The New Girl

by R. L. Stine

  Could be.

  Anna was telling the truth.

  Now her crazy brother was spying on them.

  * * *

  “Well, I heard the big news.”

  “What?” Cory looked up from the new issue of Sports Illustrated.

  “I heard the big news,” his mother repeated. She seemed annoyed that Cory didn’t know what she was talking about. “I was just talking to Lisa’s mother.”

  “Yeah?” Cory flipped through till he found the gymnastics article he was looking for. “And what’s the big news?”

  “About you and Lisa,” Mrs. Brooks said impatiently.

  “Huh?”

  She walked over and stood in front of the couch, forcing him to look up from the magazine. “Am I speaking to Cory Brooks of planet Earth?” she asked.

  He rolled his eyes. “Give me a break.”

  “Well, are you or are you not going out on a date with Lisa?”

  “Oh.” He suddenly remembered the Turnaround Dance. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” What was the big deal? Why was his mom smiling like that? Why did she seem so pleased?

  “I always knew it would happen,” she said, crossing her arms as if hugging herself and going up on tiptoes, then quickly back down, repeating it several times. It was her own peculiar exercise. She always did it instead of standing still.

  “What?”

  “I always knew the time would come when you and Lisa wouldn’t want to be just friends anymore.”

  “Mom, what planet are you from?” Cory asked disgustedly.

  “Well, I just think it’s nice that you and Lisa—”

  “I’ve got more important things to think about,” he said.

  “Like what?”

  Like Anna, he thought. But he didn’t say anything. He just shrugged.

  “Like your homework?” she asked.

  “Oh. Right. I forgot.” He climbed off the couch and started quickly up to his room. “Thanks for reminding me,” he called down. “Thanks a bunch.”

  “Anytime,” he heard her say from the kitchen. “Hey, your father and I are going out. So you’ll have peace and quiet for studying!”

  He sat down at his desk and tried to concentrate on ancient China. But his mind kept wandering. Anna’s face kept drifting into his thoughts, taking him away from the fourth Ming dynasty. Again and again he saw the look of terror on her face when she realized that Brad was watching them.

  Why was she so afraid of Brad? What hold did he have over her? What was he doing to her?

  He realized he hadn’t gotten satisfactory answers from her. In fact, he hadn’t gotten any answers. Anna really seemed too frightened to talk about it.

  He decided if he underlined the text, it might help him to concentrate. He opened his desk drawer and began to search for a yellow highlighter. The phone rang.

  He stared at it, a heavy feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

  He used to look forward to the phone ringing. Now the sound filled him with dread.

  It rang a second time. A third time.

  He was alone in the house. He could just let it ring forever. He stared at it, his hand only inches away from the receiver.

  Should he answer it or not?

  CHAPTER 16

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Cory.”

  “David? Hi.” He was very relieved to hear David’s voice.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Not much. Studying. Reading stuff.”

  “What are you reading?”

  “I’m not sure,” Cory told him. They both laughed.

  They talked for a while about nothing at all. It was the most relaxed conversation they had had in weeks, probably because Cory was so glad it was David on the phone.

  Finally Cory asked, “What’s up? Why’d you call?”

  “I thought maybe you’d just like to talk,” David said, suddenly sounding uncomfortable.

  “Okay. So we talked,” Cory said, not catching on.

  “No. I mean—” David hesitated. “About why you’ve been so weird lately. Why you’ve been messing up, you know, cutting practice and stuff. I thought maybe—”

  “Nothing to talk about,” Cory said sharply.

  “I didn’t mean to interfere or anything. I just thought—” David sounded really hurt.

  “I’m okay,” Cory insisted. He really didn’t feel like getting into it. He just didn’t have the energy. “I’ve had other things on my mind, I guess.”

  “You mean the new girl?”

  “Well, yeah.…”

  “She’s really rad,” David said, his highest compliment. “She’s… different.”

  “Yeah,” Cory agreed quickly. But he really didn’t want to talk about Anna with David. “Listen, I gotta get off.”

  “Sure you don’t want to talk… about anything?”

  “No. Thanks, David. I’m okay. Really. I’m getting my timing back, I think. I was much better at the meet on Saturday. And—”

  “I guess that wasn’t you who slipped off the bars a few seconds into your warm-up.”

  “Anyone can fall, David,” Cory said, becoming annoyed. “I just lost my concentration for a second—”

  “Lost your concentration! Cory, you’ve been in a dream world ever since you met Anna. You’ve been walking around like you fell off the rings and landed on your head!”

  “So? What’s it to you?” Cory heard himself whine, surprised at his own vehemence.

  “Well, I thought I was your friend,” David said, sounding as exasperated as Cory.

  “Well, friends don’t give friends a hard time,” Cory said. “See you around, David.”

  “Not if I see you first,” David said.

  Normally they would have cracked up over that stupid old line. But this time they both just hung up.

  Cory angrily paced back and forth in his room for a while. He couldn’t decide whom he was angry at—himself or David. He finally decided he was upset at himself for letting David get him so annoyed.

  He slammed his world history text shut. He paced a little while longer. He knew he should be studying, but he just couldn’t concentrate. He leaned down on the windowsill and stared out into the night. Across the yard the light in Lisa’s room was on. Cory decided to walk over and see how she was doing.

  His sneakers slid over the wet grass. He knocked softly on the kitchen door, then a little harder. After a short wait she appeared in the kitchen, looking confused. “Have you got the wrong house?” she asked, smoothing her long black hair into place as she pushed open the door for him.

  “I don’t think so.”

  She made a face. “Your sneakers are wet. Look at the kitchen floor.”

  He looked at the wet tracks he was making on the linoleum. Then in a quick, easy motion he flipped himself up and stood on his hands. “This better?” He began crossing the floor on his hands.

  She laughed loudly. “That’s great!” she said, following along behind him. “You’re a real chimp. Can you eat with your feet?”

  He tumbled over when he reached the hallway and rolled to his feet. “Your turn,” he said, gesturing to the floor.

  “No way,” she said, backing away. “Want a banana?”

  He shook his head and plopped down on one of the overstuffed living room armchairs. He suddenly felt exhausted.

  “Come in the den,” she said, pulling his arm. “I don’t want you on the good furniture. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “I don’t know. Wrong house, I guess,” he said.

  She laughed again as she dragged him toward the den. He liked her laugh, he decided. It came from so deep in her throat. It was a sexy laugh. She looked cute, he thought. She was wearing faded cutoff jeans and an old Shadyside High sweatshirt with the collar ripped and frayed.

  She pulled him harder, and he bumped into her. Her hair smelled of coconut. She must have shampooed it earlier. He inhaled deeply. He loved that smell.

  “How’s it going with you?” she asked. “Any b
etter?”

  “Better than what?” he asked, shoving some newspapers aside so he could drop down onto the black leather couch. “Better than being hit by a truck? Almost.”

  “That bad, huh?” she said sympathetically. She sat down beside him, her knee touching his leg.

  “If I could just get my timing back on the rings.” How many times had he said that lately?

  “You’ll get it back,” she said, putting a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

  “Anna was waiting for me outside school,” he said. “That was a surprise.”

  She removed her hand from his shoulder and sighed. “What did she want—some tips on how to do a handstand?”

  He didn’t notice her sarcasm. Seeing an article that interested him, he picked up the front section of the newspaper he had shoved aside. A car had spun out of control on Fear Street and crashed into a tree. The confused driver had no explanation for what had happened. The road was dry, and he had been traveling at a very slow speed.

  “I love these visits of yours, Cory.” Lisa’s voice broke into his reading. “You tell me about Anna and then read the paper. You’re a fun guy.”

  Cory put down the newspaper and started to apologize when the phone rang. “Who would call this late?” Lisa asked. She dived off the couch and got to the phone before it could ring a second time and wake her parents. “Hello?”

  There was silence at the other end.

  “Hello?” she repeated.

  “You’re dead too,” a voice whispered in her ear. “You’re dead too. You’re dead too.”

  Just like on the note tied to the cat.

  CHAPTER 17

  “It was Anna who threatened me, Cory. She killed the cat. She made the threatening phone call.”

  “No, that’s impossible,” he insisted. “Come on, Lisa. Let’s just dance and not talk about it.” Cory pulled her toward the middle of the gym floor, where several other couples were already dancing. The floor vibrated to the music, a Phil Collins record with a driving, machinelike drumbeat and pulsating bass that nearly drowned out the singer’s voice.

  Lisa made a halfhearted attempt to dance with Cory, but after a minute or two she stopped and pulled him back to the side. “You’re just trying to change the subject,” she said, holding on to his hands. Hers were cold despite the heat of the gym.

  “No, I’m just trying to dance,” he said, exasperated. “Why’d you ask me to this dance? If all you wanted to do was talk about Anna, we could have gone to my house, or your house.”

  “But she threatened my life, and all you do is defend her.”

  “It wasn’t Anna,” Cory said. “I know it. When I told Anna about the dead cat in your locker, she was horrified. Really. She felt terrible about it.”

  “So. She’s a good actress,” Lisa said, sneering. “Good enough to fool you.”

  A couple of guys from the gymnastics team waved at Cory from across the gym. He waved back. He wanted to run across the floor and talk to them. Kid around with them. Have some fun. This first date with Lisa was not working out.

  “Why would Anna put a dead cat in your locker? Why? Why would she call and threaten you?” Cory asked, shouting over the music, a high-voltage record by Prince that was extremely difficult to shout over. “She doesn’t even know you.”

  “She’s jealous,” Lisa said. “I told you.”

  “Get real,” Cory told her, shaking his head in disbelief. He turned and started to walk away, but she followed right behind him. “Did she ask you to this dance?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Come on—did she? Tell the truth.”

  “Well… yes.”

  “And was she standing in the hall spying on us when I asked you to this dance?”

  “No. She wasn’t spying. She—”

  “She was listening, right? She was there in the hall. She saw us together. And then afterward I got the dead cat with the note.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “Boy, are you loyal—to her!” Lisa snapped, her dark eyes filled with anger. Some kids standing nearby were staring at the two of them, startled to see what was obviously a heated argument grow even more heated.

  Cory was embarrassed. “Lisa, please.” He took her arm, but she pulled it away from him. “I know Anna. She wouldn’t—”

  “How well do you know Anna?” Lisa demanded. “How well?”

  “It’s got to be someone else who’s trying to scare you. Someone who knows you.”

  “Who then? Who is it?”

  “I don’t know, but it isn’t Anna!” Cory shouted. “Anna has her own problems. She doesn’t have time to be making up problems for you.”

  “Oh, doesn’t she?” Lisa’s anger was getting the better of her. She shoved Cory hard in the chest, pushing him backward against the crepe paper streamers that lined the gym wall. “Come on and sit down. Maybe you’d like to tell me all about Anna’s problems. Maybe we could spend all night discussing Anna’s problems. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Calm down, Lisa. Everyone’s watching us.”

  “What are Anna’s problems, Cory? Come on. Let’s discuss them. What are her problems? Is she too thin? Is that her problem? Is she too pretty? That’s it. I’ve guessed it, haven’t I! She’s too pretty, poor thing.”

  “Lisa—please. You’re getting crazy over nothing.”

  “Nothing? Over nothing? Someone threatened my life. I guess that’s nothing!”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Come on. Don’t lose your temper. Let’s dance or something. I apologize. Okay?”

  “Apologize for what?”

  “I don’t know. For whatever.”

  She sighed and shook her head. “I should’ve known this wouldn’t work out.” The record had stopped. Her voice seemed to echo through the whole crowded gym. “You’re just totally obsessed with that girl. Oh. I’m embarrassing you, aren’t I, Cory?” Another record started.

  “No. I mean, yes. I mean—”

  “So sorry. I won’t embarrass you anymore.” She turned away from him and ran across the crowded dance floor. He started after her, then decided not to follow her. He watched her push her way through dancing couples until she made her way to the other side of the gym and disappeared through the double doors.

  Now what?

  Give her a little time to cool down and then go apologize to her? That was probably the best idea. He’d seen Lisa lose her temper hundreds of times before. She always flared up like a fire just taking hold, but her anger always faded as quickly as it came on.

  Lisa was the jealous one, he decided. The idea made him smile despite the fight they had just had. She was jealous of Anna. And, of course, she had good reason to be.

  Anna. For a split second he thought he saw her across the dance floor.

  No, it couldn’t be. He pushed her from his mind. He decided to go over to the refreshment table and get a Coke, maybe shoot the breeze with some guys for a while, and then go apologize to Lisa.

  He was halfway across the gym when he heard the scream.

  It was a girl’s scream. A scream of terror.

  The music stopped. Everyone heard it.

  Cory knew at once.

  It was Lisa’s scream!

  CHAPTER 18

  Several kids were already out in the dark corridor by the time Cory got there. A single amber bulb at the far end of the hall provided the only source of light. The kids were shadows, moving and shifting in the dark as they searched for the girl who had screamed. “There’s no one here!” someone yelled, his voice echoing off the tile walls.

  “Then, who screamed?” someone else asked.

  Cory knew who had screamed. But where was she?

  “I’m down here! Can somebody help me?” Lisa’s voice floated up from the stairwell.

  Taking them two at a time, Cory was the first one down the stairs.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Who is it?”

  “Is someone down th
ere?”

  Voices bounced around the empty hallways.

  “Lisa—are you okay?” Cory asked. She was sitting on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  He helped her to her feet, but she couldn’t stand on her right foot. So he eased her back to the floor.

  Several kids were on the stairway now, looking down at them in the dim light. “What happened?” “It’s Lisa Blume.” “Is she okay?” “Did she fall?”

  “I—I’m okay,” Lisa called up to them. “Sorry if I scared you. You can go back into the gym now. Really. I’ll be okay.”

  A few kids lingered on the steps. Some guys started whistling loudly, seeing how it sounded in the echoing hallways. Eventually the music started in the gym again, and everyone went back inside.

  “It’s my ankle,” Lisa told Cory, wincing with pain as she tried to stand on it again. “It got twisted. But I think it’s okay. I just have to walk it off—if I can walk. Wow, I was lucky. I could’ve been killed. These stairs are hard!”

  He let her lean her weight against him as she tested the ankle. “Did you fall?” he asked.

  “No. I was pushed.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “But who—”

  “Ouch!” she cried, and leaned harder on his arm. “How should I know? It was so dark. I was walking past the stairway. I didn’t see anyone. I thought I was alone. It was so quiet out here, it was creepy. Just the sound of the drums vibrating from the gym. I—I think I’d better sit down.”

  He half carried her back onto the bottom step, where she dropped down heavily, breathing hard from the pain. “Hey—this is some memorable first date, huh?” she asked.

  They both laughed, more from tension than from her remark. “So go on,” Cory said. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I guess someone was there the whole time. I didn’t hear footsteps or anything. Of course, I wasn’t paying much attention. I was just concentrating on how mad I was at you.”

  “Thanks a bunch,” Cory said sarcastically. “I knew this had to be my fault.”

  “Well, of course it is,” she said, pulling him down beside her and holding on to his arm. “Suddenly two hands shoved me hard from behind. I saw this guy standing there as I fell down the stairs. I guess I screamed.”