No Accident (3 page)

Alison stared at the jail through the driving rain as the cab pulled up in front. It looked…dreary. No one would ever guess that the utterly tasteful and perfectly styled Helen Rose was currently residing inside. It was all so ironic.

Handing the cabdriver a twenty, Alison threw open the door and rushed up to the prison's entrance. She was supposed to be here with her father, but he hadn't returned her calls from the day before. Typical. Alison sighed. She remembered a time when her father was a comfort, protective and reliable. When Alison was little, she'd always rush to greet him when he came
home from work—usually long before her mother—and he'd lift her high into the air, making her soar above the world. They'd giggle together during dinner, and share secrets when he tucked her into bed at night. But that was a long time ago. That was before the drinking started.

Alison blinked away the memories as she watched the cab drive away from the correctional facility. Since her grandmother had been keeping close tabs on everywhere Alison went, she decided to pass up the chauffeur services and come on her own. Grandmother Diamond would be none too pleased to find out from her driver that Alison was paying yet another visit to her mother in prison.

Shaking the excess water off her jacket, Alison stepped up to the front guard and showed her visiting order and school ID. She wrote her name in the register and endured a quick search. Five minutes later she was sitting across from her mother, a thick sheet of glass between them.

Helen Rose looked immaculate but weary.
Her hair had grown in the past weeks and was pulled back in a perfectly smooth low ponytail. Alison raised a hand to smooth her own damp hair before picking up the phone.

“You have a stain on your jacket,” her mother said, pointing through the glass to a spot on Alison's sleeve.

“Right, thanks,” Alison replied.
I'm fine, Mom, don't worry about me
. She felt a flash of annoyance. Her grandmother was burning down buildings, and her mother was worried about a spot the size of a dime.

“Stains can become permanent if they are not removed promptly,” Helen said.

Alison stared at her mother. Was she still talking about her jacket? She couldn't bring herself to tell her she'd moved in with the enemy, so…“Grandmother's pool house burned down,” she blurted.

Helen's eyes widened. “It burned down?” she echoed, as if repeating it would help it make sense.

Alison nodded. She suddenly felt deceitful for not having told her mother sooner.

Helen was quiet for a moment, digesting the information like a snake that had just swallowed a mouse whole. “She did it on purpose, of course,” she said slowly. “To destroy something. Probably something that could implicate her in my case…prove that she framed me…” She trailed off, thinking. “But what?”

Annoyance overtook Alison again. Of course, she had reached the same conclusion—Grandmother Diamond must have had a good reason for setting fire to the pool house. Her Highness was as shrewd and calculating as she was rich. But it was so like her mom to make every single drama about her. It was completely irritating.

“And then she asked me to move in with her,” Alison announced, wanting the news to sting. It worked, and Alison savored the flicker of emotion—was it hurt? anger?—on her mother's face before it disappeared a moment later.

Helen was silent. “You said no, of course.” It was not a question.

Alison shook her head, suddenly not caring if it looked like a sopping bird's nest. “Actually, I
said yes. I moved my things in last week. And I must say, it's great to have servants who actually show up.”

Helen flinched, and Alison felt a moment of exhilaration. The shot had hit its mark.

Helen glared at her daughter. “Who is looking after your father?” she asked quietly.

Alison was speechless. Hello! Wasn't her father a grown-up? He was supposed to be taking care of her!

Silence. Helen looked through Alison as if she weren't there. Alison wished she wasn't.

“I know you don't love me, but I am your mother,” Helen said suddenly. “And I need you now. If you don't help me, she will win and I will be in jail for the rest of my life—and much of the rest of yours.” Her eyes locked with Alison's. Alison tried to look away but couldn't. “I know you think you might want that, but believe me, you don't. A mother makes a terrible enemy.”

Alison felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. Was that a threat? Then, as the entire speech sank in, Alison felt something else. Power. She was the one with options here—her mother was behind bars! Alison savored the moment,
the sweet taste of it. But there was something else —a bitter aftertaste. She felt guilty, too. The woman sitting on the other side of the glass was her
mother
—maybe not the mom she wished for, but the only one she had.

As she stared through the glass, Alison watched Helen's expression change. “Perhaps living with her is not such a terrible idea after all,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “You can watch her, find out what she's hiding. Mother might be playing you, but you can play her right back…”

Alison's stomach turned. She had absolutely no desire to be her mother's detective. She wanted to scream at her mom, “I'm not some tool! I'm not an employee! I'm your daughter!” She didn't want to play anyone. She was sick of the game. What she wanted was all she had ever wanted —a normal life with a normal mother…something she would never have.

Alison stared evenly at her mother through the glass. “And oh yeah, Aunt Christine told Kelly that she's her real mother. Lies or truth? You just never know with this family—right, Mom?”

Alison savored the look of surprise on her mother's face. She flashed Helen a quick, fake smile. “See you, Mom.” Alison hung up the phone and walked away, doing her best to ignore the pounding in her chest. If she was going to survive, it was time to start acting like a Diamond.

Up in his room, Chad Simon cracked a trigonometry textbook and tried to make some headway on the night's assignment. It was useless. Downstairs in the kitchen, his parents were screaming at each other. The noise—and the effort it took to block out their words—was making his head pound.

Glancing at his watch, he saw it was not too late to call Kelly. He was head over heels for that girl, and for good reason. She was beautiful, smart, captivating…the perfect girlfriend for him, except for one tiny detail. He couldn't exactly talk to her about any of the stuff going on at home. If she had any idea that his family
was almost broke all the time and he was at Stafford on a handout, or that he had both a delinquent older brother and an autistic younger one…well, that would be the end of it. Besides, all Kelly wanted to talk about these days was her big move to California—a move that was going to drastically change Chad's life, a move he preferred not to think about. The two of them hadn't had a chance to talk about how they would handle the long—distance relationship, or if Kelly even wanted to try, and Chad was not looking forward to that conversation. He knew Kelly was probably going to drop him. He preferred to live in denial.

Maybe I should call Alison
, Chad thought. When they were together, she was always a good listener. He hadn't exactly told her the truth about his family—but he'd never had to pretend they were perfect, either. But that was before he had dumped her for Kelly, at a time when she was pretty vulnerable. Chad still felt guilty about that.

With a sigh, Chad looked back at his math problems. He needed to focus. He pushed play on his CD player to block out the fighting. Then
he closed his eyes and put his head down on his desk—just for a second. He just needed to rest for a minute, to get the throbbing in his head to stop.

Five and a half hours later, Chad heard the front door slam loudly. Sitting up, he squinted at the clock on his bedside table. Two a.m. Chad looked down at his notebook and the big drooly wet spot in the middle of the page. Gross. Not counting the partially completed drowning equations, he still had six pages of problems to get through.

As he flipped to a fresh piece of lined paper, he heard a crash downstairs, followed by a loud curse. His older brother, Dustin, was home from another big night out. Unlike Chad, Dustin seemed to have no desire to get ahead in life. After dropping out and taking—and failing —his high school equivalency exam, he had devoted himself to doomed moneymaking schemes instead of finding a steady job. Chad sometimes wished he could write him off—stop caring about the loser. But Dustin was his brother. They were in the sinking ship known as their family together.

“Keep it down!” Chad's father shouted from his bedroom. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”

Dustin stumbled up the stairs and down the hall. “Yeah, yeah,” he said loudly. “And some of us are just trying to have a good time.”

Chad heard the door to his parents' room open—not a good sign. Sometimes his father let Dustin's late-night entrances slide, and sometimes he didn't. Tonight was obviously a didn't.

“What do you think you're doing?” his father yelled. “It's two o'clock in the morning!”

“Relax, Dad,” Dustin drawled. “You can sleep tight now. Your beloved firstborn is home safe and sound.”

Still behind his closed door, Chad winced. His father hated sarcasm. And if this went on much longer, Will would wake up. His younger brother already had trouble sleeping, thanks to their parents' constant fights. Chad often had to sit with him in the evenings, staying in his room until he was snoring softly.

Chad was about to get to his feet and tell them to keep it down for Will's sake when Dustin
spoke again. “Sorry, Dad,” he said insincerely. “I'm going to bed.”

Chad listened for his father's furious response, but by some miracle that was the end of it. He breathed a sigh of relief and began to work out a problem. With a little luck he could get through the assignment and still get some sleep before morning.

When Chad got to school the next day he was feeling pretty good. His trig homework was finished, his parents had been relatively civil to each other at breakfast, and Will was in a good mood.

“Hiya, handsome.” Kelly wrapped her slender arms around him and gave him a squeeze. “You look great,” she said. But she wasn't looking at him anymore. Chad followed her gaze across the hall. She was focused on X, who was leaning against her locker surrounded by a bunch of girls.

“Glad to see you, too,” Chad said.

Kelly turned her eyes back his way, twirling a
lock of blond hair between her fingers. “I'm going to miss you so much when I go to California,” she said, poking her lip out in a pout. Chad almost winced. She was talking really loudly. She could see that he was standing right next to her, couldn't she? “But when you visit, Aunt Christine can get us into all the good parties and movie premieres. Won't we look great on the red carpet?”

“Sounds fun,” Chad replied, brushing a lock of hair off her face and wondering where the heck he could get the cash for airfare or redcarpet attire. He'd find a way. Kelly was worth it. And this was the first time she was talking like they would still be together after the move.

Chad closed his locker and took Kelly by the hand so they could walk to class together. As they passed X's locker, the new girl dropped one of her books in front of them.

“S'cuse.” X flashed Chad a breathtaking smile. For a split second Chad forgot all about his girlfriend. X was beautiful, even in her weird school uniforms. He noticed that the uniform she wore today had a shorter skirt and brighter blazer than yesterday's version. But the
tightening grip on his hand brought him right back to reality.

“Some people,” Kelly hissed.

Halfway through trig, Chad realized he'd forgotten about the extra chemistry assignment his teacher had given out the day before. And since chemistry was right after lunch there was no way he could get it done in time. Besides, he wanted to spend as much time with Kelly as he could, effective immediately. His girl would be gone before he knew it. That meant he had to find Tom and do some quick copying at the break. Luckily he spotted him in the hallway right after class.

“Hey,” he said, taking a few quick steps to catch up with his best friend. “How you doin'?”

“Hangin' in,” Tom replied.

Chad looked around to make sure no one was listening, then leaned in close. “Listen,” he said. “Could you help me out with those extra chemistry problems? I didn't get to them last night…”

Tom stared at his friend in disbelief. Was Chad really asking him to cover for him again? Did he think he had nothing better to do than hand over his homework? Tom hadn't minded the first few times Chad had asked for help in a pinch—but this was getting to be ridiculous. What did Chad ever do for him?

“Sure, no problem,” Tom heard himself saying. He opened his backpack and pulled out his chemistry notebook. “It's the last four pages.”

“Thanks, man,” Chad said, taking the notebook. “You're the greatest.” He gave Tom a clap on the back and crossed the lunchroom to Kelly,
who was already waiting at their table. Kelly smiled up at him, and Tom felt his face get hot. His so-called best friend had it all—a great reputation, good grades (thanks to Tom), and Kelly Reeves— the girl
Tom
had been madly crushing on since forever. And for the first time Tom was thinking Chad might not deserve it. Any of it.

From halfway across the room Tom could hear Kelly babbling on about her big move to Hollywood—mansions, parties, shopping Rodeo Drive alongside celebs.

Standing still in the middle of the lunchroom, Tom suddenly felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. There was no air in there, and he had to get out.

“Keep it cool,” he told himself as he walked out of the lunchroom and down the hall. It was hard not to run. He was almost to the door when his twin sister was suddenly in front of him.

“Get this,” she said, blocking his path and holding up her phone. “Debbie number five just asked me to help her pick out flowers for the big day—like we're going to bond over stargazer lilies or something.” Zoey laughed, but the look
of disgust on her face didn't change. “Maybe I'll suggest bouquets of weeds or poison ivy.”

Tom stared down at his sister with her streaked bangs and black clothes.
She
was a weed, and he wished she wouldn't talk to him at school. He wondered when exactly she'd turned into such a weirdo. Before their mom died, she was normal, and great. They were tight. Now they were practically strangers. She'd barely even spoken to him since her big return from boarding school. She never even told him why she got kicked out —he'd had to hear
that
from Kelly! And yet she expected him to listen to her gripe about Debbie #5? Who was she kidding?

“Excuse me,” Tom said, ignoring what she'd just told him and pushing past her. “I need some air.” He shoved the metal push bar of the exit and threw his shoulder against the door. He couldn't get away from her, from everything, fast enough.

The wedding. Tom added that to his mental list of major annoyances. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about, and Zoey was the last person he wanted to talk about it with. He was
mad at her for bringing it up. Only it wasn't her fault. She was just trying to connect with him. Maybe he should let her. But talking to Alison's new best friend would not score him any points with Kelly, even if she was his twin sister.

Tom paced back and forth in the school parking lot, trying to cool down. Maybe he should tell Chad he had to get a grip on his own homework, at least for a while. Maybe he should tell Kelly how he felt about her, before she was gone and it was too late. And maybe he could come up with a way to stop his father's wedding…

Shoving his hands into his jacket pocket, Tom felt a tightly folded piece of paper inside. He pulled it out and opened it. The handwriting was neat, all in block letters, and written with a purple pen.
THEY DON'T KNOW YOU LIKE I DO
, it read, and was signed,
YOUR BIGGEST FAN
. Tom crumpled up the note and tossed it into the garbage can. There was no way the note was intended for him. He did not exactly attract admirers.

As he turned around, Tom suddenly got the feeling he was being watched. Looking up, he spotted a silver Audi with tinted windows and
a blue clown-head stuck on the antenna. The car was idling by the curb, as if waiting for someone. He shivered slightly, then laughed at himself as he headed back into the school building. “Right, Ramirez,” he joked. “You've got a stalker.”