Read Doreen for Free Online

involved.
    Biz, who had been introduced only as Elizabeth when they met at student services, stopped her forward progress and flipped to face Heidi. “Gibbons-Brown, you mean?” she asked.
    â€œUh, yes, of course. I’m, uh, our mothers know each other and I was told to look him up.” Heidi’s was the smile of a cartoon doe.
    â€œWho is your mother?” the girl demanded. She squinted at Heidi through her filthy wire frames like her lie was written on her face.
    â€œOh! Uh, it’s just . . .”
    â€œBecause Addison is my brother,” said Biz. “So his mother is also, goes without saying—”
    â€œYour mother! Of course. I didn’t, I mean, you probably haven’t heard . . . They know each other very . . . well, she probably wouldn’t even remember. A charity function. In the Hamptons over the summer, I guess they got to talking.” In fact, there had been a party. A beautiful party in a mansion. Gloria had gone on and on about Addison. Not to Heidi’s mother—who had never stepped foot in the Hamptons and only gave money to the Catholic Church—but to Heidi herself. Oh, how I wish Addison were here so I could introduce you! He would adore you, wouldn’t he, Roland? Oh, you’re cute as a button. It would be nice for him to bring home a girl with a little intelligence. Roland, why didn’t you insist that I bring him here to meet her? Well, you’ll meet. Of course you’ll meet.
    â€œTalking?” Biz sniffed. “She certainly has been known to do that .” Her lips spread into a contemptuous grin. “And she mentioned Addison, but not me? Elizabeth? Because you and I are the same age.”
    â€œOh. Maybe she mentioned you. I’m sure she did, so, great to, I mean, it works out that, and everything,” Heidi said. She should have waited to establish herself on campus before digging around for his nephew. But she couldn’t stop herself. She’d gotten away scot-free and still it wasn’t enough.
    â€œNice to meet you, too,” said Biz. “And Addison is right over there.” She pointed to a field where boys were kicking around a soccer ball. “He’ll be the one not wearing a shirt. He rarely does.”
    â€œOh. Okay.”
    â€œHere, I’ll introduce you. Addison! There’s a pretty girl here that Mom wants you to meet!” Biz screamed across the quad. The kid looked up from his game and smiled before slow-jogging over in nothing but a pair of faded sweats and sneakers.
    â€œThanks, Elizabeth,” Heidi whispered.
    â€œBiz,” she said. And she walked away.
    As it turned out, Ad-rock was as dumb as the mineral deposits in his moniker, and so full of himself that a few delighted squeezes of his bicep were enough to win his heart. Make them feel like you’re giving them what they want, like they are the ones coming out ahead. That’s what she’d been taught, and it worked like a charm. She fed Addison a never-ending stream of compliments and assurances that his insecurities were unfounded. He, in turn, brought her into the fold of the leading cliques on campus. Once she felt sufficiently entrenched, and when it became too exhausting to maintain the appearance of interest in the inane things that occupied Addison’s feeble mind—workouts, video games, golf, eating large quantities of meat—she dumped him. Hard. Which broke his silly little heart and took her from unknown transfer student to fascinating object of desire, practically overnight.
    Win-win. Looking back now, it remained one of her most effective social strategies. But she had to admit that choosing Addison was stupid. With so many worthy older boys on campus, getting involved with Roland’s nephew put her in danger of exposing their arrangement. She could have lost everything. So why did she do it? And why, when it ended, did she immediately befriend the niece?
    But Heidi only