CHAPTER 10

The Ultimate Test

The next morning, I sneak downstairs and put the two completely finished Secret Keepers into a small metal box with a lid that locks shut. I may have had to empty out some of my mum’s business-looking stuff, but I needed something that looks official.

Charlie is already waiting in the courtyard. I can tell he’s nervous, because when Mister and I get to him, he starts to share a fact about volcanoes.

“Volcanoes can reach —”

“It’s okay,” I interrupt, opening the lid so he can see the Secret Keepers. "I have the Secret Keepers right here, just like we planned."

Charlie takes one out, and I can tell he's even more impressed than last time he saw them. "The Emmas aren't going to kill you!" he says.

“And we’re gonna be rich!” I answer.

“Win-win!” says Mister, and we all run the rest of the way to school, getting there way before the bell. When we arrive at the front door, Principal Webb is holding it open for all the students.

“Good morning, friends,” she says, even though I’m 100 percent sure we’re not friends. “What do you have in the box, Wednesday?”

“Oh, it’s just something for sharing with the class,” I tell her, which is not completely a lie.

“Is it alive?” she asks nervously.

“Far from it!” I answer. I learned my lesson after the caterpillar incident last year.

“Is it … dead?” she asks quietly.

“Don’t worry, Principal Webb,” says Charlie. “There’s nothing in that box that will cause any trouble.”

“Thank you, Charlie,” she says. “That’s a relief.” Then she greets some other students, and we walk away as fast as we can. We meet up with Amina and hurry off to class.

“Good luck!” Mister calls after us.

Things are already looking up today, because we have five minutes to spare before the first bell. Amina looks at both Secret Keepers for one suited for the Emmas and decides on the one called Rumor Rescue. She places it on Emma M.’s desk. Then we wait.

It’s not long before Emma M. enters the classroom, followed by Ruby and the other Emmas. She’s wearing a heart-shaped bandage on her cheek. She means business. Charlie and I watch as Emma M. picks up the book and examines it. She holds it up to the light and looks at it, turns it over in her hand and taps on it with her fingernail.

Ruby looks from Emma M. to me to Charlie to Amina, and back to me. Even she looks nervous. I see a glimmer of the old Ruby, but then it fades away really fast.

“I don’t get it,” Emma M. says. “Why do you think I would read some weird old book? You are officially in so much troub—”

“Open it!” says Ruby.

Emma M. opens the book slowly, as if something inside is going to jump out at her. When she realizes it’s hollow, a huge smile spreads across her face. Well, huge for an Emma, so basically one corner of her mouth turns up.

“But,” says Emmet, “does it actually work?”

Work?! I can’t believe I didn’t test the Secret Keeper! What kind of an entrepreneur doesn’t test her product?

Emma A. hands a note to the bandaged-faced Emma M. “I was thinking that exact same thing,” says Emma M. as she reopens the cover.

Amina shuts her eyes, and Charlie shifts from foot to foot. I cross my fingers behind my back.

Emma M. places the note in the hollowed-out part of the book, directly in the center. Then she closes the book. I hold my breath. The cover stays shut, with the note safely inside.

I want to high-five Charlie and Amina in slow motion.

Emma M. strokes her bandage and passes the Secret Keeper to Ruby for inspection. The first bell is due any second, and so is Ms. Gelson. The classroom starts filling up with people, and they crowd around us, asking a million questions.

Everyone falls silent as Ruby turns the book over. She places it on a stack of other books, and you’d never know it’s a Secret Keeper.

“It’s pretty good,” Ruby says. Then I swear she winks, but it’s so fast that I can’t tell.

“Let me try!” says Emmet, snatching the book away from her. “I knew I needed one of these.”

“Is that the only Secret Keeper?” asks Emma N.

“We have a whole selection of Secret Keepers ready for manufacturing,” I tell the crowd, passing around the other prototype. “They’re two dollars each to preorder, for a limited time only.” I heard that last part on a TV commercial but had no idea how well it would work. Everyone is pushing their way to the front to get a look.

“I don’t have any money, Wednesday!” says Adam.

“Didn’t you bring your money for the field trip?” says Althea, rummaging through her bag. She hands me two dollars, and Charlie writes her name down on the preorder list.

Then everyone starts searching their bags for the field-trip money their parents gave them. People left, right and center are giving me their money. Just before Ms. Gelson walks in the door, we have an order for every kid in the class, even the other Emmas! Then the second bell rings.

“Take your seats, everyone,” Ms. Gelson says, looking over at Charlie, who is standing there in shock. I’m telling you, this couldn’t have gone any better. I’m really cut out for this business stuff, I think to myself as I look at our money pile in my desk. I count forty-two dollars. Once we have a bunch of satisfied customers stashing their secrets, more orders will pour in. We’re officially in business, and nothing can stop us now!