Chapter 3
The following Monday at school, Natasha dreaded telling her friends that she couldn’t go on the ski trip. She wanted to wait until they were all together at lunchtime, but when she arrived at the Chef Girls’ usual table, Peichi was already chatting away.
“So we were supposed to go shopping for new ski stuff on Sunday. But my mom wanted to look at baby things first. So we spent, like, hours and hours at Baby-Rama. I mean, the stuff was cute and all, but enough already! How many little booties can you look at before you go crazy? And then the worst part was that when we were finished, my mom was too tired to go to Sports Plus! Can you believe it?” Peichi complained.
The twins exchanged a glance and tried not to laugh. “That stinks, Peichi,” Amanda said carefully. “But I’m sure your parents will take you shopping next weekend.”
“Besides, you’d better get used to your mom and dad focusing on the baby,” Molly said bluntly. “New parents always do that.”
Peichi frowned at Molly.
“Nice, Molls,” Amanda said, poking her sister. “Don’t worry, Peichi—your parents will always have time for you!” She cleared her throat, then changed the subject. “About the ski trip—I talked to Evan on the phone last night and got the inside scoop. We have to pick our bunks right away. Each bunk holds eight people, so we need to find three more girls to room with. Any ideas?”
“Um, Amanda,” Natasha spoke up. “You’d better find four girls.”
Everyone looked at Natasha, shocked.
“Huh? Aren’t you coming on the trip?” asked Molly.
Natasha shrugged and tried to smile. “I don’t think so. You know my parents...”
“I don’t believe it! Why won’t they let you go?” shrieked Amanda.
“My mom...she just thinks skiing is dangerous. And she doesn’t like the thought of me going away without them for a long weekend.” Natasha rolled her eyes.
“Oh, Natasha,” Shawn said sympathetically.
“Don’t worry, Natasha,” Amanda said confidently. “We’ll figure something out. You have to come on the ski trip! It wouldn’t be the same without you! Hey, maybe our mom can talk to your mom. Do you think that would help?”
“Maybe,” Natasha said.
“Yeah,” Peichi added. “We could have a—what’s it called? An intervention!” She started talking in a deep voice. “Mrs. Ross, we understand that you worry about Natasha. But don’t worry, we’ll take very good care of her!” Everyone cracked up.
Natasha smiled at her friends—but inside, she thought, They don’t know my mom. It’s not that easy.
“Anyway,” Amanda continued, “we still need three more people. How about Tessa Allen? She’s so fun.”
“And Elizabeth, of course,” said Shawn. Elizabeth Derring had been on the cheerleading squad with Shawn until an ankle injury had forced her to quit. She and her aunt lived in an apartment on the top floor of Natasha’s brownstone.
Amanda nodded and wrote down both names.
“Do you guys know Iris Perry?” asked Molly. “She’s in my social studies and gym classes. She’s cool.”
“Yeah, she’s the seventh-grade vice president,” Amanda said. “I met her at a campaign meeting. She’s really nice. Okay, let’s ask Tessa, Elizabeth, and Iris today.”
Before Amanda finished speaking, the bell rang. As the girls picked up their garbage, Molly leaned over to Natasha.
“Seriously, Natasha, don’t worry,” she said in a quiet voice. “We’ll figure out a way for you to go on the trip!”
Natasha looked into Molly’s bright green eyes and smiled at her friend. For the first time since she’d fought with her parents, Natasha felt that maybe, just maybe, everything would work out.
For the rest of the day, it seemed everyone in seventh grade was trying to figure out who would be in their bunks. Shawn was glad to have her bunk squared away—but when she went to the gym after school for cheerleading practice, she started to worry. What if the cheerleaders want me to bunk with them? she wondered. It’ll be really awkward because of the whole Angie mess.
When Shawn had first joined the cheerleading squad, she and Angie Martinez had become close friends. But eventually, Shawn realized that Angie had a serious mean streak. She was rude to Shawn’s other friends, especially Amanda. After Shawn had caught Angie stealing and vandalizing Elizabeth’s new cheerleading shoes to keep her out of an important meet, Shawn had decided to end the friendship. Angie had not taken it well, and in the past few weeks, had focused her mean side on Shawn. So far, Shawn hadn’t done anything about it. She hoped that Angie would eventually get sick of picking on her and leave her alone.
In the locker room, the seventh-grade cheerleaders were eagerly discussing the ski trip. But as Shawn walked over to her locker, their chatter stopped abruptly.
Weird, Shawn thought as she spun the dial on her combination lock. She cleared her throat. “What’s up, everybody?” she asked.
There was an awkward silence, then Jenn spoke up. “We were, um, talking about the ski trip—figuring out our bunk and everything.”
“Oh. Cool,” Shawn said. There was another pause. Who cares if they don’t want me in their bunk? I’d rather bunk with the Chef Girls any day!
“Um, Shawn. Do you want to bunk with us?” Jessica asked hesitantly.
Shawn found her voice. “Actually, I already said I’d bunk with some of my other friends,” she said. “But thanks for asking.”
“That’s good,” said a shrill voice. “Because our bunk is full.”
Angie Martinez was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed in front of her and an icy smile on her face. From the smug tone in her voice, Shawn could tell how glad Angie was to be excluding Shawn.
“So it’s really good that you found somebody to bunk with, Shawn,” Angie continued. “There’s no room for you in the cheerleader bunk.”
Cut it out, Angie! Shawn thought fiercely as her face grew hot. Why can’t you leave me alone? More than anything, Shawn wanted to tell Angie off. Instead, she took a deep breath and turned her back on Angie. If I keep ignoring her, she’ll eventually stop bugging me, she told herself again. Though Shawn pretended Angie didn’t bother her, she was painfully aware of Angie whispering about her for the rest of practice.
After practice, Shawn hurried back to the locker room and changed as quickly as she could. She wanted to get out of there before the rest of the squad started changing—and before Angie had another chance to embarrass her.
Shawn was almost finished changing when the other cheerleaders entered the locker room. “Good practice! See you later, guys,” Shawn called over her shoulder as she left the locker room. As she walked out the door, Shawn thought she heard a couple cheerleaders start laughing. Are they laughing at me? Shawn wondered anxiously. Then she forced herself to calm down. They’re just laughing, she told herself. Don’t be paranoid.
Outside, dusk was falling, and the sky was cloudless and steely-gray. Shawn shivered and started to walk home quickly. On Monday nights, her father taught until six o’clock, but he was almost always home by six-thirty. I’ll get my homework done by the time Dad gets home. Then we can heat up the beef stew we made yesterday, and maybe watch a movie on TV. Or play Scrabble!
When she got home, Shawn went straight to her room and pulled out her math book. She was concentrating on the third homework problem when the phone rang, jolting her out of her thoughts. Shawn jumped up from her desk and ran out to the kitchen to grab the cordless phone. I hope Dad’s not gonna be late tonight, she thought as she picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” Shawn answered.
Silence.
Then a soft click, and dial tone.
Wrong number, Shawn thought. She was about to put the receiver down when the phone rang in her hand.
“Hello?” Shawn answered after the first ring.
But again, no one was there.
Shawn stood in the empty apartment and looked around. Suddenly, it seemed too dark,
too quiet. I’ll turn on the lights, Shawn thought. That will help. Shawn went from room to room, turning on every light. Then she checked to make sure that the door was locked.
Better, Shawn thought, smiling at herself for feeling so freaked out by a couple of wrong numbers. She went back to her room. But as she sat down, the phone rang again.
“Hello?”
Click.
Shawn shivered. Suddenly she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Brrrrring!
Brrrrring!
Brrrrring!
Shawn took a deep breath and answered the phone.
This time, though, whoever was on the other end didn’t hang up. Shawn almost thought she could hear someone breathing.
“What-what do you want?” Shawn asked, trying to keep her voice from quavering. “Why are you calling me?”
Click.
What am I gonna do? Shawn wondered, her heart pounding. It was only five-thirty—her father wouldn’t be home for another hour.
The phone rang again.
“Forget it,” Shawn said aloud, her voice echoing in the empty apartment. But the phone kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing.
Finally, after almost twenty rings, the phone stopped. The sudden silence in the apartment was overwhelming.
Shawn exhaled slowly—she hadn’t even realized that she had been holding her breath.
Brrrrring!
Shawn grabbed the receiver. “What? What do you want?” Shawn cried.
“Shawn?” said Molly. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”
At the sound of Molly’s voice, Shawn almost started crying. “Molly, ohmigosh, I’m so glad it’s you! Have you been trying to call me?”
“No, this is the first time. What’s going on?”
“I’ve gotten, like, a million hang-up calls tonight,” Shawn explained. “My dad’s not home yet and I started to feel...scared.” She laughed awkwardly. “That sounds pretty lame, doesn’t it?”
“No way! That’s really creepy,” Molly said. “Who do you think it is?”
Shawn shrugged and walked over to the couch in the living room. She curled up under a cozy red afghan. “Who knows? Just some creep, probably.”
There was a click on the line. “Hey, guys! What’s up?” asked Amanda. Molly and Shawn filled her in on the hang-up calls. “That’s totally bizarre,” Amanda said. “Did you star-six-nine?”
“What’s that?” Shawn asked.
“If somebody calls you, but you don’t make it to the phone in time and they hang up, you can dial star-six-nine to get their phone number,” Amanda explained. “I used to do it all the time—like, whenever I got home, just in case somebody had called, but didn’t leave a message. Well, it turns out that it costs, like, seventy-five cents every time you do it! Mom and Dad were not happy when they got the phone bill!”
Everyone laughed, and Shawn started to relax.
“Are you still creeped out?” Molly asked. “Do you want to come over?”
Shawn glanced at the clock. “No, that’s okay,” she said. “Dad will be home soon. But, um, do you guys mind staying on the phone ’til he gets here?”
“No problem,” Amanda replied. “Talking on phone is practically my favorite thing to do!”
The girls laughed again, then Molly grew serious. “Shawn? Are you gonna tell your dad about the calls?”
Shawn thought for a moment. “I don’t think so,” she finally said. “It was probably just a one-time thing. And I don’t want him to get all worried about me and make me stay at Mrs. Murphy’s. I’m way too old for a babysitter. If it happens again, I’ll tell him.”
“Yeah,” Amanda agreed. “It was probably nothing.”
The twins and Shawn chatted for a few more minutes, then Shawn heard a key turn in the lock and her father’s voice calling her name. “Dad’s home,” she said. “Gotta go. Thanks for staying on the phone with me.”
“No big,” Molly replied. “Walk to school tomorrow?”
“Of course! See you then.”
Shawn hung up the phone as her father walked into the living room. “Hi there, baby girl,” Mr. Jordan said with a grin. “How was your day? Mmm, I’ve been dreaming about that beef stew all afternoon! Hungry?”
“Starved!” Shawn exclaimed as she got up.
“Good!” said Mr. Jordan. “Let’s go heat up that stew!”
As Shawn followed her father into the kitchen, she thought about how the entire apartment seemed to come alive as soon as he was home. The phone calls, the fear—all of that was forgotten now that he was home.
Almost.
Chapter 4
The next morning, Shawn picked up the twins before school so the three of them could walk together. She was hoping they wouldn’t bring up the hang-up calls. Fortunately, Amanda couldn’t stop talking about the ski trip.
“So, Evan called me last night, and I asked him lots of questions about when he went on the ski trip last year,” Amanda said. “Our bunk is all set—that is, if Natasha’s parents let her go on the trip. I mean, I’m sure they will. But Evan told me that getting on the right bus is almost as important as the bunk.”
“The right bus?” Molly asked blankly. “What does that mean?”
“Well,” Amanda explained importantly. “There are three buses and we have to sign up for the one we want to ride on. So, it’s really important to sign up for the right one—the one with all your friends and the cool kids. Otherwise, you could get stuck on the loser bus.”
Molly and Shawn stared at Amanda.
“What?” Amanda asked, confused.
“The ‘loser’ bus?” Molly asked, raising her eyebrows.
Amanda flushed. “You guys know what I mean! All I’m saying is that we should sign up for the same bus. So we can sit together. It’s a seven-hour drive, you know.”
Shawn changed the subject. “Do you think Natasha’s parents are going to the meeting about the ski trip tonight?”
“I think so,” answered Molly. “Our mom called Mrs. Ross last night. Mom said, ‘We want to get more information about the trip, too.’ ”
As the girls walked into the main hall of Windsor Middle School, they noticed a large crowd of students at the end of the corridor.
“What’s going on down there?” Molly asked.
“Maybe they put up the bus lists!” Amanda said excitedly.
“Down at the end of the hall? I don’t think so,” Shawn replied. “Maybe there was a fight or something.”
The girls walked down the hall, toward the crowd. Suddenly, Shawn stopped and frowned. “It looks like they’re in front of my locker.”
As Shawn began to walk faster, the twins exchanged a glance. They were doing the “twin thing” again, thinking, Why are there so many people in front of Shawn’s locker?
Shawn pushed her way through the crowd, then gasped when she saw her locker. It was smeared with bright red paint, the dripping letters reading SHAWN JORDAN IS A LOSER!
The crowd grew quiet as everyone stared at Shawn. Amanda quickly put her arm around her friend. “Let’s get out of here,” she murmured. The twins led Shawn down the hall and into the main office.
Miss Hinkle, the secretary, looked up when they entered. “Good morning, girls!” she sang out cheerfully.
Away from the staring eyes of the crowd, Shawn burst into tears.
“Oh my goodness, oh, dear, what’s the matter?” Miss Hinkle asked, coming out from behind her desk with a box of tissues.
“Shawn’s locker is covered in graffiti!” Molly said angrily. “Big red letters that say ‘Shawn Jordan is a loser!’ ”
Miss Hinkle shook her head. “Dreadful. Just dreadful.” She patted Shawn on the shoulder and went to the phone. “Mrs. Wagner? Do you have a moment? There seems to have been some vandalism to a student’s locker. She’s here now...yes, very upset...thank you.” Miss Hinkle hung up the phone and turned to Shawn with a sympathetic smile. “Principal Wagner will be right out,” she said kindly.
A few minutes later, Principal Wagner appeared. “Hello, Shawn,” she said. “Why don’t you come in to my office. Molly and Amanda, you can come, too.”
Shawn and the twins stood automatically and followed Principal Wagner.
Molly looked at Amanda as if to say, How did she know our names? Amanda just shrugged, as if to say, Principal Wagner is one of those people who knows everything!
Principal Wagner gestured to two chairs in front of her desk, then pulled up a third. As Molly, Amanda, and Shawn sat, Principal Wagner asked, “What happened?”
Shawn took a deep breath. “When we got to school, we saw this big crowd in front of my locker,” she began. “We thought maybe there had been a fight. But when we got closer, I saw that there was writing on my locker. It said, ‘Shawn Jordan is a loser!’ ” Shawn looked at the floor. In the distance, the girls heard the bell for homeroom ring.
“I see,” Principal Wagner said seriously. “So the graffiti was already there when you got to school. Do you have any idea who might have done this?”
Shawn looked up. “No,” she said. “I have no idea.”
Principal Wagner looked at Shawn for a moment, then nodded her head. “All right. We’ll have the janitor remove the paint at once. Shawn, if anything like this happens again, I want you to come tell me right away. Okay?”
“Thanks, Principal Wagner,” Shawn said, trying to smile.
“I’ll have Miss Hinkle write you passes to go to homeroom,” Principal Wagner said. She walked Shawn, Molly, and Amanda to the door.
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