The Lying Game by Sara Shepard Read Free Book Online

ballet dancer on the back said SWAN LAKE MAFIA . “Smush in!”
    Everyone pressed together and smiled. Madeline held the phone outstretched. Emma stood on the end, grinning weakly.
    And then they started down the driveway. The night air had cooled significantly, and the jumbled aromas of the charcoal grill, citronella candles, and cigarettes wafted into Emma’s nostrils. Gabriella and Lilianna walked and tweeted at the same time. As they bypassed the front door to cut around the stone path on the side of the house, Charlotte pulled Emma back so they were walking alone.
    “Are you okay?” Charlotte straightened her flutter-sleeved dress so that her thick bra strap didn’t show. Her arms were dotted with thousands of freckles.
    “I’m fine,” Emma said breezily, even though her fingers still trembled, and her heart banged madly against her ribs.
    “So where’s Laurel?” Charlotte pulled a tube of lip gloss from her purse and smeared it over her lips. “I thought you said you were going to drive her here.”
    Emma’s eyes darted back and forth.
Laurel.
That was Sutton’s sister, right? She wished she had a Wiki-Sutton application on her BlackBerry or something. “Uh …”
    Charlotte widened her eyes. “You ditched her again, didn’t you?” She wagged her finger playfully in Emma’s face. “You’re a bad, bad sister.”
    Before Emma could reply, they stepped into the backyard. Someone had strung a banner that said GOODBYE, SUMMER! across a salmon-colored storage shed. Girls in long, flowing maxi dresses and boys in Lacoste polos filled the patio. Two muscled guys in drenched HOLLIER WATER POLO shirts stood in the pool with two skinny girls in bikinis on their shoulders, poised for a chicken fight. A girl with curly hair and long feather earrings laughed way too loudly with a younger, hotter version of Tiger Woods. There was a long table filled with Mexican hot dogs, vegetarian burritos, sushi rolls, and chocolate-covered strawberries. Another table held a bunch of bottles of soda, fruit punch, and ginger ale, and two big jugs of Beefeater and Cuervo.
    “Whoa,” Emma couldn’t help but blurt when she saw the liquor. She wasn’t much of a drinker—she and Alex had once drank too much playing a
Twilight
drinking game and took turns puking in Alex’s mom’s Zen rock garden. And she never knew what to do at parties either. She always felt shy and reserved, the freak foster kid with no home.
    “Right?” Madeline murmured, sidling up to Emma. Her gaze was on the table, too. “Casa Banerjee has gone downhill since Nisha’s mom died. Her dad’s so oblivious these days, Nisha could probably have crack pipes as door prizes and he wouldn’t notice.”
    Someone touched her arm. “Hey, Sutton,” called a tall, buff, captain-of-a-sports-team type. Emma smiled broadly. A petite dark-haired girl waved at Emma from the drinks table by the French doors. “Your dress is so pretty!” she cooed. “Is it BCBG?”
    Emma couldn’t help but feel a tiny twinge of jealousy. Not only did Sutton have a family, but she was wildly popular, too. How come Emma had gotten such a crappy life and Sutton had gotten the great one?
    I wasn’t sure about that, considering Emma was alive and I wasn’t.
    More kids passed by, brightening when they saw her. Emma grinned and waved and laughed, feeling like a princess greeting her loyal subjects. It felt freeing and almost …
fun.
She understood why sometimes the shyest kids could climb onstage in school plays and completely lose their inhibitions.
    “There you are,” growled a sexy voice in Emma’s ear. Emma whirled around to see a handsome blond guy in a gray fitted polo and long khaki-green shorts. A familiar Facebook photo shimmered into her mind: Garrett, Sutton’s boyfriend.
    “I haven’t heard from you all day.” Garrett handed Emma a red plastic cup filled with liquid. “I called, I texted … where have you been?”
    “I’m right here!” I wanted to scream. Brief