Stacey and the Haunted Masquerade.

Martin, Ann M.

Chapter 1.

"Stacey?"

"Here!" I called out. Then I continued to draw suns, planets, stars, and hearts on the front cover of my social studies notebook. It was a bright, sunny fall morning, and I was sitting in creative doodling cla.s.s, otherwise known as homeroom.

Homeroom. What a strange name. It's a room, all right, but it's nothing like home. Unless your home happens to have chalkboards, fluorescent lights, and seven rows of barely awake eighth-graders who are whispering, pa.s.sing notes, brushing their hair, or scrambling to finish the last three questions of their math homework, while a teacher (Ms. Levine, in my case) tries to take attendance, keep some order, and make announcements.

I don't know about you, but, thankfully, my home isn't anything like that. For one thing, my mom hardly ever takes attendance. Just kidding.) I mostly use homeroom as a time to gather myself together for the day. None of my good friends is in my homeroom, so I don't have anybody to whisper with or pa.s.s notes to. (Sheila McGregor and I used to pa.s.s notes back and forth, but we don't anymore, which is a long story I'll tell to you some other time.) I always take care of my hair and clothes before I leave the house in the morning, since both of those things are pretty important to me, so I'm never brushing my hair or checking my outfit in the cla.s.sroom. And I never leave my math homework unfinished. English homework, maybe, but never math. I actually like math, and I'm good at it, so I usually breeze right through any a.s.signments.

I always sit next to Sheila McGregor in homeroom. Why? Because my name is Stacey McGill, which means Sheila and I are alphabetically related. Like Sheila, I'm thirteen, and I go to SMS - Stoneybrook Middle School - which is in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Unlike Sheila, and unlike most of my cla.s.smates, I did not grow up in Stoneybrook. I grew up in New York City, in Manhattan. (My parents are divorced, and my dad still lives in New York. Even though I chose to live in Stoneybrook with my mom, I still visit him there as often as I can.) And, not to be a sn.o.b about it, my urban roots do set me apart a little from the rest of the SMS student body. It's not that I'm better than them, it's just that I've seen more (including sad things, such as homeless people, and terrific things, such as the Caribbean Day parade) and done more (not too many kids in my cla.s.s can say they've been to the opera, or to an exhibit of French avant-garde painters) than a lot of Connecticut kids my age.

I don't think I'm really all that different, though. Oh, sure, maybe I dress with a little more style and sophistication (I love to shop), and maybe my perm is a little wilder than most (my long blonde hair looks best when it's super curly), but basically I'm just your average, everyday teenager.

Except for one thing. I have diabetes. In case you don't know what that is, it's a lifelong disease, and a pretty serious one. My body doesn't make this stuff called insulin, which is necessary for processing sugars and carbohydrates. That means two things: one, I have to give myself insulin to make up for the fact that I don't produce it myself (I inject it, which isn't nearly as big a deal as you'd think), and two, I have to keep a very close eye on my blood sugar, which I do by testing my blood regularly and by being extremely careful about what I eat. I have to keep track of every bit of food I consume, every day. And sweets are pretty much out. When we first found out I had diabetes, my parents were incredibly over-protective, especially since I'm an only child. They've eased off a bit, because I've taken more and more responsibility for caring for myself. By now, it's almost routine. But even so, diabetes is a major part of my life.

It's only a part, though. I don't see myself as a sick person at all. I can do anything my friends can do (except pig out on chocolate bars), and I try never to let my diabetes bother me. And, while I'm definitely not glad I have diabetes, I think dealing with it has helped me grow up a bit faster than some of my cla.s.smates.

Take Todd "Totally Immature" Long, for example. Half the time he still acts like a fifth-grader. That morning in homeroom, he was trying his hardest to drive Ms. Levine nuts by clicking his ballpoint pen about seventy zillion times a minute. Every time she looked up to see where the sound was coming from, he'd stop and give her this innocent smile. Then, when she looked down at her attendance sheet again, his smile would turn into a devilish grin and he'd start clicking again. Ms. Levine finally decided to ignore the noise, which was the smartest thing for her to do.

I ignored him, too. I blocked out that irritating clicking noise by humming my current favorite song, "Sister Sally" (by the group Great Blue Whales) as I doodled on my notebook. By then I was drawing linked hearts with the caption S. M. + R. B. = LUV. My boyfriend's name is Robert Brewster, and I really do luv him. In fact, he's the most luv-able guy I've ever met. I drew a string of hearts across the top of the back of my notebook, and I was trying to decide if I should keep going and cover the whole notebook with them when suddenly a storm of static erupted from the loudspeaker over the cla.s.sroom door.

"Yow!" yelled Todd, clapping his hands over his ears.

"Why can't they fix that thing?" cried Sheila.

I wondered the same thing. I have never heard one announcement at SMS that didn't start with an earsplittmg burst of static. It usually doesn't last long, though, and it didn't that morning. Soon, I could hear a voice through the noise. It was Mr. Kingbridge, our a.s.sistant princ.i.p.al. Mr. Kingbridge is okay, except for the fact that he has no fashion sense. I mean none. He wears the most ridiculous ties, the silliest jackets, and the ugliest shoes I've ever seen. At an awards night one year, he won the prize for worst dressed. I've thought of offering to be his fashion consultant, but I can't figure out how to do that without insulting him. After all, he's an adult. Supposedly, he should know how to dress himself by now.

Anyway, that morning the static took over the first part of his message, but we heard the tail end of it. "Go, Chargers!" he said enthusiastically. That meant he'd been talking about the SMS football team. I glanced at Sheila, who is a cheerleader. She was wearing a big "Go Chargers" b.u.t.ton. She glanced back at me, and then looked away quickly. I don't think she has ever understood why I once turned down a chance to be on the cheerleading sClaud, or why Robert, who used to be on the basketball team, quit (he hated the special treatment athletes are given, and thought it was unfair). I think she does understand why I stopped hanging out with her and her friends, though.

Sometimes I don't understand why I ever wanted to be part of Sheila's group. I went through a very confusing time recently, when I thought I might be outgrowing my old friends, who belong to a dub called the BSC (for Baby-sitters Club - more about that later). I'm ashamed to say that I treated those old friends horribly. But I'm happy to say that they eventually forgave me when I discovered that my "new" friends (Sheila's crowd) were not the kind of people I wanted to hang out with. I'm a member of the BSC again (I wasn't, for a while), and that makes me happy.

Anyway, back to Mr. Kingbridge. As usual, he was blabbing on and on, and n.o.body in the room was paying much attention to him. But then he said something that made us all sit up and listen. Something about a dance. A Halloween masquerade, to be exact. The first one to be held at SMS in twenty-eight years, according to Mr. Kingbridge. Immediately, even before I heard any of the details, I loved the idea. I mean, I'm way too old to be dressing up for Halloween, right? But part of me - the kid in me, I guess - misses the chance to be somebody else, just for a night. I began to think about costumes. I could be Cleopatra, and Robert could be Antony. Or we could be Bonnie and Clyde, or Jack Sprat and his wife. And if Robert weren't into dressing up, so what? I could be Marilyn Monroe or Wonder Woman. I could be anybody!

". . . and we'll need lots of volunteers to make sure this dance is a success," Mr. King-bridge continued, his voice booming over the loudspeaker. "Let's erase those unpleasant memories of the past, and have a ball! Sign up as soon as you can to serve on the decorations committee, the refreshments committee, the tickets committee ..."

Mr. Kingbridge droned on and on, but I tuned out. I was too busy thinking about costume ideas. I couldn't wait to see how my friends would dress up. This dance was going to be awesome!

Later, during lunch period, everybody was talking about the dance. I was sitting at a table with my best friend Claudia Kishi, who's in the BSC, and some other BSC friends: Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, and Abby Stevenson. Alan Gray was at our table, too, and so were Pete Black, our cla.s.s president, and Logan Bruno, Mary Anne's boyfriend.

"The only thing I don't understand," Alan was saying, "is what Kingbridge meant by 'unpleasant memories.' "

Pete rolled his eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Here's a dime, Alan. Go buy yourself a clue."

"Huh?" Alan asked. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're clueless," said Pete. "Think about it. The dance is scheduled for Friday night, and Halloween is on Sat.u.r.day."

"So?" asked Alan, looking bewildered.

"So, Kingbridge has it all figured out. Friday night is Mischief Night," explained Pete, "but if we're all busy with the dance, there won't be any mischief, so no 'unpleasant memories.' "

"Ohhh," said Alan, nodding. "That makes sense." For a second he looked disappointed. Then he smiled. "Oh, well. We're too old for shaving cream and toilet paper stunts, anyway. Right?"

The rest of us looked at each other in surprise, then burst out laughing. Alan Gray is the last person I would ever expect to hear say he's too old for anything. I can picture him pulling whoopee cushion tricks well into his nineties. But maybe he was turning over a new leaf.

"If you say so, Alan," I said, still giggling. "Anyway, the dance is going to be great. The only hard part will be deciding who - or what - to go as."

That was the beginning of a discussion about costumes that lasted for the rest of lunch period, and in fact, for the rest of the day. I wasn't the only one who was looking forward to dressing up. I guess there's a lot of kid in all of us.

Chapter 2.

Who ya gonna call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!".

Jessi led the chant, and we screamed out the response, then burst out laughing.

"I am already so sick of that movie!" exclaimed Kristy.

"It's on, like, five times a week," said Mal, "and I don't think my brothers and sisters are ever going to be sick of watching it. But I am. If I hear that theme song one more time, I just might - " She pretended to barf.

Ghostbusters had been playing on our local cable channel lately, and it was going to run through October. It's a fun movie, and I'll admit I've seen it more than a couple of times, but I knew just what Mallory meant. A month's worth was a bit much.

It was Wednesday afternoon, and my friends and I were gathered in Claudia's room, waiting for the BSC meeting to start. What's the BSC? Well, maybe this is a good time for me to stop and explain. (Pay attention, now. There will be a quiz on this material!) The BSC, or Baby-sitters Club, is a group of very different people who have one thing in common: we love taking care of kids. The idea for the BSC was a simple one. Parents can reach a bunch of experienced sitters by making just one phone call.

A simple idea, but a great one. The club has been a success almost from the beginning. At first, the BSC advertised with fliers and posters, but we hardly ever have to do that anymore. We have a long list of regular clients, and they know that they can reach us every Monday/ Wednesday, and Friday, from five-thirty to six. There are seven members of the BSC, plus two a.s.sociate members who help out when we're swamped, so parents are pretty much guaranteed a sitter when they call. And not just any sitter. BSC sitters are the best! Why? Because we care so much about our clients, and we go the extra mile to prove that.

For example, we keep complete records on our clients - not just names and addresses, but allergies, favorite foods, and other useful information. We also write up every job in our dub notebook, so that all the members stay up-to-date on what's happening with our regular clients. And we aren't the kind of sitters who plop the kids in front of the TV while we gab on the phone. We love to play with our charges and keep them happy and occupied. Sometimes we even bring Kid-Kits with us. Kid-Kits are boxes we've filled with books and toys and games (mostly hand-me-downs, but they're new to the kids) and stickers and markers - all kinds of things. Our clients love them.

I missed the BSC a lot when I wasn't a part of it. I missed the meetings. I missed our clients. And, even though I had convinced myself that I had outgrown them, I missed my friends most of all.

The members of the club really make the BSC special. Somehow, the mix of personalities works. (For a while there, my personality didn't fit in, but I think that's in the past.) Sometimes when I look around Claudia's room during the meetings, I'm amazed that we get along so well when we're such different people.

Take Kristy Thomas, for example. She's the president of the BSC, and the one who came up with the idea for the club. That day, she was dressed (as usual) in jeans, a turtleneck, and running shoes, with a baseball cap plunked over her brown hair. She was sitting (as usual) in the director's chair at Claudia's desk, with a pencil stuck (as usual) over one ear. I watched Kristy eye Claudia's digital clock, and when it clicked to five-thirty, I mouthed the words along with her as she said (as usual): "I hereby call this meeting to order."

Kristy is so predictable.

But only in some ways. In other ways, she's totally unpredictable. 10181/8 like a whirlwind, a tiny tornado (she's short for her age) that whips around, full of energy and motion. For example, besides running the BSC, Kristy coaches a softball team (called Kristy's Krushers) for kids who are not involved with Little League.

I've never met Kristy's father, because he ran out on her family quite a while ago. But I know her mom, and I can see that Kristy takes after her. Kristy's mom is one strong woman. After Mr. Thomas left, she raised four kids - Kristy and her three brothers (Sam and Charlie, who are fifteen and seventeen, and David Michael, who's seven) - on her own. That couldn't have been easy.

But things aren't so tough for Kristy and her family anymore. That's because Kristy's mom married this super-nice guy named Watson Brewer, who just happens to be a millionaire. Now Kristy and her mom and brothers live in his mansion, along with Kristy's grandmother, plus, every other month, Watson's kids from his first marriage (Karen and Andrew, who are seven and four); plus two-year-old Emily Mich.e.l.le, a Vietnamese orphan whom Kristy's mom and Watson adopted together. Plus a whole menagerie of pets.

Kristy's home life is the opposite of mine. Sometimes I think I'd enjoy all the chaos and confusion of the Brewer/Thomas household, but mostly I prefer the nice quiet way my mom and I live. Kristy, on the other hand, thrives in her busy environment.

Kristy's best friend is Mary Anne Spier. Mary Anne is short, like Kristy, and also has brown hair. They both have brown eyes, too. But personality-wise, she and Kristy are like night and day. Mary Anne is quiet and sensitive and very neat. For instance, that day, as Kristy started the meeting, Mary Anne was bent over the club record book, updating her information on our schedules. (Mary Anne is the BSCs secretary, and she does a terrific job.) She erased something carefully, and then, printing precisely, wrote something else in its place.

Like mine, Mary Anne's home life is fairly quiet. She lives with her dad, her stepmom, and her kitten, Tigger. But Mary Anne's family has been through a lot of changes in recent years. First of all, Mary Anne grew up without a mom. Mrs. Spier died when Mary Anne was just a baby. Mr. Spier did a great job of raising Mary Anne on his own, although he did go overboard in the strictness department for a long time. He eased up a little bit when he remarried, though.

The woman he married happens to be the mother of Mary Anne's other best friend, Dawn Schafer. How that happened is kind of a wild story, but (deep breath!) here goes: Dawn's mom grew up in Stoneybrook and dated Mary Anne's dad when they were both in high school. But they didn't stay together. Instead, Dawn's mom went to college out in California, married a man named Jack Schafer, and had two kids, Dawn and her younger brother Jeff. Unfortunately, that marriage ended in a divorce, and Dawn's mom moved herself and her kids back to Stoneybrook. Dawn and Mary Anne met and became best friends (Dawn joined the BSC), found out their parents used to date, and brought them back together. (Whew!) So now everybody's living happily ever after, right? Well, not exactly. First, Jeff didn't adjust to life in Stoneybrook, and he "ended up moving back to California to live with his dad. Next, Dawn started missing her dad and Jeff, and ended up going out there for an extended visit. We thought that visit would get California out of her system, but no. It turned out that Dawn, who had always felt torn about where her "home" really was, decided that it was in California. So now she lives there full time, and Mary Anne is an only child again. It's been a turbulent time for Mary Anne, but she's handled it well. She has plenty of support, too. She and Kristy are closer than ever these days, and I know Mary Anne shares many of her feelings with her boyfriend, Logan.

Speaking of sharing, you'll never find a more generous person than Claudia Kishi, my best friend (and favorite shopping buddy) and the vice-president of the BSC. Claudia is j.a.panese-American and has long, shiny black hair, dark, almond-shaped eyes, and a complexion to die for. She's vice-president mainly because she has her own phone with a private line, so we can take BSC calls without tying up anybody else's phone. But, over time, Claudia seems to have decided that providing munchies for each meeting is part of the vice-presidential job description. I've never attended a BSC meeting where there wasn't food, and plenty of it.

Maybe calling it "food" is a stretch. I guess it depends on whether or not you consider Cheez Doodles and Snickers bars "food." Claudia sure does. She adores any kind of junk food, and always has tons of it on hand. (She knows I can't eat it, though, and she's very thoughtful about making sure she also has stuff I can eat, such as pretzels or fruit-juice-sweetened cookies.) At that meeting, Claudia was rummaging through her bureau drawers, searching for a bag of Hershey's Miniatures she was sure she had hidden there. (Claudia has to hide her junk food, and also her beloved Nancy Drew mysteries. Her parents don't approve of either.) "Whoa!" she suddenly cried, interrupting Kristy, who was in the midst of asking if there was any new business. Kristy shot Claudia a Look, but Claudia ignored it. She pulled out a pair of purple, orange, and green paisley leggings. "I've been looking everywhere for these," she said.

"How could you miss them?" muttered Kristy.

Claudia grinned. "They are kind of loud, aren't they?" she said. "I love them." Claudia sees things a little differently than the rest of us. She's an artist, and color and texture and design mean everything to her. She has never received anything less than an A + in art cla.s.s. She can draw, paint, sculpt, or create other kinds of art better than anyone else at SMS, but her grades in her other cla.s.ses are more in the C range. Claudia's smart, but she just doesn't care too much about spelling, or algebra, or anything that doesn't have to do with art. Also, I think Claud figures her older sister Janine makes enough A's for both of them; Janine's a certified genius.

Claudia finally found the bag of chocolates and sat on the bed next to me, still clutching the leggings. She pa.s.sed the chocolates to Mary Anne, who sat on her other side.

"Any other business?" Kristy asked.

There was none, but if it had been a Monday, I would have said it was dues day, and everybody would have groaned. You'd think I was asking for a pint of blood from each of them! Dues are no big deal. As treasurer of the club, I collect them every Monday and keep track of how much we have in the treasury. We use the money for things such as contributing to Claud's phone bill, paying Kristy's brother Charlie to drive her and Abby to meetings (which he's done ever since the Thomases moved across town to Watson's, which is about three miles away), and buying stickers and other things for our Kid-Kits. Once in a while, if there's enough extra money, we'll have a pizza party.

While I was out of the club, my job was taken over by Dawn. She was the BSC's alternate officer, which means that she could step in for any other officer who couldn't make it to a meeting. But now that Dawn's back in California for good, we have a new alternate officer - and a new BSC member! Her name's Abby (short for Abigail) Stevenson, and she and her twin sister Anna and their mom (their dad died in a car accident when they were nine years old) recently moved into Kristy's neighborhood.

That day, Abby was perched on a stack of Claud's art books. She can't sit on the bed, because she's allergic to the feathers in Claudia's pillows, and she can't sit on the floor because she's allergic to dust. Abby seems to be allergic to just about everything. She's constantly sneezing, wheezing, and blowing her nose. She also has asthma, a disease that can be life-threatening. But she's learned to deal with it, just like I've learned to deal with my diabetes.

Her physical problems don't slow her down, though. Abby's a real dynamo. She even gives Kristy a run for her money. She's a natural athlete, with tons of energy for biking, soccer, or whatever. She's also addicted to fun. If nothing's happening, Abby makes something happen. We've always had a good time at BSC meetings, but it seems as though we laugh even more now that Abby's a member.

Abby and Anna are identical twins, but they're easy to tell apart because they dress differently and have different hairstyles. (Abby's hair is long, dark, and curly, while Anna's is short, dark and curly.) They both wear contacts most of the time and gla.s.ses occasionally. The twins are very different in other ways, too. Anna is a talented musician - violin is her instrument - and she's much more introverted than Abby. Despite their differences, though, Abby and Anna are very close and seem to have a special kind of connection.

Sitting on the floor near Abby that day were the two junior officers of the BSC, Mallory Pike and Jessi Ramsey. Unlike the rest of us, who are thirteen and in the eighth grade, Jessi and Mal are eleven and in the sixth. Being junior officers just means that they take lots of afternoon sitting jobs, since they aren't allowed to sit at night unless it's for their own families.

You remember I mentioned that for a while I felt as if I'd outgrown the BSC? Well, at the time, I had convinced myself that all the BSC members were babyish, and that Jessi and Mal were the most babyish. But you know what? They're actually both mature for their age. For example, Jessi, who's African-American and beautiful, with high cheekbones and long, long legs, is a serious ballet student who has been dedicated to dance for years. And Mal, who has red hair, freckles, gla.s.ses and braces ("a Claudruple curse" as she says; she has no idea how pretty she is), is the oldest of eight - count 'em, eight - kids, and she's been baby-sitting for ages. (Jessi's family is smaller, but she's a good sitter, too. She has a younger sister and a baby brother, and she's had lots of practice taking care of them.) Jessi and Mal both love to read, especially horse stories, and Mal wants to be a children's book author and ill.u.s.trator when she's older.

And last but not least, we have two a.s.sociate members: Logan Bruno (Mary Anne's boyfriend), and Shannon Kilbourne (a girl from Kristy's neighborhood, who goes to private school). (a.s.sociate members don't usually come to meetings. They just help out when we're overloaded with sitting jobs.) Okay, ready for the quiz? Now that you've learned about every BSC member, this should be easy. Between calls at our meeting that day, the main topic of conversation was the Halloween dance and how to dress for it. All you have to do is try to guess which member was considering which costume to wear to the dance. (The answers will be revealed later on, for anyone who's still in the dark . . .) 1. Ballerina A. Mallory.

2. Lucy Ricardo (from B. Mary Anne I Love Lucy).

3. Dorothy (from The C. Abby Wizard of Oz) 4. Amelia Earhart D. Claudia.

5. Morticia Addams E. Stacey.

6. Cowgirl F. Jessi.

7. Giant Twinkie G. Kristy.

Chapter 3.

Stacey McGill.

"There. I'd done it. I stepped back and looked at my name, which I had just written near the top of an almost blank sheet of paper. Then I smiled to myself and stuck the cap onto my purple felt tip pen.

I'm not much of a joiner. The BSC is an exception, a big exception. But, for the most part, I usually like to go my own way. That's why what I'd just done was a big step. I had been thinking about it ever since Mr. King-bridge's announcement the day before. I hadn't talked to anybody else about it - not my friends, not my mom, not Robert, not anybody.

I looked back at. the sheet of paper. "Decorations Committee," it read at the top. "Faculty Advisor, Mrs. Hall." The only other writing on the paper was my name, signed with a flourish. I was the first person to join.

It may not seem like a big deal, signing up for a decorations committee. And it's not, really. But for me, it was a symbolic step. See, lately I've been feeling as if I need something new in my life. I mean, I'm thrilled to be part of the BSC again, don't get me wrong. But lately I've wanted to be more active at school.

I need the chance to prove myself, to have fun, to be involved. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that working on the Halloween dance was the perfect opportunity.

It wasn't hard to figure out which committee to join. The tickets committee sounded totally boring, and being on the refreshments committee wouldn't be my thing either. The decorations committee would be fun, creative, and active, just what I was looking for.

I felt even better about my decision when I walked into school that morning and saw the sign-up sheets posted on the main bulletin board. The decorations committee definitely had the best faculty advisor. Claud has Mrs. Hall for English, and I hear she's pretty decent.

The first bell rang as I was standing there looking at the bulletin board. I needed to run for my locker if I was going to make it to homeroom on time. I skidded through the halls, feeling psyched. I couldn't wait to return at the end of the day and find out who else had signed up for the committee.

I thought about ideas for decorations during homeroom (Ms. Levine had to call my name three times before I finally answered) and through all my morning cla.s.ses. I was full of creative plans. For example, I thought we should steer away from the typical orange-and-black color scheme. Why be traditional? Why not use, say, red and purple?

It's funny. Everybody (including me) is used to thinking of Claudia as the artist, the talented one. But I can be creative, too. It's true that I can't draw or paint the way she can, but I know I have a strong sense of style. During social studies cla.s.s, I suddenly remembered something that happened when I was in sixth grade, when I lived in Manhattan. My mom had a friend who was an interior designer, and one day she saw my room. She was very impressed when she found out that I had done all my own decorating (at that time I was into an Art Deco look), and she told my mom that I had a "good eye," and that I could be a designer like her when I grew up.

Maybe being on the decorating committee was going to be the start of a whole new direction for me!

I was still thinking about decorating ideas when I walked into English cla.s.s, my second-to-last cla.s.s of the day. I took my seat and started to sketch out some plans for a fake gallows, which I thought would make a great set for the stage where the band would be playing. Mr. Fiske was taking attendance, so I didn't really need to pay attention yet. I was lost in my drawing when I felt somebody nudge me, and I turned just in time to see Amanda Martin toss a folded-up note onto my desk. I opened it and read it.

New guy? I hadn't noticed any new guy. But when I glanced around, I spotted him immediately. He was sitting right next to me, and when I looked at him he gave me a big smile. He was cute (but not nearly as cute as Robert), with straight blond hair and brown eyes. He wore a blue denim shirt and khakis, and he was leaning his chair back on two legs, looking totally mellow. I was impressed. I doubt I ever appeared that relaxed when I was new at SMS.

I turned Amanda's note over and wrote on the other side.

I tossed her the note just as Mr. Fiske was finishing up attendance. Amanda opened it, read it, looked at me, and shrugged. I looked back at the new boy, and he smiled at me again. This time, he even added a wink. I felt myself blushing.

Just then, Mr. Fiske put down his attendance book and sat on the corner of his desk. "People, may I have your attention?" he asked.

"I can tell you want attention just by looking at your tie," cracked Rick Chow, who was sitting in the front row. Everybody laughed, including Mr. Fiske. He's the kind of teacher you can joke with.