The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,82

for memories to come. They didn’t.

The three flashbacks I’d been given back blazed through my head on a continuous loop: my friends’ cruel giggles. The necklace pulling at my throat. The desperate look in Ethan’s eyes as he waited for me to breathe again. But what had happened after that memory—and that video—ended? My friends might not have killed me that night, but someone got me later. It could have been Madeline or Charlotte or Laurel . . . but it also could have been someone else.

Whoever had pulled this off was doing quite an acting job though. There were still so many possibilities and questions, too. What had I done to deserve such a horrible prank from my BFFs, anyway? The Lying Game was all about one-upmanship—so what had warranted my almost murder? And what about our poor Twitter Twins, excluded from the Lying Game’s inner sanctum? They claimed they had a lot of killer prank ideas up their sleeves—killer being the operative word. And then there was the mysterious missing Thayer Vega. Would we ever hear from him again? Would we ever find out what I’d done? A guy disappearing shortly before a girl’s murder seemed awfully suspicious . . .

I watched Emma as she floated toward sleep, her face untroubled and unsuspecting. I wished we could’ve had one day together, one hour. I wished I could whisper in her ear and tell her what I knew for sure: Always sleep with one eye open. Never take anything for granted. Your best friends might just be your enemies. Most important, she shouldn’t trust a single thing she knew about me yet. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but something deep inside, something I couldn’t quite comprehend, told me I was the trickiest member of the Lying Game by far.

Sweet dreams, long-lost twin sister. I’ll see you in the morning . . . even though you won’t see me.

Acknowledgments

Wow, starting a new series is hard! I’ve forgotten how difficult it is, and I absolutely could not have done it without the help of Lanie Davis, Sara Shandler, Josh Bank, Les Morgenstein at Alloy Entertainment, and Farrin Jacobs and Kari Sutherland at HarperTeen. All of you were so amazingly instrumental in making the first book in The Lying Game work, from fiddling with the voice and the structure to drilling down to the teensiest minutia that gives it polish and panache. I cannot overstate how very grateful I am for all your encouragement and support these past few months—especially Lanie, who probably had to edit this, what, six times? We are definitely a team, and I hope we will stick together for a long, long while.

Also a big thanks to Andy McNicol and Anais Borja at William Morris for their supervision and enthusiasm. To Kristin Marang at Alloy Entertainment for your creativity and spirit, and to Liz Dresner for designing the book’s beautiful cover. To Joel, my husband, who read a late-late draft and told me, even though I didn’t want him to because I didn’t want to write another sentence, what wasn’t working and what would make it better. To my good friend Andrew Zaeh, the quickest learner on a surfboard I have ever met—watch out for the scary Mini Marts! To my parents, Mindy and Shep—scary county fair carnival!—and my sister, Ali—owl!—and to Caron and Melissa Crooke, girls one should never walk into a Mexican restaurant with unless you’re prepared to do shots. And a huge shout-out to all the readers I’ve met both this year and in past years for reaching out and telling me what you think. You guys rock, each and every one of you!

And because I love all of you too much to lose any of you, please don’t try any of these Lying Game pranks at home. I hope you agree that what happens in The Lying Game stays in The Lying Game . . . and nowhere else.

Copyright

THE LYING GAME

Copyright © 2010 by Alloy Entertainment and Sara Shepard

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