by Milda Harris
Adventures of a New Year's Kiss
A Funeral Crashing Standalone Story
Funeral Crashing Series #3.5
By Milda Harris
Copyright 2014 by Milda Harris
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Cover Art by Brett Gilbert
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Edited by Lauren Cramer
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: Freaking
Chapter 2: Sleuthing
Chapter 3: Interrogating
Chapter 4: Dying
Chapter 5: Questioning
Chapter 6: Reeling
Chapter 7: Funeral Crashing
Chapter 8: Planning
Chapter 9: Mystery Solving
Chapter 10: New Year's Kissing
Bonus Scene: Kait and Ethan's New Year's Kiss
Excerpt: Adventures in Funeral Crashing
Excerpt: The New Girl Who Found a Dead Body
About the Author
Prologue
Kyle took my face into his hands and whispered, “Happy two month anniversary.”
Kyle’s lips were inches from mine. I knew I should say happy anniversary back, but I couldn’t think. I could barely breathe. All I could see was his lips. Then Kyle kissed me. All I could think about was kissing him back. My arms encircled his waist. He pulled me even closer to him so that our bodies were molded together, almost as if they were one. Kyle deepened the kiss and I lost myself for a moment in the passion of it. Yes, nerds could kiss. Oh man, could they kiss.
Then Kyle pulled away much too soon. I blinked up at him, wanting to draw him back towards me, but it looked like he had something that he wanted to say. I waited and tried to stop myself from trembling. I took a deep breath. Kyle’s kisses did that to me sometimes. I couldn't help it. He affected me. I loved him so much already.
I knew that most people didn't really see Kyle. He was the nerdy science guy to all of them. He had been that ever since he won his first science competition in the seventh grade. It had ignited a passion for science in him that completely took over his life. Most of the other kids didn't look past that and see him, the guy behind the science knowledge. I did. Of course, I didn't know Kyle before this year, so maybe I had been one of those people too. Maybe we had passed each other in the hallway or something, but like everyone else I hadn't seen him. On our first day of Chemistry class, though, all of that changed.
It was the first day of school and I was already having a really bad day. Usually I took that in stride and thought whatever, but it was the first day of school. I wanted it to be awesome. First, they messed up my schedule. I wasn't supposed to be in Chemistry. I had registered for an Advanced Biology class this semester instead because I liked biology. There had been an error. After a lot of hassle, I was told that they couldn't even attempt to fix my schedule until after school. As much as I hated the idea, I was stuck going to class until it was resolved.
So, I was late to Chemistry class. Everyone watched me open the door and walk in. I wanted to melt into the floor it was so embarrassing. There was one seat left in the back at a lab table. I had to walk through the whole class to get there. It was the worst walk ever and halfway there I dropped one of my books and managed to kick it under one of the lab tables. Kyle was sitting at that table next to Kait. He bent down to retrieve my book for me. I swear the whole world stopped when he reached his arm out to hand it to me. His lips were totally kissable and his eyes, even through his glasses, felt like they just sucked me into his gaze. I decided to stay in Chemistry after that moment. I couldn't help myself. I was enamored.
I haven't even told Kyle about that moment yet. I was sort of afraid to tell him. What if he didn't remember it? I also didn't want him to think I was stalking him or something before I asked him to Homecoming. Wow. I couldn't believe I'd had the guts to ask him to Homecoming. That was the best chance I'd ever taken.
"I have something for you," Kyle said and broke me out of my thoughts.
I blinked up at him, meeting his brown eyes through his glasses. My eyes and my brain almost instantly went back to his lips and thinking about kissing him, so it took me a moment to take in that Kyle was suddenly holding a jewelry box in his hands. For a second my brain thought that the jewelry box could hold an engagement ring and that this might be a proposal, but we were way, way too young for that. Plus we had only been dating for a couple of months. Still, I knew that Kyle was the one. I knew that some people might think that Kyle and I were just a high school romance, but I thought our love would last forever.
“What is it?” I asked as Kyle placed the box into my hands.
“Open it,” Kyle said.
"But it's only like a week until Christmas," I said. I hadn't gotten him an anniversary gift for that very reason.
"It's okay. Just open it," Kyle said again.
I nodded and carefully opened the box. I’d never received jewelry from a boy before. This was a big deal. I tried to make the most of the moment. I slowly opened the box to find the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen inside. It had a thin silver chain and the pendant was a simple silver star that had a dark stone in the center.
“That’s a meteorite,” Kyle pointed at the stone like a giddy kid. “Neat, right?”
“That’s really cool, Kyle,” I smiled. Kyle loved all things science and it was really sweet that he found something I'd like that was also very him. It was the perfect anniversary gift.
“Suzie?” Kyle said.
“Yeah?” I looked up from the necklace that I had pulled out of the box and into my hands.
Kyle suddenly looked a little nervous, “You know that you’re like that meteorite to me, right? You’re like a shooting star that came into my life and I somehow managed to catch you. I'm really glad I caught you.”
I somehow managed to utter, “Kyle, I absolutely love it and I love you.”
It didn't feel like enough, but Kyle’s face broke out into the goofy grin I loved so much. Then he took the necklace from my hands. His fingers brushed the hair from the back of my neck. A flutter of anticipation exploded in my stomach at the touch. Kyle clasped the necklace around my neck.
Then he turned to look at me, “You’re so beautiful.”
I didn’t wait for Kyle to pull me to him this time. I wasn't shy with Kyle anymore and I kissed him instead. I would wear this necklace forever.
Chapter 1: Freaking
That happened less than twenty-four hours ago, so how had I already lost my necklace? I stared into my gym locker. It wasn’t there. I knew I had put it there at the beginning of gym class. The only reason I didn’t wear it during class was because we were swimming this section and I didn’t want to get it wet. I had no idea what water might do to meteorite.
My hair was dripping onto my shoulders. I was freezing because I hadn’t
pulled my towel out of my locker yet. Goosebumps were breaking out all over my skin, but it wasn’t because I was cold. It was because I was completely freaking out. I saw Kyle in Chemistry next period and if I wasn’t wearing that necklace…
He wouldn't be angry, but I didn’t even want to think about how hurt Kyle was going to be if I had lost it already. I felt tears well up in my eyes. How could I have lost it?
I pulled each item out of my locker carefully. First, I took out my towel and wrapped it around my shoulders. Then I took out my sweater, my jeans, my underwear, my socks, my shoes, and my books and set them on the bench behind me.
“Can you move your stuff?” An annoyed voice asked.
I turned to look at Ariel, who was glaring at my clothes spread out over the bench. She was still dripping wet, having just come from the showers. I had forgotten that I wasn’t the only one in the locker room. I quickly grabbed my things and put them in one big pile. Her locker was right next to mine. She opened it and grabbed her towel in a huff. The she sat down on the bench right where my stuff had been a moment ago.
Wait. I glanced at each of the people around me. They were all in various states of undress, but a thought had entered my mind. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. The thought was unfamiliar to me. I was pretty sure that my friend Kait had influenced it with all of her mystery solving. Was it possible that my necklace wasn’t lost, but stolen? There were five people who might have seen me put it in my locker: Ariel, Megan, Sarah, Claire, and Scarlett. Everyone else in our class was in different sections of the locker room.
I had a dilemma. I didn’t want to accuse anyone. I was not good at confronting people. Heck, I usually wasn't great at talking to people. It could all get really, really awkward and what if I was wrong? I had to think about this. Was I absolutely sure that I didn’t lose the necklace? I thought back to the beginning of gym class.
I got into the locker room right on time. I squeezed past Mrs. Rowan, my gym teacher, just as the bell rang. I was almost late because I had stopped to talk to Kait. I wanted to show her my necklace. She had gushed about how pretty it was and how Kyle had good taste. I felt a little bad because she said that Ethan hadn’t even gotten her anything like that yet. Still, she didn’t seem to mind so much. Kait was just glad that she could finally tell Ethan that she loved him and not worry that he didn’t feel the same way. I enjoyed showing my necklace off, so we talked a little too long.
When I got to the locker room, I ran straight for my locker. We only had ten minutes to change and get out to the pool or Mrs. Rowan would mark us late. Ariel was already there, dressed in her swimsuit, texting on her cellphone to someone, sitting right where she was now. She was lucky that Mrs. Rowan usually headed straight for the pool once the bell rang because Ariel would have been in trouble for having her phone out during school hours. Her friends Sarah and Megan were arguing about whose boyfriend or crush was hotter over Ariel’s head. I always got them confused. They looked totally different, but my brain didn't differentiate them for some reason. Maybe it was because they were the exact same type of popular girl and that blended them together in my mind. Next to them, Claire was busy changing into her swimsuit. Scarlett, whose locker was next to Claire's, was making funny sarcastic faces at Sarah and Megan behind their backs as she put her hair up into a ponytail.
I quickly put on my swimsuit. I threw my clothes and books in the locker. Then I purposely put my necklace in front of my clothes on the floor of the locker, so that I wouldn’t lose it or tangle the chain. I vividly remembered doing that. I was sure. I shut my locker door.
Then I did the one thing that was my fault. It was probably why my necklace was gone. I didn’t lock my locker. I always had trouble with my lock. It was one of those padlock combination locks and mine always stuck. It took me ten minutes to open my locker one time. Since then I almost never locked it. I just left it on the locker so that a casual passerby would assume it was locked. Of course, if they took a good look at the locker, they’d know it wasn’t. Still, I never expected anything of mine to actually get stolen. Why would another student do that? I didn’t have anything valuable anyway. Until now. I should have locked that locker. Sadly, I didn’t. Had one of the girls around me noticed that?
By the time I was ready, only Ariel, Sarah, and Megan were still in the locker room. I only remembered that because they were now all talking about whose boyfriend or crush was hotter and Ariel was bragging that her boyfriend, Troy, was the hottest because he was in college, not high school. I rolled my eyes. In my opinion, I had the hottest boyfriend of all of them anyway. They might not think so, but they had no idea how amazing Kyle was as a boyfriend. My necklace was proof. I wasn’t going to join in on their conversation, though, so I ignored them and walked out to the pool.
The next forty-five minutes was a blur of swimming instruction. I never liked taking swimming during gym class at school. It was never fun to change into your swimsuit in the locker room for starters. Even though I could do most of the strokes that they wanted us to learn, I didn’t love having to do them on demand for school. To cap it all off, I looked like a wet rat when I got to Chemistry and saw Kyle. There was never enough time to blow dry my hair, put on makeup, and get dressed. Luckily, Kyle didn't seem to care. He thought I was beautiful even when I looked like someone had just dumped a bucket of water over my head. Yeah, he was way cooler than Sarah's, Megan's, and Ariel's boyfriends and crushes.
After swim class was over, I ran to my locker to get my shampoo and conditioner. If I was going to have wet hair when I saw Kyle in Chemistry, I was at the very least, not going to also reek of chlorine. I couldn’t remember if my necklace was in my locker at that point. I just grabbed for my shampoo and ran for the showers. If you didn't get a shower fast, you had to wait for one. Then there was even less time to get ready. The only person back by the lockers at that point was Scarlett, who obviously didn’t care if she smelled like chlorine because she was already putting on her clothes. There was no way that she could have showered that fast. Maybe she had rinsed off. Still. That didn't get the chlorine smell out of your hair.
I washed my hair thoroughly and walked back to the lockers. Sarah and Megan were already there, getting dressed. Scarlett was gone, probably waiting just outside the door with Mrs. Rowan for the bell to ring along with anyone else ready to leave. Claire and Ariel were probably still showering.
That was when I opened my locker and discovered that my necklace was missing. It had been ten minutes since then and I was still in my bathing suit staring at my locker. I’d looked in the locker and around the locker. I even picked through my clothes again and turned all of them inside out, hoping that the necklace had somehow attached itself to one of them. It hadn’t. My necklace was gone.
I shut my empty locker and started putting on my clothes. I had to get ready fast because the bell was going to ring at any second. I wanted to keep looking for my necklace, but it just wasn't there. It had disappeared. My brain mulled over the situation just as fast as I threw on my clothes.
I was absolutely positive that I had put the necklace in front of my clothes, just inside my locker. It wasn’t on the floor around my locker or in my clothes. It could not have disappeared into thin air by magic. So, even though I wasn’t Kait Lenox, murder mystery teen sleuth, I made the logical conclusion. If my necklace wasn’t lost, it was stolen. My suspects were the five girls around me. Even though I would have much preferred to read about a mystery like this, I was on the case.
Chapter 2: Sleuthing
I walked outside of the locker room just as the bell rang signaling the passing period. I had five minutes to get to class, but I needed to talk to Mrs. Rowan first. It was too bad that she was heading the opposite direction of my Chemistry class and toward the gym. I'd have to take the chance of being late to Chemistry. I ran after her.
“Mrs. Rowan! Wait,” I said as I came up behind her.
She turned around to face me. It seemed like she was surprised that it was m
e. I don’t think I had ever spoken to her before, except for a “Here!” at roll call. I didn't talk much unless I really knew people. Besides, it was gym class, usually you were supposed to be running the mile or practicing your backstroke. Talking during either of those activities was impossible anyway.
“Suzie?” Mrs. Rowan asked.
“Sorry to stop you Mrs. Rowan, but I lost my necklace in the locker room,” I said.
“Did you look around for it?” Mrs. Rowan asked.
“Yes,” I said and then added. "I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere."
“I’ll alert the main office’s lost and found,” Mrs. Rowan said. “You should check with the office after school and see if anyone has turned it in.”
“If they haven’t, can you ask everyone during class tomorrow if they saw it?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Rowan said.
That was what I was hoping for. Since I was pretty sure that the necklace was stolen, I doubted that anyone would turn it in to lost and found. It couldn’t hurt to check, of course. If it was there, my case was solved. I would not go the extra mile to find out who picked up the necklace. All I wanted was my necklace back and to keep Kyle from getting hurt. That was good enough for me.
I wanted Mrs. Rowan to ask the class, though, because I wanted to see how my suspects would react. I could ask them, of course, but I got a little shy around people and it made me anxious just thinking about trying to interrogate anyone. This was a better idea anyway. Mrs. Rowan had an air of authority since she was a teacher. Maybe one of my suspects would turn the necklace in or maybe I’d get a glimpse of a guilty face. Regardless, my time to get back the necklace was limited. Winter break started on Friday and that was tomorrow. If I didn’t find it before school let out for break then the necklace was surely gone forever. In the two weeks of winter break even a guilty person would forget about their minor crime. Then again, if they got careless and wore the necklace to school after we came back in the New Year, I'd have them! The only problem was that Kyle would know I'd lost the necklace by then and his heart would have already been broken.
