by Nancy N. Rue
“That is so cool!” Sophie knew her voice was squeaking, but somehow she had to make up for the way Maggie’s was thudding. “And Saturday we have fittings at your house.”
“Yay!” Kitty said. “Party dresses!”
“I thought you were wearing one of your sisters’ hand-me-downs,” Darbie said.
Kitty wrinkled her little china nose. “I am — but Maggie’s mom said she would — what’s that word, Mags?”
“Alter it.”
“Yeah — she said she’d fix it any way I wanted! I’m gonna ask her to make it shorter.”
“Then we have LOTS to look forward to,” Sophie said. She nodded at Maggie until Maggie gave her a grudging nod back.
“What’s going on over there?” Darbie said.
Sophie swiveled around in time to see B.J. picking herself up from the ground and wiping off the seat of her red Capris with slapping hands. Her cheeks matched the color of her pants as she bore down on Anne-Stuart like a cornered Siamese cat.
“Uh-oh,” Fiona said. “Trouble in Corn Pop world.”
Over by the swing set, B.J. had her fists balled up as she took a step toward Anne-Stuart — whose hands were poised like feline claws as she met B.J. head-on.
“There’s going to be a catfight,” Darbie said.
Julia stood watching Anne-Stuart and B.J. with a smirk on her face, raking her thick hair back as if she wanted a better view.
“Do you think they’re fighting over Jimmy?” Kitty said.
“I know they are.”
For the second time in just a few days, Willoughby was suddenly there behind them, talking out of the side of her mouth like a ventriloquist. Fiona arched an eyebrow at her, but Darbie inched closer.
“So — tell us,” she said.
Sophie had to admit she was interested too. They all gathered in as Willoughby whispered, “Julia told me that B.J. told her that she asked Jimmy to be her date at the dance, only Jimmy said no.”
“Okay, he’s way smarter than I thought,” Fiona said.
“Then Julia told me that she told B.J. it was probably because Anne-Stuart already asked him. So B.J. got all mad and went looking for Anne-Stuart, only Anne-Stuart was already mad at B.J. because Jimmy told HER no, and she thought it was because B.J. already asked him, when she KNEW Anne-Stuart liked him.”
“But didn’t Anne-Stuart do the same thing to B.J.?” Sophie said.
“That’s just the way they are,” Willoughby said. “They do stuff like that to each other all the time. I don’t even know why they’re friends.”
Fiona blinked at her. “So why are you friends with them?”
Willoughby switched the mouth hole to the other side of her face. “I’m thinking about not being friends with them anymore, only I have to find just the right way so they won’t turn on me and make my life a total nightmare.”
Sophie was about to nod when several shadows fell across them.
“Hi,” Jimmy Wythe said.
Sophie stared up into his very blue eyes.
“This is where you say hi back,” Willoughby whispered to her.
“Hi,” Sophie said.
“What are they doing NOW?” said somebody else. It was Vincent. The other three boys were loitering behind them. The round-faced twins flapped their hands in a wave for a fraction of a second at Darbie and Willoughby. Nathan grinned at Kitty, flashing his braces, and then looked at the ground while his ears went crimson. Sophie was sure Kitty was going to pass out.
“They’re fighting over you,” Fiona said to Jimmy. “Go figure.”
“Fiona!” Kitty said. “Rude!” Sophie glared at Fiona.
“That’s okay — I don’t get it either,” Jimmy said. “They’re like bees swarming around me all the time.”
“You hate it then,” Fiona said.
“Ya think?” Vincent said. His voice went from way-low to way-high and back again. “We had to stuff Jim in his locker just now because we heard them coming down the hall.”
“No, you didn’t,” Fiona said.
“Yeah, we did. Ask these guys.”
They all nodded.
“You are awesome,” Fiona said. She put up her palm and Vincent high-fived it. Sophie could only stare.
“So,” Vincent said, crossing his arms and tucking his hands into his armpits. “What is it you guys do when you’re out here? Are you acting stuff out?”
Kitty giggled herself over to Nathan. Sophie expected to see the tips of his ears start smoking any minute.
“You promise you won’t tease us?” Kitty said. She pointed her pert little nose up at him.
“We won’t,” Vincent said. “Unless you’re cooking up ways to bug guys.”
“We hate that,” Ross and Ian said together.
“Are you insane?” Fiona said. “No — we’re rehearsing for our next film. We do our own video productions, write the scripts and everything.”
“What kind of video camera you got?” Ian said.
Sophie looked at Maggie, who knew all the numbers and letters that formed the answer to that, but Maggie was halfway behind Kitty, her eyebrows hooded over her cheekbones.
The bell rang, backpacks were hitched back up onto shoulders, and everyone moved toward the building.
“Are you going to be in social studies today?” Jimmy said. He was at Sophie’s elbow. His voice was husky compared to the other boys, especially compared to the Fruit Loops who still sounded like girls.
Sophie was sure this was where she was supposed to say yes, but it was hard to get it out. The word squeaked through mouse-like.
“Are you?” she added.
Jimmy smiled his big white-toothed smile that went farther up one side of his face than it did on the other. “We’re doing our culture presentation,” he said.
“What’s it about?” Sophie said.
“You’ll see. It’s a surprise — nobody knows except Ms. Quelling.”
“Okay,” Sophie said.
He smiled again, and then shrugged and said, “Well, I gotta go.” And he hurried off to the same place she was going.
“I know why he said no to B.J. and Anne-Stuart.” It was Willoughby — again.
“Because he doesn’t like them?” Sophie said.
“Partly. And partly because he likes somebody else.” Willoughby smiled as if she were completely pleased with herself and skipped on.
Sophie was left to stare after her. It’s like everybody was in all their right cubbyholes when I got up this morning, she thought. And then some giant came along and dumped them all out, and now nobody’s where they were before.
Uneasiness seeped in.
It’s definitely something I’ll have to keep my eye on, thought Agent Shadow. Something like this could throw me off my focus, which isn’t boys. Well, it’s partly boys — but just the Fruit Loops Mob, who we must take down once and for all at the ball. THAT is our mission.
The secret agent adjusted her special see-all glasses and swept her eyes across the hallway. That little wavy-haired girl would bear watching. There was still the possibility that she could be a spy for the Corn Pops Organization. Or connected with the Fruit Loops Mob.
And Agent Shadow must find out what had occurred that was driving Owl back into her shell. No matter how relationships seemed to be shuffling around, she had a job to do.
It was hard to concentrate on anything else but that job. She was so into Agent Shadow during language arts that she left the class at the end of the period not quite sure what Mr. Denton had just taught. But she was no closer to figuring out what was wrong with Maggie, who didn’t answer the note Sophie had slipped to her on her way to the pencil sharpener. Toward the end of the class Maggie had gotten a bathroom pass and was gone for a long time.
Yet even Maggie faded into the background of Sophie’s thoughts when Jimmy and his group entered the social studies room after class had started, ready for their presentation.
They were all dressed in black pants and white shirts with billowy sle
eves and boots that went up to their knees. When they first dashed up to the front of the room, the Fruit Loops started to snicker — until one by one each boy in Jimmy’s group pulled from his leather belt a real-looking sword, painted gold and gleaming in the sunlight through the window.
“Dude!” Colton said. “Are those real?”
“No! Now just watch,” Ms. Quelling said.
She didn’t have to tell anyone twice. For the next ten minutes the five boys — Vincent, Nathan, Ian, Ross, and Jimmy — swash-buckled back and forth across the front of the classroom, jumping up on Ms. Quelling’s desk to engage in swordplay, clacking their weapons together, doing somersaults to avoid being run through. It was like watching a dance.
At the end there was a burst of applause, and Jimmy and his group took a bow, swishing their swords over their heads. Even the Fruit Loops whistled through their fingers and clapped like apes.
All the Corn Pops sat on top of their table, swaying and tossing their heads and looking at one another with bulging eyes.
“They’re swooning,” Fiona said to the Flakes.
“Look at Anne-Stuart,” Darbie said. “She’s all but hysterical, that girl.”
By then B.J. was up on her knees, waving her hand, very obviously at Jimmy. Anne-Stuart leaned in front of her, flailing a tissue.
“I hope that’s not used,” Fiona said.
Sophie put her hand up to her mouth to stifle a giggle.
“Sophie!” Kitty whispered beside her. “He’s looking at you!”
“Who?”
Darbie put a hand on each side of Sophie’s head from the back and pointed it toward the line of musketeers at the front. Jimmy Wythe rose from his final bow and smiled his crooked smile at Sophie.
“He’s not the only one looking,” Fiona said. She jerked her head toward the Corn Pops’ table, and Sophie heard Kitty gasp.
Not only Anne-Stuart and B.J., but Julia too stared at Sophie as if their very eyes were swords. Sophie could almost feel them slicing right into her brain, where they clearly left their message: you will live to regret this.
Eight
You need to watch your back, Soph,” Fiona said after class.
“Better yet, we’ll be watching it FOR you.” Darbie’s dark eyes narrowed. “It’s going to take all of us — Fiona, me, Kitty, and Maggie.”
“Where is Maggie?” Kitty said. “She went to the bathroom AGAIN last period, and she didn’t come back.”
Maggie didn’t come to arts class either. When she didn’t show up in the cafeteria, the Corn Flakes downed the contents of their lunch boxes and went to the office.
“Maggie’s mother came and got her,” the lady at the counter told them. “She wasn’t feeling well.”
“Was she throwing up?” Kitty said. “I hope not — that’s the worst.”
“Poor Mags,” Darbie said.
The pixie-faced lady smiled. “I’m not sure what was wrong, but it’s sweet that you girls are so concerned about your friend.”
“Of COURSE we’re concerned,” Sophie said. “She’s one of us.”
“We still need to practice if we’re ever going to get this film done,” Fiona said as they hurried out to the playground.
Sophie nodded in a vague way. Why would Maggie leave school without telling us? she thought. That’s not the Corn Flake way.
When they got to their place by the fence, Fiona said, “Let’s set up the scene. Kitty, you stand over there and pretend you’re powdering your nose, only you’re really looking behind you in the little mirror. Then — ”
“There they go,” Darbie said, pointing. “Acting the eejit again.”
They all glanced nearby where Anne-Stuart and B.J. were walking backward. Fiona groaned. “Their picture is next to ‘acting the eejit’ in the dictionary,” she said in a low voice.
Sophie had to agree that the Corn Pops — at least, Anne-Stuart and B.J. — were putting on their worst display yet. They were walking backward to face Jimmy and Vincent, who both were looking over their heads, down at their toes, everywhere but at the two girls.
“You were SO awesome with that sword,” Sophie heard Anne-Stuart say.
“You made it look, like, so REAL,” B.J. said, placing her shoulder in front of Anne-Stuart’s. “My heart was beating, like, ninety miles an hour.”
Anne-Stuart replaced B.J.’s shoulder with her own. “It was the best sword fighting I ever saw. You were, like, professional.”
“Like she knows so much about swordplay,” Darbie muttered.
“They’re acting like Vincent wasn’t even there!” Fiona whispered. “They’re just totally blowing him off.”
At that exact moment, B.J. wedged her way between the two boys, putting her back in Vincent’s face and elbowing him out of the conversation.
“That’s totally heinous!” Fiona hissed.
Kitty went wide-eyed as she looked at Fiona. “You LIKE Vincent, don’t you!” she said into Fiona’s ear.
“Shhh! They’ll hear!” Sophie whispered.
Fiona was shaking her head hard. “I mean, I like him,” she hissed at Kitty, “but not like a boyfriend or something. I just think they’re being jerks to him.”
Vincent didn’t look that hurt to Sophie. He stopped long enough to keep B.J. from stepping on him in her attempt to snatch Jimmy away from the hold Anne-Stuart had on his other arm. Then he grabbed the back of Jimmy’s T-shirt and dragged him around the two girls and away from both of them.
“Hello! Rude!” B.J. shouted after him.
“HE’s rude?” Fiona whispered. “What about THEM?”
Again, it didn’t seem to bother Vincent. In fact, he didn’t look back as he steered Jimmy the ten steps to the Corn Flakes. Sophie looked behind her to see if Nathan or the twins were there waiting for him, but there was only the fence. When she turned back, Jimmy and Vincent had stopped just in front of her. The two Corn Pops, of course, were so close behind them they nearly ran up the two boys’ calves.
B.J. whipped off the hooded shirt she had tied around her waist and wrapped it around Jimmy’s chest from behind, using the sleeves to tug him backward.
“You’re not getting away that easy!” she said. She had her chin tucked in and her eyes slanted down. To Sophie, she looked like a cat with a mouse in its claws.
Jimmy, who up to that point had been looking bewildered, lifted both his arms and wiggled from B.J.’s trap. When Anne-Stuart leaped in front of him, he said, “Vincent and I need to talk to Sophie and Fiona.”
“So talk,” Anne-Stuart said, with the usual sniff.
“In private,” Jimmy said.
Behind him, B.J.’s shoulders sagged until they almost met over her chest. Anne-Stuart looked over her own shoulder at the Corn Flakes as if she were only now noticing they were there — and wishing they weren’t.
You will live to regret this was once more carved into her face.
“Okay,” B.J. said, lower lip hanging down over her chin. “We’ll just wait for you.”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” Vincent said.
“Are you the boss of Jimmy?” B.J. shot back.
Vincent gave her a slow, sloppy smile. “Well, you sure aren’t.”
Jimmy stepped around Anne-Stuart and looked down at Sophie. There was a pink spot at the top of each cheekbone, and his eyes were shy.
“Can Vincent and I talk to you and Fiona?” he said. He glanced up at Darbie and Kitty, who were openly staring without apology. “I don’t mean to be rude — ”
“No worries,” Darbie said. She jerked her head from Kitty to the two Corn Pops with a splash of hair. “We’ll be sure you have some space.”
With that she stepped between Anne-Stuart and B.J., dragging a less enthusiastic Kitty by the sleeve, and said, “We would love to talk to YOU privately.”
Remember the Corn Flake rules, Sophie wanted to call after them as Darbie and Kitty herded them away. There was no telling what might come out of Darbie’s mouth if she got good
and mad. It could get ugly.
Vincent folded his arms, hands in his pits again, and said, “We wanna ask you something.”
“If it’s what I think it is,” Fiona said, “we don’t think you should choose either B.J. OR Anne-Stuart, Jimmy.”
“Excuse me?” Jimmy said.
“That’s not the question,” Vincent said. His voice crackled.
Jimmy gave a soft grunt. “Are you kidding me? They’re stalking me.” He held up five fingers. “That’s how many times B.J. called me last night. My mom finally told her not to do it again — it was, like, nine thirty.”
“How many times did Anne-Stuart call?” Fiona said.
“She didn’t. She emailed me. Six times.”
“Big throw-up,” Fiona said. She turned to Vincent. “They’re absolutely horrific to you.”
He gave an I-don’t-care shrug. “This morning Julia comes up to me like she wants to be best friends or something, and then she asks me which one Jimmy likes better — Anne-Stuart or B.J.”
“No way,” Fiona said. “What did you say?”
“I told her he liked them both the same, which was not at all.”
“I bet she didn’t like that answer.”
“No. She tried to pull my nose off.”
“Are you SERIOUS?” Sophie said.
“Check it out.” Vincent displayed his profile. “It’s, like, an inch longer now.”
He grinned, and so did Jimmy.
“That’s just WRONG,” Fiona said. She looked at Sophie, and they both dissolved into giggles.
“I didn’t tell her this,” Vincent said, “’cause she might go after my ears next, but Jimmy would rather be tortured than go to the dance with either one of them, even though they asked him about four times apiece.”
Jimmy raised five fingers again.
“Nuh-uh!” Fiona said.
He nodded and grinned, and then the pink spots turned to red. He drew a line in the dirt with his heel. Vincent jabbed him with an elbow.
“There’s only one person I want to be at the dance with,” Jimmy said to the ground. He looked up at Sophie, the red spots covering the sides of his face. “And that’s you.”
“And I want to go with you,” Vincent said to Fiona. “Only I don’t dance that good.”
