Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 00.5 - Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures (12 page)

Sid turned to Aunt Madge, then looked at Scoobie and me
. “I’m sorry, I can’t really tell you exactly what’s going on. I can only say that the Finches will be moving.” His belt beeped and he looked at a beeper. “May I use your phone, ma’am?”

“Of course,” Aunt Madge said.

None of us said anything during his twenty-second conversation. When he walked back to us he looked relieved. “Everything’s in place.” He nodded at his two colleagues and they both stood.

“They’re outside?” Lilli asked.

“Almost, we can…”

“What about Jolie and Adam?” Aunt Madge asked
. “How do you know they’re safe?”

Pat responded
. “They don’t know anything anyone wants to know.” He looked at Scoobie and me, then back to Aunt Madge. “The local police will assist you with any questions you have. In the meantime, you really can’t talk to anyone about this.”

Thomas Edward walked back to Hannah and took her hand, helping her stand from where she was sitting with Petey
. “We’ll ask mom and dad for a dog next time.”

She looked at Petey,
then sighed and walked with her brother toward the officers, or whatever these people were.

I looked at Thomas Edward
. “You were terrific.”

He smiled slightly
. “I know.”

Aunt Madge walked the group to the side door and I heard one of the men thank her for the tea
. Scoobie and I just looked at each other. We both stood when Aunt Madge came back into the kitchen.

“Jolie,” she began.

“You never told me babysitting was exciting,” Scoobie said.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“YOU NEED TO FORGET about last night, completely
. Don’t even talk to each other about it.” The captain of the Ocean Alley Police, who had introduced himself as Captain Douglas, was in Aunt Madge’s sitting room the next morning. He said he was in street clothes because he didn’t want to call attention to his presence, and he had asked Aunt Madge to be sure that Scoobie was there.

“It’s a lot to just forget,” I said.

He nodded. “It is, and since I can’t tell you anything, you’re going to want to talk to each other, compare notes, and make some guesses. You can’t do that.”

Ordinarily I don’t react well to being told how to behave, but I was still pretty cowed by what had happened
. “What if someone asks something?”

“Why would they
?” Captain Douglas’ question was quite sharp.

“They’ll just be gone, people know I babysat there
. Margo gave me the job.”

“Who’s Margo?”

“She goes to OAH,” Scoobie said. “They live in that blue bungalow with red shutters, on G Street, a couple blocks from the office supply store.”

Captain Douglas made a note on a small pad of paper he took from his shirt pocket
. “If this Margo asks, you don’t know anything. The Finch’s came home, you left…”

“Mr. Finch usually drives me home.”

He paused and looked at Scoobie. “You walked her home. Neither of you know anything that happened in that house after Jolie left her babysitting job.”

“There probably weren’t many people around,” Aunt Madge said, slowly
. “It’s a good thing it didn’t happen in July when the streets are packed.”

Captain Douglas nodded
. “It is.” He looked at the three of us. “Are we clear?  No discussions even among yourselves. You just never know who’s around.”

I started to say the walls in Aunt Madge’s house didn’t have ears, but after last night I wasn’t sure about anything.

“Thanks very much Madge, for letting them come here with no notice.”

“That was fine
. I just want you to tell me one more time that Jolie is perfectly safe.”

Scoobie cleared his throat.

“And Adam,” she smiled slightly.

Captain Douglas did not smile
. “No one who matters knows who they are.”

Excuse me?

“If you think for even one minute that someone you don’t know is paying an inordinate amount of attention to you, contact us immediately.” Captain Douglas stared at me intently, and then made to leave.

We all thanked him and Aunt Madge walked him to the door.

I looked at Scoobie. “If you hadn’t been there…”

“Don’t remind me
. I’ve never done that, walked by their house when you were sitting. It was Saturday, I was bored.” He shrugged.

Aunt Madge
came back into the kitchen through the swinging door that leads to the guest breakfast room. She looked from Scoobie to me. “I have no intention of talking about this again, but I want to know if there is anyone I should watch for.”

I shook my head
. “I wish I knew. I heard the voices of the two men Scoobie saw, but the police ran the kids and me out the back door. It sounded as if the two men were on the floor in the living room by that time.”

“I only saw them from across the street, and it was pretty dark
,” Scoobie said. “When I ran into the house I could hear the police with the men, but I didn’t see them then. All I can tell you is they were white and one guy was taller.”

She sighed
. “I guess we’ll just have to trust Captain Douglas.”

“I’m not so good with cops and trust,” Scoobie said, “but they did all right with this.”

THE ONLY PERSON at school who really knew that I knew the Finch family was Margo
. She didn’t say anything the first couple of days the next week, but on Wednesday she asked, “Didn’t you sit for Thomas Edward and Hannah last Saturday?”

“Yep
. Got a bigger tip than usual, too.” I took a bite of French fries, careful to look as if her question was no big deal.

“My mom knows Mrs. Finch pretty well, from where they get their hair done
. She said they left town without saying they were going.”

“What?
I figured I’d babysit them a bunch more times. I even got to like Thomas Edward.” It was easy to pretend to be surprised, because the whole business last weekend was surprising.

“It’s weird,” she said, and went back to her hamburger.

You don’t know the half of it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE
NEXT FEW weeks passed quickly. The weather during spring break was warmer than usual, so a bunch of my friends from Lakewood came down to the beach. The water was too cold to go in, but it was fun to sit on the beach and eat pizza from the one food place on the boardwalk that was open in April. I invited Scoobie, but he said he wasn’t in the mood for so many strangers.

While seeing them was great, it
confirmed that I’d been smart not to go up there a lot. I almost cried when they left. I did, actually, but not until after I had waved goodbye to them. I’m not sure how much more upset I would have been if the school year wasn’t almost over. Probably a lot.

Since we weren’t supposed to talk about the guys who tried to kidnap (or was it kill?) Thomas Edward and Hannah, none of us did
. But even with the distraction of my Lakewood friends, nothing could stop me from thinking about that night.

What if Thomas Edward had been upstairs when
the men came to the back door? Would I have reacted fast enough? Did they have guns? Maybe I should learn how to use the safety on a gun. If we had managed to overpower someone with a gun, I might have accidentally fired it if I picked it up
.

“Shut up
.” I said this aloud, to myself, though Petey assumed I was talking about food for him and he moved from his spot in the corner of my bedroom to the space near my foot. I looked down at him. “You know I never feed you up here.”

He gave me a mournful look and went back to his corner
.

I tried to concentrate on my chemistry notes
. Finals were coming up, and I hadn’t memorized all of the elements on the atomic table and what they did. I should have mastered it months ago, but the teacher only talked to his favorites in the front of the room, so I never worried about getting called on.

I turned a page in the book and came across a piece of paper with a doodle Scoobie had done of Goofy and Minnie Mouse
. He had put it on my lunch tray one day when I wasn’t looking. When I found it I stuck it in the book.

I smiled
. It reminded me that, while I didn’t know the guy who had won the election for senior class president, Michael Riordan had not won. Apparently I was not the only one he snubbed. Served him right.

“WHAT YOU NEED TO DO,” Scoobie said, “is learn to speed read.”

We were sitting in the public library studying for finals
. He had English and math the next day, and I had geometry and world history. I had my fingers in my ears, trying to concentrate as I read.

“I won’t like this stuff whether I read it fast or slow,” I said, removing my fingers
. “How come you’re only studying math?”

“Because I remember the books,” he said
. “I read them all a couple of times.”

“I wish you’d read the ones I had to read
. You could take my test.”

“I’ve read all of them,” he said
. “But I don’t think we look enough alike for me to sit in for you.”

“You read them all
?” I raised my voice as I said this, and he pointed in the direction of the circulation desk. More quietly, I said, “I thought you said you said your class mostly got short books.”

“Yeess
.” He drew out the word. “Some people read for fun, you know.”

I looked at him for a couple of seconds
. I certainly didn’t hate reading, but I would never read seven or eight school-assigned books that I didn’t have to read.

“Try it
. You’ll like it,” he said.

I knew Scoobie would like to talk to me about books, but I had never sat around with friends and talked abou
t what we had read. I shut my copy of
The World in History
. “Let’s go to the boardwalk. The librarian’ll let us leave our knapsacks behind the counter.”

It was warm, even for mid-May, almost seventy-five degrees
. If it hadn’t been a school day in Ocean Alley and all the surrounding towns, the beach would have been packed. As it was, all the boardwalk stores were either open or restocking shelves getting ready to open. Except the arcade. It only opened on weekends in May. No Screw the Bunny today.

We walked quickly, Scoobie outlining plans to get a job at the ice cream stand after Memorial Day
.

“I didn’t know you liked ice cream that much,” I said.

“I don’t. The guy who owns it asks you how much you like it, and if you say not much he’s more likely to hire you. I didn’t even have to lie. Now, if it was a pie stand…”

“Scoobie!  Jolie!”

We turned. Sean O’Malley was walking toward us. When he got about ten feet away, I could tell he was upset.

“What’s wrong?” I asked
.

“Are you okay?” Scoobie asked.

He walked all the way to us before he answered. “My dad got a stupid job in California. We have to move. I won’t even be able to finish the year.” The rims around his eyes were the color of his hair.

“I’m sorry
.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“
California. What part?” Scoobie asked. “If it’s San Francisco there are lots of poets and people play guitars on the street and…”

“I don’t give a crap about that
. I don’t know anyone in California. I’ll hate it.” Sean looked almost ready to cry. He managed to stem the tears.

“You might be surprised,” I said
. “Friends pop up when you least expect them.”

EXAM WEEK AT Ocean Alley High was almost festive. In Lakewood most people looked pretty tense and at least once a day someone ran into a bathroom to throw up.

Again, the beach mood prevailed
. People had on more casual clothes (Scoobie wore a lei he got from somewhere) and everyone had snacks. You can’t usually eat in the hallways, but that apparently was not enforced when exams were going on.

To fortify us, I baked some more sugar cookies
. This time I bought a jar of chocolate frosting and lathered it on. I passed them out in homeroom and was rewarded with applause. None from Sean, who was already gone. As annoying as he was, I missed him.

“Jolie!”

I was about to walk into my geometry test when I saw Scoobie hurrying toward me
. “What? I gotta run,” I said.

He held out his hand
. “This might help.”

I laughed and took the rabbit’s foot
. “I doubt it, but what the heck?”

AN HOUR LATER, I knew I was destined to repeat geometry.
Maybe I can barter.
I liked this idea. I could tell my father that my price for being unceremoniously dumped in Ocean Alley was a pass from repeating immersion in angles and lines that I was never going to understand anyway.

I wasn’t even glum when I walked into the cafeteria
. That lasted for five minutes. I got my food and plopped down at the table with Margo, Candy and Sandra. “How did you guys do on your tests?” I asked.

“Not bad,” Candy said.

“I know I passed biology,” Sandra said.

Margo was looking at me
. “What?” I asked, as I bit into a piece of pizza.

“Did you, um, hear about Scoobie?” she asked.

I stopped midway through a chew and looked at her.

“I was in the room across from his English class
. I don’t know everything he said to the teacher, but when he was in the hallway he yelled that Mr. Samuels needed a remedial course in American Lit. It sounded like it had something to do with Native Americans.”

I gave as much of a groan as a person can with a mouth full of pizza
. “And it wasn’t a joke?”

“I guess I don’t really know
. What I heard Scoobie say was that Mr. Samuels was such an idiot that Scoobie would no more pay his ransom than Red Chief’s.”

I laughed
. “At least if he’s going out he’s got style.”

“What do you mean?” Candy asked.

Scoobie had given me his favorite O. Henry story to read. “It’s about some guys who kidnap a kid for ransom, and the kid, who calls himself Red Chief, is so obnoxious they end up offering to pay the parents to give him back.”

“It’s not funny,” Margo said
. “He won’t get to senior status if he doesn’t pass English. It’s one of the only courses that would hold him back for sure.”

I stopped smiling
. My first impulse was to find Scoobie and see if I could help him. Then I could hear Mr. Rosen’s voice saying I was a good friend for Scoobie but I should look out for myself. I had my world history exam after lunch. I couldn’t get caught up in Scoobie’s literary battles.

I took a breath
. “You know, if he finds me we’ll talk about it. But I can’t really think about it. Mr. Porter would love to give me a low grade. I can’t get distracted.”

Margo looked surprised, but she didn’t say anything about Scoobie once I asked her about her French exam.

I LOOKED FOR SCOOBIE as I left school
. My last exam, chemistry, was tomorrow, and I needed to study—a lot. I told myself that the only time I had to talk to him was on the walk home, and he blew it.

“Yo, Jolie
.” He walked down from Aunt Madge’s big front porch, where he’d been sitting on one of the wicker chairs. She had just put the cushions on them for the summer season.

“Heard you made a scene in English class,” I said.

“Technically outside in the hall,” he said.

I looked at him
. “What were you thinking? You can’t flunk English.”

He looked at me very directly
. “It only matters if I plan to go back to school for senior year.”

“Are you nuts
?”

“Keep your pants on,” he said.

“I don’t need your attitude!  After everything …”

“Jolie!”
Aunt Madge had flung open the front door as she said this. “What are you yelling about?”

“Me,” Scoobie said.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

He looked at me, stunned.

“You always have the smart comment, the funny joke. But everything isn’t always funny!” I looked at Aunt Madge, who had almost no expression. “I need to study for chemistry.” I nodded at Aunt Madge and walked into the Cozy Corner.

I WAS SO ANGRY I could barely read my chemistry notes.
Where does he get off, blowing off his exams and then coming over here so I get upset and can’t study for mine?

I forced myself to focus
. It didn’t help that one of the topics was geometry of molecules and ions.

There was a whimper
at my feet and I looked into a pair of brown eyes. “What, Petey?  You never whimper.” I petted the back of his head.

“He always knows when we’re upset. “  Aunt Madge leaned against the door jamb.

I looked at her, feeling kind of like an eight-year old. “I’m sorry I yelled outside. Not good for guests.”

“They’re all out
. You okay?”

“Yeah
. Did he tell you what he did?”

“Part of it
. He’s already figured out how self-defeating his behavior is sometimes.” She sat on the edge of my bed and I turned my chair to face her.

“That’s what’s so frustrating
. He knows better. He’s smarter than I am. He
knows
it doesn’t make sense to deliberately flunk a course.”

“You’re talking like someone who’s been taught to make good decisions
. Scoobie’s parents haven’t prepared him as well as your parents have prepared you.”

“Prepared me by deserting me, you mean?”

“Jolie, think about it. Have you met Scoobie’s parents?”

I looked at her
. “You know I haven’t. His dad travels, his mom works nights…”

“And you’ve lived her almost a year, and haven’t met them
.” Aunt Madge looked at me very intently.

I sighed
. “Margo said his mom’s not very nice.”

“I’ve heard that
. Maybe you should ask him about his life at home.” She got up, and paused in the doorway. “Good leftover bread down there.”

I turned back to my book, but then called after her
. “Did you give any to Scoobie?”

“He ate several pieces before he left.”

AS MUCH AS I PLAY ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away, I wasn’t too successful that evening
. By the next day I was pretty much over being mad at Scoobie. It was his life, after all. I was his friend, not his mother.
Except his mother doesn’t sound so great.

I was climbing the steps to school when Scoobie caught up to me
. “I went to see Mr. Samuels after school.”

“Can you retake the test?” I asked.