THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3: 3 DAYS UNTIL VANTAGE POINT
Dace hands me a blue and white polka dot Kate Spade cosmetics bag on Thursday morning.
“What’s this?” It’s filled with unopened makeup— mascara, two eyeliners, three lipglosses, a creamy M.A.C blush Dace swears by, and a couple of nail polishes.
“Not that you need it, but just a little something for tonight. Just because.”
I hug her tight. “Love you.” I put the bag in my locker, and my phone buzzes in my back pocket.
Mom: Dace’s mom is trying to reach her. Tell her to answer her phone.
I show the phone to Dace. She groans. “Someone stole my mom’s iPad,” Dace says. “What? Are you sure?”
“Positive. Vivs reamed me out this morning when she couldn’t find it. I told her I haven’t seen it but she says that it was on her nightstand when they left for Vegas. She thinks I brought it to school—so I went with that, to buy some time, but I don’t even know why, because I haven’t touched the thing. I don’t know what I’m going to do. She’s going to kill me if I don’t get it back from whoever stole it.”
“Who would steal it?”
“Well, someone who was in the house. We’ve got to figure out who that chick was that was making out with Cole. It’s got to be her.”
“I guess . . .” I say. “But what about Cole or Asher, if they were in the house?”
“Well, if we’re going down the boytoy route, what about Ben . . .” she says, warningly.
“But he was with me the whole time,” I say, feeling a strange defensiveness.
“Fuck.”
“—tional,” I say out of habit.
She glares at me. “I wish we knew who the girl was. That’s it, I’m calling him.” She punches Cole’s number into her phone. “Of course, no answer. Screening my calls. Ugh. Ass.”
“—phixiation.”
“Really not in the mood, Pippa.”
“Sorry. Maybe his phone’s off. He could be in class.”
Dace groans. “Blonde hair . . . let’s think.” “Caitlyn. Elaine. Jade. Vanessa,” I say.
Dace rattles off a few more: “Lauren. Emi.”
“I think we need to make a list.” I grab a binder from my locker and flip to the back where there are blank pages.
IPAD THEFT SUSPECTS
Ben (but he was with me the whole time)
Cole (too preoccupied with girl he was with?) Random girl who hooked up with Cole (Need to narrow down list to fewer than 17 possible blondes)
Gemma (no way—we’ve been friends with Gemma since sixth grade)
Emma (see “Gemma”)
Asher (doesn’t make sense since he doesn’t go to Spalding, so not connected to other stolen items)
Pippa (obviously not)
Dace (see “Pippa”)
“This is why we made the no-one-gets-in-the- house rule,” Dace groans. “At least we’ve got a short list, I guess.”
“Of no one who did it. Which means it’s probably someone we didn’t know who got in.”
“But how?”
“Same way Cole and that girl got in.” I shrug. “Did we leave a door open? Did someone find the spare key?”
Dace leans back against her locker. “What are we going to do?”
“Hall Pass comes out tomorrow. You can show your mom that there’s been a bunch of thefts, espe- cially of electronics, and then she’ll know it’s not really your fault. It was circumstantial,” I offer, but she shakes her head.
YOU ARE READING
The Rule of Thirds
Teen FictionSixteen-year-old Pippa Greene never goes anywhere without her camera. She and her best friend/supermodel-in-training Dace long ago mapped out their life plan: Pippa will be the noted fashion photographer, and Dace the cover girl. But ever since last...
