Ruben bit his lip. "I'll think about it," he said as he got up to dump his lunch tray. Jessie had already dumped hers, and was now finishing off a vanilla cupcake.
"Guys, guys!" Rockett said as she rushed back to the table. "What'd I miss?"
"Just half of lunch," Jessie replied in between bites of her cupcake. She smiled knowingly at Ruben. He didn't return her grin. Jessie said, "But, you were gone for a while, Rockett! Maybe we should be the ones asking what we missed?
"Nothing much, just major shenanigans," Rockett said as she sat down. "Actually, there's more..." She quietly looked around. This time, though, she only had to be on the lookout for Sharla. "Okay, can you guys keep a secret?"
"You know I can!" Jessie exclaimed.
Ruben nodded. "Spill it, new girl."
"Okay, well, look at this." Rockett pushed the note from the girls' washroom to the center of the table. Jessie quickly grabbed it and she and Ruben silently read it. When they'd finished it, they both looked up.
"Whoa," Ruben said. "Any idea who wrote this?"
"It sounds like Sharla," Jessie commented.
Rockett nodded, confirming Jessie's thoughts. "That's exactly what I was thinking. But, this is so sad, you guys. It kinda sounds like she actually does want to go on this trip. I wish we could help her out or something."
"Hold up!" Ruben said suddenly. "How do we know for sure we've got the right girl? Maybe you could ask or-"
"Ruben, no!" Rockett and Jessie both yelled at the same time.
Rockett smiled, blushing. "Sorry, Ruben...it's just, we can't let her know that I found the note. I'm pretty positive it is Sharla-"
"And yeah. I am, too," Jessie agreed.
"And if she finds out that we're trying to help her, she might get upset," Rockett finished.
Ruben scratched his head. "How's that?"
"You know Sharla," Jessie replied. "She might think we're trying to embarrass her or something, I don't know."
Rockett begin to nod her head. "Yeah. Okay, so maybe I can try talking to like, her mom or something?"
"Not a good idea, Rockett," Jessie said.
Ruben nodded. "Not only would she be muy difficil to get in touch with, but Sharla would know instantly if you talked to her madre first."
Rockett lowered her head, trying to think of another option.
A light bulb went off in Jessie's brain. "Wait...what about this! You may not be able to speak with her mom, but maybe we can try talking to a teacher!"
"A teacher?" Rockett inquired. "Oh, wow! Jessie, that's a great idea! But, who?"
"Ms. Chen's really trustworthy," Jessie replied. "She could help us out, no question."
"Ms. Chen would be a good idea," Rockett agreed. "But I don't know if she's even going on the trip. Not only that, but she teaches computer lab, and she's always busy after class. It'd be kind of hard to get a chance to talk to her."
Ruben said, "Okay, so how 'bout this? Baldus, man. We could let him in on it, and he could figure out somethin' for sure. He may be a total clown-dude, but at least the man's always got a ton of ideas."
"Ruben, that's an awesome idea!" Rockett said, glowing.
Jessie nodded. "Definitely!" she said. "Rockett, since you found the note, you should be the one to talk to him."
"Alright, well I'll go talk to him after class," Rockett said, grabbing her trash from the table. "Where's the note?"
"Right here," Ruben said, handing it to her. "Careful not to accidentally throw it out, chica."
"Don't worry, I won't. And thanks, guys!" Rockett waved before exiting the lunch room.
"Okay, so here's the plan-a-rooney, kiddos!" Mr. Baldus sang in homeroom the following day. "We've got an ultra-cool, groovin' trip comin' up that is just right around the corner!" Baldus' cheesy announcement came with his signature finger guns. "But, stop right there!" He said suddenly, holding his palm up. "It's a new year here at WP, and with a new year, comes a new set of rules, baby! First off, we're gonna have a ...drumroll, please..." Mr. B started slapping his thighs to a drum beat. "Booyah!" he exclaimed. "Class fund-raiser! Every year, the kiddies have been totally houndin' the 'rents to come up with extra spending money for our trips! So this year, we're gonna make it all nice 'n' even! So! If you've got a super-cool idea on how to raise the funds, shout it out here, folks! Do I have any offers? Yo, sock it to me!"
Though it looked like quite a few kids were more than a little unhappy, and were about to say something against it, Mr. Baldus silenced them, with a no-nonsense kind of look - something the students didn't get to see from him very often.
Stephanie Hollis raised her hand. "We could have a walk-a-thon racer. Parents can pay by the mile. Like, I could run ten miles for ten dollars."
"An excellent idea, Ms. Hollis!" Mr. B exclaimed. "Your groovy-cool idea just made number one on my list-a-rooney," he said, winking at Stephanie and writing her idea on the blackboard. When he finished writing, Mr. Baldus glanced up. "Any others? And oh, by the way, I've chosen a super-groovy gal to help me out on pickin' and choosin' which way-fantastico idea will be selected for our fund-raiser!" Mr. Baldus pretended to scope the room. "So, without further-ado, why don't we have our own peanut-gallery gal, slash-ace yearbook staff member, slash-new girl, Rocko-Movado get on up here and help us out!"
Rockett's cheeks burned as she pretended to be in shock. Not that there was much pretending going on. She was, after all, the one who had told Baldus about the note to begin with. But why was he making such a big scene about it? She didn't want anyone besides the people she had told to know what was up her sleeve! And most definitely not Sharla. Hopefully her teacher would (for once!) tone it down a notch.
Meanwhile, the class was still brainstorming.
"I vote for a rockin' battle of the bands!" Ruben replied smoothly. Rockett smiled gratefully over at him. He was playing it totally cool!
"Yeah!" exclaimed Arianne "Arrow" Mayfield, an ace musician herself. "I second that!"
Though Mr. Baldus didn't quite get the idea, he still wrote it down. "There are no lame options here, folks," he stated. "So feed 'em to me!"
Wolf DuBois, who was a good friend of Arrow's, and also a total individual, spoke up. He ran a hand through his thick, dark mane. "How about we do a cook-off?! We can get a group of kids to challenge each other, and the parents and teachers can try out our dishes. The best plate will win the money - so it'll work either way, no matter who wins. You dig, Baldus?"
"A most extraordinary idea, Wolf-man," Mr. B replied. He also wrote Wolf's idea on the board. Then, the teacher lowered his voice. "So as long as we keep Pill's plate of garb away from our little cooking comp, that is." Mr. Pill, head of food services at Whistling Pines, was a long shot away from being a chef. His dishes made the students cringe. He was so bad at cooking, and had such a grouchy way about him, that even Mr. Baldus couldn't stand him!
"Maybe..." Jessie said quietly. "We could do like, a calendar. Featuring some of our own students. And the parents can buy it."
"Excellent contribution, Miss Marbella!" the teacher boomed.
But before they could get much further, Nicole piped up. "Oh! I totally saw that idea on a tv show I was watching the other night. We can call it "'The Cool Kids of Whistling Pines!'"
"Hey, wait a second-" Jessie interjected, but Nicole cut her off. Rockett frowned.
What is Nicole's problem? Everyone saw first thing that the calendar idea was totally Jessie's! She's so trying to take credit for it.
"And I can pose in July! I got the cutest new pink swimsuit. And-"
"Alright!" Mr. B. interjected, obviously not wanting to hear another famous Nicole-rant. Today, he was all about getting down to business! Rockett couldn't help but feel appreciative. "Thank you, Nicole. We're runnin' low on time, and we're almost outta homeroom! So any last suggestions?" Mr. Baldus asked.
Bo Pezanski rolled his eyes, but still contributed a roller-blade derby idea. Ginger voted for a bake sale, and Dana for a student-teacher soccer match. Mr. Baldus counted up the ideas, and told the students to "fly by Rockett after class with your super-cool suggestions," dismissed them, and the class ended.
"Whaddya say, girlfriend?" Nakili Abuto asked Rockett after their art class had ended. "Was Miko drooling over Mr. Rare-butt today or what?"
Rockett giggled. Their friend Miko Kajiyama was way smart. Somehow, though, she just couldn't get it through her head that nothing was ever going to happen between her and their art teacher, Mr. Rarebit.
Miko frowned. "I was not," she said, nudging Nakili. "But he did look pretty handsome today in that black sweater-vest thing..."
"See, I toldja," Nakili teased. "So, Rockett, which idea are you going to pick for the student fund-raiser?"
Rockett didn't even have to think about it. Since she now had the power, and she knew Sharla really needed the money, she had already decided in class that she would try and choose more than one idea. Mr. Baldus had told Rockett earlier to just choose one, but eventually he let her choose three, under the conditions that whatever she picked had to be simple to set up, organized, and also, she had to keep the student's suggestions under control.
"I'm announcing it tomorrow morning, so you'll see," Rockett grinned.
"Wow, now that is what I call large-and-in-charge," Nakili commented. "Our girl's already picked her grand idea and it's only the same day!"
Miko nodded enthusiastically. "That is total organization," she declared with a smile. "I'm excited they put you in charge of this, Rockett."
Yes! Not only are the others seeing how well this is going, but Miko's actually cool with me taking charge! I know that had to have stung a bit when she heard Mr. Baldus picked me because I'm on the yearbook, but still. She's being a total team player now!
Rockett smiled gratefully. "Thanks, guys. Well, don't be late. First thing tomorrow, I'm announcing what we'll be doing. See you guys there."
Miko
Okay, I'll admit I was definitely annoyed a couple months ago when Rockett was picked to join yearbook staff. But that was before Nakili and I really got to know her and now I think for this new fundraiser thing, she's perfect. I'm totally happy for her this time and I honestly don't think I would even have any time to work on anything else due to my busy schedule this week. Dana is coming over tomorrow with Nakili and we are going to go over our checklist for Chicago. My older sister Saki promised to take us to the mall tomorrow so that we can go shopping and later on in the day I have a lot of homework to do for Ms. Chen's class (I wonder if she's going on the trip). It's going to be totally awesome! (the trip I mean, not so much the homework part even though I'm good at it)
Stephanie
I still think this whole fundraiser thing that went down today in homeroom was really pretty lame. I mean, when did we ever have to put together some major kind of production just so we can even go on a trip? And since The Ones party even came up with the idea, then how come Mr. Baldus never informed *us* of the fundraiser first? Whatever. I did come up with a pretty cool idea during homeroom. I decided to do a walk-a-thon racer, but then Nicole decided to one-up me when she stole Jessie's calendar idea and made it her own (COOL KIDS of Whistling Pines? What are we a day care?). I'm currently brainstorming to come up with something else (most likely something to do with animals) and this new idea of mine will be way better than Nicole's. I know we're best friends, but I am so tired of her trying to out-do everybody when it comes to just about EVERYTHING!
Rockett
So I talked to Mr. Baldus yesterday about the whole Sharla thing and he seemed really different. I mean, in a good way or whatever. Normally he is really goofy, but when I talked to him yesterday he was totally serious and wanted to do whatever we could for Sharla (which is how we came up with this whole fundraiser thing). Jessie and Ruben really helped me too. Jessie is great and I just think Ruben is so nice (and cool) but I didn't tell them about my idea. The only other person who knows that I'm picking three ideas for the fundraiser is Meg. I know it's only my first year here, but getting to do something this big already is actually really fun. It's a big responsibility, but Meg says I can handle it. I've heard before that when you do something nice for someone, the universe thanks you. I guess that's kind of what happened with this whole thing.
Al, thank you so much for your sweet review! I appreciate it so very much!:)
It's so weird that after all these years, the interest is still there. Fans are still just as true as they were back during PM's website days. But, it's such a cute series, who wouldn't be? Excited to be sharing the rest of this story.
Have a great time reading!
-Ezia