Page 10 (1/2)

Scary

Joanne stopped just a couple of feet away from him Cherise couldn’t hear the conversation, because all of a sudden thunder rumbled overhead Cherise looked up, startled, to see dark clouds ht, was really strange, because she’d just been giggling about Marvin’s out-of-the-box weather prediction about storms when the coast see sunny skies

Joanne must have wondered, too; she looked up at the sky with a frown, and it distracted her for a second frouy in the trench coat

Who suddenly lashed out at her with a fist

I had to admit-this former version of me clearly had fantastic reflexes She leaned back, and his punch sailed cleanly past her chin He snarled and reached in his pocket and pulled outa knife

"Call the cops!" Joanne yelled to Cherise, who dashed for the doorway She dialed 911 on her cell while she ran, and yelled for help while it rang Gaffers and techs cah guys "Jo’s in trouble! Parking lot!"

They scrambled Cherise blurted out the facts to the 911 operator and hurried back out to follow, terrified of what she’d find

only to find a ring of big, tough union guys standing around, and the stalker with the knife on the ground, flat on his face, with Joanne kneeling on his back She had his left arm twisted up behind hiust of wind swirled through the parking lot, stirring sand and trash, and blew her hair over her face She shook it back, and Cherise saw that Joanne was grinning

"No problem," Joanne said "One less stalker, Cher That only leaves Brad Pitt, right?"

Cherise sucked in a shaky breath "He has got to stop calling me," she said, in a brave attempt to make it look like she hadn’t been terrified out of her round "His wife’s getting pissed"

The stalker on the ground writhed and said soht hand on the back of his neck, and Cherise was almost sure she saw some kind of spark zap from her into her prisoner

"Play nice," Joanne said "Or you’ll be waking up in a coed to be the hardest guy on the union team, clapped his hand over his heart "I think I’reele as Joanne winked at her

"All in a day’s work for a weather girl," she said, and the howl of sirens took over as the police arrived

That, I realized, was the day Cherise had truly thought of me as not just a friend, but the friend Her best friend

And that feelingthat was love

I lost the thread of theinto a blur of sound and color A spiral of confusion I felt a dull, leaden ache in et back on

The next thing I caught was only a flash, a very brief one-I wasn’t even in it, it was Cherise in a shoe store with a polished-looking blond wo about her ex-husband

And about her sister Froust, she just never shut up about her sister

And she was still talking about her "I didn’t like her er Joanne was a total bitch"

Oh I was the sister So this ho, exactly?

Cherise put a pair of shoes back and turned to face the other wo Before she could open herto, which I couldn’t actually be certain about-the blonde plunged ahead "Joanne was always special," she said "Mom treated her like a little queen I was always the one who had to work harder, you know? So eren’t close Really, I wouldn’t have co for her help if I hadn’t been desperate"

"No kidding, Sarah," Cherise said "I guess it’s nice that she’s let you stay in her house, eat her food, and use her credit cards" She put some emphasis on the credit cards, and I looked over the blonde with new interest New dye job and haircut Fancy designer outfit The shoes she was trying on must have been a minimum of three hundred, and they didn’t even look that cute on her

Sarah didn’t seem to take the rebuke all that well "Well, it’s just temporary So, do you have sisters?"

"Brothers," Cherise said "Two"

"Any of theave her a flat stare "Oh, coood career e"

"I do," Cherise said, and shrugged "I’h for me"

"That’s not what I uys, especially in television"

"Of course I have" The feeling flooding through Cherise was annoyance,contempt No, she didn’t like , you could really secure your future," Sarah continued, clearly not seeing the stop sign Cherise’s expression had to be flashing "Girls like Jo, they don’t really understand the world In the end, she’s going to end up with souy at all, and she’ll never be happy Strong wos are I, on the other hand, plan to end up in the Diae circle of friends"

"Yeah, well, didn’t you already try that?" Cherise asked blandly "You know,for money Wasn’t your ex loaded?"

"My ex was a bastard," Sarah said "And he was a cried "Until I didn’t"

Cherise was busy foreseeing a future for Sarah, one of bitter es, debt, andfun at it, too

"I don’t think you know Joanne at all Your sister kind of rules," Cherise said "And the next ti to smack you so hard the rocks in your head will rattle"

Sarah’s hed, because she assu

Only I knew Cherise hadn’t been, really, and that warh , things I didn’t want to know, things I never wanted to know, and I needed it to just stop, stop, stop

Cherise and Not-ht on a deserted road Kevin holding Cherise while Lewis and I fought off ene prayers under her breath as we drove into a storm

I couldn’t take it all in Overload Stop!

I tried to pull out, and soan to fail, but in the last instant I saw a face