Adventures of a New Year's Kiss: A Holiday Romantic Mystery (Funeral Crashing Young Adult Mystery Books) Read Free Page A

maybe Claire took it to sell it or something. Wait. Claire went out to the swimming pool before me and came back from the showers after me. Didn’t that take her off my suspect’s list? I thought about it. Technically, she could have stolen it when she went to grab her shampoo. I just didn’t see her when she did that. Still, Scarlett probably would have been there at that point. Most people didn’t obviously commit a crime in front of someone else, especially a stranger who might tattle on them. I thought about it. Okay. I’d put Claire last on my list of suspects and move Ariel up to spot number four.
    Ariel. What about her, Sarah, and Megan? Would one of them steal my necklace in front of the others? Yeah, I had no doubt that they would if they were so inclined. If one of them took it, I was probably out of luck too. They'd all have each other's backs against a foreign threat.
    Well, I was back at step zero or close to it. At least I was pretty sure that Claire was innocent. Maybe.
    I made it to Chemistry class just as the bell rang. It was the second class in a row where I was almost late. It was so unlike me. I usually made it to class early so that I could get in a few pages of whatever book I was reading. Kait was already sitting next to Kyle when I walked in. I felt a little disappointed. I enjoyed talking to Kyle alone before class started. Now I wouldn’t have the chance.
    At the thought of Kyle, I automatically put my hand to my throat feeling for my non-existent necklace. Well, maybe for today that was a good thing. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Kyle that it was missing. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. My shirt could in theory be covering it.
    I walked past Kyle, looking down. I knew that if my eyes met his that I’d have to tell him. I couldn't. Seriously, how could I do that? He’d be devastated. Giving that necklace to me meant so much to him. He’d think I didn’t care about it, that I'd been careless with it. That was worse than anything else because it so wasn’t true. I loved him so much that it hurt to think of him feeling any sort of pain because of me.
    I felt Kyle’s eyes on me as I walked past, willing me to look up. It took all of my willpower, but I didn’t. It also felt like I was walking in slow motion through gelatin. It took forever to get to my table. I almost collapsed into my chair when I got there. It had taken everything out of me to make the walk from the door to my chair. It was like I had relived that first day of Chemistry class over again, except a billion times more stressful.
    I looked up as our Chemistry teacher started to lecture. As I did so, out of the corner of my eye I caught Kyle looking at me. I couldn’t help myself. I looked back at him. He was frowning at me. Oh no. He knew. He knew I had lost his necklace. Fear shot through my chest. I wanted to put my hand to my throat again to feel for the necklace, but I didn’t dare. I had to tell him. I had to let him know what happened and that it didn’t mean that I didn’t love him. He had to know that I hadn’t meant to lose it.
    “Are you okay?” Kyle mouthed.
    Relief coursed through me. He didn't know. Of course he didn't know. Yet. I noticed that Kait had turned to look at me too. Oh no. I didn’t want to drag her into this. Yet.
    What should I do? My brain answered me without pause. I needed to tell Kyle. No matter how much I didn't want to, the cornerstone of a relationship was honesty and this was something important. I couldn’t lie to him about this even if all I wanted to do was protect his feelings. I had to tell him even though every inch of my body was screaming not to.
    I somehow managed to shake my head no to Kyle's question, answering that that I was not okay, even though my stomach twisted in knots at the mere thought of telling Kyle the truth. It was going to be hard, but I had to do it. The frown already on Kyle’s face deepened. I wondered for a second if he was going to come back to