Dawn wasn't at the school because she was somewhere the whole day, even it begun.
Mary Anne had to tell all of Dawn's teachers that she wasn't at school that day. Even she didn't know where her stepsister was, so she couldn't answer that question. Only Dawn could answer that herself. They told her they needed Dawn's homework in right away when Mary Anne turned hers.
Jessi, another club member wasn't at school that day either.
"Come on, you guys. Tell me where Dawn and Jessi are," Stacey said.
"STACEY! You scared us," Kristy and Mary Anne said.
While Mary Anne was at Dawn's locker, finding her assignments, Claudia came by.
"Mary Anne! Why are you opening Dawn's locker? You don't know her combination."
"Yes, I do," she said.
"You spend a lot of time with Dawn instead of us members. We are no saving you a spot. I'm telling Kristy!" Claudia said, looking mad at Mary Anne.
Jessi and Dawn still weren't at school. Mary Anne sat at a table all by herself. Kristy found Mary Anne and sat next to her. Mary Anne's tears started to fall down.
"Claudia told me what happened, Mary Anne. Does Dawn trust you with her combination to the locker?" Kristy asked her best friend.
"Of course Dawn does. Her teachers wanted Dawn's homework immediately instead of waiting for her to do it herself. I don't know what happened to her." Mary Anne replied, feeling a bit better because she had Kristy to talk with.
Her feelings were still hurt from Claudia.
Mary Anne let Claudia take all the time she needed to apologize.
"Would you trust Dawn with your locker combination like she did with you?" Kristy asked.
"Of course I do. We're good friends. You never know when one of us needs to get into each other's locker like what happened today."
"I'm sure Dawn wouldn't mind when I tell her," Mary Anne added.
Dawn and Jessi gave each other a look.
"How do you think Mary Anne is taking this?" Jessi asked.
"You know Mary Anne. She's upset of course," Dawn answered.
That was a true fact.
"I hope we'll be back at the meeting later today," Jessi said.
"Me too, Jessi. I hope to he comes back. Alan Gray's going to get it!"
He was one of Dawn and Mary Anne's classmates. An idea popped in Dawn's head.
"I have an idea how to get back at that Alan Gray," Dawn said.
"What is your idea?" Jessi asked her.
Both Dawn and Jessi were locked up in Alan Gray's basement, but this was for no reason at all.
"How come Alan was able to go to school and we're stuck here?" Jessi asked.
"My idea is to get back at him is we can set up a date with Cokie Mason."
"How would they react to that one?" Jessi asked.
"We'll come up with something. What do you think of this idea?" Dawn asked her.
"I don't know, Dawn. I miss the other girls," Jessi replied.
"They really would want to hear this story, that's for sure. Maybe they'll like the idea I just told you," Dawn replied.
"It's sure going to be a long story," Jessi agreed.
"If Alan comes back here after school, I hope he'll be nice enough to let us go to Claudia's house in time for the meeting," Dawn said.
"Then you can come up with this crazy idea of yours. I wonder what his reaction would be to hang out with Cokie," Jessi said.
"I hope this works," Dawn told her.
"The others will have a good laugh at this one," Dawn added.
"For sure," Jessi agreed.
"He has to tell us why we have to stay here in this creepy basement," Jessi agreed.
"I guess I could get get Alan alone and tell him Cokie needs a friend right now," Dawn said as Jessi giggled.
"I guess one of us will have to tell her about your crazy idea," Jessi said once she stopped giggling.
"Maybe tomorrow I'll say something to Cokie without anyone around us and gear my plan about having time with just Alan," Dawn said.
"Do you think this could work?" Jessi asked.
"I don't know, but it's worth a shot," Dawn answered.
"If this crazy idea of yours won't work, any others that would? Kristy always has better ideas but she wouldn't have thought of this one," Jessi replied.
"You have a good point, Jessi. Alan Gray sure has a lot of explaining to do," she said.
Another idea popped up.
"Jessi, I have another idea," she told her.
"What's that?" Jessi asked.
"Or we could bring him to the meeting and tell us himself. Then I can have more time with Mary Anne. You know she was my first friend when I moved from California," Dawn reminded Jessi.
"I never forgot, Dawn. I don't need a reminder," Jessi replied and then added, "it's another good idea. We can do both."
"I think so myself. This could be my way to get back at him," Dawn added, but was repeating herself a second time.
"You don't need to repeat it, Dawn," Jessi said.
"You don't have to apologize. We all make mistakes. This one sure is one mistake Alan has ever made, especially to a classmate," Jessi told her.
"I think you're right," Dawn agreed.
"This is Alan's story and not us," she replied.
Jessi didn't say anything.