September Surprises

  “Yes, Olivia?”

  “I’m really sorry, but I can’t find mine.” Olivia didn’t dare look in Melody’s direction. “I did the work, and I thought I brought it to school, but I guess I left it at home. Could I hand it in tomorrow?”

  Miss Allen bestowed a look of great suspicion upon her star student but granted her an extension of one day.

  “Thank you,” said Olivia meekly.

  “Oh, my stars,” said Flora, when Olivia told her and Nikki about the missing assignment in the cafeteria that day. “What are you going to do? What about the rest of your homework?”

  “Don’t worry,” Olivia replied. “I’m carrying it with me. I’m carrying all my important stuff with me.” She rubbed her shoulder. “My backpack weighs a ton, though. I might as well be carrying a suitcase. But I am not,” she said vehemently, “going to let Melody get the better of me.”

  “Really?” Nikki regarded Olivia with interest. “What are you planning? I know you’re planning something.”

  “Revenge of my own,” said Olivia. “I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I’ll come up with something.” She paused. “Will you guys help me? You and Ruby?”

  “Of course,” said Flora. “This afternoon?”

  Olivia shook her head. “I’ll have to do all my homework, plus redo the science assignment. How about tomorrow?”

  “We’re there,” said Flora. “I’ll tell Ruby.”

  And Nikki added, “Gosh, Olivia, you look sort of … I’ve never seen you … I mean, you don’t look upset, you look …”

  “Mad?” suggested Olivia.

  “Yeah,” said Nikki.

  “Well, I am. And Melody is going to regret it.”

  “Cool,” said Nikki.

  Nikki spent much of Tuesday evening thinking of ways for Olivia to get back at Melody. After she had finished her homework, she’d turned to a fresh page in her notebook and written across the top REVENGE 101. Although she couldn’t come up with anything to list on the page, she did recall a saying about revenge, and she scribbled Revenge is a dish best served cold below the heading. She stared at the page for a while and then finally put her notebook away. She hoped her mind would be more fertile the next day.

  “Okay, you guys. Where shall we meet?” Nikki asked Olivia and Flora as they walked down Main Street after school on Wednesday.

  “My room, I suppose,” replied Olivia.

  But when Ruby caught up with them a few minutes later, she said, “We never meet in my room. Can’t we meet in my room today? I want to have the revenge meeting there.”

  “Sure,” said Olivia.

  The girls settled themselves in Ruby’s room. Daisy Dear joined them, first lolling on her back, inviting Nikki to rub her belly, and then rolling over and resting her giant head in Nikki’s lap.

  “It’s hard to think about revenge with a dog’s head in your lap,” commented Nikki. “Look at Daisy’s kind eyes. I bet dogs never think about revenge.”

  “Nope. Just about squirrels,” replied Ruby. “Okay. Let’s get cracking.”

  “Well,” Nikki began, and was about to tell the others that she didn’t seem to be very adept at plotting revenge, when she was interrupted by Ruby.

  “Okay.” Ruby snapped her chewing gum. Then, with a flourish, she shook open a piece of paper. “Here’s what I came up with: One, sneak into the girls’ bathroom and wrap one of the toilets with cellophane. When Melody sits on it, well, you can imagine what happens.”

  “Um,” said Olivia. “I don’t —”

  “Two,” Ruby continued loudly, “trip her in the hallway with everyone watching, especially that boy Jacob.” She glanced at Olivia, then returned to her paper. “Three, sneak a fly or a spider into her food at lunchtime. Four —”

  “Ruby?” said Nikki. There was something — no, there were many things — that made Ruby’s suggestions difficult to carry out. For instance, how could Olivia be sure Melody and not someone else would sit on the toilet? And how exactly was Olivia supposed to sneak a fly into Melody’s food? But Nikki didn’t want to hurt Ruby’s feelings. She thought for a moment and said, “Those are good suggestions, but I think the perfect revenge should involve homework. Melody is getting back at Olivia for refusing to help her, so Olivia has to hit Melody where it hurts — in her homework.”

  “Oh,” said Ruby, tapping her temple with her forefinger. “Very clever.”

  “Yeah,” said Nikki. “It’s a clever thought; I just didn’t come up with any actual ideas.” She stroked Daisy’s sleeping head.

  Flora squinted her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

  Olivia, who was sitting at Ruby’s desk, put her chin in her hand. “Hmm.”

  “You could steal Melody’s homework,” Ruby said to Olivia.

  “But how?” asked Olivia. “I’ll bet Melody doesn’t have a broken lock on her locker. Anyway, I don’t want to stoop to her level.”

  “You have to get your lock fixed, Olivia,” said Flora.

  “I know.”

  “So far,” said Ruby, sounding vaguely annoyed, “I’m the only one coming up with any ideas.”

  “Well, give me a minute,” said Olivia. “I am thinking.”

  “Me, too,” said Nikki and Flora.

  Ruby’s room became very quiet.

  “You know,” said Olivia slowly, “I might be able to use the broken lock to my advantage.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Ruby.

  “Well … Melody doesn’t know that I know that she knows the lock is broken.”

  “If she knows,” said Flora. “I mean, if she actually did take your homework.”

  “Oh, she did. I’m sure of it. Miss Allen handed back Monday’s assignment this morning — and Melody got a one hundred. You should have seen the look on Miss Allen’s face. I’m pretty certain Melody got the hundred because she copied my missing paper. Anyway, what I was going to say is that Melody doesn’t know I’ve figured out what’s going on. She thinks that I think I just lost the assignment. So … Melody is going to feel free to raid my locker again.”

  “Well, duh,” said Ruby. “I thought that was the whole point of this meeting.”

  “I know,” said Olivia. “But here’s the thing: We have figured out what’s going on. Now, how can we use that little bit of knowledge?”

  Nikki almost laughed but ducked her head instead and stroked Daisy, who apparently was having an exciting dream.

  “You could write Melody a note telling her how stupid she is,” said Ruby, “and leave it in your locker for her to find the next time she breaks in.”

  “Hey!” exclaimed Olivia, jumping out of the chair. “You’re brilliant, Ruby!”

  “She is?” said Flora. “You’re going to write Melody a note telling her she’s stupid?”

  “No. But I’m going to plant fake homework assignments in the folder.”

  “What do you mean, ‘fake’ assignments?” asked Nikki with interest.

  “I mean,” replied Olivia, looking faintly devilish, “that I’m going to do the homework all wrong. Then Melody will copy it, hand it in, and get a D — or an F!”

  “But Melody isn’t going to keep copying your assignments if she gets D’s and F’s,” said Ruby.

  “Exactly,” said Olivia. “She’ll quit stealing from me. This only has to happen once. And when Melody sees that I not only handed in the assignment, too, but that I got an A on it, she’ll know I knew what she was up to. And then she can sit around wondering if I’m going to tell any of our teachers about it.”

  “Oh, this is perfect!” cried Flora.

  “It’s great,” agreed Nikki. “But how can you be sure when Melody is going to raid your locker again, Olivia?”

  “I can’t. I’ll have to …” Olivia paused, thinking. “I guess I’ll have to make two copies of all the assignments for the classes Melody and I have together — one correct copy for me and one fake copy for Melody. Then, let me see … I’ll put Melody’s copies in the folder in my locker for her to
steal, and I’ll carry my own copies around in my backpack. I’ll have to keep checking my locker to see if Melody has broken into it. And the next time an assignment is missing, I’ll hand my own copy in secretly, if I can. You know — so Melody won’t suspect anything until later, when the assignment is handed back. And then she’ll get a real surprise. This will be a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it.”

  “I like everything about your plan, Olivia,” said Flora, “except … aren’t you nervous about what Melody will do to get back at you? I mean, this could go on forever.”

  “But I don’t think it will,” said Olivia, chin thrust forward. “I’ll get my locker fixed, like I said, and anyway, I don’t care. I have my friends. If we have to get back at Melody again, you’ll help me; I know that. Eventually, Melody will give up. She can’t beat us. We’re too strong.”

  “United we stand,” said Nikki. “All right. Let’s get started on fake assignments.”

  Min Read stood in the living room of the Row House and looked out onto Aiken Avenue. How many times, she wondered, had she stood in this same spot and looked out at this same section of the street? Thousands and thousands, she guessed. When she was a very little girl, she would kneel on the couch — a fancy, many pillowed, blue-and-white couch that had come from a store on Main Street called … Clancy’s? No, Clement’s. She would kneel backward on the couch from Clement’s, her chin in her hands, and look at the house across the street, a gracious old home that was older than the Row Houses. Min’s friend Doris had lived there. Doris was a pudgy, serious girl who wore round glasses and sat on her front porch, eating chocolates and reading one book after another. What had become of Doris? Min wondered. Doris had moved away and Min had never heard from her. Another family had bought the house, a family with three boys, and then they had moved away.

  Funny what one remembered, thought Min, when one’s mind was drifting. She now recalled the years when she was a parent of two young girls and a new group of families lived in the Row Houses and on Aiken Avenue. Nearly every morning at a quarter past ten, Min would step out her back door and wait for Josie Reese, the mother of Olivia’s mother, Wendy, to appear on her stoop. Min and Josie would raise invisible coffee mugs in the air and then Josie would cross the yards to Min’s house, or Min would cross the yards to Josie’s (depending on whose turn it was to make the coffee), and they would chat for half an hour or so before getting back to their mornings.

  And how many times had they done that? Min wondered. Hundreds, she supposed, or thousands, and now Josie lived outside of Camden Falls, and Wendy was all grown up and had three children of her own, and Min was raising two granddaughters.

  “Min?”

  Min jumped at the sound of Flora’s voice.

  “Is everything all right? I thought I heard you sigh.”

  “Just recalling old times,” said Min.

  “Good old times?” asked Flora.

  “Yes.”

  “Sometimes good old times seem sad later. I mean, because they were so good before and now they’re over and you long for them.”

  “You are much too young to be having such thoughts, honey,” said Min.

  “What were you thinking about?” said Flora. “If it’s okay to ask.”

  “Well, first I was remembering who lived in the house across the street when I was a little girl.”

  “And who did live there?”

  “Several families, but the Stevensons are the ones I remember the best. There was a girl named Doris who always made me think of an old schoolmarm, even though she was exactly my age. When we played school she was always the teacher and her favorite thing was thinking up punishments for naughty students. Sometimes she made the smaller children cry. I think I was the only one who really liked her. She was always willing to share her candy with me.”

  “And what happened to Doris? Where does she live now?”

  Min shook her head. “Don’t know. My goodness, there have been a lot of changes on this street.”

  “Min? I don’t like change,” said Flora. She and Min sat down on the couch, and Flora rested her head on her grandmother’s shoulder.

  “Change in general?” asked Min. “Or do you mean something in particular?” Flora didn’t answer. “Are you talking about your parents and your move here or about something more recent?”

  “More recent.”

  “Do you mean Mr. Pennington and me?”

  Min felt Flora’s head nod against her shoulder, and Flora said in a rush, “I know I’m being selfish. I love you. I want you to be happy. And I know how much your life changed when Ruby and I came here. But what would happen if you and Mr. Pennington got married? Would he move in with us? Would —”

  “Flora, wait,” said Min, and she sat forward and turned to face her granddaughter. “We’re a long way from marriage.”

  “But you’re spending so much time together.”

  “Yes. We are. We’ve both been married, and we miss the companionship that comes with marriage. I feel lucky to have found it again with Rudy. We’ve been neighbors for a long, long time, so we know each other well. And lately, we’ve felt our friendship becoming something deeper. I’m very grateful for that.”

  “But what’s going to happen?” asked Flora again.

  “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. I don’t have an answer. Right now, Rudy and I are just enjoying spending time together. And by the way, Rudy adores you and your sister. I hope you know that. He wants to be able to spend more time with the two of you.”

  “We love Mr. Pennington,” said Flora.

  “But?” Min prompted her, and Flora shrugged. “But you’re just not ready for more change, is that it?”

  “I guess so.”

  Min refrained from sighing again. At least, she thought, the problem was out in the open.

  At lunchtime on Friday, Flora stood waiting by the entrance to the cafeteria and was soon greeted by a jubilant Olivia.

  “What?” asked Flora, smiling. “What is it?”

  “My math homework disappeared!” Olivia looked up and down the hall and then lowered her voice. “I just checked my locker and the fake math paper I put in the folder this morning is gone,” she whispered.

  “Wow. Melody didn’t waste any time striking again, did she?”

  “She must think she’s awfully clever,” said Olivia.

  Nikki joined them then. “What’s going on?”

  “Melody took my math homework,” Olivia reported. “I mean, the fake math work. I put it in the folder as soon as I got to school. When I checked my locker just now, it wasn’t there.”

  “You have your own copy of the assignment, though, don’t you?” asked Nikki.

  Olivia patted her backpack. “Right here. Now I just have to figure out how to hand it in this afternoon without Melody’s seeing me. I don’t want her to catch on and ask Mr. Krauss for her paper back.”

  “How does Mr. Krauss collect your work?” asked Flora.

  “We just drop it on his desk when we come into the room.”

  “Well, that’s easy, then. Get to class early and put your paper facedown on the desk before Melody even gets there.”

  “Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Nikki. “I just thought of a nice touch, Olivia. You could ask Mr. Krauss a question — about anything, really — and you could look really serious while he answers you. If Melody sees you having a serious discussion with him when she gets to class, she’ll probably assume you’re telling Mr. Krauss that you lost your homework. She won’t have a clue!”

  “That’s perfect!” cried Flora. “We’re very devious.”

  “Oh, I can’t wait for Monday,” said Olivia gaily as the girls entered the cafeteria.

  “How did it go?” Flora asked Olivia the moment they met up after school.

  They were standing by Olivia’s locker, and Olivia shushed her and once again looked up and down the hall like a spy. “I don’t want to spoil our plans,” she whispered. “Not now.”

  “Okay. Sorry,” F
lora whispered back. “Hey, here comes Nikki.”

  Olivia refused to say a word about math class until the girls were standing on the front lawn of Central. At last, she said, “Okay. This is what happened: I rushed to Mr. Krauss’s room as fast as I could and I was the first person there. Even Mr. Krauss hadn’t arrived yet. I left my paper on his desk. Then a few more kids came in and they put their papers on top of mine, so it was buried. Then Mr. Krauss finally showed up and I saw that Melody was right behind him, so I went to the front of the room and I asked him a question about prime numbers. I really did have a question about them,” she added. “Did you know that prime numbers —”

  “Um, Olivia,” Flora interrupted her, “could you skip the part about the prime numbers?”

  “Thank you,” Nikki whispered to Flora.

  “Oh. Okay,” said Olivia. “Well, Mr. Krauss’s answer was kind of long, and I was having a little trouble following what he was saying, so I probably did appear very serious while we were talking, and after we finished, I turned around and saw Melody looking straight at me, and she was smirking. Smirking! Oh, this is so great.”

  Flora had rarely seen her friend in such a good mood. Olivia chattered all the way to Sincerely Yours for her Friday afternoon job, and when she entered the store, she was grinning.

  Flora found herself grinning, too, and hummed a little tune on her way to the Row Houses. When Ruby came home, Flora gleefully reported Olivia’s news to her.

  “Wah-hoo!” cried Ruby. “Melody is so dead. She is so going to regret this. She is so going to be embarrassed. She is so —” The doorbell rang then, and Ruby cried guiltily, “What if that’s Melody?”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Flora. She peeked out the front window. “It’s Mr. Pennington.”

  Mr. Pennington, holding his hat in front of him in a gentlemanly fashion, stepped inside. “I was wondering —”

  “Min’s not home yet,” interrupted Ruby.

  “I was wondering,” Mr. Pennington began again, “if I might escort you two lovely young ladies to the Marquis Diner for dinner tonight. Would you care to join me? I’ve already cleared it with Min.”