“Oh, Jendra, that reminds me,” Tina said smoothly. “I have a few little tricks to teach you about how to handle teachers. The first step toward good grades is a good relationship.” She smiled angelically and handed me the goodie bag she had just finished filling. “Why don’t you take one of these to your pre-algebra teacher?”

  “Okay,” I said shakily, taking the bag from her. Believe me, I was pretty glad to have any excuse to get out of there.

  “Lien Hua can go with you,” Tina suggested. She stared at her, long and hard, and said, “Right, Lien Hua?”

  “Sure,” chirped Lien Hua with a smile. She always seemed to smile. I wondered if she ever frowned.

  Lien Hua and I started out of the gym. When we were in the middle of the hall, she pulled me aside, over by the water fountain, for a talk.

  “We didn’t want to scare you, Jendra,” she said. “But if you’re going to stay on the squad, there are a few things you need to know.”

  “Actually,” I said weakly, “I’ve been meaning to talk to someone about that. I’m not so sure I want to stay on the squad at all, and I . . .”

  Lien Hua wasn’t even listening to me. She was busy digging around in her chain-mail purse. “Here,” she said, pulling out a big wad of paper. “I think you should take a look at this.” Her tone sounded really ominous, but when I looked at her face, I saw that she was still smiling. I guess she just smiled all the time.

  She put the wad of paper into my palm.

  “Every paper in there is a threatening note to Chrystal. Look!”

  She unwrapped one sheet and showed it to me. Ever seen one of those creepy ransom notes in the movies, made out of cut-up newspaper headlines? That’s exactly what she showed me. It looked really weird, and it said:

  BeWARe ChRYStal,

  SOmeBoDy PoISoned YoUR POmPOnS!

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  Lien Hua shrugged. “Creepy, though, right?” she said solemnly, still smiling. “Chrystal kept finding one of those stuck in her cheerleading locker every single day for weeks. Finally she got scared, and yesterday she quit. We’re kind of worried about her. I mean, we all really like her.” She wrinkled her nose but kept smiling, as she added, “Except Jamey Fitzhughston. She doesn’t like anybody.”

  “Gosh, “I said, “that’s—”

  But Lien Hua didn’t let me finish. She stuffed the notes back down into her purse, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me down the hall to the teacher’s lounge.

  “You can just put the goodie bag inside her box,” she said with a smile. “Sign it, ‘From a Secret Admirer.’ Trust me. That works every time.”

  “Okay,” I said, still feeling a little creepy. I stuffed the bag into Mrs. O’Donnahee’s box, and then together we went back to the gym, where everybody else was learning a dance routine.

  7

  Bad News

  For some reason Mrs. O’Donnahee wasn’t in school the next day. When I mentioned it to Tina at lunch, she just said, “Great,” and let me have one of her Jolly Ranchers.

  Leah, however, was not so calm. “Jendra, something is definitely wrong,” she told me, picking the cheese off her pizza.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “I thought you only picked the pepperoni off your pizza, now it’s the cheese, too?”

  “Cheese is so fattening,” Leah said, “and it makes the pizza taste so gross.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “but without the pepperoni and without the cheese your pizza is just warm sauce and bread. Does that really taste good to you?”

  “Taste has nothing to do with it,” Leah insisted. “It’s all about nutrition. And, besides, I can feed the cheese to Matt.”

  “No, thanks,” groaned Matt, looking kind of green.

  “Hey,” I said, “what’s wrong with you? Practice too hard last night?”

  “I don’t know,” Matt wailed, throwing his head down on the table with a loud thump. “I just feel sort of queasy or something.”

  “See, I told you,” Leah said wisely. “This cheese is poison. It’s clogging his arteries right now here at lunch!”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Leah,” I groaned. “It isn’t the pizza. There’s something really wrong with him. Anybody can see that.” Actually, I was kind of worried about Matt. His face was all sweaty and his skin felt clammy and cold.

  “Maybe you should go to the nurse’s office,” I suggested.

  “Nah,” said Matt, looking really puky. “Then I’ll miss Ms. Long’s class, and I have to give a report on the Karankawa Indians today.”

  “Matt, you look like you just got attacked by the Karankawa Indians,” I told him, feeling his forehead. “Aren’t they the ones who greased themselves down with alligator fat so they wouldn’t get bitten by mosquitoes? ’Cause, Matt, that’s exactly what you smell like.”

  “Hi, Mattie sweetie, something wrong?” A breeze of Chanel No. 5 mixed with Salon Selectives shampoo blew by our table, and I looked up and saw Tina. She looked concerned. “Mattie,” she said, “you’re all sweaty and gross. That can’t be good.” She gently shoved Leah’s chair over to one side, and crouched next to Matt with a sorrowful expression. “What have I told you about cafeteria food?” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “Dear boy, will you ever learn? Here.” She pulled something in a glass jar out of her purse and set it on the table in front of him.

  Matt cocked an eyebrow. “Baby applesauce?” he groaned.

  “That’s right,” she said. “Now eat it all up good for Mommy and you’ll feel all better in no time.” She stood up, tossed her hair, and told me, “Jendra, I need to talk to you. Could you come over to my table for a minute, please?”

  “Sure,” I said. I followed her back to her usual seat while Leah looked after us, indignantly scooting her chair back into place.

  “Now, Jendra,” said Tina, once we had gotten back to her table, “I don’t mean to sound like a snob, or anything, but I really don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to eat lunch with those two anymore.”

  “Why not?” I asked. “I mean, Leah is my best friend, and Matt is your own cousin.”

  “I know,” said Tina regretfully, gray eyes wide. “I know, I know, I know. And it isn’t that there’s anything wrong with them, believe me. It’s just that I think you should eat over here with the rest of the cheerleaders. That’s only right. Don’t you think so, girls?”

  She let her eyes slide slyly first to one side and then the other, and before long all of her friends were nodding enthusiastically and offering me sips of diet soda and pieces of fat-free pretzels. Not exactly gourmet, but, I have to tell you, the pretzels were just a bit more appetizing than Leah’s cheeseless pizza.

  “I’m glad you came to eat with us,” said Lien Hua, grinning at me as the lunch bell rang. “We really missed you.”

  “Yeah, “I said, returning her smile. “Well, I’ll see you this afternoon at practice, okay?”

  “Before that, I hope,” said Lien Hua with a grin. I started off to class.

  Just outside Ms. Long’s room, Tina glided by me in the hall.

  “Here,” she said, tossing me a stick of gum. “Have a piece. It will keep your breath fresh for up to three hours.”

  “Thanks,” I said shakily, popping it into my mouth as I shoved through the classroom door.

  I expected Matt’s oral report on the Karankawa Indians to be a total flop, but he completely fooled me. Somehow, he was like one hundred percent totally better by the time class started, and he gave his report like a pro. It was almost as good as mine, and just as made up, I assure you.

  “Excellent work, Matt,” I told him as he slid back into his seat.

  “Yeah?” he said with a grin. “Well, I have an excellent role model!”

  I smiled and was about to say something back, when Ms. Long sneaked up behind me and started screaming her head off. She really scared me. (Well, okay, maybe “screaming her head off” is a bit of an exaggeration. I just like to use hyperbole! You know, that goes with the territory when your mom’s an English teacher. But, anyway, Ms. Long sure wasn’t being very nice to me.)

  “Miss MacKenzie,” she shrieked. “Are you chewing gum?”

  “No,” I quipped instantly, rolling my eyes reflexively. “It just so happens that I . . .”—then I remembered the stick of gum Tina had popped into my mouth and finished lamely—“am.” I smiled weakly.

  Now, I’ll admit, as your average, everyday suburban Texas teen, I’ve never looked the devil in the eye, but at that moment Ms. Long looked distinctly evil. Her lips twisted into this sinister smile, and she said almost gleefully, “Miss MacKenzie, go to the office immediately.” She added menacingly, “And never come back.”

  “Never?” squeaked Matt. “Gosh, that’s harsh for one piece of gum. Not even tomorrow?”

  He shouldn’t have said that. You don’t crack jokes with the devil.

  “For that smart remark, my funny man,” Ms. Long informed him crisply, “you may go to the office with her.”

  “Do I have to come back?” he had the guts to ask.

  That broke Ms. Long. Wrinkling her nose in rage, she screamed, “Get out of my classroom!”

  Matt and I ran through the door and down the hall, giggling all the way.

  Things didn’t seem so funny once we got to the office, though.

  Mr. Talbert was standing in the doorway of his office, talking in a real low voice to one of the school secretaries. We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but, just from the looks on their faces, Matt and I figured that something was very wrong.

  “It’s Chrystal,” said Tina, who was suddenly standing behind us.

  “Where did you come from?” Matt asked, sounding as shocked as I felt.

  “Home ec,” she replied, smacking her Cinnaburst. “We were microwaving S’mores, but, of course, I dropped my marshmallows to rush right down here as soon as I heard the news.”

  “What news?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “Well, there’s definitely something wrong with Chrystal,” she said. “She’s dead.”

  8

  The Vanishing Chrystal

  “Dead?” I repeated in horror. “Do you mean really, really, really dead? Really?”

  “Really,” said Tina.

  “Really?” I guess I’m kind of a skeptic. This cynical age we live in has left its mark on me in a big way. I mean, I know it probably sounds weird that I didn’t believe her at first, but keep in mind I had never personally known anyone who was really dead before—except my great-aunt, Mildred, and I didn’t really know her. Well, technically, I didn’t really know Chrystal either, but I knew she must have been about my size because I fit into her coyote suit.

  Tina rolled her gray eyes at me and tossed her hair. “Actually, Jendra,” she said with a groan, “she’s not really dead. But she might as well be as far as we’re concerned. I guess somebody scared her really, really a lot. So she withdrew from school and moved to Australia.”

  “Australia?” I repeated with a frown.

  “That’s the official story anyway,” Tina said. The secretive look she gave me just then made me shudder. What was the unofficial story?

  “I’m not so sure I can make it to practice this afternoon,” I announced, looking traumatized. “I just got kicked out of history class. We’re here to see Mr. Talbert.”

  Tina laughed. “Practice? Well, don’t worry, Jendra, that’s probably canceled after this mess. And don’t worry about Mr. Talbert. I’ll talk to him for you. Also, there’s probably not going to be a game Friday night.”

  “What?” Matt exclaimed. “That’s crazy! What do you mean? We’ve been practicing all week!”

  Tina shrugged. “Don’t yell at me,” she said. “I can’t help it. I don’t make the rules.” I wasn’t so sure about that, personally. “The thing is,” she went on, “and this is really weird—Mr. Talbert suspects that someone on the basketball team might have scared Chrystal away.”

  “What?” yelped Matt. “Why? That’s totally crazy!”

  “But totally probable,” said Tina. “I guess you’re the only member of the team who’s still at school, Mattie. All the rest of them either didn’t come in today or went home sick. Like some weird, convenient basketball flu. You’ve got to admit that that looks pretty sinister.”

  “Maybe they’re just tired,” Matt reasoned. “We did practice pretty hard. I mean, come on, Tina. Just because they didn’t come to school, that doesn’t mean they terrorized some girl. That’s kind of a stretch if you ask me.”

  Tina shrugged again. “The basketball players are looking pretty suspicious right now,” she said. “Mr. Talbert thinks they might be the ones who stole his pants and his shoes. Remember last week’s school paper? The star player was quoted as saying how much he wished he had shoes like Mr. Talbert’s. And the point guard commented on his pants.”

  I did remember those quotes. They had even made a big deal about them on the announcements. Everybody in the whole school probably remembered.

  Matt rolled his eyes. “Like they really want to dress like a middle-aged principal!” he said, sounding exasperated. “Tina, they just said that stuff to score points with Mr. Talbert.”

  “Really?” she probed. “Are you sure they didn’t want to score a new outfit?”

  Matt rolled his eyes again.

  “Well, I’ve got to go,” Tina said lightly. “Mr. Talbert wants to talk to me right away.” She grinned, looking lofty, and added, “You know, important stuff. But, Jen, don’t go too far, okay? I’ll have Lien Hua get in touch with you, because practice or no practice, we really need to have a meeting this afternoon to discuss all this, okay? Great to see you.”

  She strolled off down the hall.

  “Don’t go too far?” I repeated in confusion. “It’s the middle of the school day, Matt! Where the heck does she think I’m going? I probably can’t even get back into class.”

  “Tina’s weird,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t pay too much attention to her. She’s kind of stuck on her own importance. Actually, Jendra, if I were you, I would stop hanging around with her. I know it might sound crazy, but she has this way of getting people into really serious trouble. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t trust her at all.”

  I probably should have listened to him, but at the time I decided he was being a jealous cousin.

  “Sure, Matt,” I assured him. “I’ll watch out for myself. But don’t worry, okay? Tina’s been great. She’s helping us with Mr. Talbert. In fact, she’s one of the nicest people I know.”

  Man, I am so stupid!

  9

  Lien Hua

  The weird thing about Lien Hua was that whenever I was with her, it was like I forgot about everything else I was supposed to be doing.

  I noticed that for the first time later that afternoon. I had been talking to Lien Hua for like ten minutes in the band hall bathroom when I suddenly realized I was supposed to be in computer science. And, believe me, that’s a lot to forget.

  “Oh, my gosh!” I exclaimed, looking at my watch. “Great! I’m like a million years late. I’m going to be sent to the office twice in one day!”

  Lien Hua didn’t seem too worried. She just laughed. “Relax,” she assured me. “You’re not going to get in trouble. Tina will take care of it. She’ll make sure your stupid computer teacher doesn’t give you a tardy. What’s her name?”

  “Her name is Mr. Grady,” I said. “But I really don’t think anybody can stop him from giving me a tardy.”

  Lien Hua smiled. Well, actually, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been smiling before, so I guess I should say she continued smiling. It’s just that that sounds kind of weird, you know? Oh, well. Lien Hua continued smiling and assured me with a wink, “Tina can.” I had heard that one before.

  “Tina can do anything, can’t she?” I said.

  “Pretty much,” Lien Hua agreed with a smile.

  “It’s weird,” I said to her. “I mean, it’s like she’s got some kind of magic power or something.”

  Lien Hua smiled. Well, okay! Okay! Lien Hua continued smiling. She told me, “She does.”

  “She does?”

  Lien Hua laughed. “You’ll see,” she said. “Just wait until your initiation.”

  “Initiation?”

  “This afternoon,” she told me. “At Jamey Fitzhughston’s house.”

  Oh, great, I thought. Jamey Fitzhughston hates me. I think she’d kill me if she had half a chance.

  “Probably,” Lien Hua agreed.

  It took me a minute to realize that something was a little bit off in that exchange. “Hold on!” I said suddenly. “You just answered me, and I didn’t say anything out loud!”

  “Oh, sorry,” chirped Lien Hua. She continued smiling. “I guess I do that sometimes. Déjà vu, right?”

  “Déjà vu?” I repeated in confusion. “That’s not what that means.”

  “Well, whatever!” she said, continuing to smile.

  I was starting to feel kind of creeped out by then. “Listen,” I said. “I really think I should be getting back to class.”

  Probably, Lien Hua agreed.

  I’m kind of slow, I guess. We were halfway down the hall when it finally clicked.

  “Hold on a minute!” I cried. “Now I just heard you say something, when you didn’t say anything out loud.”

  Lien Hua shrugged. “Maybe you have déjà vu, too!” she suggested. “Wouldn’t that be weird?”

  “Déjà vu? But that doesn’t let you read other people’s thoughts!” I protested.

  Lien Hua totally ignored me. “We could be psychic sisters,” she said. “Cool, right?”

  I didn’t think so, and I wished she would stop smiling so much. I don’t know which was creepier, her ESP, or her never-ending happy face! While I was thinking about that, she slipped away from me and disappeared down the hall, leaving me to go back to class alone.

  I kind of dreaded walking into computer science by myself, twenty minutes late, and without a pass. I knew I was going to get in major trouble.

 

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