Kiara is right. I don’t believe she’s got this figured out. I take a pecan cookie from the bag and lean back in my chair. “Okay. So tell me.”
She moves to sit cross-legged on her bed and composes herself. She presses her hands together under her chin like she’s praying.
“You’re going to do yoga?” I ask.
She laughs. “No.” But she takes a deep yoga-type breath before giving me a sideways look. “You might not like it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s sort of tricky. Like the coyote.”
I have a bad feeling about this. “Just tell me already.”
“Okay. So what I want to do is make two copies of the quiz. One for Omar and one for Liam. Then we’ll put them in an envelope with a letter that says this is a chance to earn extra marks. For Career and Personal Planning.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Wait. There’s more.” Her eyes are huge. “Then we’ll sneak the envelopes onto their desks.”
“Ummm…”
Kiara holds up a hand. “And obviously, we don’t want them to give these back to Ms. Kalkat.”
“Obviously.”
“So the letter will instruct them each to hand in the completed quiz at the office. To Mrs. Peebles.”
Mrs. Peebles is the ancient office secretary. She’s often confused. Sometimes she forgets to turn off the school PA system, and we hear her singing. It’s always the same song. “Old MacDonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O…” Personally, I think she’s trying to tell us something.
“And how do you get the quizzes back from Mrs. Peebles?” I ask. I’m pretending to go along with this plan. But the more I hear, the more I hate it.
“Glad you asked. Mrs. Peebles likes you, Jane.”
It’s true. I was in the office one time when she broke into song. I sang along with her. “So?”
“So I was thinking. You could go to her. Tell her you’re doing an extra project. She’ll believe it because you’re an overachiever. You could tell her it’s an anonymous survey to see how many people will complete an anonymous survey.”
I glare at Kiara. “You want me to lie to Mrs. Peebles?”
She rolls her eyes. “It won’t hurt her or anything. All you have to do is go back later and ask her for them. And, voilà!” She watches me eagerly. Like she thinks I’m going to be impressed.
I take a bite of my cookie and try to decide where to start. “So. Let me get this straight. You want to trick the guys into doing the quiz. Then you want me to trick Mrs. P. And nowhere in this so-called plan do I see you doing the quiz. With them.”
Her nose wrinkles. “I can’t do that.”
“Wasn’t that the whole point? You do the quiz with them. So you get to know each other?”
She waves her hands. “No, no, no! That’s only for that professional thing you have. For Sherry. There’s no way I can get up the nerve to ask them. But I want to see what they’re like.”
I pick up the list of questions we wrote. I feel like tearing it up. One question in particular stands out. I read it aloud. “How important is honesty in a relationship?”
Kiara blinks. “What?”
“This question. You wanted it on the list. So I’m asking you. How would you answer that one, Kiara?”
She turns pink. “Jane. It’s only a quiz. I’m not hurting anyone.”
“But you obviously expect them to think honesty is important. And me too. And you’re asking me to lie for you? You know I won’t do that.” It’s true. With Sherry, I’ve seen how much damage lies can cause.
She looks away. Her chin is trembling. “Jane, come on. You’re taking this too seriously. And how often do I ask you for a favor? Hardly ever.”
“No?” I scoff. “You asked me to help you with this quiz.”
Her chin goes up. “Yeah. And you said you would. Now you want to go back on your word?”
I open my mouth to tell her that was before I found out I had to lie. But I snap my mouth shut as I get an idea. A coyote idea. One that might fix this whole thing. My idea would mean no boyfriend troubles for Kiara. And it would teach her a lesson about honesty. It’s about time I stood up for myself.
I fold the sheet of questions and slide it into my pack. “Fine. I’ll help you. I’ll take this home and get it ready tonight.”
She squeals and leaps off the bed. “Yes! Thank you!” She wraps me in a hug. “Omigod, this is sooo exciting.” She bounces up and down. “You’re the best bestie ever, Jane.”
I have to agree. Friends don’t let friends be fools.