Alienated Read Online Free Page A

arm. “Trying to get rid of me?”
    “Maybe I should.” Heat rose into Cara’s cheeks. The endless groping, the insults—she couldn’t take much more of the new and “improved” Eric. Closing her eyes, she counted backward from ten to one and tried to recall the bulleted list of suggestions in Anger Management for Imbeciles . Deep breath in…deep breath out. Oh, to hell with it. If this didn’t get rid of him, nothing would: “I signed the contract.”
    “What contract?” It took a few seconds for her words to sink in, and then Eric’s lips parted with an audible pop . “That LEAP thing you talked about at lunch?”
    “Yep.”
    “You’re screwing with me, right?”
    “Nope.” Stiffening her resolve, she added, “We bring him home in two weeks.”
    “Are you insane? You’ll have to actually go there! No amount of money’s worth that!” Eric reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wet, crumpled leaflet, but his hand froze in midair before it reached her. “Wait. Did you say him ? It’s a guy? No effing way!”
    Three sharp knocks sounded at the door, and Tori let herself in, turning their attention away from the argument for a few seconds.
    Tossing her long black braid over one shoulder, Tori dropped her goalie gloves haphazardly onto the floor before tugging her Midtown soccer T-shirt over her head and using it to wipe her sweaty face. Then she slung the shirt around her neck and stood in her sports bra and shorts, gripping her waist like Wonder Woman.
    Tori shot daggers at Eric. “Hey, culo .” She flipped him the bird, and he returned the gesture. Their hatred had always been mutual.
    She was the yin to Cara’s yang—teakwood skin, jet black eyes—an academic underachiever with ten tons of nuclear energy driving her miniature four-foot-nine-inch frame. But they had one thing in common: they didn’t hold back.
    In an unusual move, Eric spoke directly to Tori, waving her over to the sofa. “You’re not gonna believe this.”
    “Let’s see. Something I’d never believe…” She tapped one finger against her chin. “You finally took your nose outta Marcus Johnson’s butt crack?”
    “You won’t be laughing when a L’asshole crashes your next slumber party,” Eric said darkly. “Have fun braiding his hair, or whatever you girls do at those things.”
    “What’s he talking about?” Tori pulled a chair up to the sofa, then turned it backward and straddled the seat while Cara filled her in on what she’d missed.
    “ Puta madre! Slow down. You gotta read this before you decide for sure.” Tori held one hand forward while using the other to pull a sweaty wad of paper from her bra. She smoothed it out against her thigh and handed it to Cara. “They were giving ’em out after practice.”
    “Us, too,” Eric added, flinging his leaflet onto the sofa cushion. “Marcus’s dad is president of the local chapter. I already joined.”
    Cara held the nasty thing at a distance and glanced at the front cover. HALO: H UMANS A GAINST L’ EIHR O CCUPATION . T HE P ATRIOTS OF E ARTH . “Seriously? Since when does anyone listen to HALO?” The kooks had thousands of members in every nation, but they were known extremists—the kind of people who stockpiled weapons and looked forward to the apocalypse. “Did they offer you any Kool-Aid? I hope you didn’t drink it.”
    “You’re the one swallowing poison.” Eric grabbed his pamphlet and held it in the air like a gospel. “If you believe what the government says.”
    Tori leaned forward in her chair and pointed one purple fingernail at the opening paragraph. “This part’s kinda scary.”
    With a resigned sigh, Cara scanned the sheet. “The L’eihrs, at least the few we’ve been permitted to see, possess technology, intel ligence, speed …blah-ditty-blah-blah-blah… And that begs the question: What could they possibly want from us? Their freakish physical advances are the result of an ancient breeding program, and now that we