Pretty Little Secrets

She looked around at the crowds of college kids, twenty-something adrenaline junkies, and men suffering from midlife crises lining up to jump. In fifth grade, the last time her family and Ali’s had both visited Longboat Key over the winter holidays, Ali’s brother, Jason, had waited eagerly in line, clutching the release form he’d had signed from his parents. Ali and her cabal of friends had stood near him, teasingly asking if he was nervous, if he worried about getting whiplash, or if he’d ever heard the rumor that bungee jumping sometimes made guys’ testicles explode. Spencer had snickered at that last jibe, and Ali had spun around and given her a nasty look.

Spencer continued to scan the line. Sure enough, Colin was waiting at the front. She felt a little flutter inside her gut at the sight of him. He was tapping on his phone, his brow furrowed.

Spencer took a deep breath and walked over. “Everything okay?”

Colin looked up. “Oh, hey. Yeah, I was just texting Melissa. She told me she’d meet me here, but I haven’t heard from her. Do you know where she is?”

“She told you she was going to meet you here?” Spencer made a face. “This isn’t her kind of thing at all. She’s at the salon, getting her hair done. She’ll probably be there all day.”

Colin slipped his phone back into his pocket, a strange look crossing his face. “The salon? Seriously? She doesn’t strike me as that kind of girl.”

“No?” Spencer leaned against one of the wooden posts and watched as a tiny speck of a person plunged from the bungee crane. The crowd applauded. “She’s a salon addict. She gets her arms waxed, highlights, a monthly facial, and then there’s nails, Reiki treatments, the tanning booth . . . she’s super high-maintenance.”

“Huh.” Colin ran his hand over his chin and looked at Spencer.

A long beat passed. Colin didn’t look away until the crane started to groan and the elevator winch slowly pulled the next jumper into the sky. Colin glanced at his phone again. “So was what you said at the beach yesterday true? Does Melissa really have a felon for a boyfriend?”

Spencer opened her mouth, ready to tell the whole story about Ian, but something suddenly made her change her mind. Talking about Ian without Melissa here to defend herself seemed a little crass, even for her. It wasn’t like Melissa had known he’d killed Ali, after all. She hadn’t even known they’d been together.

“Colin?”

Melissa was sauntering down the dock, her hair now a brilliant shade of honey blond. When she saw Spencer, her eyes flashed, but she swept right past her, wrapped her arms around Colin, and gave him a big kiss. “Sorry I’m late.”

Colin picked up a strand of Melissa’s new hair and let it fall. “Spencer said you were at the salon.”

“Oh, just for a little touch-up,” Melissa trilled. She clasped Colin’s hand. “I wouldn’t miss your big jump!”

“My big jump?” Colin’s smile was a question mark. “Aren’t you jumping, too?”

Melissa blinked hard. Her gaze flicked from the crane to the bungee jumper dangling over the bay. “Um . . .”

“C’mon, you made it just in time.” Colin gestured around them, indicating that they were next in line. “You can jump before me. You’ll love it—I promise.”

One of the bungee workers, a skinny guy with braided hair, looked at the people in line. “Okay, folks. Who’s next?”

Melissa’s face had gone sheet-white. “Colin, I don’t think I can do it,” she said in the same damsel-in-distress voice she’d used during the great jellyfish rescue yesterday.

Colin scoffed. “You’re being silly. It’s really fun—and totally safe. You should live a little.”

“Uh, who’s going up?” Braided Hair asked impatiently, jingling the chain on his wallet.

Melissa’s knees were locked, and she’d sucked in her lips so hard they were white. “Seriously, Colin,” she said shakily. “I hate heights.”

Colin ran his tongue over his teeth. He stared at Melissa for almost a full refrain of the heavy metal song that was blaring from the speakers. Spencer held her breath, watching Colin’s features change as the picture Melissa had painted of herself chipped into something less interesting. It reminded her of the time Spencer’s father had been all set to buy a vintage Ferrari from a guy two towns over but had discovered the undercarriage was full of rust and the car actually didn’t start.

She pushed around both of them. “I’ll jump.”

“You?” Melissa looked shocked.

“Great.” Braided Hair stepped aside so that Spencer could climb aboard the little elevator that would carry her to the top of the tower. She tried her best to remain relaxed as he shut her into the compartment and the carriage began to move. Melissa glowered at her. Colin, on the other hand, looked impressed. Good luck, he mouthed.

The ride to the top took about a minute. Spencer watched as the people on the dock got smaller and smaller and her view of the bay expanded. When she reached the jumping-off point, an instructor harnessed her up and told her the basics of how to jump—try to remain relaxed, put her arms straight out, and jump into a swan dive so as not to hurt her back. And then it was time to go.

Spencer shuffled toward the edge of the tower, her pulse pounding. The waves lapped peacefully a zillion feet below. The water looked so dark and endless from up here. Suddenly, she was reminded of when she’d dangled over the edge of Falling Man Quarry with Mona Vanderwaal. How black the abyss had been. How certain she’d felt that she was going to plummet to her death. Mona’s shrill, desperate screams as she’d fallen, the full four-Mississippi counts until she’d hit the bottom.

A faint giggle pierced the silence, and Spencer whipped her head to the right. People on the dock craned up to watch her. A seagull landed on a white and red buoy. Spencer shook her head. There was no way someone could be laughing at her, all the way up here.

“Are you ready?” the instructor asked, giving the bungee cord another tug to make sure it was secure.

Spencer’s mouth felt coated with wool. Her hands began to feel slick, and sweat prickled under her arms. But she couldn’t chicken out now.

“Ready,” she answered shakily.

The instructors counted down from three. Spencer swallowed hard, thrust her jaw upward, and stepped off the ledge. At first she felt weightless, and then her stomach swooped into her throat. She heard screams around her, only realizing a few milliseconds later that they were her own. The water below her approached faster and faster, her body felt heavier and heavier, until thwock—the rope caught and bounced back upward. Soon she came to a stop, and she was dangling over the water. She’d made it. She was alive. She breathed out, listening to the sound of her rocketing heartbeat in her ears.

A cheer rose up from the dock. “Yeah!” Spencer extended her arms. She felt exhilarated and free, like she’d just left all her baggage at the top of the crane. She swung around toward the dock, searching for Colin and Melissa, but she didn’t see them anywhere. Suddenly, it didn’t really matter.

The crane slowly pulled her back up to the top. The instructor loomed over the edge and unhooked her harness. “That was awesome,” Spencer breathed.

“Told you it was amazing!” a voice said behind her.

Spencer peered over the instructor. Colin was standing on the platform, all harnessed up. They were the only two jumpers on the deck. “So I guess Melissa didn’t want to jump, huh?” she asked.

Colin twisted his hands at his waist. “Actually, she left.” He let out an uncomfortable laugh. “I don’t think she really wanted to stick around after what I said to her.”

Spencer’s heart stopped. “What did you say?”

Colin’s blue eyes locked on hers. “That my feelings have changed. That I picked the wrong sister.”

The same rush that Spencer had just felt on the bungee jump swelled over her once more. She tried to keep a neutral expression on her face, but she could feel her lips pulling into a smile.

Colin stepped closer and took her hand. Spencer could smell his sandy, sunscreeny scent and tried not to swoon. Just like that, in front of the grubby instructors, hundreds of feet in the air, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Spencer’s eyes fluttered closed. Her heart hammered in her chest. She could feel the instructors shift impatiently behind them, but she didn’t care.

The kiss was over too soon, and Colin pulled away. “Want to jump in tandem with me?”

“You can do that?” Spencer looked at the instructor, and he gave a bored nod. She ran her fingers over her harness and shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

The instructor finished tethering Colin to the bungee, secured Spencer to the same cord, and the two of them walked to the ledge together. As they counted down, Colin turned to Spencer and touched her cheek. “I don’t know what took me so long, Spencer. Can you forgive me?”

Spencer’s insides shimmered. Instead of saying anything, she grabbed Colin’s hand and squeezed it hard.

And then, together, they jumped into the abyss.

Chapter 14

Table for Two

“Right this way.” A Latina waitress who couldn’t have been more than five feet tall led Spencer and Colin around a grove of palm trees into a private Mediterranean garden at the back of the Mia Vista, one of Longboat Key’s most sought-after dinner spots. Gorgeous purple, blue, and yellow flowers curled around white trellises and a wooden pergola. A beehive-shaped fireplace blazed in the corner, throwing off just the right amount of heat to cut the slight chill in the air, and a jazz band played softly in the corner. They stopped in front of a corner table with a white tablecloth, a glowing white candle, and a glass of champagne at each of their seats—and, of course, a chilled AminoSpa for Colin. In all of Spencer’s fantasies, she’d never thought up a first-date spot dreamier than this.

She settled into her chair, smoothing the brand-new dress she’d bought that afternoon over her lap. Colin sat down opposite her, looking extra-tan in his white Lacoste polo. “This is just so perfect,” Spencer said.

“We couldn’t have picked a better place,” Colin said at the exact same time. They both stopped and laughed.

The waitress returned with their drinks and some menus. Colin sipped his AminoSpa on ice, and then burst into laughter. “Remember how much you hated this on our first date?” He reached across the table and took Spencer’s hand. She could feel herself blushing. So he had counted the tennis game as a date! This whole situation was so surreal. For once, it seemed, she had actually won.

Melissa hadn’t been at the house when Spencer had come home from bungee jumping, nor had Spencer seen her in town. Spencer wasn’t sure what she would have done if she had run into her. She knew she should feel triumphant for stealing Colin away, but part of her kind of felt . . . crappy. It was a lot like how she felt when she’d kissed Ian in her driveway—as psyched as she’d been to hook up with the hottest senior at Rosewood Day, she couldn’t help but feel guilty, even though Melissa was always a royal bitch to her.