Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels - Carrie Cross (most popular novels of all time TXT) 📗

a mafia movie?” Alexa asked, looking at me dead serious. She leaned forward half an inch, staring at me like, duh. “That rat was a message, Skylar. You have to tell your parents that these creeps are threatening you.”

Oh, sure. Then my mom would panic and call the cops. Forget about following Xandra’s clues. My whole investigation would be ruined. “Alexa. This was a dead rat, not a picture of me with my head missing.” I swallowed, trying not to touch my throat. “If I want to find Xandra’s jewels, I can’t say a word. To anyone.”

 

My mom picked me up at the bottom of the hill after school. I’d re-snapped my third snap at the ten o’clock break when Alexa asked me if I knew it had come undone. “Why the long face?” my mom asked as soon as I got in the car.

Obviously I couldn’t tell her everything that was bothering me. “I asked Dustin Coles to go to the backwards dance and he didn’t give me an answer.”

And I wasn’t about to admit that I was afraid. If Crew Gang was threatening me with a dead rat and had possibly booby-trapped the dumbwaiter, what would they try next? I flicked the corner of my notebook over and over with my thumb. Then I stared at my mom, waiting for a reaction. She didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry I was rude this morning,” I mumbled. I’d said I was sorry before, but I didn’t mean it so it didn’t count.

“Apology accepted,” she said, easing out into traffic. “Maybe Dustin’s making you wait for his answer so you’ll think he’s a challenge,” she said. Not a bad theory. My mom steered up the curving, woodsy streets that led to our house.

“But all the girls like him, Mom. He is a challenge. I’m sure I’m not the only one who asked him.” I chewed my lip and looked out the window. “There’s a lot of girls in our school who like him that are prettier than me, too.” I pictured Emelyn Peters with her tan and her turned-up nose, flipping her hair around and giggling. Her mom let her get hundred-dollar jeans, and her chest was a lot bigger than mine, too. Wasn’t everybody’s?

“Not only are you beautiful and smart, but you’re probably the most interesting girl who asked him,” my mom said. “And if he has any brains he’ll realize that, and he’ll go to the dance with you. If he doesn’t have brains, he would bore you to death anyway.”

“Oh, he’s got brains,” I assured her. Picturing Emelyn Peters slow dancing with Dustin, I prayed that he’d say yes, and soon.

Before bed, I dusted my bathroom drawers for fingerprints. They were clean. No evidence. Then I washed and Windexed everything until the drawers and all of my makeup were spotless. I thought about leaving a snippy note for Smack to find, but decided against it. No need to let them know I was onto them. Better if they thought I was one step behind.

The next morning I skipped the eye shadow but squirted on some Ocean Fresh body spray. I put on another cute outfit, but I left out the sparkling barrettes.

Alexa wasn’t at our locker so I walked down the hall by myself, ducking into the bathroom to freshen up my lip gloss before class started. After Alexa rushed through the classroom door and got into her seat I turned around and whispered, “This is driving me crazy. If he doesn’t answer today I’m taking back my invitation.”

“Don’t worry,” she whispered back. “He’ll say yes. He’s not answering right away so it doesn’t look like he thinks it’s a big deal who he goes with.”

I looked at Alexa, wondering how she figured out stuff like that so fast. “He better give me some kind of answer,” I said, wiggling my foot. “Even ‘no’ would be better than nothing.”

“I bet you’ll find out by tomorrow,” she said, crossing her fingers.

“I wonder who else asked him.” Taking out my compact, I angled the mirror so I could see over my shoulder, and spied on Emelyn Peters. A chubby girl named Sharon Greenburg had grabbed the seat next to her, probably hoping Emelyn’s popularity would rub off. Sharon idolized Emelyn and tried to copy her, tossing frizzy brown hair over her shoulder and looking around with her nose in the air. Her nose wasn’t cute or pointy, and she wasn’t thin and tan, so the hair tossing had no effect on anyone.

Dustin’s seat was at the end of the back row. He walked in right as the bell rang and I saw him smile at Emelyn as he squeezed past her desk.

“Hi Dustin,” she said, looking up at him and blinking slowly. White-blonde hair flipped over a shoulder.

“Hi Dustin.” Sharon copied Emelyn, looking up at Dustin through her thick glasses, trying to flirt. Unsuccessful.

I looked over at Alexa. “Dustin just smiled at Emelyn.”

“You’ve got competition,” she whispered back.

I faced the front of the class with my cheeks burning. No wonder Dustin hadn’t given me an answer yet. Maybe he really was waiting to see who else would ask him to the dance before he decided. “If he doesn’t tell me soon I’m going to ask someone else,” I mumbled, knowing I would be crushed if he turned me down. There wasn’t any other boy in our grade that I wanted to spend five minutes with, let alone slow-dance with.

“You need to be patient, Sky. He’s cute, smart, and popular. Even if nobody else has asked him, there’s no way he’d answer right away,” she said quietly. For some reason Alexa understood boys much better than I did. Maybe because she grew up with a big brother and watched how Ronnie acted around girls.

After class Alexa and I headed for the bathroom. A bunch of ninth-graders came in behind us, giggling and pushing past each other to get closer to the mirror. Alexa and I hung back, brushing our hair. We were just about to walk out of the bathroom when Emelyn Peters flung the door open and walked in with two of her friends. Alexa grabbed me and we backed into a stall together, closing the door just as one of them started to talk. I recognized Emelyn’s harsh voice. “Oh great.” She cussed loudly. “Does anyone have a tampon?”

“Here you go,” someone said. A stall door slammed shut and I heard the sound of a wrapper crinkling. Figured she would have gotten her period before I did. Then she said something that lit my face on fire. “I’m gonna ask Dustin Coles to the backwards dance,” Emelyn announced, and her girlfriends squealed. Alexa and I glared at each other, nose to nose in the little stall.

“He’s off the scale!”

“Ten plus,” one of them agreed.

“Yeah he is,” Emelyn said loudly.

“When are you going to ask him?” somebody asked.

“I’m trying to get him to ditch class after lunch. See if he wants to go shopping. My brother’s friend is a cashier at Gamers. He turns his back and blocks the security camera when I come in. Maybe I can get Dustin a little ‘present’.”

“Something that will fit inside your jacket?” one of them suggested, and they all laughed.

“It’s got big pockets,” Emelyn said confidently.

Alexa and I stared at each other with our mouths open, listening to her friends giggle. Then we heard the bathroom door open and their voices echo away.

We hurried out of the bathroom and down the crowded hall, heading for our next class. “You could get her busted for shoplifting,” Alexa whispered, triggering one of my private detective daydreams.

The French jewelry store was so exclusive that an armed guard stood in front of the door, watching each customer who walked inside. His nametag read, Bertrand. A heavy black pistol weighed down the holster on his hip, and handcuffs dangled from his belt, ready for use. Bertrand’s shoulders measured a yard across and his thighs were thick as tree trunks, yet he could run faster than the wind.

He’s no match for the international jewel thief I’m after, I thought.

Moments later, a tiny man disguised as a little old lady hobbled past Bertrand, who held the door open politely. My laser-vision glasses spotted the shotgun hidden in the suspect’s cane, and before he could rob the store I had him tied up in a judo hold, begging for his release.

I shook off the fantasy as we rushed through the halls. Alexa had made me realize that reality was even more dangerous. “How? To bust Emelyn I’d have to cut class myself and follow them to the mall, then try to catch her in the act. I’m staying out of this one. It would probably blow up in my face. I’d get caught trying to bust her and then I’ll be the school snitch. No way.” I had enough challenges as it was.

“I guess you’re right,” Alexa agreed, “but you should still tell somebody. See you at lunch.” She smiled and waved. I raised my fingers, but couldn’t manage to smile back.

We met at our locker at lunch, and Alexa jiggled her paper in front of my face. “I killed my math test. I only missed one.”

“Awesome.” I grabbed my sack lunch and we hurried through the halls and sat on the grass, pretending we didn’t care where Dustin and Brendan were sitting.

Alexa unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite of baloney on wheat, then lowered her voice. “Have you seen Dustin?”

I looked around the lunch area and shook my head. The tables all around us were packed, but I didn’t spot him. “I wonder if he went to Gamers with Emelyn so she could get him a new game. Without paying.” I chewed a bite of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When I tried to swallow, it stuck in my throat like a wad of gum covered in dirt. I gulped some milk.

“They could be there right now.” Alexa looked at me with big eyes, like I was missing a huge opportunity.

“What would you do?”

She thought for a minute. “I don’t know. It’s easy to say I’d rat on her. She’s such a witch. But I don’t like squealers either. It’s a tough one. Well, you’ll find out soon enough if he went with her.”

“Next period,” I agreed, so hoping he hadn’t taken her up on the offer. Dustin wouldn’t cut class so someone would steal something for him. Would he?

Alexa changed the subject and hunched forward so no one around us could hear. “So did you figure out where the footprint map starts?” she asked, taking a sip of juice.

I shook my head. “I’ve been too busy with homework to try. But I can’t wait to get back to it.” I peeled the top off my blueberry yogurt carefully, trying not to fling pale purple goo onto my clothes.

“How about your secret agents?” Alexa asked, looking the tiniest bit jealous. “Have they helped?”

“Hunting Lion and Dragon Fire have posted some great ideas on my site. But unfortunately none of them have worked out so far.”

Alexa looked a little bit relieved. So far no one had taken her place as my number one assistant agent. “Let me know what I can do.” She took another bite of her sandwich.

“Want to come to my house after school? Maybe you can eat over. We can do the English homework together and then work on the mystery.” She nodded, and I felt much better with my BFF ready to help. And knowing someone close by had my back, since Crew Gang was lurking around my house, searching for clues and making threats.

After I texted my mom and asked if Alexa could stay for dinner, she called her mother and got permission. Then she finished her sandwich and brushed crumbs off her lap. “So did you decide what to do about the dance?”

I set down my yogurt and looked around to see if anyone we knew could hear us. Some of Dustin’s friends were sitting farther down at our table and the one behind us was full of jocks, so I bent forward and spoke softly. “Maybe I’ll ask him next period,” I said, taking the last bite of my PB & J. “I might. If he comes to class.”

Alexa stared at me with a little smile forming. “Come on, Skylar,” she teased, “you may as well ask him again and I’ll get my guts up and ask Brendan. Otherwise Emelyn might convince Dustin to go with her. We’ll be nervous all weekend and by the time we