QUESTION FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION: How is C. doing?
Lara tried not to worry about how Caroline’s day was going. After all, there were plenty of other things to worry about: her gym teacher’s promise that they’d be running the mile by the end of the week. The fact that her creative writing teacher spent twenty minutes talking about her high expectations. The early beginnings of a headache bubbling just behind her temples.
Still, as she went about her own first day, she couldn’t help but wonder what Caroline was doing just a few hallways over.
Surely nothing too bad could have happened. If it did, Lara would know.
Except that she didn’t.
The very worst happened in fourth period, just after lunch. In the middle of an admittedly dull getting-to-know-you exercise, Lara’s language arts teacher came over to her table. “The principal wants to speak with you,” the teacher told Lara.
Lara gulped. Her first thought was that she could not possibly be in trouble after half a day of school. Surely.
Her second thought was that something must have happened to Caroline.
Lara ran to Principal Jenkins’s office with far more speed than her usual gym-class jog. By the time she arrived at the office, she was panting.
Caroline was there, looking perfectly miserable as she stared at her tablet screen.
“Hi,” she said to Lara.
“What happened?” Lara said. There was no time for hellos.
It became immediately clear that Caroline did not want to answer the question. Principal Jenkins sighed. “Maybe you’d better sit down.”
Lara sat.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you girls in earlier,” the principal began. “I was in meetings all morning and only just found out about this.”
“Can you just tell me what happened?” Lara blurted out.
“I’m getting to that.”
Principal Jenkins kept her voice level as she explained what had happened. Lara’s nerves made it difficult to catch every detail, but what she did hear was more than enough to send her into an epic rage. Apparently, some girl had destroyed Caroline’s sculpture. Lara would have liked to go charging into every sixth-grade classroom in the school. She wanted to find this girl and give her a proper scolding. But that didn’t seem like a very practical idea, at least not right now. It was definitely something for future consideration, though.
“Is she being punished?” Lara demanded once the talking appeared to be done.
The principal frowned. “Yes. But that’s not your concern. I did not invite you here to discuss another student’s discipline. I wanted you to help your sister.”
Right. That probably was the most important thing right now. Lara turned to Caroline. “Are you okay? Do we need to call Dad and Ima?”
“No,” Caroline said. It was the first word she’d said throughout the whole thing. “I’m okay. I just want to go back to class.”
Biting her lip, Lara looked over at her sister. She knew—she just knew—when Caroline was or was not okay. And she was pretty sure that Caroline was not okay.
Principal Jenkins sighed. Then she nodded. “If that’s what you want, then I will respect that. Although I should let you know that I have left a message on your father’s voicemail explaining the situation.”
Lara almost snorted. She wanted to say that there was no chance at all that Dad would listen to the message within the next two months. But Caroline elbowed her, and Lara knew that was her cue to keep quiet.
“I am sorry this happened on your first day,” Principal Jenkins said. “This is not the kind of behavior we approve of at Pinecone Arts Academy.”
Caroline squirmed in her seat. “Can I go now?”
Another loud-enough-to-hear sigh came from Principal Jenkins. “Yes, you may go. You too,” she said, looking at Lara.
Lara leaped to her feet. But she still wasn’t fast enough to catch up with Caroline.
Scowling, she returned to language arts class. As everyone else began to make posters about their summer reading, Lara pulled out her detective notebook. She didn’t even try to be sneaky.
PROBLEM: Caroline doesn’t want to talk with me. For some reason.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SECRET MESSAGES
By the end of her first day, Caroline could only feel anger. The problem began with Marissa, though it did not end there. Perhaps it wasn’t 100 percent reasonable of her, but Caroline was mad at Lara and Principal Jenkins, too. Why did everyone think she needed help, that she couldn’t handle her own problems?
After all, she’d been dealing with Marissas her entire life. Maybe Marissa was worse than most, but even so. Caroline could handle it on her own, thank you very much.
As soon as Lara met her after school, Caroline issued a warning: “Don’t tell Dad what happened.”
Just as Caroline expected, her sister frowned. “He should know! Besides, Principal Jenkins left a message on his phone.”
Caroline gave Lara a look that hopefully communicated “will you stop being ridiculous please.” Only maybe she didn’t need the please part. “Dad is not going to check his messages. Don’t you think he has enough to deal with right now?”
Lara made a face, but Caroline could tell her argument had worked. Good.
“I still think Dad and Ima should know,” Lara said after a pause. “But if you really don’t want me to tell . . .”
Her voice trailed off—a decidedly unusual occurrence for Lara. Caroline took advantage of the opportunity and typed at top speed. “Promise me you won’t tell.”
Although her lips were still in pout position, Lara nodded. “I won’t tell. But you have to promise me something, too.”
“Okay.” Caroline didn’t like it, but she was hardly in a position to refuse.
“Promise me that you’ll let me know if Marissa tries anything again.”
Caroline tapped the “yes” button and ignored the twinge in her stomach. Because, of course, she had no intention of telling Lara anything about Marissa.
It felt strange. For so long Lara had been Caroline’s person. But things were different now, weren’t they? Caroline wanted to be her own person, not
