Authors: Sara Shepard
Chapter 25
Almost, But Not Quite
Emma spun and tore through the crowd, desperate to get out of the gym as soon as humanly possible. A red haze swam before her eyes. Screw keeping tabs on the Twitter Twins. She needed some air.
She barely felt her hands pressing on the double doors or the cool night air on her skin. All around her was a cruelly beautiful pink Arizona sky. Ripped ticket stubs littered the sidewalk. Someone’s abandoned cat mask lay propped up against a tree. Heavy bass pulsated from inside the school, and every once in a while, there was a deafening crackle of fake thunder.
Slumping down on the bench nearest the courtyard, Emma placed her head in her hands. She’d been the one, after all, who’d put the brakes on things. But . . .
Samantha
? The girl who’d had her arrested? It was like a slap in the face.
The doors creaked open, and music from the dance wafted outside. When Emma turned and saw Ethan, she pretended to search for something in her bag. “Where’s your date?” she couldn’t help but snap.
“She’s . . . inside.” Ethan stood over her for a moment, waiting. Emma had plopped down in the middle of the bench, but she wasn’t about to shove over to make room for him. “Are you all right?”
Emma nodded stiffly. “Yep. Fine.”
“I was looking for you, but I didn’t see you with Madeline and the others,” Ethan said, removing his Robin Hood hat from his head. It was kind of ugly, Emma noted with satisfaction. It made him look like an elf.
“Well, have a nice night.” Emma knew how bitchy she sounded, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to be kind right now.
Ethan’s shoulders slumped. “Look. I think I know what’s bothering you.”
Emma looked away. “It doesn’t matter.” She absolutely wasn’t going to talk about this.
“Sam’s really nice, once you get to know her.”
Emma wanted to throw her Sherlock Holmes pipe at his head. So she was
Sam
now?
“And I spoke to her about you,” Ethan added. “She’s willing to drop all the shoplifting charges. No juvie, no community service, no permanent record.”
Emma snorted. “Was that the trade-off? You take her to the dance, she lets me walk? How nice of you. How martyrlike.”
Ethan shook his head. “Is this what you’re like when you’re jealous?” A look crossed his face that Emma couldn’t quite decipher. “You’re more like Sutton than you think,” he said.
“What’s
that
supposed to mean?”
Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “You told me you just wanted to be friends.
Is
that what you want?”
Inside the gym, the DJ put on a song by the Black Eyed Peas. The music sounded hollow, empty. Emma reached under her blazer and cupped her hand around Sutton’s locket. “I don’t know,” she muttered.
Ethan lowered himself to the pavement until his face was level with hers. His eyes were soft and round. The setting sun cast sharp shadows on his cheekbones. Emma could smell his signature Ethan-ish scent, a mix of deodorant, freshly laundered clothes, and spearmint. She tried hard to keep her face impassive. She didn’t want him to know what she was feeling.
“I thought that was what I wanted,” Emma finally said, taking a deep breath. “It just seemed . . . easier. Safer. But now I’m not sure about anything.”
Ethan stared at the back of his hands.
Say something, anything
, Emma silently pleaded, closing her eyes.
“There you are.”
Emma’s eyes flew open. The double doors had swung wide, and a girl in a long, dark wig stood on the sidewalk. Ethan shot away from Emma like a bullet fired from a gun. “Sam,” he said.
“I was looking for you.” Samantha’s gray eyes were cold. Her boobs looked weirdly squished in her corset. When she saw Emma, her scowl turned her pretty features into an ugly mask.
“We were just talking,” Ethan blurted, moving to Samantha and taking her arm. “I was about to come in and look for you.”
Samantha pivoted toward the door. “C’mon. Let’s dance.” She gave Emma an icy wave and pulled Ethan back into the gym. Ethan looked over his shoulder and met Emma’s gaze.
A small squeak escaped Emma’s mouth, but when she tried to say more, nothing came out. When they were gone, she pulled the detective hat off her head and mashed it between her hands.
Bing.
Sutton’s phone chimed inside Emma’s bag. If it was a text from Ethan, Emma was going to throw the phone into the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. But instead, the text was from Madeline.
WHERE ARE YOU, BITCH? WE MISS YOU! YOU DIDN’T MAKE A SECRET GETAWAY WITHOUT US, DID YOU?
Another clap of thunder sounded from the gym. Emma stood up, resolute. Ethan’s non-answer wasn’t going to ruin her night.
She hit
REPLY
.
ON MY WAY BACK INSIDE.
After adding a tongue-wagging smiley, she hit
SEND
. Forget Ethan. Forget love. She had two twins to watch.
The next forty-five minutes passed quickly, filled with a tour of the haunted house, snarky costume-rating from one of the corner banquettes, and keeping tabs on Gabby and Lili, who made the rounds in their court sashes and spent most of the time on the dance floor as though nothing were amiss. Countless students approached Emma and the others to compliment them on a dance well done, though a notable few steered clear: Garrett, whom Emma hadn’t seen since the closet incident, and Ethan, whom she unfortunately couldn’t help but see chatting with Samantha—
Sam
—at one of the coffin tables. Every time Ethan glanced her way, Emma pretended she was having a fantastic time.
Finally, Emma, Charlotte, and Madeline tumbled out into the night, linking arms and laughing at the best and worst costumes of the night—dorky Amanda Donovan, who’d dressed as Mr. Peanut; John Pierce, a fabulous gay boy who always had everyone laughing, who’d come as Lady Gaga; and, of course, Davin-as-Freddy-Krueger, who’d tortured Madeline by extending and retracting his freaky knife-nails in her face all night. “I should’ve gone stag like you, Sutton,” Madeline moaned.
Laurel appeared next, loosely holding hands with Caleb. They gazed at each other and giggled softly. When Caleb bent down to kiss Laurel lightly on the lips, Madeline whooped. “Yeah!”
“Sex goddess!” Charlotte seconded.
Laurel broke away from Caleb and shot the girls a mock glare. Emma grinned at her as she skipped toward the group, glad that she had found someone she really liked.
Madeline had parked her car in the school’s lot earlier in the day in preparation for the camping expedition. As the girls headed toward the car, Gabby burst through the door, riding piggyback on Kevin Torres. Her goddess wings drooped, her floral crown was squished and tilted, but her Homecoming Court sash was still proudly in place. Kevin put her down gently on the bench, and they made disgusting cooing noises to each other.
Lili followed, also still wearing her sash. As soon as she saw Gabby and Kevin, her face stiffened, her lips puckered, and she curled her fists hard, accidentally lighting up her Lady Liberty torch. She swung a wide arc around them.
Madeline unlocked her SUV with two short bleeps. Emma climbed into the front seat next to her, while Charlotte and Laurel squeezed into the middle row. Sleeping bags, pillows, backpacks, flashlights, and an illicit bottle of vodka had been packed in the cargo space earlier that day. Very quickly, the cabin filled with the mingling odors of perfume, costume makeup, and cinnamon Altoids, which Laurel had passed around as soon as Madeline started the engine.
Just as Madeline adjusted the driving mirrors, there was a knock on the window. “Hey!” Gabby waved.
“Shit,” Emma whispered. “Let’s get out of here before they ask to come along again.”
Madeline looked at her. “Sutton, we already invited them
.
”
Emma’s jaw dropped. “You did? When?”
Madeline shrugged. “It seemed only fair after the court prank.”
“Inviting them to get ready with us was only fair,” Emma said, the pitch of her voice rising higher and higher. “I don’t want them camping with us!”
“Calm down.” Charlotte sounded bored. “It’s just one night.”
Laurel looked back and forth between everyone, her cheeks still flushed from her night with Caleb. “We can’t exactly uninvite them,” she said. “Besides, they know where the springs are. None of us have ever been before, and apparently they’re hard to find.”
“The springs are hard to find?” Emma echoed weakly. Suddenly, the seat belt across her torso felt like a vise. She had to get out of here. She racked her brain for an excuse, but before she could come up with anything, Gabby wrenched open the door.
“Hey, girls!” She climbed past Charlotte and Laurel to the very back seat. Lili begrudgingly followed. When it was clear that the only available seat left was next to her sister, Lili let out a groan and plopped down, too, putting as much distance between them as she could. She gripped her Liberty torch as though it were a weapon.
Emma’s skin felt hot and prickly at the nearness of the Twins. Her brain spun. Would Lili and Gabby do anything to her with the other girls around? Maybe if she played it cool—and stuck with Laurel all night—nothing would happen.
No no no
, I thought desperately, willing Emma to get out of the car.
“Okay, bitches.” Madeline revved the engine. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Everyone whooped. “Hot springs, here we come.” Charlotte draped her arms across the back of the seats.
Laurel swiveled around and looked at Lili and Gabby. “You remember how to get there, right?”
“Yeah. We just went camping there with our dad.” Gabby’s voice was languid and happy, as though she’d just spent hours at the spa. “He didn’t want us to swim in them, but we did when he went to sleep.”
“That’s not true,” Lili said sharply. “Dad didn’t care if we swam in it.”
“Yeah, he did,” Gabby said. “He thought we’d drown.”
“You’ve got it all wrong.” Lili sounded really worked up. “You
always
get everything wrong.”
Everyone fell silent at the razor-sharp tone of Lili’s voice. “
Rrow
,” Madeline whispered.
The car rolled over a speed bump and out the school exit. Someone had draped spiderwebs over the gates and affixed devil horns to the large, many-armed cacti lining the path. Madeline turned up the winding roads that led toward the mountain. A sports car with round, xenon-bright headlights passed them going the other direction.
The girls began to chatter about the dance—Madeline and the disastrous Freddy Krueger, Laurel’s burgeoning crush on Caleb. “And how about you?” Madeline nudged Emma. “You disappeared for a while. Did you find someone fun?”
“Definitely not,” Emma said quickly. She wanted to forget the whole Ethan thing ever happened.
“What did you think about the dance, ladies?” Charlotte asked, swiveling around and looking at the Twitter Twins. “Was being on the court everything you hoped for and more?”
“Of course,” Gabby said automatically, lifting her sash from her chest and admiring it lovingly. “All eyes were on me. I felt like a princess.”
Lili let out an irate squeak. “There were eight court girls, Gabriella. Not just you!”
Gabby shrugged. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t think I do.”
“What’s wrong with you tonight?” Gabby wrinkled her nose. “You sound like Mom when you call me
Gabriella
.”
A small, frustrated noise came from the back of Lili’s throat. “As if you don’t know?”
Everyone laughed awkwardly. Madeline cleared her throat. “Um, girls?” But the Twins ignored her.
“If you’re going to be a mega bitch, maybe you shouldn’t come tonight,” Gabby said primly.
“You know what? Maybe I don’t want to come. Maybe I don’t want to spend another minute with you,” Lili growled. She pointed at a Super Stop gas station at the next intersection. “Pull into there.”
Madeline gripped the wheel, but she didn’t put on her turn signal.
“I’m serious!” Lili screeched. “Pull frickin’ over!”
Emma stiffened. Lili was more unhinged than ever.
“Whoa.” Madeline set her jaw, veered into the next lane of traffic, and wheeled into the gas station. Several cars waited at the pumps. Two teenage boys in death-metal T-shirts loitered near the entrance, smoking cigarettes. Inside, Emma could see brightly colored soda bottles, racks and racks of candy, and grayish hot dogs spinning slowly on a grill.
As soon as the car slowed, Lili pushed Gabby out the back door. Then she climbed out herself, giving Gabby another shove. Gabby wheeled backward into a green trash barrel. “What the—?” she screamed.
Lili’s eyes were wild. Her Lady Liberty toga was slipping, showing the scalloped, lacy edges of her bra. A bearded, greasy-haired truck driver filling his truck with diesel stared. So did the smokers by the door. “You know I like Kevin! I
told
you a million times!”
Gabby blinked her large blue eyes. “You never told me that.”
“Yes, I did!” Lili stamped her foot. “You always do this to me! You knew full well I liked him. I saw you looking at me every time you guys danced. You were rubbing it in, and you know it!”
Gabby placed her hands on her hips. “Well, I like him, too . . . and he likes me back. Get over it.”
“You insensitive little . . .” Lili lunged at Gabby. Madeline shot out of the car and grabbed Lili around the waist. Laurel climbed out, too, and restrained Gabby, pulling her toward a fledgling mesquite tree on the little walkway that led to the mini-mart. Emma stayed glued to her seat, unsure what to do.
The smokers by the door nudged one another and grinned. One of them called, “Cat fight!”
Lili panted hard. “I’m so sick of you,” she hissed at Gabby.
“Yeah? Well, I’m sick of you, too,” Gabby shot back.
Lili broke free from Madeline and pulled her iPhone from the tiny beaded clutch she held under one arm. After pressing several buttons, she put the phone to her ear.
“Who are you calling?” Gabby asked.
Lili tossed her head. “A cab to take me home. Go camping without me. I’m not going anywhere with
you
.”
“Lili . . .” Gabby looked repentant. “I’m sorry, okay?”
“Yeah, Lili,” Charlotte said, pushing a reddish curl over her shoulder. “You should come. You guys can work this out.”
“Not anytime soon,” Lili said stiffly. Then she perked up. “Hello? Yes, I need a cab, please. I’m at the Super Stop on Tanque Verde and Catalina . . .”
A stiff, dusty wind kicked up, fluttering the ends of the girls’ dresses and wafting the acrid scent of gasoline into their nostrils. After Lili hung up, she walked to the front of the mini-mart and perched on the large square ice chest. The pimply smoking boys approached her almost immediately, but she gave them a death glare that sent them scurrying away.
Slowly, the girls piled back into the car. “Should we really go?” Charlotte asked.
“I hate leaving her alone like this,” Laurel said.
“She’ll be fine,” Gabby said in a tight voice. “We’re like a mile from our house—she could walk home if she wanted. She’s just being a stubborn sore loser. We’ll have a better time without her.”
As Madeline maneuvered the car onto the highway, Emma twisted around to look at Lili one last time. She was staring at the car with unmasked fury, her crown now crumpled in her hand. A chill crawled down Emma’s spine, and she said a silent
thank-you
that Lili wasn’t coming on the camping trip. She could handle just one Twitter Twin. Right?
Wrong
, I thought. Emma was going into the desert at night with one of my killers, and I had no idea if she’d be coming back out again.