“Dead?” I repeated in horror. “Do you mean really, really, really dead? Really?”
“Really,” said Tina.
“Really?” I guess I’m kind of a skeptic. This cynical age we live in has left its mark on me in a big way. I mean, I know it probably sounds weird that I didn’t believe her at first, but keep in mind I had never personally known anyone who was really dead before—except my great-aunt, Mildred, and I didn’t really know her. Well, technically, I didn’t really know Chrystal either, but I knew she must have been about my size because I fit into her coyote suit.
Tina rolled her gray eyes at me and tossed her hair. “Actually, Jendra,” she said with a groan, “she’s not really dead. But she might as well be as far as we’re concerned. I guess somebody scared her really, really a lot. So she withdrew from school and moved to Australia.”
“Australia?” I repeated with a frown.
“That’s the official story anyway,” Tina said. The secretive look she gave me just then made me shudder. What was the unofficial story?
“I’m not so sure I can make it to practice this afternoon,” I announced, looking traumatized. “I just got kicked out of history class. We’re here to see Mr. Talbert.”
Tina laughed. “Practice? Well, don’t worry, Jendra, that’s probably canceled after this mess. And don’t worry about Mr. Talbert. I’ll talk to him for you. Also, there’s probably not going to be a game Friday night.”
“What?” Matt exclaimed. “That’s crazy! What do you mean? We’ve been practicing all week!”
Tina shrugged. “Don’t yell at me,” she said. “I can’t help it. I don’t make the rules.” I wasn’t so sure about that, personally. “The thing is,” she went on, “and this is really weird—Mr. Talbert suspects that someone on the basketball team might have scared Chrystal away.”
“What?” yelped Matt. “Why? That’s totally crazy!”
“But totally probable,” said Tina. “I guess you’re the only member of the team who’s still at school, Mattie. All the rest of them either didn’t come in today or went home sick. Like some weird, convenient basketball flu. You’ve got to admit that that looks pretty sinister.”
“Maybe they’re just tired,” Matt reasoned. “We did practice pretty hard. I mean, come on, Tina. Just because they didn’t come to school, that doesn’t mean they terrorized some girl. That’s kind of a stretch if you ask me.”
Tina shrugged again. “The basketball players are looking pretty suspicious right now,” she said. “Mr. Talbert thinks they might be the ones who stole his pants and his shoes. Remember last week’s school paper? The star player was quoted as saying how much he wished he had shoes like Mr. Talbert’s. And the point guard commented on his pants.”
I did remember those quotes. They had even made a big deal about them on the announcements. Everybody in the whole school probably remembered.
Matt rolled his eyes. “Like they really want to dress like a middle-aged principal!” he said, sounding exasperated. “Tina, they just said that stuff to score points with Mr. Talbert.”
“Really?” she probed. “Are you sure they didn’t want to score a new outfit?”
Matt rolled his eyes again.
“Well, I’ve got to go,” Tina said lightly. “Mr. Talbert wants to talk to me right away.” She grinned, looking lofty, and added, “You know, important stuff. But, Jen, don’t go too far, okay? I’ll have Lien Hua get in touch with you, because practice or no practice, we really need to have a meeting this afternoon to discuss all this, okay? Great to see you.”
She strolled off down the hall.
“Don’t go too far?” I repeated in confusion. “It’s the middle of the school day, Matt! Where the heck does she think I’m going? I probably can’t even get back into class.”
“Tina’s weird,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t pay too much attention to her. She’s kind of stuck on her own importance. Actually, Jendra, if I were you, I would stop hanging around with her. I know it might sound crazy, but she has this way of getting people into really serious trouble. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t trust her at all.”
I probably should have listened to him, but at the time I decided he was being a jealous cousin.
“Sure, Matt,” I assured him. “I’ll watch out for myself. But don’t worry, okay? Tina’s been great. She’s helping us with Mr. Talbert. In fact, she’s one of the nicest people I know.”
Man, I am so stupid!