Sara Shepard - Never Have I Ever

Emma glanced over her shoulder at Laurel, sure that helplessness and fear were written all over her face, but Laurel just waved obliviously. She flung the yellow plastic Scare-O-Rama bag over her shoulder and skipped toward her Jetta.

Lili opened the backseat of the SUV with a flourish. “Ladies first,” she said sweetly, pointing Emma to one of the black seats inside. Emma hesitated, wondering how far she could get if she took off in a sprint.

“What’s wrong, Sutton?” Gabby teased, noticing Emma’s reluctance. “You all freaked out from being inside the Halloween store? Afraid another light was going to fall on your head?”

Emma swallowed hard, the words cutting her like knives. Her heart had never pounded so fast or so hard. But she told herself that the Twins couldn’t do anything to her today—not when Laurel knew she was with them. Straightening her shoulders, Emma brushed her dark hair over her shoulder and called upon her deepest Sutton reserves. “No, I’m freaked out by your wardrobe choices,” she snapped, eyeing Lili’s mismatched polka-dot blouse and plaid skirt. “Did someone dress while under the influence this morning?”

Lili sniffed. “This month’s Vogue says mixing patterns is in.”

“I would’ve thought you’d know something that basic,” Gabby scoffed.

“What’s with the attitude today, ladies?” Emma tried to sound exasperated. “Are you two still not over that prank during your court party?”

“ Please , Sutton.” Lili opened the front passenger door. “We were over it before it even began.”

Gabby nudged Emma into the backseat, which smelled overpoweringly of Skittles. The Twitter Twins climbed into the front, and Gabby started the engine. Her blue eyes met Emma’s in the rearview mirror. “To the impound, right?”

Emma nodded, and the Twins exchanged a look and shared a secret giggle that turned Emma’s stomach. Then Gabby steered the car out of the parking lot and made a left at the light. Lili tapped away on her iPhone. Emma could just make out the Twitter icon on the little screen. She leaned forward, dying for a peek. Was Lili writing under her secret Twitter name? Was she sending a secret missive to Gabby?

Lili cocked her head, noticing Emma. Emma snapped her head away, pretending she wasn’t looking. Lili covered the screen with her hand and smirked. Emma pulled out her phone to check, but nothing new was posted.

Gabby merged onto the freeway, snaking around cars and nearly cutting off a fast-moving milk truck. “So, Sutton. Excited for tomorrow night?” She swiveled around and glanced at Emma, taking her eyes off the road.

“Gabby!” Emma screamed, gesturing toward the highway with her phone. Was Gabby even allowed to be behind the wheel? Could people with epilepsy get driver’s licenses?

One corner of Gabby’s lips lifted into a smile. She still didn’t turn around. “But, Sutton, I thought you liked to live on the edge!”

“ Whoo, whoo! ” Lili said in a high-pitched voice, her fingers flying over the iPhone’s keyboard.

More cars honked at the SUV. Sweat began to bead on the back of Emma’s neck. She placed a hand on Gabby’s shoulder as a pickup truck swerved out of her way. “Gabby, please!”

Finally, as Gabby was about to have a head-on collision with an oncoming Jeep Cherokee, she calmly faced forward and wrenched the SUV back into the far lane like they’d never been in peril at all. “ We’re really excited for Homecoming, Sutton,” she said, picking up on the previous conversation as though nothing was amiss. “It’s a big night for us. You’re going to die when you see us!”

Emma flinched. “Excuse me?” She grabbed the door handle, wishing she could jump out of the car.

Lili giggled. “Our costumes are amazing.”

“God, what did you think we meant?” Gabby asked, snickering. The girls exchanged another glance, as though they knew how much they were freaking Emma out.

Just then, Gabby took the next exit and turned into a dingy lot. A sign on the chain-link fence read TUCSON PD IMPOUND. As they pulled in, a beefy man with a shaved head emerged from a small, nut-colored building and motioned for Gabby to roll down the window.

As soon as the car slowed, Emma unlocked the passenger door and jumped out.

“Sutton!” Gabby called. “What the hell?”

“I can take it from here!” Emma yelled back, relieved to be standing next to the worker, who had ham-sized arm muscles and a menacing tattoo peeking out from under his collar. “But thanks, guys! I really appreciate the ride!”

The Twitter Twins idled at the gate for a moment, wrinkling their noses. Then Lili shrugged and said something to Gabby that Emma couldn’t hear. The two of them smiled, and Gabby threw the vehicle into reverse. Both girls gave Emma a three-finger wave as they pulled away.

Emma waited a few beats for her heart to slow down. Then she turned to the impound worker. “I’m here to pick up my car,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Come in here.” The worker led Emma to the building inside the lot. “I need your driver’s license and credit card.”

Emma handed over Sutton’s license from her wallet. The worker typed something into a dusty keyboard and stared at the screen. A wrinkle formed on his brow. “Sutton Mercer?” he repeated. “1965 Volvo?”

“That’s right,” Emma said, remembering the details from Sutton’s police file.

The man gave her a long, suspicious look. “It says here that you picked up this vehicle nearly a month ago.”

Emma blinked. “ What? ”

“It’s right here. You signed it out on the morning of August thirty-first. The fine was paid in full.” He twisted the monitor to show Emma the screen. She stared at a scan of the car’s release form. There, at the bottom, next to the X , was Sutton’s signature.

A memory bloomed in my mind: I had been here before. I remembered the leaky Bic pen that I used to sign the release forms. I remembered hearing my phone ring and feeling a jolt of happiness. But before I could get a look at the screen, the vision tunneled and blinked off.

Emma stared at Sutton’s signature, that swooping S , the humps of the M . It was another clear link to what Sutton was doing the day she died, but it felt like her investigation had taken a huge left turn. Why hadn’t Sutton told anyone she’d signed out the car that day? And where was Sutton’s car now ?

The man cleared his throat, breaking Emma from her thoughts. “This is your signature, right?”

Emma’s tongue felt like it was made of lead. She wasn’t sure how to answer. Should she say it wasn’t and report the car stolen? But what if she did that and then the police found Sutton’s body in the trunk? As soon as that happened, Emma would be arrested—without any other evidence, she was the most likely suspect in her sister’s murder: the unlucky twin trying to escape a life of poverty.

“Uh . . . I guess I made a mistake,” she croaked. Then she backed out of the little booth and into the blinding sunset.

The worker stared after her, shaking his head and muttering under his breath about how every kid was on drugs these days. As Emma walked out of the lot, figuring she’d call a cab to take her back to the Mercers’, a flash to the right caught her eye. A figure ducked behind an abandoned old Burger King on the other side of the chain-link fence. Even though Emma had only seen a glimpse, she was almost positive the figure had dirty-blonde hair like the Twitter Twins.

They were watching my sister for sure. The only thing I didn’t know was what they were planning next .