Perfect (Book Three)

Four: No Wonder Emily's Mom Is So Strict.

Emily Fields never had practice the day before a meet, so she came straight home after school and noticed three new items sitting on the limestone kitchen island. There were two new blue Sammy swim towels for Emily and her sister Carolyn, just in time for their big meet against Drury tomorrow...and there was also a paperback book titled It's Not Fair: What to Do When You Lose Your Boyfriend. A Post-it note was affixed to the cover: Emily: Thought you might find this useful. I'll be back at 6. —Mom

Emily absentmindedly flipped through the pages. Not long after Alison's body had been found, Emily's mother had started surprising her with little cheer-me-ups, like a book called 1001 Things to Make You Smile, a big set of Prismacolor colored pencils, and a walrus puppet, because Emily used to be obsessed with walruses when she was younger. After Toby's suicide, however, her mother had merely given a bunch of self-help books. Mrs. Fields seemed to think Toby's death was harder for Emily than Ali's—probably because she thought Toby had been Emily's boyfriend.

Emily sank into a white kitchen chair and shut her eyes. Boyfriend or not, Toby's death did haunt her. Every night, as she was looking at herself in the mirror while brushing her teeth, she thought she saw Toby standing behind her. She couldn't stop going over that fateful night when he'd taken her to Foxy. Emily had told Toby that she'd been in love with Alison, and Toby had admitted he was glad Ali was dead. Emily had immediately assumed Toby was Ali's killer and had threatened to call the cops. But by the time she realized just how wrong she was, it was too late.

Emily listened to the small settling sounds of her empty house. She stood up, picked up the cordless phone on the counter and dialed a number. Maya answered in one ring.

"Carolyn's at Topher's," Emily said in a low voice. "My mom's at a PTA meeting. We have a whole hour."

"The creek?" Maya whispered.

"Yep."

"Six minutes," Maya declared. "Time me."

It took Emily two minutes to slip out the back door, sprint across her vast, slippery lawn, and dive into the woods to the secluded little creek. Alongside the water was a smooth, flat rock, perfect for two girls to sit on. She and Maya discovered the secret creek spot two weeks ago, and they'd been hiding away as much as they possibly could.

In five minutes and forty-five seconds, Maya emerged through the tree. She looked adorable as usual, in her plain white T-shirt, pale pink miniskirt, and red suede Puma sneakers. Even though it was October, it was almost eighty degrees out. She had pulled her hair back from her face, showing off her flawless, caramel-colored skin.

"Hey," Maya cried, a little out of breath. "Under six minutes?"

"Barely," Emily teased.

They both plopped down on the rock. For a second, neither of them spoke. It was so much quieter back here in the woods than by the street. Emily tried not to think about how she had run from Toby through these very woods a few weeks ago. Instead, she concentrated on the way the water sparkled over the rocks and how the trees were just starting to turn orange at the tips. She had a superstition about the big tree she could just make out at the edge of her backyard: if its leaves turned yellow in the fall, she would have a good school year. If they turned red, she wouldn't. But this year, the leaves were orange—did that mean so-so? Emily had all sorts of superstitions. She thought the world was fraught with signs. Nothing was random.

"I miss you," Maya whispered in Emily's ear. "I didn't see you at school today."

A shiver passed through Emily as Maya's lips grazed her earlobe. She shifted her position on the rock, moving closer to Maya. "I know. I kept looking for you."