Dollhouse Read Online Free Page B

reflective version of her sister. The two of them shared the same mousey-brown hair, freckles and love of the water. They competed in regional swimming events—powerhouse Caitlin apparently having an edge over her twin.
    “You guys must have Eskimo blood.” Shivering, I gazed out at Ladies Well—broad expanses of rock that trapped the river into deep, crystalline pools. I'd been here a few times in summer, and the water had been too cold for me to swim in even then. I was used to the bathwater-warm oceans of Florida in the summertime.
    Caitlin grinned widely. “The more you do it, the more you get used to it.”
    Brianna nudged Lacey and gestured meaningfully towards the boys. “I bet Ben needs some warming up over there.”
    “What?”
    "Ben Paisley. He's got the hots for you."
    "Get out of town. Look at me—my dad calls me a shaved toothpick.” Lacey stared off into the trees, flicking off Brianna's words as though they were bothersome insects.
    Lacey seemed not to notice Ben’s dogged attention to her over the past couple of months or so. She never showed interest in boys—or anything much for that matter. She was hard to know.  If Lacey was a place, there’d be no signposts.
    Unperturbed, Brianna turned her attention to me. “I’ve seen Dominic staring at you in class. I’m sure he’s hoping you’ll be at our party next week—you’re coming aren’t you?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Wouldn’t want to miss a sixties dress-up. But I won’t be getting groovy with Dominic. He’s not my style.”
    A pang hit the center of my back. Aisha would have loved a sixties party—she’d said she wished she was a teenager of that era. I bet she would have wanted to dress as John Lennon, her idol.
    “What’s wrong with Dominic?” Caitlin toweled her feet. “He's got a kind of surfer boy thing happening."
    "You mean
wanna-be
surfer boy," Brianna commented dryly. "We're a long way from any surf here."
    Caitlin shrugged. "I’d still do him.”
    Brianna elbowed her twin. “Who’s your style, then, Cassie?”
    Ethan’s face moved into my mind. He blotted out every other boy, like a sun.
    “I don’t know. I guess I like someone who’s into the outdoors, like me. And I don’t mean
footie
.” I laughed.
    Footie was the game Australian men played and watched—like a game of gridiron but without any kind of head gear or body armor.
    “Hmmm well I’ll keep thinking,” said Brianna. “There’s a couple of contenders.”
    I realized then it was less about matchmaking for Brianna and more of a kind of sport—placing people on teams. I wondered if she was thinking of Ethan as one of my
contenders
. Ethan was an outdoors type—more so than anyone else at school. He was known for taking off by himself for weekends out in the forests. Part of me wanted Brianna to say it, wanted her to verbalize the possibility of me and Ethan getting together. But I knew she wouldn’t. I felt guilty for even thinking it.
    Caitlin gazed at me sharply, as though she’d hooked into my train of thought. “I bet a lot of girls are hoping Ethan's going to be available again soon...."
    "Really?" I tried to sound casual, but my heart was already pumping.
    Brianna gave an exaggerated nod. "Just about every girl at school would like to tame wildboy Ethan. They're just not admitting it now that... well, now that something's happened to Aish."
    The mood changed when Aisha's name was mentioned. Everyone's expression stiffened.
    Caitlin bit her knuckle, gazing off at the water. “I heard that Aisha went missing too quick that day. That there was someone there, waiting in the forest.”
    Few people had directly spoken to me about Aisha's disappearance—the school had strictly instructed everyone not to question me, Lacey or Ethan about that day. It seemed that for Caitlin at least, the dam had broken.
    Lacey plugged back into the conversation."It's all just speculation at this point."
    “Spoken like a policeman's daughter," Caitlin shot