Just then the door opened and Chris came in, holding a package of gummy bears and beaming at me. I heard Joel snicker from down the aisle. As Chris sat down, he offered them to me.
“Want some?” he asked.
I turned and smiled politely at him. “No, thanks. I’m full.” I felt Kira look at me, but by the time I glanced over, she was snuggled next to Joel with her head on his shoulder.
There was a small pang in my back, but I thought it away and tried to focus on the movie. I was tired of being insignificant. I wanted some power back. Or at least, whatever power I was willing to take.
(CODE PINK) SOS INTER-KITTEN COMMUNICATION
Dear Smitten Kittens,
This is a reminder that we are on high alert. You should not, in any way, try to contact the copy-Kitten without SOS approval. Even for emotional support.
Any Kitten found to be consorting with the enemy will face suspension.
If you have any questions, please use the Code Pink hotline at 555-0101. Do NOT make any communications on the SOS database or e-mail lines.
Keep smiling,
Leona ☺
CHAPTER THRITEEN
THE NEXT NIGHT THE SMITTEN KITTENS AND I were parked in the back lot of the school, working on a lead. The evening was getting dark, but the moon was full, giving us just enough light to see without night vision.
“Pass the Cheez Doodles,” Leona called to me from the backseat.
“Watch the upholstery,” Kira snapped at her as I passed along the bag. Kira had finally gotten her first car this summer after her mom won a disability settlement with the state. She was stoked.
Izzie sniffled from the backseat. My eyes weakened as I looked back at her. Since the movies, she’d been inconsolable. Apparently while we were there, Sam had returned all of her stuff to her grandparents’ house, including the mixed CD she’d made him. Worse than that, he wouldn’t take her calls or e-mails. “Hey,” I said. “You hanging in there?”
“I guess,” she murmured, staring out the back window. Poor thing hadn’t even had the strength to fix her hair today. It hung lifelessly under her black cap.
I glanced at Leona as she crunched on a Cheez Doodle, looking very sympathetic. “It’s going to be fine,” she said, reaching over the crackly bag to offer some snacks to Izzie. “Sam’s not seeing anyone else. He just needed a break.” Leona darted her eyes to mine, and I knew she didn’t believe it either.
“Pom-poms up,” Kira said, ducking down in the front seat. We all did the same, which was followed by a series of little patters—the sound of Cheez Doodles dumping on the floor mats. Kira growled next to me.
Leona had intercepted a Knockoff communication of a cheater request against Calvin Murdock. We’d been following him all night, including here, at his football practice. Until now, there had been no sign of a copy-Kitten. Obviously she was in over her head.
I peeked over the dash to see a girl walking in the distance, laughing and talking into her phone. I bent down and grabbed a pair of binoculars, then straightened and focused in on her face.
“No way,” I whispered.
“Who is it?” Kira said, looking sideways at me from behind her steering wheel. I dropped the binoculars and stared at her.
“It’s Chloe Ferril.” My heart was racing.
“Ew, so not in the mood to deal with her negativity,” Kira said, scrunching her nose.
“Told you,” Leona said, licking the orange cheese off her fingers.
“She’s not the copy-Kitten.” Kira snorted, glancing into the backseat.
“No? Then what is she doing here? Looking for the skank convention? Because I’m pretty sure they hold that over at your house.”
Kira snarled and reached back, as if to grab Leona’s black tank, but I held her back. “Ladies!” I whisper-yelled. “This is not the time, and it’s certainly not the place!” The escalation of in-squad violence was alarming. They definitely needed my leadership.
Izzie started crying into her hands and we all turned to look at her. “I hate when you guys fight,” she mumbled. “It makes me think of Sam.”
Leona rolled her eyes and leaned back into the seat and patted Izzie’s leg. “I’m sorry, Iz,” she said. “We’re done.”
We were quiet for a few minutes, staring out the windshield until the sound of Leona’s crunching began to fill the car again. Kira looked sideways at me.
“Is Leona right?” she whispered. “Do you really think Chloe’s the copy-Kitten?”
“Hm…” I took out the camera with the extra-zoom lens and pushed in to focus. Chloe (not surprisingly) was dressed in a black, cle**age-busting goth dress with tons of makeup. She was still talking on her phone and—actually—stumbling like she might be intoxicated.
“Don’t think so,” I said. “She looks drunk.”
Just then Chloe rolled her ankle and fell onto a parked car, laughing as she pushed off the hood and looked around, pointing her finger at someone in the driver’s seat of the car.
“Classy,” Leona said from the backseat, sitting up.
“Can we just go?” Izzie asked in a low voice. “I want to drive by Sam’s. Kira, you promised on the way home we would.”
I shot a glance at Kira. She shouldn’t be condoning this sort of behavior.
“Tessa,” Leona called from the back. “Can you please get a handle on this? Kira is a worse influence on Izzie than…well, me.”
Kira gave Leona a dirty look in the rearview mirror, then she glared at me. “Don’t start, Tessa,” she said. “I’ve been busting my tail trying to weather this flood.”
“It’s storm.”
“Yeah,” Kira replied. “A shit storm.”
I stared back at her; her blonde hair (although still shiny) was starting to look worn. Her normally well-lined eyes looked naked from neglect. She was right. She had been working hard.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have been here for you sooner.”
At this, the tight lines around Kira’s mouth loosened, and she smiled. “I’m just glad you’re here now. And I can’t wait until you’re back on the squad. I want things to go back to normal.”
“This is sweet and all,” Leona said, leaning up between the seats and pointing out the windshield. “But we just missed something big.”
Both Kira and I turned to follow Leona’s chewed-off fingernail, which pointed toward the parked car. Just then the driver got out. She was talking to Chloe, and when I lifted my camera, I gasped when I saw her.