“My silver necklace.” Sandi Cardoza’s eyes are red from crying. “The one my father gave me for Christmas. That one. It was in my top drawer, and now it’s gone.”

Lottie grabs her undies from the floor and crushes them in her fist. “Who says we took the necklace?”

“It couldn’t have been anyone else,” Delia says. “The two of you came inside and stole the necklace while the rest of us were at the fire.”

“We were also at the fire!” Lottie says.

“You stole the necklace when Mrs. Thomas sent you back with the pangas.”

My stomach clenches. Stealing is a serious accusation, and if just one adult believes Delia’s lie, we’ll be expelled for sure.

“Are you calling me a thief to my face?” Lottie stands nose-to-nose with Delia and bristles with impending violence. The bathroom line breaks to form a semicircle around us. There might be a fight, and nobody wants to miss that. “Are you calling Adele a thief too?”

“You’re in it together. You took the necklace to spite us, because you’re jealous.” Delia is certain that what she says is true, and in her righteous fury, she’s forgotten that Lottie can move faster and hit harder than she’ll ever be able to.

The girls in the semicircle ooh and aah, because Lottie has to pay Delia back for the insult immediately. Defending your honor is part of the school code, and the only way to do that is to fight. The strange thing is, I haven’t thought about Sandi Cardoza in the four days since the underwear theft, or tried to scheme my way back into the group, but in Delia’s mind everyone wants to be her. She’s too vain to notice how little I care anymore.

Lottie grabs Delia by the hair. She twists, and the audience gasps. That was fast. Delia didn’t see it coming. Lottie turns Delia’s head so she can look right into her face. “Call us thieves again,” Lottie says with cold-eyed calm. “I dare you.”

Sandi Cardoza steps back and bumps into Natalie and Peaches, who are also suddenly nervous. I love their fear. It’s a guilty thrill. I know violence doesn’t solve problems—except it does.

“Girls!” Mrs. Thomas’s voice breaks the semicircle that shields us and everyone melts back into a straight line. “What’s going on?”

Lottie and I take our original position behind Claire Naidoo and keep our mouths shut. If Delia wants to accuse us of stealing, she can do it herself.

“Well?” Mrs. Thomas goes straight to Sandi Cardoza, with her stick-up hair and puffy eyes. She’s obviously involved. “Tell me what happened.”

Sandi sniffles. Delia darts us a savage glance and says, “Lottie Diamond and Adele Joubert stole Sandi’s silver necklace while the rest of us were at the fire.”