imperfect (46 page)

“
Somebody’s here to visit
you,” his mom said, tapping on his bedroom door.

“
Who is it?”

“
Jaiden.”

“
Jaiden
?” Troop repeated to make sure
he hadn’t misheard.

“
That’s what I
said.”

What does Jaiden want from
me? He probably wants to beat me up for letting Kristi get into
danger.
Nevertheless, Troop slipped off
his mattress and clumped down the stairs. Jaiden stood waiting for
him by the front door.

Troop jerked his head to
the living room. “Want to talk in there?”

“
Nah. I can’t stay long; I
have to catch an air-train to Middleton in twenty
minutes.”

“
Are you meeting Finn and
Chelsa?” Finn’s family had relocated to an obscure little town
named Middleton; Middleton was only an hour’s drive away from
Troop’s new address. In the meantime, Chelsa was staying with
Finn’s family until she worked out some other living
arrangement.

“
Yeah. Like I said, I just
have a quick message for you,” Jaiden said.

“
What is it?”

“
Stop it.”

“
Stop what?”

“
Feeling sorry for
yourself. Quit moping around. If Kristi was here, do you really
think she would want you having a pity party of one?”

Emotions collided within Troop. Anger.
Realization. Sadness. He reined in his temper.

“
Oh, yeah?” he said,
keeping his tone as even as possible. “What do you want me to do
then?”

“
Something
productive
.”

“
Like what?”

Jaiden let out a long
exhale, “Do I really have to spell it out for you? The Revealers
could use some help; not that I’m an avid fan of the organization,
but it would benefit the world if you helped them a
bit.”

Troop swallowed a lump of
guilt. Ever since his video had been aired, the Revealers had begun
to receive an overwhelming amount of instafications and publicity,
courtesy of the contact information Troop provided at the end of
the film. His mom had been at her wits end for the past week until
the Boss had forced her to take a week long vacation.

Riots had broken out on
the streets. Some citizens sided with the Revealers and were
furious with the government for conducting human experiments.
Others sided with the government; they agreed DNA testing on
Accidents was for the greater good of the Perfect
citizens.

“
Alright,” Troop said.
“I’ll see what I can do.”

Jaiden gave a nod of approval and opened the
front door to leave.

“
Say ‘hi’ to Finn and
Chelsa for me,” Troop added.

“
Will do.”

The door slammed shut.
Jaiden was right. It was time to start
doing
.

the story continues on in:

flawless

acknowledgments

Without the help and
support of so many people, there was no way
imperfect
could’ve been the book it
is today. A huge “thank you” to Jenn Rosenberger, Heather Sowalla,
Heather Rose, Lani, Jess, Miriam and Kirsty for going through all
those early editions of
imperfect
and whipping it in shape. Also, a “thank you” to
my family for putting up with my craziness when I was writing this
novel.

About the Author

Tina Chan lives in New Hampshire with her
family and two tanks of fish. An avid reader and writer, Tina
enjoys blogging book reviews. When she’s not reading or writing,
you can probably find her either running, playing racquetball or
listening to music. Visit her at www.thebooklanders.com.