As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 8: Plans

Carl listened in on Ginger's and Courtney's talking in the girl's bathroom with his radio set. Courtney and his sister were up to something, he had to find out what it was.

"Was that really-"

"Of course it's necessary. You don't know who's listening into your conversation, Ginger." Carl smirked. Courtney had no idea. "And I don't anyone to eavesdrop on ours about you-know-who. He must not be exposed," she said vehemently. Who were they talking about, he wondered. Some unfortunate poor boy she had a crush on no doubt.

"But with all the stalls-"

"The air vent!" Uh, oh. Did she know? Courtney hissed. There seemed to be moment of silence. Then there was a sharp bang. "We seem to be in the wrong school, don't we, Missy?"

The girl seemed to have trouble regaining her wits. "I-I, ah... It was Carl's fault," she said finally. Carl curse silently at his desk.

"Tell this Carl, 'You have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull the silk over Courtney Q. Gripling's eyes.'" The sound of Holly's scurrying away was picked up by Carl's earpiece.

"I believe that the Carl that girl was talking about was my brother."

"That's nice," Courtney said. "Get over here so I can stand on your shoulders and look into this vent."

Carl heard his sister hesitate. "Okay, I think that it should be fine for now, so we had best hurry." He listened in as Courtney climb onto Ginger's shoulders. Carl tensed up. He listened closely as he waited for any sign that Courtney had found the hidden microphone that Holly had installed in the air duct. He sighed in relief as he listened to her climbing back down. He didn't think that the older girl was capable of keeping her discovery of a bug secret. The spy kind or the crawling kind.

"Okay, Courtney, why did you call me from lunch?

"Is he okay?"

"Is who okay, Courtney?" Carl was wondering the same thing.

"You know very well who, Ginger Foutley," Courtney snapped back.

"Oh, him. Yes, he's okay, Courtney. I burned the note into the principal's ash tray."

"Good, good." She sounded distracted. "See you next period."

Carl clicked off his walkie-talkie. "I wonder who her boyfriend is."

"That would be Darren, Carl."

"No, I mean Courtney's boyfriend, Hoodsey."

"Oh, right. Of course."

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Hoods?"

"Naturally."

Carl and Hoodsey missed out on lunch to listen in on this conservation, and they weren't about to let this opportunity pass. Like the time they had tried to get an used lie-detector. They had gotten distracted and the machine was sold under their noses. This time would be different.

Carl rubbed his hands gleefully. "Then we can begin."

But before they could, the rest of the class returned. "Maybe not now," he admitted.

"Plus we're going to need Noelle on this," Hoodey added.

Carl nodded. They needed all the help that they could get. Prying out those secrets out of Ginger or Courtney wasn't going to be easy. But he was ready to give it a try.

---

Miranda Kilgallen glared at Ginger. She probably didn't even know that she was being glared at. But that was alright. She didn't need to know.

But what was Courtney hanging out with Ginger? Courtney was supposed to hang out with her, not that brat with the orange hair. And Miranda was starting to get the feeling they had this big, huge secret that they weren't going to tell her. That's not right. Courtney was supposed to tell her secrets to her, not that orange-haired skank.

She was going to have to break up those two by doing what she did best. Dirty tricks and smear tactics. When Miranda smeared someone's good name, they couldn't even get a job in fast-food.

She ran into Mipsy, who was returning to class from lunch as well. Mipsy motioned her aside. She shrugged. Why not? They met under the staircase.

"Yes, what is it?" Miranda didn't like being interrupted in her seething.

"Some reliable sources of mine report that they seen both Ginger and Courtney in the woods outside town this morning."

"What were they doing out the woods at that time of day?"

"They didn't say."

Miranda sighed. "I meant Courtney and Ginger."

"Like I said, they didn't say."

"Hokay. What were your sources doing out there then?"

"Hey. I don't ask. They don't tell."

"Maybe you change on that position a little."

"I don't tell you how to run your informants."

"There's a reason for that, you know."

"I'm just saying. That's all."

"Good. Keep it that way."

"But are we are going to do about Ginger?"

"Just leave that to me."

"Hey. I dislike Ginger as much as you do. I want in."

"Alright, Mipsy. But once you're in, you're in all the way. I intend on getting Ginger out of our hair for good."

Mipsy grinned ferally. "Of course. This has been waiting for far, far too long."

"Good." She began cackling. "Say goodbye to Ginger. She won't be around for much longer." And she let herself be swept away by the cackling, which echoed down the halls, causing students to look in their direction.

Miranda barely noticed.

---

"Can't we just talk about your missing aunt, Dodie?" Ginger said, hoping to change the subject.

Dodie sighed. "What's there left to say, Ginger? We talked about it all morning and half-way through lunch. There's nothing we can do for her now."

"We can go look for her."

"Not until after school, Ginger," Macie said. "Not until after school."

They sat at their table after they came to their next class after lunch. Now they were waiting Ms. Zorski.

Ginger hung her head down. "Yes. You're right," she said reluctantly. "But it isn't my secret to share, guys."

"Alright, Ginger," Dodie said. "Whose secret is it, then?"

"That's a secret, too."

"Ginger!" her friends chided her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you I knew who Courtney was in love with." She chuckled a little. "Especially as she didn't even tell me."

"Well, okay," Dodie said. "Is it anyone we would know?"

"I wouldn't think so."

"Is he handsome," Macie asked.

"It would all depend on what you would call handsome, I suppose."

Ms. Zorski appeared at the door. "Okay, class. I hope that everyone enjoyed their lunch. You're going to need all that energy as we go outside to get inspired to write some poems."

"Maybe you can write about Courtney's Love," Dodie said.

"He's a secret," Ginger snapped.

Dodie stuck her nose up. "Fine. Keep it to yourself."

Ginger blanched. "I'm sorry, Dodie. I didn't mean to be so short with you."

"So you say." Dodie didn't seem to accept Ginger's apology. "I thought that BFF's shared secrets with each other."

"Yeah, but you aren't my only friends, you know." Ginger winched as she realized the mistake she just had made.

Dodie grinned slyly. "That certainly does cut down on the suspects."

"Oh, no," Macie sighed. "Here we go again."

Ginger laid her head on the table and groaned. Now she had done it. While she was done there, she prayed that her confidence with Courtney wouldn't be broken.

Ginger lifted her head just time to receive the final instructions before the class set to the outside of the school. Despite herself, she breathed in releif when they told to write something they find in nature. Not she would anyway, but she was off the hook about writing about Nomar.

About five minutes after the bell had rang, Ms. Zorski's English class filed out of the room.