Free Lucky by Cecily von Ziegesar Page B

or his sad family picture …
    “Oh my God.” She sat up straighter in the booth. Callie looked at her in confusion, and Tinsley grinned, feeling positively gleeful. “I’ve got it!”

    “So, Chloe.” Tinsley swirled her chocolate milk shake with a straw. “How are you enjoying Waverly so far?”
    A tray of glasses shattered against the floor and everyone in Nocturne, the newly opened twenty-four-hour diner on the far end of Main Street in Rhinecliff, turned to look. Everyone except Tinsley, whose eyes were locked on the young prospective as though the girl held the key to salvation. Tinsley had picked a good spot for covert business, Callie thought. Nocturne was so new that it wasn’t yet on the faculty’s radar, and she was sure the retro, ’50s-style diner would be filled tonight with Owls eating grilled cheese and curly fries after curfew. Callie watched as the red-faced waitress swept up shards of glass that shone like diamonds against the diner’s black-and-white-checkered floor.
    “It’s been okay,” Chloe replied tentatively. She was probably still a little shocked that Tinsley Carmichael had invited her to lunch off campus. Tinsley had lured her here on the premise of “getting to know her,” but as always with Tinsley, there was an ulterior motive. She had figured out where she recognized Chloe from: Dean Marymount’s family picture. The little twerp was his
niece
, and, as Tinsley’s scheming mind quickly discerned, she’d been feeding him information. Most likely, the dean’s list of “suspects” was nothing more than all the people who had been rude to Chloe over the weekend. Not that they were the most innocent people or anything, but still. That didn’t make them
arsonists
.
    “The thing to keep in mind is that you’re seeing the school at a very unique time,” Tinsley noted as she stabbed a leaf of her Caesar salad. “We’re all just so
stressed
about the fire.” Tinsley put down her fork, as if the stress had ruined her appetite, and leaned back against the red vinyl cushions of the booth. Her perfect brow was wrinkled in worry.
    Callie took a big bite of her burger, not sure if she could keep a straight face as she watched Tinsley’s dramatics. Ever since she and Easy had gotten back together, she’d been ravenous—probably because of all the calories they were burning.
    Chloe picked at her tuna melt and Tater Tots. “It’s totally crazy,” she agreed. “But it will all be over soon, won’t it?” She looked back and forth between the two older girls questioningly. Callie narrowed her eyes at the prospective, wondering how much of her apparent innocence was an act. With her shoulder-length pale blond hair and pale skin, and wearing a pale yellow cable-knit sweater, she looked like a giant, undercooked french fry.
    “Hopefully,” Callie piped up, setting her burger down. She grabbed a napkin from the chrome holder and wiped her mouth. She fought the urge to ask the waitress for a bib—the last thing she wanted to do was spill on her new ruffly lavender Joie top. “
If
they catch the right person. But from what I can tell, they’re not going to.”
    “Really?” Chloe asked, looking up at Callie. She rolled the sleeves up on her sweater. “Why do you say that?”
    Tinsley pulled the long silver spoon from her tall glass of frothy milk shake, licked it clean, and pointed it right between Chloe’s eyes. “Because the real culprit is doe-eyed and innocent-looking, just like you,” she replied matter-of-factly. She placed the spoon down on the Formica countertop. “You may have met her, actually. Her name is Jenny Humphrey.”
    Callie scanned the restaurant, hoping no one from Waverly was within earshot. Either nobody had wanted to venture off campus for lunch, or Nocturne was even newer than she’d realized, because she didn’t recognize a single face. Besides, the jukebox was playing a selection of cheesy ’50s songs nonstop—”My Boyfriend’s Back” was