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asked.
    “Everybody’s here!” Brittany yelled. “Let’s order pizza!” She grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper off the table. “What does everyone want?”
    “I think I’m going to be sick.”
    Kayla was sitting in a chair in the corner of the living room. The rest of the girls turned to look at her.
    “You’re not going to throw up, are you?” Marylin asked. If Kayla threw up, Marylin’s mom would probably make everyone go home.
    Kayla shrugged. “I think if I practiced my routine for the recital tomorrow, I’d feel a lot better. But everyone has to watch me, okay? You guys can pretend you’re the audience for my recital.”
    Kate groaned. Marylin gave her a look she hoped would say everything she was thinking. She hoped it would say, Okay, it’s obvious inviting Kayla was a big mistake, but she was not my first pick, remember? Anyway, we’re stuck with her, and maybe if we watch her do her dance routine, she’ll stop talking about throwing up and then we can get on with the party. If you could not be a big pain in the butt about this, I would really appreciate it.
    Kate appeared to get the message. “Okay, guys, let’s watch Kayla dance and then we’ll order pizza.”
    All the girls but Kayla crowded together on the couch.
    “You’ll really like this,” Kayla said, beaming, now that everyone’s attention was on her. “Everyone loves to watch me dance.”

    Elyse Cassill had a fishy look around her eyes, Petey decided, and that brother of hers wasdefinitely up to no good. What did they have planned? Some sort of heist, probably. Was there a black market for sleeping bags? Sure, Petey had watched Elyse’s brother drive off in his beat-up old car, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be back later. Petey could just picture Elyse shoving stolen merchandise out the downstairs bathroom window and into her brother’s greedy hands.
    Oh, he’d be keeping an eye on Elyse Cassill tonight, you could count on it.
    Petey could see everything from his spot halfway down the stairs, where he could poke his nose through the railing and nobody would ever notice. He watched that girl Kayla dance. She wasn’t a very good dancer, which made Petey suspicious. Maybe she was trying to distract the other girls while Elyse Cassill’s brother snuck in the back door and grabbed all their stuff.
    Petey eyeballed the rest of the girls. Whoelse was involved in this scheme? There was that Brittany girl, who had stolen French fries from Petey at McDonald’s once when she thought he wasn’t looking. She was a pretty shady character. And one time Ashley had borrowed some socks with cow spots all over them from Marilyn and never given them back.
    Overall, it was a crowd you’d be dumb to leave alone with your fancy silverware. Except for Kate. Petey planned on marrying Kate someday, though he hadn’t mentioned that fact to her yet. Kate wasn’t like other girls. She was reliable and a good basketball player. Petey thought Marylin was dumb to hang out with that bossy Flannery when she could spend all day with Kate if she wanted.
    Maybe Petey should write Kate a note to let her know that something suspicious was going on down there, right underneath her nose. He’d hate to see her become a victim of a crime. He tiptoed up to his room for a sheet ofpaper and a pencil. But as soon as he opened his door, he heard it: the sound of a dilapidated car engine, the very sort you’d find in Elyse Cassill’s brother’s car, puttering on the street outside his window. He turned out the light and climbed onto the top bunk, his binoculars in hand.
    The plot, he was pretty sure, had thickened.

    After they finished eating pizza, braided one another’s hair, and watched Ghost twice, the girls decided to hold a séance and see if the spirit of Marilyn Monroe had anything to say to them.
    “Are you here among us, Marilyn Monroe?” Kate asked in her spookiest voice, the one she reserved for séances and ghost stories. “Give us a