Claudia and the Middle School Mystery

  She and the triplets joined me and the younger Pikes, and we played together in the yard until Mrs. Pike came home. As soon as she pulled into the driveway, Mallory ran to her.

  The triplets performed their reenactment again, this time in front of all their brothers and sisters and their mother. Nobody had to explain anything to Mrs. Pike — she saw right away that the accident hadn’t really been anybody’s fault.

  “Adam,” she said. “Byron. Jordan!” They gathered around her. “You are now officially ‘ungrounded!’” The triplets cheered and gave each other the high five. Then they turned to Mallory.

  “Thanks, Mal!” shouted Byron.

  “You saved us!” said Adam.

  “You’re the greatest!” said Jordan, hugging Mal so tightly that her face turned red. The reenactment had been a success.

  * * *

  That night, after dinner, I went into Janine’s room and asked her if she had time to talk. She turned off her computer right away and listened while I told her everything about what had been going on in school.

  I told her about the conversation I’d overheard in the bathroom. I told her about how Dawn and I had “checked” Shawna’s locker. I even told her about the dumb tricks I’d used to try to get Shawna to break down and confess.

  Janine listened to everything I said without making comments. All she said was “Yes?” and “Then what happened?” She was being really cool about it, and I was glad.

  Then I told her what Mallory had done with the triplets that day. She laughed at first, but then she started nodding, as if she understood completely.

  “So do you think it would work for me?” I asked her hopefully.

  “Would what work, Claud?” she asked. I guess she hadn’t followed my train of thought.

  “A reenactment!” I said. I was excited. It seemed like a great idea to me. “We get Mr. Zorzi to let me and Shawna reenact taking the test! Then he’ll see right away what happened.”

  “Slow down, Claud,” said Janine. “You’re forgetting something very obvious here. All Shawna would have to do is pretend not to cheat!”

  I felt so dumb. How could I have missed that? There was no way Shawna would incriminate herself in a reenactment. She’d had no problem lying to Mr. Zorzi in the first place. And I had to admit she was a good actress. She’d convinced him right away that she was innocent.

  What a stupid idea that reenactment had been. It was becoming obvious to me by now that I’d never be able to prove my innocence.

  “This has been really hard on you, hasn’t it, Claudia?” Janine asked me gently.

  I looked at her and nodded, gulping back my tears.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “Shawna’s not going to get away with making you look like a cheater.”

  Janine was smiling secretly, as if she were figuring something out. But I was sure that even Janine couldn’t solve my problem. I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter anymore,” I said.

  Then I told Janine that I was going to bed, and we said good night. Or at least I said good night. Janine looked as if she were off in some other world. I doubt that she even noticed when I left. She was just sitting there, smiling to herself.

  “It doesn’t really matter anymore.” That’s what I had said to Janine, and that’s what I had to make myself believe. Maybe I could do a really good job of acting like I didn’t care about being accused of cheating. If I convinced everybody else that it didn’t matter anymore, maybe I would start to believe it, too. I would simply put the whole thing behind me.

  I practiced my new attitude as I washed my face and brushed my teeth. It doesn’t matter! I don’t care! It doesn’t matter! I don’t care! I said to myself over and over.

  I kept on saying it as I changed into my pajamas and got into bed. It doesn’t matter! I don’t care! And before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep.

  I woke up early and lay in bed thinking about what to wear to school. What outfit could I wear to best express my new attitude? I decided that somebody who felt the way I did (or at least the way I wanted to feel) would dress pretty wildly.

  I decided to do a Ms. Frizzle.

  Do you know who Ms. Frizzle is? She’s a character in this great kids’ series — the Magic School Bus books. Ms. Frizzle is a wacky teacher who takes her class on amazing class trips — like, would you believe, inside the human body!

  Anyway, you must be wondering what this has to do with what I was going to wear. Well, here’s the thing. Ms. Frizzle is the wildest dresser I have ever seen! She always wears these coordinated outfits. In Inside the Human Body, she wears a dress with eyes and ears and noses all over it. And her shoes have — you guessed it — tongues! In another book, she wears a dress with a caterpillar design — and on her shoes are butterflies instead of bows.

  I love the way Ms. Frizzle dresses.

  I decided that my theme for the day would be The Sea. I put on a blue skirt with brightly colored tropical fish printed all over it. Then I put on a green blouse. I figured that could represent seaweed or something. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, over to one side, and I pinned it with a sand-dollar barrette I made last summer.

  “Claudia!” my mom called up the stairs. “You’re going to be late!”

  I ran to my closet and pulled out a pair of shoes. They’re the plastic kind called “jellies” that I had decorated with stickers of seahorses and shells. I looked at myself in the mirror as I slid the shoes on. Was it too much? I shook my head. I looked great. I looked like someone who didn’t care about what grade she got on a dumb old math test.

  I ran downstairs for breakfast, and Mom gave me a big smile. “Interesting outfit, honey,” she said. My parents are pretty nice about letting me dress the way I want.

  I laughed and talked all through breakfast. Janine gave me a couple of strange looks. She must have thought I was a little weird, after the dejected way I’d left her room the night before. But she didn’t know that this was the New, Improved Claud. The Claud who didn’t care.

  I had a good day at school — the best day I’d had in quite awhile. I paid attention in all my classes and even raised my hand a few times when I thought I knew the answer. My teachers seemed happy with my performance.

  So did my friends.

  At lunch, everybody wanted to know how I’d made the barrette and where I’d gotten the skirt. I felt pretty good. I sat with my friends and we talked about everything but tests, or math, or cheating.

  At one point Kristy started to tell us a story about something Shawna Riverson had done during her English class that morning. Stacey shot her a Look, and Kristy stopped talking. I’m lucky to have such a sensitive best friend.

  Nobody would have ever guessed that the girl in the wild outfit — the one who laughed and gossiped with her friends — cared anything about her grades.

  By the end of the day I was exhausted. I knew I’d done a great job of convincing everybody that “it didn’t matter” — but had I convinced myself? Not really. I still had this ache inside. I hated the fact that I’d been accused of cheating, and I hated the idea that there would be an F on my record where there should have been an A–.

  When the last bell rang, I went to my locker and got my stuff together. I didn’t have a sitting job that afternoon, so I was planning to spend some time working on a collage.

  I headed out the door, deep in thought. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone go by in the opposite direction. Janine! I did a double take. Then I ran after her. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I decided it was time to do something about this awful situation,” she said. “I always had a good relationship with the principal when I was at Stoneybrook Middle School. He might remember me.”

  Remember her! Teachers and principals never forget Janine. They’ll hold her up as an example of a model student for the next fifty years.

  “I know you didn’t cheat, Claudia. And I’m going to talk to the principal about that test,” she went on.

 
I couldn’t believe it. All I wanted was for everybody to forget about the whole thing.

  “I thought I told you to stay out of this!” I said to Janine angrily.

  “No,” said Janine solemnly, “you told Mom and Dad to stay out of it. You never said I couldn’t help.”

  “But what are you going to tell him?” I asked. I didn’t want the principal to know everything that had happened since the day of the test. If he did, I could be in even deeper trouble.

  “Don’t worry,” said Janine. “I’m only going to tell him about how hard you studied, and how well you were prepared for the test. I won’t say a word about the conversation you overheard in the girls’ room.”

  “And you won’t tell him about Shawna’s locker, will you?” I asked.

  “Claudia,” said Janine, “of course I won’t.”

  We’d been walking as we talked, and by then we’d reached the door of the principal’s office. Suddenly, I felt hopeful. Janine seemed so determined. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea anymore. I smiled at Janine and whispered into her ear. “Thanks!” I said.

  She opened the door and disappeared inside. The door closed behind her.

  I stood in the hallway and waited, feeling incredibly nervous. The school was pretty quiet by then, and I could hear the clock above the door ticking off the minutes. Once in a while I smiled as someone I knew walked by on his way to team practice.

  The halls became completely silent. How long had Janine been in the office? I looked at the clock, but the minute hand had hardly moved. Then I heard footsteps. I looked up to see Mr. Zorzi coming down the hall.

  He nodded to me when he saw me. I couldn’t meet his eyes. I watched as he walked into the principal’s office. What was going on in there? I was dying to know.

  Just then, the door to the office opened wide. I saw the principal standing there, smiling at me. “Won’t you come in, Claudia?” he asked.

  I looked down at my shoes. Oh, my lord! Suddenly I felt kind of silly in my wild outfit. I’d never have worn it if I’d known I’d end up in the principal’s office.

  I took a deep breath and smiled back at him. Then I walked into his office. Mr. Zorzi and Janine were sitting there chatting as if they were the best of friends.

  “Please sit down, Claudia,” said the principal. I looked around and saw a chair next to Janine. I slipped into it. I sat up straight and folded my hands in my lap, trying to look more like a nice, normal eighth-grader and less like someone ready for a trip to the ocean floor.

  Janine smiled at me, as if to say that everything was going to be all right. I gave her a weak smile in return.

  “Claudia,” said the principal. “Janine tells me that you studied very hard for your math test last week.”

  I nodded. I didn’t trust my voice.

  “And she says that she’s sure you knew the material,” he continued.

  I nodded again. Janine had always been more sure of that than I was myself!

  “How did you feel when you took the test that day?” he asked.

  I cleared my throat. “I — I felt good,” I answered. “I felt like I had done well on the test. I felt like all that studying had been worthwhile.”

  Janine nodded encouragingly.

  “And you are willing to sit here and tell all of us that you absolutely did not take even one little peek at anyone else’s paper?” The principal looked closely at me.

  “That’s right,” I answered in a steady voice. “I did not cheat.”

  “Well,” said the principal, “I always think everybody deserves a chance to prove his or her innocence. Innocent until proven guilty — that’s the basis of our criminal justice system, isn’t it, Mr. Zorzi?”

  Mr. Zorzi nodded, smiling at me.

  The principal went on. “I’d like you and Janine to leave Mr. Zorzi and me alone now,” he said. “We’ll work out a way for you to get a fair trial. He’ll let you know tomorrow what it will be.” He looked at Janine, and then at me. “Is that satisfactory?”

  Janine nodded and smiled. “Oh, yes. That’s wonderful!” She stood up. “Thank you so much,” she said.

  I just sat there, stunned. Janine’s plan had worked. I was going to get a chance to prove I hadn’t cheated!

  I would probably still be sitting in the principal’s office, in a state of total shock, if Janine hadn’t grabbed my hand and dragged me home. I just couldn’t believe that Janine had convinced the principal and Mr. Zorzi to give me another chance.

  “Why not?” asked Janine, when I said this to her later that night. “You deserve a second chance.”

  Was this the same Janine that I’d fought with all those years? She was acting like the best big sister I could ever hope for. “So what do you think they’ll decide?” I asked her. “I mean, what will I have to do to prove I didn’t cheat?”

  “I can’t be sure,” answered Janine. “But I would bet that you’re going to have to convince Mr. Zorzi that you really do know that material.”

  “I’m nervous,” I confessed.

  “There’s no logical reason for you to feel that way,” said Janine. “But we can go over a few problems if you’d like.”

  I got out my math book, and we studied for about five minutes. Right away I could see that I did remember the material. In fact, it was so familiar that it was almost boring. I was ready to quit before long, and I figured that Janine was missing valuable time on her computer.

  “Janine, I think I’m all set,” I said. “Thanks so much for what you did today.”

  “That’s all right, Claudia,” she said. “Nobody gets away with calling my little sister a cheater.”

  Janine is A-OK.

  I finished off my homework and then worked on my collage. It was almost done. I’d decided to give it to Janine as a thank-you present. Then I called Stacey.

  “You’ll never believe where I was at three-fifteen this afternoon,” I said when she answered the phone. I could picture her, standing in the kitchen. If we talked for awhile she’d probably stretch the phone cord down the hall and into the coat closet. That’s the only way she can get any privacy during her phone calls. I know I’m incredibly lucky to have a phone in my own room.

  “Where were you?” she asked. “Not looking through Shawna’s locker again, I hope!”

  “No way!” I had to laugh. How could we have done that? We were lucky that we didn’t get caught. I told Stacey all about the scene in the principal’s office.

  “Weren’t you scared?” she asked.

  “Are you kidding?” I answered. “I was shaking like a leaf. But it was worth it.”

  “What do you think they’ll make you do?” she asked. I told her that it didn’t matter. As long as they gave me a second chance, there was no way I was going to blow it.

  We talked for awhile longer. When it was time to get off the phone, she said something that reminded me of what she’d said on that fateful night before I got my grade. “Just think, Claud. By the time we have our next meeting, this will all be over.”

  She was right. We had a Baby-sitters Club meeting the next afternoon. I hoped I’d have good news for everyone by then.

  * * *

  I wore my lucky earrings to school the next day. Even though I felt pretty confident, I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a little extra good luck.

  I made a point of arriving in math class a little early, so I could find out what Mr. Zorzi and the principal had decided. When I walked into his room, Mr. Zorzi was grading papers at his desk.

  “Claudia,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here early. This is what we’ve decided. During class today, you’re going to take the test over again.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay,” I said. “I’m ready.”

  “The test isn’t exactly the same,” Mr. Zorzi went on. “It covers similar material, but the questions are different.” He led me to a desk at the back of the room. “The rest of the class will be studying in small groups today, so if you work with your sister toni
ght you won’t fall behind.”

  I sat down at the desk and looked around me. No other desks were close by. Good! I didn’t want there to be any doubt in anybody’s mind that I could have cheated on this test.

  The rest of the kids in my class were drifting in by now. I got a couple of curious looks, but I ignored them. (I couldn’t help noticing that Shawna looked like she was dying to know what I was up to.) I started to work on the test.

  This time, I wasn’t nearly as tense. Once again there were questions that looked harder and questions that looked easier; I just started with the easier ones and worked my way through the test. When I had finished, I checked my work. Then I walked up to Mr. Zorzi’s desk and handed the paper to him. There was still time left in the period, so he said he’d check it right away.

  I sat down at my regular desk and started to study. I wasn’t exactly nervous, but I’ll admit that the numbers and symbols on the page weren’t making much sense to me. Once in awhile I looked up to see whether Mr. Zorzi had finished grading my test.

  Just before the bell rang, Mr. Zorzi called me to his desk. I crossed my fingers as I went to the front of the room.

  “You know, Claudia,” said Mr. Zorzi, looking up at me as I stood in front of his desk. “I’m not just a teacher — I also help coach the boys’ basketball team. And I believe that taking a test is like playing a game. You can either win the game, or you can lose it.” He looked at me to see if I was following his little speech. “If you lose,” he continued, “it just means you need more practice.”

  What was he trying to tell me? I was dying for him to get to the point.

  “Good news, Claudia!” he said smiling. “You’ve won the game this time. You did even better on this test than on the first one. You only missed two questions.”

  Wow! I had aced it! All right!

  “I owe you an apology, Claudia,” said Mr. Zorzi. “I’m sorry that I accused you of cheating. I’ve learned a lesson from this.”