Burned

by Sara Shepard

Page 32

 

  “I should have stayed on the raft,” Aria blurted between gulps of sea water. “Maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I could have kept it safe. ”

  “Stop it,” Spencer said sternly. “What if you’d stayed on the raft, and it started sinking, and you couldn’t get out?”

  Aria stared at the smooth walls of the cliffs. “How could something have punctured the raft anyway? It doesn’t seem possible. ”

  And then, as if in answer, they heard it again: that high-pitched giggle, seemingly wafting out from the ocean depths. It was a vengeful laugh, a satisfied laugh, a laugh that said, Now what are you bitches going to do? And suddenly, a tiny seedling of an idea formed in Spencer’s mind.

  “Naomi did this,” she whispered.

  Aria’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. Hanna’s chin trembled. Emily’s fingers shook as she pushed her hair behind her ear. As soon as the words spilled from Spencer’s mouth, she knew they were true. Naomi had seen them leave. Surely she had known what they were going to do, and surely, as A, she saw a foolproof opportunity. Spencer could just see the news tomorrow: Four pretty girls go for a joyride on a lifeboat when a cruise ship is evacuated. Boat springs a leak, the girls drown.

  It had probably happened before. When the rescue teams finally found them, it would be deemed a horrible accident, but certainly not foul play. No one would go to jail. It was the perfect crime.

  Everyone exchanged a haunted glance. “Naomi left us here to die,” Spencer whispered. “For all we know, she and Graham were in cahoots the whole time. Once his bomb didn’t finish off Aria, they moved on to plan B. ”

  Emily burst into tears. “What are we going to do? I don’t want to die like this!”

  “Help!” Hanna screamed out. But the waves drowned out her voice.

  “We should have never come out here,” Emily blubbered.

  “This is all my fault,” Aria blubbered. “If I hadn’t gotten that necklace, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t be in any of this mess if I hadn’t pushed Tabitha. ”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Spencer said.

  “But it’s true!” Aria wailed. “I’m the only one who deserves this from A. You guys don’t!”

  Spencer watched as a wave passed over Aria’s head. She bobbed back to the surface, coughing, when another wave took her under again. Her arms thrashed uselessly. There was terror in her eyes.

  Emily grabbed Aria around the waist and pulled her to the surface. “You have to stay calm,” she shouted in her ear. “Panicking wastes energy. ”

  “How can I not panic?” Aria cried. “Don’t you see? A figured out a poetic end for us, tossing us out to sea just like the waves washed away Tabitha. Even if we survive, what’s the use? A is going to find us again and do something even worse. ”

  “Don’t say that,” Spencer soothed. “We’re going to beat A. We’re going to find a way. ” But as she stared into the dimming light, she realized that everything Aria was saying was true. Being marooned at sea seemed like the worst possible death, but if they survived, who was to say A wouldn’t come up with something even scarier? How could she live, knowing A had something in store for her just around the corner?

  Aria wiped water out of her eyes. “If we get out of this alive, I’m telling the cops what I did in Jamaica. ”

  Everyone whipped their heads around and stared at her. “No, you’re not,” Spencer hissed.

  “I can’t take it anymore!” Aria thrashed her arms. “Don’t you see what’s happening? A is using our guilt and fear to manipulate us—and it could go on forever if we don’t stop it! The only way we free ourselves of A is to confess. Then A has nothing on us. ”

  The sea was calmer for a moment. Hanna wiped water out of her eyes. Spencer sniffed back tears. Finally, Emily cleared her throat.

  “Maybe we should all tell,” she said.

  “We can’t let you do that alone, Aria,” Hanna added.

  “And it’s true. ” A wave splashed Spencer’s left cheek. “A is powerless if we confess. In a weird way, it’ll probably free us. Yeah, we’ll go on trial, and yeah, who knows what our futures will be? But at least A will be gone from our lives. ”

  Aria swallowed hard. “You guys don’t have to ruin your lives for something I did. ”

  Spencer rolled her eyes. “For the last time, Aria, we’re in this together. We’re all confessing. We’d never let you take the blame alone. ”

  Then, through an unspoken understanding, they swam together and formed a protective ring. It felt, suddenly, like they were real and true best friends. Even sisters.

  Spencer squinted at something in the distance. “What’s that?” Every so often, once a wave passed, something white cut through the water.

  Aria’s mouth dropped open. “A boat!”

  Hanna waved her arms over her head. “Hey!”

  “Over here!” Emily screamed.

  The low growl of an engine sounded over the raging tide. The boat headed straight for them. Hanna let out a quasi-hysterical laugh. “They see us!”

  The boat crested atop a wave and then bounced down its face. It looked like a fishing vessel, with nets strung over the sides and poles jutting up from the hull. The driver had on a khaki fishing hat that was pulled far over his eyes. Spencer wondered if it was someone from the cruise ship.

  “Grab on!” a voice cried. A rope appeared in the water. Spencer struggled for it, but just as she was about to reach out, Aria pulled her foot.

  “Don’t,” she said in a low voice.

  Spencer was about to protest, but then she followed Aria’s wide-eyed gaze. A girl was standing on the deck. Spencer’s head started to spin.

  Naomi.

  “Grab on!” Naomi said again. She reeled in the rope and threw it out again like a fishing line. When none of them took the bait, she narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong with you people? Do you want to drown?”

  “Swim away!” Spencer screamed, wheeling around in the water. “We have to get away from her!”

  But then another voice called out from the boat. “Hurry, girls, please! We need to get you to safety!”

  Spencer stopped paddling, recognizing the voice. Emily’s mouth dropped open, too. As a wave moved out of the way, a second figure appeared at the railing. He wore a tight pink polo, seersucker shorts, and star-shaped sunglasses. The look on his face was of pure worry and fear.

  “Jeremy?” Spencer blurted, blinking hard.

  A few other people appeared at the side. That slutty girl Emily was rooming with, Erin. Kirsten Cullen and Mike. Noel.

  They were saved.

  30

  THE LONG RIDE HOME

  “Grab on. ” Jeremy hung over the side of the boat with his arm outstretched. “I’ll pull you in. ”

  Hanna’s gaze flicked from Jeremy to Naomi, then to the boat’s captain, a guy with the brim of his hat pulled low. Then she stared at the rest of the rescue party. Familiar and unfamiliar faces gazed concernedly over the side. Mike looked like he was going to start sobbing any minute. Noel Kahn held out his hand for Aria to grab on to, the blood drained from his cheeks.

  A wave hit the side of Hanna’s head, and she went under for a moment. As much as she didn’t want to set foot on a vessel with Naomi, the situation felt safe. She was freezing. Her arms and legs had lost all feeling, and, by the woozy way her head was spinning, she was pretty sure she was exhausted.

  She grabbed on to the rope and let Jeremy, Noel, and the other kids on the rescue team haul her aboard. Someone threw a big towel over Hanna’s shoulders, and she sat there for a moment, breathing hard. There was a flurry of activity at the rail of the boat as the rescue team hauled Aria, Emily, and Spencer onto the deck. Then Jeremy stood over them, his hands on his hips.

  “What the hell were you four thinking, stealing a lifeboat and heading away from shore?” Jeremy shouted. His star-shaped sunglasses fell off, but he made no move to pick them up. “Do you realize how much troub
le you’re in? What do you have to say for yourselves?”

  Everyone exchanged a glance. Then Spencer stepped forward. “I-I lost something during my dive earlier this afternoon. A family heirloom. I just thought since we were evacuating anyway, we could take a quick trip out to the cove and see if it was there. ”

  Hanna stared at her, impressed with Spencer’s quick thinking. “When we got to the cove, we all got out and swam around, looking for it,” she added. “And then our life raft deflated. ”

  Jeremy shook his head. “Don’t think your parents aren’t going to hear about this. And your school. ”

  Hanna swallowed hard and felt Aria tense next to her. But then, something inside her released. Who cared who Jeremy told? They were about to confess to murder, after all.

  A motor grumbled, and Jeremy instructed everyone to sit down. Spencer, Aria, and Emily sat on one end. Noel quickly occupied the last seat next to Aria, leaving Hanna no choice but to take a seat at the other end of the boat. A seat, unfortunately, right next to Naomi.

  She sat down, avoiding eye contact. But Naomi was staring at her anyway. “Are you okay?” she asked gruffly.

  Hanna turned away, shrugging one shoulder.

  “God, Hanna,” Naomi said sharply. “You could at least say thank you. ”

  Hanna spun back around. “F-for what?” she blurted.

  Naomi looked stunned. “Uh, for worrying about you when I saw you idiots go the opposite direction from land? For organizing a rescue team when I didn’t see you on shore? You’re making it really frickin’ hard to be friends. ”

  Hanna crossed her arms over her chest. “You never wanted to be my friend, Naomi. I know everything. You sank our boat. You wanted us to be stranded. You and Graham. ”

  “Who?”

  Hanna scoffed. “The guy you’re working with. ”

  Naomi stared at Hanna as though an extra eyeball had sprouted on her forehead. “Gee, Hanna, you’re totally right. Me and Graham, whoever that is, followed you in my secret, super-fast spy boat and then sank your boat so you could die. We’re both complete monsters. ”

  Yes, you are, Hanna thought weakly, still shivering under the towel. You’re monsters called A.

  But something was strange. There was no knowing smile on Naomi’s lips. No bemused expression. No wide-eyed, you-caught-me gasp. Instead, she was shaking her head at Hanna like she was crazy.

  Hanna’s mouth tasted salty, and when she breathed in, her lungs felt raspy and raw. Maybe it was the fact that she was exhausted, or maybe it was the fact that they’d decided to confess about Tabitha, but nothing seemed to matter much anymore. As Hanna stared at Naomi, she felt brave. “I know you know,” she said.

  Naomi frowned. “What?”

  “You know. ” Hanna spoke more forcefully. “I know that you know I drove Madison home the night of the accident. I wasn’t drunk, but a car came out of nowhere, pushing me off the road, and I crashed into a tree. I know that you know I moved Madison to the driver’s seat and left so I wouldn’t get in trouble. You and Madison figured it out, didn’t you?”