Reunited Read Online Free Page A

from her head. “I am not going to lie to your friend,” she whispered angrily.
    “Since when is Alice Miller still my friend? The girl hates me.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would she be here if she hated you?”
    “Good question,” Tiernan shot back. “Did you pat her down for weapons?”
    Tiernan’s mother just looked at her and waited. It was one of her favorite tools in her arsenal—the Stare of Shame. Then she turned on her heel and hurried back upstairs. Obviously, the woman was pumped to have a normal-looking teenager in the house.
    Sometimes Tiernan wondered if she might still be friends with Alice if her mother hadn’t shipped her off to New Jew freshman year. New Jew (known to the rest of the world as Jacobs Academy of New Jewish Studies) was the pricey Jewishboarding school Tiernan’s Jewish mother insisted she go to for the sole purpose of making Tiernan’s Irish father (Judy’s philandering ex-husband) foot the bill. But Tiernan just wanted to go to Walford High with her friends. Not that her mother ever cared about what she wanted.
    So, Tiernan fought back with the only real power she had—the power to piss her mother off. It was funny how much damage a six-dollar bottle of “Raven” Manic Panic and some scissors could do. Add in a nose ring and an eighteen-year-old boyfriend with dreadlocks (standard issue at all the finest Jewish prep schools) and her transformation into a punk-rock badass was complete.
    To Tiernan, the change wasn’t all that radical. She’d just turned up the volume on her already quirky personality. To eleven. But the whole thing had seriously wigged Judy out.
    Summer didn’t have time to notice Tiernan’s makeover, what with her newfound hobby of letting every jock at Walford High ram his tongue down her throat. And Alice (in typical Alice fashion) tried to act like nothing had changed. She pretended it didn’t matter that Tiernan went to a different school. She ignored the fact that Tiernan’s wardrobe was growing freakier by the day while she and Summer still dressed like Banana Republicans. By the time New Jew booted Tiernan’s butt back to public school sophomore year (a story for another day), Summer and Alice seemed like strangers.
    Upstairs, Tiernan heard her mother laughing. Of all Tiernan’sfriends, Alice had always been Judy’s favorite. Even back when Tiernan was still a “good girl” (well, if not “good,” at least “better”) her mother often wondered (aloud) why Tiernan couldn’t be more like her well-mannered, overachieving friend. “Did you know that Alice started an after-school environmental club?” Judy would ask, all mock-innocence. “I bet her mother must be proud.” Insert knife, twist.
    Not that Tiernan held a grudge against Alice for it. Their friendship was fun while it lasted. Then they grew up and drifted apart. The real question was, Why had Alice drifted back into her life now?
    And yet, Alice Miller was in her house—the only visitor Judy had ever let into chez Horowitz while Tiernan was grounded. (And she spent plenty of time being grounded.)
    In every prison break movie, the inmates waited for a chance like this—a guard with a drinking problem, a crack in the fence. Maybe (for once) instead of fighting with her mom, Tiernan would just nod her head and smile. If her mother wanted Tiernan to be Alice’s best friend again, then she would play the role the best she knew how. (And Tiernan did know how.) After all, if her performance was convincing enough, Alice just might be her ticket out of here.
    Tiernan kicked off her combat boots and slid on some boring ballet flats. She dug through the mound of clothes piled in the corner until she found the Level3 T-shirt Alice had given her as a birthday present back when she’d turned thirteen. Itsmelled a bit moldy, but Tiernan was willing to tolerate a little mold. Hell, she was ready to endure Alice’s wrath, just as long as it came with a Get Out of Jail Free card. Maybe