Ultimatum (Dirty Secrets #1) Read Online Free Page A

just because a guy she was crushing on asked me to homecoming. I turned him down, but that didn’t matter to her. And that is just the beginning of all the rumors she has spread about me. Nobody believes them anymore.
    “You can’t lie to me,” Frannie says. “We’ve been friends since freshman year. Remember that time she told the school counselor that you had an eating disorder? She got to retake her finals because she said she couldn’t concentrate because she was so worried about you. And remember the time she told Oliver Bray that you were pregnant with Landry’s baby so he would take her to the school carnival instead of you? And remember…”
    I cut her off. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Dee has it out for me. But am I really ready to go up against that? And why me? Why can’t you do it, Fran? I’d support you.”
    “Because we want you ,” Frannie says. “We all decided. You’re a leader. Everybody already likes you better than Dee. Why not make her last year of high school miserable? She deserves it.”
    “You’re the captain of the cheerleading squad, Fran. You’re a leader too.”
    “Just think about it.”
    I sigh. “Fine. I will think about it.”
    “Promise?”
    “I promise.”
    “Good,” she says. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    The line goes dead.
    I plug my phone up and sit it beside my bed. I turn it on vibrate, and then I pick up the first book assigned to us in English. I figure I might as well get started. But before I can even read the first sentence of the book, there is a knock on my door.
    I get up and see Mom’s boyfriend, Ben, standing on the other side.
    “Mom’s not here,” I tell him, hoping that he will go away.
    “The kitchen is dirty,” he says. “You need to clean it up.”
    I roll my eyes. “And you need to go to your own house.”
    “If your mom comes home and sees that it’s dirty, she will be mad,” he says. “And if I tell her that you talked back to me, she will be furious.”
    “I don’t give a crap what you tell her.”
    Trey’s door opens up. He walks over beside me. “What’s the problem?”
    “This little bitch is disrespecting me,” Ben tells Trey.
    Trey steps closer to him. “Don’t ever call my sister a bitch… Got that?”
    “Whatever,” Ben says, not tempting him. “Just make sure the kitchen is cleaned up.”
    Ben heads back to Mom’s room. After the door shuts, I turn to Trey.
    “Thank you,” I say. “I guess I better go check out the kitchen.”
    “If he ever says anything like that to you again, come get me,” he says.
    Trey goes back to his room. I go downstairs and check out the kitchen. All the dishes from dinner are clean, but there is a new plate in the sink. It’s Ben’s plate. I roll my eyes, and rinse it off and stick it in the dishwasher.
    My mom sure can pick ‘em.

Tuesday, August 26
    Daisy is missing.

    When I wake up on Tuesday, I have a ton of missed calls. I look through them to see a lot of them are from Daisy’s house number, and a few are from Frannie, Cassidy, Hayden, and Emma. I listen to the voicemail from Daisy’s house.
    “Madeline, this is Megan, Daisy’s mom. I just checked on Dee and she’s not in her room. I’m really worried about her. If she’s with you, please call me so I know she’s okay.” The voicemail was left at 2 a.m. I have a few more from her mom, each one getting more frantic.
    I read through my texts.

    Frannie: Oh my God, Mads. Daisy is missing. Her mom called the police and everything. CALL ME!

    All of my friends sent similar messages.
    I call Frannie.
    “Finally!” Frannie says. “You’re on speaker with Cass and me.”
    “What’s going on?” I ask. “Did Dee show back up at her house?”
    “NO!” Cassidy basically screams into the phone. “She’s missing, Mads. I’m so worried.”
    “This is Dee we’re talking about,” I say. “I’m sure she’s fine. She probably fell asleep at some guy’s house and her phone died.”
    “Maybe,” she says, calming