The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,145

about their black eyes, the missing clumps of hair on their heads, the burns on their arms.

“Mads,” Emma whispered. “You can tell me. It’s okay.”

Madeline’s mouth formed a straight line. She pushed her pointer finger into a carved groove in the bench. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does.”

Girls’ voices floated past the locker room. Another scream rang out from the haunted house. The second hand on the clock over the gym teacher’s office made a half rotation before Madeline spoke again. “It was because of the cigarette.”

“The cigarette?”

“The cigarette I was smoking out the window last Saturday. I broke a rule. I deserved it.”

“Deserved it?” Emma repeated. Mr. Vega’s angry face flashed in her mind. “Oh, Mads.”

All at once, I saw a vision, too: Mr. Vega bursting into Madeline’s bedroom, his face red and shiny, his voice booming. I swear to God, Madeline, if you break your curfew one more time, I’ll break your neck! Madeline ran down the stairs after him, and moments later I heard heated but muffled shouts. Then there was a clang, as though a shelf full of pots and pans clattered to the floor. I had sat there, doing nothing. Too afraid to act.

Madeline had returned a few minutes later, her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes red. But she smiled and shrugged and pretended nothing had happened, and I didn’t ask.

Emma held tight to Madeline’s hands. “Was this what you wanted to talk to me about a while ago? The night you tried calling and I didn’t pick up my phone?”

Madeline nodded, her lips pursed so tightly they were translucent.

“I’m so sorry,” Emma said, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. “I should have been there for you.” She wondered how much Sutton really knew about all this, or if Madeline had kept it a well-hidden secret.

“I’m sorry, too,” I added, even though she couldn’t hear me. I had a feeling Mads and I had never discussed it before, not even that night. The phone call, the one she’d made to me the night I died, was the very first time she’d reached out. I would have answered it if I could, but I was already gone.

“It’s okay.” Madeline said to Emma, her voice wobbly. “I called Charlotte. She was actually pretty awesome about the whole thing. I wanted to tell you later, but . . .” Madeline let out a bitter laugh and smoothed down the layers of her full skirt. “Believe it or not, this is nothing compared to what Dad used to do to Thayer.” She peeked at Emma. “But I guess Thayer told you that, right?”

Emma’s skin prickled at the sound of Thayer’s name. Would Thayer have told Sutton something so personal? Had they been that close?

A whoosh came over me again. That same moment I’d seen before, of Thayer taking my hands and telling me something, trying to make me understand. Had it been about his dad?

“You have to tell someone about this, Mads,” Emma insisted. “What he’s doing to you is wrong. And dangerous.”

“Are you kidding me?” The crown slipped down Madeline’s forehead. “He’d find a way to twist this around and make it my fault. My mom would side with him, too. And it is my fault. If I didn’t keep screwing up, things would be fine.”

“Madeline, this isn’t normal,” Emma said forcefully. “Promise me you’ll think about saying something. Please?”

Madeline stared at her hands. “Maybe.”

“There are a lot of people around to support you if you do. Char, me, Freddy Krueger . . .”

Madeline raised her head and cracked a smile. “Oh God, that costume is awful.”

“It freaks me out,” Emma agreed. “I’m going to have nightmares.”

“Everyone is. He thinks he looks really cool.”

“Just don’t let him slow-dance with you,” Emma warned. “Could you imagine those slasher hands on your butt?”

The girls collapsed into giggles, nearly tumbling off the bench. A group of sophomores in matching Arizona Cardinals cheerleading costumes marched in, stopped short when they saw Emma and Madeline, and then filed back out again. That just made the two of them laugh even harder.

When they finally stopped, Emma cleared her throat and felt her smile fade. “Mads, I am here for you. I’m sorry if . . . if it seemed like I wasn’t before.”

Madeline stood and reached a hand out to grab Emma’s. “I’m glad I told you.”

“I’m glad you did, too,” Emma said, giving Sutton’s friend—and her friend—a hug. “We’re going to figure out a way to make this better,” she said.