"Hey, Mom," I said, folding my free arm over my chest and holding my cell phone to my ear. I pressed my lips together and stared at Falice's kitchen cabinets, silently praying that my mom wouldn't get irritated by what I was about to say.

"Hi, honey," my mom replied. She sounded sidetracked, which wasn't surprising as she was probably working. "Is everything okay?"

I glanced at Kendall, who gave me an encouraging thumbs-up. It didn't boost my confidence much, but I smiled back anyway. "I just wanted to let you know that I might be a little later than expected," I said. "Falice is having a really hard time with this section, and the test is coming up soon. She really wants to pass."

My mom paused before answering. I wondered if she was thinking my words over or if she was holding back a snap. I honestly didn't know which it would be. Yesterday, she seemed okay with the exception to the twenty-four-hour notice requirement, but this would be the second exception in a short period of time. It wouldn't seem like a big deal to really anyone else, but my parents liked structure and knowing where I would be and when I would be there at all times.

As though to help prove that I was telling the truth, Arabelle called from her spot on top of the island, "Wait—so do I divide by Z here or do I multiply? Oh, wait, no, am I supposed to add this first and then—ugh, what even is this? Crap."

I smiled at Arabelle. She winked.

My mom sighed. "Poor girl. We'll make an exception this time, but, Isabel, please don't make a habit out of this."

"I won't," I said. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, honey."

I hung up the phone and looked around at the others, who were all gathered on or around the island. "Well, at least something's gone right today," I muttered.

Falice smiled. "We'll figure this all out," she assured me.

"Trust me, she'll talk," Arabelle said, swaying her legs from side to side and reaching for the peanut butter again. As she plopped a scoop into her mouth, I wondered where I could get the confidence she clearly had. I wanted to believe we'd get her to talk—needed to believe it, actually, for Kendall's sake—but even now the confession seemed like an impossible dream.

"What are we going to do?" Elijah asked. "Saying we need to raise the stakes is one thing. Actually doing it is another."

"And the title of Captain Obvious returns to—"

Elijah glared. I internally sighed. While their bickering was amusing most of the time, I wished they would put it aside for now. We needed to concentrate on saving Kendall, not on who was more obvious than who.

"We make it clear that we're not going to leave her alone until she admits what she did," Arabelle said, twirling the now-empty spoon between her fingers. "We can slip her messages while we're in classes, continually pop up, reminding her that we're there, watching her, stuff like that."

"We could also give her a deadline," Falice said.

Arabelle cocked an eyebrow. "A deadline until what?"

"A deadline stating that if she doesn't fess up, we're going to the police," Falice replied.

"And then constantly remind her that the deadline is approaching," I said, nibbling on my thumb. I frowned. It sounded cruel, but what other choice did we have? It was either this or leave Kendall to fend for herself.

Falice nodded. "Yeah," she said.

"Okay, but what should the deadline be?" Diana asked.

"Preferably before I cease to exist," Kendall said.

I didn't relay her message, just gave her a sideways glance and then said, "Two weeks." That would hopefully give us enough time to push Ashlynn until she cracked, and then, if that didn't work, it would give us some more time to figure out what the hell we were going to do.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Two weeks," Arabelle said. "I can work with that."

∞

"You have fourteen days to admit what you did before I call the police," Kendall read, hunched forward in her spot at the dining room table with her head resting in her fists. She rolled her eyes. "Because that wasn't the least threatening way to say it or anything."

"What's wrong with it?" I demanded. I glanced down at the piece of paper in front of me, frowning. Seriously, what was wrong with it? It had the deadline. It had the threat of police. What more did she want?

"It doesn't sound threatening at all!"

"Yes, it does!"

"What did you say, honey?" my mom called from the kitchen. I winced. Crap.

"Nice going," Kendall whispered.

It was my turn to roll my eyes now. "Nothing!" I yelled to my mom.

My mom appeared, looking confused. There was also a bit of concern in her expression, which made me nervous. I had to stop slipping up like this. If I kept it up, my parents were going to grow more suspicious than they probably already were, and then they would never leave me alone. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I could of sworn..."

I hurried to think of an explanation. I couldn't go with "I was just talking to myself" because I was already put on medication for related reasons. Plus, I never really talked to myself in the past (you know, besides when Kendall was around), so starting up now wouldn't exactly help ease their suspicions. "I was on the phone with Falice, sorry," I said. "She asked me if she did part of a problem right, and she did."

My mom glanced down at the table, which was empty of my cell phone. Luckily, I had it in my pocket, so I pulled it out and waggled it. See, I thought. Right here. Please, just let it go.

"Oh, okay," she said, much to my relief. She smiled. "Gosh, for a moment I thought I was hearing things."

"Now, wouldn't that be something?" Kendall said.

I smiled, glad that I could mask my amusement with understanding. "Happens to the best of us," I said.

"No kidding," Kendall replied.

I pressed my lips together in a line to hide a grin.

My mom was about to reply and probably ask what I was working on, but I was saved from scrambling to come up with yet another excuse when a beep sounded from outside. "That would be Elijah," my mom said, smiling again. She'd always liked him. "Have a good day at school."

I hopped up from my seat and lifted my backpack from its spot on the floor. As I hurried to stash the notebook I'd been writing in inside, I said, "I will."

Kendall and I hurried out of the house, and after the front door closed behind us, I felt a weight lift off of me. It was always like this now. When my parents were around, there was always so much pressure to keep up the image that my life hadn't just drastically changed. I felt like such a liar around them, because, when it came to them, I was a liar. And I hated it.

"Hey, Iz," Diana greeted as I hopped into the backseat.

"Hey," I replied.

"You ready for today?"

Kendall scoffed, and I shot a narrowed-eyed look her way. "Apparently," I said, looking forward again, "Kendall doesn't think my note is threatening enough."

"That's because it's not," Kendall said.

"What does it say?" Diana asked.

Another pointed look my sister's way. "It says that Ashlynn has fourteen days to admit what she did before I go to the police."

"Is that exactly what you said?"

I nodded. "Basically, yeah," I said when I remembered that Diana wouldn't be able to see the motion. And then, because her tone hinted at it, I asked, "Do you think it's not threatening enough, too?"

Diana shrugged. "Eh," she said.

"What's wrong with it?" Elijah demanded. "It sounds threatening to me."

"Everything sounds threatening to you." Diana waved her hand dismissively before twisting around the face me. "It has all the components, sure, but there's no pizzazz. Make it sound as threatening as you possibly can, girly. We want her to take you seriously."

I sighed, because while I understood that my note was rather straightforward and without this "pizzazz" Diana was talking about, I still didn't see what was wrong with it. But Diana probably knew more about this more than I did, so I nodded and took out the notebook again. "Fine," I said.

"See?" Kendall mused. "I told you."

I swatted at her as I flipped to the page I was working on. "Shut up."

∞

I gripped the note to Ashlynn tightly in my hand as I headed toward her locker. I felt like I should walk slower, edge toward her locker instead of walking normally, but I knew that if I slowed my pace too much, I'd end up looking suspicious or like that annoying kid who always dragged their feet in the hallway. I didn't want to look like either of those things, so I kept my pace as regular as I could manage. Thankfully, I had Kendall and Falice to help me with that.

"Arabelle said she would handle tomorrow's note," Falice told me as we turned into the hall that contained Ashlynn's locker. "In study hall."

I nodded. "Okay."

"What did you end up writing?" Falice asked, giving me a curious glance.

I glanced down at the note before answering. It, like conversations with my parents, felt like a weight that I couldn't wait to get rid of. Opening the note, I replied, "I said, 'You think I'm just going to let this go? I'm not. You killed her, and you're not going to get away with it. You have fourteen days to admit what you did, or I'm giving you a one-way ticket to that dirty cell you deserve. The clock starts now. Tick-tock, tick-tock.'"

Falice blinked. "Wow."

I folded the paper again, inwardly cringing at the cruelty of the words. "Yeah, I know. Kendall and Diana helped with, well, pretty much all of it."

Falice glanced in Kendall's direction. I'd gotten in the habit of informing everyone where Kendall was. It was better for everyone that way. The others would know where Kendall was standing, and Kendall would feel more involved. "Nice job," she said with a small smile. "I don't think I would've ever been able to think of that on my own."

"Me neither," I admitted. "Mine originally just stated the countdown and that I'll turn her in to the police."

Falice grinned. "Yep, that's basically what I would've come up with."

I smiled, and then we both fell silent as we approached Ashlynn's locker. She wasn't there, and as far as I could tell, neither were any of her friends, so it appeared to be a good time for me to deposit the note. I would've given her the note during English, but I was too afraid that she would catch me leaning toward her bag. This seemed like the more sensible and less nerve-wracking option.

We came to a stop in front of Ashlynn's locker, and I hurried to slip the note inside. "There," I muttered. "It's done."

"Well, let's just hope you didn't accidentally send it to the wrong person," Kendall said as we started back the way we came. "That would suck, wouldn't it?"

I glared. "Not funny."

Kendall shrugged. "What? I'm just saying."

I ignored my sister and did my best to chat with Falice on our way to lunch, as though I hadn't just sent a threatening message to the girl who killed Kendall. That would've been easier if Falice and I weren't discussing more about the plan, but I wasn't about to ask Falice for a break from the topic. I couldn't afford to—scratch that, Kendall couldn't afford for me to. I had to suck it up and deal with the discomfort. It would be worth it in the end.

"Okay, so, I was talking to Will last night," Falice said after we'd grabbed our food and were heading toward Falice's designated table, "and he thinks that the notes and the continual presence are good ideas, but that we need to have something on top of them."

I frowned and nodded. Will was right. Having the notes and a continual presence was a good technique, but relying on them wouldn't necessarily be the smartest move. "What else do you think we could do?" I asked.

Falice shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, I've been in a prank war before, but that's pretty much it. I've never done anything like this."

We fell silent after that, and I scrambled to think of something else we could do. It would have to be something big—anything less, and I'd lose Kendall all over again. But what was there? It wasn't like we had video evidence that we could shove in Ashlynn's face.

I paused. But what if using what happened that night was the key? Like what we did at Ashlynn's house, but digging deeper, pushing harder. Using the exact words that Kendall and Ashlynn said that night...it would be the closest thing to a video we could get. But how could we use the exact words in a way that wouldn't require a note? In a way that would scare Ashlynn so much that she would finally tell us the truth?

We reached the table and sat down. "Hey," Beth and Caroline greeted, while Ty grinned and said, "Yo!"

Falice dished her phone out of her backpack and grinned. "Hey," she replied.

I looked over at Kendall, who was sitting in one of the two vacant seats left at the table. Her expression lacked its usual mischief, and, once again, I was struck by the fear that no matter what we did, it would never be enough.

"Whaddup?"

We all looked up at Arabelle as she planted herself at Falice's side. She glanced between the two available seats, her eyes narrowed as she clearly attempted to figure out which one Kendall was occupying. I smiled a little at that. She was so dang intuitive.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go ahead and guess she's not sitting in this one," Arabelle said, sliding in the seat next to Falice.

"And what would you have done if you were wrong?" Caroline asked.

Arabelle shrugged. "Get up, probably."

Ty chuckled. "Probably."

Arabelle smiled cheekily and dunked her chicken nugget into her ketchup. "So how did this morning go?" she asked, turning her attention to me. She took a bite of her chicken nugget. "Did you get the note to her okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Arabelle nodded, too, and ate another chicken nugget. "Good," she said. "I wish I could see her face when she read it. God, I hate her."

"Have I mentioned that I love her?" Kendall asked.

I smiled a small smile and then retreated into my thoughts, where I proceeded to try and think of all the ways we could use that night to our advantage. Mostly I just relived witnessing what happened, which served to do nothing but give me a head- and stomachache, but I knew that if I just kept thinking, thinking, thinking, eventually an idea would form.

Eventually.