How to Get Away with Evil

Chapter 1

Adley

The Guilty Girl's Handbook

The last thing I would have expected on August second was to be awoken by a scream.

Jessi and I shot up, frightened and confused, each then glancing at the other from our sleeping bags. Instantly, we threw ourselves out of the bedroom and down the creaky steps of the steep staircase, Jessi tripping and nearly falling down the stairs.

As the two of us filed into the dining room where Mr. and Mrs. Landers stood, blocking the entrance to the kitchen, I crashed into Ethan, who was in tears. He kept wiping them away with a shaking hand, and I questioned for a second what could possibly be going on–

A flash of blood obscured my vision, a memory of leather gloves and a blood-splattered, glimmering knife flashing before my eyes.

No, it couldn't have happened.

Confusion clouding my mind, I advanced toward everyone, alongside Jessi. I then covered my mouth with a hand in shock when I saw the truth.

There, lying motionless on the gray kitchen tiles, the right side of her throat and body caked in dried blood, was my best friend. Her spaghetti-strapped lilac nightgown was torn at the white-laced hem, a piece of material hooked onto the silver dish towel hanger.

No.

"Wh-What happened?" stammered Jessi, her brown eyes wide, and her face drained of color.

No, I kept repeating, my heartbeat quickening. This can't be happening.

"We think someone came after her last night," Ethan explained his voice shaking as he stared at the scene in front of us.

I couldn't remove my eyes from the limp body either, so in shock that I couldn't process anything. All I could think was that I was in a dream, and that any second, I would wake up and everything would be okay.

"This can't be happening." Tears spilled down Jessi's cheeks, and she shook her head, her hand covering her mouth. "Tell me that Annabeth isn't–?"

"Dead." Ethan and Jessi snapped their heads around to look at me, though I kept my focus on the floor. "She's gone, isn't she?"

Jessi suddenly burst into tears, shaking uncontrollably. I couldn't believe it – my best friend was gone, and there was nothing that I was able to do to change that.

Ethan nodded in reply to my question, then took a step closer to Jessi and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, trying to make her feel better. It didn't look as if he was helping. "My parents said it had to be a murder. It doesn't make sense as to why this would have happened. They found one of the kitchen knives covered in blood next to Anna, and they also came upon this."

Leaving Jessi's side next to the oak dining room table, he motioned for us to follow him. Jessi and I walked past his parents, who were each talking low on their phones, and entered deeper into the kitchen. On the kitchen island, Anna's brand-new iPhone sat in the peach-pink case she'd gotten for her birthday. After Ethan unlocked the phone, I saw that 911 had been typed into the phone keypad.

I then glanced to the floor, where I spotted the sharp knife, droplets of ruby-red blood decorating its surface. I looked from the knife to Anna's neck.

Of course, a deep stab into the side of the neck. No wonder it's a famous move for killers in horror movies – the victims barely ever live through it.