Free Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) by Milda Harris

decent amount of people on my bus route got rides to school from their parents or friends on a regular basis. I didn't mind sitting alone, though, whether the bus was crowded or not. I usually preferred to work on homework or read or something and that was harder to do that when you were squished into the seat next to a total stranger.
    On the fourth stop, I dropped my pen into the aisle. Oh yeah, it was definitely one of those days. I reached across the floor, trying to grab it before it rolled across the aisle and under the seat across from me, and almost got stepped on by one of the people getting on the bus. I looked up and froze. The girl met my eyes. She looked really familiar, but not from school. Where did I know her? I froze in shock.
    Oh no. It was Fiorella, Nico's cousin. My immediate thought was: at least now I knew why she looked familiar when I saw her the night before. I had seen her on the bus. My second thought was: Ahhhhhhhhh!
    Hopefully she didn't notice me. I looked away from her as quickly as I could, clutching my pen to my chest, ducking my head, and staring at my open crime notebook like it would help make me disappear. It didn't, though. I knew that for certain when I felt someone sit down next to me. I moved toward the window, to make room, not daring to look up to see who it was. I already kind of knew who it had to be. It could only be one person. It had happened that quickly.
    My eyes focused on the notebook page in front of me. Nico's name and my notes about him were all over it. I panicked. Had Fiorella seen it? I slammed the notebook shut and tried not to act as freaked out as I felt.
    Fiorella didn't say anything. A minute passed. I didn't move. It was her, right? I didn't dare look up from my now closed notebook. I could barely breathe. Was she watching me? I couldn't look. I so wanted to, though. I mean, would we just sit in silence for the whole fifteen to twenty minutes of the bus ride left? Fiorella had to say something to me, right? That is, unless the person sitting next to me wasn't Fiorella and I was freaking out over nothing. Should I check? Make sure? Before I died of a panic attack?
    I couldn't take it anymore. I had to start breathing normally again. More importantly, I just had to know so that my brain didn't explode from anxiety. I looked. Immediately my eyes met hers. It was Fiorella who had sat down next to me. My brain short-circuited.
    "Who are you?" Fiorella asked.
    I wondered how long she had been staring at me, waiting for me to look up. I just looked at her. Yeah, my brain was definitely not working.
    "Who are you?" Fiorella asked again.
    "Uh," I said. I seriously forgot how to think or talk for a split second. "I'm Kait."
    I had almost forgotten my name. This was so bad. How was I going to explain being at Nico's funeral to Fiorella? Could I stall for fifteen minutes? Maybe I could get out of this. I wondered if my dad would be okay with driving me to school for the rest of the year. I'd be totally okay with leaving super early, even though it would mean that I had to get up an hour earlier and...
    "Really?" Fiorella asked, looking at me suspiciously. "Your name is really Kait?"
    "Yes," I said. "I really am. Kait, I mean. My name is Kait."
    I stopped talking. It didn't even sound convincing that my name was Kait and I wasn't lying about that. Nope, this was not going well. If I wanted to get out of this conversation I was going to have to jumpstart my brain.
    "But your hair was different yesterday," Fiorella said.
    "Oh. Yeah. That," I said. Why did I even wear that wig? "I just like wigs. I wear them sometimes. It's my thing."
    Fiorella was still looking at me like I was a sideshow freak. I didn't blame her. I felt like one.
    "So, how did you know Nico then?" Fiorella asked. "You lied about going to school with him. You can't possibly go to Landale College. You're here."
    "Well," I started, trying to think fast.
    Why weren't we at school yet? I wanted to jump out the