“That’s not true!” I scream, lunging toward Lili. How dare she bring up Thayer! As if she had any idea what things were really like between us!

Charlotte pulls me back before I can tackle Lili. More medics have gathered around Gabby, and a debate has begun over whether to move her or keep her where she is. Lili turns away from us and peers over the EMT’s shoulder at her sister. An oppressive, July-hot wind kicks up, blowing bits of trash along the ground. A Skittles wrapper plasters itself to Gabby’s twitching legs. A cigarette butt rolls dangerously close to one of her hands.

A low, keening wail sounds in the distance: a second set of sirens. We all stand up straighter when we realize it’s a police car. My heart begins to race, sweat dripping down my body.

I clear my throat and face my friends, my voice low and steady. “We cannot tell the cops what really happened. The car stalled for real, okay? This was just an accident.”

Madeline, Charlotte, and Laurel look a little sickened, but Gabby’s condition has weakened them. They aren’t thinking of defying me anymore. And even though I violated a sacred Lying Game code, there’s another set-in-stone tenet we all live by: If we ever get caught mid-prank, we stick together. When Laurel almost got busted messing with the twelve-foot holiday tree at La Encantada, we swore up and down she’d been home with us. When Madeline broke her wrist running from security the weekend we dragged the library tables into a ravine, we told her dad she’d fallen hiking. They’ll forgive me for falsely invoking our fail-safe code. We’ll get through this. We always do.

But Lili looks at me like I’m nuts. “You seriously expect me to lie for you?” She sets her hands on her hips. “I’m telling the cops what you did!”

“Your choice,” I say calmly. “But whatever is going on with your freaky sister has nothing to do with me, and you know it. If you tell the cops—if you tell anyone—you’ll regret it.”

Lili’s eyes widen. “Is that a threat?”

My face hardens to a mask of stone. “Call it what you want. If you tell, we’ll have no reason to be friends anymore. Things will change for you, big-time, and they’ll change for your sister, too.” I step so close to Lili I can feel her warm breath on my face. “Lili,” I say, speaking slowly so that she can understand every last word. “When Gabby wakes up, perfectly fine, and finds out that you’ve just made the two of you the biggest losers at Hollier, do you think she’s going to thank you for doing the right thing? Do you think she’s going to see you as a hero?”