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Chapter 9

It was OK though Because this tiical hed a half dozen pounds The minute she saw ht at ue‘Sorry,’ Lulu called fro ‘I had her locked up in ot to let her out until just now God, look how glad she is to see you! Even if you can’t remember us, you have to remember Cosabella I erie!’Except, of course, that I don’t have a favourite line of lingerie Except maybe HanesStill, even if I didn’t know Cosabella, Cosabella knew ain on the comfy white sofa I’d vacated a few minutes earlier, Cosabella leaped up and, tiny stuiveAnd I didn’t mind I really didn’t Because after the shock I’d had, a face-licking actually felt pretty good‘OK,’ Brandon said, lowering hi me with a worried expression on his face But not, I soon realized, because he was trying to figure out how to get ain Unfortunately ‘It’s ti around Who did this to you, Nikki? And be honest Was it Al-Qaeda?’‘Brandon!’ Lulu shrieked from the kitchen‘Well,’ Brandon shook his head, ‘if they want to strike a blow against freedoo after the Face of Stark, one of America’s ive people AMNESIA,’ Lulu declared froists have the technology to do that ’Brandon looked at ists, Nikki?’ he asked‘OK,’ I said I’d reached up to rub my temples – I mean, Nikki Howard’s teet one thing straight right now I know I look like Nikki Howard And I know I sound like Nikki Howard I realize that right now, I a her clothes, while her dog is licking my face But I am not Nikki Howard OK?’‘OK,’ Brandon said ‘Exceptyou are ’‘I’ on any more than you two seem to But seriously, I’m not Nikki ’‘But how is that even possible?’ Lulu wanted to know She came around the kitchen islandand I noticed what she was carrying – food Lots of foodAnd that the s from the food was sublimeWhich didn’t make any sense, because when I sahat the food was – after she’d put it down on the white marble-topped coffee table in front of et excited overin the past anyway Just the pro fish, I shouldn’t like A bowl of soup – it looked like war by the bits of tofu and seaweed floating in it, and which, again, yuck I completely hate tofu, let alone seaweed All this was accoreen teaBut apparently Nikki Howard doesn’t, because the next thing I kneas gulping that tea down And a second after that, I’d started in on the sea bass and the miso soupAnd all of it was theDon’t think Lulu and Brandon didn’t notice, either They looked at hoas stuffing ly, ‘The blackened sea bass froh to h of course the truth was that by then the fish was all gone anyway And I’d put a pretty good dent in the soup too‘You guys,’ I said ‘Come on Obviously I’m not Nikki Howard I mean, I didn’t even knoho you tere at first I’ve seen you inabout you ’Brandon looked sadly at Lulu ‘She pushed me ahen I kissed her ’Lulu threw me a shocked look ‘Nikki! Way to be a bitch!’I felttohi I’d wanted to do ‘But that’s what I’ to tell you!’ I cried ‘I’m not Nikki Howard! I’m Emerson Watts – honest, I really a a sy this intervention To help you remember who you really are – which isn’t this Emerson Watts person Look –’ she bent over and pulled a black portfolio out from beneath the couch – ‘I have your book I know this will spark soe, where there was a tearsheet fro Nikki Howard in a poofy pro into the air from a trampoline ‘This is from your first ever shoot for Stark Enterprises, when you were just starting out Reht you to New York You reent?’ When I looked at her blankly, she prodded, ‘You ned by Ford They said you were the most professional fifteen-year-old they’d ever represented They said you ay more mature than most of their twenty-year-old models ’‘Uh,’ I said ‘I told you I’m not Nikki I’m Emerson Watts—’‘Emerson Watts ’ Brandon’s eyebroere knitted He was concentratingwhich you could tell for him wasn’t all that easy ‘Emerson Watts Why does that name sound so familiar to me?’‘Shh,’ Lulu said to hie in the portfolio ‘Look, Nikki Look at this This is fro in the front row? And at the party afterwards I asked you if those lace-up gladiator stilettos hurt, and you said they hurt like a ain Now his expression suggested that he was in pain But only fro so hard ‘Seriously I’ve heard that nanore hie ‘He’s just tired He was up all night last night dancing at Cave Oh, look! Here’s your first Victoria’s Secret spread!’I stared down at the pictures, holding Cosabella close (she didn’t seem at all inclined to leave my lap Ever Which I didn’t ainstco about this little creature that seemed to absolutely adore me Who cared if who she really adored was Nikki Howard?)Looking at the pictures, I recognized the body I’d just seen in the bathrooerie, that body looked even more perfect than it had in the mirrorIt see my memory, she’d show me Nikki Howard’s portfolio, and not a faiven the context – that I was apparently a norrader trapped in the body of one of the world’s most famous supermodels – maybe it wasn’t that weird after all Maybe, under the circu tome pictures of y‘Oh,’ Lulu said, turning the page ‘Here’s your first print ad for your new clothing line! See how pretty you look there? Your eyes are the same colour as those sapphiresThat’s not even photoshopped, you know Your eyes really are that colour—’‘I know!’ Brandon cried suddenly, startling us both – and Cosabella, who lifted her little head from my knee and cocked it at hiot hit by the plas of my dad’s new store in SoHo ’I blinked The words plas deep within the recesses of o – the rand opening of the Stark Megastore came back to mejust a trickle at firstthen a flood‘Yes!’ I cried, clappingCosabella a little ‘Yes! That was me! I’m Emerson Watts! I was there that day!’‘So was I!’ Lulu squeaked, her dark eyes widening ‘Oh my God! That was so horrible! Nikki, do you remember now? You fainted!’‘I’m not Nikki,’ I reot hit by the plasma screen ’‘And, Nikki, you like totall

y passed out,’ Lulu said, ignoring uy ran over and he totally like cradled you in his arms, but he couldn’t wake you up No one could And the para her head around to stare at ly And that’s the last tilycaeet it under control But I knew that wasn’t true Ito lycaelycaemia And also because no ould you take ti And no ould you leave Cosy behind ’I looked down at the little dog on my lap No There was no way anyone would leave Cosy behindNot if she’d had a choiceAnd no ould you not call lanced at hi at uy had ever looked at ht in the hospitalOnly-I realized with a sudden pang of disappoint at like that at allIt had been Nikki Howard Nikki Howard, whom he’d supposedly cradled in his ar, then later visited in her hospital roomOf course! How could I have been so stupid? How could I ever have thought Gabriel Luna would bring me flowers? Those flowers hadn’t been for meThey’d been for Nikki HowardGod How naive could a person be? What guy would ever look at a girl like irl like Nikki Hoas around? Even Christopher hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her the whole tiastore And Christopher isn’t the type to fall for a pretty face I hed at Whitney and the other Walking Dead at TAHSBut I relued to Nikki Howard’s chest that dayThat chest was mine nowat least for the foreseeable futureWhat did that mean? I mean, as far as ht htThen I re: Christopher had said I looked fine at the Stark Megastore grand opening But that was back when I’d still been me, Em Watts Would he still think I looked fine as Nikki Howard?So for you,’ Lulu went on ‘First I checked all the usual places you et away from it all – Bali, Mustique, Eleuthera – but there was no record of you there under any of the fake naister—’‘And that’s when she asked for my help,’ Brandon said ‘And so I talked toto knohere you were, it’d be ht,’ Lulu said, looking indignant ‘He told Brandon you were all right, but that you orking through soht aas total B S Because no way you’d work through anything without asking for s Like that tihts in your hair, reht maybe they’d stuck you in a Promises somewhere – just for a rest, you know, because I know you’d never be there for drugs, because I know you’d neverthem, and so that the press couldn’t find you—’‘– but you weren’t registered at any of them, so finally I snuck into h his stuff and I found your file and I saw that you were right here in the city, at Manhattan General on Sixteenth Street—’‘You were literally just down the street!’ Lulu cried ‘The whole time! So I went to scout it out,’ Lulu explained ‘Because Brandon—’Brandon looked sheepish ‘I thought you , I ht you werewith Mischa, Inow—’‘But then when you didn’t relance filled with annoyance, ‘that’s when I knew That they’d gotten to you ’It was hard to take in, this not-very-lucid explanation of what had gone on, fro– until nowBut one thing was apparent So very, very weird had taken place that day‘Wait!’ Lulu cried ‘I figured it out ’Both Brandon and I looked at her ‘Figured out what?’ I asked‘How come you look like Nikki,’ Lulu explained, ‘but you think you’re this Emerson Watts person God, it’s so obvious! You’ve had a spirit transfer!’ she cried ‘Like in that movie Freaky Friday!’Noas my turn to blink ‘Uh, Lulu,’ I said Seriously It is a criirls like , and she’s rich And ot the brains of a cla as a spirit transfer,’ I informed her‘Of course there is!’ Lulu cried excitedly ‘Why have there been all those oing to suirl who so clearly had dropped out of school after approxirade, if not earlier? ‘What you’re describingthat doesn’t happen OK?’‘But what other explanation is there?’ Lulu asked irl was hit by the plasma screen, and you – I mean, Nikki – fainted, you tapped spirits All we have to do now is find this Emerson Watts person – who has Nikki’s spirit trapped inside her – and you two can swap back and be nor ‘Except—’‘No except,’ Lulu said stubbornly ‘That’s hoorks I mean, maybe, since you two both passed out at the saot swapped, we’ll have to hit you both over the head to ain But we’ll be careful not to do any pere Also not to bruise you, because you have the spring shows in Milan co up—’‘We can’t,’ Brandon said, before I could interrupt‘What do you mean, we can’t?’ Lulu deative, Brandon? It’s because you spend too much time with Mischa, and she’s still bu picked up—’‘No,’ Brandon said ‘I’ative I’‘Why?’ Lulu snapped, looking angry Only, because she was so tiny and pretty, it was kind of hard to take her anger seriously It was like seeing a chihuahua growling ‘If we need a spirit guide or whatever, I can totally ask Yoshi froa class He’s way spiritual ’‘It’s not that,’ Brandon said He looked super uncohfor infor about that Eirl ’I leaned forward in h it wasn’t easy, since the couch was so soft it kind of enveloped you‘What about me?’ I asked‘Well,’ Brandon said hesitantly ‘It’s just that, according to this report my dad had, when that TV fell on Emerson Watts, she – I mean, you – died ’