Page 110 of Light Up My Life

“We can’t see through walls,” Marcus said, heading out of the kitchen. I still fanned the smoke detector, but my head was tilted toward the hall, listening as Marcus answered the door. I knew who I wanted it to be. But if Ryan showed up at my house, what would my mom even say? Would she welcome him now that we knew what we knew about Mr. Lenny and the elf? Would I want him to come in?

“It doesn’t make sense,” I heard Mom mumble to herself as she stared at the cookies. Maybe she was thinking of the snow globe too, the one we’d both seen in the Moreno shed the other night.

“Jasmine,” Marcus said, coming back into the kitchen. “It’s for you.”

Behind him was Fiona.

I wasn’t sure what look came onto my face, but Fiona said, “Listen, I know you’re still mad at me, but I have some information for you.”

“Information?” I asked, lowering the dish towel I had been using as a fan.

“I was trying to figure out where my painted banner ended up. You know, the one I hung up at the masquerade.”

“I remember,” I said in a low voice. How could I forget?

“Right. So, I went back to the clubhouse the next day to look in the dumpsters and around the ballroom. And some of Ryan’s friends were hanging around there.”

“Okay,” I said. “So you found the banner?”

She waved her hand through the air. “No, no, I’m pretty sure it was destroyed. But I overheard them talking about your yard, the snow globe. They were pissed about my banner, and they came and trashed your yard that night. Probably because they didn’t know where I lived. Otherwise they would’ve gotten me too.” She gave me a sheepish face. “It should’ve been only me.”

I blinked, taking in what she said. “Ryan’s friends did that?”

Fiona nodded. “Ryan wasn’t with them. He didn’t know about it.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I asked them.”

I was trying to find the anger that had been churning in my gut since Friday, but Fiona’s words seemed to evaporate it. Ryan hadn’t destroyed my snow globe. His friends had, in retaliation for her stunt. I was sad about the snow globe, but it wasn’t Ryan’s fault. It wasn’t his family who’d done it.

“I’m really sorry,” Fiona added.

I gave her a smile. We were different people who expressed ourselves in our own ways, and she was my best friend.

“I can talk to him, can’t I, Mom?” I asked, whirling around. “Please? I know you have legitimate complaints against his parents, years of history that you guys should all really work through. But that has nothing to do with Ryan. He hasn’t done anything.”

Mom was scraping burnt cookies into the trash, and she sighed with my question.

“She’s not wrong, Mom,” Marcus said.

“I know,” Mom grunted. “Just give me a second to pout.”

I felt a rush of hope. “So, is that a yes? Am I ungrounded?”

“You still lied,” she said. “A lot.”

I pushed out my lower lip and gave her pleading eyes. “I know, Mom. And I’m sorry. But can being ungrounded be my Christmas present? I don’t need anything else.”

She finally smiled. “Fine. Go. Be ungrounded. Don’t tell Momma I’m such a sucker.”

I moved toward the front door immediately but then stopped. I needed to think this through. I needed to apologize to Ryan, but I needed a plan.

Chapter 39

“You’re going to make him find all the mice?” Fiona asked. She was sitting on my bed.

“Seriously,” Marcus said from my desk chair. “That seems more like a punishment than an apology.”