The Super Secret Mystery

by Stephanie Barden

  “That would be awesome,” I said. “And it would still give me plenty of time to finish my report.”

  “I’ll leave myself a note.” Ms Pearl pulled a pencil from behind her ear and wrote down my name and the books I wanted.

  “Hi!” Zachary came into the library just when we were leaving.

  “Hi-bye,” Erin and I said at the same time.

  “I wonder who has the books I need,” I said. “I hope they are just really interested in jungle cats. I hope they’re not in cahoots with each other.”

  “It’s impossible to know,” said Erin. “Everybody is being so secretive.”

  “I was going to ask Ms. Pearl who had them,” I said, “but I thought maybe it was very private information, like if you get lice or something.”

  “That’s private information?” asked Erin.

  “Yep,” I said. “If someone at the school finds them on your head, they just send you home and don’t tell anyone at all. Last year kids kept disappearing in the middle of the day, and it was a little bit spooky. Finally we found out what was going on, though.”

  Erin scratched her head. “Every time I hear the word lice I start itching.”

  We sat down on our favorite bench by the basketball courts. Her itching made me start itching too. “I’ve never had lice, have you?”

  “I did when I was in kindergarten,” said Erin. “My mom said it was awful, but I don’t remember it.”

  “Guess what?” Zachary ran over to us and jumped on the bench. “There is not one single thing on Pacific pocket mice in our whole library! It is that rare!”

  “Wow!” I said.

  “That’s amazing!” said Erin.

  “What is?” Charlie bounced his basketball over to us and started dribbling in a circle around our bench.

  “None of your business!” I was still a little mad that he’d tried to tell everyone what my animal was.

  “I bet it’s shocking and amazing animal report stuff.” The end-of-recess bell rang, and Charlie ran off to get in line.

  “It is pretty shocking and amazing that there’s nothing in our library,” I said. “You should say that as part of your report.”

  “Yeah,” said Zachary. “That would be good.”

  We slid off the bench and started walking to our line.

  “What are you going to do about your resources?” asked Erin.

  “I don’t know,” said Zachary. “Ms. Pearl said I should ask Mr. Harrison.”

  “Maybe you can go to a different library,” I said. “Actually, maybe I can too. The books I need keep getting checked out. I’ll ask Mr. Harrison and let you know.”

  “Take your seats, everyone,” said Mr. Harrison when we got into class. “You may read silently at your desks until music or work on your reports.”

  I raised my hand.

  “Do you have a question, Cinderella?”

  “Yes, but it’s a secret-y one. Can I come up there and ask?”

  “Of course,” said Mr. Harrison.

  I walked up to his desk and said very quietly, “Zachary and I are having trouble getting the books we need for our reports at the school library. Can the book resources come from another library?”

  “Sure,” he said, “but why so hush-hush?”

  “Everybody knows what our animals are,” I explained. “We need to have some secrets.”

  I turned back to my desk and gave Zachary a thumbs-up.

  “What did you ask Mr. Harrison?” asked Logan when I sat down.

  Since his animal wasn’t a supersecret either, I started to tell him; but Christopher and Trevor were listening, so I raised my hand again.

  “Another supersecret question?” asked Mr. Harrison.

  “No,” I said. “I was just wondering if maybe me and Logan and Zachary could all sit together to work on our reports. Everyone knows our animals, but we have some other stuff to discuss that we are in cahoots about.”

  Mr. Harrison rubbed his hands together. “I cannot wait to see these reports. You may use the worktable at the back of the room.”

  Logan gathered up his books, and I grabbed my Lots About Ocelots notebook.

  Erin raised her hand. “May I sit at the worktable too?”

  “Only people who don’t have secret animals can,” said Rosemary T.

  “I’m doing toucans,” Erin said very loud so everyone could hear.

  The class made ooh and ahh noises.

  “It’s no big deal,” said Erin. “It’s not like I have lice or anything.”

  Now the class made an eew noise.

  “If it’s okay with the Group in Cahoots in the back,” said Mr. Harrison, “it’s fine with me.”

  “Thumbs-up from the Group in Cahoots,” I said.

  Logan and Zachary and I all gave a thumbs-up, and Erin brought her toucan books back to the worktable. Once she set them down she did a thumbs-up too, and the four of us all bumped our knuckles together.

  “Hey,” said Zachary. “That can be our group’s secret handshake.”

  “It’s not very secret,” Rosemary T. called from her table.

  “Yeah,” said Rosemary W. “We all saw it.”

  “Oh well,” I said. “We have plenty of other secret things.”

  I leaned way into the table and so did Erin and Logan and Zachary.

  “So, what did you ask Mr. Harrison?” whispered Logan.

  “I asked him if we could check out books for our reports at the regular library,” I whispered. “Zachary can’t find anything at all at ours, and the books I need keep getting checked out.”

  “Why did you ask it supersecret?” asked Logan.

  “I didn’t want to give anyone else the idea,” I said. “Because I really need to get some books.”

  “Maybe I’ll go to the regular library too,” said Logan. “I have seventy-two facts on gorillas, but I could always use more.”

  “Seventy-two is pretty amazing,” said Zachary.

  “Yeah,” said Logan, “but none of them are very interesting.”

  “Tell us some,” I said.

  Logan opened up his notebook. “Fact one: there are three subspecies of gorillas. Fact two: one is the western lowland gorilla. Fact three: one is the eastern lowland gorilla. Fact four: one is the mountain gorilla.”

  “You’re right,” said Zachary. “Those aren’t very interesting.”

  “How do you shock and amaze people with facts?” asked Logan.

  “Maybe you could do them in different voices,” I said.

  “Are you good at accents?” asked Zachary.

  “I can do a French one,” said Logan. “Bonjour, mesdams est mosures. Fact five ees dere are only feefty-five tousand goreellas left in zee vild.”

  We all four laughed very loud.

  “Mr. Harrison,” said Rosemary T. “I can’t concentrate with all the noise they’re making at the worktable.”

  “Luckily it’s time to go to music,” said Mr. Harrison. “Let’s line up.”

  6

  Tie-dyed TOMS

  When I ran out of school, teeny-tiny snowflakes were falling, and all the kids were running around yelling and looking happy. All the grown-ups were standing in the middle of the playground looking cold and grumpy, including my mom and Mrs. Thomas. The Thomases, by the way, live down the block from us. Louie is in kindergarten and Maggie is best friends with Tess, and we walk to school with them most every day.

  “Would you mind getting Louie for me?” asked Mrs. Thomas. “I need to go corral Maggie.”

  “Sure!” I ran over to the kindergarten yard. It’s a play area with awesome climbing stuff and a fence all around to keep little kids safe. It’s not like us bigger kids are mean or anything; it’s just that we play pretty hard at recess. Sometimes we run over or knock into a little kid on accident.

  “It’s time to head home!” I called to Louie.

  “Okay!” He jumped off a pretend little bridge where I used to play the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

  “I miss playing
in there.” I did a big, huge sigh.

  “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to play out there with you,” said Louie. “Do you think we’ll have a snow day tomorrow?”

  “No,” I said. “It’s melting when it hits the ground. It’s not sticking at all.”

  “Rats,” said Louie. “I’ve never had a snow day.”

  “I’ve only had two in all the years I’ve been going to school,” I said. “Alas.”

  “Alas,” he said.

  Our moms were busy talking about their book group, so I waited until we said good-bye to the Thomases to talk to my mom. She just hates being interrupted, and I wanted her to say yes to everything I was going to ask.

  “Can I invite some people over after school tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” said my mom

  “What people?” asked Tess.

  “The Group in Cahoots,” I said. “Otherwise known as Erin, Zachary, and Logan.”

  “Is that a club?” asked Tess.

  “No,” I said. “It’s all the kids that are doing not-secret animal reports. We have to find another way to be shocking and amazing.”

  “Shocking and amazing?” asked my mom.

  “The class decided to not tell anyone what animals they were doing their report on,” I said. “They wanted to shock and amaze each other. Everyone already knew what Logan’s animal was, though, and everyone found out what mine was. Then Erin and Zachary decided to tell so they could be part of our group too.”

  “Speaking of groups,” said my mom, “I need to ask Chris a question about the book group.” Chris, by the way, is Charlie’s mom.

  “And speaking of books,” I said, “I have another question. I’m having a little trouble getting the books I need for my report from the school library. Can you or Dad maybe take me to the regular library if I can’t get them?”

  “Sure,” she said again.

  We got to our house and I stopped, but my mom and Tess kept walking.

  “Can I just be home by myself?” I asked. “Charlie called me Tinder at school today, and I do not feel like seeing him at all.”

  My mom thought about that for a little bit. “I suppose.” She unlocked our front door. “We won’t be long.”

  “Take as long as you need.” I walked into our house and did a great, big, happy sigh. “Home at last.”

  I dumped my backpack by the door and kicked off my shoes. One of my tie-dyed TOMS rolled under the chest where we put mail and car keys, but I left it for later. I went out to the kitchen and made a very boring snack of raisins and saltines. Like I mentioned before, it’s always healthy, healthy, healthy food around our house. Alas.

  When I finished my raisins, I blew into the box to make that whistle sound that I just love. Someday I plan to be able to whistle all on my own. I especially plan to be able to make that really loud one that gets everyone’s attention. My dad can do it, and he’s teaching me. I also plan to be able to make one of my eyebrows go up like my mom does and also to have pierced ears. And when I thought of that last thing, I had a great big AHA!

  The main reason that my mom says I can’t get my ears pierced yet is because I’m not responsible enough. But here I was home all by myself, and nothing bad was happening. That was pretty responsible. I had made my own snack, and that was pretty responsible too. I could clean up my own snack and even wipe the crumbs off the table. I could also put my backpack in my room without being asked. And my shoes too. I mean shoe. There was only one. That wasn’t very responsible.

  Then I remembered that the other one had rolled under the chest. I reached under to get it, but that’s not what I found.

  “What in the world?” I pulled out two pennies, my Grandmother Smith’s glasses case, a cat toy that must belong to Miss Purvis, and finally my tie-dyed TOMS. I put the pennies and glasses case and cat toy on top of the chest, then carried my backpack and shoes to my room. While I was there I picked up all my clothes off the floor and put them in my hamper. Then I started picking up all my shoes. And that’s what I was doing when my mom and Tess came home. I was being a very responsible, grown-up, ready-to-get-my-ears-pierced-any-day-now girl.

  7

  Spyers

  “I didn’t know you lived this close to school,” said Logan.

  “Yep,” I said. “It’s very handy.”

  “She lives right next door to Charlie,” said Zachary.

  “And down the block from Rosemary T.,” said Erin.

  “Alas,” I said very quietly so my mom couldn’t hear.

  My mom and Louie turned up the Thomases’ front walk.

  “Is that your house?” Logan sounded impressed, and I knew why. The Thomases have a huge house with an enormous yard.

  “No,” I said. “It’s Louie’s. My little sister is playing with his little sister. We have to drop him off and pick her up.”

  “Wow,” said Mrs. Thomas when she opened her door. “You’ve got quite a crowd today.”

  “This is Erin and Zachary and Logan,” I said. “They’re coming over so we can work on our endangered animal reports.”

  “Are you doing a report all together?” she asked.

  “No, we’re each doing our own.” But then I thought a little bit about that. “If we did, though, that might be kind of cool.”

  “It might be amazing,” said Erin.

  “It might be shocking too,” said Zachary.

  “We could each turn in our own report,” said Logan, “but we could present all together.”

  “Yeah!” we all said at once.

  We grabbed Tess and said good-bye and walked down the Thomases’ front steps. Before we could even head down the sidewalk, Rosemary T. came running out of her house and crossed the street.

  “What are you guys doing?” she asked.

  “We are having a Group in Cahoots meeting at my house,” I said.

  “Can I come?” she asked.

  I was so surprised by this that my mouth popped wide-open and no words came out. Rosemary T. hadn’t wanted anything to do with me at all this year. Plus, she knew she couldn’t come over and listen to all the secret cahoots stuff. My mom was standing right there, though, and she was very into being polite. She always thought everyone should be included in everything. I did not know what to do, so I just stood there all quiet.

  Luckily Erin talked for me. “No, you can’t.”

  “At least not today,” I said.

  “Why not?” Rosemary T. asked.

  “You know why,” said Logan.

  “Yeah,” said Zachary. “You already know our animals; you can’t know anything more.”

  “Whatever.” Rosemary T. huffed back across the street and into her house.

  I looked up at my mom a little worried. Both her eyebrows were normal, though, so maybe I wouldn’t get a stern talking-to after everyone went home.

  We sat around our dining-room table, and my mom brought in a snack of apples and Cheddar cheese rice cakes.

  “Can Charlotte and me be in the cahoots group too?” Tess set her brontosaurus on the table.

  “I’m a big dinosaur fan,” said Logan.

  Tess gave him a thumbs-up and he gave her one back, and they did a thumbs-up-bump.

  “Hey,” said Zachary. “She knows the secret handshake! She has to be a member!”

  We all five thumbs-up-bumped each other, then I called the meeting to order.

  “How far is everyone on their reports?” I asked.

  “I got some facts about the Pacific pocket mouse from the internet,” said Zachary. “They were supposed to be extinct, but then someone found some.”

  “Are they called pocket mice because they’re so small?” asked Erin.

  “Or because they like pockets?” I asked.

  “They have little pockets in their cheeks for storing food,” said Zachary, “but I bet they like regular pockets too. My hamster loves to crawl into mine.”

  “You should bring it to class,” said Logan. “And pretend it’s a mouse.”

&nbs
p; “It’s not allowed to leave my bedroom,” said Zachary.

  “I have a lot of toucan facts,” said Erin, “but nothing very shocking or anything.”

  “I have eighty-six gorilla facts now,” said Logan.

  “I wonder how we could mash all our facts together.” I stared at Charlotte Brontosaurus in the middle of the table and thought and thought. All of a sudden I had an AHA! “Hey, what if we brought in pretend animals and did something with them? I have a stuffed animal that sort of looks like an ocelot.”

  “I have a stuffed gorilla!” said Logan.

  “I have Tiptoe, a Beanie Baby mouse,” said Tess.

  “Could I borrow it?” asked Zachary.

  “Yes!” Tess climbed off her chair and ran to find Tiptoe.

  “I don’t have a toucan,” said Erin, “but I could get one.”

  I grabbed up Charlotte Brontosaurus and marched her around the table. “Maybe we could do a puppet show or something with our animals.”

  Tess came running back into the room holding Tiptoe. “Ahh!” she yelled. “Spyers!” She pointed to the window.

  We all turned around to look and heard a crashing noise outside. We raced to the front door and pulled it open superquick. Running down the street one way was Rosemary T. and running next door was Charlie.

  “What in the world?” I yelled.

  Charlie’s front door slammed.

  “Do you think Charlie and Rosemary T. are in cahoots?” I could barely believe what my eyes had just seen.

  “It certainly looks like it,” said Logan.

  “And here’s the proof.” Zachary waded through the bushes underneath our front window and grabbed up a basketball. Charlie’s basketball.

  “They were spying on us!” said Erin.

  “This is very, extremely shocking,” I said.

  “They already know our animals,” said Logan. “They must have been trying to figure out what amazing thing we were going to do.”

  I started to see red, which means I got very, extremely mad. “You know what this means.”

  “War,” said Zachary.

  “We need to devise a counterattack,” said Logan.