Free Adventures of a New Year's Kiss: A Holiday Romantic Mystery (Funeral Crashing Young Adult Mystery Books) by Milda Harris

locations to each other. I followed Kait's instructions and found Claire and Megan fifteen minutes later. I had to find them in the crowd watching the band and it took a little while. I stood and listened to the music alone for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. The band actually wasn't bad. They were playing cover songs everyone knew the words to so there were quite a few people singing along including Claire and Megan.
    I waited until the band finished their song before walking up to Claire.
    "It's cold," I said to her.
    At first I wondered if Claire heard me over the noise of the crowd, but then she looked at me. "Yeah, it is cold."
    That wasn't much of a start. I hated small talk. Maybe I could be straightforward with her too. I looked at my phone. Fifty minutes to midnight. If I didn't find this necklace tonight, it was really gone for good. It would be a new year and I should let my necklace go along with the old year into the past.
    I sighed. This was hard. Okay. Even though being direct hadn't garnered me any clues from Sarah or Ariel, it was the only way I could think of to get any information about my necklace. Maybe Kait was better at subtle. I just wanted to get this over with.
    "Claire, I lost a necklace in gym class. Did you see anything?" I asked.
    Claire turned around to face me this time. "What?"
    "Did you see my necklace in gym class?" I asked again.
    Claire frowned, "No. Why?"
    "I think someone stole it," I said.
    "Seriously?" Claire asked.
    "Yes," I said.
    "Well, it wasn't me," Claire said.
    I felt a little taken aback. "I wasn't accusing you."
    "Then why were you asking me?" Claire said.
    "I'm trying to find out who took it," I said.
    "On New Year's Eve? Wait. Hold on. Is that why Dave asked me out? Does he know about this? I knew it was weird. Did you set me up?" Claire asked. "Wait. Is Kait in on this too?"
    I didn't know what to say, but my look must have spoken volumes because realization washed over Claire's face. "Okay. Wow. You did. I need to go and have a chat with Dave now."
    "Uh, Claire, please don't..." I started, but Claire walked away from me. I wondered if I should go after her, but I wasn't sure what I could do. Poor Dave.
    "Looks like someone's going to have a fight," Megan leaned toward me. "Have you talked to Sarah?"
    "What?" Too much was happening at the same time. "Yes. Why?"
    Megan shrugged. "Just talk to Sarah."
    Then she danced away from me singing along to the song with the band. Okay. What did that mean? I thought Megan and Sarah were friends. Why was Megan pointing at her all of a sudden? And what did I do about it?
    I texted Kait. Can we switch again?
    I could have had Kait ask Sarah about the necklace, but I didn't want to. If Sarah stole it, I wanted to be the one to confront her. It wasn't like me, but I wasn't the normal me at the moment. I was really getting mad about my necklace and I wanted to tell off the person that stole it.
    Kait texted back. Already?
    Yes . I didn't elaborate.
    It took Kait a moment to respond. Okay.
    Kait and I relayed directions to each other again. I walked back to a booth next to the one we had been at before. Now Ariel and Sarah were looking at hats. Kait was gone. Good. I felt a little nervous doing what I was about to do in front of her.
    "Hey, Sarah," I said.
    Sarah turned to look at me. "What?"
    Ariel turned to look at me too. "Can you and Kait just leave us alone already? Are you guys stalking us or something?"
    I ignored Ariel and focused on Sarah, "Where's my necklace?"
    "Huh?" Sarah looked confused. "I don't have your necklace."
    "I heard you do," I said.
    "Well, I don't," Sarah said.
    "You're lying," I prodded and I was suddenly sure that she was. Her eyes were doing a crinkling thing. It was weird.
    "What?" Sarah asked like she was appalled that I dare question what she said.
    "Tell me the truth," I said feeling a little braver. I was definitely right. Maybe there was something to the feeling you got when you solved a case.
    "Just