Read Online Inertia (Gravity Series, 3.5) (The Gravity Series) by Abigail Boyd - Free Book Online Page A

lot, and she wasn’t easily impressed by anything. Although she appeared put together to everyone else, she was constantly feeling like she wasn’t good enough. She felt like the cracks in her facade showed.
    They went into the restroom to freshen up. Lainey was in the middle of fixing her hair when Madison rushed in. The smile fell off of Lainey’s face, her good mood evaporating, replaced by anxiety.
    “There you are,” Madison said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Did you think more about what we talked about?”
    Harlow remained silent, but she watched Madison carefully, her dark eyes narrowed. Lainey felt embarrassed that Madison would bring it up, right in front of the one person she most wanted to impress.
    “Can we not talk about that here?” she hissed. She set her flat iron down on the counter and yanked the cord out of the wall.
    “I’m not waiting anymore,” Madison said eagerly. She was barely wearing any makeup and it looked like she’d just thrown her outfit together. Not normal. “I think I’m going to go talk to the police.”
    “Police? What happened?” Harlow asked, in her usual tone that suggested she didn’t really care.
    “Nothing,” Lainey assured her, then glared at Madison. “You have nothing to go to the police with.”
    “Nothing but a theory, but that might be something,” she insisted.
    “You need to drop it, Madison. You’re just going on a hunch and you could get a lot of people into trouble over an idea.”
    She stormed out of the bathroom, forgetting that she’d only half-finished her hair, hoping her rejection of Maddie’s idea would be enough to kill it. She almost fell into that artist friend of Ariel’s, the twin that she’d so swiftly replaced Jenna with. The one she’d tripped at the mall back when life was simple. Idiot .
    Madison followed her, right behind her heels.
    “Why can’t you just leave it alone?” Lainey said, almost pleading. “I don’t know why you’re suddenly so worried.”
    “I don’t know why you suddenly quite caring.”
    She was shocked by her friend’s suddenly strong tone, like she’d developed a new voice. She wasn’t backing down. This new-found bravery scared the crap out of Lainey. How was she supposed to respond to it?
    “You’ve changed so much,” Madison said. “You’re like a different person. Even on the outside, you’re colder.”
    So she had noticed. Lainey had seen it herself, ever since the meeting with the flash-bang that made her forget. The more time she spent at Thornhill functions, the more she felt like a robot. When she looked in the mirror, she had a hard time recognizing her face as her own.
    “I haven’t changed at all,” she lied, not meeting Madison’s eyes. “You’re just jealous that I’m having so much success with Thornhill. I knew this day would come.”
    “I’m not jealous, at all. I have a right to ask questions.”
    Lainey suddenly noticed the crowd of girls standing around them. They watched with mocking eyes, laughing about her right in front of her face. Her eyes widened in surprise and anger. All of these pathetic girls, all of them lesser and imperfect, laughing at her ? It wasn’t possible. Yet there they were.
    She felt like she was losing her grip on her whole image, the persona that she had lovingly crafted. That it would fall away and she’d be a crying girl in the closet again, after another of daddy’s late night visits that mommy knew nothing about.
    Horrified, she realized that she was blushing. “Stop Maddie,” she muttered.
    “Ever since your family hooked up with Thornhill, we’ve been pulled apart. I get that Ambrose’s death was hard on you…”
    “You have no idea.” If she did, she never would have brought up the dead past with Ambrose and Jenna kissing. Despite Henry, she had still very much cared about Ambrose and he had rejected her on numerous occasions.
    Just like her father.
    Madison was still babbling about being her best friend.