“Hey, J,” Sydney said, rewarding Jason with a huge smile as she unknowingly interrupted the tense moment.
“Hey, Sydney. You look nice,” Jason responded, grateful for the opportunity to escape from Altimus’s thinly veiled scare tactics.
“Thanks. So do you.” Sydney paused for a moment to take in Jason’s jeans, buttoned-up shirt, and fresh pair of Nike Air Force Ones. Even though the jeans were much baggier than his infamous uniform pants, Jason still looked really good.
“Altimus, did you meet my friend Jason?” Sydney inquired, oblivious to the tension in the room.
“Yes, I did,” Altimus responded. “As a matter of fact, Jason and I were talking about future prospects when you came down.”
“Of what? The Brookhaven team?” Sydney asked, looking quizzically at Jason for a clue to what her stepfather was talking about.
“Something like that,” Jason answered vaguely with a slight smile Sydney couldn’t figure out. “You ready to go?” he asked.
“Yeah, my shoes are at the door,” Sydney answered as she headed to the front door in search of her black-and-silver Gucci ballet flats.
“Cool,” Jason said. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Duke,” Jason said, offering his hand again.
“I’m sure,” Altimus responded, and walked away.
LAUREN
Lauren practically tiptoed to the tiny refrigerator tucked in the corner of the hot pink Duke cheerleading clubhouse lounge and opened it as gingerly as possible. But still, the sound of her Nikes squeaking across the pristine white tile and the shifting of the water bottles in the refrigerator door made her headache pound even harder. She’d been fighting the migraine all day, but four bathroom passes, two Alleve, a cup of herbal tea, and a visit to the nurse’s office later, and Lauren was still rubbing her temples and sending up silent prayers to God begging him to “take the pain away, so I can show these wannabes how a true dance captain gets down.” Under normal circumstances, she would have sent a pleading text to her mom, imploring her to put in a call to the school nurse; an early release, an afternoon nap, and an episode or two of Law & Order: SVU would have been fitting recompense for the trauma her body was going through, and Keisha, God bless her soul, would have been too preoccupied with her Wednesday afternoon nail salon visit to care if Lauren dipped out of a couple of classes. But there was no time for the zone-out. Word on the curb was that a sophomore on the basketball dance squad was gunning for Lauren’s No. 1 spot, and migraine be damned if she was going to just let somebody come in and steal her head-cheerleader-in-charge title. About this much Lauren was clear: Lauren Duke wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
She reached into the refrigerator and grabbed the Tupperware container full of cucumber slices she kept stashed for occasions such as these. A twenty-minute power nap in the plush recliner with the cucumber slices on her eyes would work wonders on her headache and surely take away the puffiness that had settled just under her lower eyelids; she’d wake up refreshed and ready to show those heiffas just why she was, and needed to remain, the dance squad captain.
Lauren settled into the recliner and set her iPhone alarm for 3:20 P.M.; that would give her about ten minutes after she awakened to change into her gear and go over the new steps in her head before the rest of the team arrived at the locker room to get ready for practice. But no sooner had she placed the soothing cucumbers on her eyes and rested her head on her special pillow than she heard a stall door in the bathroom slam shut.
“Who’s that?” Lauren said, bolting upright. The cucumbers tumbled between the chair’s arm and seat cushion.
There was no answer.
Copyright
Trademarks used herein are owned by their respective trademark owners and are used without permission.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Copyright © 2008 by Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller
All rights reserved. Published by POINT, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, POINT, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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ISBN: 978-0-545-23164-0
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Millner, Denene.
If only you knew : a Hotlanta novel / Denene Millner [and] Mitzi Miller. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Hotlanta)
Summary: Wealthy and beautiful African American twins Sydney and Lauren both face boyfriend problems as they continue to delve into a murder mystery that somehow involves both their father and stepfather.
ISBN-13: 978-0-545-00309-4
ISBN-10: 0-545-00309-1
[1. Sisters — Fiction. 2. Twins — Fiction. 3. Fathers and daughters — Fiction. 4. Stepfathers — Fiction. 5. Schools — Fiction. 6. Wealth — Fiction. 7. African Americans — Fiction. 8. Atlanta (Ga.) — Fiction.] I. Miller, Mitzi. II. Title.
PZ7.M63957If 2008
[Fic] — dc22
2007050723
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If Only You Knew Page 19
