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When I reached the athletic field, Tatiana used the branches of the shrubs like a diving board, bouncing off the end then dashing about. Good thing no one was around.
Malachite tracked her progress and then pounced—missing her. I’d worry about Malachite hurting her, but it was a game for them both.
Moments later, Mallory rushed around the corner. Tatiana waved at Mallory and zoomed off. She became a sparkly glint moving through the sky.
“Hey Mallory, can I ask you something?”
She joined me on the wall. “Sure.”
Heat crept up my neck. “Before I understood about not hurting people, I wrote one more journal entry. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“What did you write?”
I bit my cheek. “That I wanted my folks to get back together so we could be a family again. I didn’t think about it hurting Holly.” My cheeks turned hot and the memory of the panther haunted me because it wasn’t exactly true. I didn’t care that it would hurt Holly.
Mallory pinched the tip of her chin, which she always did when puzzling something through. “I think it depends on how you wrote the message. What exactly did you say?”
I grabbed my backpack and reached inside for the journal. Huh, it wasn’t where I thought. I rummaged a bit more. I didn’t see it.
Panicked, I dumped the contents of the bag on the ground.
“Angela, what’s wrong?”
I spread the books out. “The journal. It’s not here.”
Opening each book, I shook it to make sure the slim journal wasn’t somehow trapped in the middle. “How can it be gone?”
Mallory squatted and helped me look through each book.
“Where did it go, Mallory?” I slumped against the wall, tears ready to fall.
Tatiana returned with an armful of flowers to weave in our hair.
“Not now, T. We have a situation.” Mallory handed me the books to put in the pack.
“What’s the matter, M?” Tatiana landed on her leg.
“Angela’s journal is missing and we’re trying to figure out where she lost it.”
Tatiana sat in a single fluid motion and laid the flowers on Mallory’s leg. “Is that the book the big girl who is always picking on you wanted?”
Mallory and I exchanged a look. Cynthia wanted the book. She thought it was suspicious. What if she took it? But when?
Glasses sliding down her nose, Mallory shook her head. “Forget about that for a minute.” She pushed the glasses back in place. “Think about where you’ve been today and when you last knew for sure you had the journal.”
I cast my mind back. Definitely had it through the heat wave and after the boiler blew. I didn’t look at it in Fine Arts, so no help there. English class. Seeing Glimrick knocked everything out of my head. But I didn’t see him until the end of class time. Did I do anything with the journal before I saw Glimrick?
I rubbed my forehead with my knuckles. Think. I closed my eyes and imagined walking through the door. My disappointment with not seeing Mrs. Clark, getting called out by Mr. Farber for putting my head on the desk, and ... wait.
I rubbed my thumb against my fingertips, remembering the feel of the leather cover. My eyes flew open. “I had it in English before I saw Glimrick.”
Mallory nodded. “Okay, what about after lunch?”
I mentally went through each class and shook my head. “Nope. I never looked for it until just now.”
“Was there any place it could have fallen out?”
A tiny bubble of hope sprang up. “Let me think.” Tears welled as I mentally went through the afternoon again. “I’ve got nothin’.”
Hanging around the athletic field wasn’t going to help us find the book, so we began the walk home. Tatiana still wanted to adorn Mallory with flowers.
“T, why don’t you save those and make a bouquet for your new house?”
“Oooh. I like that idea.” She clapped her hands.
On the street in front of the school, a car sped down past and my nose wrinkled in disgust from the exhaust. They must have been doing fifty in a school zone ... someone could get hurt.
“T, take cover.” Mallory raised her hand to give Tatiana a landing pad.
The bouquet in T’s hands reminded me. “What house?”
She snapped her fingers. “I forgot I didn’t tell you. I’ve taken my old doll house, the one my dad and I built together, and cleared it out. T and I are designing a house for her. It needs a few alterations, but otherwise it’s perfect.”
“We’re even going to put working lights in it.” Tatiana ran up to her hiding place.
They had bonded and I felt a twinge of jealousy. Mallory had someone to share things with now, and I didn’t. Maybe when my parents got back together they’d give me a sibling. Having a younger brother or sister would be cool. A low growl from Malachite reminded me and guilt churned in my stomach. I had forgotten the hurt to Holly again.
“What am I gonna do, Mallory?”
“I don’t know whether there’s anything you can do, Angela. If you had the journal, you could try to reverse what you wrote.”
“But that hasn’t worked before.” I couldn’t get my mind off the what am I gonna do track.
“I know, but you’d have to try. Without the journal, it’s impossible. We need to find it.”
I was glad of the we in her statement. I couldn’t do it without her.
After we left the school grounds, Cynthia jumped out from behind a brick wall and stopped us. “Missing something, Be-Ash?”
“Nothing I need from you.” I pushed past her.
“Think again.” Cynthia hurled the words at my back.
I turned and saw my journal clutched in her dirty paws. “That’s mine.” The words tore from my throat in a growl.
She smirked. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
“Not when you steal it.” My arms went rigid.
“Don’t worry, once I’m done laughing myself sick over what’s inside, I’ll black out your name, tear out the pages and burn them.”
“Cynthia, please give me the journal.”
“Or ...?” She arched one eyebrow. “If the pages are funny enough, I’ll take pics of them and post them on the internet. Maybe with a few comments thrown in.”
I pulled my arm back.
“Go ahead, Angela.” She made a come-on motion with her hand. “Hit me so I can pulverize you. I’ll be able to say you hit me first, and I won’t get in any trouble.”
Mallory grabbed my arm. “Just leave it for now.”
Cynthia threw her head back and laughed. Then stopped short and narrowed her eyes. “Listen to her Ash-Can and leave it. This book is mine now, and you won’t be able to do anything about it.”
I buried my face in my hand. Anger burned white-hot inside. How could I walk away knowing Cynthia had the journal?
“Oh, just so you know ... Mrs. Clark is facing the committee tonight, so they can kick her off the staff and take away her teaching credentials.”
Cynthia’s jeering laugh cut me like knives.
“She’ll learn she shouldn’t have touched me.”
Anger rose from my stomach to my head in a rush. My fingers curled into fists.
A growl rose from the base of my throat.
Mallory dropped my arm and grabbed me around the middle.
I launched myself at Cynthia.
We fell to the ground.
Cynthia’s laugh rang out. “You two are pathetic.”
I craned my head up, but only saw her legs as she walked away. “Get off me, Mallory.”
“Are you going after her?” Her voice muffled against my back.
“No.”
Mallory rolled off and sat on the ground.
I pulled myself up. “Why’d you stop me?” Rubbing a hand over my face, I brushed my hair back.
Before answering, Mallory climbed to her feet and held out her hand. I grabbed it and she helped pull me up. We started toward home again.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Cynthia lately and why she is so mean. And I think she’s lonely.”
“Ha. Lonely?” If she was trying to make friends, she needed to get a clue ... badly.
“Think about it, Angela. She never hangs out with anyone else. She always eats lunch alone. The only time she talks to other kids is when she’s picking on them.”
Mallory was right. She didn’t ever hang out with anyone. The only exception was Billy, but even then, she didn’t hang out with him. She joined him in picking on kids and when they were done, they went their separate ways.
“But don’t you think she’d try to be nice instead of bullying someone into being her friend?” I didn’t become friends with Mallory by walking up and slugging her. I asked her if she wanted to be my friend.
She shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t know how.”
How hard could it be? Who didn’t know how to make a friend? A rock lay on the sidewalk. I kicked it and watched it careen down the street, rolling on to the greenway as it slowed to a stop.
“Well, I don’t care. She’s mean and I don’t like her. I just need to get the journal back.”
“But if we know what drives Cynthia, we’ll have a better chance of getting it back.”
Tatiana poked her head through Mallory’s hair. “If you get me close enough to Cynthia, I could put a spell on her and make her give it back.”
I forgot that Tatiana could do magic. “That’s fantastic, T.”
“No magic. We already talked about this.”
“But Mallory, we have to get it back. Think about Cynthia reading it. What if she figures out how the journal works?” My arms flailed through the air. “I mean, look at the damage I did with it, and I meant good things ... mostly.”
She patted my back. “We’ll get it back, Ange. We’re not gonna let her win.”
Her last words were said with a hostility I never expected, but I still wanted to do something about it now. “Mal, think about how you’d feel if she stole T. Wouldn’t you do anything you could to get her back?”
“Of course I’d get her back, but I’d do it the same way.”
Although, if I didn’t get the journal back right away, my parents would get back together, and I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about hurting Holly, because it was out of my hands now.
Malachite nipped at my ankle. Did the cat have the ability to read my mind? I snorted at the thought.
“Angela, I know we don’t have time to make friends with her. We have to get the journal back as soon as possible.” Mallory stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. “But let’s try getting it from her tomorrow by watching her, just the same way she watched us today. Then, if that doesn’t work, I’ll let T use magic.”
“Yippee.” Mallory’s hair bounced as Tatiana jumped up and down on her shoulder.
My face scrunched up in thought. “Can’t I just tell my mom Cynthia stole it and have her get it back?”
“I don’t know. It might not be a good idea.” Mallory tilted her head to one side. “What if Cynthia denies she took it? You saw her parents. They think she’s telling them the truth. And what if Cynthia got spooked and destroyed the journal. Who knows what would happen then? We have to be careful.”
She was right. I just wanted to go to Cynthia’s house, rip the journal out of her hands, and run.
Why did things have to be so complicated?
We reached Mallory’s house and T slipped under her hair. She looked at me with the sun winking off her glasses. “You think of ways to distract Cynthia so we can get the journal back, and I will too. We’ll come up with something. Chat tonight?”
I nodded. “See ya.”
Even though I still let myself into an empty house, Mom would be home soon. She’d be bubbling over about her new job and I wouldn’t be alone for hours at night. Things were feeling more normal at home.
Could Mallory be right about Cynthia? She bullied because she was lonely and didn’t know how to make friends? Not that it mattered, because I wasn’t going to be the one to teach her how to behave like a human being.
Her parents were odd, too. I tried to image my mom sitting there staring straight ahead and not showing any emotion and utterly failed. Both my parents would want to know what I had done to provoke the teacher. And if they felt I had been wrongly accused, they’d argue with the administration. But no way would my mom say, ‘my poor baby’ without reaching out to touch me ... or at least look at me.
When I described how Cynthia tripped Mallory, neither one of her parents looked at her. Mine would have given me a glare to end all glares. I’d have wanted to sink through the floor.
Climbing the stairs, I tried to remember what homework I had left. I didn’t know how I’d be able to concentrate, but hopefully I’d be able to knock them out before Mom got home.
Unwinding my headphones from my mp3 player, I stuck the buds in my ears and turned it on.
