Fake by Francine Pascal

The better to work on you, my dear.
    Actually, this is much more fun than our stupid childlike fantasies. This is real. Remolding Gaia is like the most thrilling rush ever. For the first time, I know what real power tastes like.
    And you know what? It doesn’t make me feel like Commissioner Gordon. It makes me feel like King of the Universe.

Freakazoid
    THE SMALL BLUE DIE ROLLED ACROSS the coffee table, stopping just before the edge. Five. Gaia bounced her small metal shoe around the game board and landed on Marvin Gardens, where, unfortunately, Skyler owned a big red plastic hotel.
    â€œDamn,” she muttered as she scooped up $1,200 (a good half of her stash) and handed the money to Skyler. Monopoly, she was quickly discovering, was not her thing. Her railroads and utilities had prevented her from going completely broke, but overall it was becoming clear that she did not make a good capitalist.
    â€œSo . . . tell me about your love life. Is Jake your first boyfriend?” Skyler asked as he casually tossed the bills onto his stack of play money. She thought it was funny how he never sorted or counted his cash. Maybe rich kids tended to take it for granted, even in games.
    â€œNo. There was a guy before him. Ed. He’s just a friend now. And one other guy before that. Sam. That one didn’t work out either,” she said, reaching for the potato chips. “We had good chemistry, you know. But we disagreed on a lot of things. I was just too . . . different.”
    â€œSounds complicated.”
    You don’t know the half of it, Gaia thought wryly. She sat back on her heels and rubbed her eyes. Skyler wasn’t kidding when he’d said he wanted to know everything about her. For the past couple of hourshe’d been determined to hear her complete autobiography—from Huggies to high school. In a way, it was flattering that someone found her so interesting. She’d already told him about her father being in the CIA, but she’d decided not to risk much more truth than that. Still, it was tough editing out certain facts, avoiding certain topics altogether, and inserting the occasional bald-faced lie. He now knew, for instance, that her mom had been killed but that she’d been a victim of a hunting accident. And as far as he knew, she was an only child.
    All that mental contorting was wearing her down. And she did feel guilty lying to him. But there was no need for Skyler to find out how freakazoid her real life was. Not yet.
    â€œHey, there.” Skyler was watching her warily. “You should tell me to shut up if I get too nosy. I don’t want to upset you.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Gaia reassured him. She loved it when he got all protective of her feelings. Was this what it was like to have a big brother? “Your turn.”
    Skyler rolled the dice and plunked his top hat onto the Chance square. “Go directly to jail,” he read aloud. “Do not pass go. Do not et cetera, et cetera.”
    â€œYes!” Gaia rejoiced. “Now get your butt in the slammer.”
    â€œAren’t you forgetting something?” He held up a crisp yellow card that showed a cartoon guy withwings flying out of a birdcage. “Get out of jail free,” he read aloud.
    â€œCrap!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. “See, this is why I prefer chess.”
    Skyler shrugged. “Same game, different board.”
    â€œThat’s not true at all. Monopoly’s half luck. In chess you have to think ahead and—”
    â€œPlease!” he interrupted, rolling his eyes. “You sound just like Chris. Don’t make me go all big brother on you.”
    â€œOh, really? What will you do? What do you do to Chris?”
    â€œChris is easy. All I have to do is get his CD collection out of order and he throws a hissy. But you? You’re more complicated. With you I’d probably have to resort to my Liz tactics.”
    â€œAnd