Ms. Ambrose’s steely expression wavered slightly, as though she didn’t expect Emma to call her bluff.
Emma pushed on. “If you had cameras, you’d know it wasn’t us.” And if they did have cameras, no doubt the Lying Game members would have been suspended long before this, she added to herself, thinking of all the videos of pranks she’d seen on Laurel’s computer. Several occurred on campus, and one included hanging the school’s American flag upside down on its pole.
Ms. Ambrose pressed her lips together until they almost disappeared. “Either way, once I have proof, I’ll have no trouble expelling all of you.”
“Well, we look forward to seeing that proof, which you’ll have trouble finding, since we didn’t do it,” Emma shot back, straightening up. “And if that’s all, we’re late for homeroom.”
The others jumped up quickly and followed Emma out the door. “Miss Mercer!” Ms. Ambrose called after her, but Emma kept going, even though her heart was hammering hummingbird-fast in her chest. She figured it was something Sutton would do. And if there was ever a time to show her friends that she was their fearless leader, it was now.
I had to admit I was impressed with Emma’s nerve. She was becoming more and more like me by the second.
At lunch, Emma sat in the petite redbrick patio courtyard just outside the cafeteria, waiting for Sutton’s friends to arrive. Only seniors and a few select juniors were allowed to eat there, and even though the temperature had dropped, the usual suspects were still holding court. The soccer team sat at the corner table, chowing on subs. Garrett craned his neck over the goalie’s head, making it plain that he was glaring at Emma. Emma flinched and looked away.
Garrett had had it in for her since the night of Sutton’s eighteenth birthday party, when he’d offered her his body and she’d blatantly refused. The night of the Homecoming Dance, he’d cornered her in the supply room to confront her about dating Ethan—and her history with Thayer. She didn’t have any evidence that he’d hurt Sutton, but she hadn’t ruled him out as a suspect quite yet. It was possible he’d known all along that Sutton had been sneaking around with Thayer and wanted revenge.
It was something I’d thought about, too. Garrett was a goody-goody, and I couldn’t imagine him having the nerve to kill me, but at this point, I was willing to consider anyone a suspect.
“Dining alone?” a voice said, and Emma looked up to see Charlotte, a cardboard carton containing four hot beverages in hand. Emma breathed in. They smelled like hot chocolate, a nice change from the gallons of coffee Sutton and her friends usually drank.
“Not anymore,” Emma said, pushing away her German text.
Charlotte took a seat and pushed her red curls behind her shoulders. “Did you hear that the Twitter Twins got detention?”
“For the prank?”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Nah. They got caught tweeting in class. Probably to their dad’s lawyer or something.”
Emma snorted. “They need to chill.”
A squeal sounded across the courtyard. A chubby girl in leggings and Tory Burch flats was pointing at something just out of view. “It’s Thayer Vega!”
A hush fell over the courtyard immediately. Charlotte froze, her hot chocolate inches from her lips, and Emma edged out of her seat. There, in the doorway, was Thayer, with Laurel and Madeline at his heels. His dark hair hung shaggily around his eyes and he had on a North Face down vest and broken-in gray corduroys. He moved across the courtyard confidently—or as confidently as someone could move with a limp.
To me, the limp made him even sexier, like he was vulnerable, mortal. Then my gaze slid to Laurel. She smiled up at him flirtatiously, shaking her honey-blond hair free from its ponytail. He looked down at her with affection. No, I thought. This was my kind of entrance. And Thayer was only supposed to look at me like that.
The captain of the girls’ soccer team broke the silence. “Thayer Vega for Harvest Dance King!” she whooped. A cheer erupted among the students.
Thayer coughed in embarrassment, then dropped his tray next to Emma’s. Emma started in surprise. Why wasn’t Thayer sitting with the soccer guys? She glanced at Garrett’s table over her shoulder, but none of the boys were even looking Thayer’s way. Were they all showing solidarity for Garrett?
As though reading her mind, Thayer nodded at the soccer table. “Apparently I’m not as useful to them now that I can’t kick.”
She caught the scent of his minty shampoo as he shifted in his seat to face her. The sun reflected in his eyes, turning them a golden brown. Emma drew her bottom lip into her mouth. “How’s your first day back?”
“Well, my old soccer buddies aside, I don’t think I’ve ever been so popular,” he said with a hint of a smirk. “Maybe I should go missing more often.”
Madeline lowered herself into the seat next to Thayer and swatted him. “Don’t even joke about that!” Then she narrowed her eyes at Emma, as if to say, Remember what I told you?
Emma felt another pair of eyes on her, too: Laurel’s. Sutton’s sister was glaring fiercely at her, her gaze bouncing from Emma’s face to Emma’s and Thayer’s fingers. Emma hadn’t realized they were almost touching. Emma quickly grasped her cup of hot chocolate, angling slightly away from Thayer.
“Where’s your boyfriend, Sutton?” Laurel said pointedly.
“Taking his mom to the doctor,” Emma said coldly. “Where’s your boyfriend? Have you officially dumped him yet?”