The ride home was horrible. Aubrie was near tears, Rachel was so steamed you could have boiled rice on her lap, and Samantha sat with a look of broken trust on her face. I don't know which reaction made me feel worse.

Even though I knew this was Rick's fault, part of me felt guilty about it anyway. They were in trouble. I wasn't. And they wouldn't have been in trouble if they hadn't been helping me in the first place.

Rachel told me every word Mrs. Jones and Coach Davison had said to them. Mrs. Jones had tried to stick up for the squad. "The duffel bags were by my seat, but I wasn't watching them that closely," she had told Coach Davison before he'd called everyone's parents. "It's possible that someone sneaked the cans into the duffel bags. The girls might be telling the truth."

"Might" was not a strong enough alibi to keep him from calling parents.

While he did, Mrs. Jones told Rachel, Aubrie, and Samantha, "We'll talk to the principal on Monday. I'll explain and hopefully she'll lift your suspension."

"Hopefully" was not all that comforting and Monday would be too late.

We discussed the situation in hushed voices on the bus ride home. "You could just sing with me anyway," I said. "We've already got the paperwork signed that says we're students in good standing. The judges won't know what happened tonight."

"You don't think Rick is going to tell them?" Rachel said. "If you win, he'll have you disqualified faster than you can say, 'sore loser.' "

"And what if the principal doesn't lift our suspension?" Aubrie asked. "They have evidence against us; it's just our word that we didn't do it."

"Mrs. Jones will help us. She believes we're innocent." Samantha cast a glance in our advisor's direction. "I think."

Rachel lowered her voice even further. "Mrs. Jones should have been watching our stuff better and none of this would have happened."

True, but I couldn't muster much anger at her. "She couldn't have known that Rick would do this." It hurt to say the words more than I thought it would. After all, I'd known Rick was my enemy. He'd never made a secret of it. So why had I thought that lately his complaints against me were more hype than hatred? Dating Tanner hadn't made me immune to this sort of attack.

"We can't let him get away with this," Rachel said.

Aubrie shook her head. "We have no way to prove it was him."

Rachel's eyes narrowed, calculating. "Is there any way to let the air out of his tires right before he has to leave for the auditions?"

"We need to concentrate on winning first. Then we'll worry about Rick." Samantha turned in her seat, surveying me. "You'll have to sing a different song. What's another one that you know the words to?"

Offhand I couldn't think of any. Besides, I hadn't practiced any other songs with Mr. Metzerol. I didn't know where to breathe and how to hold onto the notes or anything else. I'd only barely been able to get the notes of this song in the vicinity of my forehead. How could I start all over again and have something ready by tomorrow?

"I don't know what would work best with my voice. Plus if I'm nervous, I won't be able to remember any of the words of a new song anyway. And what about dance moves?" The more I thought about it, the harder it seemed. It was a huge, insurmountable mountain. I couldn't do this alone.

Still, all the way back home we tossed out song titles. I even tried to sing a few of them to see if they were in my voice range. Nothing sounded good. Nothing.

I nearly forgot about the party. It only fluttered back into my consciousness when we pulled into the PHS parking lot. As we got off the bus Aubrie said, "There's no way my parents are going to let me go to Garret and Joe's party."

"Ditto," Rachel said, then looked over at me. "And you shouldn't go either, Chels. You've got work to do."

I nodded and we plodded toward our cars. While we walked my friends threw out more suggestions for me. I nodded at these too, even though they barely registered in my mind.

"We'll be at the auditions rooting for you," Rachel said. "Well, just as soon as we let the air out of Rick's tires." I was not sure whether she was joking about that or not.

"Thanks." The word came out of my mouth wavering. "You guys are great."

I noticed Logan coming across the parking lot. He'd been at the game, but of course had no way of knowing about the drama that had happened on the way back.

"Hi guys," he called cheerily. Then to Samantha he said, "Ready for Pride and Prejudice?"

And that's when Samantha's composure broke. She'd been so collected on the way home that I'd thought she was okay. But as soon as he spoke to her, tears welled up in her eyes. She let out a little sob and threw her arms around him.

His arms tightened around her and his lips brushed against her hair. "What's wrong?"

"Rick planted beer cans in our duffel bags," I told him. "So I'm without back up singers for the audition tomorrow, and if Mrs. Jones can't convince the principal that the cans didn't belong to us, Samantha, Rachel, and Aubrie will be suspended for two weeks."

Logan stared back at us, stunned. "You're kidding."

"Nope," Aubrie said.

"We're going to let the air out of his tires tomorrow before he leaves for tryouts," Rachel added.

Logan shook his head, his expression serious. "No, you're not."

"Yes, we are," Samantha choked out.

He ran his hand across her back. "What about all of that stuff you said last year about taking the high road, and revenge not being the best way? Don't you believe that anymore?"

"Yes," she said, "but Rick can't keep walking over people."

"You're not going to do it," Logan said, but the softness in his voice made me unsure as to whether it was a command or a prediction. "You're not going to do something that's illegal just to get back at him."

She put her head back down on his shoulder and didn't answer.

The rest of us said our goodbyes, and we went our separate ways. I drove home, fighting to keep the lump in my throat from transforming into a crying jag, and wondered if Mr. Metzerol took emergency phone calls.

Adrian wasn't home when I got home, and she hadn't left a note like Mom instructed, but that wasn't a surprise. I wouldn't let myself worry about her. I didn't have time.

I sat down in front of the computer to surf the net for possible songs.

It was hopeless, I knew, even before I logged on. A new song wouldn't solve my problems. I needed my backup singers back. I put down the mouse and picked up my phone.

Pacing across my room, I called Tanner. When he answered his phone I told him everything that had happened. "Can you make Rick confess to putting those cans in our duffel bags? If he confesses then my friends will be able to sing with me."

"You think Richard framed you?" I could hear the doubt in Tanner's voice, and I knew he didn't believe it.

"Yes," I said. "I think Rick would do anything to win."

There was a pause on the line and I could almost sense Tanner arranging his words. "Okay, sometimes Richard doesn't play by the rules, but he wouldn't stoop this low. He wouldn't get people suspended from school."

I gripped the phone harder than I needed too. "You haven't even talked to him yet and you're taking his side?" And that's when I realized it could never work out between Tanner and me. No matter what we'd said yesterday in the car about ignoring each other's siblings, we couldn't. As long as Rick and I didn't get along, Tanner would have to choose sides. And apparently his strongest loyalty would always be to his brother.