Read The Nine Lives of Chloe King for Free Online

disasters in the world, the ability to fly, a dog. Wishes seemed to get more complicated as she grew older: for her father to come back. To know who her biological parents were. For a brother or sister. Come to think of it, maybe her recent jonesing was some sort of replacement-male-love sort of thing. Ewww …
    “Chloe?”
    She broke out of her reverie.
    I wish for a new mountain bike.
    No, wait, world peace.
    She blew, trying not to get spit on their pizza. Chloe saw with amusement that Amy had also pre-ordered the requisite three cans of Nehi grape each.
    “You’re the best, Amy.”
    “Hey, no problem.” They didn’t hug; Amy hated things like that. Instead they sat down and began the serious business of shoveling sausage-onion-pepper-tomato-pepperoni-caper-black-olive slices into their mouths as fast as humanly possible. Chloe groaned with pleasure.
    “This pizza is the best thing that’s happened to me all week. Well, except for last night.” She swallowed and looked at Amy, but her friend wasn’t biting.
    “Yeah? You mean the fall? That was some freaky stuff.”
    “No, afterward. Last night. After my mom pulled a major freakage.” But Amy really wasn’t listening. Chloe sighed, finally giving in to the desperate-to-share, distracted look on her friend’s face. “Okay, what’s more important than my life on my birthday?”
    “Paul and I made out last night!” Amy blurted, suddenly covering her mouth as if she hadn’t meant for the words to escape.
    Chloe found herself choking. It took half a Nehi to restore normal breathing and swallowing. Of all the things Amy could have said, that was definitely the one she’d least expected. Sure, Amy and Paul had been gazing a bit at each other yesterday—but holy crap, they had all known each other since third grade. It would be like dating a brother. A really geeky brother.
    “You did what?”
    “After we took you home, we hung out at his place.” Easily pictured: Amy and Paul in his tiny room, surrounded by bookshelves packed with records and his turntable equipment. Lounging on the floor. “I mean, it really freaked us out, you know?” Amy looked her in the eyes. “You really could have died. I mean, the fact that you lived is just—amazing. Like you were given a second chance or something.” Chloe silently pleaded that Amy not get into her angel crap; suddenly it was not the time. “It sort of, it sounds dumb, a total cliché, but it was just sort of like we realized how death almost touched us. Say things while you can, you know? In case you never get a chance to.” She took a deep breath. “So then we were talking about, you know, deep things and life, and uh, then … Well, and then …”
    “You sucked face?”
    “Basically, yeah.” Was Amy blushing? “But that’s not all. I mean, I really care about him, you know? We grew up together, he’s like family, so there’s like that kind of love, but I never found him sexy before. …”
    “Oh my God,” Chloe said. “Are you telling me you find him sexy now? Still? Twenty-four hours later?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, maybe.”
    They chewed in silence for a while. Suddenly Chloe’s obsession with sexy club guy and flirting with Alyec faded. With Xavier it had been just a kiss, albeit a long and deep one, and if she never saw him again, that was all it would ever be. And Alyec was just a flirt. This was serious. This affected the Trio.
    If they weren’t serious, or if they were and it failed, or if it was just a weirdness from last night and one of them didn’t feel as strongly as the other, the once-solid friendship of the three of them was doomed. Chloe didn’t relish the thought of being the friend in between after the “divorce.” Terribly awkward. Chloe was sure this was going to be a total disaster.
    After dinner Amy grabbed for the check when Carlucci left it on the table.
    “Will miracles never cease? First I survive the fall and now this …,” Chloe said, preemptively