Oh, wait. That crazy chick was talking about me and Brent. Seriously? She was sliding into the land of psycho ex. I whirled around and saw that Valerie had closed in on me. What the—
I stared at her tense face and everything clicked. Psycho cheerleading ex. “You took my necklace in order to get back at me because Brent broke up with you? Are you insane?”
She glared at me, and when she was angry, her face turned splotchy red and got really…well, not ugly, but definitely less pretty. “I didn’t take anything of yours and you can just—”
Whatever. I was done. I spun back around and headed for the main building. She followed me, her screeching voice getting higher and higher as I headed down the hallway—and to her locker.
We, ah, brought a crowd with us.
And, of course, that attracted the principal.
“Ladies, what is the meaning of this?” Mr. Knoxley demanded as he hurried down the hall with slaps of his faded loafers. “You should be at lunch, not—”
“Valerie stole my necklace,” I interrupted, my whole body vibrating with anger. That necklace was the only thing of my mom’s that I had. Dad had gotten rid of everything else. Tried to erase her like she was a bad memory. Only I didn’t want her erased. No matter what she’d done or how much it hurt, I didn’t want to pretend that she’d never existed.
If she didn’t exist, then I didn’t, either.
“I did no such thing, Mr. Knoxley!” Valerie defended instantly as she put a dramatic hand over her heart. “This girl is crazy, she’s—”
Time to cut through the bull. “It’s in her locker, inside her chemistry book.”
That shut up everyone.
Brent frowned at me.
Mr. Knoxley glanced at Valerie. Suddenly, she was looking very, very nervous as she tucked loose hair behind her left ear. “Have you seen her necklace, Valerie?” He wanted to know.
Hesitantly, Valerie shook her head.
“Are you sure about that?” He pressed because Mr. Knoxley had been in this game a long time. I bet he could spot a lying student from ten paces away.
Valerie tucked more hair behind her ear and rocked back on her heels. “I really don’t know—”
“Just open your locker,” I said at the same time because I didn’t want to hear any crap from her. “Show us all that I’m wrong, and I’ll apologize to you in front of the whole school if you want.”
But that wouldn’t be happening. She’d made a mistake. The girl never should have taken what was mine.
Her chin lifted. “I don’t even use that locker.” Ah, now she was back to sounding more confident and haughty. Back to being Valerie. “I’ve been putting my stuff in Suzy’s locker because it’s closer to the stairs.”
“Then you don’t mind if we look inside?” I totally sounded my like my dad, but I didn’t care.
Everyone waited.
Her lips thinned, but Valerie marched forward and spun the lock. A soft snick, and the metal door eased open. A chemistry book rested inside. Mr. Knoxley pulled out the book, flipped it open…
And my necklace shined in the light.
I grabbed it, my fingers closing tightly around the chain. “Thank you,” I told him.
Valerie’s glare felt like fire on my skin.
“Valerie,” Mr. Knoxley’s voice boomed. “You and I need to talk, in my office, now.”
That loud now had the folks around us scattering. My fingers trembled as I hurriedly put the necklace back on. The moon was a cool touch on my neck.
Brent watched me, his eyes shadowed. “I’m sorry.” His voice was low. “She’s pissed at me and…” He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s trying to hurt me and you.”
Yeah, his ex-girlfriend had some claws. Luckily, so did I. She was learning that now. Valerie tossed me one final glare over her shoulder as the principal led her away.
Brent leaned in toward me and dropped his voice to a whisper. “How’d you know it was in her locker?”
I stared up at him.
“And in the chemistry book? How’d you know that?”
I didn’t speak.
Brent shook his head. “Is it the same way you were able to find my house without ever having walked through those woods?”
As my anger at Valerie faded, I realized I’d just made a serious mistake. I’d exposed too much of myself. I tried to recover ground, fast. “I heard Valerie talking. I-I realized what she’d done.”
His lips twisted. “Now you’re the one who’s lying.”
I had to get better at the business of lying.
“You found my place.” His head was close to mine. His arm lifted, and his hand pressed against the locker behind me, caging me between his body and the metal.