“Why would you bring exploding cameras to a football game?!”

“How was I supposed to know that Axel would be high and throwing like crap?”

My dad came running over. “Are you girls okay? What happened?”

“We’re fine, Uncle James,” Sophie said as she brushed some ash off her skirt. “Just a normal old kissing booth incident. It could have happened to anyone.”

My dad gave her a weird look. “It exploded.”

“Partially.” She grabbed the money. “But we raised a ton of money. Anywho...”

“Why did it explode?” my dad asked.

“I think technically half of all kissing booths explode at some point,” Sophie replied.

“Did it have anything to do with a certain camera line that has been discontinued? That your father swore he destroyed all the inventory of?”

“What? Psh. No. And even if it had been, no one got hurt. So you don’t have to worry about being sued or anything.”

“I wasn’t worried about being sued until about three seconds ago. Did you or did you not put V21 cameras up in the kissing booth?”

“Uncle James.”

“Sophie.”

“I would never. That would be a danger to society. And all the V21s have definitely been destroyed.”

It seemed like she’d held back the word “now” at the end of that sentence. At least, I hoped the cameras were all destroyed now.

The two of them went back and forth.

Which gave me time to rewind the footage of the locker room. I saw the mascot walking out and kept rewinding. For a second I thought he’d just walked into the locker room fully decked out in the costume. But then he took off his big Eagle head. Well, technically he was putting it on but I was watching in reverse.

And none of that mattered. What mattered was who was wearing the costume.

No.

Freaking.

Way.

Chapter 27 – The Kiss Thief is Here

Saturday

Despite Empire High’s less than stellar first half, they ended up winning by two touchdowns.

Normally I’d be jumping up and down cheering. But instead I kept stealing glances at my parents.

I was just like my mom. And my dad was going to kill me.

“We won!” Sophie yelled and hugged me.

Guilt twisted my stomach as I hugged her back.

I knew people were talking around us. And that the team had jogged out of the stadium. And that the stands were emptying. But it was almost like I wasn’t there. Like I was just watching it from a distance, completely numb. Even the stadium lights didn’t seem as bright as usual.

“Have fun at the victory party tonight,” my mom said.

I wasn’t going to have fun. I was going to be sick.

She gave me a weird look. “Is everything okay?”

“Mhm.” My response came out squeaky and strange.