Page 103 of The Debutantes
With gritted teeth, Coach takes the syringe.
“No,” I plead. “April!”
She just stares, her shoulders rising and falling in time with the frantic pace of my heart as Coach moves toward her, the needle poised and glinting in his grip.
39VIVIAN
JANUARY 3, 12:15A.M.
I stare at Lily, dumbfounded. She’s just explained it all, how Coach found Marty’s burner and set up the meeting with Margot, how he killed her. Coach, the only adult at Beaumont I really trusted. Who pushed me, on and off the field. Who never bullshitted me.
Or so I thought. Because not even twenty-four hours ago, when I asked him if he saw anything at the ball, he looked me dead in the eyes and made up a whole story about Lily leaving in a black Mercedes. He acted sorry for not knowing more. Meanwhile, he knew exactly where Lily was. Hedidthis. And I trusted him.
I know it’s not her fault, but somehow, it still feels like it.
“How do you know all this?” I demand.
Lily tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, still so infuriatingly calm.
“After Margot died, I wasn’t sure if I bought the whole overdose story, but I tried not to think about it. I told myself maybe she reallyhadjust gone off the deep end when Marty brokethings off. And then I didn’t get into Vanderbilt, and everything fell apart.”
I stare at her, but she seems dead serious. “What does Vanderbilt have to do with this?”
“I never wanted to go,” she says. “I didn’t really know it until Piper submitted that crap essay with my application, but when I realized what she did… I was honestly relieved. I’d been basically killing myself to get in, and for what? My parents? So they could keep forcing me to live up to their expectations and then freaking out when I couldn’t? But I still didn’t know if the essay was enough to get me out of it. Not with my family’s connections. So I tanked the interview.” A little smile flickers on her lips, almost like she’s proud, but it fades quickly. “But Dad found out. Of course he did. He called the admissions office as soon as I got my rejection and demanded an explanation.”
In the mess of all the other lies, this one still hurts, somehow. Lily threw her interview. I thought she was devastated about getting rejected, but she didn’t even want to go, and I had no idea.
“Once he figured out what I’d done, he was madder than I’ve ever seen him. Screaming. Threatening to cut me off, make me take a gap year and stay trapped at home while I reapplied. When he sent me to my room, he slammed the door so hard that the wood splintered.” Lily’s lip twitches, like she can still feel it. “And then, later that night, Marty came over. I could hear his voice downstairs. I waited up in my room until late, after my mom went to bed, and then, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I snuck down. My dad and Marty were in his office. The door was shut, but I could hear them talking. They were trying to figure out how to get me back into Vanderbilt. Dadwas worried another donation wouldn’t be enough, so… Marty suggested they use the Pierrot.”
Goose bumps break out over my skin.
“They were thinking about recruiting the director of admissions,” Lily says. “Marty was digging into the guy’s personal life to see if there was anything they could hold over him, but if not… the admissions guy had two sons. Marty said maybe they could plant pills on one of them, get them caught cheating at school, something like that. Something big enough that if they went to the admissions guy to offer the Pierrot’s protection, he’d have to take it.”
“Marty wanted to blackmail him?”
“At the Pierrot, they think of it more like an exchange of favors. Brothers supporting brothers.” Her lip curls a little as she says it, like it does whenever she’s annoyed but won’t admit it. “Anyway, I don’t know if they ever got around to it. I’d guess the whole Marty-kidnapping-me thing probably got in the way.”
My stomach twists. Somehow, I almost forgot where we are, the dingy mattress and creepy Mardi Gras paraphernalia Lily’s been living with for almost a week.
“What happened?” I ask. “How did he…”
“After I overheard them talking about the Pierrot, I knew I couldn’t leave it alone,” she says. “But I needed Dad to trust me again. So I acted all apologetic about the interview, and it worked. He forgave me. Or, at least, he and Mom were too focused on the ball to care about anything else. Then, while they weren’t paying attention, I did some digging. I looked through Dad’s computer for everything I could find about the Pierrot. And it took some convincing, but I even got Wyatt to sneak me in.”
Hearing his name, the email hits me all over again, and so does the guilt. Lily is probably the one person who hasn’t seen it. I know I should tell her, but the words won’t come out. I can’t lose her forever barely an hour after finding her again.
“And once I saw what goes on there…”
“I know,” I cut in. “We went, too.”
Lily nods, looking grateful that she doesn’t have to explain it. “I asked some people there if they knew Margot. I had a feeling Marty brought her. But a few of the guys, when I mentioned Margot… they got all weird. I knew something was off, but I figured it was just because Les Masques girls weren’t supposed to be there. But then, a few days later, I found the burner phone.” She buries her hands deeper in her sleeves, wrapping them around herself. “It was in Coach’s office. I figured he was probably in the Pierrot, too, so I looked through his stuff, and the phone was in his desk, just sitting there. I guess he was too stupid to ditch it. Or maybe he wanted something to hold over Marty.”
A fresh wave of nausea hits. All the times in the past year that I’ve been in Coach’s office, stopping by to ask about the game schedule or even just say hi… that burner must have been there. Proof that he killed her, just waiting for someone to find.
“Once I saw those texts, I knew for sure,” Lily says. “I had to do something.”
“So you came up with the stunt at the ball.”
She raises an eyebrow, almost impressed.
