How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend Read Online Free Page A

ziplock bag into Gabby’s briefcase. I wasn’t trying to be awful. I just wanted her to understand how sickening it feels to see dead animals that have been killed for no reason.
    The next day Principal Nelson called me into the office as soon as I got to school. It turned out the frogs weren’t the only thing stolen from the biology room. Nearly two thousand dollars’ worth of computers and biology equipment was also missing.
    With hands folded firmly on his desk, Principal Nelson stared at me. “Did you break into the biology room yesterday?”
    â€œNo,” I said, but he must have seen the panic on my face. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing in on mine.
    â€œI’ll ask you again, young lady, and I want you to think very hard about your answer. Did you break into the biology room?”
    â€œNo,” I said.
    He shook his head with disbelief. “Who else would have stolen dead frogs so that none of the students could complete the dissection assignment?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie since suddenly I wasn’t sure it had been Tim. He wouldn’t have put the frogs in my locker if he had also stolen computer equipment, would he? That would be like admitting he’d done it. No one would be that stupid.
    Maybe it was someone who was trying to frame him. Or me.
    I clutched my hands together in my lap. Thank heavens I hadn’t put the frogs in the trophy case where they could dust the whole thing for fingerprints. The school had no evidence on me. All I had to do was sit still and keep professing my innocence.
    The principal’s secretary popped her head into the office. “Mrs. Petrizzo is here.”
    The next moment Gabby strode in, her heels clicking across the tile and the briefcase grasped in one hand.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” I choked out.
    She shot the principal a sharp look, then sat stiffly in a chair. “That’s what I’d like to know. I have a busy work schedule and don’t have time to come to school every time there’s a problem in biology.”
    The principal turned his stern gaze toward Gabby. He summarized the situation to her, then added, “We thought it best to involve a parent in this discussion. This isn’t a prank. Stealing school property is a serious legal offense.”
    I didn’t have time to answer, because Gabby jumped in. “You don’t really believe Giovanna broke into the biology room and made off with a bunch of equipment? How would she have carried it home? Wouldn’t someone have noticed a computer sticking out of her backpack as she walked out of school?” Somewhere from inside Gabby’s briefcase, her cell phone rang.
    â€œDon’t get that,” I said, but Gabby didn’t even acknowledge I’d spoken.
    â€œBesides,” she said as she reached her hand in to her briefcase, “we couldn’t even get Giovanna to touch a dead frog to save her GPA, so there’s no way on earth she broke into the bio room and stole any—”
    Gabby didn’t finish her sentence.
    Apparently in the jostle of coming to school, the ziplock bag had opened and spilled dead frogs inside her briefcase.
    And okay, I’m sure it was a shock, but you’d think after all those Never-has-a-dead-frog-reached-out-his-slimy-little-amphibious-hand-and-grabbed-a-bio-student-by- the-throat speeches she gave me that she would be the last person to shriek uncontrollably and fling her briefcase so hard that several frog cadavers went flying into the air and onto the principal’s desk.
    Which they did.
    So anyway, that’s why I clean the bathrooms of the Parks and Rec building every Saturday morning.
    It didn’t matter that I finally told the principal everything I knew about the incident. Tim denied it, the missing equipment was never found, and when two people give the police different stories, they tend to believe the one who