by Lisa Roecker
I let myself out of her office and nodded briskly at Alistair on my way out.
Outside the office, students laughed and gossiped, texted and jostled. They had no idea what had really happened. How could they? Most of them didn’t even know that either society existed.
And that’s when I saw them. Bethany and Taylor, arms linked with a first-year. With her long, black hair and her almond eyes, she was a dead ringer for Grace. And that’s when I knew that my fight wasn’t even close to being over.
But this time I knew exactly what I had to do.
I threw my shoulders back and walked straight toward them. Bethany’s mouth turned down at the corners, her eyes narrowed into two slits. But Taylor broke into a huge smile when I linked my arm through hers.
“So what’s next?”
“Oh, we have big things planned, Kate. Huge.”
I pasted a smile on my face and fell into step next to them. Taylor shot me an approving look and I gave her arm a quick squeeze, but the muscles in my stomach tensed. She had no idea, but I was getting ready for the fight of my life. I was done doing battle from the sidelines. I’d played the pawn long enough.
“So is that invitation still good?” I asked.
“You have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to ask that question, Kate.” Taylor kept walking, not missing a beat, but Bethany fell a step behind.
“I can’t wait to finally be one of you.” My teeth ached as the overly sweet words slipped between my lips.
If I’d learned anything over the past week, it was that the rules were constantly changing, shifting so subtly that most people never even noticed. I didn’t like following rules, and I wasn’t about to start now.
But that whole “rules are meant to be broken” thing? Total crap. The real secret is to make your own.
Acknowledgments
None of this would have been possible if our dear major agent, Catherine Drayton, hadn’t taken a chance on two sister-writers in Cleveland, Ohio. We’ll be forever grateful for your honesty and guidance.
We can say with 100 percent certainty that this book would have completely sucked if it weren’t for the editorial stylings of Leah Hultenschmidt and Aubrey Poole. We moaned and groaned our way through all of your notes, but we would be lost without you ladies.
A huge thanks to the team at Inkwell, especially Nathaniel Jacks and Alexis Hurley, and to everyone at Sourcebooks, especially Todd Stocke, Kay Mitchell, Derry Wilkens, Kelly Barrales-Saylor, and Kristin Zelazko. We are so lucky to work with people who love books and who have worked so hard to put Kate out into the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
To all of our amazing writer friends, especially Loretta Nyhan, Lee Nichols, Elana Johnson, Gretchen McNeill, and Beth Revis. You’ve all been just an email away whenever we need a friend to laugh with or bitch at—or mostly to bitch, then laugh. We’d be certifiable without you.
To all of our amazing real-life friends and family for putting up with our incessant book chatter and for helping us follow our dream. Especially Stacey, the third, most talented Roecker, for not getting annoyed with us and for designing custom creations at the drop of a hat; Joni Roecker for her daily updates on all things publishing; and Mike Roecker for the most random emails ever.
And none of this would be possible without the support of our husbands and kids. John and Ken, we promise this will all be worthwhile. Someday. In the meantime, at least you guys get to drink beer and make fun of us. Jack, Mia, Lydia, Ben, and James: believe it or not, we’re writing these books for you. While the chance of you falling in love with a neon-haired detective remains slim, we hope all the hours spent watching us at our computers will show you that if you work hard, sometimes dreams really do come true. If not, we’ll pay all your therapy bills. Promise.
About the Authors
Lisa and Laura Roecker are sisters-turned-writing-partners with a passion for good books, pop culture, and Bravo programming. Not necessarily in that order. Lisa has always been a phenomenal liar and Laura loves to write angsty poetry, so writing for young adults seemed like a natural fit. The sisters live in Cleveland, Ohio, in separate residences. Their husbands wouldn’t agree to a duplex. To learn more about The Liar Society series, check out www.theliarsociety.com.