Fabulous Five 016 - The Hot-Line Emergency (7 page)

On Monday morning, Christie gathered up her books and headed
for school. She felt much better after The Fabulous Five meeting the day
before. Maybe, just maybe, the caller wasn't Jon. She crossed her fingers. With
the help of her friends, she should know before long.

After her friends had left, she had thought and thought
about the caller's saying he was going to tell everyone that she was dumb. How
would he do that? He certainly wouldn't stand up in the cafeteria and announce
it. Would he sneak in early and put a poster up in school? No, someone might
see him do that. Would he spray-paint it on a school wall? Possibly.

It wasn't long before Christie knew the answer to her
question. She was still several blocks from school when she passed a fence
where a bunch of elementary school kids were standing. The fence had been spray
painted with big red letters, and a chill ran up Christie's spine as she read
what the letters spelled out:

Christie Winchell is dumb.

The sight of the message blazoned there for all the world to
see made Christie feel numb with shock. She desperately wanted to wipe it off,
but she knew it was hopeless.

Well, he's getting less original, she thought as she turned
away and headed for Wakeman. I'll have to tell him that. It ought to make him
mad. She smiled to herself. For the first time, she felt as if she might know
how to take control of their conversations.

When The Fabulous Five met at their usual table in the
cafeteria during lunch period, Christie quizzed the others. No one had
discovered anything new.

"Finding a boy with an inferiority complex is like
trying to find a pencil when you need one," said Katie. "There's none
around."

"There's one thing that makes this whole thing more
complicated," said Jana. Everyone looked at her. "The fence where he
painted 'Christie Winchell Is Dumb' isn't near any of the other places where he
has done his tricks."

Christie nodded. They had to find out how the caller was
getting out at night long enough to make trips that were ten or fifteen miles
away in different directions.

A feeling of gloom had come over Christie as she headed for
her algebra class. Her hopes of finding the caller were starting to fade. She
had been so hopeful after their meeting on Sunday, and now it looked as if they
were as far from finding out who the mystery caller was and removing any
possible suspicion that it was Jon as they had been. She would have to tell Mr.
Snider about the phone call on Saturday night soon, and he would talk to Mr.
Bell, who would talk to assistant chief Markum. If the caller eventually turned
out to be Jon, he would be in big-time trouble.

She was also starting to dread working at the hotline center
on Tuesday evening. If the boy called again, would she be able to make him mad
enough to tell her something that would help them find out who he was? He
was
smart. He had caught on to her little traps before, and he might guess that she
was trying to make him mad on purpose. The whole thing was beginning to depress
her.

"Okay, class, listen up." Mr. Snider closed his
hook and walked around to the front of his desk. "I've got a special
project for you. I'd like for as many of you as possible to stay after school
tomorrow evening to work on some new math computer games that I've ordered for
the media center. We'd do it during regular class, but the center is tied up
then. The programs will be a big help in helping you understand the problems we've
been working on. I know you'll probably have to get permission from home, and
that's why I'm telling you early. Any questions?"

Kevin Walker-Noles raised his hand. "What if you can't
be there then? I have to take care of my brother after school."

"Good question. There will probably be a few people who
can't do it tomorrow. If you'll see me, we'll try and make arrangements for
another time. Any more questions? Fine. Class dismissed."

As everyone closed their books to leave, Christie heard
Curtis say to Whitney, "I bet I've got whatever computer game it is at
home."

"Me, too," Kevin said. "I've got just about
every television game there is, too."

"Do you have Nintendo?" Curtis asked Kevin.

"Sure. I've got Alpha Mission, Baseball, Invading
Balagool, all of them."

"Hey!" Curtis responded. "Do you have Top
Gun?"

"Sure," said Kevin, throwing out his chest and
bragging. "My parents buy me whatever ones I want. Top Gun's my favorite.
It's whammo! I like the low-level flying part best, going through the canyons
and everything. You want to come over sometime and play?"

"That'd be super," said Curtis excitedly. "I've
been dying to try it."

Christie watched as Curtis and Kevin left the room talking
about television and computer games. Forgotten, Whitney trailed along behind
them. Picking up her books, Christie headed for the school office.

"Hi, Christie," Miss Simone said as Christie
plunked her books down on the counter. "My, you look happy today."

"I am happy," Christie responded. "Miss
Simone, can I ask you a favor?"

"You've done so much for us, Christie, carrying things
home to your mother and back. What can I do for you?"

Christie told her, and Miss Simone did what she asked right
away.

"This is the plan," said Christie as the rest of
The Fabulous Five looked at the map she had spread out on the kitchen table in
the Winchell kitchen after school. Beth, Katie, Melanie, and Jana listened as
she explained what she had worked out.

"And you talked to Mr. Snider, and he said he'd go
along with it?" asked Katie.

Christie gave her a big smile and nodded so hard her blond
hair bounced up and down.

"It's brilliant," said Jana. "Just what I'd
expect from Christie Winchell."

"It's awesome," said Beth. "It would make a
great Sherlock Holmes play. I wonder if they'd let a girl play Holmes?"

"Darn! I really wanted to go and see Madame Zonga
again," said Melanie. "Now we don't have to."

Katie looked at Melanie. "I've got a suggestion. Why
don't you go and see her about which boy you should date? That way you won't
waste time on the wrong one."

Melanie's eyes lit up. "Hey, that's not a bad idea.
Maybe she can see if there are any other boys I should be paying attention to."

"That's not what I meant," said Katie.

"Do you guys think your parents will let you do it?"
Christie asked.

"I'll just tell them it's something The Fabulous Five
are doing," said Melanie. "They think you all are the greatest,
anyway." The others agreed it would be no problem at all.

Christie folded up the map after her friends had left and
smiled to herself. It hadn't taken much to get everything to fall in place. Now
that she knew who the mystery caller was, the trick was for her to
prove
it. To do that, she needed the help of her best friends and Mr. Snider.

Christie practically skipped down the halls the next day.
When she saw Jon between classes, she walked up behind him and put her arm
through his and walked him to his next class. The silly smile on his face made
her glad she had done it. She would definitely have a heart-to-heart talk with
him as soon as she had the hot-line problem straightened out.

In algebra class that afternoon, Mr. Snider reminded
everyone that the class was meeting after school for the special computer
project. There were four kids who couldn't be there, and he told them to meet
him after class, and he would make special arrangements for them to use the
programs.

After he dismissed the class, Christie called out, "Mr.
Snider, do we do the odd-numbered problems again?" He seemed not to hear
her.

Curtis said, "What else?" and the other kids
laughed.

Christie's stomach was doing flip-flops when she walked into
the homework hot-line center that evening. She felt as if the fate of the world
rested on her shoulders. For the first time she was actually hoping that the
mystery caller
would
call.

Tim Riggs waved, and Pam Wolthoff called out hello. Mr.
Snider was at his table at the back of the room grading papers. He looked up,
smiled his kindly smile, and gave her a big wink.

Christie went through her usual routine of sharpening
pencils and checking her books to make sure they were all there. She purposely
did her chores slowly and breathed deeply to keep down the excitement in her.
The worst thing she could do now was to get nervous and blow it.

Finally, she was ready. I wonder what he is really like, she
mused as she sat down at her cubicle. The only real contact she had had with
the boy was the few telephone calls, and she had learned very little about him.
Was he lonely and needed attention? Was that part of the reason he did the
things he was doing? What were his family and home life like? She thought she
was finally beginning to understand him a little, and what she knew made her
believe that it wasn't all his fault.

"RIINGG!"

Christie picked up the phone and turned so she could see Mr.
Snider. He nodded and picked up the phone on his desk delicately with two
fingers.

"This is the homework hot-line center, how may I help
you?" She drew in her breath, waiting for the response.

"Hi," came back a cheerful girl's voice. "I'm
having trouble with a paper I have to write for English, and I thought maybe
you could help me."

Christie let out the breath she hadn't realized she was
holding in. "What's the problem you're having?" she asked.

After she had helped the girl, Christie nervously rearranged
the things on her desk for something to do. The algebra book lying above her
pad of paper was hard to ignore. She moved it to one side.

The phone rang again. She looked quickly at Mr. Snider, who
picked up his phone.

"Homework hot-line center, how may I help you?"

"I need help with my Family Living homework." It
was a boy, but not the mystery caller. "On page fifty-six, there's a
problem about . . ." Christie grabbed for the Family Living textbook on
the shelf and pulled it down.

After two more calls, Christie felt exhausted from the
nervous tension of waiting. Wasn't he going to call? Everything was set up for
him. Is my plan going to be just a waste? she wondered. Has the caller found
out some way that I'm on to him? Christie looked back to see what Mr. Snider
was doing. He was away from his table and talking to Pam.

Christie had almost made up her mind that she wasn't going
to hear from the caller that evening when the phone rang again. "I need
help with problems five and nine in algebra," said the voice on the other
end of the phone.
It was him.

"Okay, let me get my book." She waved to Mr.
Snider, who had turned to look at her when the phone rang. He hurried back to
his place and carefully picked up the phone.

"You'll have to give me a minute to look at the
problems," Christie said. "My teacher assigned the even-numbered
problems, and I haven't looked at those."

"He did?" asked the caller.

Christie tried to sound as if she were half-listening to
him. "Umm, yes. Okay, I'm ready. What's your question?"

As usual, they worked the problems together easily. When
they were finished, he said, "I hope I didn't make you too angry."

"Angry?" she asked innocently.

"Come on, you know I'm the one who has been calling. I
wrote that thing about you on the fence. I guess I'm sorry I did it. You just
made me mad."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You said
you were real good at something. What is that?

He laughed. "Oh, no, you don't. You're trying to trap
me again, aren't you? I told you I was smart, too. You won't do it that easily."

"I didn't really expect to," Christie said,
smiling. When he had hung up, she turned to Mr. Snider, and he raised his hand,
making his thumb and forefinger into an
O
to show his approval. She
grinned at him. It looked as if her plan was working.

Christie's father pulled the car into the garage, and she
jumped out and ran into the house.

"Hi, sweetheart," her mother said as she came into
the kitchen. "How did it go? Did you get a call from that boy?"

"I'll tell you about it later, Mom," Christie
answered, kissing her on the cheek. "Got to hurry." She ran to her
room, tossed her books on her bed, and grabbed the phone.

"Jana?"

"Yeah." Jana's voice sounded excited. "It
went just the way you said it would. He came out of his house later than we
expected, but we followed him to Mr. Ice Cream on Broadway. He got a cone and
used the pay phone outside. Did he call you?"

"He sure did," said Christie, grinning from ear to
ear. "At five minutes after eight. Now all we need is the one last piece
of evidence."

After she had hung up from talking with Jana, Christie
suddenly felt sad. It was true, she had proved Jon wasn't the mysterious
caller, but what about the boy who was? She knew just a little bit about him,
and she would like to know more. Maybe it would help her understand why he was
doing these things. She thought about Jana and the troubles she had had with
Geena McNatt, and how when Jana found out more about Geena, it had changed her
feelings about her. There might just be a chance to help the caller rather than
get him into trouble.

Mr. Snider walked into algebra class the next day, and the
class fell silent. "Okay, everyone. Instead of waiting until the end of
class, I'd like you to turn in your homework right now." The kids started
digging through their notebooks and pulling out their papers and passing them
forward. Christie took the papers from Joel Murphy, who sat behind her, put
hers on top, and gave them to Dekeisha in front of her.

"Mr. Snider?" Marcie Bee raised her hand.

"Yes, Marcie?"

"I didn't understand how to work problem number five.
Could you show us how?"

Christie glanced at Kevin. He had a confused look on his
face.

"Certainly, Marcie," the teacher said. "It's
similar to problem number three. Were you able to solve that one?"

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Snider picked up a chalk. "Okay, let's go over
problems three and five."

A look of horror came over Kevin's face. He looked at Curtis
Trowbridge to whom he had just given his homework and then turned to look at
Christie. She knew that, because of what she had said the night before, Kevin
had done the even-numbered problems. He hadn't been able to stay after school
for the computer math games, and didn't know that Mr. Snider had assigned the
odd-numbered problems as usual. It was clear that Kevin knew he had been
caught. Christie and he stared at each other for a full minute before he
shrugged, smiled weakly and turned back to watch Mr. Snider.

"What's going to happen to Kevin?" asked Beth. The
Fabulous Five were sitting in their favorite booth at Bumpers.

"I think he'll be all right," answered Christie. "Of
course, Mr. Snider knew about Kevin's not being able to do anything in the
evenings because he had to take care of his little brother. That's why Kevin couldn't
be on the hot-line team. Mr. Snider and I had a long talk with Mr. Bell and
assistant police chief Markum. After that they called Kevin's parents, and they
had a big meeting with them. Mr. Snider told me that at first his mother and
father were very angry at Kevin, and then Mr. Snider and Mrs. Brenner started
questioning them. It turns out that Kevin does do some very important things.
Besides taking care of his little brother, who's five, he grocery shops for the
family, and even calls plumbers and other repair people when something needs
fixing around the house. He talks to his parents about it first, of course."

"You're kidding!"
said Katie. Her mouth
hung open in awe. "Why does he have to do all those things?"

Christie shrugged. "His parents work a lot and depend
on him to take care of things. The first time he called me, he said he made
things happen that are really important. I guess that's what he meant."
She shook the ice in her glass and drank the last of her cola. "His
parents both have big careers, and they hadn't realized that all Kevin was
doing was going to school and then going home to watch his brother and take
care of the house. He hasn't been able to do anything else at school or go over
to the other kids' houses in the evening. It's sad," she said, raising her
eyebrows. "I guess they thought all of the video and computer games would
entertain him."

"It was super that you found out from Miss Simone where
Kevin lives and had us waiting on our bikes to follow him. How did you know he'd
be going out at seven in the evening?" Melanie asked.

"He's smart, and I didn't think he'd make the calls
from his house. That's when his parents get home from work. They let him ride
his bike over to Mr. Ice Cream for a treat for taking care of things."

"Oh," said Jana. "And it made so much sense
when you drew the lines on the map between all the places where he had done
things, and they crossed like the spokes of a wheel within a couple of blocks
of where he lives."

"That's where
I
was the dummy," said Christie.
"It's a long way between some of the places, but if you start in the
middle, it's only half as far."

"Why did he call you at the center instead of Curtis,
Melissa, or Whitney?" asked Katie.

Christie blushed. "Mr. Snider said Kevin thought I was
nice and would listen to him. He wasn't sure the others would."

"So, what's going to happen?" asked Beth. "Is
he going to keep on buying groceries, taking care of his brother, and
everything?"

"When Kevin's parents realized that they were partly to
blame for what Kevin was doing, they were shook up. One of them is going to
come home early every evening, they're going to do the shopping on weekends,
and when he calls them about something that needs to be fixed, they'll take
care of it."

Katie ran her fingers through her red hair. "What about
the police?"

Christie shook her head. "Mr. Snider said that
assistant chief Markum doesn't want to have anything to do with it as long as
Kevin pays for the damage to Bumpers' door. He'd rather see Kevin understand
why he shouldn't have done what he did just to get attention than punish him.
Kevin is going to have to earn money to do it."

"So everything has turned out okay," said Jana.
Then she looked Christie in the eyes. "You're not going to take on Kevin
as your next project, are you?"

"I wouldn't call him a project," Christie said,
squirming in her seat. "But he does need a friend."

"Uh-oh. Here we go again," said Katie. "Mother
Christie to the rescue."

Christie was about to protest when her friends broke out in
laughter at her.

"Just teasing, Christie," said Jana.

"There's Jon," said Beth. "He's going out the
door."

"Oops! Excuse me," said Christie, getting up
quickly. "I've got to talk to him. Thanks for everything, guys," she
said, smiling.

She caught up with Jon before he rounded the first corner
and tucked her arm through his. "Can you walk me home?"

He grinned at her. "Sure."

"I was thinking," she said. "You know I don't
want to go steady with
anyone
right now." His smile started to
fade. "But I thought it would probably be okay if we dated once in a while."

The smile lit up his face like a rising sun. "Then
there really isn't another guy, after all?"

"Another guy? What are you talking about?"

Jon looked at her sheepishly. "Well, whenever I walked by
you and your friends, I always heard you talking about some guy that was
calling you."

"A guy calling me? Oh, that was never anything much,"
Christie said lightly. "But I want you to understand that I might want to
date someone else, and I don't want you to get upset every time I do.
If
I do," she added quickly.

"Okay, it's a deal," said Jon. "I guess I was
acting a little immature. I promise that if something is bothering me, I'll
talk about it instead of sneaking around. You guys in The Fabulous Five are
tough to keep up with anyway." They laughed together.

Christie squeezed his arm as they strolled along. It was
nice to have things straightened out between her and Jon. He was right about
one thing, people should talk to each other when they don't understand
something.

As they walked on toward home, Christie's thoughts turned to
Kevin. She wondered what he was really like. He seemed nice enough and was
certainly smart. He had to be smart to do all those things he had been doing at
home. Maybe now, with his newfound freedom, he could be on the hot-line team
and play computer games with Curtis and make lots of new friends. She hoped so.
And more than that, she hoped she would be one of them.