Free Stunning by Sara Shepard

baby?”
    Emily nodded, looking terrified.
    “But how is that possible? And why didn’t A mention it before?” Spencer asked. She still couldn’t believe Emily had had a baby. Before school was dismissed last year, Emily had looked—and seemed—so normal, like nothing was bothering her at all. But halfway through July, shortly after Spencer’s run-in with the police for possession of Easy A, Emily had called Spencer in a panic, saying she was pregnant. At first, Spencer had thought it was a joke. Not a very funny one, either.
    “I don’t know,” Emily answered, tears in her eyes. “Maybe because A knows everything. Has anyone else gotten a note?”
    Spencer shakily raised her hand. “Actually, I did. Last night. I was going to tell you tonight.”
    She pulled up the text on her phone, and the others gathered around.
Think your college friends would let you into their Eating Club if they knew about your appetite for murder?
     
    Just reading it again made Spencer’s heart gallop. She’d barely slept a wink last night, running over the possibilities of who A might be.
    “How could A know about Tabitha and the baby?” Emily whispered.
    Hanna exhaled sharply, her breath visible in the frigid air. “The same way A knows everything.”
    “Plenty of people saw you.” Spencer shivered in the thin blazer she’d chosen to wear. “You were in Philly all summer. A could have been, too. Maybe that’s how A knew about me and Kelsey.”
    Emily paced up and down a faded yellow line demarcating a parking space. “You know how big I got. I didn’t look like the girl on that People cover. But I suppose someone could have figured it out.” She arched her back and stared at the spindly tree branches above their heads.
    “This isn’t just any random someone,” Aria pointed out. “It’s a person who’s out to get us. Someone we wronged. Someone who wants revenge.”
    “But who ?” Hanna cried.
    Emily stopped pacing. “You all know who I think A is.”
    Spencer groaned. “ Don’t say Ali, Em.”
    “Why not?” Emily’s voice cracked. “She and Tabitha were at the Preserve together. Ali could’ve found out we killed Tabitha. Maybe she wants revenge for that, on top of everything else we did to her.”
    Spencer sighed. She couldn’t believe Emily was still on this Ali-is-alive mission. “So Ali and Tabitha were at the Preserve at the same time. That doesn’t prove anything. And for the last time, Ali’s bones weren’t found in the rubble, but we all saw her in the house just before it blew up.”
    A shadow passed over Emily’s face. “It’s just, who other than Ali would know to follow us around everywhere, track our every move?” she said, staring at her feet. “And you guys aren’t going to believe who’s here— Gayle . What if A is planning to tell her what I did with the baby? And what if Gayle tells everyone about me?”
    “Wait a minute.” Hanna furrowed her brow. “Gayle, the woman who wanted the baby, is inside ?”
    Emily nodded. “It was the woman your dad introduced me to. Ms. Riggs.”
    “So that’s why she called you Heather.” Hanna shut her eyes. “Gayle is promising my dad a lot of money for his campaign.”
    “Well, isn’t that a lovely coincidence,” Spencer said sarcastically.
    Aria cleared her throat. “Maybe it’s not a coincidence at all.”
    Everyone looked at her. Aria turned to Emily. “Let me get this straight, Em. You just saw the woman you promised a baby to, the woman you screwed over in the end. Right?”
    “I had to screw her over,” Emily interrupted, a tormented look on her face. “I had to do what was right for the baby!”
    “I know, I know.” Aria waved her hands impatiently. “Just go with me, okay? You were worried sick about Gayle tracking you down, though. And you said Gayle was crazy. Isn’t that why you didn’t want to give the baby to her?”
    Emily wrinkled her nose. “I don’t see what you’re getting at.”
    “Isn’t it