hospital again.”
Madeline stiffened. “We didn’t land Gabby in the hospital. Sutton did.”
Both of them turned and glanced at Emma. Emma felt a sharp punch to her stomach. They had to be talking about the train prank. She waited for either of them to elaborate, but Madeline started fiddling with her clipboard and Charlotte strode away.
The final bell rang, and the doors to the lobby flung open. Emma peeked out from behind the curtains. Students poured down the center aisle and filled the plush red seats. Freshman girls gaped at the Titanic set, squealing about how they couldn’t wait until they were old enough to be on the court. A group of girls Madeline and the others called the Vegan Virgins—for reasons Emma wasn’t entirely sure of, though she had a pretty good guess—plopped down next to a couple of the corpses and screamed. The entire football team sat together, shoving one another and jockeying for attention. Nearly everyone in the audience pulled their phones from their bags and sneakily checked the screens.
Charlotte’s words swirled in Emma’s mind. Just as long as we don’t land Gabby in the hospital again. What exactly happened that night? Had Sutton hurt Gabby? The message in the box with the train charm flooded back: I will always be seized with the memory.
“Showtime!” Charlotte scurried to the court nominees, who were all inspecting their drowning-victim makeup in the full-length mirrors. Emma let the curtain close and stared at the ceiling, as though she could see straight up to the Twitter Twins’ dressing room. “Everyone line up! I’m going to announce you to the school in a couple of minutes!” The six non-prank court girls found their dates, six cute guys who looked absolutely mortified to be in tuxedos.
Charlotte glanced over her shoulder, waving her hands around like an air traffic controller. “Mads, you’re going to welcome the crowd. Sutton, you’ll enter from stage left—your mark is a big X on the floor—with all the Homecoming Court sashes for the girls and guys. I’ll come in from stage right. Sutton, can you open the box of sashes? They’re by the mirrors. Sutton?”
Emma blinked, breaking out of her trance. “Uh-huh.” She walked toward the box of sashes to the left of the stage.
Laurel’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. “Uh, Mads? Can we come down now?”
Madeline checked her watch. “No! I need you to stay up there for a little while longer.”
“Uh . . .” Feedback screeched through the walkie-talkie speaker. “Actually? I’m not sure that’s possible.”
The door to the lighting booth flung open, and the Twitter Twins appeared on the landing. They were dressed in skimpy string bikinis and tall silver stilettos. Their tanned skin gleamed. Their legs stretched for miles. But they also looked naked compared to the glamorous court girls in their gowns. Laurel stood behind them, shooting a helpless look to Charlotte, Madeline, and Emma on the ground. “I tried!” she mouthed.
As Gabby and Lili pranced down the stairs with proud, pageant-queen smiles on their faces, Emma was able to pinpoint the exact moment they noticed the other court nominees in their gowns. Their mouths dropped. They halted in their place. Norah nudged Madison. Alicia began to giggle. Everyone was suddenly in on the joke.
“Priceless,” Charlotte murmured excitedly.
“Sweet,” Madeline whispered, arching onto her toes in anticipation of the reveal to the crowd.
Emma tensed, waiting for their reaction. But the scantily clad Twitter Twins simply shared a private look, then Lili marched to a dark alcove at the back of the room. “Fear not, Gabs!”
She unearthed a wrinkled Saks shopping bag from the nook, a bag that had clearly been planted hours—if not days—before. Tissue paper crinkled as she reached her hand inside and pulled out two slinky black dresses.
Charlotte and Madeline gaped at each other, while Laurel looked sheepishly on.
“Where did these Yigal Azrouël wrinkle-free jersey dresses come from?” Gabby said in exaggerated wonder. “And, wow! They’re even in our size!”
The Twitter Twins slipped the dresses over their heads, whipped around, and glowered at Charlotte, Madeline, Laurel, and Emma. “Nice try,” Lili said icily as one of the makeup artists rushed to her and swiped blue shadow under her eyes. “We could see your lame trick from a mile away.”
Gabby turned to Emma. “We’re not as stupid as we look, Sutton. You of all people should know that.”
Emma pressed a hand to her chest. “I never said you were stupid.”
A sarcastic snort escaped from Gabby’s mouth. “Right.” Without averting her gaze, she marched up to