It was Wednesday afternoon, and Amy, Colleen, and Kevin had just finished counting the votes. Amy had typed them up neatly, and as she walked down the hall to post them on the bulletin board, the loudspeaker crackled into life.
“Attention all students . . .” Amy recognized Mr. Dorman’s deep voice. “The National Weather Service has determined that road conditions are hazardous, and the scheduled basketball game with the Farmington Mountain Lions has been postponed. I repeat, there will be no basketball game tonight. That is all.”
Amy sighed as she reached the bulletin board and tacked up the latest contest results. There was clearly a new leader for Valentine’s Day Queen. Gail had a total of eighty-five votes, and Jessica, her closest competitor, had only twenty-three.
“Hey, Amy . . . are you going down to the Hungry Burger tonight?” Danny grinned as he approached the bulletin board from the opposite direction.
“I guess so. We always do when there’s no game. How about you?”
“I’ll be there. How’s the horse race coming?”
“Danny!” Amy laughed. “It’s not a horse race and you know it!”
Danny grinned. “Too bad it isn’t. I’d bet Gail to win.”
“I don’t think you could find anybody to take your bet. Brett’s been spending a lot of money buying her votes, and she’s way ahead of everyone else.”
Danny glanced at the list, and nodded. “You’re right. It’s pretty one-sided. But the rest of you are getting some votes.”
“Not enough to win. Jessica’s the closest with twenty-three, and Michele’s got nineteen. And then there’s Colleen with twelve.”
Danny raised his eyebrows. “Twelve? Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. We count the votes twice to make sure they’re right.”
“And she really got twelve?” Danny began to grin. “That’s great! Maybe I can stop spending my money on her.”
Amy was curious. “How much did you spend?”
“Five bucks. I didn’t want her to be the only girl without any votes. Do you have any idea who’s been voting for her?”
“Not really. I didn’t recognize the handwriting.”
Danny shrugged. “Oh, well. Whoever it is, I owe him one. I was getting tired of spending my hard-earned cash on this dumb contest.”
“Danny?” Amy turned to look up at him. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure, Amy. What is it?”
Amy began to blush. She hated to ask, but she really wanted to know. “I’ve got a total of five votes. Are you . . . uh . . . spending your money to buy me votes, so I won’t be embarrassed?”
Danny shook his head. “Not me. Don’t get me wrong, Amy. I would have written in your name, but I noticed that you were getting votes on your own.”
“Thanks . . . I think.” Amy laughed, and then she turned serious. “I wonder who’s voting for me.”
“I don’t know. Can’t you tell by his writing?”
Amy shook her head. “No. He always prints. Do you think you could ask around, without being too obvious about it?”
“Sure. But why do you want to know?”
“Well . . .” Amy hesitated. She was terribly embarrassed. “If I tell you, will you promise not to say anything to anyone else?”
Danny nodded. “I promise. Now tell me.”
“I don’t have a date for the dance. I was going to ask Brett, but he’s going with Gail, and I don’t know who else to ask. If I can find out who’s voting for me, I’m going to ask him.”
“That sounds like a risky proposition. It could be someone you don’t like.”
Amy shook her head. “I don’t think so. If he’s voting for me, I’ll probably like him.”
“He might be short, with zits and sweaty palms.”
“So?” Amy shrugged. “It’s like my grandmother used to say: Handsome is as handsome does. And it was very handsome of him to vote for me. Besides, it’s only for one night, and I really want a date for the dance.”
“He could be incredibly stupid. After all, he’s . . .”
“Voting for me!” Amy laughed as she finished the rest of his sentence. “Thanks a lot, Danny. After all that’s happened, I needed a laugh. But will you try to find out for me soon? It’s really important.”
Danny nodded, and started down the hallway. But before he got very far away, he turned back to grin at her. “If I can’t find out, and you really want a date, you can always ask me. I’m not taken.”
“Right.” Amy grinned back. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
As Danny disappeared around the corner, Amy’s grin faded, and she looked very thoughtful. It was a well-known fact that Danny never attended any of the Senior class dances. He’d told Colleen that it was because he was older, and it would bore him to tears to sip ginger ale from a paper cup, and dance around the gym with a girl who was still in high school. When Danny had said that she could ask him to the dance, he’d certainly been kidding . . . hadn’t he?
Cat frowned as he rummaged in his locker for a missing library book. He’d cleaned out his locker at Christmas break, but it was a mess again. There were piles of papers on the floor, and his books were no longer arranged in alphabetical order by author as they’d been at the start of the year. Now that Karen was dead, a little thing like an organized locker just didn’t seem to matter anymore.
He managed to locate the library book, mashed in the corner, under an old pair of sneakers. He pulled it out, dusted it off on the sleeve of his jacket, and frowned. There was only one section of his locker that was still neat and clean, and he’d hidden it from prying eyes. He glanced around, checking to make sure the halls were deserted, and then he removed the large three-ring binder that blocked the top shelf.
“Karen.” Cat sighed as he stared at her photograph. It was an eight-by-ten print that the school photographer had taken last year. He’d framed it, and now it was propped up on the top shelf of his locker, surrounded by a circle of the pretty white, vanilla-scented candles she’d loved so much.
Something glittered in the center of the ring, and Cat smiled as he fingered the thin gold chain holding the half-heart pendant. Perhaps his locker wasn’t the best place to keep it.
Cat picked it up, and wondered if he should wear it around his neck. No, that would be much too dangerous. If anyone spotted it, they might guess that he’d killed Tanya.
“You understand about the heart, don’t you, Karen?”
Cat smiled as he said the words. Karen had always loved puzzles, and the half heart was a puzzle that no one else would be able to solve. It was a symbol for the way that Tanya had broken Karen’s heart by gossiping about her. When Cat had finished taking Karen’s revenge, he intended to bury the half-heart pendants with her. But Karen’s revenge was far from over, and he had to find a safe place to store the charm.
His backpack was sitting on top of his locker, and Cat grinned as he remembered the pocket inside. It was intended for pens and pencils, but it was a perfect hiding place for the pendant. He opened the backpack, unzipped the pocket, and slipped the other half of Tanya’s pendant inside. He’d carry it with him to remind himself that his work was far from finished.
“They posted the results of the contest, Karen. Now that Tanya’s dead, Gail’s in the lead with eighty-five points, and everyone’s sure she’s going to win. Is Gail the right girl for queen?”
Cat listened, but of course the photograph didn’t speak. Karen’s smile was frozen in time, forever young and forever beautiful. As he studied her lovely image, a cold draft seemed to emanate from the depths of the locker, and he shivered with anticipation.
“Is that you, Karen? Are you with me?”
Cat shut his eyes, and tried to be perfectly receptive. He felt that Karen was with him, but she still hadn’t spoken to him. Perhaps she never would. They hadn’t seemed to feel the need to speak when Karen was alive. They’d sat close together, perfectly silent, their minds on the same wavelength. On most occasions, he’d known exactly what Karen had been thinking.
“Karen . . . you’ve got to let me know. Was Gail one of the girls who hurt you?”
Cat frowned as he tried to remember everything Karen had told him on the night she’d cried in his arms. He was almost sure she hadn’t mentioned Gail by name, but perhaps Karen hadn’t known exactly who her enemies had been.
“This is very important, Karen. Do you want me to test Gail to see if she’s worthy to be the Valentine’s Day Queen?”
Cat listened intently, but there was nothing to hear. There was silence, broken only by distant and indistinct murmuring from the classroom down at the end of the hall.
“Please, Karen. I’ve got to know what you want.” Cat’s voice was shaking with intensity. “If you can’t speak to me, try to give me a sign.”
As Cat stood there, trembling, another icy draft swirled around his feet. And then a door slammed across the hall with a bang that made him jump. Cat hurried to the closed door, and peered through the glass pane at the empty classroom inside. No one had been near the door to slam it.
It must have been a sign from Karen.
“Yes, my darling Karen . . . I understand.”
Cat walked back across the hall, and took down Karen’s photograph. He smiled at her lovely image, gently touched his lips to hers, and replaced it on the shelf. Then he put the three-ring binder back in place and closed and locked his locker. He was smiling as he headed back to the library with the missing book. Karen had broken through the barrier between the dead and the living to give him a sign. That meant she was pleased with what he was doing to keep her memory alive in his heart.
Several students nodded to him as he walked back into the library. He was well-liked at school. He saw Amy, sitting at a table in the back of the room, and he was almost tempted to join her. Amy was a nice person, not like the others, but he walked past with a smile. He had work to do, and he had to be alone.
Cat sat down at a small table in the front, which was so close to the librarian that most students avoided it. Then he opened his notebook and began to plan out the rest of his day. He had to devise a test for Gail, a fair test that would tell him what sort of person she really was.
If she passed, he would let her be queen.
But if she failed, he would arrange another accident that would take her out of the contest.
For good.
Amy and Colleen pushed open the glass door to the Hungry Burger, and a blast of noise assaulted their ears. It was the after-school hangout for the whole Senior class, and every booth was taken.
“Oh-oh.” Amy began to frown. “I guess we should have gotten here earlier.”
Colleen nodded. And then she smiled as someone in the back of the crowded room began to wave frantically. “It’s okay. Jessica and Michele have that big booth in the back, and they saved a place for us.”
Amy was smiling as she followed Colleen through the crowd, but her smile changed to a frown the moment she saw who else was sharing the booth. Kevin was there, and that was fine, but Gail and Brett were huddled together in the farthest corner.
“Amy . . . come on.” Colleen grabbed her hand and pulled her forward as Amy hesitated. “Don’t let them know that they bother you. That way you win, and they lose.”
“Huh?” Amy was clearly puzzled. “You’re not making any sense, Colleen. Where did you hear a dumb thing like that!?”
Colleen shrugged. “My mother. She’s just as bad as yours, in a way. Mine has crazy sayings, and yours has crazy diets.”
“That’s true.” Amy sighed. “I don’t know how much longer my dad’s going to put up with this one. She started him on tofu and bottled water this morning. It’s supposed to clean all the poisons out of his system, or something like that.”
Danny came up just in time to hear Amy’s comment. “I really feel for your father. Have you ever tried tofu? It tastes like milk Jell-O.”
“That’s exactly what Dad said. He dumped it in the ivy plant while Mom wasn’t looking.”
“It’ll probably die of lack of nutrition.” Colleen started to frown. “Why doesn’t your dad put his foot down and tell her he wants a real breakfast?”
“He loves her, and he understands that she’s just concerned about his health. And he knows it’s only a matter of time before she switches him to a new diet.”
Danny nodded. “I guess you have to compromise if you want a marriage to work. But in the meantime, what does your dad do for food?”
“We stop at Dunkin’ Donuts every morning. Mrs. Beeseman always has a hot cinnamon bun ready for Dad. He never eats lunch, so that’s okay, but then he has to come home to whatever Mom decides is a healthy dinner.”
Danny looked thoughtful. “Why don’t you print up a fake fad diet?”
“A what?”
“A fad diet, just like the ones your mother follows. Make a list of all your father’s favorite foods and write down some great-sounding reasons why he should eat them. Your mom’ll never know the difference.”
Amy began to smile. “That’s really a good idea . . . and it might just work. But how do I get Mom to fall for it?”
“Send it to her through the mail. Make up some catchy title like the Fit and Trim Nutritional Guide.”
“I could do that. But what do I use for a return address? I can’t give my own.”
Danny thought for a moment, and then he grinned. “Call yourself the Y.M.A. Nutritional Council. That stands for your name spelled backward, and it sounds legitimate. And make up a fake post office box in New York City.”
“But isn’t that cheating?”
“I guess it is, in a way.” Colleen shrugged. “But we learned about well-balanced diets in Home Economics class, and we probably know more about nutrition than the people who make up those other diet sheets.”
“You’re right, and I’ll do it.” Amy grinned at them. “You guys are terrific . . . you know that?”
“Of course we do.” Danny nodded, and then he put his arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Amy. Let’s go sit down.”
Amy was smiling as she approached the booth. Danny’s arm felt good around her shoulders, and the sight of Brett and Gail, cuddling in the corner, didn’t bother her nearly as much as it had before.