By: CNJ
PG-13
9: Missing Composition
Stacey:
Monday, Tuesday, then...Thanksgiving
break is here! Monday was a little odd in several ways. I walked to school
with Claudia and Mary Anne. SHS is a bit closer than SMS to McLelland Court,
so Kristy, Anna, and Abby don't have to take the bus the way they did in
middle school. Kristy had gotten there early and since the bell wouldn't
ring for another fifteen minutes, we hung around by a tall skinny tree
and talked. All around us, small groups of kids did the same thing. It
was chilly, but not freezing. Near the dumpsters, I could see Randy Greenhold
and two other guys passing around a cigarette. I think the smell from the
garbage there camouflages the cigarette smell in case a teacher happens
to come by. Alan Gray hung around, hoping to get a puff, but I think Randy
told him to get lost, because Alan slunk off, pouting. Just then, someone
came running up and I could hear her gasping. It was Abby and she hugged
Kristy. We were surprised to see that she was in tears.
"Abby!" I said, alarmed.
"What's wrong?!"
"What's..." Kristy looked
bewildered and hugged her back. "Heyy, hey, Ab, what is it?"
"I'm j-just..." Abby sniffled
and pulled away, wiping her eyes. "Glad you're all right, Kristy."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kristy
asked. Mary Anne handed her a tissue and stroked her.
"It's...on the way here...I
saw the car...it was so totaled...smashed in this horrible accident and
it looked like the Junk Bucket...I was so scared it was your brother and
you...I know he gives you a ride sometimes...I was afraid it was you until
I saw the tag number."
"Wow...that's scary," Mary
Anne said softly. Abby became calmer as we talked more. Abby and Anna's
dad died in a car accident when they were nine, so I knew it was especially
frightening for Abby to see a wrecked car.
"I'm just thankful it wasn't
your brother's car, Kristy," Abby blew her nose.
"Me too," I put in as the
first bell rang and we headed to our lockers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne, Abby, and I have
the same sixth-period English class, so after lunch the three of us go
to our lockers, change books, then head to MS. Fedders' room together.
I was glad I'd finished that big composition on Friday night. Over the
weekend, I'd shown it to Mary Anne to check and she said it was perfect.
I dropped my other books in my locker, pulled out my English and Russian
books, closed my locker, then turned to listen to Abby talk about the soccer
game the SHS Barracudas played against Burkeview High the second Saturday
in November. We'd almost won, but had lost by one point. I was glad that
Abby seemed herself again, her scare of this morning fading. "...was a
good move on Kathy Maski's part, that play, but I guess Joyce Warren anticipated
that move and topped it. Oh, well, she's sharp, so we gotta look out for
her the next game we play with Burkeview!" Abby finished with a laugh and
closed her locker. Just as Mary Anne closed her locker, her eyes widened
a little and I turned instinctively, wondering if there was someone sneaking
up on us. There wasn't...but only Cokie Mason squirming past us toward
her next class, bumping into me a little. She brushed my English folder,
gave me a smirk and Mary Anne a dirty look and darted on, pushing against
a cluster of juniors, who gave her dirty looks. Just then the bell
rang and the three of us rushed to English. I know Cokie's not crazy about
the BSC and Mary Anne's a little nervous around her.
"I thought she was eavesdropping
on us," Mary Anne whispered.
"Don't mind her," Abby added.
"We weren't discussing our deep, dark secrets." But Cokie had been after
something else...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
When Ms. Fedders was collecting
our essays, I noticed Stacey looking nervous as she emptied her folders
onto her desk.
"I know it was here, " she
whispered. She was close to tears by the time Ms Fedders noticed. "I had
it here before class...and it's gone."
"It's okay..." Ms Fedders
soothed. "Since you've always had your homework on time, I won't hold this
one against you."
Poor Stacey! She worked
so hard on that composition and I think it was stolen! After class, Abby
and I tried to comfort her. By then, she was crying hard. I told Ms. Fedders
that I'd checked her essay and Ms. Fedders promised not to mark her down
for it. As we parted and headed toward our last classes, I met Kristy on
the way to gym and told her what had happened. "Oh...God," she gasped.
We sat at our gym lockers to change. We were quiet as the other girls talked.
"....I asked Cokie what
she was writing..."Toni Marks' voice sailed across the floor. "She had
another paper, I think, somebody else's and was copying it. I pitched a
note at her and she wrote back, An essay for English. They're
Grace Blume's notes. Cokie has English last period. I almost laughed
and Ms Quebec almost caught us. Cokie got all defensive and hid the paper
under her folder."
"Cheating as usual," another
girl added. "Probably Grace loaned her the essay so she could copy it.
Cokie's too lazy and irresponsible to do her own homework, so she's always
bumming off Grace."
Kristy and I heard this
and stared at each other. Stacey's comp! I mouthed. We didn't want
to let on what we'd overheard. Cokie was right by us before English,
I mouthed. Kristy nodded, a determined look on her face. We have to
catch up with Cokie and get the paper back, Kristy mimed.
"What are those two doing,
pantomiming signals?" Toni pointed at us and laughed.
"Who knows?" another Sara
Trentwood added. "They're from that baby-sitters' group and are all weird."
Kristy and I ignored them as they laughed and ran out to the gym.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Claudia:
Kristy and Mary Anne told
us what had happened in Monday's BSC meeting.
"Don't worry, we'll get
it back," Mary Anne put an arm around Stacey, who was gloomy and quiet.
Several times during the meeting, Stacey looked close to tears. Kristy
glanced at Stacey as she took a call from a Ms. Lark, and I got the feeling
she'd just come up with one of her famous ideas.
"I think you have one of
your famous ideas..." I told her.
"Hey...just a minute...Kristy
paused dramatically. "And I do." We all chuckled a little and even Stacey
managed a weak smile.
"Yup...you guessed." Kristy
looked around at us. "Mary Anne...Abby...Grace is in your English class,
right?" Mary Anne and Abby looked at each other, then nodded.
"So...tomorrow, we huddle
near them, looking natural, then act as if we heard Cokie was cheating
off Grace again."
"How is that going to..."
Abby asked.
"Grace will hear us," Kristy
grinned. "Then she'll demand to know what's going on with Cokie. Then Mary
Anne and Abby can have a nice talk with Ms. Fedders, who will ask to see
Grace...and Grace, who doesn't want to get in trouble will spill it on
Cokie."
"Swell idea..." I nodded.
"Just remember...Kristy
told us. "Act normal...natural! This meeting is..."
"Adjourned!" we all finished,
then got up to head home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stacey:
Tuesday we still weren't
hopeful I'd get my stolen essay back. I could barely eat breakfast and
several times Mom felt my cheek to see if I was sick.
The BSC met at the fence
with a plan. We found Grace Blume and Cokie by the door.
"So..." Kristy said pointedly,
looking at the rest of us. "Toni was telling us that Cokie's cheating off
Grace again." Sure enough, Cokie heard and looked over at us. Grace looked
at her, than at us.
"Oh, God!" Mary Anne gasped
in fake shock. "You know...Grace could get into trouble too..."
"Just what are you talking
about?" Grace came over to us.
"Ignore them..." Cokie whispered.
"It's...English...something I borrowed."
"Oh...right!" Grace nodded.
"My study guide...my notes...you know how hard Ms. Fedders is..." Laughing,
they walked off. I felt my heart sink as my friends and I looked at each
other in defeat. "Shit..." Kristy muttered. "I'll have to come up with
a better idea."
Kristy did have a much better
idea by lunch. Mary Anne remembered much of what I had written in that
comp. Not word for word, but phrases here and there and the basic gist
of most of it. Grace was in my English class too. So Grace couldn't know
what was in that essay unless Cokie had hooked class to show it to her
in two minutes!
"Cool," Abby nodded. She,
Mary Anne and I ate quickly, then headed to Ms. Fedders' room early. We
told her what Mary Anne and Kristy had overheard in the gym locker room
and could maybe she ask Grace and Toni, who were also in our class what
was going on. Ms. Fedders listened soberly, then nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bell rang and we scurried
out of our last classes to our lockers. The halls were absolute pandemonium
for a few minutes as kids made mad dashes for their lockers eager to start
their Thanksgiving vacations. Mary Anne, Abby, and I talked about our T-day
plans as we edged toward our lockers, trying not to bump into anyone and
avoiding being crashed into. I was feeling a bit better, knowing what a
help my friends were, even if that composition was never found.
"BYYYYE, have a happy Thanksgiving!
Caitlin Giotti called to us as she raced out of SHS along with a chunk
of other students.
"Happy Thanksgiving!" we
called back. We stood still and let the rushing crowd thin out until just
a few kids lingered in the hallways. Then we opened our lockers to put
away our books and get our jackets.
"You know..." I told my
friends as the rest of the BSC caught up with us. "I'm lucky to have you
all as my friends."
"Oh, Stacey!" Mary Anne's
eyes filled with tears and her face reddened. "That's sweet..." She fumbled
for a tissue, dropping her notebook. I grinned and gave her a hug.
"Stacey?" Ms. Fedders was
coming toward us with her jacket and her purse. I turned, dropping my honors
trig book on Mary Anne's notebook. Ms. Fedders was smiling. "Good news.
I've found your composition...and the culprit."
"Oh, thank you, Ms. Fedders,"
I sighed in relief.
"It worked," Kristy whispered.
"Are you all right, Mary
Anne?" Ms Fedders asked. "Goodness, you're crying..."
"Oh, yes, I'm all right,"
Mary Anne wiped her eyes.
"Well, have a happy and
safe holiday, girls," Ms Fedders smiled at us and walked on out. The hall
was almost empty by now, so we gathered up our things and headed out to...T-day
vacation!
