Hanna wrapped her arms around her body. “It’s personal.”
“Was your note about Kelsey?” Spencer demanded.
“Who’s Kelsey?” Hanna squinted.
Spencer settled back on the swing. “Kelsey, Hanna. The girl you . . . you know . . . this summer. At Penn. The one you . . .”
Hanna flinched. “My note wasn’t about her. It was about . . . something else.”
“Well, my note was about Kelsey,” Spencer said.
Aria frowned. “Kelsey, your friend from the summer program?”
“Uh huh,” Spencer said. “A knows what I did to her.”
Emily shifted her weight, vaguely remembering Spencer mentioning Kelsey. Spencer had called Emily a few times last summer, since they’d both been in the city, but Emily hadn’t hung out with her at all. And as June dragged into July, there was something . . . off about Spencer’s tone of voice on the phone. She spoke so fast, like she was trying to set a world record for the most number of words said in a minute. Once, Emily had been sitting outside Poseidon’s on Penn’s Landing with her friend Derrick, who worked at the restaurant as a line cook. Derrick was the only person Emily had told her secrets to—well, some of her secrets, anyway. She’d been pouring her heart out about how she was going to have this baby without her parents knowing when Spencer’s name flashed on her cell phone screen. Emily answered, and Spencer instantly launched into a story about how her new friend, Kelsey, did the funniest impression of Snooki from Jersey Shore. She was talking so quickly her words all ran together.
“Are you okay, Spence?” Emily asked.
“Of course I’m okay,” Spencer answered breathlessly. “I’m better than okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“You sound weird, that’s all. Like you’re on something.”
Spencer snickered. “Well, I mean, I took a little something, Em. But it’s no biggie.”
“You took drugs?” Emily whispered, awkwardly leaping to her feet. A few passersby stared at her giant 16 and Pregnant stomach.
“Chill,” Spencer answered. “It’s just these pills called Easy A.”
“Just? Are they safe?”
“God, Emily, don’t freak out, okay? It’s a study drug. This guy I get it from, Phineas, took it for a year with no side effects. And he’s doing better here at Penn than I am.”
Emily didn’t answer. She watched as people boarded the Moshulu restaurant clipper ship in the harbor, looking happy and problem-free.
Finally, Spencer sighed. “I’m fine, Em. I promise. You don’t have to worry about me, Killer.” It was the nickname Their Ali had given Emily long ago when she thought Emily was too protective. Then Spencer hung up without saying good-bye.
Emily looked at Derrick, who was sitting quietly on the bench next to her. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a heartbreakingly sweet voice.
All of a sudden, Emily felt like she was going to cry. What was happening to her friends? Spencer wasn’t the kind of girl who turned to drugs. Emily wasn’t the type of girl who got pregnant. “What do you know about a drug called Easy A?” she asked Derrick.
He frowned. “It’s not something I would try.”
Now, Aria wrapped her fingers around the pole that supported the swings, and Emily came back to the present. “What did you do to Kelsey?” Aria asked.
Hanna’s head shot up. “You don’t know?”
“I don’t, either,” Emily said, looking back and forth at both of them.
Spencer stared off into the trees. “It was that night when I called you from the police station, Aria. The cops had caught Kelsey and me with drugs. They questioned us separately, and I was sure Kelsey was placing all the blame on me. That’s what the police told me, at least. So I called all of you. Emily didn’t pick up, and you . . .” She trailed off, staring down at the ground.
“I didn’t think it was right to help,” Aria filled in, sounding defensive.
“Right.” Spencer’s voice was tight. “So I called Hanna next. I had her plant pills in Kelsey’s room and then call the cops and say she was a known dealer.”
Emily stepped back, feeling her shoes sink into a muddy patch of grass. “Seriously?”
“I didn’t know what else to do!” Spencer raised her hands in protest. “I panicked.”
“Don’t forget the part about finding out that Kelsey didn’t tell on you after all,” Hanna said nervously, casting her eyes around the empty playground.
“I only found out after it was too late,” Spencer said.
“So you did it for no reason?” Aria squeaked, her tone a tad sanctimonious.
“Look, I’m not proud of it,” Spencer said, her cheeks reddening. “But Kelsey showed up at my house today to hang out with my stepsister, and she was acting all cagey and weird. At first, I wasn’t sure if she knew I sent her to juvie, but this note pretty much proves it.” She held her phone screen up. Think your summer bestie forgives you for being such a pill?