DupliKate (14 page)

“Probably.” My mom smiled, and I felt happy, like actually, truly happy for the first time all day. Until the smile abruptly disappeared from her face.

“Kate?” she asked, staring at me. “If you’re here, where’s your car?”

Christ. Rina was still in New Haven with my car.

“I’ll have it back by tomorrow,” I told her.

“But where is it?” she repeated.

“Um…” I thought fast. “It was making a weird noise, so Paul told me to take it to his dad’s car guy to have it looked at. I’ll go get it tomorrow, don’t worry.”

My mom kept staring at me.

“Seriously. I’ll have it back,” I repeated.

“Okay,” she said finally. I knew she didn’t believe my
lie, but the look on her face told me that she wasn’t going to push the issue. She did, however, scooch back in her chair and stand up. “So what does my non-college-bound daughter want for dinner?” she asked.

“Ice cream?” I answered hopefully. “Although I don’t think we have any….”

“Oh, we will,” my mom said, patting me on the head. “We’ll have all that your cute little face can stuff down.” She got her coat, handed me mine, and we both got in her car to drive to the grocery store.

TO DO

• Whatever the hell I want from now on

(within reason)

(and the bounds of the law)

(okay I’m exaggerating, but I know what I mean)

(I should probably stop making these lists)

IT WAS NEARLY TEN O’CLOCK AT NIGHT. MY
mom, zonked from her business trip and sugar crashed from our ice cream dinner, had gone to bed an hour ago, and I was sitting in my room at my computer, my calm from earlier in the day beginning to evaporate. I had an e-mail, a text, and a voice mail from Kyla, none of which I’d answered yet, in which she demanded to know what the hell had happened with me and Paul. I had similar e-mails from several other people as well, none of which I felt like dealing with. Mostly though, I was wondering what was up with Rina.

The garage door opened.

Well, there was my answer.

I winced at the noise and prayed that the sound didn’t wake my mom up. Rina apparently had no such worry, as she pounded up the staircase and threw open the door of
my room, a triumphant smile on her face. I instantly put my finger to my mouth, shushing her before she could say anything.

“Mom’s asleep,” I hissed. “She came back from her business trip early, so be quiet, will you? Didn’t you see her car in the garage?”

Rina ignored me and instead dropped all her (well, my) belongings in the middle of the floor. “I kicked so much ass on that interview!” she whisper-screamed. “They loved me, like I knew they would. I’m in. I just
know
it!”

“Congratulations,” I said cheerfully. “That’s great. But I withdrew my application.”

Rina stared at me. “What?” she asked.
“WHAT?!”
She searched my eyes and realized that I wasn’t kidding, and her face began to contort with rage. I suddenly knew what it was like to have been her the day I stormed in and found her making out with Paul. I could feel her murderous gaze like actual knives on my skin.

“What did you just say?” she repeated.

“You heard me,” I answered coolly. I gave Rina the same evil smile she’d given me a few days ago, and I watched as she registered it and reacted the exact same way I had—with horror and anger and shock. “Sorry,” I continued. “I won’t be going to Yale. Looks like you won’t be either. And by the way?” I jerked my head toward my computer monitor.

Rina followed my gaze. “What, did you write another earnest-but-lame essay?” she asked, walking toward me. She stopped dead a few feet away, her eyes growing wide as she saw what was on the screen.

“No,” I answered calmly. I nodded toward the “Welcome Back to SimuLife,” notice shining brightly into Rina’s eyes. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t make any sudden movements.” My hand held the mouse cursor directly over the “cancel account” button, and I gave her a cold, condescending smile.
One click of this and you can rot in hell
, I thought. Rina visibly stopped breathing for a moment, and then her shoulders sagged. She slowly turned around and sat down on my bed.

“You found the disk,” she whispered, all the fight draining out of her voice.

I nodded.

“I guess this is it then, huh?” she said.

“Pretty much,” I agreed matter-of-factly. For the first time, I felt totally in control. Probably because, thanks to Jake’s SimuLife disk, I was. And because I was in control, I wasn’t mad at Rina anymore. What was the point? She’d be gone soon anyway.

Rina seemed to know all of this. Her face was ashen, and even though she was dressed in my jeans and a black sweater, she suddenly looked like the girl who’d shown up two weeks ago in glitter and pastel pink.

“Come over here and look at the computer,” I said.

“No,” Rina answered. “Just do what you have to do.” She lay down like a corpse, her head on my pillow, and closed her eyes.

“I did,” I said. “That’s why I withdrew my application.”

Rina didn’t move.

“I get what you were trying to do,” I continued. “Seriously. I know you just wanted to have fun, and I know your life in the game was really boring. And I know that was my fault—I should’ve made it more interesting for you.” I paused for a moment. “So I did.”

Rina opened her eyes, still lying down, and slowly turned her head to look at me.

“We can’t keep you out here because you belong in there,” I said, tilting my head toward the computer. “But I think you might like it better now.”

Rina stared at me wide-eyed, but still didn’t move.

“Come on,” I said. “Seriously, you need to look.” I took the cursor off “cancel” and started navigating around my SimuLife account. Rina tentatively got up to look over my shoulder. Her eyes widened.

“You fixed my house,” she said, staring at the screen in shock.

“Yep,” I said. I moved the mouse, showing her around her new house. The outside was the same as it had been, but
inside it was totally redone. “I did some interior decorating,” I said, pointing and clicking at various rooms. Each one was now painted a different color, instead of the game’s default shades of beige and white, and there was all new furniture. In the basement, there was a huge flat-screen TV, and I’d put one in the living room as well.

“Are those HD?” Rina asked hesitantly.

“Yep,” I answered. “HD with DVR, both of them.”

“Wow,” she said quietly. “Thanks.” She leaned in closer to the monitor, so far forward that she was practically draped over me, and I stood up and moved out of the way. “Here,” I said, handing her the mouse. “Check it out for yourself.”

Rina looked at me gratefully and sat down in my computer chair, then started navigating around her house. She clicked here and there, gasping a little when she saw the multiple bookshelves that were now filled with books, and practically dropping her jaw to the ground when she saw that I’d redone her bedroom to look exactly like mine. It was a perfect, computerized replica, from the walk-in closet (which I’d filled with clothes, a lot of them like stuff I owned, but also a bunch of Hot Topic-y stuff, and of course a ton of pink for good measure) to the big round mirror over the dresser to the computer desk in the corner—the one she was sitting at right now.

“I also got you a car,” I said, pointing at the garage.
Rina clicked on it and squeaked with approval when she saw the little blue Honda Civic, just like mine, parked inside.

“But am I going to be all alone in there?” she asked, looking up at me. Her voice still sounded guarded, but there was a hint of excitement growing on her face.

“Hardly,” I said, smiling a little. “I got you accepted into SimuLife University. You’re a double major in journalism and poli-sci, but I can change that if you want.”

“No, that’s good,” Rina said. Now she looked officially excited. “Where’s…where’s campus?”

I reached over, took the mouse for a moment, and showed her. “That’s your dorm,” I said, pointing the arrow at a modern-looking building surrounded by trees. “I scored you a single so you don’t have to room with anybody, but the hallway’s got like twenty other rooms on it, so you’ll meet lots of people. And that’s Parker. He’s your freshman orientation leader.” I watched as Rina moved the mouse over Parker, a computerized hottie standing in the dorm’s courtyard; he was tall and brown-haired like Paul, but with green eyes instead of blue, and just a wee bit more buff.

Rina smiled. “Niiiice.”

“I figured,” I answered, smiling back at her.

“You gave him a good personality though, right?” she asked.

“No, he’s just a low-IQ piece of ass.” I shoved her playfully with my elbow. “Of course I did, what do you take me for?”

Rina smiled and moused around the screen some more, checking out the classroom buildings, the students walking around campus in their “S.U.” shirts, the college library, the gym, and a few of the other dorms. “You thought of everything,” she said, shaking her head. Then suddenly her face broke into a huge grin. “Oh my God, you did think of everything!” She squealed as she clicked back onto her house and saw the outdoor hot tub in the backyard, next to some cute wicker patio furniture and a shiny red grill. There were Christmas lights strung on the hedges, and the whole thing was shaded by a huge pink and white striped umbrella.

“Well, you certainly did while you were here,” I told her. “So I figured I owed you.” Her backyard contained a giant trampoline now as well, since I remembered wanting one in middle school and my mom being too afraid of lawsuits to oblige.

Rina smiled at the sight of the trampoline, and then her face became serious. “I don’t know if you owe me after what I did to you and Paul…” she said. She got up from the computer and sat down on the bed.

I paused for a second, then sat down next to her and took a deep breath. “No, I do owe you,” I said. “You were
right, you know. I wouldn’t have made it through the past week without your help. So…thanks. For everything.”

Rina turned to look at me. “You’re welcome. And thank
you
. For everything.” She looked around my room, then tilted her head toward my computer, indicating the SimuLife screen.

“No problem,” I said.

“And I’m sorry I was such a whore.”

I laughed. “Forgiven.”

Rina laughed too, then held out a hand for me to shake. “I’ll miss you!” she said cheerfully. “Even though hopefully Parker and his abs will be a nice distraction.”

I grinned and gave her a quick hug. “Yeah, they will,” I said. “And I’ll miss you too.”

Rina stood up and stretched, and I walked back to my computer and poised my hand over the mouse. “So…you ready?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered, taking off the earrings she was wearing—my earrings—and setting them on the dresser. “Are you?”

“I’m actually not sure,” I said, “but I kind of have to do it anyway.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rina smiled, turned, and walked into the closet. She waved goodbye over her shoulder and then closed the door.

I looked at my computer screen, went back to the Sim
uLife main menu, moved the mouse over to “uninstall,” and clicked it.

“Are you sure you want to uninstall SimuLife?” asked the popup window. I moved the mouse to the “yes” button and clicked. The computer whirred for a bit as a gray bar appeared on the screen, and then, from left to right, slowly turned blue.

“SimuLife successfully uninstalled,” said the message on my computer.

I sat back, staring at the screen for a second, and then looked over at the closet again. “Rina?” I asked tentatively.

Nothing.

I got up, went over to the closet door, grabbed the knob, and took a deep breath. I opened the door and looked inside.

The closet was empty.

Well. That was that.

I collapsed facedown on my bed, almost shaking with relief. Rina was gone. Well, she wasn’t gone—she was hopefully partying it up in her sweet new house and her sweet new dorm somewhere, with her sweet new boyfriend—but she was gone from my world. Finally. My life was my own again—and now that I was living it the way I wanted to, rather than the way I thought I had to, it felt more my own than ever.

Heh. That was either a pretty deep thought for a sev
enteen-year-old kid, or just an incredibly pompous one. I mentally congratulated myself—at this point, either one was fine with me—then flipped over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I breathed a long, full-body sigh.

My computer beeped.

Oh no.

I was too scared to look, then too scared not to. I got up and walked over to the computer. A little window had popped up…but, thank God, it was just an IM.

From Jake.

Hey, the message said. What’s up? Everything work out okay with that game disk?

I smiled and sat down at the keyboard. Yep, I typed back. Thanks.

There was a pause, then Jake started typing again. By the way, I heard about you and Paul. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?

Yeah, I typed. I mean no. I mean, thanks for asking, but yeah, I’m okay. That was the truth, actually. I didn’t want to talk about it, not because it was bothering me, but because it wasn’t. I was happy Jake had asked, but I hadn’t been thinking about it until he did.

Good, I’m glad, he typed. There was another long pause. So…you wanna play SimuLife?

I laughed. Oh God no, I typed back. It’s a long story, but nooooo way.

My cell phone rang and I picked it up. “What’s the story?” Jake asked.

“You do not want to know,” I answered, flopping down stomach-first onto my bed, and then turning over and leaning back against the pillows.

“Try me,” he said.

“I might,” I teased.
Oh, what the hell.
“Can I come over there?”

“Uh, sure.” Jake sounded a tiny bit surprised. But he quickly recovered, and then added jokingly, “Why, you want a replay of last week in your living room?”

I laughed. “Well, that wasn’t really me that day…” I started.

“Yeah, you said that before.”

“But it should’ve been.”

There was a long, long silence, and finally, Jake asked, “Seriously?”

“We’ve got a lot to talk about,” I told him.

“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice quiet and thoughtful. “I guess we do.”

“Well, that’ll be one of the discussion topics when I come over, then,” I said, my voice cheerful now instead of pensive. “But first let’s play a bunch of video games.” I got up to grab my car keys.

Jake laughed. “Sure. What’re you thinking, Halo? Call of Duty? BioShock? Gears of War?”

“Yikes, I don’t know about the first-person shooters,” I said, heading down the stairs to put on my coat. “I’m a little out of practice.”