Chapter 1
Sophia caught the chain at the back of my neck just as I reached the school steps.
“Give it back.”
She held the necklace above her head, smiling while I tried to reach it. A few students stopped. Then a few more.
“What’s the hurry, Mia?” she asked. “Afraid someone will look closely?”
The small diamond rested against her palm. It was the only thing I had brought from home that morning without worrying it might get scratched.
“My mother gave me that. Please.”
Sophia examined it.
“Your mother? The janitor?”
My face burned.
“Leave her out of this.”
For eleven years, Mrs. Reyes had worked at Bellmont Academy cleaning rooms after everyone went home. She had also packed my lunches, sat beside me when I was sick, and taught me how to braid my hair. I called her Mom.
Sophia knew exactly how much it hurt when she spoke about her that way.
“If this is real,” Sophia said, “where did she get it? Or was it a gift from that old man in the black SUV?”
The photograph had been passed around school for days. It showed me getting into a car outside a downtown office. Nobody who shared it had asked why I was there.
“That’s private.”
“Funny how everything about you is private.”
I reached for the necklace. Sophia drew her hand back and called to the students gathering around us.
“Mia says this diamond is real.”
“It is,” I said.
“Then you stole it.”
“I didn’t.”
Sophia glanced at my worn school bag and the bike chained beside the steps.
“You expect us to believe you own something like this?”
She dropped the necklace.
I bent to catch it, but her shoe came down over the chain. A sharp sound rose from beneath the sole.
“Move your foot.”
She leaned closer. “Make me.”
I pushed myself up to reach around her. Sophia stepped back suddenly, and I lost my balance. My hands struck the pavement.
Someone laughed.
“Logan,” I said when I saw him at the edge of the crowd. “Please tell her to give it back.”
He had walked me home the night before. He had said he loved me. I held on to that memory while he looked from me to Sophia.
“Is it stolen?” he asked.
My breath caught.
“No.”
“Then tell them who owns the SUV.”
“You know I can’t talk about him yet.”
Logan’s expression hardened.
“That’s what you always say.”
I reached toward him. “You know me.”
He pulled away. My hand brushed his expensive sneaker.
“Watch it,” he snapped.
“I was trying to stand up.”
“You have any idea what these cost?”
He kicked my hand away from his shoe. The movement was quick, but everyone saw it. I sat back on the pavement, stunned.
“They’re just shoes,” I whispered.
“Of course you’d say that.”
Sophia slipped her arm through his.
“You didn’t tell her?” she asked.
“Tell me what?” I looked at Logan.
He stared past me. “Sophia and I have been together for three weeks.”
The noise around us faded.
“You told me you loved me last night.”
“I thought you understood we weren’t serious.”
I looked at his face, searching for a sign that he was ashamed.
“What did I misunderstand?”
He glanced toward Sophia, then down at me.
“I was never going to build a future with a janitor’s daughter.”
I stood slowly. My hand ached, but I kept it at my side.
Sophia turned to a passing student. “Get the principal. Tell him Mia stole a diamond.”
Principal Walsh came out minutes later. Sophia spoke first, pointing to the necklace beneath her shoe. Logan backed up her story.
I told him Sophia had torn it from my neck and stepped on it. I told him Logan had kicked me.
Mr. Walsh looked past me toward the curb. A black SUV had stopped there. Mr. Bennett stepped out and hurried toward us.
The principal’s face changed.
“Miss Carter,” he said to me. “I’m so sorry. Please let us make this right.”
Sophia gave a short laugh. “You’re apologizing to her?”
I didn’t answer. I crouched and lifted the necklace from the pavement. Its clasp was broken. One tiny stone was missing.
My mother had worn it in the last photograph taken of us together.
Mr. Bennett stopped beside me.
“Would you like me to bring the car around?” he asked.
“I want to go home.”
“I’ll arrange it.”
I closed my fingers around the broken chain.
“Get my father’s helicopter ready. Bring it here. Tell him what happened to Mom’s necklace.”
Mr. Bennett’s eyes went to my hand.
“Who damaged it?”
“I’ll tell him when he arrives.”
Sophia laughed again. Logan joined her, though he sounded less certain.
I looked at them both.
“I hope you’re still laughing in ten minutes.”
The sound came before anyone saw it. A low beat rolled across the courtyard and grew loud enough to swallow every voice. Students turned toward the athletic field.
May you like
As the helicopter descended, Mr. Bennett stepped closer.
“Miss Carter,” he said, “your father is here.”
