Chapter 26

The Situation Worsens

I heard screaming, and it sure wasn’t Olivia’s excuse for singing. This was real screaming and it was a scream of fear.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! IT’S A SPIDER!!!”

“Just deal with it, Olivia,” I heard Jimmy say. “Look how tiny it is. Heck, it’s probably scared of you.”

“JUST GET RID OF IT!” Olivia wailed.

I wandered over to Olivia’s room and sure enough, there was a tiny little spider crawling around the floor. “Should I squash it?” I asked the Magic 8 Ball.

My reply is no.

I gently picked up the spider and carried it out of Olivia’s room. I walked over to the door and let it crawl out of my palm and into the great outdoors.

“Thank you Isabelle!” Olivia exclaimed when I got back to her room.

“No problem. Need anything else, Princess Olivia?” I asked jokingly.

“I’m not a princess!” Olivia said.

“You clearly don’t understand sarcasm,” I said, rolling my eyes. I glanced over to Jimmy, hoping for some backup, but he was walking away. “But there’s plenty of proof you are a princess. Remember the time Mom took you out for ice cream but not me?”

“That was because I was doing good in badminton and aced my test!”

“That you cheated on!”

Olivia gasped. “YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Don’t tell Mom and Dad,” Olivia whispered.

I took out my Magic 8 Ball. “Should I tell Mom and Dad?”

Cannot predict now.

I decided not to. Mom and Dad wouldn’t believe me anyways. They think Olivia is perfect. It wouldn’t do either of us any good.

“Olivia, it’s not good that you’re cheating…”

“I NEED TO!” Olivia wailed. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have any time with my friends! I have too much homework!”

I shrugged. “Friends aren’t that important.”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t have any,” Olivia said. I walked out of her room and she slammed the door shut.

Olivia was right. I was only saying that because I didn’t have any friends. But it didn’t matter. At least I wasn’t cheating on my schoolwork.

As for Olivia, there was nothing I could do. It was her decision to cheat, not mine. And getting our parents involved wouldn’t do any good. All I could do was hope everything would fix itself soon.