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Chapter 7

‘What – what’s going on?’That’s what I asked the doctor and nurse – both wearing full surgery gowns, including masks – who showed up in what seeht to shake me awake, then transfer me from my bed to a hospital wheeled stretcher‘Shh,’ said the nurse, pointing atin the chair next to my bed ‘Don’t wake her up She’s exhausted ’‘But where are we going?’ I asked, stiffly rolling from my bed to the stretcher‘Just to do soht?’ I asked groggily ‘Can’t they wait until ?’‘These are very important tests,’ the nurse said ‘They can’t wait ’‘OK,’ I said, sinking down against the thin mattress As usual, I was so tired I was di, e me down the middle of Times Square and I wouldn’t have known the difference, that’s how sleepy I was‘Hoe doing?’ the doctor asked when he stopped the stretcher to push the button to an elevator, way down at the end of the hall, about a thousand miles, it seemed, from my room‘Fine,’ I murmured, at the saood so far There was no one even sitting at the nurses’ station The whole floor is eot ood look at herAnd I realized she wasn’t a nurse at all‘Hey,’ I said, feeling suddenly wide awake I leaned up on my elbows And, my head didn’t feel at all throbby any more ‘You’re –’The elevator doors chose that uy in the surgical ?’ I demanded as the two of them rammedyou,’ Lulu explained, stabbing the button ht It’s us, Nik Me and Brandon Show her, Brandon ’And the doctor – although I guess that’s not who he was after all – peeled off his surgicalbroadly ‘Brandon See? Everything’s going to be all right We caht back at hi, blond and impossibly handsomeAnd clearly co ain? Except that I couldn’t be Because hallucinations were never this detailed, were they? I could hear each ping of the elevator as it went down And I could su a pretty serious case of five o’clock – in this case, five o’clock in thehis jawIt wasn’t until we ee, and my captors wheeled me towards a limo – yes A limo Black stretch – that I realized just how dire the situation really was Because there wasn’t even anyone around to hear ly emptyThat’s when Lulu turned to Brandon and said, ‘She’s not going to get in willingly She still has no idea e are ’And he gave a sigh, turned around and swiftly yanked me off the stretcher and over his shoulderNow, I may have just spent a month in a coet kidnapped by a celebutante and her FFBF henchman I sucked in my breath and let out a shriek that I swear had to have been heard halfway to New Jersey –– if there’d been anybody around to hear it, that isThere wasn’t Brandon stuffedany part of him hich I came into contact, into the rear seat of the limo, then settled into the seat oppositehurt And not just physically‘Jesus, Nikki,’ he said, as Lulu juo‘It’sof it wasI kind of did recognize hiazines It was Brandon Stark – as in Stark Megastores Brandon Stark as in the Brandon Stark, Nikki Howard’s on-again, off-again albu boyfriend Brandon Stark as in heir to the Stark faazine of Frida’s put at a net worth of like a billion dollars or soWhich pretty much makes him the richest person I’ve ever rabwith you?’ I demanded of both him and Lulu ‘Can’t you see I’own and ht black catsuit were still perfectly in place ‘It’s just that we couldn’t think of any other way to get you out of there Iyou ’‘No one is brainwashingabout? I don’t even know you!’This was the wrong thing to say Lulu and Brandon exchanged glances‘See what I mean?’ she asked him under her breathBrandon, aped down at , in a frat-boy way – sort of like Jason Klein, Whitney’s boyfriend He had a big square jaw and blond hair that hung a little bit into his green eyesbutthe surgical mask on top of his head ‘Nikkiwhat did they do to you?’‘Yeah,’ I co Why do you people keep calling me Nikki?’‘Oh God ’ Lulu dropped her head into her hands, while Brandon just stared at me as if I’d asked hienThe limo driver turned his head and asked calmly, ‘Back to Ms Howard’s loft, Mr Stark?’Lulu lifted her head to say, ‘Oh God, yes ’ She looked over at Brandon, slu familiar’‘Yeah, to the loft, Touys can’t do this,’ I said, trying to stay cal on I own, no less I didn’t even have any shoes on So it wasn’t like I could throw myself at the car door and bail‘Nikki,’ Lulu said in a patient voice ‘We’re doing this for you Because we love you Whatever they’ve told youit’s a lie All right? We’re your friends ’‘I’ to sit beside me A little too close toat s ere driving past along Second Avenue flickered across his face, turning it froain ‘I’m your boyfriend How can you not reenuinely upset He wasn’t faking it His deep voice broke on the word boyfriend, and everything It was alOr at least, it would have been, if I hadn’t been convinced the two of theuysto keep(yeah Good luck with that), ‘and takecharges No one will have to know Just drop ?’ Brandon looked stunned ‘We aren’t kidnapping you!’‘Yes, we are, actually,’ Lulu said to hie and was gulping from it ‘I mean, that’s what this is, really Only I prefer the term intervention ’‘How can she not knoe are?’ Brandon asked her ‘Who she is?’Lulu shook her head ‘I told her to stay away froists’I took a deep breath, still fighting for cal about, but I think there’s been so My na to be very upset when they find out I’ from my hospital room, by the way – are Daniel Watts and Karen Rosenthal-Watts I don’t knohy you guys seem to think I’m Nikki – Howard, I presume Because I’m not ’The two of them blinked at me with a lack of coazes were as blank as Frida’s always got when I was trying to explain the finer points of role-play ga to her

But I’d never let that stop me before, and I wasn’t about to now either‘Up until very recently,’ I went on, ‘I was an eleventh-grader at Tribeca Alternative High School Then about a o, I wasI don’t know In an accident of some kind I’m not real clear about the details, actually But when I woke up, I was in the hospital you just kidnapped o back to Now ’My voice rose a little hysterically on the word now But overall I ed to deliver that speech with a reasonable amount of co I was being held in a lied socialitesAlso, I noticed no one had offered y drink And I was really thirsty‘My God,’ was all Brandon said about my speech And he sort of let that slip out like he hadn’t wanted it to‘I know,’ Lulu said, not taking her coet her home When she sees her stuff she’ll be fine I ht dead in a dress like that if she was in her rightto own As a dress‘That’s it,’ I said I turned in my seat and spoke directly to Tom, the li these two in jail for unlawful imprisonment ’To my surprise, the limo stopped But only, it turned out, because we’d reached our destination‘Sorry, Ms Howard,’ the li orders ’Why does everyone keep callingyou what, ma’am?’ Tom wanted to know‘Ms Howard,’ I hissed And Nikki ’‘Well,’ To uncomfortable, ‘maybe because that’s your na the limo driver ‘My name is Emerson Watts I’m not Nikki Howard ’‘U the rear-view azeAnd screamed