The New Year's Party

  “We’ve got to get our story straight before we tell anyone,” Greta urged.

  “Hide him! Hide him!” Artie shrieked. He grabbed P.J.’s limp arms and started to tug.

  Sean and Greta rushed to help him pick up P.J.’s body.

  Reenie hesitated, then grabbed one of P.J.’s thin legs.

  “Hurry!” Greta urged, watching the headlights roll over the wall. “Where can we put him?”

  “The basement!” Reenie cried.

  She and Sean backed toward the kitchen. The body bumped over the carpet.

  “Faster!” Artie cried.

  Reenie’s stomach lurched as they hauled P.J. through the kitchen. Don’t lose it now, she told herself. You can’t lose it now.

  Reenie opened the basement door with one hand and flicked on the light. She glanced over her shoulder at the steep cement steps.

  “Be careful,” she warned the others. “These steps are really uneven.” Grasping P.J.’s ankles, she reached down with her foot and groped around for the first step. She found it, put her foot down, then felt for the next. Sean stayed one step above her.

  Reenie stared up at Artie. The dim light from the basement cast shadows across his face. She couldn’t make out his expression.

  Don’t think about anything but the steps, Reenie told herself. Don’t try to decide what to do until you make it down the steps.

  One of P.J.’s pantlegs slid up, and she felt the flesh of his ankle under her fingers. Cold and clammy. Dead. Reenie shivered.

  She forced herself to feel for the next step and continued down the stairs.

  “Where should we put him?” Sean asked when they reached the bottom.

  “Behind the furnace,” Reenie decided.

  “I have to rest for a second,” Greta gasped. They lowered the body to the ground.

  “Whoa. I hate the way he’s staring at me,” Artie moaned. He squatted down by P.J.’s body and stretched his hand out over P.J.’s unblinking eyes.

  Reenie saw Artie’s hand tremble. He pressed it down and slid it over P.J.’s eyelids. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Sorry, P.J.”

  Artie jumped back up. “Come on. Let’s finish and get out of here.”

  They hoisted the body up and struggled over to the furnace. There was room for P.J.’s head—but not his shoulders. They had to twist him on his side and force him inch by inch into the small space between the furnace and the wall.

  “Good enough,” Sean declared. “We’ve got to get back upstairs.”

  They tore up the rough concrete steps. Reenie slammed the basement door shut behind them, and they hurried into the living room.

  Greta rushed to the window and peeked out. “It’s gone!” she announced. “The car’s gone.”

  “Huh? Who was it?” Sean asked.

  Reenie sighed. “People use our driveway to turn around sometimes,” she said, shaking her head. “The next block is a dead end. And the dead-end sign is right across the street.”

  “Whew!” Sean breathed.

  Reenie choked back a sob.

  “I see how Marc and Sandi didn’t bother to stay,” Greta said sourly.

  “What do we do now?” Artie asked.

  Reenie drew in a long, shaky breath. “We have no choice,” she declared. “We have to call the police. Then, I guess, they’ll call P.J.’s parents.”

  “What will they do to us?” Greta asked.

  “I don’t know,” Reenie answered. “But it was an accident. A horrible accident. And we have to tell them the truth.”

  “Reenie’s right,” Sean said. “We panicked. We should have called them right away.”

  “Let’s at least bring the body back up here,” Artie suggested. “They are definitely going to think we’re guilty if they find it hidden in the basement.”

  “Who’s going to make the call?” Greta asked.

  “I’ll do it,” Sean replied.

  Greta handed him the cordless phone. He dialed 911. Reenie listened as he gave the emergency operator the information. “No, I don’t think he needs emergency treatment,” Sean finished. “He’s definitely dead.”

  Sean dropped the phone on the coffee table. “They’ll be here in five minutes.”

  “That’s barely enough time to get P.J.’s body back up here!” Artie exclaimed.

  They pounded through the kitchen to the basement stairs.

  Reenie found herself thinking about Liz. What am I going to say to her? How can I face her?

  Sean led the way back into the basement and over to the furnace.

  “Not much time left!” Artie crouched down and reached behind the furnace. He gasped.

  “No!” Greta cried.

  “Huh? What’s going on?” Reenie demanded. She stared into the shadows behind the furnace.

  P.J.’s body was gone.

  Chapter 21

  WHERE IS P.J.?

  Panic swept over Reenie. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Her legs gave way.

  She leaned back against the concrete cellar wall and shut her eyes. And waited. Waited for her heart to stop pounding. For her body to stop trembling.

  “We’ve been tricked,” she finally managed to choke out.

  “Yeah. Tricked,” Greta murmured. She put an arm around Reenie’s trembling shoulders.

  “P.J. pulled a good one on us,” Artie agreed, shaking his head.

  “I can’t believe we fell for it!” Sean added.

  Greta rolled her eyes. “How could we think P.J. died? We’ve pulled too many of these jokes ourselves to be fooled that easily.”

  “But he was so limp when we carried him,” Reenie reminded them. “He was so pale, so… so dead-looking.”

  “He was faking it,” Sean declared. “How else can you explain it? There wasn’t time for anyone to find the body and move it.”

  That’s the only explanation, Reenie thought. Nothing else makes any sense.

  But she couldn’t shake the memory of his cold skin under her fingers. His cold lips under hers as she fought to bring him back to life.

  “I’m so glad he’s alive.” Greta’s voice trembled. “I-I was really terrified.”

  “P.J. must be laughing his head off.” Artie bounded up the stairs.

  Reenie laughed. She finally began to feel normal—normal and relieved. She raced up the stairs after Artie.

  “Do you know how scared I was?” Reenie asked. She threw herself down on the sofa.

  “I know exactly how scared you were!” Greta exclaimed, plopping down next to Reenie. “Because that’s how scared I was.”

  “I thought it might be a joke,” Artie said. “All along, I thought it might.”

  “Yeah, right. You were scared to death and you know it,” Sean said.

  Artie glared over at Sean—then they both cracked up. Reenie began to laugh. Soon all four of them were laughing, slapping each other high fives, rolling on the carpet.

  We’re all having some kind of delayed shock reaction, Reenie realized.

  Then the doorbell rang.

  “I bet that’s P.J. He probably wants to gloat.” Reenie hurried to the front door.

  She swung the door open—and found herself staring at a dark-uniformed police officer.

  “I’m Officer Jackson from the Shadyside Police Department. We received a report of a death here.”

  “Uh …” Reenie didn’t know how to answer.

  “Did you call the emergency number?” the officer asked, fixing his eyes on hers.

  “Uh …” Reenie repeated. “Uh, no. Everything is okay here. You must have the wrong address.”

  “I have to come in and check around,” the officer told her.

  “Sure,” Reenie said quickly. She moved out of his way.

  Officer Jackson strode into the room. He gazed from face to face. “All right, what’s going on here?” the policeman demanded.

  “It… it was a trick,” Reenie explained. “Someone played a trick.”

  “You mean that someone phoned in a prank call?” H
e narrowed his eyes. “We treat prank calls to 911 very seriously.”

  “We always play tricks on each other,” Sean explained. “It doesn’t always work, but this time it did. Someone fooled us into thinking he was dead.”

  Sean explained what happened, step by step. Thank goodness Sean stayed calm, Reenie thought. She felt too shaky to explain what happened with P.wouldnJ. in a logical way.

  “We really believed he was dead. We wouldn’t have called you otherwise,” Sean concluded.

  “And you’re the one who lives here?” The officer shifted his eyes to Reenie.

  She nodded.

  “I need your permission to check the house,” the officer told her.

  “Go ahead,” she answered. Reenie wanted him to search the house. She knew P.J.’s body wasn’t down in the basement. She’d seen for herself that it was gone.

  But she kept wanting to go down and check one more time. Just to make sure. Because P.J. looked so dead. Now Officer Jackson would check for her.

  “Stay here,” the policeman ordered before he left the room. “No one leaves.”

  Reenie watched the man enter the kitchen. Heard him open the basement door. Heard the thump thump of his shoes on the concrete step.

  Reenie counted each step. Okay, he’s at the bottom, she decided. Now he’s crossing over to the furnace. He’s bending down.

  Silence.

  Did he find anything?

  The silence stretched out. Reenie dug her fingernails into her palms.

  You know there’s nothing down there, she told herself. You know it.

  Reenie held her breath until she heard the thump thump of Officer Jackson’s shoes climbing back up the stairs. He wasn’t hurrying. He’d be hurrying if he found a body, Reenie decided.

  “No problem down there,” he reported. “But I have to fill out a full report.”

  The policeman recorded their names, addresses, and phone numbers before he left. Reenie didn’t care what he did with them. She didn’t care if he called her parents when they got home. P.J. was okay. Nothing else mattered.

  No one spoke until they heard the police officer’s car door slam.

  “Whew!” Artie breathed.

  “When he glared at me I almost confessed that I did kill P. J.!” Greta exclaimed. “I felt as if he could peek into my head and know every bad thing I’ve ever done.”

  “I know I sounded like a total jerk describing our dumb practical jokes,” Sean added.

  Reenie knew she would never want to play their game again. “Let’s promise no more tricks,” she said. “It’s never going to be fun after tonight anyway.”

  “No more tricks,” Greta agreed.

  “No more tricks,” Sean and Artie repeated.

  Reenie stood up and grabbed a half-empty bowl of M&M’s. “I’m going to clean up,” she announced. “I don’t want anything around to remind me of this horrible party.”

  “I’ll help,” Greta volunteered. She grabbed a few M&M’s and left for the kitchen.

  “Maybe you should only have Halloween parties from now on!” Artie joked. He picked up some empty soda cans and wandered after Greta. “Tonight didn’t help me get the Christmas spirit,” he confessed sadly.

  They worked in silence until they had eliminated every trace of the party.

  Greta sighed when they gathered back in the living room. “I’m beat. I can’t believe we have to go to school tomorrow. I could sleep for a year.”

  “Me, too,” Artie answered. “I’ll get the coats.”

  Greta gave Reenie a hug. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Bye,” Artie called.

  “I guess I’ll go, too,” Sean said. “You going to be okay here by yourself?”

  Reenie nodded.

  Sean pulled her close and kissed her. Reenie wished the kiss would never end. She didn’t want to think about anything but the way Sean’s lips felt against hers.

  “Night,” he whispered.

  Reenie locked the door the second Sean stepped outside. She fastened the chain, too—even though her parents never did. Then she checked every door and window.

  Reenie knew she should turn the lights off, but she didn’t. She felt safer being able to see every corner. She didn’t need any more surprises.

  She dragged herself into her room, sat on the bed, and buried her face in her hands. She felt like crying.

  What a terrible night. What a terrible party.

  She wished her parents were home. Or that she had asked Greta to stay with her. She didn’t want to be alone.

  The phone rang, startling her.

  She picked it up from the nightstand. “Hello?”

  “Hi, it’s Liz. Is my brother still there?”

  “Stop it, Liz. Please,” Reenie pleaded. “We figured out the joke. We know your brother is okay.”

  “Excuse me? What joke? Did P.J. fall for that joke with Sandi? What happened, Reenie?”

  “I’m sure P.J. will tell you all about it later—if you don’t already know,” Reenie replied.

  “He isn’t still there?” Liz demanded. “Where is he, Reenie?”

  “He … he isn’t here,” Reenie told her.

  Liz hung up.

  Reenie forced herself to get up, and changed into her favorite flannel nightgown with the little sheep on it. Then she crawled into bed, telling herself she would brush her teeth twice as long in the morning.

  But she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept hearing Liz’s voice in her head.

  Is my brother still there? Is my brother still there?

  Chapter 22

  NO ANSWERS

  “I didn’t fall asleep for hours,” Reenie told Sean on the way to school the next morning. “I kept hearing Liz’s voice in my head. It gave me the creeps.”

  “They can’t give up the joke,” Sean replied.

  “They’re determined to convince us that something bad happened to P.J.” He yawned. “Oh, man, I’m wrecked this morning. I kept dreaming you guys were carrying me down the basement stairs instead of P.J. I tried to tell you I wasn’t dead—but you wouldn’t listen.”

  Reenie patted his shoulder. “What a horrible dream.”

  “I bet P.J. will be waiting for us at school—ready to laugh in our faces,” Sean said.

  As soon as they pulled into the student parking lot, Reenie climbed out of the car and scanned the crowd for P.J. She studied every face as she and Sean entered the school.

  No P.J.

  They ran into Greta and Artie in the hall. Greta didn’t bother to say hi. “I haven’t seen P.J. yet. But he has to be here somewhere,” Greta informed them.

  “I don’t have any classes with him. Do you?” Artie asked Reenie.

  “Fifth period. History,” she answered.

  “P.J. will be there,” Artie declared. “He’s not going to cut school for a joke that isn’t fooling anybody.”

  Artie is right, Reenie thought. P.J. isn’t the type to skip class. I’ll congratulate him on tricking us, and that will be the end of it.

  The first bell rang. “Talk to you at lunch,” Reenie called. She continued to search the crowded halls for P.J. or Liz as she hurried to her locker and on to her homeroom.

  Each class before lunch felt endless. When the bell rang at twelve-thirty, Reenie rushed to the cafeteria, hoping someone had spotted P.J. She just had to know that he’d shown up at school.

  But when she met up with Sean and Greta and Artie, they told her they still hadn’t found him. Or Liz. Or even Ty.

  Sean and Artie started talking about a concert they all wanted to go to. Reenie tried to follow the conversation, but she grew more and more anxious.

  You’re being silly, she told herself. P.J. climbed out from behind the furnace. Which means he wasn’t dead. Which means it was all a joke. But she kept picturing his pale, pale skin. His cold, limp body.

  When the bell for fifth period rang, Reenie jumped up. “I’ll let you know what happened with P.J. as soon as school is over,” she promised her friends.
She wished at least one of them had history with her so she wouldn’t have to face P.J. all alone.

  Reenie reached class before anyone else—including the teacher. Every time the door opened, she checked to see if P.J. had arrived.

  Lisa Blume ambled in and smiled at Reenie. “I hear you had a pretty wild party last night.”

  Reenie had answered questions about the party and the joke that backfired all day. She didn’t want to talk about it any more. “Pretty wild,” she mumbled, then stared down at her history book.

  She kept sneaking glances at P.J.’s desk. But always found it empty.

  The second bell rang—and no P.J.

  Reenie felt her stomach knot. Where is he? Why won’t P.J. let his joke end? Is he that angry at us for playing a trick on him?

  I wish I could apologize to him—and Liz. I wish he’d show up so I could tell him I’m never playing another joke. Never.

  Reenie tried to focus on Mr. Northwood’s lecture. Then she gave up—and stared blankly at the chalkboard. She’d make it through the class, as long as Mr. Northwood didn’t call on her.

  The bell finally rang. Reenie couldn’t wait to tell Sean that P.J. didn’t show up. She grabbed her books and rushed out the door.

  Liz stood down the hall with Ty. Perfect, Reenie thought. I can apologize and check up on P.J. She hurried through the crowded noisy hallway toward them.

  Wait, Reenie thought, slowing her steps. Something’s wrong. Liz’s face appeared red and puffy.

  She’s crying, Reenie realized. Crying so hard her shoulders are shaking. And Ty is trying to comfort her.

  Before Reenie could get to them, she saw Liz break away from Ty and dash wildly down the hall. Ty hesitated, then followed after her.

  Reenie stared down the hall after her friends. What’s going on today? Why was Liz crying?

  Uh-oh. The English assignment! I didn’t read it. And the way today is going, we’ll get one of Ms. Roper’s hideous pop quizzes.

  Reenie checked her watch. Still a few minutes before class. Where to go to do some rush reading?

  The gym. No sixth-period classes there. Perfect. She hurried down the hall, rounded the corner, and pushed through the gym’s double doors.