“Haley,” I said, “you stopped Stacey from writing her report, and made her mother drive her all the way to my house, and then here.” My voice rose angrily. “All this time Matt’s been waiting for Nicky to bring over the lizard book because he thought I called him. Now it’s late. Your parents are going to have to get it when they come in. I don’t understand. Why did you do it?”

“You’re crazy, Claudia,” Haley replied coolly. “I told you Matt needed a book from Nicky and he wanted you to remind him to bring it over.”

Haley was really good at this. Her lie was close enough to the truth to give me a moment of doubt. Had I heard her wrong? No. I was sure I hadn’t.

Matt tugged at the hem of my shirt. On a card he’d written the name Nicky Pike. I didn’t want to let Haley get away, but I had to be fair to Matt. I made a gesture, as if I were talking on the phone, and went to the kitchen to call Nicky. Mrs. Pike answered. She didn’t know what book I meant, and Mr. Pike had taken Nicky and the other kids to a movie. She’d ask him to call when they returned.

I did my best to explain this to Matt. A look of disappointment swept across his face and I felt terrible. He punched a fist into the palm of his other hand. Although he sometimes has difficulty communicating, at that moment I understood him loud and clear. He was totally frustrated with the confusion of having been misunderstood.

Not exactly misunderstood, though. Haley had understood him perfectly. I was pretty sure of that. She’d just chosen to lie to me again.

I charged back into the living room and found Haley on the couch again with her magazine. I took it from her hands. “Give that back!” she shouted, jumping to her feet.

“Not until you tell me why you’re acting this way,” I demanded.

“I’m not acting any way!”

The sound of jangling keys distracted us all. We turned toward Mr. and Mrs. Braddock, who’d come in together. They looked from Matt to Haley to me with darting eyes.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Haley blurted out, not even waiting to be blamed. “Claudia invited Stacey over so they could hang out and she forgot to call Nicky about the lizard book like I told her Matt asked her to. Matt got upset. And Claudia said that if I didn’t cover up for her, she’d tell you I’d lied to her and then I’d get into trouble.”

My jaw dropped. I had to hand it to her — she was a fast thinker. I couldn’t have thought up a lie that fast, even if I’d wanted to.

“That … that’s not true,” I said, stunned. I then explained what had actually happened. As I talked, I worried that Mr. and Mrs. Braddock might not believe me. They were still standing by the door, their coats on, wearing serious but unreadable expressions.

I also realized that there I was, telling on Haley. Right in front of her. The scene was playing beautifully into Haley’s view of things. Me, the BSC spy, reporting on her.

I couldn’t let her get away with this, though. She’d maneuvered me into a terrible position.

Mrs. Braddock took off her coat and hung it up. “Claudia, can I talk to you privately in the kitchen?” she requested.

My heart fluttered with anxiety. Did this mean she didn’t believe me? That she believed Haley? It would be so embarrassing if she did. Embarrassing and unfair and depressing.

Mrs. Braddock would call the other BSC clients. None of them would want me again as a sitter. They might even stop using the BSC altogether. All because of Haley’s lie …

Mrs. Braddock pulled out a chair for herself and I did the same. My heart was pounding. Why did we have to talk privately?

“First, let me say that I don’t believe Haley’s story for a minute,” she began.

What a relief! My heart slowed to normal.

“Her father and I don’t know what’s going on with her,” Mrs. Braddock continued. “Maybe it’s some surge of preadolescent rebellion, although she seems pretty young for that. We’re completely bewildered, frankly. But it does seem — for whatever reason — that she behaves her worst when you’re around. We have no idea why.”

“I don’t either,” I said. “She and I used to get along great.”

“I know you did. And I know that you’re a good-hearted and trustworthy sitter. But my husband and I were discussing this on the way home, and we think it might be best if we use another sitter for the time being.”

I knew she was trying to be as nice as she possibly could. Still, her words hurt.

For whatever reason, the Braddocks didn’t want me to sit for their kids anymore. I was being pushed away. Fired. Rejected.

In my logical mind, I could understand their reasoning. I even knew I wasn’t being blamed for Haley’s lies.

But inside, it just felt so wrong. Not only that, if I didn’t see Haley anymore, I’d never straighten out the problem between us. What had happened to the person Haley used to be?

As I pushed back the kitchen chair and stood up, a scary thought came to me: What if that Haley was gone forever?