The Liar Society (3 page)

I made my way to Station 3, the school office, and touched the cold bronze on my way in.
Faber est suae quisque fortunae
: “Every man is the artisan of his own fortune.” Around the corner, I saw Seth organizing files. He had study hall first period, and while every other student lucky enough to have a free first period could be found sleeping in, grabbing breakfast, or even—I don’t know—studying, Seth spent his helping out in the school office.

“Hi again,” I said, adjusting the bag on my shoulder.

Seth poked his head out the door and grinned from ear to ear. Then he glanced at the clock. “I thought you had English Lit first period.”

I twisted Grace’s pearls between my fingers and flinched when Seth’s line of vision fell to the necklace again. He opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.

“Yes, they’re hers. Would you just stop looking at me?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

This was exactly what Dr. Prozac was talking about when he told me to “weigh my words.” Seth looked hurt so I backpedaled.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…I’m just…I don’t know…tired. I didn’t come here to pick a fight. I just…um…wanted to say hi…again.”
And to find out the combination to Cameron Thompson’s locker.

Seth leaned against the gray metal filing cabinet, lost his footing, and almost fell on the floor. Once he recovered, he reached into his blazer pocket to pull out a plastic bag containing a crustless PB&J, completely unfazed by his own dorkiness. I guess in a way you had to respect him for that.

“It’s okay. I was just going to say they look good on you. The pearls, I mean.”

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and instead cracked a painful-looking smile. “Oh,” I said, lifting the strand, “thanks.”

“Hey, I hope you have a hall pass from your first-period teacher. Sinclair’s been coming down hard on tardies, and I know how your parents feel about demerits.”

This was exactly why Seth and I had never made the leap from next-door neighbors to real friends. He was always remembering inconvenient factoids about my life. Usually the very thing I was trying to forget.

“I’m just not feeling well. Girl problems.” That ought to shut him up.

It did. He turned so red that for a moment his freckles disappeared, and he shoved the rest of the sandwich into his mouth.

“Oh, well,” he said, with a mouthful of bread, “are you here to see the nurse? I can get her.” He fumbled with the now-empty sandwich bag in his hands as his jaw worked on the sandwich.

“No, no,” I said a little too quickly. “I just…well, this is really embarrassing. I sort of forgot my locker combination. You know…one of the weird side effects of this time of the month is forgetfulness.”

His eyes found the ceiling, as though if he looked at me directly he’d magically sprout ovaries. “I, well…I actually know where we can look that up. What’s your locker number?”

“Number 543,” I lied effortlessly, crossing my fingers that Seth was too flustered to recall my actual locker number.

Seth disappeared into one of the back rooms of the office and reappeared shortly. He relayed the combination to me a little breathlessly, either from running around the office or from the sheer excitement of interacting with a girl. It was hard to say which.

I thanked him and repeated the combination over and over in my mind as I ran the length of the hallway.

Minutes later I was at Cameron’s locker, my silver monogrammed bracelet clanging against the metal as I twisted the combination. The lock clicked open.

I was in.

Without really knowing what I was searching for, I reached inside and began digging around. Beads of sweat dotted my hairline, and my heart hammered against my rib cage. My ears perked, and I hoped that I’d be able to hear any footsteps coming down the hall over the sound of my pounding heart.

I shoved aside books, notebooks, and a dirty-looking sweatshirt. While I might not have known what I was looking for, I was pretty sure it wasn’t gray fleece reeking of boy.

The slamming of a classroom door shattered the silence of the hallway and brought the meaning of “jump out of your skin” to a whole new level. I craned my neck and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was just some first-year heading to the bathroom.

With my attention back to the locker, I pulled out a small composition notebook with the usual speckled gray-and-white cover. I flipped the pages, thinking it might be a journal. But before I could make out any of the words on the page, I heard voices around the corner. The sound of footsteps followed, and I knew my time was up.

When I shoved the notebook back into the locker, a piece of paper slipped out from between its pages and floated to the wood floor. I spotted Grace’s name and a drawing of some sort.

The footsteps were coming closer, so I rearranged the junk in Cameron’s locker and stood, one foot partly covering the piece of paper.

Someone cleared his throat behind me, and I swear I peed my pants a little. I turned around and looked straight into the eyes of Headmaster Sinclair.

Shit.

Last Fall

It was the first week of school, and I had a bad case of what the upperclassmen liked to call First Year-itis. It hit all girls who started upper school at Pemberly Brown after coming into their own the summer before and leaving behind the braces, baby fat, and overall awkwardness of their middle-school years.

The most common symptoms included heart palpitations, flushed cheeks, and incessant giggling whenever a hot upperclassman happened to catch their eye. Sadly, there was no known cure.

My symptoms went into overdrive whenever I caught a glimpse of Bradley Farrow. After our “moment” during Nativitas, I was a goner, head over heels, crazy in love. He was hands down the hottest guy in school. Perfect mocha skin, eyelashes like paintbrushes, and six-pack abs that were discussed at length in the girls bathroom.

My locker was exactly seven lockers away from his, which meant that every time we changed classes, I was able to watch him out of the corner of my eye. Thankfully, I’d always had excellent peripheral vision.

I was in between English and Latin and was alternating between stealing glances at Bradley, blushing, and swapping out my books when I heard the loud giggling that almost always preceded the entrance of Grace and Maddie.

“Enjoying the view?” Grace giggled just loud enough to make Bradley look over to my locker and turn the corner of his mouth up in a smirk.

I had told her all about my crush after school the day before, and I’d been regretting that ever since. It’s not that I didn’t want her to know. Grace was my best friend, and I was dying to talk to her about all things Bradley. But she also couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. It was only a matter of time before all of PB would be buzzing with rumors about my lame crush.

“Shhh! He’s right there,” I whispered and bugged out my eyes.

“Calm down, Kate. He doesn’t even know we’re alive,” Maddie said. She tugged at the line of buttons down her uniform shirt in an effort to disguise the fact that a few were dangerously close to popping off. Maddie was one of those girls who should probably have worn a large but was always trying to squeeze into a small.

“Whatever, Maddie.” I sighed dramatically and looked to Grace for support, but she just shrugged her shoulders in agreement.

“Stop being so touchy. I have great news.” Grace grabbed my arm and began jumping up and down like a little kid who needed to pee. “Don’t ya wanna know? Hmm…don’t ya? Don’t ya?”

I couldn’t stifle my smile, so I gave in. As usual. No one could ever stay mad at Grace for long; she was just too entertaining. “Okay, okay. Tell me your big news.”

“I’m ungrounded, which means I can go to the Spiritus bonfire on Friday night! I managed to convince my parents that it’s required for first-years to promote school spirit.”

“And they bought that?” I asked as my hands worked my long brown hair into a ponytail.

Grace’s parents were crazy conservative. Emphasis on the crazy. She had spent most of her weekends grounded since she’d hit twelve and discovered makeup, boys, and other pursuits strictly forbidden by Mr. and Mrs. Lee. They had absolutely no idea she was dating Cameron, and they’d probably homeschool her if they found out.

“Well, there are conditions,” Grace admitted.

“You didn’t mention any conditions!” Maddie chided, yanking her skirt down another inch. If she’d just buy the right-size clothes, maybe she wouldn’t look so uncomfortable all the time.

“Well, they have to drop me off and pick me up. But I figure if we all go together it won’t be so bad…” She trailed off and gave us her best pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top look, a look that worked so well I’d begun to wonder if she practiced it in the mirror every morning.

Her dark eyes were all sparkly and hopeful, her mouth turned up in a nervous smile, and her straight, black hair hung like a curtain down her back. Who could resist?

Apparently Maddie.

“No way, Grace,” she replied, smoothing her skirt.” We’re riding with Alistair Reynolds.”

Grace and I stared at her, mouths agape. Alistair Reynolds was, well, Alistair Reynolds. He didn’t actually do anything aside from hook up with younger girls, but he was from one of the oldest families in Pemberly Brown’s distinguished lineage. The fact that he was Abercrombie hot and had a hefty trust fund pretty much cemented his number-one spot in the Pemberly Brown pecking order.

“How did you end up with a ride from Alistair Reynolds? Even Porter can’t get a ride with Alistair, and they’re brothers.” Grace couldn’t hide her shock.

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize that it’s such a stretch that a girl like me could get us rides from a guy like him.”

I jumped in to save Grace. “Come on, Maddie. You know what she meant. It’s Alistair Reynolds. He doesn’t know we exist, right?”

“Well, if you must know, my parents are going out with the Reynoldses Friday night, and they said Alistair would take us to Spiritus if we wanted.”

“So his parents are forcing him to take you and your friends so that they can go to the country club and get hammered?” Now it was Grace’s turn to look annoyed.

“My parents don’t get hammered…”

“Right. I guess Evian came out with vodka-flavored water.” Grace had made the mistake of taking a sip of Mrs. Greene’s water at the beginning of the summer, inadvertently solving the mystery of Maddie’s mom’s long afternoon naps.

“Enough!” I went into peacemaker mode and turned to Grace. “Mrs. Greene is super-nice and she’s…well, just a little overtired sometimes, so lay off.” Next I turned to Maddie. “You know we can’t ride with Alistair, so just tell your parents that Grace’s dad is driving us.”

Maddie stuck out her lower lip like a child. “That totally defeats the purpose. I mean, this is
Alistair Reynolds
we’re talking about here.”

“Uh, actually this is your best friend we’re talking about here. Come on, we’ll ride with Alistair some other time.” Grace shot me a grateful look. It was important to her to at least pretend she had a normal social life. There was no way I was going to let Maddie’s social climbing ruin it.

“Fine,” Maddie said, still pouting. She mumbled phrases like “not fair” and “have to suffer” and “Grace’s stupid parents” as we walked to our next class.

“Kate Lowry for the win! Pineapple pizza is on me.” Grace laughed as she walked backward in front of Maddie, trying to get her to smile. “You can’t stay mad at me when our favorite pizza’s involved. Right, Maddie? Right?”

This time she couldn’t resist. No one could. Maddie’s frown wavered, and her thin lips lifted into a smile.

“I knew you’d come around!” Grace’s laugh filled the hallway but was cut short when Cameron grabbed her from behind, separating the three of us.

“I heard you guys talking,” he said, pausing long enough for us to wonder how much he’d heard and why he was eavesdropping in the first place. “You didn’t tell me you’re allowed to go to Spiritus now.” He talked to Grace as though Maddie and I were invisible.

“Oh, I just found out this morning,” Grace said, smiling at Maddie and me. “I wanted to make it a girls night, though. You understand, right?”

Something in Cameron’s eyes made it clear he didn’t. “Of course, babe,” he said, nodding. “I know how
important
your friends are to you.” He said it with a hint of resentment. “I could use some time with the guys anyway.”

Maddie and I exchanged a look. We both knew that Cameron was going to spend the entire night stalking Grace.

As we neared the World Language wing, I realized I’d forgotten my Latin notebook and had to turn around. “Crap, forgot something in my locker. I’ll see you guys at lunch.”

Grace planted a kiss on Cameron’s cheek but threw her arm around Maddie. As I rushed back to my locker, I had to admit I was glad Grace was willing to spend time with us away from Cameron. He was demanding; I knew that balancing a boyfriend and your best friends couldn’t be easy. After all, no one really wanted to share Grace.

I twisted the combination on my locker again and reached in to grab my notebook. But sitting on top of my messy pile of books and school supplies was a pristine cream envelope with my name written in calligraphy on the front.

I grabbed the card and looked around the crowded hallways. This definitely hadn’t been there a minute ago. Who could have gotten this in my locker so quickly? There was no way it could fit through the slats, and Grace and Maddie were the only ones with the combination.

The paper of the envelope was velvety smooth. This must be what expensive felt like. I carefully opened the envelope, not wanting to rip the beautiful paper.

The text on the invitation was handwritten in the same gorgeous calligraphy as my name, and in the bottom right-hand corner there was a small design.

Katelyn Olivia Lowry,

Your presence is requested at Station 11 at dusk on Friday the 13th of September. Enter at the seal if you believe yourself worthy. Come alone. Tell no one.

Guess I was going to be doing some balancing of my own.