Spin Control by Niki Burnham Page A

having a major brain fart kind of day.” Then I get a panicky thought. “There’s no way I can tell Jules and Natalie. I just can’t.”
    “Then don’t. At least not today. But you should, at some point. They’re your friends too. Give them a little credit, okay?” Christie glances out the window, then turns toward my dresser. “Sit. Dry your hair. I’ll get you some clothes.”
    “Thanks. I swear, you’re the best friend in the world.”
    “Keep that in mind next time your life falls apart.”
    As she tosses me a pair of old jeans, then opens my closet to search for a top, I ask her how she thinks I should explainGabrielle, since the freak’s not going anywhere before Nat and Jules come over.
    “Well, maybe they won’t notice. They’ll think she’s just a girlfriend or something.” She looks back at me, and the tiniest smile pulls at the edge of her mouth. We can’t help it. We both crack up.
    “You’re awful, Christie. But in a really, really good way. Seriously—thanks for being cool with all of this.”
    She does a little hip shake. “I’m always cool.”
    “You two are awfully quiet. Is everything cool up there?” Mom hollers from the bottom of the stairs.
    “Yes!” we both answer, then crack up again.
    “Natalie and Julia should be here any minute,” Mom calls up. “You should all come down and have something to eat. I even bought some Ho Hos for Julia!”
    “Okay!” We both yell back.
    “Well, that proves she’s still the same mom you had before,” Christie says as she picks out a black V-neck sweater from the closet. “She remembered Jules’s heart attack in a box.”
    I let out a deep breath as I start to brush my hair out. “Yeah, I guess.”
    “Look, if Jules or Natalie ask, you can just lie and tell them she’s from the PTA or something—well, as long as neither of them ask right in front of your mom or Gabrielle.”
    I give Christie a look that says, YOU would lie? Christie is pretty much incapable of falsehood, and everyone knows it. She’s that disgustingly pure.
    “Just for today,” she says. “And if they do ask in front of them, I’ll just mention Prince Georg and or the Washington Post and that’ll solve the problem. They’ll forget all about Gabrielle.”
    “Great.” I roll my eyes. “And about Georg, it’s a really long story—”
    “I figured, and I haven’t forgiven you for not telling me. Plus, I’m still dying to know what in the world is going on. You’d better tell me soon, too, because whether you like it or not, you’re going out with me and Jeremy tonight. I already asked your mom if it’s okay.”
    “I don’t want to be a third wheel. I’m here all week, so we can do it another night if—”
    “You won’t be a third wheel.” Her blue eyes light up, and I know what’s coming even before she says it. “David’s coming too. That’s why you have to fill me in on whatever you have or don’t have going on with His Royal Gorgeousness. Before we go.”
    “Christie!” I can’t possibly go out with them. Not when the whole Georg thing is unresolved. And I’m going to need to explain the spin control concept to Christie ’cause I’m thinking this is a no-no, even if I wanted to go.
    As if there weren’t enough other reasons to say no way in hell to a night out with David—reason number one being I’m David’s Armor Girl, not a potential princess.
    “Are you going out with Georg? You can’t possibly be.” Her eyes lock with mine, and in that instant I know she knows. She’s been my best bud way too long not to read me. “Omigosh. Valerie, you are. YOU ARE!!!”
    “Actually, it’s not really—”
    “Have you guys been fooling around? Are you committed? Is it serious?!”
    I tick off the answers to her questionson my fingers. “Yes, I don’t know, and I don’t know, but—”
    “Then you’re coming out tonight. We’re going to dinner, and I have tickets for all four of us to a nine o’clock movie. You have to