The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck (19 page)

“Remember what we decided? No calls after nine? You can talk to your friend tomorrow. I'm sure whatever it is will keep. Now, how are you doing with these problems?” He picked up Bud's paper.

“Good grief, Dad, I can't even take five minutes for a phone call?” Bud pushed his chair back roughly.

“Bud!” Bud's dad looked shocked. “Where is this coming from? It was just a phone call. Nighttime was going to be Dad and Bud time, remember?”

“I know, but …” Bud didn't know what to say. He didn't want to hurt his dad's feelings, but he was so sick of it all. Those stupid rules they'd decided on didn't seem right anymore.

Bud's dad nudged the pencil on the table in line with the paper. “It's not my rule, Bud. We decided these things together,” he said quietly.

“Well, maybe we decided wrong, okay? Maybe focusing so much was a bad idea. Mom actually
liked
music and plays and Twinkies and playing around in the yard. Remember? She liked it when I had friends over. Is this really what Mom would've wanted?”

“That's not fair, Bud,” Bud's dad said, so softly Bud almost couldn't hear him. He didn't take his eyes off the pencil.

“Well, so what? This isn't fair. None of this.”

Bud felt tears stinging the back of his eyes. He snatched the paper away from his dad and tore it up. Then he turned and ran upstairs to his room. Bud was pretty sure he had just officially become the worst person in the world.

Note from Mariah Jeffries to Sam Silver

Did you hear the news? I heard they're going to have a wrecking ball smash the place on FRIDAY after the bell. Can you believe it?

Hugs and kisses,

Mariah

Note from Sam Silver to Mariah Jeffries

Don't make me barf, Mariah.

Note from Hannah Stoller to Calliope Judkin

My dad said that Hamilton has a HUGE food court with fast food from real food places. Hamilton is going to ROCK. And I think Bud Wallace is in the Savannah Heights district, so he won't be able to mess it up.

Note from Calliope Judkin to Bud Wallace

Did you and Laurie Madison know about this? Is that why you've been sneaking around?

Note from Bud Wallace to Calliope Judkin

I don't know what you're talking about, Calliope.

Notes to Bud Wallace and Calliope Judkin

Mr. Wallace and Miss Judkin:

I understand we live in exciting times. But please refrain from future note passing in my class, or I will be forced to send you to speak with Principal Winkle.

Sincerely,

Marshall Deal

Sixth-grade science

Important Message

For: Principal Winkle

Long story short, he wants Bud transferred to Hamilton ASAP. He heard about the school board decision and he worries that the “transitional weeks” will be difficult and will rob his son of his education blah blah blah. Also: I brought a coffee cake from Lowell's Bakery. And Olivia made cupcakes. They're in the staff room. Enjoy! Betty

Post-it on Betty's computer

Haven't you heard of fruit?

Are you trying to kill me?

Marty

Laurie waited by the front door for Bud, but he wasn't on the bus. Laurie did a scan of the school herself, but she didn't make any real progress. The only thing the stupid school seemed to have were those generic white wall clocks. And unless the word
STANDARD
was some kind of super-cryptic hint, Laurie wasn't seeing any sign of a clue.

When she spotted Bud just before lunchtime, she made a beeline for him. She didn't know what his problem was, but his attitude was ruining everything.

“What's with you, Bud?” she demanded. “Didn't you hear the news about the school? We barely have any time left before they knock this whole place down.”

“I know.” Bud shrugged.

“My dad said they'll move us all in the next couple of weeks. But according to Mariah, the wrecking ball's coming Friday. Which means TOMORROW. And Tessa Tysinger says they aren't even waiting until tomorrow, that they're planting plastic explosives as we speak and the school's going to blow after the late bell today. And check it out.” Laurie pointed to the far end of the parking lot. “Bulldozers. They're not kidding.”

“I know,” Bud said again.

“You
know
?” Laurie sputtered. “Then why are you wasting all of our chances to look for clues?”

Bud rolled his eyes. “It's not like I have a choice, okay? My dad picks me up and drops me off now. There's nothing I can do. We'll figure it out at lunch, okay?” His dad hadn't even mentioned their fight when he dropped him off this morning, but Bud knew he was upset. This was not the time to make things worse.

Bud ducked his head down and turned to hurry off, but instead he slammed right into Miss Downey.

“Bud, we missed you at rehearsals. I assume we'll see you from now on?” She gave Bud a penetrating stare that chilled him to the core. Something about that woman was just not right.

“What rehearsals? The school's closing!” Laurie said.

Miss Downey shot her a look that shut Laurie's mouth instantly. “The play has been canceled, and that's sad. But in the meantime, the rest of school life goes on as it always has. Including chorus.”

“Uh. Didn't you get the message? About my dad? I can't do that stuff anymore,” Bud stammered.

Miss Downey frowned. “And didn't your father get my letter?”

“Yeah, well. Yeah.”

Miss Downey's frown got deeper. “I see. Well. We'll see about that.” She turned on her heel and went back into the classroom. “Don't leave school today without telling me, Bud,” she called over her shoulder.

Bud stared at Laurie wide-eyed. “What the heck is
that
supposed to mean?”

Laurie shrugged. She didn't want to think about Miss Downey and her evil stare of doom. “So we'll search at lunchtime?”

Bud nodded. He hoped this was an easy clue. Because Laurie was right. They were out of time.

“Music hall?”

“Check. Nothing.”

“English hall?”

“Check. Nothing.”

“Gym?”

“Come on, the gym? Get real.” Laurie glared at Bud.

Bud chewed on his pencil. “We have to be thorough. We don't want to miss it.”

“Okay, well, check then. Sort of. I mean, I looked, but where would there be a clock? Except for one of those dumb ‘standard' ones.” Laurie scratched her leg.

Bud nodded. “So what are we missing?”

Laurie shook her head. “Nothing. Except all the places we're not allowed to go. I have the teachers' lounge next on my list, but I don't know how we're going to get into places like storerooms and stuff.”

Bud threw his notebook onto the table. “Forget storerooms, I don't know how we're going to get into the teachers' lounge.”

Laurie laughed. “That's a piece of cake. Even you could do it.”

“Oh, really.” Bud wasn't in the mood.

“Sure. All you do is wait until it looks pretty empty, go in, say some teacher is looking for some other teacher, and then scram. That'll get you a look around, at least. If you need more time, ask a question about some assignment.”

“Yeah, like that would work.”

Laurie got a sly look on her face. “I dare you to try it.”

Bud shoved his seat back and marched down the hallway. So what if he got busted, right? They were closing the stinking school.

Laurie hurried after him and watched as he disappeared into the teachers' lounge. He hadn't even stopped to scope the place out first, which in her opinion was a major miscalculation. So she wasn't surprised when he shot back out with a panicked look on his face a few short minutes later.

“So?”

“Mrs. Humphries was taking a nap. Snoring. On a sofa. With … with …” Bud gulped air and leaned against the wall.

“Spill it. Was there a clock? There had to be a clock.” Laurie didn't want to think about Mrs. Humphries taking a nap.

“No clock. But buffalo wings. Dirty napkins all over her stomach and the floor. And orange around her mouth.”

Laurie felt her gag reflex kick in, but she fought it back. Mrs. Humphries napping was bad. Buffalo wings were bad. But the two together? She was sorry she'd even dared Bud. That treasure had better be worth all the mental anguish, that's all she had to say.

Laurie positioned herself in front of the door to the student drop-off area and waited until Bud got there to meet his dad. She'd had to barrel out of class at warp speed to beat him there, but she wasn't about to let him get away with ditching the search.

“Seriously?” she said, arms folded. “Seriously? You're really leaving? Without finding the clock? Or whatever it is?”

Bud winced. He knew time was running out, but he wasn't about to let his dad down by not showing up. “It's not like I have a choice. Besides, we don't even know that it is a clock. We could be on the wrong track completely.”

Laurie gave Bud a hard stare. Then she relaxed. If he wasn't budging, he wasn't budging. She wasn't going to waste her time on him. “Okay, fine. If you can't, you can't. I'm going to talk to Miss Lucille, see if she knows about any clock that we've missed. Wish me luck.”

Laurie patted Bud on the shoulder and headed off down the hall.

“Wait—what?” Bud hesitated and then hurried after her. “You're not going to talk to her without me?”

Laurie didn't even stop. “Why wouldn't I? We're almost out of time, Bud.”

Bud hurried after Laurie as she hustled into the main hall. “We've got at least another week, right? In between classes, lunchtime, and there's always gerbil-care time. That will buy us some extra time right there. Ponch and Jon won't mind if we cut their playtime down so we can search.”

Laurie pointed violently at the front of the school. “Bulldozers, Bud! What about bulldozers don't you understand?”

Bud winced. “But it's not like they're knocking the school down this second. We've got a little time.”

Laurie opened her mouth to respond when a hand came down on her shoulder. Irritated, she shrugged it off and looked up into the face of Mrs. Hutchins.

“Laurie, Bud, just who I was hoping to see!”

Laurie quickly wiped the scowl off her face and slapped on the happy good-student face that she tried to wear when talking to teachers. “Hello, Mrs. Hutchins,” she said.

You couldn't really let teachers know when they were butting in at a bad time.

“I wanted to let you know that I'm making a switch in the classroom duty assignments.”

“What?” Laurie gasped.

“No!” Bud cried. He'd written that letter a million years ago. She couldn't switch him now.

“Don't worry, you two, I'm keeping you on as Gerbil Monitors. But Calliope here has expressed such an interest in gerbils that I thought she could join you. She's thinking of getting one as a pet.”

Calliope sidled up next to Mrs. Hutchins and smirked at them. Laurie hadn't even noticed her lurking back there. “I love the little guys. So cute! And you guys always seem so busy with them, I figured you could use the help.”

“What?” Laurie gasped again. She really needed to think of something new to say.

“So starting on Monday, Calliope will join you as Gerbil Monitor Number Three for however long we're here. How does that sound?”

Well, terrible, in a word, but Laurie couldn't really say that. So she put on the big good-student smile again and hoped it would win her brownie points later on. “Super.”

“Yeah, great.” Bud looked paler than his shirt, and with all the bleach and starch in that thing, that was saying something.