

Love schmuv
I know they say love conquers all, but not for me. Not yet at least. I really, really, really lov- uh -liked my boyfriend, Finn. Finnegan was, is, his full name, but his friends (and me, his girlfriend) called him Finn. Okay sometimes Finny-Winny if we were alone on the bleachers. Speaking of bleachers, when I first saw him after I, um, how do I say this, transformed, I was so blown away. It felt so natural to see him and I wanted to run up to him and say hello, but OF COURSE


Kat spills the beans
Shove over, Dolly! There's a new detective in town! Please allow me to set the record straight. Dolly's recollection of the day in question is HIGHLY inaccurate. You can take it from me, I know what I'm doing when it comes to planning, investigating, and if needed, skirting the law for my friends. My father was a New York City detective before we moved down to Florida and I am well-trained in counterintelligence, FBI profiling, gathering evidence, and suspect interrogation. F


What to do when you're stuck under a desk
Ms. Mulligan's best friend (well, one of two), Dolly Hargrave, waxes poetic on what it was like to be stuck under a desk for no reason!


Prologue to a curse . . .
The boiling cauldron poured off rancid smoke. The smell didn’t bother Mary much, but Meredith always waited outside during this process. She’d never gotten used to the odor of rotten eggs. “Sister, what do you see?” Meredith called through the open front door, a wisp of coal-black hair sticking to her shriveled lip. Inside the cabin, Mary stirred a vat of molten silver liquid. She thought it looked pretty, like a pot of melted rings and bracelets. “Nothing yet, Sister,” Mary