Secrets

Melinda Metz

Fingerprints 04 - Secrets

Rae Voight has finally discovered the truth about her mother. Every horrible detail. That knowledge is like a sweet

taste in my mouth, a sweet taste dripping juice down my chin. If only I could kill her right now, right this second-

But someone else has been watching my Rae. And if I kill her now, the way I ’m burning to do, I may never find out

who it is. That could be dangerous -dangerous for me. This person wants Rae dead. But Rae and I are connected, in

one of the deepest ways possible. And if that connection has something to do with why this other person is after

Rae, then I could be the next target.

I don’t think they know the truth about me. But I need to learn everything about them to be sure I stay safe.

Without Rae my chance to gather information is lost.

So she has to stay alive. For now. But I won ’t be able to hold out much longer.

***

“Excuse me,” Yana Savari called to the girl arranging sleeveless cable-knit turtlenecks on a table. “Do you have
these in a six?” She shook the pleather pants she was holding in the girl’s direction.

“I’ll check the back,” the girl answered, and headed off at a pace slow enough to show that she was doing it
because she wanted to, not because she had to.

Yana shook her head. “She clearly thinks her poop could be made into designer jewelry.”

Rae laughed. Yana could always make her laugh. Even when Rae had been in the hospital and Yana was a
volunteer there, Rae had always ended up laughing at least once every time they talked.

“I know you love ordering around the help, but I don’t wear size six,” Rae told Yana.

“They have to be tight. That’s the whole point,” Yana answered. She narrowed her blue eyes. “Don’t be trying to
weasel out of our deal. I get to make you try on whatever outfit I pick-that includes size.”

“When I agreed to this makeover game of yours, I didn’t know that I’d be risking organ damage,” Rae complained.

She scanned the boutique, looking for the perfect outfit to put Yana in when it was Rae’sturn to be makeover queen.

It had to be something Yana’d hate. That meant cute and sweet and ultra-girlie. Maybe one of those-A girl passed in front of the rack of skirts Rae’d been eyeing, and Rae quickly turned around and headed as far
away from the girl as she could, ending up in front of the discount rack tucked in the corner of the boutique.

Not someone I need to run into,
Rae thought, thumbing through the shirts on sale. If she had to, she could make
chitchat with Jackie Kane, but it wasn’t something she wanted to do. Not something Jackie probably wanted to do,
either. They’d hardly spoken to each other this semester, and Jackie’d only shown up at the hospital for one visit,
one group visit. Yeah, it was better for both of them if Rae pretended that she hadn’t seen Jackie. Who knew-at this
very moment Jackie could very well be pretending that she hadn’t seen Rae.

“You’re not actually trying to hide from me, are you?” Yana asked as she stepped up beside Rae.

“Well, you are pretty terrifying today. But no,” Rae answered.

“Come on. I got the pants.” Yana led the way to the dressing rooms and shoved Rae into the closest one with the
clothes Yana’d picked out.

Rae unbuttoned her pale yellow silk shirt and slidit off, then pulled on the Boys Lie T-shirt Yana’d chosen for her. It
hit her just above the belly button.
Jackie wouldn’t be caught dead in this,
Rae thought. She went more for the
classy-sexy, where it wasn’t totally clear that you were going for sexy at all. At least it wasn’t unless you shopped
with Jackie and saw how totally calculating she was. She felt a little pang thinking about shopping with Jackie. It
was like she was thinking about another girl-a girl named Rae who looked like Rae but who was an alternate-universe Rae.

Yana’s lots more fun, anyway,
Rae thought. She stripped off her khakis and started working on the pleather pants.

She had to lean against the dressing-room wall and stretch her legs out in front of her to get them zipped.

“Let’s see you.” Yana rapped on the flimsy rattan door of the dressing room.

“One sec,” Rae called back. She straightened up, inspected herself in the mirror, and frowned. She pulled the
Boys Lie T-shirt a little farther down to cover the top of her belly button because she didn’t like the weird little dimply
thing in the center, then stepped out of the dressing room.

“It’s the antiyou. Exactly what I was going for,” Yana said. She dragged Rae over to the long mirror at the end of the
row of dressing rooms. “Yep. Thecomplete opposite of your prep school khakis and little sweater sets. Or it would
be if you hadn’t left on the bra. That T-shirt should come with a label-hand wash, cool iron, no bra.” Yana reached
over and fluffed Rae’s curly reddish brown hair, studied her for a moment, and gave a satisfied nod.

“Just don’t tell me to go pantyless,” Rae answered. “I think you could do serious damage to yourself wearing
pleather with no protection.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s your real problem with-” Yana stopped abruptly. “You’ve got to see this,” Yana whispered,
leaning close to Rae. “The Barbie who just came out of the dressing room is walking away with about five hundred
dollars of merch. That stuff she has on the hangers-those are the clothes she wore in here.”

Rae looked in the mirror and caught sight of Jackie pushing her way through the daisy-patterned curtain that
separated the dressing rooms from the rest of the store.

Jackie.
The girl whose nickname with the guys was Snowball because she could be so chilly. The girl who knew
exactly where she wanted to go to college, what job she wanted, how many kids she was going to have. Getting
nabbed for shoplifting couldn’t be part of her famous life plan.

“I know her. She goes to my school,” Rae told Yana, realizing she hadn’t responded.

“I’m not surprised. It’s always the rich wenches who shoplift,” Yana said, a vein of bitterness running through her
voice.

Rae didn’t want to get into a conversation about rich people versus poor people with Yana. The fact that Rae and
her dad had so much more money-mostly from an inheritance of Rae’s mother-than Yana and her father did always
felt icky. She wasn’t going to go anywhere near there.

“I used to be friends with her,” Rae added. “Like eat-lunch-every-day, hang-out-most-weekends friends before, you
know, I did my impersonation of a crazy person in the caf at the finale of my sophomore year.”

Yana hit Rae on the back of the head. She had this rule against Rae even getting close to calling herself crazy.

“Anyway, Jackie was never into anything like that,” Rae continued.

“Guess she got bored with-” Yana shrugged. “Whatever it is you guys use to make your college applications look
impressive. Reading to the blind or whatever.”

“Maybe I should catch up to her and…” Rae let the words trail off. Like Jackie would take advice from the school
loon.

“Yeah, go get her,” Yana urged. “She probably didn’t realize she left wearing the wrong clothes.”

“Okay, dumb idea,” Rae answered, even though there was this little part of her that felt like she should do
something,
that she shouldn’t let a former friend, even a former friend who was probably repulsed by Rae, do
something so stupid. She shook her head, trying to flick the thought away.

“Let me change. Then it’s my turn to create the antiyou.” She turned to face Yana. “Definitely going to need
something that will cover the tats,” she added, her eyes going to the DNA tattoo that circled Yana’s belly button.

“If you’re not going to get that T-shirt-which you should-I want it,” Yana said. “I’ve been saving up for something
new. Everything I own makes me want to puke,” Yana called after Rae as Rae started back toward her dressing
room.

“Walking around with the words
Boys Lie
blazing across your breasts probably isn’t going to improve your social
life,” Rae warned over her shoulder. “And I’m getting you a guy by prom time-no matter what it takes.” Rae pulled
open the dressing-room door. It gave a squeak that sent a tingle from her finger bones all the way up to her
shoulder.

“Wait. Rae, come back here. But try to look casual about it,” Yana instructed, her voice intense. Rae turned around
and saw that Yana’s blue eyes were wide and her lips were pressed together into athin line. Suddenly Rae could feel
the air between them crackle with a current stronger than electricity. Fear.

Rae started toward Yana, heading back to the spot where the row of dressing rooms dead-ended at the long
mirror. Her heart accelerated with every step, and it felt like the narrow corridor was closing in on her. She tried to
act like a normal girl doing the normal shopping thing. “What’s up?” she asked, her voice coming out too loud.

“We’re being watched,” Yana whispered.

Rae’s throat closed up. She twisted the hem of the T-shirt with both hands, stretching out the material. “Where?

Who?” she got out.

I am such an idiot,
she thought.
God, like a store in the Atlanta Underground mall is some kind of safe place. Like

whoever’s been following me would be unable to cross the threshold of a boutique.

“Slowly, look up and to the right,” Yana instructed. “Past the edge of the mirror, right in the corner.”