Catalyst (The Best Days #1) by Delaina Lake Page B

from your bed?” 
    “No!” Rory shouted too loudly, but she wasn’t quick enough. Rebecca leaned forward and pulled a blanket off the partially-made bed.  It caused two pillows to tumble to the floor.  One of them was the pillow that was hiding the stolen journal. 
    Both sisters froze and gawked at it in horrified disbelief. 
    “You have my jourdal.”  Rebecca stared at her sister incredulously.  “You took my jourdal out of my room ad read id?  I can’ t believe you.  Who are you?!”
    A sudden wave of guilt washed over Rory.  “Look, I’m sorry for reading it,” she told her sister earnestly.  “I know I shouldn’t have done that.  But Rebecca...”
    Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.  “ I don’t want to hear it!” she interrupted, suddenly sounding more angry than sick.  She spun on her heel and tried to leave but Rory grabbed onto the corner of the afghan wrapped around her sister’s shoulders to prevent her from leaving.
    “I get it.  I do,” Rory insisted, her tone pleading.  “I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy.  I know.  But where do you get off meddling in my social life?  You delete messages Hilary leaves me from the answering machine, you get me grounded so I can’t go to the party…”  Suddenly Rory’s eyes narrowed.  “Has Carson called here asking for me?” she demanded, anger boiling up inside her.  “You’d just love to keep me from dating him, wouldn’t you?”
    Coughing violently, Rebecca shook her head and held up a hand.  When she’d regained her composure, she gave her sister a look of such profound disappointment that Rory immediately wanted to crawl under the bed and hide.  “How can you be so selfish?” Rebecca questioned her sister sadly, her voice clear and strong.  “I thought you were about to apologize for the way you’ve been treating me but instead all you care about is yourself.”
    “ Apologize?” Rory repeated, her shame quickly turning to indignation.  “You’re the one who’s been trying to sabotage my social life,” Rory pointed out.  “You act all self-righteous but you’re probably just jealous because you don’t have any friends.”
    Looking wounded, Rebecca muttered, “I wouldn’t want ‘friends’ like yours anyway.”
    Throwing her hands up, Rory sighed in frustration.  Her sister would never get it.  “Well if you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll find it myself.”  She tried to snatch the journal out of Rebecca’s hands but even while ill, her sister had catlike reflexes and managed to move it out of the way at the last second. 
    Rory dove for the journal again , ignoring Rebecca’s protests.  This time she got it.  Triumphantly, she jumped onto her bed, holding her sister’s innermost thoughts and confessions above her head like a trophy. 
    “Put it down!” Rebecca wheezed.  Her voice was raspy and her throat sounded painfully raw.  She made a grab for the journal but missed, tripping over the afghan that had fallen to her feet. 
    “Ouch!”  Rebecca grunted as she landed hard on the thickly carpeted floor.  “You bitch!”  Before Rory could ask if she was hurt, Rebecca climbed to her feet and retreated to her bedroom.  “I wish I didn’t have a sister!” Rory heard Rebecca shout from down the hall.  R
    R ory slammed her bedroom door shut and slid to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.  She’d found the proof she was after, confirming that Rebecca was deliberately trying to interfere with her social life.  But she didn’t feel the huge sense of relief she’d been expecting.  Instead, she only felt a profound sense of loss.

CHAPTER 05
     
    On Friday morning, Rebecca stayed home sick.
    Her cold had hit her hard and Nancy had insisted she stay home to rest.  It was an odd dynamic.  Normally one would expect the teenager to beg to skip s chool but not Rebecca.  Her history class was going on a field trip to a museum that day and she wasn’t impressed about missing out on it.