Devon gets caught in another gigantic lie when she tries to hide her insecurity from her boyfriend in this laugh-out-loud sequel to Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better . Devon Delaney cannot believe she’s lying again. But the thing is, she can’t help it! Her new boyfriend, Luke, is talking to his (gorgeous) ex-girlfriend, Bailey Barelli, every single day in mock trial. They get along great for people who are broken up, but Devon is certainly not jealous—or worried that Luke still likes Bailey as much as Bailey seems to still like him. To prove how cool she is with everything, Devon invents an ex-boyfriend of her own: Greg. So, everything’s great because both she and Luke have exes they’re completely normal about, and Devon isn’t being clingy over her first boyfriend. What could go wrong? Devon really should’ve remembered how quickly lies spiral out of her control. Can Devon come clean in time to keep the guy—or will she lose everything over another lie? Lauren Barnholdt is the author of the teen novels The Thing About the Truth , Sometimes It Happens , One Night That Changes Everything , Two-way Street , Right of Way , and Watch Me . She is also the author of the middle grade novels The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney , Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better , Four Truths and a Lie , Rules for Secret-Keeping , Fake Me a Match , and the Girl Meets Ghost series. She lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. Visit her at LaurenBarnholdt.com. Chapter One chapter one I think I have figured out the bane of my existence. The bane of one’s existence, in case you don’t already know, is the thing that is driving you the craziest. The thing that makes you absolutely totally nuts, the thing that if it did not exist, you could just relax and have a perfect life. But the bane of my existence is not a thing. The bane of my existence is a person. And that person is Bailey Barelli. Take right now, for example. Bailey Barelli is sitting one row over and three seats ahead of me in English. Which is fine. What is not fine, is that sitting in my row, and three seats up, is my boyfriend, Luke. Which means that Luke is sitting right next to Bailey Barelli. Which would not be so bad, except two minutes ago, I saw her pass a note to Luke. Then I saw Luke open it, give Bailey a smile, and then write something on her note and pass it back to her. This is very unacceptable behavior, in my opinion. Plus, the bell has just rung. Which means all this unacceptable note passing started as soon as the bell rang, like she couldn’t even wait one second. What was so important that she had to tell Luke, anyway? They’re not even friends. “Please everyone put your desks in a circle,” our teacher, Mrs. Bancock, says. She grabs her grade book off her desk and walks to the front of the room. “We’re going to get started.” I stand up and push my desk into the circle, right between Cassie Schafter and Michael Ronson. We’re reading Romeo and Juliet , and Mrs. Bancock thinks we’ll “absorb more Shakespeare” if we act out the parts. So every day, we put our desks in a circle, and spend the period reenacting Romeo and Juliet . Well, not actually reenacting. We just read out loud from our desks. “Now,” Mrs. Bancock says. She pushes her glasses up on her nose, and settles into a student desk at the head of the circle, her long skirt billowing around her. “Today is my favorite day of Romeo and Juliet , because we are going to be reading the balcony scene. And,” she goes on, “as a special treat, this time we will be acting out the action!” A nervous laugh goes through the class. The balcony scene. That’s the most famous scene of the play—where Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other, and Romeo climbs up the balcony and I think he might even kiss Juliet. That could actually be kind of fun, since Romeo is played by Gabriel Warren, this slightly annoying guy in our class who has a Mohawk. “I’m ready whenever you are,” Bailey Barelli says, and flips her long, dark hair over one shoulder. Bailey Barelli is, of course, Juliet. This is because when Mrs. Bancock called for volunteers, Bailey Barelli shouted out, “I’LL DO IT!” really loud and raised her hand and was practically jumping out of her seat. You’d think teachers would be smart enough to realize that this kind of behavior is annoying and that whoever’s doing it is obviously just sucking up, but they totally don’t, since Mrs. Bancock just smiled and said, “Your enthusiasm is refreshing, Bailey. Let’s put you down for the part of Juliet.” Sigh. I open my book to the balcony scene, and catch Luke’s eye across the room, where he’s sitting on the other side of the circle. He shoots me a smile, and I smile back before returning my eyes to my book. I’m still not exactly sure how I’m supposed to act around him. I mean, yeah, he is my boyfriend, but he’s only been my boyfriend for two weeks. And he’s my first boyfriend. So it’s not like I can say, Oh, right,