Empire High Elite (Empire High #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,71

if I have to make you disappear myself. Maybe the murder rule was for Mrs. Pruitt too. I knew it was a threat. But it was the other thing that stuck out even more. When you do, I’ll see it. I felt the familiar chill run down my spine and turned around to see no one at all. She was watching me. I knew she was. And I’d already slipped up every night when I went to Miller’s room. Did she know? God, she had to know. I heard the clock ticking down in my head that I always heard when something bad was about to happen. I’d never been wrong before. I’d always been good at knowing when my time was running out.

Tiffany came out to clear the dishes. “Are you alright?” she asked. “You look a little pale.”

Because I just found my ghost. “I’m fine.”

“You barely touched your food. Do you want me to send a plate up for you?”

“No, that’s okay. Thank you though.” Tiffany seemed nice enough, but I suddenly saw everything differently. I could think of a million loopholes to a murdering rule. One being that she could pay someone else to do it for her. A little drop of something in my food.

Tiffany smiled at me.

I needed to get out of this house before I wound up dead.

Chapter 22

Saturday

I could feel the stands rumbling as Kennedy, Miller, and I searched for three seats together. Music blared through the speakers, pumping up the crowd for the upcoming game. The stadium was a blur of Empire High blue and orange, except for a small section of the stands where our rivals Bernstein Prep were sitting.

“Go ahead and grab those seats,” Miller said and gestured toward a section of the bleachers where he most definitely wouldn’t fit.

Maybe I’d misunderstood. I could barely hear him over the music. “Aren’t you going to sit with us?” I asked.

He tilted his head to the side and I followed the direction with my eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt were seated across the aisle a few rows ahead. They were here to see Isabella cheer I guessed. I didn’t know whether or not either of them were alumni of Empire High. But they were sitting with a group of other adults, right next to Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell. I quickly turned away. Matt had said he’d told his mother about me. Did he tell her we broke up too? Did she know everything?

I swallowed hard and turned back to Miller. “Well, this sucks.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just be a few rows back keeping an eye on you. Grab the seats before someone else does.”

Kennedy grabbed my hand and pulled me past a few familiar faces from school. Familiar as in I’d seen them, not that they’d ever spoken to me. Kennedy and I sat huddled together, bracing ourselves from the chilly fall breeze. For just a second I let myself think how nice it would be if I could have worn Matt’s varsity jacket.

“Go Eagles!” Kennedy shouted at the top of her lungs and jumped to her feet with the rest of the crowd.

What the hell? I didn’t realize she was so school spirited. And why was everyone standing? There were perfectly good bleachers to sit on.

She pulled me to my feet. “They’re coming out!” she screamed over the cheers.

I turned in the direction she was pointing just in time to see the football team burst through a homecoming sign that the cheerleaders were holding. I wanted to think it was corny. The kind of scene you’d see in slow motion in a movie. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t cheering along too. It was easy to get swept up in the excitement. The stands shook even more as people stomped their feet and cheered.

I tried my best not to stare at Matt as he jogged onto the field in his football gear. God, how did he look even better in that than he did in a suit? Stop it. I’d been avoiding looking over at the cheerleaders, but my eyes wandered in their direction. Isabella was bopping around, waving her pompoms in the air. I wasn’t sure if it was just the angle I was sitting at, but I swore her skirt was significantly shorter than the other cheerleaders.

“Let’s go, Eagles!” Kennedy yelled again as part of some cheer I didn’t know that the cheerleaders were chanting.

How did she know it? She worked weekends just like I did. She