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

halls toward the cafeteria.

“That’s pretty scary, Sky,” she said, feeding coins into the vending machine. “Split?”

“Sure,” I said, as a Snickers bar clunked into the tray at the bottom. “It is scary.”

Alexa ripped off the wrapper, bent the bar in two, and handed me half. “What are you going to do?”

“I have the beginning of a plan.” I took the sticky piece but didn’t take a bite. Suddenly I wasn’t very hungry.

Alexa looked worried. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I was worried. “So do I.”

Dustin ignored me when I got to Science, so I didn’t even look at him or try to start a conversation. Mr. Bidden passed out quizzes and turned on an overhead projector. We were studying botany and had to identify as many plants as we could by the color and shape of their flowers and leaves. I stared at each slide, scribbling down my answers and waiting for class to end. Then I suffered through history, and finally the last bell rang and school was over. Time to put my plan into action.

I ran down the hall toward Emelyn’s locker and hid around the corner while I waited for her to show up. She finally marched down the hall with Pat Whitehead at her side, and they walked toward the cafeteria, laughing loudly. The way their heads were bent together told me they were plotting something. That figured. I caught up to a crowd of kids several yards back and tried to hide myself behind the tallest guys. I spotted Alexa and put my finger against my lips as she hurried over. We took off, tailing Emelyn and Pat.

“What’s up?” Alexa asked, trotting so she could keep up with me.

“I’ve seen Emelyn stealing snacks from the vending machine almost every day after sixth period. Let’s go!” I walked even faster, weaving in and out of slow groups of guys and giggling girls so we wouldn’t lose them. “I’m sick of Emelyn bullying me, and it’s time for me to stick up for myself.”

Alexa looked at me sideways. “And what are you going to do, tell on her for ripping off a Butterfinger?”

“Not exactly. But it wouldn’t hurt to have a picture of her doing it. Or better yet, a video.”

“Caught in the act?” Alexa’s freckled cheeks bunched up in a smile.

“Exactly.” I pulled out my iPhone and touched the camera icon.

“There she goes,” Alexa whispered, “Hurry!” We sped down the hall after Emelyn, heading for the cafeteria. Moments later her arm was way up inside the vending machine, grasping at a hanging sack of Cheetos. I aimed my phone and listened in satisfaction to the electronic kissing sound it made as it photographed Emelyn reaching for the bag.

A loser named Bart who spent most of his afternoons in detention walked up and joined them. Emelyn said something I couldn’t hear, then Pat took one side of the machine and Bart took the other and they started rocking it back and forth. It made so much noise I was amazed that none of the hall monitors or teachers’ assistants came out to see what was going on. I switched my iPhone to video mode, recording them while the vending machine quaked.

Bags fell off the hooks and into the bin at the bottom and Emelyn shouted, “Yeah!” She’d hit the snack jackpot. After taking a quick look over her shoulder to see if anyone was coming, she scooped up packs of potato chips, Fritos, Cheetos, and sunflower seeds with a big grin on her face, then crammed the stolen snacks into her backpack. I knew she’d try to sell the ones she didn’t eat.

“Yes,” I whispered, looking at my phone and wondering what to do with the evidence.

Then a new message chirped and I felt my face heat up. “Oh no,” I said, staring at the screen. Suddenly Emelyn’s stolen potato chips didn’t matter at all.

“What’s wrong?” Alexa asked.

“Look.” I showed her the text and her face went pale.

watch out snoop, don't be a rat

“Who wrote that?” Alexa whispered.

“The sender’s blocked.” I swallowed, looking at the threatening text. “But it has to be Crew Gang.” We just stared at each other as I stuffed my phone back into my purse.

“How’d they even get your number?” Alexa’s nose wrinkled.

“I told you, they’re all over all of our stuff. My dad probably left his cell sitting around and they copied my number from his contacts.”

“Pretty sneaky.”

I smiled. “Not sneaky enough. I caught them.”

She nodded. “Have you told your mom?”

“Of course not. You think I could admit that they’re threatening me? She would force me to stop looking for Xandra’s jewels, and you know there is no way—”

“Skylar.” Alexa cut me off, raising one eyebrow. “Did you ever think that maybe your parents might be right once in a while? Maybe they know when you’re getting in too deep and something bad could happen to you?” She looked at me like I was being stupid and careless. Like my mom warning me to be careful was a good idea when there was no way I was giving up on solving a case. It seemed like they were both shouting at me: “Don’t take unnecessary chances!”

It made me mad, and I glared at my best friend for a second. Then I forced myself to calm down. “Thank you for caring about me. But nothing bad is going to happen. I’m smarter than they are, for one. And I’m way ahead of them. Those guys are a joke. The best they could come up with was putting a dead rat in my drawer? Really?”

Alexa took a deep breath and her cheeks turned pink. I knew she didn’t want to spit out the words she was about to say. “You need to be more careful, Skylar.”

I stared at my best friend, willing her to understand. “Pat Whitehead comes up with worse threats than those jokers. So please stop worrying, OK?”

Alexa just looked at me and shook her head.

If I were as smart as I thought I was, I would have listened to her.

 

25

The Thief in the Mirror

The next morning Alexa beat me to first period. I knew she had something to tell me as soon as I saw her pink cheeks, and I hurried into my seat. Alexa came up to my desk with an excited look on her face. She leaned over and whispered, “I just asked Brendan to the dance. He said yes!”

I smiled. “I knew he would. And he’s friends with Dustin so hopefully they’ll go together.” My heart thudded as I pictured us double dating with the two cutest guys in school.

“Hopefully neither of them will cancel,” Alexa said, crossing her fingers.

“I know, right?” I hadn’t even thought of that. What if we got stood up on our first date, and had to walk into the backwards dance together like two losers?

“How about Emelyn and Pat robbing the vending machine? Did you show the video to anyone?”

“No. I can’t decide what to do.” I shoved my backpack under my chair, worrying about the evidence I had on my phone.

“Why don’t you tell Dustin the truth, that Emelyn is threatening you if you don’t un-invite him. Ask him what he thinks you should do. He’s smart, and it does involve him.”

“OK. Good idea.” Emelyn walked in and we stopped talking. The bell rang and Alexa squeezed my arm before hurrying into her seat.

“Take out your textbooks, read chapter four, and answer the questions at the end,” Mrs. Mintin told us. She hobbled over to her desk and began grading papers.

I opened my book and glanced at Alexa. She took the squishy ball out of her purse and squeezed it with her left hand. “Where’s the blue sheet?” I whispered.

Alexa shot me a look. “I’m not bringing it to school,” she hissed. “They make enough fun of me as it is. I’m not calling more attention to myself.”

“OK. Think vanilla-lavender.” She gave me a little nod. Her knees bounced up and down and her lips moved while she followed her finger across the page, trying to get through the chapter fast enough to answer the questions before class ended.

I finished the quiz quickly and had time to kill. Taking the compact out of my purse, I cupped the little circle of mirror in my palm, aimed it behind me and zeroed in on Emelyn. That cheater was copying the answers right off Sharon Greenburg’s paper! Sharon’s head was bent over her book and she didn’t even notice. I continued to spy and couldn’t believe what I saw next.

Emelyn looked sideways. When Sharon was distracted fishing through her purse, Emelyn swiped her favorite pen right off her desk. It was one of those expensive ones that came in a silver case. Last year Sharon made a big deal out of offering to let her friends use it when we were signing yearbooks. “Want to use my Cross pen?” she’d say, smiling proudly. Emelyn’s purse sat open on the floor, and she dropped Sharon’s silver pen right into it without even looking up from her quiz.

I scribbled a note, made sure Mrs. Mintin wasn’t looking, and tossed it to Alexa: Emelyn just stole Sharon’s Cross pen right off her desk!

Alexa read the note slowly and then looked at me with her eyes wide and her mouth open. She started to look over her shoulder, but I shook my head and put my finger on my lips. “Wait,” I mouthed.

She nodded, scribbling a note back to me: And Elemyns suposed to be Sharens freinb!

“Now!” I whispered to Alexa, jerking my head toward the back row. She turned around slowly pretending to crack her back, and peeked at Sharon and Emelyn. Looking into my mirror, I saw Emelyn sitting there with a smug grin on her face. Sharon looked like she was ready to cry.

Here’s my chance to bust apart their little trio.

Class ended and Sharon stayed in her seat, rummaging through her purse and searching the area below her desk. I knew what she was looking for, and exactly where it was. Pat and Emelyn gave me dirty looks as they walked out, and they mouthed, “UN-invite,” at me.

By the time science class started I had changed my mind ten times about what I was going to say to Dustin. No way was I going to un-invite him to the dance. Should I tell him Emelyn stole Sharon’s pen? And that she told me I’d better un-invite him to the backwards dance, or else? Or would he think I made up a story about Emelyn stealing because she was threatening me? The dance was a week from Friday so I had to do something fast.

Dustin walked into class and I made a quick decision. I caught his eye and motioned for him to sit next to me. “What’s up?” he asked, settling into his chair.

“Um, you’ve been on Student Council before, right?”

He nodded “Uh-huh.”

“So can I ask your advice about something?”

“Sure.” His big hazel eyes looked into mine and I almost forgot what I’d planned to say.

“OK, if you knew one of our classmates was stealing things, like out of other people’s lockers, what would you do?”

“Boy or girl?”

“Huh?”

“The thief. Is it a boy or a girl?”

Oh-oh. It sure didn’t take him long to figure out I was talking about a specific person. “Why does it matter?”

Dustin thought about it and grunted. “Huh. I guess it doesn’t. So who’s stealing?”

“I just wanted your opinion. You know, about snitching in general.”

Dustin looked at me like he knew I was lying.

Great, I thought, I’m asking for his advice about stealing and snitching and I’m lying while I’m doing it. “Emelyn Peters,” I blurted. “I saw her steal an expensive pen off someone’s desk in English. I just wondered if I should say something.” My heart raced while I watched his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Would he suspect this had something to do with the backwards dance? I knew Dustin had turned Emelyn down to go with me instead. Did he know I knew that Emelyn had asked him too? It was getting so confusing I felt like my head was about to explode.

“Whose pen?” Dustin asked.

Just like my mom, he had to have the details. “Sharon Greenburg’s.”

“Why don’t you just tell Sharon that Emelyn took her pen?” Dustin stared at me like, how obvious was that? He ran his fingers