“Ladies,” Laurel said.
The Twitter Twins spun around and gave Laurel and Emma big smiles. “Three more days ’til the secret dance!” Gabby trilled.
“Wait till Mads tells you what happened,” Lili said, chomping on her gum.
As if on cue, Madeline and Charlotte appeared at the escalators. The girls strode over, and everyone air-kissed.
Gabby nudged Madeline. “Come on. Tell them about your run-in with the Devious Four.”
Madeline rolled her eyes. “I wish you wouldn’t call them that. It gives them too much credit. Anyway, those stupid girls cornered me after school today and begged me to invite them to the party.” She tucked a strand of inky black hair behind her ear and crossed her arms over her chest.
“And?” Laurel looked excited. “You said no, right?”
“Of course I said no,” Madeline said. “But you should have seen them. They practically got on their knees and begged.”
“Good. That means they’ll definitely try to crash,” Charlotte said decisively. “And once Ethan gets that footage, they’ll be the stars of their very own little movie.”
“I can’t wait to see their faces,” Gabby said. “The footage was such a great idea, Sutton.”
Emma smiled. For once, she was proud of a Lying Game idea. It wasn’t particularly mean, just fair. And she liked that it involved Ethan, too.
“No one messes with us. Right?” Lili said. She nudged Emma.
“Right,” Emma said, forcing a smile.
But we both knew that wasn’t true. Someone had done a lot worse than mess with us. Someone had killed me, and my friends had no idea.
24
MANO A MANO
The lunch bell rang on Wednesday, and Emma opened Sutton’s locker and stared at its contents. Since she’d taken over Sutton’s life, she’d made some rearrangements, taking down the little locker-sized mirror and replacing it with a picture of Johnny Depp, her longtime crush, and removing the snarky magnet that said I’M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD, AND YOU’RE MY BITCHES and swapping it with a magnet of Stewie from Family Guy. It was one thing for Sutton to be a queen bee; she didn’t need to announce it to the whole school via her locker.
As Emma grabbed her coat, her phone buzzed in her purse. Her heart almost stopped when she pulled it out and saw that it was Mr. Mercer. She let the call ring through, and a moment later she got a voicemail alert. With shaking fingers, she pressed LISTEN.
“Laurel said you’re not coming home again. I’ll cover for you for one more night,” Mr. Mercer barked into her ear. “But if you’re not back tomorrow…” His voice trailed off and the message ended with a click.
Emma gazed at the phone. She almost wished he had just said his threat outright so she could bring it to the police. But he was too smart for that. At least she didn’t have to deal with him tonight. She was staying at Madeline’s—Charlotte’s parents were hosting a dinner party that night for some of Mr. Chamberlain’s coworkers—but it looked like tomorrow, she’d have no choice but to go back to the Mercers’.
Exhaustion settled around her like a heavy cloak. If she could have curled up inside the locker, she would have. Luckily she was having lunch with Ethan. She needed some quality one-on-one time with the only person she could let her guard down with. He’d been such a rock these past few days especially—he’d called her every night before bed, and had even brought her flowers at Charlotte’s. Mrs. Chamberlain had proclaimed him a keeper.
Emma leaned against her locker for a second and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, she found herself staring at Thayer. She jumped, startled.
“Whoa!” Thayer said, holding up his hands. “Just me!”
Emma’s mouth wobbled into a smile. “H-hey,” she said, taking in Thayer’s hazel eyes and gleaming skin. She hadn’t seen him since Sutton’s father’s party, though he’d texted Sutton’s phone a few times. The moment they’d shared had felt a little too intimate for her, and she’d wanted to keep her distance.
Thayer moved a little closer, leaning his hip against the bank of lockers. “I just wanted to check in to see how you’re holding up about…everything,” he said softly.
“I’m…” Suddenly, Emma’s gaze locked on someone behind Thayer. Sutton’s ex, Garrett, had spied both of them, and was barreling toward them fast. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were narrowed into little slits.
Thayer turned, too, and gave Garrett a cautious wave. Garrett just stared at him. “I wouldn’t waste your time talking to Sutton, man. She’s over you. She has a new boyfriend now. Or haven’t you heard?”
“Garrett!” Emma exclaimed.
Thayer rolled his eyes, ignoring him. “Get lost, dude.”
Garrett let out an ugly snort. “Oh, I forgot,” he said sarcastically. “You don’t have much respect for relationships, do you?”
He stared at Thayer. Thayer stared back. For a long moment, neither boy blinked. “Back off,” Thayer said through his teeth.
“Or what? You’ll sleep with my girlfriend? Oh wait, you already have. Because you’re both sluts.”
Thayer’s face turned bright red. Then his fist met Garrett’s face, and Garrett was clutching his jaw. The very next second, Garrett was grabbing Thayer’s shoulders and shaking hard. Thayer tried to remain upright, but his knees buckled and he stumbled on his bad leg.
“Guys, stop!” Emma shrieked, yanking the back of Thayer’s T-shirt. “Please!”