CHAPTER 55

GIOVANNA SPOTTED THE bumper stickers Sunday morning when taking Snowball for a walk. It took her ten frantic minutes to pick and peel them off the CR-V. She destroyed the nails on both thumbs and pointer fingers in the process. But if her mom found the stickers, there’d be questions. And yelling. Which would end with Mom hitting the bottle or the bar. Giovanna looked at her nails. Robin Hood was right. She was a total loser.

She found some Goo Gone in the garage and used it to get rid of the sticky residue. Then she saw the neighbor’s car parked at the curb.

“No, no, no!”

Giovanna glanced at her house to be sure Mom wasn’t looking out the window. She swung open the back door of the CR-V and grabbed the snow scraper, hoping the plastic end would help remove the stickers faster.

She raced to the neighbor’s car —head down, shoulder’s hunched —like somehow that would keep her from being spotted. How stupid was that? Snowball bounced alongside her like this was a new game.

Giovanna scraped and ripped and tore at the bumper stickers. She didn’t worry about getting the whole thing off. She just wanted to be sure nobody would be able to read it.

This was Robin Hood. He’d threatened to expose them, hadn’t he? And likely Giovanna wasn’t the only target. She’d have to call and warn Alexa and Kat —if they hadn’t discovered it already.

Snowball yipped —making Giovanna jump. “Quiet, girl. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

She tossed the snow scraper back in the Honda and returned the Goo Gone to the garage shelf. She took a deep breath. She’d done it.

Her phone vibrated —and her stomach tightened when she saw Kat’s name on the display.

“Hello?”

“Shut up and listen.”

Giovanna did as she was told —like she always did. But something was different this time. She wasn’t afraid of Kat. Or Alexa. And she knew why.

Kat blabbed on about the bumper stickers. “Our neighbor actually rang our doorbell to tell us —the nosy little snitch. My mom is freaking out —ranting about who would dare say something like that about her girl.”

Actually, Giovanna would have liked to have seen that —from a safe distance. Did Kat’s mom know what her daughter was really like —or was she one of those parents who live in total denial, thinking their kids do no wrong?

“Others were hit too,” Kat said. “They’ve posted pictures of it and everything.”

“Who else?”

“Alexa —can you believe it? Zachary Wolfe. Skirt,” Kat said. “Mitch Zattora. Probably lots more.”

Like me. Giovanna almost said it. Would Kat even care enough to ask?

“My mom says she’s going to the principal tomorrow morning. She’s on the hunt to find out who did this.”

No surprise there. “It had to be Robin Hood.”

“Duh. Which is why we need to find out who Robin Hood really is.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“We’ll offer a reward —and make him pay.”

Strangely, whatever anger Giovanna had for Robin Hood melted away. He had guts —enough to nail Kat and Alexa and some of the guys. Too bad Giovanna was one of the targets, but it was almost worth it to see Kat and Alexa squirm for once.

“Now listen,” Kat said. “If anyone asks, and I mean anyone, you have no idea why anybody would do such a nasty thing to us —right? You keep your mouth shut.”

Giovanna clenched her jaw. Of course. Why would Kat want anyone to know how vicious she really was?

“Giovanna? Are you getting this?”

So much for Kat wanting her to shut up. “Got it. But it won’t be hard to connect the dots. Somebody is going to mention Maggie’s site. Too many kids know about —”

“Alexa’s on it. The site should already be gone. Nobody will know.”

“Anything else?” Like, Hey, Giovanna, I was concerned maybe you got hit too. Are you okay?

“Just don’t mess this up —understand?”

How could Giovanna have even thought Kat would care enough to ask? “Got it.” Her own voice sounded strangely detached. Amazingly calm.

“Good. And don’t worry. We’ll skate right through this without breaking a nail.”

Really? Really? Did Kat truly believe that? Giovanna looked at her own messed-up nails. “There’s always consequences, Kat.” Did Giovanna just say that?

“Like a payday?” Kat laughed in that I-think-you’re-so-stupid kind of way. “Not if we do this right.”

Which was why Giovanna needed to expose them. People needed to know what Kat and Alexa were capable of. Needed to know how they hurt others. There absolutely needed to be a payday.

A day of reckoning.