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"Katarina?" Ms Connors asked, as if begging Kat to prove the

"I know that see evidence," Kat said, her"Maybe too much evidence? I mean, would I really use my own ID if I’d done it?"

"So since there is evidence that you did it, that should prove that you didn’t do it?" Even Ms Connors sounded skeptical

"Well," Kat said, "I’hed "Oh, well, hoould you have done it?" He washer--yet Kat couldn’t help but think about the answer:

There was a shortcut behind Warren Hall that was closer and darker and completely void of cameras

The doors wouldn’t need an ID to open if you had enough Bubblicious to cover the sensor on your way out

If you’re going to pull a prank of that nature, you don’t do it the night before abefore the students

Head her silence, as if he were so smart

But Kat had already learned that people at Colgan were frequently wrong--like when her Italian teacher had said that Kat’s accent would always h Kat had already passed for a Franciscan nun during a particularly difficult job in Vatican City) She thought about how silly her History of Art teacher had sounded when she’d waxed poetic about seeing the Mona Lisa (when Kat knew for a fact that the Louvre’s original had been replaced with a fake in 1862)

Kat had learned quite a lot of things before enrolling at the Colgan School--but the thing that she knew best was that this was the kind of place where she could never share them

"I don’t know about Trinity or Bern or any of those European schools, young lady, but at the Colgan School we follow the rules" The headed the table "We respect the property of others We adhere to the honor code of this institution and the laws of this country"

But Kat already knew about honor She’d grown up with her own set of rules And the first rule of Katarina Bishop’s faht

"Katarina," Ms Connors said, "do you have anything to add that ht explain this?"

Kat could have said, That’s not reat irony was that if this had been an ordinary con, she could have lied her way through it without a second thought But the truth? That, she wasn’t so good at

Her ID badge had been duplicated The license plate had been planted in her rooht on camera

She’d been fra: that whoever had done it, they were very, very good

Kat’s bags were packed in twenty ood-byes, but there were no good-byes to say And so, after three an, Kat couldn’t help but wonder if the day she got expelled froht beco and colorful past She i around Uncle Eddie’s kitchen table years fro about the time little Katarina stole a whole other life and then walked aithout a trace

Well, als past the once-perfect lawn Ruts still tracked to and froled fountain in the center of the quad: a

She heard laughter corade boys was standing together, whispering, until one bravely broke away frolanced back at his friends, suuh the ornate gates and up to the curb The trunk popped open As the driver started for her bags, Kat looked at the boys and then back at Colgan one final time "That is an excellent question"

The bells chimed Students hurried between classes, across the quad And as Kat crawled into the backseat of the lihtly sad, or as sad as anyone could feel about losing soin with She leaned back and sighed, "Well, I guess that’s over"

And it would have beenif another voice hadn’t said, "Actually, it’s just beginning"

Chapter 2

Kat ju at the other end of the li back at her

"Hale?" she asked as if the boy ht be an imposter But then a very different question crossed her ht you ht need a ride"

"The headed, indifferent but amused "And here I am in a submarine"

As the limo pulled out of the school’s circular driveway, Hale turned and looked out theKat watched hirounds, a faint smile on his lips as if there were no place on earth he really had to be Kat so only very oldyou could steal

Hale waved as the gates of the Colgan School faded into the distance "Good-bye, Colgan!" He turned to her "Hello, Kitty Kat"

"Hale, how did you knoas"

But Kat didn’t finish Suddenly, she wasn’t in the back of a li at the black-and-white surveillance footage of so across the quad She was looking at the inified on a TV screen She atching Headmaster Franklin hold a crumpled vanity plate above his head for all to see

"Hale," Kat sighed "The headmaster’s car? Really? That’s not too clichéd for you?"

"What can I say?" He shrugged "I’uy Besides, it’s a classic for a reason" He leaned against the"It’s good to see you, Kat"