The school day seemed endless. Bradley, Naomi, and Liam were all noticeably absent. And me, I was there. Physically, I mean. Mentally, I was interrogating Porter. I was digging through the files in the Farrow family office. I was with Liam. Begging him to forgive me. Figuring out a way to get him off.
“Kate!” It was a familiar squeak. A squeak I had come to love. “Did you hear? Liam! Expelled!” Panic was written all over Seth’s red face. It would have been comic if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
“What? Expelled? Are you sure?” I knew it was bad and I figured Liam would be in trouble, but to be expelled so quickly. I guess I just thought we’d have more time. But as usual, it wasn’t on my side.
“I’m sure. I just saw the paperwork in the office.” Seth was almost running to keep up with me as I blazed through the hallway toward the office.
“Wait! Kate! Stop!” Seth grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him. Turns out he was, like, freakishly strong.
“Let me go. I’ll talk to her. I’ll fix this. You don’t understand, Seth. She’ll listen to me now.”
“You’re not thinking straight. You’re smarter than this, Kate.” Seth grabbed me by the shoulders and stared straight into my eyes. “If you go in there now and cause a huge scene, Ms. D.’s gonna be on to you.” He steered me away from the office. “But if you lie low, if you can get close enough, you can strike from within.”
God, he was right. It was my plan all along. To join the Sisterhood and become one of them, and here I was, their new leader. Ms. D. trusted me. I could do more for Liam from the inside.
“I hate to interrupt this little chat.” Bethany’s tone belied her words as she practically hip-checked Seth to plant herself directly in between us. “But we’re having a sleepover in the headquarters.” She held up a tattered duffel bag that hadn’t seen the light of day since my last sleepover with Grace and Maddie.
“But my parents…”
“Where’d you think I got the bag?” Bethany smiled evilly, and I couldn’t even imagine what kind of lies had been told to make this happen. My guess it had at least required a call from Ms. D.
I looked at Seth. He jerked his head in a subtle nod and I slapped a smile on my face. Game on.
***
“So this is where the magic happens!” Taylor splayed her arms out like a game-show hostess showcasing a row of computers, screens flashing in the darkness.
“Oh, um, cool.” Leave it to the Sisterhood to turn a slumber party into a surveillance operation.
Taylor grabbed my hand. “Come on, you’re going to love this.”
She gestured breezily at some girls sitting in front of the computers, and they moved aside instantly. I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone would ever obey me like that. Somehow I didn’t think so. In high school, obedience was usually earned with charm and good looks. I was average on both counts. But maybe it didn’t matter if I had someone like Taylor to do my dirty work for me.
“So, this is it. Our command center.” Taylor yanked me down into the chair next to her. Flashing before us were five screens positioned at different exits at Liam’s house. “We’re watching his every move. No more surprises.”
I wanted to laugh because it was so ridiculous to think that Liam was involved. But I kept my face composed, my emotions in check. I couldn’t show any sign of weakness, or I’d blow my cover.
Her fingers tapped and clicked on the screen until she pulled up Liam’s email account. “And we’re monitoring all of his email activity, as well. He isn’t going to hurt anyone else.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “All thanks to you.”
Movement on one of the monitors caught my eye. Liam walked outside onto his patio and collapsed into a chair. Watching him sit outside while I viewed him from an underground tunnel made me a little queasy. This was so wrong. But I couldn’t let on. Not yet.
“So we’re just going to watch him now? I thought we had all of the information we needed. I mean, he’s already been kicked out of school.”
“I know, but I guess Ms. D. suspects there was someone else involved. Some of the timing just does not add up.”
“So we’re just supposed to sit here and wait for him to get in contact with his partner in crime?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen. Liam’s shoulders were hunched over, his head in his hands. Oh God, he must hate me so much.
“That’s the idea.” Taylor smirked.
“But what about Naomi?” The words came out of my mouth too fast. I couldn’t stop them.
“Naomi?” Taylor’s pretty features twisted in confusion.
“I mean…is she okay? I haven’t seen her all day.”
Taylor’s face relaxed. “Oh yeah, you lost me for a second there. She’s fine. Just sick. Stomach flu or something.”
Stomach flu, my ass. The Farrows were planning something. They had to be. And I had to stop them before anyone else got hurt.
Taylor snapped her fingers, and the first-years appeared behind us in seconds. “I’m exhausted. Let’s go get some rest while they keep an eye on things. Delegation is the key, my friend.”
“Oh, right. Delegation.” Leadership 101 with Taylor Wright. Good times.
I didn’t protest when she grabbed my hand. I did look back, though, for a second and saw the first-years hovered around the computer, giggling as they scrolled through Liam’s personal emails. A combination of curiosity and horror rushed through me as I watched them click on an email from Bethany.
You keep saying that you aren’t interested, but I can’t stop thinking about you.
Wait, so Liam wasn’t into Bethany? Was it possible that their whole love affair had been one-sided?
“Aren’t you coming?” Taylor asked, her light eyebrows pulled together.
“Oh…um, yeah.” I wanted to sit down next to the girls and pour over all of those emails, but it would have been so wrong, such a huge violation of Liam’s privacy. But as Taylor led me toward a suite at the end of the hall, the words of the email kept running through my mind.
I needed a plan. Now that I was finally here, there had to be proof that Naomi and Bradley were behind this whole thing. I just needed to figure out how to get to it.
Once I was sure that almost everyone was asleep, I got up and made my way back to the computers. If they had hacked into Liam’s emails, there must be a way to get into Naomi and Bradley’s. As I padded down the hall toward the bay of computers, I was relieved to see that the first-years had given up their watch. There was no one in sight.
I sat down in front of the monitor. Liam’s emails were still up on the screen. Before I could stop myself, I had already opened one he’d sent to Bethany.
Please stop writing, stop calling, stop kissing me. I still have feelings for someone else. It has nothing to do with you, but I just can’t offer you anything more than friendship at this point.
My breath caught in my throat. Liam still had feelings for someone else. The email was from a week ago. Had that someone been me? Probably. Too bad he probably hated me now.
My hands shook a little on the keyboard and I closed my eyes. Not now, Kate. Focus. I navigated to the main menu, and sure enough, there was a list of every student at Pemberly Brown. I pulled up Bradley’s name and clicked on an email he sent to Naomi earlier today.
N—The Chapel. 2 AM. This happens tonight. Now or never.
It read like a dare, and there was no way I wasn’t going to take it.