by Jill Diamond
“Wait! I just remembered something!” Pea said. She almost never interrupted Lou Lou, so Lou Lou knew it had to be important.
“Really? Something helpful?” Lou Lou asked. She hoped Pea’s great memory would save the day.
“Chestnut. You said ‘chestnut mare,’” Pea replied.
“Yes. So…?”
Pea’s blue eyes lit up in a way that made her whole face glow. “Abuela Josie told us that Diego’s horse was—”
“Sorrel!” It was Lou Lou’s turn to interrupt Pea. “You’re a genius! We got it, Pea! The diary is wrong about the color of Diego’s horse, so it must be a fake. I knew it all along!” Lou Lou closed the small book with a triumphant clap. They were sure to get the Bonanza back now! She could hardly believe it had been so easy!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Chestnut
“What do we do next?” asked Pea after they discovered the chestnut mistake. “Should we keep reading?”
“No need!” replied Lou Lou. “This is proof that the Argyles faked the diary! Now we have to tell someone who can help.”
“Our parents? Abuela Josie?” Pea said.
“No, I think it should be someone not related to us. So they don’t look biased when we all make the announcement that saves the Bonanza for El Corazón.” Lou Lou was already thinking ahead to the ultimate victory.
Pea took a sip of tea. “How about Principal Garcia?” She was referring to the principal of El Corazón Public. “He’s a good listener and people respect him, even outside of our neighborhood.”
“That’s a great idea, Pea!” Lou Lou replied. “We should go see him tomorrow.”
“But tomorrow is Saturday,” said Pea. “Surely, he won’t be in his office.”
“¡No es problemo!” Lou Lou said.
“Problema,” Pea corrected gently.
“¡No es problema! I know where he lives. He had my English class over to his house last year for homemade horchata after we won the school reading challenge. He told us that his door is always open to students. So really he invited us to drop by anytime!”
“I’m not sure that’s exactly what he meant. But it’s worth a try,” replied Pea.
“Let’s meet here in the morning and walk to his house. It’s so exciting, Pea! We’ll get this sorted out and take back the Bonanza and your hats!” She stood on her chair. “Like I said before, Lou Lou and Pea to—whoa!—whoa!” The chair wobbled and Lou Lou slipped off and fell onto the grass.
“Oh no!” Pea dropped her scone on the table. “Are you okay?”
Lou Lou got up and grinned. “I’m fine! Now, where was I? Oh, I know—Lou Lou and Pea to the rescue again!”
* * *
At ten on Saturday morning, Lou Lou and Pea went off to see Principal Garcia. Lou Lou brought a bag of her dad’s spinnaker-pole cinnamon rolls to munch on while they walked. She was awake and alert, and had already spent two hours in her sunny garden.
Pea, on the other hand, was sleepy-eyed and yawning. She clutched her blue tote bag, which held the diary, and shook her head to clear the just-woke-up fogginess.
“It would have been polite to bring something for Principal Garcia,” Pea said.
“How about the rest of the spinnaker-pole cinnamon rolls?” Lou Lou suggested. She peered into the paper bag. There were only two left, and she’d already broken a piece off one to eat it. When Pea looked away, Lou Lou stuck the piece back on. With the gooey icing, Principal Garcia would never notice.
Lou Lou and Pea arrived at Principal Garcia’s house, a Victorian-style home painted sea-foam green and turquoise. Pea paused as they reached the flagstones leading to the front steps.
“Lou Lou, what if we get in trouble for accidentally borrowing the diary?”
“That won’t happen,” replied Lou Lou. “Principal Garcia will be happy we told him about the fake diary, and once the Argyles are exposed, no one will care that we accidentally borrowed it. El Corazón will get the Bonanza back and we’ll be heroines!”
“Okay,” said Pea, though she still sounded hesitant.
“And we’ll get your hats, too!” said Lou Lou. She was already marching up the principal’s steps, so Pea didn’t have time for more doubts.
Lou Lou rang the doorbell and Principal Garcia appeared, wearing a white tank top, paisley-print shorts, and rainbow socks. Lou Lou suppressed a giggle at the principal’s weekend attire.
“Why hello, Lou Lou and Peacock. What are you girls doing here?” asked Principal Garcia. He smiled under his bushy mustache, but he was clearly surprised by their visit.
“We have something very important to tell you!” Lou Lou blurted out.
“I already took your advice about planting both shrubs and flowers in my backyard,” said Principal Garcia.
Lou Lou was impressed. “Mixing greenery with bright blooms creates an eye-catching effect.” She remembered the purpose of their trip and said again, “We have something very important to tell you!”
Pea looked at Lou Lou out of the corner of her eye and took over the conversation. “May we please have a chat, Principal Garcia? We brought spinnaker-pole cinnamon rolls.”
Lou Lou held up the paper bag.
“Of course, come in,” Principal Garcia replied. “I’m not sure what a spinnaker pole has to do with a cinnamon roll, but I’ve never met a breakfast pastry I didn’t like.”
“Me neither!” said Lou Lou. “Actually, I’m not crazy about cheese danishes.” Principal Garcia laughed and held the door open.
Lou Lou and Pea followed Principal Garcia into his kitchen, where they sat at the table with glasses of homemade horchata. He listened intently as Lou Lou and Pea explained that Diego’s horse was actually sorrel, not chestnut, and that this proved that Giles’s diary was a fake. When Lou Lou asked when they could get the Bonanza back for El Corazón, Principal Garcia held up his hands.
“Hold your horses!” he said, and chuckled. Lou Lou and Pea smiled politely. Principal Garcia’s face turned serious. “Joking aside, this is a big accusation, niñas. Before we can talk about reclaiming the Bonanza, I need to call the vice-mayor so we can all discuss this diary issue.” He picked up the phone book from a side table and scanned through it.
Pea looked a little nervous, but Lou Lou said, “Sure!” She was interested to see what the Argyles had to say for themselves. Would they apologize? Offer right then and there to return Pea’s hats and the rest of El Corazón’s Bonanza crafts and preparations? Run away ashamed?
Principal Garcia called the vice-mayor and repeated the diary story. Pea raised her eyebrows at Lou Lou.
Don’t worry, Lou Lou mouthed.
“The Argyles are coming over to talk this through,” Principal Garcia said when he hung up. Pea clenched her fists under the table. Lou Lou reached over and squeezed her hand.
It wasn’t long before they heard the screech of tires outside followed by the doorbell.
“Let yourselves in, por favor!” Principal Garcia called. The door slammed and feet stomped down the hall. Amanda’s angry red face appeared in the kitchen doorway, and Lou Lou knew right then that El Corazón wasn’t going to get the Bonanza back without a fight.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Big Trouble
“Gimme!” Amanda stuck out her hand, palm up, at Lou Lou and Pea. She flipped one of her braids over her shoulder.
“Hello, Amanda,” said Principal Garcia. “Please sit down and have some horchata.”
“We’re not here for horchata. We just want to reclaim what is rightfully ours.” The vice-mayor’s voice boomed from around the corner before his dark eyes appeared.
“He means Giles’s diary!” added Amanda, even though everyone knew that. “Which is SO not a fake. And it belongs to us!”
“Doesn’t it belong to our city?” Pea asked.
“Quick thinking,” Lou Lou whispered.
“That’s true,” said Principal Garcia.
“Even so, you can’t just steal it from the City Archives,” Andy said.
“Also true,” said Principal Garcia.
“We didn’t steal it!” said Lou Lou. “We just accidentally borrow—”
“Whatever!” screeched Amanda. “Just give it back!” Principal Garcia nodded to Pea, and she took the diary from her bag and handed it to Amanda. Amanda stuffed it into her red-and-pink-argyle-print backpack.
“It doesn’t matter who has the diary. What matters is that we can prove it’s fake and you’re using it to take the Bonanza away from El Corazón,” Lou Lou said.
Andy Argyle let out a sinister laugh. Principal Garcia’s kitchen didn’t have the acoustics of the Heliotrope but the Ha! Ha! Ha! still seemed to echo all around them. “Ah yes, your ridiculous accusation based on the color of Diego’s horse,” he said. “Let’s dispense with that now. Amanda, tell them.”
Amanda smirked and pulled from her bag a book with the title Equine Rainbow. She opened to a marked page and read aloud: “‘Chestnut’ and ‘sorrel’ are often used interchangeably in the equine world to describe a horse with a red-hued coat. ‘Chestnut’ has English origins, whereas ‘sorrel’ is Western. And there you have it!” Amanda slammed the book closed.
“What my darling daughter says is true. Chestnut and sorrel are the same color. So there is no error in the so-called fake diary.” Andy Argyle made air quotes around the word fake.
“It seems that one horse’s sorrel is another horse’s chestnut, niñas,” said Principal Garcia to Lou Lou and Pea. “And it’s not surprising that Giles used the English term in his diary. He was from England after all.” His voice softened. “I know you’re disappointed about the Bonanza—believe me, I am, too—but there is no proof that the diary is not one hundred percent real.”
Lou Lou didn’t know what to say. Her ears were burning, but as much as she disliked and distrusted the Argyles, she couldn’t disagree. She glanced at Pea, who was wide-eyed and now had her hands clasped tightly in front of her on the table.
“I trust that clears this up,” said the vice-mayor to Principal Garcia. He turned his dark eyes toward Lou Lou and Pea. “Amanda and I don’t appreciate being called liars. And I really don’t appreciate your thievery! How exactly did you steal the diary from the City Archives?”
“We didn’t steal, we borrow—”
“They probably had help from their friends!” Amanda cut Lou Lou off. Her tone was mean, but Lou Lou also detected a hint of jealousy.
“Perhaps you had assistance on the inside,” Andy Argyle said. “Tell me how you did it!”
Lou Lou racked her brains for an answer that wouldn’t cast suspicion on Kyle.
“My History of Art class went to the City Archives to look at photographs of early murals,” Pea said. Pea obviously didn’t want to tell on Kyle either.
“I see! So you pilfered the diary then!” replied Andy Argyle. Lou Lou wasn’t sure what pilfered meant, but she knew it couldn’t be good.
Pea was quiet. She had managed to save Kyle without really lying since she truly had once gone to the City Archives with her class. Brilliant! thought Lou Lou, until she realized that now Pea was going to get in trouble.
“I—” Lou Lou started to say, but Pea kicked her lightly under the table. Clearly, she knew Lou Lou was also about to claim responsibility, but Pea was the best of best friends and was trying to keep Lou Lou out of trouble.
“You’ll have to be disciplined for this,” Andy Argyle said to Pea. “And you, too.” He looked at Lou Lou. “Even if you didn’t actually participate in the theft, you’re still part of this plot to undermine us! Wouldn’t you agree, Principal Garcia?”
“Now, now,” said Principal Garcia. “Maybe we can just let this go, Vice-Mayor Argyle. You have the diary back, and the girls only thought they were doing the right—” Just then, Pea’s phone rang. She’d placed it on the table when she’d retrieved the diary. The caller came up as Mamá. Before Pea could answer, Andy Argyle snatched the phone.
“No, wait!” said Lou Lou. But it was too late.
“Hello, this is Andy Argyle, vice-mayor and Bicentennial Bonanza Boss, speaking.” He sneered at Lou Lou and Pea.
“Ha! You’re in big trouble now!” cackled Amanda. Lou Lou’s hands were cold from the horchata glass, so she used them to cool her fiery ears.
“I’m afraid we’ve got a big problem,” the vice-mayor said into the phone. “Did you know that your daughter and her friend are diary thieves?”
As Andy Argyle explained what he thought had happened, Lou Lou looked over at Pea. She had her head in her hands. Lou Lou felt terrible. She was still certain something fishy was up with the Argyles. But none of this would have happened if she hadn’t been so eager to borrow the diary and so hasty in telling Principal Garcia about Diego’s horse.
“Your mother would like to speak to you, Peacock. And she doesn’t sound very pleased.” Andy Argyle handed Pea her phone. Amanda giggled. “Let’s go, Amanda, darling,” the vice-mayor said. “We have what we came for.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen.
“I told you! Big trouble!” Amanda gloated, pointing a skinny finger at Lou Lou and Pea. She spun around, nearly hitting Lou Lou in the face with one of her long braids.
“Lo siento, lo siento, Mamá,” Pea was saying into the phone. As much as Lou Lou hated to admit it, Amanda was right. They were definitely in big trouble now.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Pea’s News
When they arrived back at the SS Lucky Alley, Henry Pearl was already waiting to take Pea home. Before she got into her father’s car, Pea looked grimly at Lou Lou.
“I don’t think we can say our See you tomorrows because I have a feeling that I’m grounded as of twenty minutes ago,” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Pea,” replied Lou Lou.
“It’s not your fault.” Pea pulled a huge glittery blue barrette from her bag and pinned it on the side of her head. She handed a similar red barrette to Lou Lou. “Elsa Schiaparelli said, ‘In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous,’” Pea explained.
From the car, Pea’s father called, “Peacock Paloma Pearl! Time to go now!”
“Buena suerte,” Lou Lou said.
“You too.” Pea nodded in the direction of Lou Lou’s front steps, and Lou Lou turned to see her mom, cross-armed and frowning.
Lou Lou had thought maybe the Pearls wouldn’t report her, but she knew it was unlikely. Parents were often similar to best friends in that they told each other everything.
It was no surprise that Lou Lou also ended up grounded for a week. Her mom called her Louise, a sure sign that she was really mad, and her dad said that Lou Lou’s actions were not those of an honorable sailor and violated the SS Lucky Alley code of conduct. Lou Lou tried to explain their good intentions—that they wanted to reclaim the Bonanza and Pea’s hats, and that they had only accidentally borrowed the diary—but her parents didn’t want to hear “excuses.”
The next few days, Lou Lou was on her best behavior. She helped her dad perfect his monkey’s-fist nautical knot, darned a hole in her mom’s fuzzy bathrobe, and worked hard on her homework. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the Bonanza and all that El Corazón had lost. So Lou Lou was left moping around the crow’s nest.
To make matters worse, on Wednesday, Andy Argyle came to pick up the model of the gazebo from Lou Lou’s school. Lou Lou and her classmates watched their teacher, Mr. Anthem, unlock the hallway trophy case for the vice-mayor.
“We’re certainly sorry to see this go. Everyone was really looking forward to the beautiful new Limonero Park gazebo,” Mr. Anthem said.
“We were going to hold kazoo concerts in the gazebo on sunny days,” one of Lou Lou’s classmates said.
“And I was planning to use it for my pink princess birthday party, just like Sherry’s party in the third Sugar Mountain Sisters book,” said Danielle’s friend.
So much for PSPP tea and scones in the gazebo, Lou Lou thought mournfully.
“Where in Verde Valley do you plan to put the gazebo?�
� Mr. Anthem asked. “Maybe my students can use it occasionally?”
“Oh, I doubt that,” Andy Argyle scoffed. “And it’s not really any of your business where I put it!” His shiny shoes squeaked as he grabbed the model and walked away. Watching the back of Andy Argyle’s yellow-and-green jacket go out the door, Lou Lou felt a wave of hopelessness. If the diary was a fake, she had no way to prove it now. And she couldn’t think of another way to get back the Bonanza. Plus, if the diary was real—a possibility Lou Lou had to consider—Verde Valley did deserve the Bonanza and the gazebo.
* * *
On Thursday after school, Lou Lou walked to Limonero Park. Even though she was grounded, she had permission from her parents to water the honeysuckle. Lou Lou was finishing up when a voice called out, “Hiya, Lou Lou Bombay!”
Lou Lou turned and saw Jeremy walking toward her.
“Hi! What are you up to?” she asked.
“I came to see you. Peacock thought you might be at the park today.”
“Pea? When did you talk to Pea? How is she doing?” Lou Lou felt a twinge of sadness. It had been almost a whole week since she’d talked to her best friend. This was the longest both she and Pea had been grounded. In fact, Lou Lou couldn’t remember a time when Pea had ever been grounded.
“I ran into her at the bodega. She’s fine,” Jeremy said. “But”—he leaned in conspiratorially—“she says she has news for us. About the diary.” He was whispering even though there was no one around to hear him.
Lou Lou felt her ears tingle with excitement. “What news?” she asked.
“I don’t know the details,” Jeremy said. “She wants to explain it in person on Saturday and suggested you, me, and Comet Cop Kyle meet her at Cupcake Cabana at ten-thirty.”
“I don’t know if … never mind, I’ll find a way to be there.” Lou Lou was technically grounded until the end of first dogwatch on Saturday, which was nautical-speak for six p.m. But she thought she could negotiate time off her sentence for good behavior, particularly since Pea was clearly only grounded through Friday night.