BooksBarbecue
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

There was no chance to ask what that meant. Princess Elizabeth School appeared out of the thick haze like a fairy-tale castle. And just like in a fairy tale, Ali knew that the world inside its brick walls promised potential happiness or wicked treachery. Ali’s mom eased into the drop-off lane and gave Ali a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll send you happy thoughts all day.”

Ali nodded. But the truth was, she didn’t want happy thoughts. She wanted a friend.

Two

Ali survived her morning classes and only got lost once, but the mornings were always easy when she started a new school. It was the cafeteria at lunchtime that was the real beast, with kids rushing to claim a table and shouting at one another in excitement after summer break. Ali stood in the doorway, one foot in and one foot out, a silent sentinel. And she did the same thing she did at every new school: she wondered if there were any Copycats.

Gigi and Digger believed that around one percent of the population had Copycat abilities. One time she and Digger had passed a stranger on the street in Campbellton, and he and the man had high-fived. When she’d asked Digger who the man was, he’d said they could both tell the other was a Copycat. When she’d pressed him on how he could tell, he’d said, “Because both of our features shifted slightly, like there was a magnetic pull that wanted us to change into the other. It happens so fast and is so subtle that someone who isn’t a Copycat doesn’t notice. But we do.” The other man appeared to be a Constant to Ali, the term Copycats used to refer to people who couldn’t change. Now, standing in the doorway to the cafeteria, Ali did a quick calculation. More than a hundred kids meant that at least one could be a Copycat.

Despite her years of experience as a new student, Ali had never gotten used to the blur of unfamiliar faces and the dreadful realization that they were all strangers. She took a deep breath, straightened her spine, and forced herself to step into the cafeteria. Everything would be fine if she followed her rules.