“Nothing.” Aria guided him back toward the clubhouse. “Now you have something to talk about the next time you see each other. And your next task is to ask her out on a date.”
A nervous smile slowly spread across Graham’s face. “Okay.” He cuffed Aria’s arm. “What would I have done without you?”
“Just be sure to invite me to the wedding.” Aria slugged Graham’s shoulder in a friendly way. Then, Aria’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Still smiling, she pulled it out and looked at the screen. Two new picture messages.
Her fingers started to tingle, and she looked up, feeling like someone was watching. A shadow slipped behind the windmill. The door to the clubhouse banged loudly. Something moved behind a trellis. But when Aria stared harder, she didn’t notice anything amiss.
She pressed READ. The first picture loaded on the screen. The Cliff Resort’s famous roof deck was in sharp focus, five heads easily visible over the top. The picture was blurry, but Aria could make out her outstretched hands. Tabitha, in her yellow dress, stood next to her, about to topple over.
When Aria hit the right arrow, the next photo appeared. This shot had been taken a split second later, capturing the moment Aria had pushed Tabitha off. Her body hung in midair. Aria remained on the roof deck, her hands on her hips. She looked like a cold-blooded killer.
“Aria?” Graham stood behind her. “Is everything okay?”
Aria jumped and hid the screen with her hand. “Uh, everything’s fine,” she lied.
She stabbed at the keypad to delete both the photos, but for some reason, they wouldn’t disappear. Every time she clicked into her photo gallery again, there they were, front and center. Her heart thudded. Just having them on her phone made her feel like there was a bull’s-eye on her head. She had to get them off.
Her phone beeped again. One new message, a new alert said. Aria pressed READ.
What if a little “birdie” showed these to Graham—and the police? I can—and I will.—A
16
ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE
That afternoon, Emily and Jordan waited at the top of the cliff in the rain forest. A thick layer of trees waved beneath them, frogs croaked from a hidden hollow, and a zip line swayed in the breeze. Emily watched as two kids in front of her grabbed the tandem zip line’s handles and pushed off. They soared through the air, whooping and laughing, and landed safely on the other side of the ravine. It didn’t look like a laughing matter to Emily, though. More like a death trap.
She edged closer to Jordan, who was fidgeting excitedly. “Are you sure we should do this?”
Jordan’s brow furrowed. “You’re not going to chicken out on me now, are you? I’ve wanted to do this for years.”
“What if the lines break?” Emily looked nervously at the chasm below. The instructor had said it was at least a forty-foot drop.
“The lines are superstrong.” Jordan inspected Emily carefully. “You’re really scared, aren’t you?”
Emily swallowed hard. “I had this friend who was sort of crazy. She took me to this gulch earlier this year, and we had a fight, and for a moment I was sure she was going to push me over the edge.” She shut her eyes and thought about that horrible night with Kelsey Pierce.
Jordan’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”
“I was fine, of course,” Emily said quickly. “My friend was fine, too. It just shook me up, that’s all.” She didn’t even want to get into how Mona Vanderwaal had fallen off the very same cliff the year before. Although she’d filled Jordan in on the basics about Ali and A, she hadn’t gotten into too many of the details. And she certainly hadn’t told her about New A.
“Look, I promise I won’t push you off anything,” Jordan said. “And how about this? If your line breaks, I’ll dive into the abyss after you. If we both die, at least we’ll get to explore the afterlife together.”
“Okay,” Emily whispered. She fumbled for Jordan’s hand. Jordan looked nervously back and forth, then laced her fingers in hers. Though they’d kissed in private plenty of times since their boat tour yesterday, they hadn’t been public about anything yet. Emily was hesitant to ask why. Maybe it was too fast. Or maybe Jordan was worried about what her new Ulster classmates would say about her having a girlfriend, which is how Emily had come to think of her.
Jordan was totally perfect. Last night, after their secret boat cruise, they’d opened up about everything, covering topics Emily hadn’t dared to explore with anyone before. Jordan revealed that she’d had a few lackluster boyfriends, and then she’d fallen for a toxic girl named Mackenzie. When Emily pushed for details, Jordan couldn’t go on. “It was just too painful,” she admitted. “You’re actually the first person I’ve ever talked to about her. You officially know more about me than anyone else.”
Another boy went on the zip line, letting out a keening wail as he drifted across the gully. Suddenly, Emily and Jordan were next in line. “You girls ready?” the instructor asked.
Emily’s feet felt buried in the mud, but Jordan dragged her forward. “Yep.” She grabbed Emily’s hand and squeezed it hard. “I’ll hold on to you the whole time. I promise.”
Emily shakily let the instructor harness her up. She could barely hold the zip line handles, her palms were sweating so badly. The instructor counted down, then yelled, “Go!” and Jordan jumped off. Emily had no choice but to go with her.
She felt her body being pulled downward toward the gully and screamed. But then, suddenly, she realized she wasn’t falling—she was floating. The harness held, and the mechanism speedily pulled her across the ravine. The wind whipped through her hair. Below her, she could see the forest floor, carpeted with tons of brilliantly hued flowers. Beside her, Jordan was laughing her head off. Emily shot her a euphoric grin.
In seconds, they were on the other side, breathless. Emily’s whole body trembled as the instructor removed her harness and helped her take off her helmet. Then she turned to Jordan. Her lips felt wobbly as she smiled. “Can we do it again?”
“Of course,” Jordan said. “I knew you’d love it.”
They rode the line across the ravine three more times. When they boarded the Jeep that would take them back to the boat, Emily checked her phone. Aria had texted, asking if Emily could meet her and Spencer in the common room. Emily didn’t ask why, but she assumed it was to rehearse their hula routine.
“I wish you could participate in the talent show,” Emily sighed, resting her head on Jordan’s shoulder. “Hanna dropped out, so we need one more.” She hadn’t told her friends about Jordan yet, but maybe she should. Would they really care that Jordan was a stowaway? Even Jordan herself didn’t seem too worried about it.
“I wish I could, too,” Jordan sighed. “But you know I can’t. I’ll watch from the audience, okay? And if you win, you’d better give me a ride on your Vespa.”
“When I win,” Emily corrected her.
At the boat, Jordan slipped past the guard in a group of kids so she wouldn’t have to show ID. They parted at the elevators, Jordan saying she was going to lie down in the room while Emily went to meet Aria. Then Jordan leaned in for a kiss. When they pulled away, Emily pushed a lock of hair behind Jordan’s ear. “I thought you were uncomfortable about us being affectionate in public,” she said.
Jordan shrugged. “This is new to me. But with you, I don’t have anything to hide.”
She kissed Emily once more, then disappeared into the elevator car. Emily glided toward the common room, humming the salsa song she’d heard on the radio on the ride back to the ship. As she passed a long bank of mirrors in the hallway, she laughed. Her lips were swollen and full, her skin pink from too much sun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked so happy.