Free Alice in Wonderland High by Rachel Shane

the janitor’s closet or something.
    â€œDid what?” Dru piped up before anyone else could play the “Who’s there?” role to Quinn’s knock-knock joke.
    Di’s eyes flitted toward Dru, then Quinn. “Yeah, I want to know!” Quinn wasn’t speaking specifically to us, so I eyed Di sidelong.
    Quinn flicked her long, red curls out of her face. “The creek, silly! They found evidence.”
    She rushed over to her eager audience of Di, Dru, and me. The girls across the way inched closer.
    â€œWh . . . who was it?” I managed to get out of my dry throat. I thought of my abandoned backpack.
    â€œWhitney Lapin, right?” Di asked, turning pure speculation into the hottest rumor. Her tone was competitive, like she could one-up me with a better question.
    Dru nodded. “She complained about the dry grass in English the other day.”
    â€œShe didn’t!” I blurted. It sounded like a counterattack, but I had no desire to win the role of Quinn Hart’s new minion.
    â€œI don’t get why you keep sticking up for her.” Dru brushed her sandy hair into a quick ponytail.
    â€œContrariwise, why you keep talking to her.” Di used her fingers to pull her loose strands into an almost identical hairstyle.
    â€œI don’t.” Not by choice.
    â€œWhitney Lapin?” Quinn’s brows knitted together. “As in Kingston Hatter’s sister?”
    How did everyone else know that info but me?
    â€œYeah. She pulled Alice out of the creek,” Dru said. “Seemed like a forced alibi.”
    â€œWhich, by the way, is so weird that you were out there.” Di shook her head at me.
    â€œOh, well, it wasn’t her,” Quinn said. I let out a breath. “But speaking of her, I heard Kingston went to jail!” Quinn’s eyes widened like camera lenses as she turned to me.
    I tugged on ratty gym pants. “He does seem like the jail type.”
    â€œFor the creek?” Dru asked. “No how.”
    â€œContrariwise,” Di said. “That would make sense.”
    â€œNo, not the creek!” Quinn playfully slapped at the air directly in front of Di. “It was a prank pulled on us by Neverland High. Some Homecoming-rivalry bullshit or something.”
    â€œThat’s great!” I resisted the urge to do a victory dance, mostly because I couldn’t dance.
    â€œI know. Now we have an excuse to get them back!” Quinn yanked open her locker and removed a red gym shirt embroidered with little hearts. My faded, gray hand-me-down wasn’t nearly as cute . . . or peppy.
    â€œWait . . . how do you know it was a prank?” I jammed my foot into the sneaker.
    â€œSome graffiti and streamers and stuff stuck to a rock. So lame. We can do much better.”
    I fidgeted with my shoelaces. Whitney obviously had gone to a lot of trouble to cover for me. No wonder she wasn’t interested in my help. And, ugh, did I just start a war with a rival school?
    Dru cracked a smile directed at Quinn. “Are you planning something? To get them back?”
    â€œOh, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said with more force than I’d meant.
    â€œContrariwise—I do!” Di hopped in place with excitement.
    Quinn turned her back to me and focused on Dru and Di. “I’m moving tomorrow, so I kind of have to focus on that first, but we’ll talk about it in a few days, ’kay?” Her voice was practically giddy with mischief.
    The smile that spread over Di’s face was like a punch in the gut. Even though we weren’t on the same page anymore, it sucked to know your best friend preferred others over you. Dru had stampeded into our friendship over the summer, grabbed the reins, and steered Di away from me. Directing her right into Quinn’s path. Though I guess you could make the same argument about Whitney taking the reins over me.
    Di tilted her head to me. “So are