Free They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire Page A

one else did. They were partying and someone suggested jumping off the cliff, about twenty-five feet above the water.
    Olivia jumped and never came out.
    And that’s where it gets murky. Rumors and speculation beat anything like the truth, and stories were flying like bullets across the parking lot.
    She was totally shit-faced and fell .
    She jumped on a dare .
    A few of the boys jumped in to find her and her leg was trapped between two boulders .
    The only thing that sounds real is that the paramedics and rescue team brought her body out after someone called about the accident. Whatever happened, it’s awful.
    Molly and I end up with the kids we eat lunch with and a few stragglers I don’t really know. Sophie Hanlon, a supershy but very sweet girl who is Molly’s close friend from elementary school, is there, along with Kara Worthy and Michael Kaminsky, who are both in Latin club with me.
    Across the lot, I see a group of guys and instantly spot Josh Collier, who stands nearly a head above the rest.
    Molly catches me looking and elbows me. “Told you he’d be here.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” I look away, chewing my lip. “What do you think really happened, Moll?” I ask.
    “She got drunk and fell.”
    “I hope so.”
    Molly’s eyes widen. “What the heck does that mean?”
    “What if someone pushed her?”
    “This is Vienna, Pennsylvania, Kenzie. Crime is low.”
    “I hope so,” I say again. “Because what if …” Oh, man. I’m really about to sound like my mother, looking for trouble where there is nothing but an imagination on steroids.
    “What if what?”
    I lean a little closer. “What if she was killed ’cause she was on the list?”
    I get the exact look I expected. Incredulity mixed with a smile. “Hey, I’m the one who thinks it’s a big deal, and even I don’t think any of the two hundred–some girls who didn’t get on the list would kill over it,” she says. “Anyway, it’s not like that leaves an opening or something.”
    “I don’t know,” I say softly. “It’s just scary.”
    “Death is scary,” she agrees, looking over my shoulder. “You know what else is scary?”
    “What?”
    “Levi Sterling.”
    I snap around without thinking, meeting his smoldering gaze, locked on me. Inside, everything sort of shifts … my heart, my stomach, my center of gravity. I’m vaguely aware that seeing Josh had no such effect on me.
    He barely notches his chin at me, very cool, very subtle, very sexy.
    “Talk about killers,” Molly mutters. “If anyone could have given poor Olivia a push, it’s him.”
    I feel the strange desire to defend him. And … kiss him. I force myself to look away and my gaze lands on Josh. He’s cute, too, and slightly above me on the food chain in the sea of high school, but Levi Sterling? He’s a great white, and right now, he’s looking at me like I’m a guppy.
    Levi stops directly in front of me, ignoring all the others sitting on the table. I instinctively cross my arms like a protective shield and stare right back at him.
    “Mack.” He speaks one word—one I don’t particularly like—and I’m warm despite the October chill in the air. I feelthe eyes of my friends moving between Levi and me, as if they can’t believe we’re talking.
    I just look up at him, not moving, my seat on the top of the picnic table still not high enough to put us eye to eye.
    “Come with me,” he says. And I fight the urge to push myself off the table and go anywhere he wants. I don’t answer, not because I think I’m being cool. I really don’t trust my voice not to come out in a croak.
    He puts his hand on my knee, giving it a slight squeeze. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?”
    I can practically hear Molly’s jaw unhinge.
    “I wasn’t mad at you.”
    Lifting my hand, he takes a good look at the Band-Aid I used to replace the gauze my mother had unraveled. “How is it?”
    “Hurts.” Kind of like it does to look into his eyes. But I do anyway.
    He