"So who do you think wrote it?" Claudia asked furrowing her brow as she studied the bold, block letters on the sheet of notebook paper.
"Claudia!" Dawn exclaimed in disbelief. She stared at Claudia as if she couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth.
"What?" Claudia replied defensively.
Snatching the piece of paper out of Claudia's hand, Kristy let out an exasperated sigh, "It's Ian, of course!"
"Oh," Claudia replied stiffly. "Yeah, I knew that." She popped a mini cookie in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully.
Kristy rolled her eyes and passed the note back to Mary Anne. Mary Anne scanned the words one last time and then scrunched the paper into a tight ball.
"Uh, I don't think you should have done that," Stacey replied in a soft voice.
"Why not?" Mary Anne replied in an irritated voice.
"Yeah," Kristy butted in. "As if she's going to let some freak with an inflated ego try to scare her with a pathetic note like that?!" She snorted derisively, shaking her head.
"Ian isn't in school today. He wasn't in calculus today," Stacey said.
"So he skipped class to deliver that stupid note. Simple," Kristy answered firmly.
"Not so simple, Kristy," Dawn replied. "He's in my physics class and he wasn't in there either."
"Well, he obviously got one of his friends to deliver it then," Kristy countered.
"Yeah, I guess you could be right," Dawn said shrugging her shoulders.
"I am right," Kristy stated in a firm voice.
The bell rang shrilly signaling the end of the lunch period. The girls gathered up the remains of their lunches and their backpacks.
"Don't worry about it," Kristy said putting her arm around Mary Anne's shoulders. "The jerk just couldn't face the rejection. He's never going to do anything to you. Not with us around anyways." She smiled and received a half hearted smile from Mary Anne.
"I guess you're right," Mary Anne said trying to muster her confidence. She just hoped Kristy was right.
The next afternoon, Mary Anne was sitting in her after school writing class. Mary Anne was doodling in her notebook waiting for the class to begin when a voice interrupted her.
"Is anyone sitting there?" Ian asked coldly motioning to the empty desk beside her.
"No," Mary Anne replied tensely. She sat there uncomfortably, seething inside that Ian had the nerve to sit right beside her after what he'd done!
He continuously tapped his pen against the hard desk nearly driving Mary Anne insane.
"I like your pen," she said to him shortly.
"Uh, thanks…," he replied looking at her strangely.
"You must be able to write some really interesting notes with it," Mary Anne continued.
Ian just looked at her as though she had spoken a foreign language.
"You know what I'm talking about!" she said tensely.
"Ummm…no…I don't," he replied. His brow was wrinkled in confusion and he looked at her blankly.
"How can you sit there and pretend with me!" Mary Anne said angrily.
"Mary Anne, I don't have a clue what you're talking about. What's your problem?"
"What's my problem?!" she burst out. "MY PROBLEM?! My problem is you and your crazy note writing." She bit her lip trying try fight back the tears.
"I think you need some serious help, Mary Anne. You're beginning to lose it." Ian snorted and turned away from her.
"You're the one who needs the help, Ian! Your fragile male ego can't handle the fact that I walked out on our date the other night. So you get back at me by writing some creepy note and putting it in my locker?" Mary Anne asked.
"Mary Anne, we had one date. One date. My ego was hardly crushed over your walking out. Now, I seriously don't know what you're talking about with this note. I haven't written you any note," Ian said simply.
Mary Anne pulled out the note from that morning. "You're telling me you didn't write this?" she said shoving the piece of paper at Ian. "This was in my locker yesterday afternoon.
He scanned the paper and then chuckled. "No, I most definitely did not. I wasn't even in school yesterday, Mary Anne."
"Well, if you didn't write it, then who did?" Mary Anne demanded.
"It would seem as though you've got some other jilted lover. And a pathetic one at that," Ian smirked tossing the note back onto her desk.
Mary Anne leaned back in her chair and shook her head in confusion. "Logan?"
It was later that evening and Mary Anne and her friends were sitting around Claudia's bedroom discussing what had happened with Ian.
"I just don't get it," Mary Anne said passing the popcorn bowl to Kristy. "Why would Logan write me that note?"
"He didn't!" Kristy snapped. "It's so obviously Ian! That slimy sneak is lying!"
"I don't know," Stacey replied. "Like Ian said, it was only one date. And with an ego as big as his, I would think it would take a lot more than Mary Anne walking out on the date to make him mad. Plus, he wasn't even in school yesterday."
"I agree," Dawn said taking a long drink of her lemonade. "Let me see the note again, Mary Anne." Mary Anne pulled the paper out of her jeans pocket and passed it to her stepsister.
"MARY ANNE. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A MISTAKE YOU'VE MADE. YOU'LL BE SORRY!"
Dawn read aloud.
"Does he mean you've made a mistake by dating some other guy besides him?" Stacey questioned.
"No, he doesn't mean anything because he didn't write the note!" Kristy exclaimed in an exasperated voice. "Ian did!"
"Calm down, Kristy," Claudia sighed. "Can I see the note, Dawn?" She held out her hand and took the note from Dawn.
"Well, whoever wrote it should have used a prettier ink color," Claudia observed. "That black is so boring!"
Kristy rolled her eyes flopped back against the floor pillows. "Thank you for that brilliant observation, Detective Kishi," she said exasperatedly. "We're really going to solve the mystery with you on the case!"