A Good Boy Is Hard to Find (The Naughty List #3)(15)

“I can’t pay that,” Izzie whined. “I’ll have to sell my car!” I held up my hand, telling her to calm down. There had to be a way out of this.

“Sir, there has to be something you can do. ESPN will bring in great PR for the school, and besides that, some of us were looking to get an athletic scholarship to college.” I paused at this statement. Izzie would have had a scholarship in soccer if she hadn’t gotten cut from the team. Suddenly, keeping the Kittens together became more important. A cheerleading scholarship could be her last chance.

Principal Pelli slammed his hand down on his desk. “You broke into school property, Ms. Crimson!”

“Is there proof?” Leona asked calmly, picking at her fingernails and looking cool as a cucumber salad. I looked sideways at her, alarmed by her question.

“Proof?” The principal’s red face looked as if it were about to explode. In fact, he was turning an unpleasant shade of purple.

“Yes,” Leona continued, looking up at him. “As you know, my father is an attorney, and it all comes down to the burden of proof. What do you have?”

“Witnesses for starters!”

“Really.” She nodded, unimpressed. I felt the twitch of a smile. Leona was going to make a fabulous defense attorney one of these days. “You have … who? Blaze and Rhett. After all, sir, they were in the field house after hours, too. So … I’m not sure they count as credible. Oh, and there is the small fact that Tessa broke her ankle.” Leona paused for effect. “On school property.”

The principal’s eyes widened. “Are you threatening me?”

“You?” Leona shook her head, looking offended. “You’re taking this awfully personally, sir. Maybe you’re too close to the case.”

“Case?”

Kira snickered on the other side of Leona. I could feel the girls around me begin to untense. Leona was totally saving our hides!

Principal Pelli sat down with a thump in his leather chair. Kira laughed again. “This can’t go unpunished,” he said defiantly, looking around at all of us. Izzie nodded at the end of the desk.

“What do you propose?” Leona asked, leaning forward.

“Three-day suspension.”

“One.” Swedish fish! This girl was good. I’d have to take her to all of my disciplinary meetings.

The principal narrowed his eyes and leaned closer. “Two. Final offer.”

Leona tilted her head from side to side before looking over at me. To be honest, I’d come in her half expecting to be expelled. In the grand scheme, two days wasn’t too bad. I nodded with complete relief and heard everyone sigh.

“Deal. But nothing goes in our file. I’m going to Harvard in the fall.”

“I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to have you,” the principal said sarcastically and scribbled something on a piece of paper. “Fine. Now get out of my office, and just so you know, I’ll be watching you.”

“Uh, creepy,” Kira responded. I laughed.

“Get out!”

We scrambled up (well, I hobbled really) and exited the office, waving to Peggy at the receptionist desk on our way out. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she looked almost proud. Like maybe she understood why we’d done the spying. I liked to think that most of the girls would.

The squad and I gathered in the empty hall outside the office. “Two days,” I said to myself before looking up at them. “That was an amazing feat, Leona. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’m just glad I didn’t have to break out the sexual harassment defense.”

“Me, too,” Izzie added, gasping for breath. “I’m so not feeling sexual right now.”

We stared at her a minute before turning back to each other. “How about the rest of you?” I asked, looking around. “You girls okay?”

Most nodded. A few sniffled. As a whole, the Smitten Kittens were not used to being scolded. We were among the finest students in Washington High! But now, we were delinquents. I was certainly glad this wouldn’t go on our permanent records.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Leona said. “I’m going to find the son of a biscuit that did this to us. Our lives are completely compromised because of some vengeful jerk! Whoever it is, they’ll pay.”

“Okay, Rambo,” Kira said. “Relax a little. We need to do this right.”

“Isn’t Rambo the governor of California?” Melanie, one of the Kittens, asked from the back. She was the exception to the honor-student rule.

“That’s the Terminator,” I said. “And Kira’s right. We need to do this right. If we just go about this wildly, we’ll get ourselves in more trouble. And we don’t want that.”

“I like trouble,” Leona said, her voice tight with anger. Then she exhaled. “But you’re probably right. Sorry, I refuse to say that Kira is right. The words are just unnatural.”

“Shut up,” Kira snapped.

“Squash it, ladies,” I said, adjusting myself on my crutches. “Let’s finish up tryouts and select our new members. We also need to focus on our remaining clients. Are we all in agreement that SOS is still functional?”

I looked around, and all of the girls nodded—some more emphatically than others. Some could barely lift their eyes out of suspension shame.