How to Get Away with Lying

Chapter 1

"Unfortunate, isn't it?" Ivy asked flatly from beside me. She glanced down at her sharp, black nails.

"Like either of you would care," I muttered, continuing to stare at Adley's headstone.

"She was our friend," Nate protested from my other side, crossing his arms. "We cared so much about her."

"Oh, please," I laughed sharply, rolling my eyes. "Cut the sappiness. You're gonna make me puke."

Nate shot me a glare, tugging at his black tie. "It's not like we wanted her to die–"

"Well, you for damn sure aren't too sad about it." A smirk appeared on my face, and I laughed cruelly. "But then again, did you ever care about Adley? You two were hooking up together before Adley and Nate even broke up. You know I sadly saw you guys together the night of Nate's party."

Ivy narrowed her eyes at me as she stepped closer. She then whispered, "When you confronted us two weeks ago, you said you'd keep your mouth shut."

"And I will. But I'm also reminding you that I have the upper hand now – and that you should really work on your acting skills."

"I could say the same thing about you, Short Stack," Ivy responded, leaning away from me and plastering a look of boredom on her face. "You don't look even close to sad. Though, if I were you, I would be more worried than anything."

"And why is that?" I hissed, putting my hands on my hips.

"Haven't you heard that bad things come in threes?" Ivy asked, a smirk pulling at her glossed lips. "First Annabeth, then Adley..."

"You are probably gonna be next," Nate chuckled, his hazel-green eyes narrowing at me.

I scoffed at his attempt at a warning. "Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No," Ivy answered simply, straightening the sleeves of her black blazer. "But it might make you think twice before you do something stupid."

"Adley killed Anna," I whispered to myself, leaning, shell-shocked, against the banister of Adley's staircase on Halloween night. "Adley killed Anna."

Part of me wanted to scream, part of me wanted to pound Adley into the ground, and another part of me wanted to puke.

Adley killed Anna...

But she's not going to get away with it–

Someone sprinted past me, slamming into my shoulder but not stopping to apologize. I looked in their direction and noticed that it was Ethan, who was running so quickly that he was tripping over his feet. He flung open the front door and ran out of Adley's house.

Curious to know what the hell was going on, I followed, my shock-numbed mind seeming to forget that I had more important things to worry about besides Ethan's whereabouts. I trailed behind him as he darted down the dark streets, wishing that my legs were longer so that it wouldn't take so much effort to chase after him.

When Ethan finally slowed his pace, we arrived at the cemetery. Without a moment's hesitation, he shoved his way through the front gate and resumed his insane sprinting.

A graveyard. In the pitch dark. On Halloween. You've got to be kidding me, Ethan.

I could barely make out Ethan's silhouette in the inky darkness, so I focused on following the sounds of his footsteps in the damp grass.

Where in hell is he going–?

Ethan's footsteps halted, and I ducked behind a nearby gravestone. "Adley?" Ethan's voice called. "Adley, it's Ethan!"