One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)

by Karen M. McManus

She crosses her legs and pulls her dark ponytail over one shoulder. Something about her is cuter this year. New glasses, maybe? Longer hair? All of a sudden, she’s kind of working this sexy-nerd thing.

Stan is pretty chill and low maintenance, which is the only reason he’s managed to stay alive in this house for eight years.

None of them have as much experience as I do keeping a straight face when shit’s falling apart around them. At least, none of them are as good at it as me.

The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them, And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

Everything’s different but it all looks the same. Except Jake and Addy, who’re walking around like they want to kill and die, respectively. Bronwyn gives me the least convincing smile ever in the hallway, her lips pressed so tight they almost disappear. Nate’s nowhere in sight.

We’re all waiting for something to happen, I guess.

“It’s important you know this door is always open to you,” she says, but we’re already getting to our feet and opening the door ourselves.

“Off he goes to pad his pockets, bless his mercenary little heart,” she says fondly.

“Cheating isn’t a mistake. It’s a choice,”

No matter how awful the rest of my life is, my hair still manages to look good.

“The best defense is a good offense?”

For the first time in a long time, I feel free.

You can learn a lot about a person when you have his license plate and phone number. His address, for example. And his name, and where he goes to school. So if you wanted to, you could hang out in the parking lot of his school before it started and wait for his red Camaro to arrive. Theoretically. Or actually.

Nobody cares unless they want to use it against you.

Half the time I feel like Jake died, and the other half I want to kill him.

I finally let myself smile, and now that I’ve started, I can’t stop. That’s okay, though. I catch his reflection in the backseat window, and he can’t either.