Page 21 of Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets

I had worked for it too. Found Piper the perfect dress. Short and blue, with layers that fluttered like the petals of the blue rain flowers that grow along the Golden River and made her turquoise eyes pop. I let her borrow my favorite clutch. I even did her makeup, painted her eyes a glimmering bronze and her lips with Roses Are Pink.

“Are you nervous?” I asked, because her hands were shaking as she examined herself in the mirror. She and Noah had only been together a few weeks, and things were still jittery-new.

“No,” she said. But I could see the lump in her throat as she swallowed.

“Well, I’m excited for you.” I batted my eyelashes dramatically. “You’ve been dreaming of Noah asking you to a dance for ages.”

“Shut up,” she snapped, her glossy lips pressed into a tight line. Carefully, she examined her face in the mirror. Tugged on the hem of the dress, adjusted the strap. I could tell from the way her skin glowed that she loved everything about her reflection.

Grant and I had been crowned homecoming king and queen at the game the night before. I should’ve been taking the customary photos with him and the other court members. Instead, I’d told him to meet me later to buy myself an extra hour with Piper.

When we arrived at school, we waited in front of the gym, Piper biting her lower lip. I swatted at her. “You’re ruining your lipstick.”

She stopped, only to begin picking at the black sequins on my clutch. Then she reached out to center the little gemstone on my necklace. It sparkled silver, like my dress and the clouds shifting overhead in the twinkling sky.

“You’re going with a boy who loves you,” I assured her. “It’s going to be amazing.”

Beneath the dim glow of the outdoor lights, she smiled faintly. Then she pulled her audio recorder from the clutch and pressed a button. “The walkway to homecoming was decorated with dreams,” she said, transitioning effortlessly into her reporter voice while making silly faces at me. “The sparkling displays found only in realms as distant as Party City promised it would be a magical night to remember.”

I clacked my fingernails together, and she tucked the recorder away. “Sorry,” she said. “They assigned me the dance, if you can believe it. And I intend to do it justice.” Then she removed her phone from the clutch and checked her makeup in the camera, her fingers shaking.

“You look beautiful,” I said. And she did. “But I do think you need to loosen up a bit. How about a quick round of the Sullivan family road trip classic known as I Spy?”

She quirked a brow, but then started scanning the dance-goers making their way into the gym. “I spy with my little eye something you used to date in middle school.”

My head whipped around, and I spotted Denny Henderson, who hadn’t grown much since we “went out” for a week in eighth grade. I shoved Piper, and she wobbled in her high heels.

“Hey!” she shrieked. But I caught her by the arm, and then we were both cracking up in front of the school gymnasium.

A moment later, her smile sank. A darkness shifted into her eyes. “You know, you probably shouldn’t be here when Jacey shows up.”

I licked my lips, breaking my own damn rule about leaving my lipstick alone. “Right,” I said, even though it felt like tiny needles were stabbing my chest. We’d made so much progress, but Piper was still embarrassed to be seen with me. Her own sister. “She just expects you to never talk to me, even though we live in the same house?”

“It’s not that,” she said softly. “I just want things to stay good between Jacey and me. Laughing with you isn’t exactly going to help matters.” She twirled a frizzy wave around her finger.

“Fine.” I curled my toes, trying with everything in me not to argue because I didn’t want to ruin the night for her. “I spy with my little eye…something tall and dashing and totally staring at you.”

Piper turned bright red as she took a few long breaths and stuffed her phone back into the clutch. Then she full-on grinned at me, like the excitement she’d held in all day had finally burst. I gave her a discreet hand squeeze, and she spun, heels clicking down the path to meet Noah.

It was dark, but beneath the lamps, I watched him place a corsage on her wrist. His hand moved to the small of her back as they ambled up the path toward me.

“Hey, Savannah,” Noah mumbled, barely making eye contact. He’d really gone all out for their date. His tall, lean frame was clothed in a dark tux. His hair was slightly combed for once. Same glasses as usual, but somehow, he looked all grown up.

Glimpsing Jacey at the parking lot’s edge, I gave Piper one last smile of encouragement and moved away from the couple, into the shadows behind the gym, to wait for Grant.

Now, I stoop to pick a dandelion as I walk at Noah’s side down the last stretch of road before the parking lot. Grant said Jacey had yelled at Piper during Survival Club. Maybe that’s why Piper had seemed a bit on edge homecoming night. “Hey, Noah?”

“Yeah?”

“What did Jacey say to Piper in Survival Club the week before she fell? Why was she so upset?”

Noah is quiet for several paces. He kicks at a rock, which skips off a nearby tree and rolls into the lot. “She said, ‘Why did you have to take this away from me too?’”

“What did she mean by that?”

He runs a hand through his hair. Hunches his shoulders. “Freshman year, Jacey really wanted to join journalism, and Piper tagged along for the meeting. I don’t know exactly what happened, but Piper ended up staying in the club, and Jacey never went back. When I asked her about it, Jacey just muttered about Mr. James having favorites or something.”

A little flash of alarm goes off in my brain. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this accusation. Seems like Mr. James had a habit of gifting Piper everything other girls wanted.

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