Jessi and the Awful Secret

  Devon’s dark eyes grew wide. His jaw dropped but he didn’t say anything.

  “I can’t allow you to distract the rest of the students,” Mme Dupre explained. “So, you think about what you’d like to do.”

  With that, Madame walked back to the rest of the class. Devon looked up at me. “Can she do that?” he asked me skeptically.

  I nodded. “This isn’t like regular school. They can ask you to leave.”

  “Yeah, well, who cares,” Devon muttered, getting to his feet. “This is dumb, anyway.”

  By then parents were gathering at the door. The pas de chat had left the kids charged with enthusiasm. They ran to their parents, excitedly telling them what they’d done. All but Devon. With his hands jammed in his pockets, he joined a broad-shouldered, dark-haired man in a brown construction jacket. The man put his hand gently around the back of his son’s neck and they walked out silently together.

  I saw Martha take the hand of a tall, lovely woman with very dark skin. The woman gazed into the practice room. There seemed to be a million questions in her curious eyes. When she noticed me, her brow furrowed. She looked surprised to see me there. For a moment, our eyes met, then she turned and left. I wondered what she was thinking.

  Soon all the kids were gone. “Thank you for your help,” Mme Dupre said to us with a smile. “And thank you, too, Mr. Tsuji.”

  The man smiled and gave Madame a small nod as he collected his music sheets.

  “Did Mary’s mother come?” Mme Dupre asked me.

  “Yes, she did,” I said.

  “Very good. If you will excuse me, I must rush to another appointment,” Madame said, gathering up her dance bag.

  “What was wrong with Mary?” Raul asked me.

  “She didn’t look well at all,” Vince added.

  “She thought she was getting the flu or something,” I said. (I’d have to remember to tell Mary that Raul had asked about her.)

  “I hope it’s not contagious,” said Darcy.

  I looked at the other volunteers for a moment. I wanted to ask them if they had noticed how thin Mary was getting. Had they noticed that she didn’t eat at Burger King? I needed someone else’s opinion.

  But something stopped me from saying anything. Maybe because the guys were there. Or maybe because I didn’t want to sound too gossipy.

  “Anybody want to go out to eat again?” Darcy asked the group.

  “Sure,” I said. “Let me go call my dad.”

  My father hadn’t left his office yet so I was able to catch him. “That works out fine,” my dad said. “I needed to finish up something here.”

  “Could you meet me outside at six?” I asked him.

  “What? Are you ashamed of your dear old dad?”

  “It’s not that,” I spoke quietly into the phone. “I just don’t want them to think I’m … you know … young.”

  “How about if we rendezvous at the front counter,” he suggested. “I’ll be the guy holding the chocolate shake.”

  “Dad!” I groaned. “Oh, okay.”

  I decided it wouldn’t be that bad. The kids had seen my father the week before and they’d asked me out again. I was glad they had. I liked being part of this new group. For the first time since I’d started at the ballet school, I felt I really belonged.

  I didn’t realize it, but I guess I was very quiet during the Friday BSC meeting. I couldn’t stop wondering what was wrong with Mary — somehow I knew it was more than a virus.

  “Earth to Jessi,” said Kristy. “Come in.”

  “Sorry,” I said, smiling.

  “What’s on your mind, Jessi?” Dawn asked.

  “Yeah, you’ve been a million miles away for the whole meeting,” added Stacey.

  “I was thinking about a girl in my ballet class,” I told them. Then I went on to explain how Mary had started a diet and was getting thinner and thinner. I told them what she’d done in Burger King and how she’d gone home early because she felt weak.

  “Could she be anorexic?” Stacey asked after I finished.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It’s when someone diets and diets until they get way too thin,” Mary Anne said. “Something about the diet gets out of control. The person thinks she’s still fat, even though she’s not.”

  “You guys thought I might be anorexic when we first met,” said Stacey. “Remember?”

  “Why did they think that?” Mallory asked.

  “Because I wouldn’t eat sweets. I hadn’t told anyone about my diabetes yet.”

  “I heard of a girl who made herself throw up after every meal so she wouldn’t gain weight,” said Claudia.

  “Oh, yuck! Gross!” cried Dawn.

  “Just because a person is thin doesn’t mean she’s anorexic, though,” Kristy mentioned. “Lots of people are naturally thin.”

  “And dieting isn’t necessarily bad, either,” added Stacey. “If you do it right and eat healthy foods or just cut out sweets — that’s a perfectly okay thing to do. But you should only diet if you really need to and if you talk to a doctor about it first.”

  “Jessi, are you sure your friend is overdoing it?” Mal asked me.

  “Pretty sure,” I said, thinking about it as I spoke. “Every time I see her she’s much thinner. Shouldn’t a weight loss be kind of gradual?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” agreed Kristy. “A fast weight loss is always bad news. It does sound like your friend has a problem.”

  “I don’t get it, though,” I said. “Why can’t she just look in the mirror and see that she’s thin enough?”

  My friends shrugged. No one seemed to know the answer to that one. “Beats me,” said Kristy.

  “I think it’s a psychological thing,” Dawn said.

  “You mean that the person is crazy?” I asked, alarmed.

  “No, not crazy,” Dawn said. “I’m not really sure how to explain it.”

  “I have an idea,” said Claudia. “I bet the genius has some books on the subject. She’s studying psychology in school now.” (Janine takes some college classes even though she’s only sixteen.)

  We went down the hall to Janine’s room. Claudia looked around quickly and cracked open Janine’s door. “Good, she’s not around,” she said.

  “Why? Doesn’t she let you use her books?” Mary Anne asked.

  “It’s not that,” Claudia said as we went into the bedroom. “If we told Janine what we wanted to know, she’d keep us here all night while she explained each little detail. You know how Janine is. She’d tell you the case history of every anorexic who had ever walked the planet.”

  Claudia pulled three psychology books from Janine’s tall bookcase. (Typically, Janine’s books are arranged alphabetically, so they were easy to find.) Then we hurried back to Claud’s room.

  Kristy looked through one book, Dawn went through the other, and Mary Anne thumbed through the third.

  “Here’s something,” said Kristy, juggling the thick book on her lap. “Dieting may begin after a seemingly innocent comment about a girl’s figure or weight,” she read.

  “That happened!” I cried. “Mindy Howard said Mary would be able to jump higher if she lost some weight.”

  “And that’s when she started dieting?” asked Stacey.

  “I think so,” I said.

  Kristy had been reading on silently. “That would fit,” she said. “It says here that what starts as a diet gets out of control. The person — who is most often a teenaged girl — becomes obsessed with thinness. She no longer sees herself realistically.”

  “That’s Mary,” I said excitedly. “She thinks she’s fat, but she’s skinny!”

  “In my book it says anorexics become secretive about not eating,” Dawn said, looking up from her textbook. “It says they may dawdle with their food, pushing it and rearranging it, to divert attention from the fact that they’re not eating.”

  “That’s exactly what Mary did in Burger King,” I told them. “I couldn’t understand it, but this ex
plains it.”

  “Is she moody and irritable?” Mary Anne asked. “My book says that’s one of the signs.”

  I thought about that. “No, not really,” I admitted.

  “That’s good,” said Stacey. ”Maybe her problem has just started. If someone does something now, I bet it can be stopped before it gets too bad.”

  “What happens if she doesn’t stop?” Maliory asked.

  “The disease can lead to weakness, fatigue, and depression, along with low blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature,” Mary Anne replied. She read on to herself and as she did, her face grew very serious. “This isn’t good at all,” she added, putting down the book.

  “Wow,” said Dawn. “Can you imagine starving yourself just for the sake of thinness?”

  “No,” mumbled Claudia, who had just bitten into a Twinkie. “But I guess girls do it all the time.”

  “What should I do?” I asked. I was feeling sort of scared and helpless.

  “Can you talk to Mary?” Kristy asked.

  “I tell her she’s not fat, but she doesn’t believe me,” I said.

  “Can you tell one of the ballet teachers what you think?” Mary Anne suggested.

  I sighed loudly. “I don’t know. If they made her leave ballet class or something like that I’d feel terrible. She’d never forgive me. Maybe she’ll get sick of dieting on her own.”

  “Maybe,” said Dawn, sounding doubtful.

  “I’d better put these books back,” Claudia said, taking them from Kristy, Dawn, and Mary Anne.

  Just then, the phone rang. It was Watson Brewer, Kristy’s stepfather. And he needed a last-minute sitter that night. (Kristy was going to a basketball game at Bart’s school that night!)

  Stacey was glad to take the job. “Maybe Shannon will come over and hang out with me,” Stacey said.

  A strange stiff look came over Kristy’s face. “Did you guys have fun downtown?” she asked.

  “We had a blast!” said Dawn. “Shannon is really funny. She kept doing these imitations of people as they passed by. They didn’t see her, of course, but it was a scream.”

  “Remember that woman with the fishy face,” Claudia laughed. “And she was dressed in blue and green like a fish, too!”

  “Oh, yeah,” Stacey said, smiling. “When she walked by Shannon turned to me and went …” Stacey sucked in her cheeks and bulged her eyes wide. “I thought I would bust trying not to laugh.”

  “That sounds a little mean to me,” Kristy said, unamused.

  “I guess,” Dawn said. “But the people didn’t see her.”

  “Just the same,” Kristy said huffily.

  “Why don’t you come to the movies with Dawn and Mary Anne and me tonight?” Claudia suggested to Kristy. “Shannon’s coming.”

  “Oh, that means Shannon can’t keep me company,” Stacey realized. “Too bad.”

  “I can’t go to the movies,” said Kristy. “Don’t you remember? I’m going to the basketball game.”

  Something in her voice made me look at Kristy. I couldn’t read her, though. I wondered what was going on with her.

  Now Mary and Kristy both had me completely confused.

  Kristy bounded out the front door just as Stacey was about to ring the doorbell at her house. (Excuse me, her mansion.) “Hi,” Kristy said cheerfully, zipping up her coat. “I can’t really talk because we’re already late.”

  “That’s okay, have fun,” Stacey said.

  “Hi, Stace, ’bye Stace,” said Charlie, rushing past. He grabbed Kristy’s arm and pulled her along. “Come on, Sam!” he called over his shoulder to his brother.

  “Good luck,” Kristy shouted to Stacey as Charlie dragged her out the door toward his car in the driveway.

  Sam raced down the stairs, but skidded to a stop when he saw Stacey. Sam and Stacey really like one another. They’re kind of going out, but they’re still at that early awkward stage. “Hey, I didn’t know you were sitting here tonight,” he said.

  “Didn’t Kristy tell you?” Stacey asked. She wasn’t really disappointed that he was going out because she expected it; otherwise Sam would have been baby-sitting. And she was glad to see him, even for only a few minutes.

  In the driveway, Charlie leaned on the horn. “I’m coming!” Sam yelled to him. “You’d think the world was going to end if Charlie missed two seconds of his date,” he complained.

  “Go on,” Stacey said, smiling. “We’ll talk another time.”

  “Great,” said Sam. “Oh, and don’t let the monsters get to you,” he added as he ran backward toward the car. “Be brave.”

  Stacey shut the door just as Kristy’s mom came into the front hall wearing a long blue evening dress. “Oh, Stacey!” she gasped, jumping back slightly. “You startled me. I didn’t hear the bell ring.”

  “It didn’t,” Stacey told her. “I sort of slipped in as the others were racing out.”

  “Charlie does like to be punctual,” Mrs. Brewer said, laughing. (Could he be more punctual than Kristy!? Is that even possible?)

  Mrs. Brewer led Stacey to the family room. Watson was there with the kids. He looked sharp, dressed in a tuxedo. The Brewers sometimes go to very fancy affairs. I guess millionaires are expected to do that sort of thing.

  “Hi, Stacey!” said Karen, who was there for the weekend. Her eyes were bright with excitement. She doesn’t often have a baby-sitter who isn’t a member of her family. And besides that, she likes Stacey a lot.

  “Stacey’s here! Stacey’s here!” Andrew cried, bouncing around the room. (Kristy says Andrew and Karen are often super wound-up when they first come over for the weekend.)

  David Michael was draped across the sofa reading an X-Men comic. “Hi, Stace,” he said casually as he flipped the pages. David Michael is just a few months older than Karen, but lately he’s been thinking of himself as a “big kid.”

  Emily Michelle was toddling around the room happily. “Puway! Puway!” she said, lifting up her Raggedy Ann doll to Stacey.

  “Very good,” said Stacey, although she had no idea at all what Emily was trying to tell her.

  “Nannie will probably be home before we are,” Mrs. Thomas told Stacey. “She has a bowling tournament tonight. But if her team wins, she may be out late celebrating. At any rate, Kristy or one of the boys should be home by eleven.” She gave Stacey the number where she and Watson could be reached, told the kids to be good, and gave them each a hug.

  “Behave for Stacey,” said Watson as he and Kristy’s mom left the room.

  “Can we have some soda?” Andrew asked immediately after the Brewers were gone.

  “I guess,” Stacey replied. “But just one glass. Who else wants soda?” Of course, all the kids did. They trailed after Stacey as she went into the huge country-style kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “There is no soda,” Stacey told them, surveying the contents of the fridge.

  “In the pantry,” Karen instructed her.

  As soon as Stacey opened the pantry door, David Michael cried out: “There’s my Lego building set!”

  Looking down, Stacey saw a container of the small colorful plastic blocks dumped on the floor. “I’ve been looking everywhere for these,” said David Michael as he knelt to scoop them back in the container. “How’d they get in here?”

  “Puway! Puway!” Emily Michelle said happily.

  “Oh, I should have known.” David Michael groaned.

  Stacey got on her toes to reach a bottle of cola on a high shelf. “What does puway mean?” she asked.

  “It means ‘put away,’ ” Karen explained. “Nannie is trying to teach her to put away her toys.”

  “Isn’t she a little young for that?”

  “Nannie doesn’t think so,” said Karen.

  “Yeah, well, she should put away her own stuff,” grumbled David Michael.

  Stacey poured the kids’ sodas and they all returned to the family room. They were able to agree on watching Pete’s Dragon on the cable channel. (Getting kids to agree on a
TV show always seems like a minor miracle!)

  Emily Michelle wasn’t interested in the movie, however. Instead, she amused herself by playing her own version of the game Shark Attack, and toddling around.

  The peace only lasted until the end of the program. “Where’s the remote control?” asked Andrew. Everyone looked around them but they couldn’t find it. “Where could it have gone?” Stacey wondered, checking under the couch.

  Just then, Emily Michelle cried out, “Puway!”

  “Uh-oh!” David Michael moaned.

  They began an all-out search of the family room. Here’s what they found: one of Andrew’s sneakers in the toy box; Karen’s bracelet under a cushion; David Michael’s Ninja Turtle action figure behind some books on a bottom shelf; Kristy’s address book stuffed between the crack in the couch cushions; and Emily’s Raggedy Ann doll sticking out from under a corner of the rug.

  Here’s what they didn’t find: the remote control.

  “I’m sure it will turn up,” said Stacey. “In the meantime, we can change the channel by hand.”

  “No!” Karen cried, truly alarmed. “Daddy says we shouldn’t touch the TV. He says we might break something.”

  “That’s just for you little kids,” said David Michael. “Stacey and I can touch it.”

  “I’m only a few months younger than you!” Karen yelled indignantly.

  “Well, a few months is a lot,” David Michael insisted.

  “It is not.” Karen pouted. “Nancy and Hannie are almost a year older than me and they don’t think I’m a little kid.”

  While they bickered, Stacey studied the TV. She didn’t think Watson would mind if she touched the controls, but the truth was she couldn’t quite figure what to do. The set was large and fancy. She didn’t want to take a chance on messing anything up. “Let’s just watch what comes on next,” she suggested.

  But it was the news, so Stacey turned off the power. “We can play ‘Let’s All Come In,’ ” Karen said.

  “No way!” Andrew and David Michael yelled at once.

  Finally they settled on a game of hide-and-seek. Stacey and Emily Michelle were a team and somehow wound up always being “It.” (In the process of searching, Stacey uncovered a set of keys on a closet floor. “Puway,” Emily told her when she picked them up. Stacey was sure someone would be glad to have them back.)