We receive our cones, and I pay the woman behind the counter. Then we sit on the curb and watch the boxes stream from the van. I’m so relaxed and happy, I don’t even mind that Amelia is with us. If you overlook her annoying pushiness and the fact that she mentions being an Aquarius every five seconds, she isn’t so bad.

“So did everyone hear the latest about Mr. York?” Aubrey asks as she licks the bottom of the cone to keep the ice cream from dripping. “He’s been banned from Silver Screen Studios for life. Apparently, he was pretending to be a ghost on a few other sets too, including the animal show right next to us on Stage Six. He was trying to get all of them to shut down just like he was doing to us, all in hopes of Motor Clowns coming back.”

“No way!” Cody’s eyes boggle, and then he shakes his head. “I still can’t believe he was the ghost.”

“Seriously.” Amelia raises her chin in defiance. “I can’t believe I was tricked into thinking he was eyeing me up to be the next big star.”

“Looks like you’re stuck on Sadie Solves It for a little while longer. I didn’t realize you were so eager to get off the show in the first place.” I’m surprised at how defensive I sound.

Amelia looks up in surprise. “I never said I wanted to get off Sadie Solves It. I love being on the show.”

I frown. “You do? For real? Even though you’re not the star?”

“Yeah, in fact…” Amelia trails off. She clamps her mouth shut like there’s more that she wants to say, but she doesn’t want to say it.

Aubrey and Cody exchange a look. “I’m just going to throw my napkin away,” Aubrey then says loudly, rising from the curb.

“Me too,” Cody says, hurrying after her.

I watch them as they tromp off to a trash can. Amelia bites loudly into her cone. Once she’s done chewing, she says, “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” I ask.

“About what I stole from the props room. I mean, I asked them to let me tell you, but I figured they’d spill my secret anyway. You’re all so close. I figured you were laughing at me behind my back, or whatever.”

“Aubrey and Cody aren’t like that,” I say. “They’re true to their word. When they make a promise, they keep it.”

“Oh.” Amelia pulls her knees to her chest. “Huh. I didn’t know that.”

She keeps eating her cone. But I haven’t forgotten that Amelia wanted to tell me something. Maybe about what she swiped something from the props room. “I won’t laugh,” I say. “I promise.”