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Back The Copycat Save as PDF
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Chapter One
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Chapter Two
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Chapter Three
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Chapter Four
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Chapter Five
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Chapter Six
  26. Seventeen
  27. Eighteen
  28. Nineteen
  29. Chapter Seven
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Chapter Eight
  34. Twenty-Three
  35. Twenty-Four
  36. Twenty-Five
  37. Chapter Nine
  38. Twenty-Six
  39. Twenty-Seven
  40. Chapter Ten
  41. Twenty-Eight
  42. Twenty-Nine
  43. Thirty
  44. Thirty-One
  45. Chapter Eleven
  46. Thirty-Two
  47. Thirty-Three
  48. Thirty-Four
  49. Thirty-Five
  50. Chapter Twelve
  51. Thirty-Six
  52. Thirty-Seven
  53. Thirty-Eight
  54. Chapter Thirteen
  55. Thirty-Nine
  56. Forty
  57. Forty-One
  58. Forty-Two
  59. Chapter Fourteen
  60. Forty-Three
  61. Forty-Four
  62. Forty-Five
  63. Forty-Six
  64. Forty-Seven
  65. Chapter Fifteen
  66. The Following Summer
  67. About the Author
  68. About the Publisher

“Nope—short like me. Well, not quite as short as me. And he’s a grade ahead of me even though he’s only a month older.”

“Huh.”

“We look alike.”

Digger beamed. “Didn’t I say that? Just like me and Teddy.” The smile vanished. “It’s awful that I don’t know Teddy’s son.” He began to scoop pie filling into the pan with renewed vigor.

ALI’S RULES FOR WHEN DIGGER BAKES

  1. Encourage him to use sugar.
  2. If he’s making something elaborate, like a seven-layer cake or cream puffs, don’t ask him what’s wrong. You DON’T want to know.
  3. Don’t offer to help.
  4. Try to lighten his mood.
  5. Eat whatever he bakes, even if it’s horrible, even if it means picking raisins out of your cookie.

Ali sighed. “I wish the Other Sloanes didn’t hate us.”

Digger paused. “They don’t hate us, Ali-Cat.”

“They act like they hate us.”

“It’s complicated.” Complicated was the word grown-ups used when they didn’t want to tell you something. “Do you think Alfie is a Copycat?”

“Nope. He wasn’t all twitchy like you are sometimes. Of course, I can’t tell if people are Copycats like you can. Gigi told me not to say anything. He might not know about Copycats.”

“I don’t act twitchy!” Digger protested. Then: “Do I act twitchy?”

Ali raised her eyebrows. “When you’re dying to change but you can’t.”

“Huh.” He laughed and morphed into a raccoon with floury paws.

“You know Mom doesn’t like wild animals in the kitchen,” Ali reminded him.

Digger changed back. “Technically, I’m not a wild animal.”

“Tell it to the judge,” said Ali’s mother, who appeared in the doorway. Her hair, slicked back into a tight bun that morning, had mostly escaped its elastic and hung around her face in frizzy tendrils. After quick kisses for Ali and Digger, she collapsed onto a chair and popped a piece of pie dough into her mouth. “Any change in Gigi?”

“Not since we talked earlier this afternoon. Ali was just informing me that I sometimes act twitchy. Do you think I act twitchy?”

Ali’s mother chuckled. “Only when you’re awake.”

Digger made a face and turned his attention back to his pie. After fluting the crust with the precision of a pastry chef, he popped it in the oven and wiped his hands on his apron. “Ali met Alfie today.”

That made Ali’s mother sit up straight. Eyes wide, she turned to Ali. “You did?”

“He’s so great, Mom! We’re going to be friends!”

Her mother’s eyes watered. “I think about him and Colleen a lot. His mom and I were such good friends. She was the one person I could talk to about what it was like to live with a Copycat. We wrote for a while after they moved away, but eventually the letters stopped.”