charlie couldn’t. Her voice had been lowered for too long.

  Suddenly, a warm wind blew their clothes dry instantly and restored the gold puddles to dust.

  “Maybe if I showed her what I made for Darwin she’d see that I’m not useless and let me stay.” Charlie pulled an electronic butterfly out of her wrist-pack and slowly opened her hand.

  “What does it do?” Bee couldn’t help smiling at the cute little iridescent creature that batted its heart-shaped wings in Charlie’s palm.

  Charlie lowered her head, thinking of her first kiss with Darwin at the Butterfly Botanical Garden in Costa Rica. She kissed the butterfly softly. All of a sudden it took flight.

  “Oh, it’s wonderful.” Bee clapped her hands until it landed, then smiled sadly. “Now put it away, sweetie. She’ll be here any minute.”

  “I’m gonna show her,” Charlie decided, filling with hope.

  “Impossible.” Bee sighed. “You’ve used her resources without permission.”

  “So?”

  “Remember when she arrested Assistant Seven for filling her canteen from the glacier springs? She accused her of stealing. Imagine what she’ll do when she discovers how much of her lab has become your secret workshop?”

  Charlie lowered her head. More droplets fell. This time from her eyes.

  “I know it’s hard, love. But your time will come. For now, try to remember that Shira has given us everything.”

  “No, she’s given us everything she doesn’t want.”

  Charlie’s fingers immediately went to the three silver bracelets on her wrist. Both she and Darwin had DD’s (Dead Dads) who had died in car accidents when they were babies. His had left him a roomful of vinyl records, explaining his love for music. And hers had left the bracelets, an heirloom he had inherited from his mother. Each bracelet had a cameo that opened; one held a picture of her mom, one of her dad, and one of Darwin. They were the only non-Shira-tainted thing she owned. Everything else had once been Shira’s or bought by Shira or bought for Shira and never returned.

  Suddenly, the sky darkened overhead and more storm clouds rolled in. Thunder crackled in the distance. The temperature dropped twenty degrees in an instant.

  Bee pressed a button on her A-pod to warm her daughter’s uniform and then rolled back her shoulders.

  A clear platform, identical to the one they were standing on, rose up from the ground. Shira, hands resting on the railing like she was standing at the bow of a ship, gazed at the horizon until the platform locked into place. She turned to face them; her wavy auburn hair blew as if blasted by a wind machine while her navy off-the-shoulder Grecian dress remained perfectly still. As usual, dark round sunglasses concealed her eyes.

  In twelve years, Charlie had never seen her without them. One rumor was that Shira had tried to lighten her green irises but something had gone wrong and they had turned yellow, like a snake’s. Others swore she had bat sonar technology implanted in her eyeballs so she could out-see regular humans. But Charlie had her own theory. Which was: Shira just liked to freak people out.

  “Unbelievable!” Shira’s down-under accent was outback fresh, even though she’d been off the continent for nearly two decades.

  A crack of thunder startled everyone but Shira.

  “What is it?” Bee cooed with dutiful concern.

  “I just lost a promising actress to a George Clooney movie.” Her jaw muscles twitched. “Bee, call the producer and have her removed from the picture.”

  The appropriate contact information appeared in Bee’s A-pod.

  “What time would you like her here?”

  “Here?” Shira’s lips tightened. “I don’t want that no-hoper here. I want her working in a Chuck E. Cheese costume by sundown.”

  Bee turned away with a reluctant sigh and began dialing.

  Charlie’s fingers started tingling. They always did when she thought up a new invention. It was her body urging her to start building. Only this time her tongue tingled too, forcing her to speak.

  “So does this mean you have an open spot?” she asked quickly, before her mother could get off the phone.

  Shira slowly nodded yes.

  “Maybe I could take it?” she asked meekly.

  “You?” Another crack of thunder echoed across the campus.

  Charlie’s legs began tingling. They wanted to run.

  “What can you do?” she laughed without smiling. “Besides distract my son?”

  Charlie reached into her wrist pack. “I kind of make things.” She opened her hand. The metal butterfly sat stiffly in her palm. “Look.” She kissed it and it flew.

  “What are you doing?” Bee snapped her phone shut and glared at her daughter.

  “She’s
trying to convince me to give her the open spot,” Shira checked her reflection in her silver mirrored nail polish. “But we all know that’s impossible.”

  “Why?” Charlie blurted. “Because you want me away from Darwin? Because you don’t think I’m good enough—”

  “Charlie!” Bee hissed.

  “Well, I do question your motives for wanting to attend the academy.” Shira brushed a speck of glitter off her pale forearm. “I didn’t build it for girls to get their C-R-U-S-H degrees.”

  Charlie narrowed her brown eyes, no longer fearing the woman she had feared for years. She was about to get exiled from Alpha Island—what did she have to lose? “I don’t want to go to the academy for Darwin.” Only, she added silently. “I want to go for me.” And him. For us!

  Shira turned to face her. “It’s a moot point, Lollie,” she stated with feigned disappointment. “The admissions committee has strict rules about nepotism. Stating that anyone related to an employee can’t attend.”

  “But you are the committee!”

  “That’s enough, Charlotte!” Bee insisted. “It’s settled.” She turned to Shira, her scowl dissolving like Crystal Light in water. “The actress has been removed from the film.

  Clooney sends his deepest apologies. Will there be anything else or can I release the circle-hold on the planes and prepare the ground crew for arrival? ”

  Shira tapped her nails against the platform railing, and the sky cleared instantly. “Unless…”

  The single word hung in the air. Bee’s eyes widened in anticipation. Charlie held her breath.

  “Unless”—Shira turned toward her longtime assistant—“you resigned. Then Charlie wouldn’t be related to anyone.” She grinned, clearly pleased with herself for having lowered the evil bar that much closer to hell.

  “What?” Charlie locked eyes with her mother’s, a barrage of sentiments passing silently between them.

  Bee’s fluttering lids seemed to ask if this was what she really wanted. If she would be okay without her. If this would make her happy.

  “Very well.” Bee stretched up to her full height of five foot two. “I quit.”

  “Are you kidding? Mom, you can’t!” Charlie blurted. Ever since her dad died, Bee had worked birthdays, holidays, weekends—work was as much a part of her mother as afternoon tea. And as much as Charlie abhorred Shira, she wasn’t sure Bee could cope without her. What would keep her from missing her husband now?

  “It’s okay.” She reached for her daughter’s hand. “I’ve been meaning to visit Mum and Dad in Manchester for twelve years. Don’t you think I’m overdue?”

  “Are you sure about this, Bee?”

  Bee gave a nod.

  “Very well.” Shira nodded back.

  It was a done deal.

  A look flickered across Shira’s face that Charlie had never seen before. The corners of her lips lifted. Her brows relaxed behind her glasses. Was that satisfaction or the release of gas?

  Bee pulled her daughter close and whispered into her ear. “Chahlie, everything I did was for you. You have a gift. It’s time you shared it.”

  “But Mom, I can’t—” Charlie whispered back, unable to fully process what had just happened. Within minutes, the entire course of her mother’s life had changed. And for what? A boy?

  “Do we have a deal?” Shira extended her arm.

  Bee elbowed her daughter in the ribs. Charlie surrendered and offered her right hand.

  “No.” Shira shooed it away. “The other one.”

  “Huh?” Charlie slowly held out her left.

  Shira stepped to the edge of her platform, leaned forward, and slipped a bracelet off Charlie’s arm. In a single motion she popped open the cameo and removed the round picture of her son. Pleased, she handed it back.

  How did you know about the photo? How did you know which bracelet it was in? How can you just take that from me? Charlie wanted to shout. But she couldn’t. Her stomach was in her throat.

  The sky buzzed. A fleet of gold-tinted PAPs circled overhead, waiting for clearance to land. Shira nodded at Bee. Bee signaled the crew to bring the planes in. It was her final job for Brazille Enterprises.

  “As long as you’re here, you will focus on your studies,” Shira stated, watching her protégés descend onto the runway and roll to a stop. “Darwin is off-limits. When you break up with him, leave this conversation out of it. A true alpha makes sacrifices for her goals. And he will be your first sacrifice.” She made a fist around the photo and squeezed. “Understood?”

  Charlie inhaled deeply, trying to steady herself with her breath. Could she really convince Darwin she was over him? Did she even have a choice? What was the alternative? Boarding school in New Jersey? A long-distance relationship with the two most important people in her life? At least now she’d be able to see one of them. And maybe in time, if she got the grades, Shira would see that she was good enough for her son. And her mom could get her job back and—

  “Understood?” Shira pressed.

  “Understood,” Charlie managed.

  Shira’s lips curled back against her teeth. To the untrained eye, it might have looked like a smile. But Charlie knew better. It was the look of a predator preparing to devour her prey.

  “Welcome to Alpha Academy.”

  MEET THE ALPHAS

  08.25.09

  VIDEOGAME COMING FALL 2009

  THE CLIQUE

  Diss and Make Up

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