by Annie Bryant
Finally, Maeve thought, breaking free of Riley’s damp hands and giving him the most gracious smile she could muster.
Finally, Isabel thought, rubbing one sore foot and backing off from Billy Trentini with a limp.
Finally, Charlotte thought, following Sammy over to the refreshments table where the difference in their heights didn’t matter so much.
It looked like almost everyone was relieved for the break. Except, Maeve noted angrily, for Avery and Dillon. He’d apparently told her something hilarious, and they were so busy laughing together they didn’t even seem to notice that the dance floor around them had completely cleared.
FOUL PLAY
“I just want to tell you,” Maeve seethed to Avery as she stomped after her to the bathroom, “that I completely know what you’re up to and I am not going to stand for it!”
“Great,” Avery said mildly. “I have to put up with an hour of turning in circles on purpose, and my friend has gone whacko on me, too. A perfect end to a perfect evening.”
“I just happen to know what you’re doing with Dillon. You know I like him! He’s—” Maeve struggled to think clearly. “He’s—off-limits,” she said weakly.
They had gotten to the bathroom and opened the door, and found it was packed with girls. Anna and Joline were holding court in front of the mirror, dragging out more makeup than would fill a counter at Bloomingdale’s. “Doesn’t this make my lips look totally full?” Anna was exclaiming, admiring herself in the mirror.
“Totally,” Joline crowed, while three or four girls hung around them admiringly.
“Forget it,” Avery said, stepping back. “I hate bathrooms. Don’t need one that bad anyway.” She turned to look at Maeve. “Do we need mood management today,” she added sarcastically. “You think I like Dillon? As in ‘like’?”
Maeve stopped short. “Don’t you?” she faltered.
“Nope. I don’t ‘like’ anyone,” Avery retorted. “Get a life, Maeve! Dillon and I are just friends!”
“But—” Maeve looked at her weakly. “But I heard you talking to Katani!” she cried. “Remember? You said—I heard you—that you couldn’t believe he’d asked you. And then you asked her for help. And your parents didn’t like it, and…”
Avery stared at her, clearly not understanding. “What?” she demanded blankly. “Oh,” she said at last. “That.” She shook her head. “You are such a dufus, Maeve. The guy who asked me—that was my coach. It’s a soccer thing. I can’t really go into it right now, but trust me, it doesn’t involve Dillon.”
Maeve felt a little silly. “But—then—why did you ask Katani for help?”
“I asked Katani to help me design my blog. What did you think? That I was asking for dating tips?”
Maeve didn’t tell Avery that that was exactly what she’d thought.
“Your what?”
“My blog. It’s like a website, but cooler.” Avery shrugged. “Maeve, you need some serious help. How come you torture yourself the way you do? The only one around here who thinks about liking guys 24/7 is you!”
Maeve’s cheeks reddened. She felt really silly now. “Ave, I’m sorry,” she said in a rush. “I don’t know what I was thinking—I’m just—I don’t know, when we were mad at each other I thought—”
“Never mind,” Avery said. “Do me a favor. Help me find a bathroom that doesn’t smell like a perfume factory.” She coughed. “This place is bringing on an asthma attack. And I don’t even have asthma!”
SLOW DANCE
For the first ten minutes of Free Choice, nobody danced at all. It was clearly torture for Maeve. “I want to ask him,” she kept saying to the others, “but I can’t until there’s at least four other couples out there!”
Clearly everyone felt the same way. Finally, a tall, really cute guy from another school asked Joline to dance. Then Joe asked Katani. Before long, there were enough people out there that Maeve couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I’m asking him,” she announced. And off she went.
“You’ve got to admire her nerve,” Avery said calmly, helping herself to some chocolate chip cookies.
Charlotte laughed. She relaxed for the first time in ages, forgetting all about England and her father and everything else. It was fun listening to the loud music and watching people having a good time. Henry Yurt was dancing with Betsy. Anna was dancing with Pete Wexler. Miraculously, Maeve was dancing with Dillon—and they even seemed to be having a good time.
She was so busy watching everyone else that she jumped when a voice near her said her name.
“Feel like dancing?” Nick asked tentatively.
“Sure,” Charlotte said with a smile.
Just as they walked out on to the dance floor, the song ended.
“That’s OK. We’ll wait for the next one,” Nick assured her, and Charlotte nodded.
The next song started up, and Charlotte listened with a gulp. It was a slow dance.
“Still up for it?” Nick said lightly, reaching for her.
Charlotte gulped again. A few other couples were out on the dance floor, squeezing each other tightly. She saw Maeve hanging onto Dillon for dear life. “OK,” she said uncertainly. She didn’t have the faintest idea what to do next.
Nick put his arms around her. He felt much stronger than she would have guessed. And he held her very close. She could actually feel his heart beating through his jacket as he pressed her against him.
Charlotte rested her face against his chest. Everything around her seemed to fade out, until it was just her—and Nick. She had never slow-danced before, and she wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not.
But she liked being close to Nick. It felt good. And, in a strange way, incredibly right.
CHAPTER 15
The Mysterious Letter
For the next few days, everyone kept talking about the Wednesday night dance class. Joline managed to drop about a million hints about the cute guy who’d asked her to dance. “Of course, he noticed me right away,” Charlotte heard her telling Anna and several other girls outside of their lockers. “You know how it is with chemistry. It just happens.”
Charlotte hadn’t seen or talked to Nick since Wednesday night. He wasn’t in school on Thursday, which was a little weird. Maybe he caught a cold, she thought. Or maybe he was sorry that he’d asked her to dance and was too embarrassed to run into her.
Maeve wanted to go over and over every detail at lunch. “I can’t stand waiting a whole month until the next class!” she wailed. She sneaked a look over one shoulder at Dillon’s table. Now that Katani and Avery had come back to their usual spots, Dillon and Pete had a bunch of guys who were sitting with them—Clark, David, and Jameson, three guys who were on the J.V. football team with Pete. Not exactly an easy crowd to infiltrate.
“So, Ms. Rodriguez says that the editor from The Sentinel is coming in tomorrow morning,” Katani told everyone, clearly eager to change the subject away from dance class. “Any of you guys submitting stuff?”
Isabel nodded. “I’m going to give my cartoon a try.”
“I’ve decided I like freelancing,” Avery announced. “I’m going to send my piece in as a Letter to the Editor. At first I was just annoyed that you have to check off that box about what race you are on school forms. But now that I’ve started doing research on the subject, I think the whole Census needs fixing.” She popped her milk carton for emphasis, and Maeve giggled.
“You’re such a radical, Ave,” she said fondly.
“How about you, Maeve? How are the advice-to-the-lovelorn letters coming?” Katani asked her.
Maeve shrugged. “OK. I’m going to submit them, and see what the people at The Sentinel think.” She studied her fingers, sighing. “Of course…my mom thinks I’m over my head. But I don’t care,” she added emphatically. “I like writing advice letters.”
Katani looked at her thoughtfully. “Maeve—how are your blankets coming along?” she asked. Not in a mean way, but as if she really wanted to know
.
“I told you—they’re kind of…on the back burner.” Maeve looked a little uncomfortable.
“You know,” Avery said, sitting up a little and looking at Maeve. “I’ve been thinking about those blankets of yours, Maeve. It’s maybe not as completely lame an idea as I thought at first.”
“Gee, thanks,” Maeve said. “You really know how to boost a girl’s confidence, Avery.”
“No, I’m serious. I saw this website when I was working on my blog last night—it’s called Project Linus, and they do something like you want to do. Only they give blankets to kids who are sick, not to the homeless.” Avery grinned. “Remember Betsy and her Project Bread? We could call yours Project Thread.” She started to crack up. “Get it? Thread? Sewing?”
“I get it.” Maeve looked miffed. “Listen, I know it’s a great idea. I just kind of ran out of…skill.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m all thumbs when it comes to sewing. Isabel can vouch for me. Tell them, Izzie. Tell them how every time I tried to sew a square I ended up making something that looked like a starfish.”
“She’s right,” Isabel agreed. “She’s pretty awful. I mean—sorry, Maeve, it’s just that sewing doesn’t come naturally to everyone,” she amended hastily.
“Well, I think we should help,” Katani said suddenly.
Maeve’s eyes widened. “Help?” she echoed, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Like the little elves and the shoemaker,” Avery sang out cheerfully. “Beacon Street Girls to the rescue!”
Charlotte laughed. “That’s a great idea. Why don’t we meet up in the Tower room after school today and see if we can turn this project around?”
Katani and Avery winked at each other. Charlotte got up to clear her tray, and Katani leaned forward to whisper to everyone else. “And that,” she said, “will give us the perfect chance to plant our first ‘surprise’ for Charlotte and her father!”
“SURPRISE NUMBER 1”
Katani was the one to hide the note. All five girls were up in the Tower, Maeve’s blanket project—such as it was—spread out all over the floor. Katani pretended that she wanted to get a glass of water.
She decided, after a good deal of thought, to hide the letter in the refrigerator—right on top of the salad greens. Her hope was that Mr. Ramsey and Charlotte would find it together—she remembered hearing Charlotte say that they liked to cook dinner together.
She wasn’t sure what kind of impact it would have. But at least it might get Mr. Ramsey thinking a little!
Charlotte’s Journal
Thursday night
Tonight something really weird happened. Weird and wonderful.
First I have to back up and describe what the five of us were up to this afternoon in the Tower. Maeve’s decided to try to get her blanket project going again—but she desperately needs help. Katani is amazing when she really decides to throw herself into something. She had us all organized in no time. She’s doing the designing. The way she has it planned, there won’t have to be very much sewing anymore. We’re going to use fleece, which Katani says is really easy to work with. All Maeve has to do is to cut it with these fancy scissors that Katani says will make curly edges. If she wants to, she can sew on decorations—buttons, or ribbons, or little designs that Katani calls “appliqués.”
Isabel and I are in charge of making signs, and helping Maeve to get in touch with a shelter in Brookline. And Avery is what she calls a “runner.” Today that seemed to me like literally running around the Tower room chasing Marty. But eventually she’ll help run errands, run things back and forth between our houses…and run out for refreshments! Today she felt like she just had to run to Montoya’s to see if they had any of those great fried cookies they make.
I was wondering if Nick was there but I didn’t ask.
Anyway, it makes me so happy that the five of us are all together again. And I can tell Maeve is out of her mind with excitement that she’s actually getting help with her blanket project. “Project Thread,” as Avery keeps calling it, looks like it’s really coming together.
Later Dad and I were making dinner together and he found this piece of paper curled up on top of the lettuce. He pulled it out, put on his reading glasses, and cleared his throat.
“Charlotte? Do you know anything about this?”
He showed me the note. It was in these funny little cutout letters, like the kind of thing you see on the news that ransom notes are written in. All the letters were squiggly and different sizes.
We both just stared at it. Dad could tell that I had no idea what it was.
“Did one of your friends leave this?” he asked.
I couldn’t imagine any one of them doing that. It wasn’t their style. They’d tell me, anyway. So I shook my head, wondering about Miss Pierce. But she wouldn’t say our school “rules”—would she?
I even thought of Nick, and that made me blush. Right. Nick wasn’t even in school today. How was he going to find himself in our kitchen—without me noticing?
I like the note, anyway. I taped it up on my wall so I could look at it. It reminds me of that scene in Charlotte’s Web when they find in the spider web the letters Charlotte wrote: “Some Pig.”
So I have a mysterious friend, too—just like Wilbur did. And whoever it is, my friend is trying to save me—just like Charlotte tried to save Wilbur!
CHAPTER 16
Emergency Meeting
Friday morning in homeroom, Jennifer Robinson, a ninth grader and editor-in-chief of The Sentinel, came in to collect submissions from Ms. Rodriguez’s homeroom. Jennifer was all energy—short, dark cropped hair, and funky purple glasses. She hopped on the desk in front of the class, swinging her legs as she talked.
“I want to thank you guys,” she said, looking around the room. “Ms. Rodriguez told me that someone in here was the one who suggested changing the rules so that seventh graders could get involved. What a great idea!”
Isabel nudged Charlotte, who could feel her face turn hot and red.
“We’re really excited to have your energy and involvement. We’re going to read your submissions, and we’ll post a list outside The Sentinel office next Friday letting everyone know how it works out!”
She hopped off the desk to gather up submissions. Charlotte fiddled with the button on her jean jacket. Part of her wanted to jump up and say, “Wait a minute! I changed my mind!” But what would be the point? Suppose Jennifer put her on the list, and she got to write for the paper—she’d be lucky to make it through orientation before it was time to resign.
She looked wistfully at the essay she’d written. She really liked it—and Ms. Rodriguez had liked it too. Oh well. Maybe I can give it to someone to read—in Oxford, Charlotte thought sadly, slipping it into her notebook.
She was so distracted, that she didn’t even notice that the essay dropped as she was trying to get it into her binder. It fell down under her desk.
Isabel noticed, though. She reached down to pick it up for Charlotte, and was about to touch her shoulder to pass it back when she caught sight of Charlotte’s title. Almost without meaning to, Isabel scanned the first few sentences that Charlotte had written. A shadow crossed her face.
She didn’t hand the essay back to Charlotte. Instead, almost as if someone else were doing it, Isabel included Charlotte’s essay with her cartoon, and raised her hand to signal to Jennifer that she had something she wanted to pass in.
And Charlotte’s essay went right along with Isabel’s cartoons—almost as if Charlotte had changed her mind and handed it in herself.
At lunchtime, Maeve passed a note to Katani under the table. “Second emergency meeting—this afternoon, at my house. Pass it on.”
It wasn’t easy finding a way to plan without Charlotte catching on. That girl was too quick. They managed to get the note from Katani to Isabel undetected. But Isabel slipped up passing it to Avery—Charlotte was halfway back from the drinking fountain—and Maeve had a weird feeling she’d seen.
>
If so, she didn’t say anything. But she seemed a little funny for the rest of the lunch hour, and actually excused herself to go to the library and catch up on some homework.
“Ooops,” Isabel whispered. “I guess I blew it.”
“She won’t mind when she finds out why,” Avery said blithely. “It’s all for a good cause.”
Maeve wasn’t so sure. “She seemed kind of upset, guys—”
“Listen,” Isabel broke in. “I have to tell you what I did today in homeroom.” She took a deep breath. “I hope this wasn’t too terrible, but I had this great opportunity and I couldn’t stand to waste it!” She told the other girls what had happened with Charlotte’s assignment.
“You turned it in for her?” Avery’s eyes were huge. “Isn’t that—illegal?”
Maeve rushed to defend Isabel. “It’s not illegal. Although…” She looked worriedly at Isabel. “Isn’t she going to freak when she finds out?”
Katani nodded vehemently. “She made it pretty clear that she didn’t want to try out, Isabel. She’s not going to be happy about this.”
“We can say it was an accident—” Isabel faltered.
Avery seemed to come to a decision. “No. That’s not right. We can’t lie. We have to tell her the truth—that we did it on purpose,” she announced. “We can use it as part of our plan. If she really gets on to the paper, that’ll be one more reason to stay here and not to move. We can show Mr. Ramsey her name on the paper’s staff!”
“OK, great,” Katani said. “But now listen, we need to meet again to figure out the next part of our strategy for Charlotte and her father. When’s good for you guys?”
Maeve, of course, was booked solid. And Avery had soccer practice. The best they could come up with was Friday afternoon at Maeve’s house.
“And remember—not a word to Charlotte!” Maeve reminded them as they got up to clear their lunch table. “If she asks anyone what you’re doing, just come up with some sort of white lie!”