Better Off Alone (BOOK 1)(Wattys 2016)

Doppelgängers Exist Right?

The first day of school comes at me like hell.

I wake up to the sound of Clive banging on my door and I groggily sit up, my hair sticking to my face from dried drool. I cringe and call out, "What do you want?"

Clive opens the door up. "Gemma! What are you doing?! School starts in twenty minutes. Mom and Dad have already left for work. You need to hurry."

"Shit. Shit. Shit." I push the sheets back and climb out of bed, running for the bathroom.

Clive calls after me, "I'll make you a toaster stroodle."

I jump in the shower and begin scrubbing shampoo into my hair, but then I realize I accidentally grabbed Clive's shampoo so now I smell like boy. God, could this go worse? Yes, yes it could. I knock a razor of the wall of the shower and begin jumping around, trying to avoid it, but then I end up stepping on it. I yell out in pain, cursing as blood stains the water red.

I quickly rinse out my hair and dry myself off, making sure I keep the blood from flowing onto the ground. There's a knocking on the door and Clive is asking me what's going on.

"Clive! I cut my foot and it's bleeding like crazy."

Clive swore. "Gemma, please just hurry. We can't be late."

I dried off and pressed a band aid to my foot where the cut was then I wrapped a towel around me and pushed back into the hallway, going to my room. Clive was watching me move like a crazy woman. "Gemma, please, hurry."

"Clive! You telling me to hurry will not help. Go start the jeep and take my toaster stroodle with you. I'll be out in five minutes, tops."

Clive exits and I quickly pull on a pair of faded blue jean shorts and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. Then I slide on my Vans and look at myself in the mirror. Ugh. Oh well. I swipe my eyeliner across the top, making a surprisingly nice winged-like effect. I brush on some mascara and comb my fingers through my wet hair.

Oh, well. It'll have to do.

I race down to the jeep and before I can even shut the door Clive begins backing out of the drive way.

We literally make it to school with three minutes to spare.

***

When I get to my locker after checking in at the office, Macey and Olive are already standing there waiting for me, both looking drop dead gorgeous as usual. I drop my knapsack in my locker and lean against the cool metal of it, catching my breath.

Olive looks at me curiously, her green eyes amused. "Gemma? You okay?"

Macey leans in and looks closely at my face before brushing my cheek with her thumb. "There was... gooey red stuff on your face."

I smirk. "It was from my toaster stroodle."

Olive crosses her thin, tan arms and I notice her blonde hair is curled perfectly, but subtly. The only reason I notice it has effort is because she is my best friend. "Did you oversleep?"

"No," I say sarcastically. "I just chose to sleep until twenty minutes before school started so that I could get a rush from the thrill of cutting it close."

Macey laughs. "Well, I mean this as a compliment, you don't look bad."

I feel my eyes roll back, feeling pity for myself. "I cut my foot on a razor."

Olive hisses through her teeth. "Oh, gods, sorry, Gemma."

I shrug. "We should hurry to the assembly or else Principle Ohrn will make us have detention."

***

We file into the assembly where everyone is sitting, waiting for it to begin. I sit next to Olive who is next to Macey. I turn to them, raising my voice above the clamor of the other students. "Where's Eddie? Isn't he here yet?"

Olive nods. "Yeah, he's showing Larkin around."

Macey and Olive exchange a look. I arch my eyebrows at them. "Care to share, guys?"

Macey smiles evilly. "We met Larkin."

"Oh? What's he like? Does he have Eddie's flirty persona?"

If it's possible, Macey's grin becomes more devious and even larger. "Hell no. This boy is so hot and... help me out, O."

Olive sighs dreamily. "He's very... mysterious and... Different."

I smirk. "I find it hard to believe that Eddie is related to someone who appears mysterious. I mean, the guy is as easy to read as an open book."

They both look behind me and laugh. I exhale and roll my eyes. "He's behind me, yeah?"

"I am not an open book." Eddie's flirty voice lilts from behind me and I swivel to see him standing there with his arms crossed. He's got his caramel-colored hair styled, as usual, and his skin is a nice tannish color.

"I -" I can't finish my retort because suddenly I see the boy behind him and my mind is frozen as my stomach swivels around.

He's tall, with fair hair and crystalline eyes that seem to pierce me from where he stands. I notice him staring back at me, his perfect pink lips - the bottom one pierced now - curled in a smirk which is directed at me. I take in his leather jacket and tight jeans and begin mentally cursing this day, cursing my life.

No. NO. NO!

Eddie leans close to me, his cute dimples appearing on either side of his smile. "Gemma?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" I gasp out to the boy behind him. Maybe it's not actually him. Maybe it's his doppelgänger. Those exist, right?

Eddie laughs awkwardly, looking between me and the boy. "This is Larkin, my cousin from Miami."

Shit. No. Please, God, not today.

This was the boy.

Larkin was the boy from my cousin's wedding.

~~~

A/N:

Pic on the side of Dylan O'Brien as Clive Lawrence.