Page 64 of Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets

“Right,” I say, trying to sound indifferent. Trying hard not to make a comment about how he and Savannah really are a match made in heaven.

A perfect pair of cheaters.

“Mr. Davis made us retest right then,” Grant says, “only this time, we went into the bathroom individually, and the door was guarded. Our new test results aren’t in his office because it takes a few weeks.” He stretches to look out at the lot over my shoulder. “We shouldn’t talk about this here.”

“Okay, then.” I spin around and head down the steps toward the parking lot. “Anywhere you want to talk about it is good with me. Who’s driving?” I dig my keys from my pocket, but when I look up, I spot Abby. My steps halt.

Her curly red hair is unmistakable across the parking lot. “Ab—” I start to call out before thinking better of it. Her back is pressed against the driver’s side door of a black truck, and she’s looking at her phone.

She’s supposed to be up on the trail with the rest of the club. Something definitely isn’t right. She spins around and says something through the window to a person sitting in the driver’s seat. Probably Sam. Which means only half the club was invited to this extra meeting.

Or was it only me?

I want to go over there and ask why she handed me a fishy invitation to a meeting that no one’s attending, but Grant is still standing behind me, shoe tapping anxiously on the asphalt.

“Sorry,” I say. “So? Where to?”

“I can’t be seen with you,” Grant hisses. “Not by them. Not if you’re going to write this story.”

“Not by who?”

Grant scratches his head, then tips it subtly toward Sam’s truck.

“Other Survival Club members?”

“They aren’t just Survival Club members,” he mumbles. “Look, like I said, I never took stuff. Never even bought anything. But I’ve seen the other guys—the ones who had to be retested—buy stuff. And that scruffy kid…”

“Sam,” I say. Grant shoots me abe quietlook.

“He’s their supplier,” he says through barely cracked lips.

“No way.”

“I’ve got to go.” He starts fumbling for his keys. “Don’t try to contact me about this again.”

“Wait a minute,” I say, but he’s already past the first row of cars. And I’m not sure I care. Because across the lot, Sam gets out of the driver’s side of his truck and walks off toward the football bleachers, maybe to have a smoke. I wait for Abby to follow, but she climbs into the passenger side of the truck, and the door clunks shut behind her.

Too many bizarre things are going on, like that invitation to a club meeting that doesn’t seem to be happening. And Abby’s part of it all. I’m not sure how, but after bending Grant to my will like I have telekinetic powers, I feel like I just might be able to get a few more answers. Abby’s dating the dealer, so she might have some.

And she’s right over there.

Chapter 26

“What do you mean you’re sorry?” But I ask the question like I’d rather not know the answer.

Jacey tugs on my arm again.

Grant’s hands go to his temples, and he backs away from us. “I found Piper in Mr. Davis’s office after school. She was in bad shape. Honestly, I thought she was out of her mind. She was mumbling and panicky. Talking about the soccer drug scandal.”

So, Piperwasworking on the story. I’m an idiot. Deep down, I knew she hadn’t joined Survival Club out of some sudden urge to become more adventurous. But after laughing at her, I never pressed her on it.

Even before the chemistry tests, I was a terrible sister.

“Mr. Davis wasn’t there,” Grant continues. “I guess she was snooping around, looking through the soccer files. She found the random drug tests, and some were missing, including mine. So she went all journalist on me, trying to get more info.” He shrugs like that’s all there is to it, and I want to take one of these tent stakes and bludgeon the rest out of him.

“What did you tell her?” I grip the tent pole nearest me like I might collapse without it.

“That Mr. Davis was having some of us retested because we…cheated.”

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