Critically acclaimed author Tanya Byrne returns with a dark, compulsive tale of obsession and betrayal. First love. Last lie. When Adamma Okomma has to leave her glossy high school in New York for a dusty English boarding school, she thinks it's the end of the world — or the end of her social life, at least. Then she meets the wicked-witted Scarlett Chiltern, who shows her all of Crofton College's darkest corners and Adamma realises that there's much more to her new school than tartan skirts and hockey sticks. She and Scarlett become inseparable, but when they fall for the same guy, the battle lines are firmly drawn. Adamma gets the guy but loses her best friend. Then, when Scarlett runs away, Adamma finds herself caught up in something far more sinister than a messy love triangle. Adamma always knew that Scarlett had her secrets, but some secrets are too big to keep and this one will change all of their lives forever.

'They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who sigh on the six o'clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. Who I could have been. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever shake off my mistakes or if I'll just carry them around with me forever like a bunch of red balloons'. Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time.