Front Page Face-Off

by Jo Whittemore

  “Only as a lookout,” I reminded her. “Now quiet, before someone hears us.”

  Jenner clamped her mouth shut and crouched even lower, as if that made her invisible. Even though I knew no other student would be crazy enough to get to school so early, I still poked my head into each locker bay before walking past.

  When we reached Ava’s locker, I cracked the combination, opened the door, and took out all her personal items except one binder … her journalism one. I angled it so the higher end faced the inside of her locker and the lower end butted up against the bottom front. Then I reached into a duffel bag I’d brought with me and pulled out a dozen small balloons, all inflated and tied together with a length of transparent thread.

  “Hand me the Cool Whip and a spatula, please.” I held out my hand and Jenner passed me the items.

  “Is there a reason you said so many times that it had to be Cool Whip and frozen?” she asked.

  I nodded and began spreading the tub of topping over one of the balloons. “It won’t melt as quickly as regular whipped cream.” I finished with the first balloon and moved on to the second.

  “Aha.” Jenner laid the bag at my feet. “I think this is the point where I switch to being a lookout.”

  “Okay, but you’re missing all the fu-un,” I sang, coating another balloon.

  Five minutes later, I held a dozen fluffy white clouds on a string. I added a drizzling of chocolate syrup to the top of them until the whole thing looked almost good enough to eat. Then I worked the thread through one of the top slats of the locker so the balloons were inside and the thread was tied to the outside handle. I stepped back and studied my work. The thread was almost invisible, and if someone were momentarily distracted, they wouldn’t even notice.

  Next I took a narrow piece of cardboard, bent it in half, and wedged one end in the top of the locker door below Ava’s, working the other end so that it stuck out of the bottom slat of Ava’s. After giving it a quick test for sturdiness, I reached into my duffel bag and very carefully lifted out a wobbly balloon the size of a cantaloupe.

  “What is in there?” Jenner hissed from the edge of the locker bay.

  I grinned at her. “For instant fun, just add water.”

  I laid the aquatic bundle behind the cardboard barrier, which held it in place. Then I brought out a second water balloon, propping it behind the first.

  With the water balloons secure and the regular balloons tied up in the top of her locker, I closed the door quietly and pulled the cardboard barrier out through the slat.

  “That’s it?” asked Jenner, coming over to join me. “That’s all you’re doing?”

  “Yep.” She didn’t need to know about the toothpaste and glitter.

  Jenner grinned. “Well, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I may just break out my camera at prank time.”

  “I’d love it if you would.” I gave her a grin of my own, though she couldn’t know the added glee behind mine. “Now let’s get out of here before someone sees us.”

  With an hour to go before school started, we ducked into an empty classroom, and Jenner told me the latest good news about her surfing.

  “They’re going to interview me for a segment on girls who break the gender mold!” she said excitedly. “You know, like you did in your article.”

  “Only theirs won’t be riddled with spelling errors and incomplete sentences,” I said with a smirk.

  “Nope,” said Jenner. “Because it’s a television interview!”

  I gaped at her. “Jenner! That’s so awesome!”

  Despite the massive smile on her face, she waved me away. “It’s just local, and I’m sure it’s partly because of who my dad is, but …” She hugged herself. “Yay!”

  She filled me in on the details, then nudged my arm. “What about you? When are you going to talk to Katie?”

  “I have to take care of that …” I checked my watch. Thirty minutes before the first bell. “Now.” I got up and gathered my things. “Keep an eye out for Ava and text me the minute she comes into school.”

  I went in search of Katie and found her surrounded by a circle of Hot Stuff. When they saw me, they attempted to perform a protective Katie barrier, but I broke through it with six simple words.

  “We need to talk about Sheldon.”

  The other members of Hot Stuff looked at one another and Katie with quizzical expressions.

  “Who’s Sheldon?” one of the girls asked.

  Katie ignored her and stepped toward me. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  With the eyes of Hot Stuff burning holes through us, we headed for the picnic tables outside the cafeteria. I sat down, but Katie towered above me, hands on her hips.

  “I don’t care what you know about Sheldon. Never, ever mention it to me again!” She paused, dropping her arms to her sides. “What do you know about Sheldon?”

  Over the past week I’d been sifting through the clues I knew about Katie. Then the night before, I’d laid out everything I’d learned and come up with a theory that seemed to explain it all. I just needed a little agreement from Katie.

  “I know there was a fire,” I said. “I know you were caught in it, and I know someone meant for it to happen.” I looked her in the eye. “But I don’t think it was you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Katie stared at me but didn’t speak, so I continued.

  “You hung out with bad girls, the Harper twins, because you wanted to be one. So, you tried to act the part—dressing trashy, causing trouble … and playing with fire. You were really good at letting matches burn down, and you loved to show off.”

  Katie lowered her head and stared at her hands.

  “The police found an accelerant at the scene of the fire.” I leaned toward her. “Did you know that all it takes is a single spark in that case? Like … from a match someone tosses aside after showing how low they can let it burn?”

  She glanced up then, her eyes brimming with tears. “I didn’t know! I smelled something, but the twins … they—”

  “They made up an excuse,” I said. “Because they couldn’t let you know that before you came in, they’d spread paint thinner or something all over the place. They wanted to burn it down.”

  Katie dropped onto the bench beside me, crying now. “They set me up! And then they ran! And the … the poor turtle was still trapped inside.” She hugged her legs to her chest.

  “But you rescued it,” I said. “And hurt yourself in the process. Not only were your fingerprints on the matches and the turtle tank, but you had burns that proved you were there.”

  “It was the two of them against me, and I’d already gotten caught with matches after the ban,” she sobbed. “Nobody would ever believe I didn’t do it.”

  “Except your parents,” I continued. “They convinced the police to drop the case, and you changed schools. In return, you had to get involved in community service to make people aware of the dangers of fire.” Katie stopped crying and stared at me. “That’s what the NFP is. National Fire Prevention.”

  “Wow.” Katie wiped at her eyes and laughed pitifully. “You really know it all, don’t you? And now you’re going to tell Paige, so the whole school will find out what a freak I am.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not going to tell her or anybody else. You are.”

  Katie’s eyes widened and she stared at me, aghast. “No. I can’t!”

  “Paige thinks you’re a threat,” I told her. “She’s going to come after you until she’s humiliated you, but I can keep that from happening if you let me do an interview.”

  “I’m not ready.” She shook her head. “I won’t talk.”

  At that moment, my cell phone buzzed against my hip.

  It was showtime.

  I took a deep breath and smiled at Katie. “I know this is still haunting you, and it’s going to haunt you forever unless you do something about it. Wouldn’t you like to stop covering your tracks? Or at least wear T-shirts again?”

  Katie b
owed her head and stared at the grass. I tried my hardest not to shift from one foot to the other, waiting for her to answer. Finally, she straightened and nodded. “Fine. I’ll do the interview.”

  “You won’t regret it.” I squeezed her arm and jumped up. “I’ll be in touch!”

  With a giddy smile I sprinted back into the building, slowing to a walk as I approached the seventh-grade locker bay. Jenner fell into step beside me, and the two of us did our best to hide our glee when we saw Ava and Ben coming toward us. My heart started beating faster as I reached into my bag and pulled out a white gym towel wrapped in plastic. Just before I’d left for school, I’d squeezed white toothpaste all over one side and dumped an economy-size bottle of iridescent glitter on top. If I kept it out of the light, nobody would suspect a thing.

  “Camera ready?” I asked Jenner.

  “Set to record every hilarious moment,” she replied.

  We were close enough now for Ben and Ava to see us. Ben smiled and waved, but Ava stared right through us.

  “Hey, Ben!” I said. “Hey, Ava. Planning to steal any more stories today?”

  Ben had the nerve to look shocked. “Delilah!”

  Ava rested a manicured hand on his arm. “It is fine. Delilah is just confused.” She turned to her locker and spun the dial. Her outfit of the day, perhaps inspired by her thievery, was all black, just begging for a dash of something different.

  I was more than happy to deliver.

  “No,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I know what happened. You weren’t capable of writing something good, so you stole my work.” I nodded to Jenner, who readied her camera. “Is that how you won your Junior Global Journalist Award?”

  “You are just a jealous child!” Ava glowered at me, then jerked open her locker door.

  A dozen Cool Whip–coated balloons smacked her in the face at the same time the first water balloon rolled down the binder ramp and landed at her feet. It exploded like a small geyser, soaking the bottom half of her pants as she shrieked and fought against the dangling balloons. A second later, water balloon number two rolled down the binder ramp, causing a similar explosion that earned a second shriek from Ava.

  Jenner and I burst out laughing as Ava finally slammed her locker door and turned toward us, her face obscured by layers of whipped topping and chocolate syrup.

  I grabbed the camera from Jenner and panned over to Ava, waiting for her to launch herself at me for the perfect closing shot. Instead, she just stood there, dripping onto the floor.

  Ava stared down at her pants legs for a moment, giving each foot a feeble shake. Then she brought her hands to her face … but instead of using them to wipe away the Cool Whip, she pressed them there and sank to the floor.

  And she began to cry.

  Jenner and I stopped laughing. The camera went into my pocket.

  Ava’s shoulders quivered as she hiccupped and sobbed, the Cool Whip oozing out between her fingers and falling on her lap.

  Ben glared at both of us. “Evil. Both of you. Evil, cruel—” He knelt on the floor beside Ava and hugged her to him.

  “Ava, we’re so sorry!” Jenner dropped down beside her too. “That was really wrong.” She scooped the Cool Whip out of Ava’s lap and gave me a distressed look.

  I cleared my throat and twisted my hands in front of me. “Ava …” The rest of the words got lost somewhere between my brain and my mouth.

  Other students were gathering around us now, drawn by Ava’s earlier screams. My stomach turned, knowing that where students crowded, teachers followed.

  As well as the headmaster.

  He pushed his way through the crowd, commanding students to step aside, and when he reached the four of us, his initial reaction was one of stupefied shock.

  “What on earth happened here?”

  Ben, Jenner, and I started talking all at once, hands

  gesturing wildly, all fingers pointing at me, including my own.

  “Delilah, you did this?” He shook his head. “But you’re normally so levelheaded.”

  “She stole my article … and the newspaper makes me do crazy things,” I said meekly.

  His face grew hard. “That’s not an excuse. However, if it seems to be causing this much trouble, I think you’re finished with it.”

  My mouth fell open, and my forehead wrinkled. “You …

  you can’t mean …”

  “You’re off the paper,” he said. “And I’ll be calling your parents.”

  “No!” I rushed up to him, gripping his arm. “The paper is my life! You can’t take that from me. I’ll … I’ll do anything.” I glanced around. “I’ll clean the entire school, top to bottom. Or raise money so we can get the new sign board we’ve been hoping for. Or …”

  “Delilah”—he pried himself free of me—“no paper.” He turned to Jenner. “And you, Miss Jenner …”

  Her eyes widened in panic, and I stepped in front of her. “She didn’t do anything. She was just an innocent bystander.”

  The headmaster turned to Ben. “Is this true?”

  Ben shook his head so hard, I thought he might get whiplash. “She filmed the whole thing.”

  Without a word I handed the camera to Jenner and she sheepishly handed it to the headmaster.

  “We’ll be calling your parents too,” he told her. Then he offered a free hand to Ava. “Come on, dear. Why don’t you get cleaned up so you, Delilah, and I can have a chat in my office.”

  Ava shook her head and spoke for the first time since the prank. “I don’t want anyone else to see me like this. I need—” She looked around, and before I even realized what she was doing, she’d snatched the gym towel from me.

  “Wait!” I cried. “Ava, don’t—”

  It was too late.

  Ava rubbed the gooey, glittery side all over her face. Thick smears of white coated her nose, cheeks, and forehead so that they sparkled like Christmas ornaments.

  Jenner and Ben gasped. I smacked my forehead with my hand.

  “What on earth?” said the headmaster again.

  Ava took in each of our faces, an expression of terror growing on hers. “What?”

  “What is this?” Ben took the towel from her and shook it in my face, so blobs of shimmering toothpaste splattered on the ground. “What did you do, Delilah?”

  “I … um … it …”

  “You told me all you were going to do was the balloons!” Jenner exclaimed. “I can’t believe you turned her face into a snow globe!”

  “What?!” Ava shrieked and jumped to her feet, running for the bathroom and pushing Jenner out of the way in the process.

  “Argh!” Jenner stumbled backward, slipped in the Cool Whip spattering the floor, and landed hard on her arm. It made an audible crunch, and she screamed in pain.

  Instantly I was on the ground beside her. “Jenner, are you—”

  With her good arm she pushed me hard so that I toppled onto my rear. “Get away from me. I hate you!”

  Her words pierced and burned at the same time. “Jenner …”

  “I told you to stop before someone got hurt. And look who it turned out to be!” She cradled her injured arm and sobbed. “I can’t surf in a cast!”

  One of the teachers helped her to her feet, and I got up to join them.

  “No!” Jenner pushed me again. “Stay away from me!”

  She disappeared into the crowd, and then, to make my nightmare complete, Major appeared, his face harsher and angrier than anyone’s. “Delilah Elizabeth James!”

  My legs, along with my bladder, threatened to give out. “Major! I swear …”

  “I don’t want to hear it!” He stepped in front of me, arms crossed behind his back, upper body stooped so he could force additional air out of his lungs to yell at me. “I just received a phone call from the headmaster at Sheldon. He found one of your notepads in the teacher’s lounge. You skipped school to sneak onto their campus and then lied to me about it?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “So, I come here to tal
k to your headmaster and find out you’ve just assaulted another student—”

  “I didn’t assault—”

  “Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking!” he snapped. The veins in his forehead throbbed blue. With every word he uttered, I stepped farther and farther away until I’d backed into the corner of the locker bay. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”

  This time he stopped talking, and I knew my safest answer would be a nonsarcastic one.

  I tried to keep the quaver out of my voice as I said, “A lot, sir.”

  “Oh, that’s an understatement!” He narrowed his eyes at me. “No allowance. No friends. No phone. No life outside of school … if they’ll even let you keep going here.”

  “Suspension is definitely a possibility,” said the headmaster with a frown.

  “Since you’ve screwed up your life so royally,” said Major, “any other crimes I should know about?”

  At that moment, Marcus chose to make his appearance. Since he was taller than most of the students, he was able to see me cowering in the corner, and since he was stronger than most of the students, he was able to push his way to the front.

  “Delilah, what’s going on?”

  Major grabbed Marcus’s shoulder before he could reach me. “Who are you?”

  Marcus gave him an evil look and jerked free. “I’m her boyfriend. Back off.”

  Of all the times he could have chosen to declare our relationship status, he chose that moment. The fates clearly had it in for me.

  Major looked as if Marcus had slapped him. “I recognize you. You’re a red border!”

  “A what?”

  Instead of explaining, Major cast dooming eyes on me. “You’re dating someone I expressly forbade you to date?”

  Marcus frowned at me. “What’s he talking about, Delilah?”

  “I … I …” I looked from him to the headmaster to Ben to Major, their faces all melting into one giant blur of

  tears.

  I’d lost my paper. My best friend hated me. My soon-to-be stepfather would never trust me again. My first boyfriend was about to be my first ex-boyfriend. And on top of all that, half the school was watching my self-destruction—and no doubt loving it.