Chapter Eight

“HI-YA, BOYS,” LAURA SAID.

My stomach suddenly dropped and I lost my appetite. Laura, on the other hand, pulled at her earring playfully, as if Dean had invited her to sit with us too. Manipulation was the name of the game, and if that meant betraying her best friend, Laura would do so. I’d seen it before—heck, I had even been a part of it. River West was like a regular daytime soap opera, yet maybe without the evil twins. Dean kindly introduced Greg to Laura. I rolled my eyes.

I did my best not to include Dean in my cases, although sometimes I could really use his perspective. Then his original advice flashed in my head—“Just the facts.” But in this situation, “just the facts” had torn someone’s heart in half. Forget soap operas—this was some crazy reality TV show where I had the unique specifics the contestants didn’t know about. Like how Laura knew Greg “lies.” Yeah, reading Greg’s mind might take a few seconds, but it would be difficult not knowing what I was looking for. Dean’s advice entered my thoughts a second time. I decided to take myself out of the equation physically. I didn’t need any further involvement in this. The job was done.

Rising to my feet, I interrupted Dean, who was graciously giving Laura his attention, lightly punched his shoulder, and said, “Later.”

He knew it meant more; Dean and I were cool like that, although I still couldn’t shake the feeling he might have betrayed me to Kate. I emptied the contents of my tray in the trash and exited the lunchroom. I needed some air.

***

WITH THE SEASONS TURNING, the weather was fairly mild. A light breeze hit me as I stepped out onto the school’s commons. I dug my hands into my pockets and took a deep breath. I was tired, but my brain felt like it had been electrocuted by about a million thoughts and questions. The rush of air helped a few of them drift away, but it didn’t stop someone from asking a new one.

“So are you reconsidering my offer?” Ahead of me, Kate sat on a stone bench, her black notebook open and pen poised. For an insane second, I considered unloading everything to her. She was a girl; she could probably handle all this drama better than I could, right?

I gave a huff, saying, “It’s going to cost you.”

She let a cute smile spread across her face. I wouldn’t be lying if I told you she could have used those as payment.

“Oh, come on, we’re old friends. Can’t I start a tab with you or something?” Kate asked.

I sat down next to her on the bench. “So, what’s up? You’ve got my full attention.”

Did I mention she didn’t let up for a second?

Kate’s light-blue eyes brightened against the dark outline of mascara around them. For a moment, I had the frightening thought that she had just jumped inside my head and was running around, mining it for secrets. She broke our staring match and curled her hair around her ear. She truly was ready to listen, but this wasn’t investigative Kate—it was the friend Kate. Maybe I was being too hard on her. Maybe she did just want to listen.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said, turning cynical.

“And why not?” she said, taken aback. Kate, of all people, would probably believe that I could read minds, but then again, I’d for sure make the front page of the Weekly Beak, not to mention a spotlight post on her blog. My life would be ruined.

I sat there, silent. I wanted to read her mind so badly, find out what Dean had told her, but something held me back. I didn’t want to cheat Kate that way; I wanted to give her a chance to tell me in her own words. As friends, I felt I owed her at least that much.

“What did Dean tell you?” I asked.

“Wait a minute now—I thought I was interviewing you,” she said, shocked. “Not the other way around.”

I let my own smile slip. I suddenly felt defenseless with Kate. Maybe I could have her promise not to tell anyone, just as I did with Dean—or so I thought. I argued with myself. I had to remember that she still hadn’t revealed her hand to me.

“How about this,” I said. “I’ll tell you about Stephanie and you tell me what Dean told you about me.”

I watched her ponder the deal. Kate was cute in her own nerdy, sci-fi way. She hadn’t ever dated much, and the only reason she went to the school dances was to cover them for the newspaper. Kate didn’t seem to mind, though; she was like Lois Lane on a 5-Hour Energy drink.

“Okay, deal,” she said. “But you have to go first.”

I figured she’d say that and had already planned to just leave out the part where I read minds, of course. I could easily explain to Kate the situation between the girls. I started with Stephanie’s question and began to explain her relationship with Laura.

“Whoa, pause it right there. I don’t need the prequel, Lucas.” Kate placed her hand on mine. Her skin was soft, a feeling I didn’t expect but didn’t hate.

“I know about the thing Laura and Stephanie call a BFF relationship. Tell me what happened to Stephanie.”

I cocked my head to the side and put on an “I’m getting to it” look, yet didn’t move enough to disturb her hand on mine. She moved it anyway, ready to take notes.

“As I was saying, Stephanie wanted to know who Laura was asking to the Fall Ball.” I figured I’d be blunt with this next part. “I found out it was Greg Wilkins.”

Kate cut me off again. “How did you find that out?” A coy expression crossed her face.

I needed to throw Kate off, give her a twist. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that somehow Laura knows that Greg lies,” I said.

“I knew it! Of course, the lying part is an interesting side note, but I knew that was the reason Stephanie lost it!” She flipped back some pages in her notebook, her thoughts in a tizzy.

“What is it about girls and new guys here?” she said, looking back at me.

I let out an agreeing laugh. “I know, right? I was thinking the same thing.” An awkward moment floated between us. I quickly caught it and pushed it aside. “Well, I…I told Stephanie, and I guess, as you saw, she just flipped out in history class.”

“Right, because she’s truly in love with him and Laura just wants to one-up her,” Kate said. “Some best friend she is.”

“Yeah,” I added.

“Wait. You told Stephanie that Greg lies?” Investigation Kate asked.

I was caught off guard a bit. “What? Uh, no, I didn’t tell her that part. I still haven’t figured that out yet.”

Kate shot me a look as if an idea had just sparked in her mind.

“Nolan, you know, you and I would make an amazing investigative team,” she said, moving closer to me.

I closed my eyes and blew out a deep breath, saying, “So you’ve told me before.” I didn’t want Kate to try to change the subject on me, so I kept talking. “Okay, so now it’s your turn. What did Dean tell you?”

Kate let her dimples show as if she had forgotten her part of the deal. But suddenly the dimples faded as her gaze looked past me.

Turning my head, I followed Kate’s line of sight. Coming toward us with two other goons was Trent.