Page 27 (1/2)

Emily stepped toward her mom "It’s so nice to see you ho?"

Mrs Fields stared at her hands All at once, her breathing began to quicken

"Tired?" Emily tried "Did they feed you okay in the hospital?"

Mrs Fields was actually wheezing now Carolyn let out a whi"

"She shouldn’t be here," Beth said quickly, sharply

Mr Fields rose from the TV stand He had disconnected the cable box from the television Were they so broke that they couldn’t even afford cable anyo back upstairs," he said firmly to Emily, his eyes cold

"I’m sorry, everyone," she eked out "I’m really, really sorry"

Then she fled back upstairs, holding in her sobs only until she was safely behind her closed door Her phone was flashing on the bed GOOGLE ALERT FOR THE PREPPY THIEF, said the screen E trial was scheduled for next week Experts say her sentence will be somewhere between twenty and fifty years

Eainst the wall Jordan would have been fine if it weren’t for Emily She’d ruined her life, too

All at once, she thought of Derrick, her pal from last summer How many times had he held her hand in the break room when she’d poured her heart out about how scared she was about having the baby? How ht because she couldn’t sleep? She’d seen hi her about Gayle, so she kneas still around Maybe he’d listen Maybe he’d understand

She scooped up her phone from the carpet and dialed his nu up without leaving a e What if Derrick saw her nuht she was a killer, just like everyone else did Maybe he was still upset that she’d cost hiiven Gayle her baby--the last tiatively impacted Derrick’s life, too

She was the opposite of King Midas--everything and everyone she touched turned rotten, and there was so little now she could fix Suddenly, so occurred to her A lot of this was out of her control, but there was a way she could et their money back, and heal their mother She could disappear completely

But did she dare even think it?

Eht now, if she weren’t a constant stressor, her , she didn’t er, scarier, more definite decision than that

She’d save her fah exploded froain Emily rose froertips twitching All at once, she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind It made so much sense She couldn’t live like this She couldn’t let her fao to Ja because Ali and her helper planted theical step

Eht for a e cae had a roof over it, the inside walls coated with graffiti, but there was a tiny ay on the outside that was open to the water below The stream was deep this time of year fro

Heart pounding, she pulled on jeans and a T-shirt Then, gathering up her courage, she hefted open her , crept onto the roof, climbed onto the oak tree, and slid down the trunk, the way she always did when she snuck out The bridge was about a twenty-minute walk By the time her father checked on her--if he even did check on her--she’d be long gone

27

FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS JUMP

That sa, Spencer and Melissa stood on the Rosewood Day Commons All one hundred and six of Spencer’s senior classowns and blue-tasseled caps, sat on folding chairs in front of a e Spencer, however, was in a plain cotton dress and wore no cap at all

Faces of kids she’d spent the last twelve years with lined the rows Phi Templeton sat next to Devon Arliss Spencer’s field-hockey friend, Kirsten Cullen, giggled with Maya St Ger a little weak, sat with his lacrosse buddies Naoler, Riley Wolfe, and Klaudia Huusko whispered to one another Cast members from countless school plays Spencer had starred in fiddled with their tassels Her cohorts on newspaper and yearbook fanned thelanced back at her There weren’t even four e where Spencer, Aria, E It was like Rosewood Day had wiped them clean fro if any of the others had come She finally spied Aria and her mother on the other side of the field Hanna was under the bleachers Eht idea

Principal Appleton cleared his throat on the stage "And now, I present to you, our valedictorian, Mason Byers"

There was thundering applause as Mason rose froe Spencer shook her head ever so slightly Mason Byers? Sure, he was smart, but she had no idea he was next in line for valedictorian She was supposed to be up there right now She’d had a speech prepared since sopho, he’d probably written the speech last night

Melissa reached over and squeezed Spencer’s hand "It’s going to be okay"

Spencer sed a lurateful to have someone next to her who understood how painful this was But it was tootoward the parking lot

Melissa followed her As they passed the big fountain in the front of the gy you a top-notch lawyer from Jamaica Darren has some contacts down there, and so does Dad"