by Milda Harris
"Come on, Troy," Ariel said, sliding out of the booth.
"I'm still hungry," Troy said. "Can I meet you after I eat?"
"Fine," Ariel said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever."
Megan and Sarah got out of the booth too.
"Mind if I come?" Claire asked getting up too. Maybe her date with Dave wasn't going so well. I secretly felt bad for that since I'd helped set it up.
"Sure," Megan said.
Ariel didn't say anything. She was already on her way out of the restaurant. Kait and I had to act quickly. I hoped Kyle didn't mind what I was about to do.
"Kyle, I'm going to go with them," I said.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Kyle asked. "We can look at the booths, just two of us."
That about killed me. That was the New Year's Eve that I had wanted more than anything. Since I'd gotten myself into this craziness, though, I had to follow it to its conclusion. "No. It's okay. I'll text you in a little bit to meet up."
Kyle nodded. Kait was telling Ethan the same thing. She kissed Ethan on the lips and told him that she'd find him before midnight. That made me a little bit nervous. I was hoping I'd be back to Kyle in like twenty minutes, well before midnight.
By the time Kait and I made it outside, I was worried that we had lost them. Then I saw Ariel's pink coat walking toward the booths. Kait and I hurried after it.
"How did you know that Ariel would react like that?" I asked wishing that my heels weren't so tall. I felt like I was going to trip, especially since we were walking fast.
Kait shrugged. "From being her ex-best friend. Ariel likes being the experienced one. I knew she'd hate it if I outted her. I was pretty sure she hadn't gotten that New Year's kiss she always wanted from something her great aunt said, so I took advantage. I knew she wouldn't want Troy to know."
"It was kind of mean," I said honestly.
"No meaner than she's been to me," Kait said and then sighed. "Besides, I had to say something. It was the only thing I could thing of to say that I knew would work. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's not like I ruined her reputation. It's just a New Year's kiss. I'm sure she's already gone way further than that. Besides, Ariel will have her kiss by the end of the night. Embarrassment gone."
I nodded. Still, I thought Kait rationalized it a little too much. I was pretty sure she was upset about it even if she had instigated it. We walked in silence for the next couple of minutes both lost in our own thoughts.
Just before we caught up to them, Ariel and Sarah walked off in the direction of the booths while Megan and Claire walked off toward the stage where the band was playing. I didn't know Megan and Claire were friends. Then again, maybe they just preferred music to knick-knacks.
Kait and I would have to split up. Who should I follow? I looked between the two groups of suspects. I had no idea which one of the four was guilty. I did know one thing, though. I wanted to keep Kait from getting into another fight with Ariel and ruining her first New Year's with Ethan.
"I'll go with Ariel and Sarah," I said.
"Okay, we'll start with them," Kait started to say.
"No. We're running out of time. We have to split up," I said. "I have to be back to Kyle well before midnight."
Kait looked between the groups. She knew I was right. "Fine. But are you sure you want to take on Ariel?"
"I'll be fine," I said. I didn't mind Ariel so much. It was the talking and interrogating part that I didn't like.
"Okay," Kait nodded. "Just text me later, so that we can meet up and compare notes. Definitely let me know if you need help. Okay?"
"Sure," I said. "You text me too if anything's up."
Kait nodded and walked after Claire and Megan. I walked after Ariel and Sarah, who had just walked into a booth. I had a feeling that they were not going to be too happy to see me. I hoped Kait had a better reception from Claire and Megan.
Sarah and Ariel were already absorbed in shopping by the time I walked into the booth. They were picking up jewelry and seeing how it might look on them. I had to admit; the jewelry in the booth was really pretty. Still, it was nothing compared to the necklace Kyle had bought me.
I sidled up to Sarah. I took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare myself to make conversation, "So, what do you think of this jewelry?"
Sarah looked up at me in surprise, but she didn't say anything. "It's creative. I like the swirls in this one, but it's not really my style. It's too traditional."
I wanted to ask Sarah what her style of jewelry was, but then I looked at what she was wearing. She went for a more funky style, maybe even a little antique-y. Truthfully, I knew almost nothing about jewelry. Would my necklace be in Sarah's range of style?
"Yeah, this stuff isn't really my thing either," I said and that was true, although I wasn't sure that I exactly had a jewelry style.
"Oh, hey, did you ever find your necklace?" Sarah asked.
I was surprised she brought it up. Ariel was watching us. She looked away when I glanced at her and looked back down at a bracelet she was holding.
"No," I said to Sarah. "But I'm still hoping it turns up."
"Really? That's weird." Sarah shrugged. "Did you check your locker again?"
"Yeah. It's not there," I said. "I tore it apart a billion times just to make sure."
Sarah frowned, but didn't say anything else.
I shrugged, "People don't turn that sort of stuff in."
Sarah nodded.
"Let's go to the next booth," Ariel walked up to Sarah, ignoring me.
Sarah looked conflicted, but Ariel grabbed her arm and pulled her along. Even though I got the very clear impression that Ariel was trying to ditch me, I followed them. I still had to talk to Ariel. I wasn't looking forward to it especially if she was already being like this toward me. I wondered how Kait was doing. I pulled out my phone and sent her a quick text. Sarah seems innocent enough. Any luck?
A moment later my phone beeped. Megan is vapid and a klutz, but I don't think she's a thief. She just spilled hot chocolate all over me when she was trying to dance to a song. Onto Claire.
Oh no! Poor Kait. I hoped her coat caught most of the hot chocolate and not her dress. The way things were going her wardrobe was not going to make it through the night. I followed Sarah and Ariel to the next booth. This one had all sorts of knitted items. There were baby blankets, hats, scarves, booties, and socks. I actually couldn't imagine Ariel or Sarah wearing any of this stuff, but they stopped to look at it anyway. Ariel was continuing to ignore me, but Sarah kept looking back at me. I wasn't sure how to approach this. I looked at my phone. Time was ticking. It was an hour and a half until midnight.
"Hey, Ariel. Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked.
Ariel put down a pair of striped socks she was looking at and turned to look at me. It was not a friendly look. "No. I'm trying to enjoy my night. If you and Kait could just go away that would help immensely."
"Sorry, but I need to talk to you," I said and then forced myself to add. "Now. Then I'll go away."
Sarah seemed shocked that I was being demanding, but Ariel just paused to study me. "Interesting. Sarah, I'll meet you back here in a couple of minutes."
Sarah nodded. Ariel turned and walked outside the booth without waiting to see if I would follow her. I did follow her, though, and as soon as we were out of earshot of Sarah, she spun around to face me.
"What do you want?" Ariel asked.
My mind went blank.
"I do not want to talk about Kait," Ariel said. "I want to make that clear. You and I will never..."
"No," I interrupted Ariel. "I don't want to talk about Kait either. I just want to know if you saw anyone take my necklace in gym class."
"What?" Ariel asked.
I told her the story as quickly as I could because Ariel seemed to lose interest in it after the first thirty seconds of the story.
"I don't know anything about it," Ariel said.
"Are you sure?" I studied her. She seemed normal enough
. Her eye didn't twitch or anything at least.
"Positive," Ariel said. "Is that all?"
"Yes," I said.
"Bye then," Ariel spun around and left me standing in the dark all by myself. Alrighty. That got me nowhere. I pulled out my phone to text Kait again. Any luck? I don't think Ariel did it either.
Kait texted back. Not good. I'm not getting a guilty vibe from Claire at all either.
What did we do now? None of our suspects seemed guilty. It was only a little over an hour to midnight. So much for my plan of wrapping up the mystery early so that Kyle and I could get onto the romance of the evening. I wasn't even spending any time with him. He was off talking to Ethan, Troy, and the guys as I continued to investigate. I hoped he was having more fun than I was.
I texted Kait. Let's switch.
It was the only thing I could think of to do. Maybe Kait was missing something or maybe I was the one not seeing an important clue. One of these girls had to know what happened to my necklace. If they didn't and it wasn't one of them, where did I even start looking at that point? I really didn't think the janitor did it.
Kait and I texted our locations to each other. I followed Kait's instructions and found Claire and Megan fifteen minutes later. I had to find them in the crowd watching the band and it took a little while. I stood and listened to the music alone for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. The band actually wasn't bad. They were playing cover songs everyone knew the words to so there were quite a few people singing along including Claire and Megan.
I waited until the band finished their song before walking up to Claire.
"It's cold," I said to her.
At first I wondered if Claire heard me over the noise of the crowd, but then she looked at me. "Yeah, it is cold."
That wasn't much of a start. I hated small talk. Maybe I could be straightforward with her too. I looked at my phone. Fifty minutes to midnight. If I didn't find this necklace tonight, it was really gone for good. It would be a new year and I should let my necklace go along with the old year into the past.
I sighed. This was hard. Okay. Even though being direct hadn't garnered me any clues from Sarah or Ariel, it was the only way I could think of to get any information about my necklace. Maybe Kait was better at subtle. I just wanted to get this over with.
"Claire, I lost a necklace in gym class. Did you see anything?" I asked.
Claire turned around to face me this time. "What?"
"Did you see my necklace in gym class?" I asked again.
Claire frowned, "No. Why?"
"I think someone stole it," I said.
"Seriously?" Claire asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Well, it wasn't me," Claire said.
I felt a little taken aback. "I wasn't accusing you."
"Then why were you asking me?" Claire said.
"I'm trying to find out who took it," I said.
"On New Year's Eve? Wait. Hold on. Is that why Dave asked me out? Does he know about this? I knew it was weird. Did you set me up?" Claire asked. "Wait. Is Kait in on this too?"
I didn't know what to say, but my look must have spoken volumes because realization washed over Claire's face. "Okay. Wow. You did. I need to go and have a chat with Dave now."
"Uh, Claire, please don't..." I started, but Claire walked away from me. I wondered if I should go after her, but I wasn't sure what I could do. Poor Dave.
"Looks like someone's going to have a fight," Megan leaned toward me. "Have you talked to Sarah?"
"What?" Too much was happening at the same time. "Yes. Why?"
Megan shrugged. "Just talk to Sarah."
Then she danced away from me singing along to the song with the band. Okay. What did that mean? I thought Megan and Sarah were friends. Why was Megan pointing at her all of a sudden? And what did I do about it?
I texted Kait. Can we switch again?
I could have had Kait ask Sarah about the necklace, but I didn't want to. If Sarah stole it, I wanted to be the one to confront her. It wasn't like me, but I wasn't the normal me at the moment. I was really getting mad about my necklace and I wanted to tell off the person that stole it.
Kait texted back. Already?
Yes. I didn't elaborate.
It took Kait a moment to respond. Okay.
Kait and I relayed directions to each other again. I walked back to a booth next to the one we had been at before. Now Ariel and Sarah were looking at hats. Kait was gone. Good. I felt a little nervous doing what I was about to do in front of her.
"Hey, Sarah," I said.
Sarah turned to look at me. "What?"
Ariel turned to look at me too. "Can you and Kait just leave us alone already? Are you guys stalking us or something?"
I ignored Ariel and focused on Sarah, "Where's my necklace?"
"Huh?" Sarah looked confused. "I don't have your necklace."
"I heard you do," I said.
"Well, I don't," Sarah said.
"You're lying," I prodded and I was suddenly sure that she was. Her eyes were doing a crinkling thing. It was weird.
"What?" Sarah asked like she was appalled that I dare question what she said.
"Tell me the truth," I said feeling a little braver. I was definitely right. Maybe there was something to the feeling you got when you solved a case.
"Just go away," Ariel said and stepped between Sarah and me, breaking our intense moment.
I moved around Ariel and kept staring at Sarah. She had to crack under the pressure. The problem was that Ariel was about to ruin it.
Sarah glanced away from me and at Ariel. "She thinks I stole her necklace. I didn't. I put it back..."
My jaw dropped. I had to pounce on this. ASAP. Think of words, think of words, think of words!
"You put it back?" I repeated as a question.
Sarah looked at me and I could see it in her eyes. She knew she was caught. She still didn't say anything.
"Sarah, you just admitted that you took it," I said.
Sarah frowned. "Well, except that I don't have it anymore. I gave it back."
"Well, I don't have it either so tell me what happened. Exactly," I said suddenly feeling like I was talking to a pouty child.
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest. Yes, she was definitely acting like one of the seven year olds I babysat when she'd been caught doing something that she shouldn't have been doing. I waited.
"Did Megan tell you?" Sarah asked and then didn't wait for me to answer. "She did, didn't she? I so did not hit on her date at the restaurant. I am so going to tell her off when I find her..."
"Sarah. My necklace," I reminded her.
Sarah gave in, "Fine. I found it on the floor. I didn't know it was yours, so I picked it up. I thought it was really pretty and I just thought that if someone asked about it then I'd give it back. If they didn't, it was finder's keepers. And then you were talking about it in English. I didn't want to tell you that I had it, so I snuck it into your locker when you left for the pool during gym the next day."
"But it wasn't in my locker," I said.
"Well, are you sure it didn't catch onto your clothes or something? I definitely put it in your locker," Sarah said.
Now I felt really upset. That was the day that I rushed out of gym to the counseling center. Was it possible that the necklace had caught onto my clothes? If it did, had it fallen off somewhere in school? I'd never find it now.
Tears started falling from my eyes.
"I have it," A voice said.
"What?" I asked.
"I have it," Ariel repeated looking at me.
"Wait," I wiped at my face, trying to stop the tears from flowing. My brain was having problems comprehending what was going on now. I had asked Ariel about it already and she had point blank lied to me. "So, you're the one who took it? But..."
"Well, I didn't take it exactly," Ariel said. "I found it in my locker. I thought it was for me. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was just surprised. I needed to think about it.
I really thought it was a gift."
"Did I put it in the wrong locker?" Sarah asked.
"Duh," Ariel said.
"Who exactly did you think put the necklace in your locker?" I was having trouble believing Ariel's story.
Ariel shrugged, "A secret admirer."
"Who snuck into the girl's locker room?" I asked.
"If they were madly in love with me, sure, why not?" Ariel said.
"It would make more sense that your admirer was one of the girls in our gym class then," I said.
Ariel shrugged. "I'm not going to turn away admirers bearing nice jewelry."
"Well, it wasn't from your secret admirer. There wasn't a note attached or anything, right?" I said.
"It's the gift that counts," Ariel said. "Words mean nothing most of the time."
I shook my head. It was time for me to stop debating with Ariel. I could definitely see why Ariel frustrated Kait so much. "Can you give my necklace back to me?"
"Yeah," Ariel said. "Sure."
"When?" I asked after Ariel didn't say anything else. I didn't want her to renege on giving it back to me.
"Um. How about on Monday when we come back after break," Ariel said. "I'll give you the necklace in gym. I promise."
"Okay," I said and relief flooded through me.
Things could finally go back to normal. I could return to being the quiet girl who reads books and blends into the wall unless she was with her boyfriend. Then I was the center of his world and he was the center of mine. I really couldn't wait for normal to return.
"You took it?" My happy bubble was broken as Ariel and I both spun around to find Kait gaping at us.
Ariel actually looked a little pale all of a sudden, but her voice came out crystal clear. "Well, not exactly and we already settled it. Suzie and I are cool."
I wasn't going to debate Ariel again. If she gave my necklace back, all was well anyway. Plus I wanted to diffuse the situation. Kait looked angry.
"Kait, how did you even..." I started to ask.
"I knew you must have found something out, so I waited," Kait said.
"Oh," I said. "Well, it's fine. Really. Ariel's right. Things are cool."
"Things are so not cool," Kait said and then turned to Ariel. "How could you do this to Suzie, Ariel? Is it because she's my friend?"
