The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,271

green golf course, the flags rippling in the slight wind. Several sprinklers came on at once, misting the grassy areas. Two swimmers bobbed in the deep end of the horseshoe-shaped pool to the right, talking quietly. Everything looked so romantic and pristine, with not a detail out of place.

She heard a slam behind her, and turned to see Charlotte, Madeline, and the Twitter Twins climbing from Madeline’s SUV. “I always say it’s best to plan a prank while trespassing,” Lili whispered with a smirk. Her hot-pink bikini poked out from beneath a too-tight white tank top, and she had a purple beach towel tucked under her arm.

Emma ran a hand over the light yellow cover-up she’d found in Sutton’s underwear drawer, feeling nervous. The girls were planning the top-secret Lying Game dance tonight, but they were trespassing in the hot springs on the resort property to do so. She would have thought she’d be used to breaking the law by now, but her rule-abiding, good-girl instincts died hard.

My nerves were twisting for a different reason. I knew this place from one of my memories. It was here that my friends dragged me from the springs to the trunk of my car on the night of the snuff film prank, the same night Laurel nearly choked me to death. I’d written that off as a silly prank, but now I wondered. Maybe Laurel had been practicing for the real thing.

Madeline took a swig from an Evian bottle as Gabby and Lili trotted ahead. “I already have so many good ideas,” Gabby said over her shoulder.

“We should do overly cliché dance themes,” Lili babbled. “For sure we need a punch bowl and a cake that says something like DANCE OFF in pastel icing. And we have to hang tons of streamers.”

Charlotte, who was wearing a terry-cloth wrap that cinched under her arms, stopped short and grabbed Emma’s arm. “Where’s Laurel? I thought she was coming with you.”

Emma shrugged. “I checked her bedroom before I left, but she wasn’t there.”

Madeline bristled. “I bet she’s with my brother.”

Emma figured Madeline was right. She’d been trying to corner Thayer all day to ask how long Laurel had been at the hospital, but every time she’d seen him he was with Laurel.

“Aw,” Gabby swooned. “Maybe it’s good for Thayer to have a girlfriend.”

“Especially if she’s one of us,” Lili added.

Madeline shoved aside a tree branch; Emma ducked as it snapped back toward her face. “Thayer doesn’t need a girlfriend right now. He needs to get better.”

“Get better?” Lili repeated. “What do you mean?”

Madeline clapped her mouth closed. Thayer had told Emma that he’d been in rehab, but she was the only person outside of his family who knew.

Unless, of course, he’d told Laurel…

“I mean his leg,” Madeline said haltingly. “It needs to heal up.” And that was that.

“Hot springs, here we come!” Gabby trilled, pushing aside branches. Ahead of them was a clearing of flat red rocks. Three Jacuzzi-sized pools of natural water bubbled invitingly.

I felt a swoop of dread, looking around. Yep, these were the springs all right. That night, I’d gotten pissed at Laurel for wearing a necklace just like my locket, like she was trying to steal my style. She’d claimed later she’d worn it to stage the fight, but clearly she wanted more than my style. She wanted my life.

Madeline pulled her ikat-print caftan over her head and set it on a flat rock near the springs. Charlotte kept her towel on and walked tentatively toward the steaming pool. Emma and the Twitter Twins disrobed, too, leaving their stuff in a pile. Lili dipped her big toe into the water and declared the temperature perfect. As she slid in, she shut her eyes and let out an “Mmm.” Emma slipped into the water, too, feeling the warmth envelop her. For a moment, she let her stress float away.

“Okay, time to party-plan,” Gabby said, adjusting the gold-tone clasp in the middle of her bikini. “So we’re e-inviting everyone who’s anyone at Hollier, right?”

“Except the four people we don’t want,” Madeline said. She pushed her hands over the water, creating tiny ripples.

“Maybe we should invite a few cool kids from Wheeler,” Lili suggested.

“Like the soccer hotties.” Charlotte, who was sitting on the edge, just dipping her legs in, sounded excited.

“Definitely.” Emma drummed her fingers on the rocks. “So if we throw the dance at the school, how are we going to break in after hours once the door is locked?”

“Um, the exact same way