What Emma Left Behind
Page 21
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Caera was in a much better mood returning home for the second time that day. Although the stream of rumors concerning her and her sister and the Davenport twins had become a flood, it was only a matter of time until all the talk died down. Anyway, at least now the gossip was taking a new course, thanks to the latest juicy tidbit. Shrewd eyes, two of them Marie Summit's, had paid attention to the new social developments during lunch that day and had seen Caera's little accident at the hands, or feet, of Andrew Davenport.
Word had circulated through the building that they were having a fight, so instead of hearing about their "relationship", people were asking Caera knowing questions like, "Having some problems with anyone lately? Anyone I know?", while visibly winking at her. Ellison Davis used the excuse that a speck of dust was in her eye when asked what her problem was, while she giggled knowingly to her friends.
Although the whispers and giggles and pointing were particularly annoying, Caera reveled in the thought that Alex and Andrew were enduring the same cruelty from all the boys in the seventh grade. Ha! Let 'em get what they deserved.
As wonderful as this was, Caera had more important things to worry about. Preparations had to be made for the survival trip. George Stuart's mother had signed up to drive the group to the Campbells' house in her mini-van (A project which would take many trips if no one else volunteered transportation) and had been up to the school during science class to discuss everything with Mrs. Johnson.
Caera was amazed at how such an outgoing, bubbly person could have such a shy, reclusive, unhappy child. The woman had a wide smile on her face constantly, as if it were cut out of construction paper and pasted on with super glue. Maybe things would go reasonably well, if Mrs. Stuart didn't drive everybody crazy on the way over.
Even then, it'd still be worth it to go. They'd get to miss Friday from school and start the hike at seven o' clock in the morning. Mrs. Johnson had left it up to Caera to make a list of everything that each person would need to pack for themselves, as well as a list of certain foods and other assorted items that people would sign up to bring.
Claudia could help, too, if she was well enough. (Ha ha!) Caera knew it'd be fun. The twins had gone hiking and camping every year since they were old enough to walk, so deciding what to take was the first and easiest part of the routine to them. Caera knew she'd have to dig out her edible plants guide with its tattered, worn cover yet again. She couldn't wait to talk to Claudia about the trip. She knew Claudia'd have a great time after being cooped up inside for a few days.
No sooner than the car had pulled up into the driveway, Caera had jumped out and went running into the house, scrambling up the stairs to Claudia's room. "Claudia! Guess what!" she yelled while pounding her fists on the door. "Mrs. Johnson is letting me make a list for the survival trip saying what everyone has to bring, and she says that you can help, too, if—"
Caera stopped short as the door opened and Claudia emerged, white-faced. "What's the matter with you?" she demanded. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"For a minute there, Caera, I could have sworn I did." Claudia said. "Look at this." Claudia walked over to the windowsill and picked up a book from where it lay and began to thumb through it. In a moment, she walked back to where her sister sat on the edge of the bed and showed her a picture, a portrait of a girl in a silk blue dress. The name plate read “Emma Campbell”. Caera gasped.
She was looking at a portrait of herself.
An Unexpected Message
Second period math was something Claudia would have gladly missed on the first day back in school. The class was working on geometry proofs, which of themselves weren't so bad, except that the teacher made them draw little t-shaped tables and label them, an obvious waste of time. Claudia groaned as she received her make-up assignments for the days she had been sick, wondering if a week's free time would be enough to finish them.
History, however, provided a great deal of amusement as the sounding of a familiar bell meant that the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-too-intelligent members of the office staff had decided that it was time for a fire drill. Claudia looked for her sister as all of the students filed out of the classroom and into the hallway.
There were hordes of people from all over the school exiting through the double doors, and almost all of them seemed to be chattering about something or other, despite the efforts of the teachers to quiet them down and regain some semblance of order. This provided a little time for everyone to hear the latest school gossip. Interestingly, everybody had forgotten about the lunchroom incident of the other day, and recent talk had turned to the preparations for the survival trip. This included new rumors that Erica Miles, Emily's older sister, had volunteered to help chaperone one of the groups.
Erica was a sophomore at the high school. Erica and Emily were as different as night and day, especially in their personalities. Where Emily was conniving, manipulative, and vain, Erica was sweet, kind, and outgoing. It came as no surprise to Claudia that Ana's elder brother Jason, also in the tenth grade and a chestnut brown-haired heartthrob to boot, had signed up. Rumor had it that he had a crush on Erica.
After walking around the assembled student population, Claudia managed to learn that Christopher Summit was coming along for the ride, much to Marie's distress.
Christopher was the oldest chaperone to be going on the trip aside from Mr. Gordon, the sixth grade science teacher, and in his senior year Chris stood a towering six foot four.
For some reason, Marie never went anywhere with her brother if she could help it (which didn't bother Chris because when they were together she did all the talking), but anyone could tell that they were related. Both of them had piercing emerald eyes and wavy brown hair, though Chris had outgrown the light brown freckles that tormented Marie.
Eventually Claudia spotted Caera and Ana in the crowd. Caera was waving a hand in the air and mouthing, "Moooviittt!" Claudia ran over to them, panting by the time she reached them.
"I'm so excited, you guys," Ana began at twice her normal speed, which was fast enough to begin with. "Maybe I can spend the night this Friday and you can tell me all about your dreams and then we can all search for clues--"
"What?" Suddenly Claudia understood what Ana was saying, and she turned to give Caera a dirty look. Caera fidgeted nervously.
"Well, you know, Claudia, friends don't keep secrets from one another. Besides, I figured that it'd be easier if Ana knew. And it's so mysterious, the murder of Emma Campbell and the story of the lost Campbell treasure. You know Ana loves mysteries."
Claudia couldn't believe it. She and Caera had only just talked about their nightmares yesterday, and already Caera had blabbed! Of course she knew they would have told Ana sooner or later. Actually, Claudia was more upset that she hadn't been there when Ana found out.
"Let's not say anything about it at school, though," Claudia whispered glancing carefully about. "And we don't have to rush into a silly treasure hunt or anything. Emma Campbell's diary has been missing for two hundred years, you know."
"Yeah, but it would still be fun to have Ana over, right Ana?" Caera said. Ana nodded.
"We could talk about the survival trip. You're supposed to be one of the group leaders and help out Mr. Gordon, aren't you, Caera?"
Caera nodded. "So is Claudia. Aren't we always lumped together like a package deal?" Caera sighed. Perhaps she would have been happier if Mrs. Johnson had singled her out.
"What?" Claudia was surprised.
"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention it." Caera said calmly. "Mrs. Johnson wants you to meet her after school today to talk about it."
Mr. Hoffmeyer called attention to the classes just then and announced that the fire drill had been successfully completed in less than two minutes. He went on to explain that if it had been a real fire, such speed in exiting would have saved the lives of every student and that there were additional exits in case
some were blocked by fire. Claudia coughed loudly as she passed the teaching staff and filed into the building.