by Annie Bryant
Betsy went on, “So, I’ve been trying to eat healthier meals to improve my brain function, especially early in the morning. Our most important school tests are always administered in the mornings, you know.”
“Good thinking, Bets,” Katani said. “I’ll bet you’ve already had some protein this morning, right?”
Betsy nodded. “Absolutely. I started my day with two hardboiled eggs,” she explained. “That’s the best source of protein.”
“Good for you,” Katani responded, glancing at her watch. Was Betsy a health food chef now, too?
“Can I help you?” the counter girl asked Katani. She looked like she was sick of listening to their conversation. Katani glanced at the menu again and made up her mind.
“Yes. I’d like a large hot chocolate with whipped cream and a toasted blueberry muffin.” Good to mix it up every once in a while. Maybe the blueberries will help my brain power, Katani thought with a smile.
But it wasn’t good enough for Betsy. She looked concerned. “Katani, I don’t think that’s going to work. That’s too much sugar, not a good source of protein—”
“That’ll be four twenty-five,” the counter girl interrupted, eyebrows raised.
Katani paid for her breakfast and turned to Betsy.
“Well, tell you the truth, I’ve always felt the eighty/twenty formula worked best for me.”
Betsy looked doubtful. “The what?”
“The eighty/twenty formula. My mom said that some doctors believe that if you eat healthy eighty percent of the time and exercise regularly, you can slip in a little treat the other twenty percent.”
“I don’t know about that.” Betsy seemed skeptical. But Katani saw her glance at an appealing display of fresh, plump, chocolate-covered doughnuts covered with rainbow sprinkles.
“Works for me,” Katani answered. “I eat pretty healthy for most of the week, but when I come to Montoya’s, I know I’m going to eat something I really love. If I get something blah, it’ll make me cranky, and when you get cranky at a really good bakery, it affects your neuron function for the rest of the day.” Katani didn’t know if that was true, but it could be, and she really thought that Betsy needed to lighten up a bit. She was so serious and focused all the time.
“Really?” Betsy seemed almost convinced by Katani’s logic, but she wanted some proof. “Could you show me one of those studies?”
“Oh, I’d love to, Bets,” Katani said as the counter girl set the tray with her hot chocolate and blueberry muffin in front of her, “but I can’t remember where I read it…. I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it. See you later.”
She took her breakfast and started to head for the BSG’s favorite table. Betsy looked over at the chocolate donuts again.
“You want one of those with your order?” asked the clerk.
“Uh…yes, thanks,” Betsy finally decided, looking a little skeptical. “I think I’ll save my muffin for later. I’m experimenting today. I’ll see how it works.” Betsy took a big bite of the donut as soon as the girl handed it to her.
The counter girl gave her a look that clearly said, Early morning customers sure are bizarre sometimes!
As Katani carried her tray toward the empty table in the corner, she saw Charlotte come through the door, looking worried. “Hey, Char!” she called. “Meet you at our table.” She nodded at the corner window, which Maeve had once said was the perfect spot for the BSG to claim as their own. She observed that they would be able to see everyone who came in and out of Montoya’s—which wasn’t so important to Katani, but seemed to matter a lot to Maeve.
As Katani arranged her breakfast neatly in front of her, she remembered something that Nick had once said—that the worst thing about working in his family’s bakery was having to clean up the messes people left behind. The kids were often the worst, and Nick dreaded seeing a group of kids come in for a snack, knowing they’d leave napkins and forks and other yucky stuff behind that he’d just have to wipe up. Nick was one of Charlotte’s good friends, and for his sake, the girls made a special effort at Montoya’s to leave their table as clean as it had been when they first sat down.
Katani had just taken the first bite of her warm muffin when Charlotte arrived at the table with a frozen hot chocolate and flaky crescent roll. Right behind her were Avery, Isabel, and Maeve. Katani cringed when she saw that Isabel looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Katani had seen Joline’s away message the night before and was hoping that Isabel hadn’t. But Isabel’s expression told Katani that she hadn’t missed Joline’s nasty little note.
Not wanting to make a big deal about it, Katani knelt down by Isabel’s chair while the others were getting settled and gave her friend’s shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry, Iz. No one takes Anna and Joline seriously,” she whispered.
Isabel smiled weakly at Katani but looked doubtful. “I hope you’re right,” she answered, “but I have a really bad feeling about this. I just can’t talk about it right now. I’ve been thinking about it so much my brain hurts.”
“Guys, I have the most amazing idea,” Maeve jumped in right away. “I was trying to tell you about it yesterday, but things got a little out of hand.”
“Hang on, Maeve,” Katani interrupted her. “Any news about Miss Pierce, Char?”
Charlotte looked worried, and she seemed to be eating her breakfast without even looking at it or tasting it. “Officer Moody finally called in the police last night, and they searched Miss Pierce’s apartment just like they do in the movies. You know, they even brought somebody over who hacked into her computer! They found her friend’s address and went over to his house and then over to his office at MIT.”
“And?” Katani probed. She’d forgotten all about her own breakfast.
Charlotte shook her head and took a deep breath, looking at each girl in turn. “Nothing. Miss Pierce is really missing now. It’s official.”
Stunned, Katani, Isabel, and Maeve exchanged glances at this disturbing news. Their pastries lay untouched before them.
Avery, on the other hand, hadn’t been paying attention. She had her head down and was eating busily, chewing her warm cinnamon roll. She took a long drink of her hot chocolate and swallowed, then asked, “Can I walk Marty later tonight, Char?”
Charlotte stared at her. Hadn’t Avery heard anything she’d just said?
“Earth to Avery. Are you listening?” Katani asked. “Miss Pierce is gone.…”
“My dad said the police called in the FBI this morning,” Charlotte murmured. Somehow this made her feel worse than anything else that had happened.
Avery’s eyes widened. “The FBI! Whoa! Sorry, Char. I guess I didn’t know that it was this serious. I figured she’d just show up or something.”
“Maybe,” Isabel suggested halfheartedly, “she just went on a trip. By herself…without telling anybody.” But the more she said, the worse it seemed.
Charlotte shook her head despairingly. “She’d have told someone. Miss Pierce is too responsible to just drop everything and leave. Besides, she always checks in on Marty. She’d at least have left me a note.” She thought back to their walk yesterday. “And she didn’t look like she was planning on going anywhere except the park. In fact, I know she expected to come right home after visiting with her friend. None of this makes any sense. I am so, so scared.” Seeing the stricken look on Charlotte’s face filled her friends with worry.
“Have the police talked to the people she knows?” Katani asked. “I mean, shouldn’t they talk to my grandma? She might know something.” Mrs. Fields was one of Miss Pierce’s best friends from when they were kids, and she made a habit of coming to tea at the house on Corey Road once a month.
“We gave them all the names we had,” Charlotte answered. “I guess they’ll check them out one by one.”
Isabel suddenly ducked her head down. “What are you doing?” Katani asked. Then she noticed Anna and Joline strolling into Montoya’s. “Oh. Those two.” She saw the Queens of Mean give a sni
de look over at their table, and it seemed to be directed particularly at Isabel. Katani gave them the Kgirl stare and they quickly moved on to place their orders. “They’re gone, Iz. You okay?”
Isabel shivered as she lifted her head and smoothed out her long black hair. “Those two are popping up everywhere!” She peeked over at Anna and Joline, who were waiting at the counter. They had their heads together like–like birds, Isabel thought. They look just like blackbirds squawking at some poor little bluebird.
The rest of the BSG were still thinking about Miss Pierce. Suddenly, Maeve clapped her hands. “I bet I know what happened to her. She’s always studying those old stars and things. I bet aliens swooped down and picked her up off that park bench and took her away.”
Avery burst out laughing. “Maeve, you’ve definitely seen too many movies! Chill on the imagination, flikchic! Aliens? Ha!”
“Hey, it could happen,” Maeve said defensively. “I saw a show on TV last week where people who really had been abducted by aliens talked about what happened to them.”
“I saw that too,” Isabel agreed. “But they also had doctors on afterward who said all these people who thought they were abducted had some sort of sickness that made them think it happened. I forget what they called it.”
Charlotte, who had been frowning at her plate, raised her head and stared at Maeve. She stared very hard, deep in thought.
Finally, Maeve couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s the matter, Char? Do I have something in my teeth?”
Charlotte’s face broke into her first smile of the morning. “Maeve, sometimes you are so brilliant I can’t stand it,” she exclaimed.
Nobody understood what Charlotte was getting at, and they all looked expectantly at her.
But Charlotte stood up immediately, grabbing her backpack. Her eyes were bright. “I’ve got to get to school right away,” she said.
“What for?” Katani demanded. “What’s all this about, anyway, Char?”
“I think I know who kidnapped Miss Pierce,” Charlotte said confidently. She gave Maeve a big hug, picked up her tray, and started toward the garbage can.
“Hey, Char, come back, come back!” “Tell us what you think!” “Charlotte, at least wait for us!” A chorus of BSG protests called after Charlotte, but she was out the door in a matter of seconds.
“She thinks I’m brilliant.” Maeve smiled brightly.
“I hope she has a good idea about Miss Pierce.” Isabel crossed her fingers.
“What if she doesn’t?” Avery demanded. “Or what if she’s wrong? And what if something really bad has happened to Miss Pierce?”
“Be quiet, Avery. You don’t want to even think that,” Isabel said sharply.
Nobody wanted to think about that. They all took big gulps of their hot chocolates.
Katani was the first one to glance at the clock on the wall. “Listen, we’ve got to get going, or we’ll all be late,” she told the others. She started to collect their trash on her tray.
“Hey, guys, wait! Please! I have to talk to you about my idea! We don’t have to be at school for another fifteen minutes.” Maeve’s eyes were pleading now, and no one wanted to hurt her feelings. Katani, Avery, and Isabel turned toward their friend.
A bubbly Maeve told them all about her idea for the dance, using the Birdland theme. “We can all put together amazing outfits, like the one Sarah was wearing in Ms. Ciara’s class. Maybe we can even find some authentic stuff at a thrift shop or something. And the music, it’s the best! It’ll be so old-fashioned and romantic…totally different from what we usually do. Oh, and I thought Riley and the other Mustard Monkeys could dress in zoot suits! My dad’s putting together some film clips I can use to show the dance committee what I want,” she explained. “It’s going to be so totally great! And I need you all on the committee, so you can vote for me to be the head of it!”
After Maeve finished her exuberant explanation, no one said anything.
Maeve looked around the table. She had expected everyone to be excited and jumping up and down, but nobody was doing anything like that. Isabel was doodling in her art notebook, Avery was bouncing in her seat impatiently and yawning with her mouth wide open, and Katani was looking impatiently at the clock. “Well?” Maeve asked finally.
Katani stirred. “Uh—Maeve, I don’t know if I’m going to join any committees for Spirit Week. I have something else I’m doing, and I won’t have time to—”
“Yeah, I can’t be on it either,” Avery abruptly broke in. “You can only pick one committee to be on, and I’m trying to be head of the sports committee, so I can’t be on the dance committee too.”
Maeve stared at her friends in dismay. “But if you don’t join the committee, I won’t get the votes I need to win! Isabel? Are you ditching me too?”
“No,” Isabel said in a low voice. “I’ll be glad to help out on the dance committee.”
“But I can’t win with just your vote and mine.” Maeve pouted. “That’s only two votes…and I’m sure a ton of people will vote for Betsy Fitzgerald!”
“Sorry I can’t help, Maeve.” Katani slung her backpack over her shoulder. “It’s a good idea, though.”
“Are you coming?” Isabel asked a minute later. Maeve was still sitting in her chair, staring at her hot chocolate.
“No.” Maeve flashed her a distracted smile. “I’ll finish up and be right behind you. Don’t wait for me,” she added. There was a bright glint of an idea in her eye that no one noticed. They waved good-bye and reminded her they had only ten minutes left to get to class.
Maeve waited until all three BSG were out of sight before she picked up her hot chocolate and walked over to the table where Betsy Fitzgerald sat nibbling on her yummy-looking chocolate donut, her nose buried, as usual, in a thick textbook. “Hi, Betsy,” she said casually. “Okay if I sit down?”
Betsy looked up. “Oh, hi, Maeve. Sure, you can sit, but I’m going to be leaving for school in two minutes.”
“I know. Me too.” Maeve sat down. She decided she didn’t have time to work up to it subtly, so she just jumped right in. “I hear that you’re thinking of heading the dance committee. Is that true?”
Betsy looked surprised and put down the textbook. “Yes. I know I could do a fantastic job. Plus, leadership positions look very impressive on college applications.”
Maeve resisted the urge to roll her eyes and continued. “Well, I want to be the head of the dance committee too, and I have a great idea for a dance theme.” She paused. “So I was thinking—how about we team up? We could both be heads of the committee, and with my idea and your organizational skills, we could make it the best dance ever. What do you think?”
Betsy seemed kind of intrigued but her watch alarm went off and she was up in a flash. She grabbed her backpack and slid in her textbook, double checking the contents of the bag and zipping it closed.
“I have to go, Maeve.” Betsy said. “Want to come find me later and we can talk some more?”
“Definitely! I’ll see you at school.” Maeve waved good-bye to Betsy.
What is that old saying? Oh yeah, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Maeve smiled as she rushed out of Montoya’s at Betsy’s heels, confident that she’d be able to convince Betsy that they would make the perfect team. Charlotte was right, Maeve thought. I am brilliant!
CHAPTER
14
Jackpot
Charlotte started when Mrs. Fields called her name. She’d been deep in thought about Miss Pierce after asking Ms. Sahni if she could see the principal.
“I was going to call you to the office a little later.” Mrs. Fields beckoned Charlotte into her office. “Have you heard anything?”
Charlotte told her quickly about Officer Moody, the police search, and the call to the FBI. “The FBI’s Missing Persons Unit is working on it right now,” she explained. Mrs. Fields sat back in her chair. She seemed stunned.
“So anyway, Mrs. Fields, I had an idea this morning. It might be st
upid but…” Charlotte added quickly, “I mean, may I please use your computer for a minute?”
Mrs. Fields looked at her curiously. “If you think it will help….”
“Thank you!” Charlotte went to her favorite search engine and typed in “Sapphire Pierce.” She pressed Enter and held her breath.
There it was—pages of references to space shuttles, space debris, and other astronomical phenomena. Miss Pierce was quoted in all the articles and listed as a major authority. Her most recent article was just a month ago, and it was about an asteroid going off course.
Mrs. Fields stared at the screen in surprise. “Charlotte, you’ve hit the jackpot! I didn’t realize Sapphire was still actively involved in the space program. I thought she just liked to monitor it from her computer in the comfort of her living room.”
“I have a feeling,” Charlotte said with a grin, “that we’re soon going to find out Miss Pierce is involved with a lot of things none of us knows about.”
Mrs. Fields matched Charlotte’s grin with one of her own. “I have a feeling you’re absolutely right.”
Maeve caught up with Isabel on Harvard Street. Instead of walking at her usual energetic pace, Isabel had been lingering and peering into shop windows. Maeve had to urge her along.
When they finally got inside the school building, Maeve understood why Isabel had been so reluctant to hurry. A low but distinct buzz followed them all the way down the hall, along with many furtive pairs of eyes trying to watch them without seeming to. “I feel like I’m the star of a very bad after-school special,” Isabel murmured to Maeve, just as someone walked by and mouthed, “Gobble Gobble.”
“Naah, this is just what it feels like to be one of the most popular people in school,” Maeve replied, trying to seem relaxed for Isabel’s sake. She too was a little unnerved by all the stares and whispers. “It just means people know who you are.” Maeve stopped at her locker and started to work the combination open.
“They didn’t seem to care about who I was last week!” Isabel whispered.
Maeve shrugged and tossed her gym clothes into her locker. “Well, last week they hadn’t heard that one of the coolest guys on campus broke up with his girlfriend for you.”
