Over the next few days, Sophie was more and more sure she was right about Kitty’s concentrating on Nathan and not God. When the Corn Flakes met before school and between classes and during lunch, and even when they got together outside of school to rehearse for filming their movie — Secret Agents at the Ball — all Kitty could talk about was her “boyfriend.”
“If he’s your boyfriend,” Fiona said to Kitty on Thursday in the hall, “why aren’t you ever with him?”
“I’m with him!” Kitty said. Sophie wasn’t surprised to hear Kitty’s voice winding up as she continued. “We talk on the phone every night, and he writes me notes, and this Sunday my family and his family are going to the beach.”
“But that’s not really a date,” Maggie said.
“So?” Kitty folded her arms up under her green poncho. “We’re still going to be together.”
“Just don’t be holding hands or any of that,” Darbie said.
Kitty turned a guilty red, like she’d already been considering it. The very thought made Sophie’s own palms go sweaty. Ew, she thought.
But at least Kitty’s liking Nathan wasn’t as bad as Anne-Stuart and B.J. going after Jimmy Wythe. The day of the spelling bee in Mr. Denton’s class, B.J. actually shoved Anne-Stuart into a bookcase so she could stand next to Jimmy.
Sophie tried not to grin too big at Fiona when B.J. missed the first word Mr. Denton gave her, which obviously happened because B.J. was so busy playing with the belt loops on Jimmy’s khakis that she didn’t even think about it.
“Opportunity without the t,” Fiona whispered to Sophie. “How could she make a lame mistake like that?”
When B.J. had to sit down, Anne-Stuart wasted no time in getting as close to Jimmy as she could, whispering who-knew-what into his ear, while on the other side of Jimmy, Ross and Ian — the moon-faced twins — both looked like they were going to explode if they weren’t allowed to laugh soon. Jimmy’s cheeks practically turned purple, Sophie noted. Mine would too if Anne-Stuart was that close to ME with her drippy nose, she thought. Sophie didn’t blame him for misspelling his next word so he could get away from her.
I think “B.J.” stands for “Boy Jumper,” Sophie thought. As soon as the bell rang, B.J. was on Jimmy’s trail, unzipping his backpack and sticking a note inside.
Even if I liked Jimmy as much as she does, Sophie told herself, WHICH I DON’T — I wouldn’t be all in his space all the time.
In Ms. Quelling’s class, when Jimmy said hi to Sophie on the way to his table, she ducked behind Traditional Spanish Food — after she smiled back.
It was Friday morning before Sophie noticed that Darbie was being unusually quiet. When Maggie had to tell her twice that the bell had just rung and she needed to get to class, Darbie said that she hadn’t heard it. But when Darbie didn’t go to the restroom with the Corn Flakes between first and second periods — which she always did — Sophie got the feeling that she was keeping something from them.
“Does anybody know what’s wrong with Darbie?” she said from her stall.
“Is something wrong with Darbie?” Kitty said from the next one.
Fiona was at the sink washing her hands. “How would you notice, Kitty? All you do is look at Nathan all the time.”
Kitty’s giggle bounced off the tile walls. “He’s cute!”
“Yeah, we know,” Fiona said. “You have it written all over your notebooks.”
“Does she really, Maggie?” Sophie said.
“Maggie’s not here,” Fiona said. “She already left.”
“Without US?” Kitty said.
Come to think of it, Sophie mused, Maggie has been acting funny too. But not nervous-strange like Darbie. More like sad-strange.
As they headed for the social studies room, Sophie wondered if Maggie was strange because Darbie and Sophie and Fiona were all going to Bible study and she wasn’t. Sophie slipped into their table just as the bell rang and leaned over to Maggie in the chair next to her.
“Do you want to start going to Bible study with us on Tuesdays?” she said. “It’s way cool. I bet your mom would let you.”
Maggie looked up from the back of the notebook she was doodling on and gave Sophie a droopy-eyed smile. “I’ll ask,” she said.
Sophie was pretty sure Maggie wasn’t cheered up.
At lunch Sophie wolfed down her peanut butter and pickle sandwich and watched Maggie push her red beans and rice around in their container and then pass it on to Harley.
“Those guys are watching us,” Kitty said.
“What guys?” Fiona said.
Kitty pointed to a table on the other side of the Corn Pops, where Jimmy, Nathan, and Vincent immediately lowered their heads and examined their milk cartons.
“Check out the Corn Pops,” Fiona said. “They thought Jimmy was looking at them.”
Anne-Stuart and B.J. were giggling and going blotchy red. Even Julia rolled her eyes at the boys’ table, although she quickly returned her attention to Colton, who was sitting next to her, tying her ponytail in a knot.
“If anybody else did that, she’d deck them,” Fiona said. “Right, Darbie?”
“Huh?” Darbie said.
“I knew you weren’t paying attention.” Fiona drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “All right — what’s up with you? Come on, you have to tell us. We’re your best friends.”
“Sophie, I believe we have a date.”
Sophie jumped, nearly knocking Ms. Quelling’s soda can out of her hand. Sophie had forgotten she had lunch detention for daydreaming in class that day.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sophie said.
She got up and whispered to Fiona behind her backpack, “Find out what’s wrong with Darbie.”
Although Sophie had to sit in Ms. Quelling’s classroom for only fifteen minutes, it felt like seven hours before the bell rang and she darted out into the hall to meet Fiona and Kitty.
“What did you find out?” Sophie said.
“Nothing!” Kitty, of course, whined.
“She said we’d be mad at her if she told us,” Fiona said. “I said we’d be madder if she DIDN’T tell us, but she still wouldn’t spill it.” She nudged Sophie with her elbow. “I bet she would have if you’d been there.”
“Go talk to her, Soph,” Kitty said.
“Where is she?” Sophie said, heading farther up the hallway at a faster pace.
“Look in the arts room — she SO didn’t want to be around us,” Fiona said. “She’s acting like Kitty before she told us about Nathan — ”
“Not Darbie!” Sophie called over her shoulder. “She’s the one that came up with the pact in the first place!”
“I know what’s wrong with Darbie.”
Sophie turned around. Corn Pop Willoughby stood there, talking out of a small hole she made in the side of her mouth.
“I heard y’all talking,” Willoughby said. “I know why Darbie thinks you’ll be mad at her.”
Sophie’s thoughts flipped back and forth. Listen to her, because you need all the information you can get. Don’t listen to her, because she’s a Corn Pop. Listen to her. Don’t listen to her.
Willoughby grabbed Sophie’s wrist and pulled her toward the wall. The rest of the sixth graders surged past them. “Ross told me that Ian said that Darbie told him not to tell anybody because all her friends would be mad at her.”
Sophie shook her head while she tried to sort that out. “Tell what?” she said.
“That she’s going to the dance with Ian.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-huh. I know because I’m going with Ross, and he knows because Ian is his twin brother. Well, you knew that.”
Sophie stared at Willoughby, whose very round hazel eyes quickly surveyed the crowd behind them. She drew in closer.
“Don’t tell Julia and them that I’m going with Ross, okay? They think he’s a geek, and they’ll be telling me that every minute.” She tightened her mouth hole. “I don’t think I care what they think anymore, but I can’t tell them that. You know how mean they can be.”
But the Corn Pops were the farthest thing from Sophie’s mind.
Finding Darbie — that was the only thing she could think about.