The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family

was a long way off. And Micah usually didn’t talk about important things when she didn’t have the chance to respond—a fact she deeply appreciated about him.
By the time they were eating lunch at their usual table, Caroline had made up her mind. She took in a shaky breath and tapped out her message: “Okay, let’s do something to Marissa. But maybe no blood this time.”
Caroline bit her lip as she pressed the “speak” button. She certainly did not want Micah to think that she was uncool. Still, she didn’t think she could stomach another blood-related prank. Marissa’s scream had been awfully loud.
“Aww. All of the best pranks need blood,” he protested. But given the size of his grin, Caroline felt pretty sure that he was just kidding.
“I’m sure you can come up with something,” she typed.
“Well, of course I can. I am the prank master, after all. I put blue hair dye in my brother’s shampoo over the weekend and it was so epic.”
Although Caroline was not sure that epic was the correct word for such a thing, she smiled. “Cool,” she typed.
“But how about you, Caro? Your plan with the pens was pretty good. I bet you can come up with something even better this time . . .”
Caroline’s mouth quirked upward. Caro. No one else called her Caro. Sometimes Lara or Dad called her Lina-Lin, but that was hardly the same thing. Lina-Lin was a childish name for a child. Caro was someone else entirely. Caro was Micah’s friend. Caro was a girl who fought back against her bullies. Caro didn’t need help from her big sister.
Caro was cool.
Did Caroline feel like Caro? She wasn’t entirely sure. But she could certainly try.
“I can try to find an idea,” she tapped.
She didn’t feel at all sure of her words, but what else could she say?
“I know you’ll come up with something awesome,” Micah offered.
Caroline only wished that she shared his confidence.
As she picked at her apple slices and considered the pros and cons of various prank ideas, Caroline’s mind turned to Lara. Would Lara prank Marissa? What kind of prank might she do? And—this question gave Caroline particular pause—what would Lara think if she knew?
The other day, Lara had clearly been trying to figure out what Caroline had been up to. Somehow, she’d found out about the fake blood. And, Lara being Lara, she’d turned the whole thing into a mystery to investigate. But she hadn’t really found out anything yet. Caroline felt quite sure of that. It probably would never occur to her sister that she was even capable of breaking the rules so badly.
Now Caroline was going to do yet another daring feat. The very idea of it filled her with spiky yellow paint streaks.
Figure this one out, Lara.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE CASE OF THE ANNOYING COUSIN
LOCATION: A.’s room, 3:30 p.m.
EVENT: Sitting waiting for A. to get here so we can do tutoring stuff.
QUESTION FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION: Can I make it through the next few hours without wanting to send A. on the next plane back to Tel Aviv?
The neatness of Aviva’s room really was kind of sickening. She even made her bed with special corners on the sheets! Lara didn’t consider herself a slob by Finkel standards, but she certainly saw no need to make her bed beyond tossing a comforter on top of it.
In an effort to avoid messing up the too-perfect room, Lara chose to sit on the floor. Her butt may not be particularly comfortable, but at least she didn’t feel like she was somehow ruining Aviva’s bizarre need to live in a room that looked like it belonged on one of those TV shows about home decoration.
Lara knew, in a vague sort of way, that she probably shouldn’t be in Aviva’s room at all. True, they had agreed to meet this afternoon for tutoring. As usual, Lara needed help with math. Aviva certainly wouldn’t have been her tutor of choice, but Ima and Dad had not asked Lara’s opinion on the matter. So here she was.
Aviva hadn’t exactly given permission for Lara to come into the room without her. But since her cousin was more than twenty minutes late—a fact that was most definitely weird—Lara figured it was more or less okay to let herself in. Unfortunately, she now had absolutely nothing to do. And she was sitting in Aviva’s room.
Well . . . perhaps there were a few things she could do to pass time. Lara could practically feel the weight of her detective notebook in her bag. By instinct, she began to examine the room. Just with her eyes, of course. Still, she ached to do more.
She absolutely should not be doing this. If Aviva were to do something like this to her, she’d be mad for a week. At least. And yet . . .
Aviva’s perfectly neat desk might as well have a flashing light, beckoning Lara toward it.
Lara stepped toward the desk. Stopped. Stared at it.
After all, she reasoned, it’s not like Aviva would keep anything really important in her desk, where anyone could find it. That would just be foolish.
She pulled open the first drawer. It did not surprise Lara to learn that Aviva kept every single piece of homework she’d ever completed. (Which was all of them, of course. Perfect Aviva.) Lara rolled her eyes as she passed through page after page of math homework with “EXCELLENT JOB!!” scribbled across the page.
Then, she came across a page that said “SEE ME.” Even the words looked scary—red and bright and spiky. Lara started reading the paper. From the looks of it, Aviva had written an essay about her family. Her stomach tied up in knots as she read, “I live with my mother. Last year we moved in with my aunt uncle four cousins. Living with cousins are fun. I do not have brother or sister.”
So. Aviva actually liked Lara, or at least she could pretend. That made Lara feel