A Snitch in the Snob Squad

by Julie Anne Peters

  The whole day was a dud. Max’s suspension was as demoralizing as Kevin’s absence. Prairie, Lydia, and I couldn’t seem to find anything to talk about. It made me antsy for the day to end so I could go home and wait for Kevin to call.

  He never did.

  That night, while lying in bed staring up at the ceiling, I figured Kevin Rooney either 1) died, 2) moved, or 3) decided to dump me and this was his subtle way of saying, “I can’t stand the sight of you, Jenny Solano. What was I thinking, you hideous hippopotamus?”

  My life was over.

  The next day Kevin was back, but looking so green I thought he might puke if I got close enough to say hello. He was coughing his guts out. We couldn’t even hear the homework review over Kevin’s hacking, so Mrs. Jonas ordered him to the nurse’s office. His empty desk left me feeling empty inside.

  Max’s desk behind me gave off vacancy vibes, too. All the vibes were weird, as if everyone was avoiding talking about the money. Which is why I noticed Ashley’s new purse. It was large and leather and attached to her like a limb. It obviously contained something extremely valuable, such as stolen goods. She took it everywhere, too—to science lab, to the restroom, to recess. Even if she got up to sharpen her glitter pencil, she slipped the shoulder strap across her chest and hugged the purse all the way there and back. I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  “She sure has s-something in there she doesn’t want anyone to see,” Prairie said at lunch as she wound a strand of soggy spaghetti onto her fork.

  “Which sure makes me want to see it,” I said, crunching a celery stick.

  “We might as well forget trying to find the money on her,” Lydia said. “I bet she takes that purse in the shower with her.”

  “You’re assuming she showers,” I said.

  Lydia snorted.

  I added, “Did you also notice she and Melanie have on the same outfit? New outfits? I wonder how much those cost.”

  “Yeah,” Lydia said. “And Ashley’s skirt is about two sizes too small. It keeps riding up. You can almost see her blubberbutt every time she waddles by.”

  Prairie giggled. I didn’t. The word blubberbutt makes me wither. I smoothed my own skirt over my knees.

  “Maybe when Max gets back she can figure out a way to get hold of Ashley’s purse,” I said.

  At the mention of Max, we all sighed. Prairie asked, “What time is it, Jenny?”

  I checked my watch. “Twelve fifty-six.”

  She dabbed at her mouth and scootched out the end of the bench. “I’ve got to go,” she said, standing.

  “Heavy date?” I asked.

  Prairie blushed. Which answered the question. “Ms. Milner brought in her new snake. Hugh wanted to see it, so I told him to meet me in the lab. You g-guys want to come, too?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “No,” Lydia said at the same time.

  We both looked at her. “I hate snakes.” Her whole body shuddered.

  So did mine, but I didn’t have anything else to do, like stare spellbound at Kevin across the cafeteria.

  “Come on, Lydia,” I said. “You don’t have to touch it or anything.”

  She pursed her lips. “Oh, all right.” After shoving her half-eaten tuna salad sandwich back into her lunch bag, she Velcroed the top shut and slid out.

  We followed Prairie to the PC lab, where she spent several hours each day with the other special students. On the way we passed Ashley and Melanie hanging posters in the A wing for the monthly PTA bake sale. “I heard your mommy’s running for PTA president,” Ashley said to Lydia. “If she wins, instead of a spring fling, we’ll probably have diorama days.”

  Melanie howled.

  Before Lydia could bust Ashley’s braces, I grabbed her sleeve and yanked her past them. Of course, Lydia had to respond. Over her shoulder, she called, “If you were any fatter, we’d have to have two passing periods. One for you and one for everyone else in school.”

  Ashley’s face turned purple. I shoved Lydia into the PC lab to save her life. As I stood guard to make sure Ashley wasn’t going to retaliate, a familiar sound in the lab caught my attention. Kevin’s coughing.

  I whipped around. Kevin smiled. He was standing beside Hugh at a huge fish tank. My celery melted into mush in my stomach.

  Beside me, Prairie asked, “Where’s Ms. Milner?”

  “Don’t know,” Hugh said. “The door was unlocked, so we just came in. This is a very fine corn snake. An excellent specimen.”

  “Yeah, it’s cool,” Kevin said in a nasally voice.

  Prairie went on. “We’re not supposed to be here when Ms. Milner’s out of the r-room.”

  “Oh, okay,” Hugh said. He backed toward the door.

  “We’re not doing anything wrong,” Kevin countered. He unlatched the screen on the top of the fish tank. “Think it’d be okay if I picked it up?”

  Prairie peered back at the open door. “I don’t know—”

  “Sure it would,” I answered for her. “Why not?”

  When Kevin lifted the snake out of the aquarium, Lydia shrieked. It made us all freak. Lydia covered her eyes and whirled around. “Keep that thing away from me.”

  Kevin’s eyes twinkled mischievously. He thrust the snake at Lydia. She screamed again. Kevin smirked. He is adorable, but I’m glad he didn’t do that to me.

  Lydia scurried over to the corner, near Ms. Milner’s desk, and hid behind the filing cabinets. After I felt the snake and faked fascination, Kevin and Hugh started talking snake specifics, such as how long a corn snake gets, and how many live mice it eats in a month. That made my lunch turn over again, so I wandered around the room.

  Ms. Milner’s lab was awesome. There were lots of posters and magazines and books on tape. I envied Prairie her “special-needs student” status. Not that I wanted to be learning disabled (which I doubted Prairie was), but it would be nice to get away from the likes of Ashley Krupps and Melanie Mason for a few hours every day.

  Ms. Milner rushed into the room. “Hi, kids,” she said. “What are you doing in here?”

  We all froze. “We’re just 1-looking at the corn snake,” Prairie replied.

  Ms. Milner smiled. “He is beautiful, isn’t he?”

  “Very,” Hugh said.

  The first bell rang and Ms. Milner headed over to her desk. She passed me and Lydia on the way and smiled hello. Any other teacher would’ve written us up for loitering.

  “You’d better get back to class,” she told us. “But you can come by after school if you want. I’ll be here for an hour or so.” She dumped a stack of folders on her desk.

  “Okay,” Hugh said. Even through his greasy glasses, you could see his eyes light up.

  On the way back to class, Lydia and I had to make a quick pit stop. A couple of minutes later when we opened the restroom door, we almost collided with a body. Not just any body. Max’s body.

  “Max!” Lydia cried. “What are you doing—”

  Max cut Lydia off with a stranglehold to her neck, wedging her against the wall. “Shut up,” she said. “If I get caught on school grounds…” She released Lydia and took off toward the exit. Out the door window, I saw Ashley and Melanie pausing to talk with Mr. Krupps in the parking lot. Max was on a direct collision course with them.

  “Max!” I hollered to her. She glanced back and I pointed out the window. Looking panicked, she quickly ducked into the PC lab.

  “What is she doing here? What is she doing here?” Talk about panicked—Lydia was flapping her hands and wheezing.

  “Calm down.” I grabbed her wrists. “Max can take care of herself.” I hoped.

  Chapter 10

  We didn’t beat the late bell back to homeroom from the PC lab. As we charged around the corner at the end of the hall, Kevin pushed off the wall and sidled up beside us. “Hey, Jen.” He coughed and covered his mouth. “Are you going to be home tonight? I thought I’d come by.” In a husky voice, he added, “I want to give you something.”

  “What? Your
cold?”

  He smirked and nudged my shoulder. It sent a tingle all the way to my toes. “Something better,” he said.

  “Yo, Rooney,” someone called from the doorway of the gym. A bunch of seventh graders, I think. They wiggled their hips and made smoochy sounds. One of them sang, “Rooney’s got a girlfriend.” And I thought Lydia was immature.

  “Jerks,” Kevin muttered. He coughed again. “Excuse me while I go infect them.” He sprinted off toward the gym.

  Lydia said, “What do you think he wants to give you? More jewelry?”

  How did I know? I was loopy with love.

  At two-thirty Mrs. Jonas gave us free time for the remainder of the day. It was like we’d been let out of Leavenworth, wherever that is. Just as Lydia and I were rushing over to claim the quiet corner so we could play tapes on high volume, a sickly sweet smell permeated the air. If you had a nose, you knew that smell. Old Spice.

  Mr. Krupps boomed, “Attention!”

  Thirty bodies froze in time.

  “What are you, a bunch of hooligans? Everyone sit.”

  The brownnosers like Lydia scrambled for their desks. The rest of us sank in place.

  “Mrs. Jonas, what’s going on here?” Mr. Krupps demanded.

  She rose from her desk. “The class earned a half hour of free time,” she said. “For good behavior.”

  Good behavior? That was news to me. That’d be news to the National Enquirer.

  She added, “We were just getting settled.” She glared at Ashley, who had exited the bathroom and was taking her sweet time getting back to her desk. She knocked her books on the floor as she tried to squeeze into her seat, which is impossible with a purse attached to your chest.

  In fact, as she tried to adjust the purse sideways, the strap broke. The bag thudded to the floor. It was so overstuffed that something squirted out the top. That something was her billfold, and as it slid across the floor the end flaps unfolded. A whole wad of money was exposed.

  Ashley quickly snatched it up.

  Since Lydia sat in front of Ashley, she couldn’t see the billfold. But Prairie and I could. We looked at each other and dropped our jaws.

  Mr. Krupps said, “We’ve had another theft. I don’t know what’s going on, or who’s doing this, but I expect anyone with information to come forward. I will not tolerate this sort of criminal activity in my school. Do you understand?” The blood vessels in Mr. Krupps’s forehead throbbed.

  Melanie raised her hand. “Who got robbed?” she asked.

  Mr. Krupps shot her full of eye daggers. Thank God I hadn’t asked. In a gravelly voice, he said, “Ms. Milner in the resource room.”

  There was a group gasp.

  I looked at Prairie. She’d clapped her hand over her mouth. Hugh was watching Prairie, too. At the ready, I guess, in case she fainted. Then, for some reason, Hugh and I both looked at Kevin. He stared straight ahead, expressionless.

  The bell rang. Usually the final bell signaled the hysteria to begin. Today we quietly gathered our things and slithered out.

  Prairie and Lydia accompanied me to the bus stop. As we passed the A wing, Prairie said, “At least they c-can’t blame Max. She wasn’t even here.”

  Lydia and I exchanged glances. Our eyes hit the dirt. Ever wish you hadn’t seen something? That you didn’t know the truth? Because once you know the truth, you can never unknow it.

  Dear Faith in Friends, Frozen Food Diary,

  I can’t believe Max did it. I don’t believe it. By the way, I ate a Healthy Choice frozen dinner tonight and about puked.

  Maybe I should have. It might’ve calmed my stomach. It wasn’t just the plastic pork riblets that made me sick. I couldn’t stop visualizing Max rushing into the PC lab. Oh, man. Oh, Max.

  The front doorbell interrupted my thoughts, thank goodness. I jumped into action. Not that I was anxious about Kevin’s imminent arrival, but I tossed my food diary on the bed and hauled butt down the hall.

  Dad was closing the door as I screeched to a stop. “Bible thumpers,” he muttered, handing me a religious leaflet. The phone rang in the kitchen.

  Vanessa called, “It’s for you, Jenny.”

  I hurried to the kitchen. Shoving the leaflet at Van, I grabbed the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hi. It’s me.”

  My shoulders sagged. Not that I didn’t want to talk to Prairie.

  “M-Max ran away from home,” Prairie whispered urgently.

  “What? Where?” I said. “When?”

  “Today,” Prairie answered.

  Today? Like right after she robbed Ms. Milner? I couldn’t believe I was thinking that. “How do you know?” I asked Prairie. “Where is she?”

  “She called me,” Prairie said. “From a phone booth. She s-says she’s quitting school, too.”

  “What? She can’t quit. It’s against the law. Isn’t it? It’s almost the end of the year. She can’t quit now.” My brain was combusting, and all the cells were crashing and colliding, just like pins at the bowling alley. She must’ve been caught. “What happened, Prairie? Did she tell you?”

  “Yes,” Prairie said. “But she asked me not to t-tell you guys.”

  “Why?” I said. “We’re her friends. We don’t care if she’s—” I let it dangle. The sentence finished itself in my head: “a criminal.”

  “I know.” Prairie sighed. “She just has some s-stuff to work through.”

  My head fell against the wall. Poor Max. What if she was convicted? What if she went to jail? What if I never saw her again?

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Prairie said. “Maybe we can figure something out.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I said, feeling weak and helpless. “And thanks, Prairie. Thanks for telling me.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said.

  Since Kevin hadn’t arrived yet, I immediately called Lydia and told her. She just kept saying, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” In the background, Lydia’s mother exhorted, “Lydia, please stop saying that. What’s going on?”

  “I better go,” I said.

  Lydia got in one last “Oh, my God” before hanging up.

  Behind me Mom, Dad, and Vanessa were all standing in a row. Drooling for details. Suddenly it struck me—the reason our family togetherness was getting to me. No one had any privacy. Everyone knew everything about everybody. Not buying Vanessa and me our own phones to speak to our own friends in the privacy of our own rooms was borderline child abuse. Ask anyone.

  “What’s going on?” Dad asked.

  “Nothing.” My jaw clamped. “Geez, can’t anyone have a private conversation around here?”

  The phone rang. I yanked it off the wall. “Hello!”

  “Can I speak to Jenny?” Kevin coughed in my ear.

  “Uh, speaking.” My heart crashed against my ribs.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  Clutching my chest to keep my heart from heaving right out of the rib cage, I lied, “Not much.” The leeches behind me were sucking up every word. Directly into the little receiver holes, I said secretly, “You still coming over?”

  “Naw, I can’t,” he said. “My mom wants me to help my aunt Rachel move some stuff into storage.” He hacked again.

  My body sagged. “So, what did you want to give me?” I said.

  “I can’t tell you. Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” A surprise. Oh, boy.

  “Kevin, I’m leaving right now!” his mom bellowed behind him.

  “I gotta go,” Kevin said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tomorrow I might be at the jail, visiting an inmate. After we disconnected, I turned around. Mom, Dad, and Vanessa all had the same sappy smile on their faces. “Not only do I want my own phone,” I seethed aloud. “I want my own house, my own car, and my own life!”

  Chapter 11

  Lydia and I both attacked Prairie on the playground. “I d-don’t know anything.” She fended us off with a stiff-arm.

  “Oh, my God.” Lydia hyperventilated. “What if she’s living on the street? What if she b
ecomes a homeless person? What if she ends up standing on the street corner with a sign that says, ‘Will work for food’?”

  I curled a lip at Lydia. But the possibilities worried me, too.

  Prairie said, “She’s not living on the street.”

  “Where is she?” Lydia and I asked in unison.

  Prairie hung her head. Her cheeks turned pink. “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.”

  Lydia was jerking around, whimpering and shaking her hands as if they were on fire. “Get a grip, Lyd.” I pulled her hands down. “At least Max is in touch with Prairie and she’s okay. Right, Prayer?” I looked at her.

  “Right.”

  “And if Max wants us to know what’s going down, she’ll tell us. Right?”

  “Right. Only—”

  Lydia and I stopped and stared at her.

  Prairie bit her lip, which had started to quiver. Her eyes welled with tears. “It’s not f-fair,” she said. “She didn’t do anything.” In a hurry, she hobbled off toward the temp.

  “Oh… my… God.” Lydia deflated visibly. My spirits sank, too. With a thud.

  By Friday word had gotten out about Max splitting. You can’t keep that kind of stuff quiet. On our way to lunch, Ashley bustled by, purse protuberant, and said, “Busted.” She sneered over her shoulder.

  I wanted to beat her up so bad. Lydia tried to kick her, but only got air, then fell on her rear. It made everyone around us laugh at Lydia. So what else is new?

  After lunch Lydia said, “Look, you guys. We need to talk.” Just then Hugh called to Prairie from the bleachers, while Kevin dribbled a basketball over from the blacktop. “Jen, can I talk to you?” he asked.

  I looked at Lydia. Made a sorry face.

  Lydia exhaled exasperation and stomped off. Kevin looped an arm around the ball at his side.

  “What’s with Max? I heard she’s on the run. Living with homeless people down at the bus station.”

  My jaw cracked the sidewalk, I’m sure. “Where’d you hear that?”