Read Online Sweet 16 to Life by Kimberly Reid - Free Book Online Page A

that.”
    I let that one slide because I’m on a roll and MJ is starting to crack.
    â€œAll right. He comes back, notices the smoke, calls the fire department. So why did he leave when you got there?”
    â€œHuh?” MJ says, sounding genuinely confused.
    â€œHe was standing in Ada’s yard before you got home from the bodega. I talked to you a few minutes, then I spotted him walking toward Center Street. If you’re his girlfriend, wouldn’t he stick around long enough to talk to you, make sure you were okay?”
    â€œI’m getting tired of you interrogating me like I’m in the box, Chanti,” MJ says, and I know she’s stalling, thinking up an explanation. “Only reason I’m putting up with you is I need help with my math and I know you’ll just snoop until you find out, anyway.”
    â€œTrue dat.”
    â€œLux didn’t stay around because he knows I’m creeping on Eddie.”
    â€œEddie, who isn’t your boyfriend?”
    â€œOkay, okay—I’m seeing them both. I’m eighteen, too young to be with just one dude.”
    I almost feel bad grilling MJ like this because her eyes are starting to have the cornered-animal look, but I can’t tell the truth from the lies. Like she said, she recently turned eighteen and if she does time now, it’ll be for real, no more juvie. If she’s on her way down a path that might take her back to jail, my interrogation will help more than hurt my friend. At the very least, she’s hanging out with a Down Home—a fact I still haven’t let on I know—and that alone is a violation of her probation. On the other hand, a cornered animal can be dangerous if they think the only way out is to attack, so I tread lightly but don’t pull my punch.
    â€œIf Lux is a good guy and cares about you, why was he smiling as he watched the fire? And why would he stop smiling when the fire trucks arrived?”
    This news was the final assault and I wait for MJ to go on the attack, so I’m surprised when she just deflates like I’ve let all the air out of her. Half her story may still be a lie, but she truly believed she started the fire. I may have finally convinced her Lux may not be who she thinks he is; this last information was the piece she was missing to put two and two together. But the confused expression on her face as she pours half the bottle of ketchup on her burger makes me think everything just added up to five.
    Â 
    When I get home from TasteeTreets, I find Lana there. I’d hoped to beat her home, but after that interrogation, I spent an hour helping MJ with her geometry.
    â€œWhere have you been?” Lana asks. “It’s almost nine o’clock.”
    â€œI thought you had a late stakeout.”
    â€œThat doesn’t answer my question.”
    â€œMJ needed help with her homework so we met up at TasteeTreets. Look—I brought you a fish dinner.”
    Lana takes the bag from me and says,“ Ooh, still hot.” Lecture averted.
    After she pours herself some iced tea and brings a bottle of malt vinegar to the table, I figure it’s a good time to pick her brain. Lana is always happy when there’s an order of Tastee’s fried catfish and hush puppies in front of her, so I’m hoping all that greasy goodness will camouflage any questions about my new case. MJ really believed she started the fire, and she may even be messing around with Lux since he is a member of her former gang, but there were many lies woven in with the truth.
    â€œDid you find out anything new about the fire at MJ’s house?” I ask Lana.
    â€œNo, too early for the report to be filed.”
    â€œYou think you could check on the 911 calls, too?”
    â€œWhat are you up to, Chanti?”
    â€œI was just curious about the response time. You know how you said the nearest fire truck should get to our house four minutes after