Sweet Little Lies (14 page)

Jane began punching keys, checking out skating sites, when her computer made a littleding! noise, and she saw that she had an email from Sam. She opened it eagerly.

TO: JANE ROBERTS

FROM: SAMANTHA SUTHERLAND

RE: THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

Hey, sweetie. Check out these links. We’re on a roll!

Love, Sam

The first linked to an item about Jane and Jesse going to a video-game launch party together. The next was all about Jane’s fabulous job as the assistant to one of the biggest event planners in the business.

Then a picture of Jane attending a charity fashion show to benefit children’s leukemia.

None of them mentioned Braden. None of them even hinted at scandal.

Sam reallywas a miracle worker.

When her phone buzzed a few moments later, she wondered idly if Sam was making sure she’d seen the email or maybe it was another text from Caleb, who had sent her another message this morning “just saying hi,” whatever that meant.

But it was from Dana, who had written, CD U AND HANNAH PLZ TALK ABOUT

SOMETHING????

Jane glanced up. Dana was standing in the doorway, gesturing wildly with her hands for Jane and Hannah to resume their fascinating conversation.

Jane turned to face Hannah. “Yeah, so we have a meeting with Gaby today, right?” she said hastily.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Hannah nodded. “Gaby from Ruby Slipper?”

Jane remembered that Dana had asked them to mention Gaby’s name whenever they talked about Ruby Slipper. But why was Hannah saying it like that—like she was in a commercial or something? She really was in a strange mood today. “Yes, Gaby at Ruby Slipper. We have to go over the list of DJs for the party.”

“Sounds good.”

Silence. Hannah gazed pensively off into space. Jane heard her own phone buzz again, then Hannah’s phone. Dana was probably about to lose it with the two of them, wasting precious airtime with…well, dead air. Jane was tempted to ask Hannah if something was wrong.

But knowing Hannah, Jane was not likely to get any answers.

20

POISON APPLE

Madison sat back in the sleek white pedicure chair and dipped her feet into the warm, rose-scented water. “Mmm, this is just what I needed.”

Jane, who was in the chair next to her, smiled. “Yeah. Thanks for inviting me. I really needed this, too.”

“Your nails were nasty, huh?” Madison joked.

Jane laughed. “It’s nice to relax, that’s all. I’ve been working hard, and things are a little crazy.”

“Yeah, me too. We have to start doing this girls’ stuff every week.”

“Definitely.”

Madison fell silent, digesting Jane’s words. “Things are a little crazy right now” probably referred to her renewed and, from Madison’s perspective, disastrous romance with Jesse. Although maybe it wasn’t as awful as she had feared? From what she could tell, Jesse either hadn’t told Jane about Madison being behind theGossip pictures, or he had, and Jane hadn’t believed it. Either way, Madison seemed to be off the hook—at least for now. Jane was as friendly and nice to her as ever, and since Jane didn’t seem capable of ulterior motives, Madison assumed it was sincere.

Still, Jane’s being with Jesse was not good news for Madison for other reasons, namely because Trevor was weirdly obsessed with their relationship (and with not-very-pretty, not-very-exciting Jane, Plain Jane—why?), and would likely focus on them for the rest of the season. And maybe next season, too—if therewas a next season, and if the Jane-Jesse love-fest hadn’t expired by then.

How was she going to turn this around?

Patience. She would continue to stay close to Jane in order to get what she needed for Veronica, in
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

exchange for more pieces inGossip (like pictures of Jane and Jesse fighting or Jane the morning after too many margaritas). And in order to get more airtime onL.A. Candy , too. The math was simple. Jane got the most airtime of all four girls, so being Jane’s BFF would mean…well, gettingalmost as much, since there would be lots of scenes with both of them. And since Scar was on the outs with Jane these days, the BFF position was available.

In fact, Madison had been thinking lately that it would be so incredibly awesome if she and Jane could become roommates someday. She could imagine the cameras now, capturing all their predate closet raids, postdate couch convos, and more. The possibilities were endless.

Although…where were the cameras tonight? Madison had texted Dana that she and Jane wanted to get mani-pedis. In response, Dana should have cleared a salon and scheduled a crew. Instead, Madison got a text from Gaby that they were filming her and a couple of her coworkers at some stupid event at the Thompson Hotel. Lame.

Madison turned to Jane, faking a smile. “Soooo. How are things with Jesse?” She forced herself to sound as chatty and girlfriend-y as possible. “You know I worry about you with him. Did you see the trash he hauled into STK?”

“I know, I know.” Jane sounded uncomfortable. “He was just doing that because of what happened with…ya know.”

“So are you guys, like, officially back together? Or are you kinda taking it slow and dating other people?”

“We’re back together.”

“Seriously? You don’t think he’s seeing other girls?”

“No. Why are we talking about this?” Jane snapped. “And why am I constantly defending him? Why can’t my friends be more supportive?” She picked up a magazine and began flipping through the pages.

Madison reached over and squeezed Jane’s arm. “Sweetie, you know I’m just looking out for you.”

Jane frowned. “Yeah, but…it’s just that I wish my friends would at least pretend to behappy for me.

Why do you all assume the worst about him? If you knew him like I did, you’d feel differently.”

Okay, time to shift gears,Madison thought.Otherwise, Jane’s gonna dump both me and Scarlett and find a whole new BFF. “Well, then, maybe I should get to know him better,” she said brightly.

Jane’s face lit up. “Really? You mean that?”

“Yeah, why not? This is nothing that three or four rounds of martinis can’t solve.”

“That would mean so much to me, thank you! I wish Scar felt the same way.”

Score.Madison pictured Scarlett’s red face when Jane told her about Jane, Madison, and Jesse hanging out.

“Howare things going with you and Scar, anyway?” Madison said, her voice full of fake concern.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

“I don’t know. Not great. She’s so…negativethese days. She didn’t used to be this bad.”

“I’m so sorry.” Madison leaned toward her. “You know what? Living together can sometimes ruin a good friendship. Especially if the friendship’s got issues to begin with. Like if one person is kind of possessive or controlling about the other person. You know what I mean?”

Jane sighed. “Yeah…I guess I kind of do.”

“You guys might think about taking a break for a while. Like, live apart. It might help you get your friendship back on track.”

Jane looked thoughtful. “Hmm. Maybe.”

This is too easy,Madison thought smugly.

A couple of aestheticians dressed all in white came into the room. One of them knelt on the floor by Jane’s chair. “What color would you like today?”

“Maybe a dark purple?” Jane replied.

“That would be so pretty on you. We have a few different shades.”

“And you?” Madison’s aesthetician asked her.

“Same as last time,” Madison replied. “That really deep red. I think it’s called Poison Apple.”

“Of course.”

Madison’s phone vibrated with a new text. She knew there was a no-cell-phone rule in the salon, so she had just silenced it, because she was expecting some important calls.

“Hot date?” Jane teased her.

“Dunno. I’m checking.” Madison punched some keys.

There was only one text, from a private number. Madison read it.

I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOU ON TV AND I KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

There was no name or other ID.

Madison’s fingers tightened around the phone.It’s just a prank, she told herself, trying to regain her composure.It’s just a prank.

“Madison? You okay, sweetie?” Jane sounded concerned. “Who was that?”

“What? Oh, nobody.” She plastered an Emmy-caliber smile on her face, turned off her phone, and tossed it on the counter. “It was a wrong number.”

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

21

I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE

It was almost 10 p.m. when Scarlett walked through the front door and tossed her backpack onto the floor. What a long day. The new semester had started on Monday after a monthlong winter break. In an effort to challenge herself academically, Scarlett had registered for some upper-level classes, including a couple of literature seminars, one of which involved reading novels in their original French. Sure, she did this on her own sometimes, just for the hell of it. But it was another thing altogether to do it in a classroom, and with a super-picky professor to boot. She’d stayed up most of the night trying to get through the first few chapters of Marcel Proust’sÀ la recherche du temps perdu , akaRemembrance of Things Past . Yikes. Her online French–English dictionary was going to get a serious workout over the next few months.

Scarlett yawned as she made her way into the living room, then the kitchen. Sleep. What an appealing idea. She didn’t mind pulling all-nighters once in a while, but she’d stayed up most of the night on Monday as well as Tuesday—not reading Proust, but hanging out with Liam. It was all catching up with her now.

Still, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips at the thought of Liam. He’d taken her out to dinner Monday at a funky little fish shack in Malibu; afterward, they’d gone for a long walk on the beach. She couldn’t decide which was more amazing: their marathon conversations about everything under the sun, or the way it felt when they kissed, their lips and bodies fitting together perfectly as though they were two halves of the same—

Stop it!Scarlett scolded herself.You’re starting to sound like one of those pathetic romance novels!

Puke!

She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then plopped down on the couch and glanced around.

No TV. No music. No sounds of Jane rifling through her insanely messy closet, looking for a missing designer whatever. The apartment was too quiet.

“Janie?” she called out. No answer. They had barely seen each other since New Year’s Day, when they’d had that awkward conversation about Jane talking to Jesse at h.wood. Scarlett wasn’t sure, but she thought Jane and Jesse might be back together. Jane hadn’t come home a couple of nights last week, and she hadn’t been around most of the past weekend. And Scarlett had seen some tabloid covers with photos of Jane and Jesse looking cozy. She knew full well that those magazines were capable of distorting anything, but she was pretty sure that this time they were telling the truth.

She and Jane had always shared the most intimate little details of each other’s lives, like when they were eleven and Scarlett told Jane about her fear that her chest was lopsided, or when they were thirteen and Jane told Scarlett about how she’d practiced kissing on one of her dolls. Now it was as though they existed on parallel planes. It felt so bizarre.

Scarlett was the same old Scarlett. It was Jane who had changed. What happened to the old Jane? That Jane would never go out with someone like Jesse Edwards. A couple of dates, maybe. But a relationship? Especially after he showed his true man-whore colors at his twenty-first birthday party?

And the old Jane would never be friends with Madison Parker, either.

Scarlett heard the front door open with a jingling of keys. A moment later, Jane walked into the living
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

room, wearing a navy blue wrap dress and wedges. She was carrying a to-go bag from Koi in one hand and a large white leather tote with some files spilling over the top in the other. She set the items down on the dining room table, very gingerly, then held up her hands, studying them with a worried expression.

“Hey,” Scarlett called out. “What’s wrong with your hands?”

“Madison and I got mani-pedis, then sushi after,” Jane replied. “Ithink my nails are dry.” She frowned.

Madison and I got mani-pedis, then sushi after.Scarlett took a swig of her bottled water, forcing herself to count to ten so she wouldn’t make a rude comment. “Yeah? Definitely sounds like one of Dana’s brilliant ideas” was the best she could manage.

“Nah, the cameras weren’t there. It was just a girls’ night,” Jane replied. “Hey, how’s school going?

Classes started this week, right?”

“‘Just a girls’ night’? Seriously?” The words tumbled out before Scarlett could stop herself. This counting-to-ten stuff was crap. “Was Gaby there, too? What, have I been kicked out of the club?”

“No, Gaby wasn’t there. Madison invited me out. I don’t get it. You keep telling me how much you hate Madison. Now you wanna hang out with her?”

“No, I don’t wanna hang out with her. And I don’t want you to, either.”

“Scar, please don’t lecture me about Madison again. She’s my friend. You need to accept that.”

“She’snot your friend. Don’t you see? She’s a crazy, lying bitch, and she’s got you wrapped around her finger! She’s—”

“Scar!”Jane put her hands on Scarlett’s shoulders. “This. Has. Got. To. Stop. Do you understand? I can’t take it anymore!”

Scarlett pushed Jane’s hands away and stood up abruptly. “Why won’t youlisten to me? Why would you trust some girl you’ve known for all of four months instead of me?” she demanded, her voice cracking with anger and also hurt, because no matter what she said, she couldn’t seem to get through to Jane. “Would you listen to me if I had proof? I could go to Madison with, like, a hidden microphone, and get her to confess about how she sold those pictures of you and Braden toGossip magazine.”