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unmistakable.
    “I should have known,” George was moaning. “I should have seen the resemblance! Oh, man . . .”
    I caught Bess’s eye in the rearview mirror, but she looked just as confused as I felt.
    “What’s the problem here?” Bess asked. “I mean, besides the obvious Committing Vandalism in a Strange Town for Dubious Reasons problem.”
    George groaned again. “I went on a date with that guy,” she said, pointing at Big Barney. “His name is Jake, and I’m guessing Barney is his brother. I think Carrie set us up, actually. It was a long time ago, but he’s going to know my name isn’t Jackie and that I don’t go to St. Mary’s.”
    I was already automatically pushing the key back toward the ignition. We could make a break for it, make some stupid excuse to Eloise and Barney; Mirabelle got spooked, or I really had to use the bathroom. We could get away before anyone noticed the resemblance between Jackie and this girl Jake once went on adate with. But then I was surprised by a knock on my window. Eloise!
    I swallowed hard and rolled down my window. “You startled me!” I cried. “The thing is, um, Mirabelle really has to use the—”
    “And this is Katrina!” Barney’s puppyish voice piped up behind my car, and I turned to find him just a few feet away with Jake beside him. Both of them were holding several cartons of eggs now. Jake looked down at me and waved, and then, horrifyingly, knelt to look inside my car. “Nice wheels,” he said, nodding, looking from the dash to the passenger seat. “Is this a two thousand . . . Hey, it’s you!”
    George cringed. She’d been spotted. And it was too late—my chance to bolt had passed.
    My heart sank. Caught.
    George slowly folded herself out of the passenger seat and opened her door, standing and smiling broadly at Jake. “Hey there, Jake,” she said in a confident voice. I realized she was still hoping she could save this. “It’s Jackie, remember?”
    Jake frowned. He shook his head slightly. “No, your name isn’t Jackie,” he said. “Are you playing a joke? Because I’m sure of it. Your name was really unusual, for a girl—Bob or Steve or something. I know! George. ”
    George’s face fell. Barney looked from Jake to her, still smiling hopefully.
    “Nah, man,” he told his brother, “these are Katrina’s friends from St. Mary’s. Mirabelle and Jackie.”
    Jake furrowed his brow. “St. Mary’s? No, that’s not right either.” He put the eggs down on the roof of my car and pointed at George. “Her name is George, and she’s from River Heights. We went to a party together. She’s Carrie Kim’s friend. Remember her?”
    A pack of confused faces turned to all of us, pale in the harsh streetlight. I felt my heart plummet into my stomach.
    Eloise was the first to speak, all her friendliness disintegrating as she turned her hard gaze on me.
    “All right, Katrina ,” she said, her lips twisting into a snarl. “How about you tell us what’s really going on?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Ugly Truth
    “YOU DON’T GO TO BOYLESTOWN high, do you?” Eloise went on, her nose wrinkling in disgust. “That explains why I’ve never seen you during school hours. I can’t believe I never even asked you what grade you were in!”
    I looked uneasily at my friends. “We can explain. . . .”
    “You’re Carrie Kim’s friend,” Barney said, pointing at George with an angry expression. “That’s what Jake just said, right?”
    George looked doubtfully at me. “I—well, yes. She’s my cousin.”
    A gasp went through the little crowd.
    Barney turned his glare to me now. “You came up to me at the protest, asking me all these questions about how the sports complex would impact the environment, and the whole time you’re working for Carrie Kim’s campaign? Man, how could I be so dense! You were just pumping me for information she could use to crush us!”
    I shook my head. “Barney, that’s really not true.”
    “Then what