"You can take one for later," Abby said.

"Okay."

"Here, everybody. Help yourselves." Abby handed the plate to Emily, who said, "thanks" and pa.s.sed it on with-out taking one. Hannah took a brownie, but she set it on the table without taking a bite.

"I guess we're all full of popcorn." Fidgeting, Emily avoided looking at Abby.

Jeri's eyes narrowed. What was going on? Abby looked confused, and then her face .ushed bright pink. When it dawned on Jeri what was happening, she wanted to smack those girls. They didn't trust Abby! What did they think? That she was trying to poison them?

She grabbed the plate of brownies and stuffed another one in her mouth. "You all don't know what you're missing." She turned to Abby. "Mind if I take another one with me?"

"No. Help yourself." Abby's voice was subdued as she turned and headed upstairs.

Jeri glared at the group, but each girl stared at the sc.r.a.pbooking materials on the table. Jeri wished Rosa was home. She'd eat a brownie-or several. Fuming, Jeri ran up the stairs behind Abby. She started to follow her, but Abby shook her head and disappeared into her room. She shut the door .rmly. Jeri stood in the hallway, . nished the third brownie, and then headed to her own room.

This was going too far. It was bad enough that Abby felt guilty about serving some spoiled food last weekend. Now the girls acted like she was doing something to their food on purpose! What were they thinking? I have to get to the bottom of this now. At this rate, Abby wouldn't want to come back next year. And to Jeri, Abby was the best thing about the Landmark School for Girls.

By the time Rosa got back at 9:30, Jeri was ready for bed. Rosa dropped a neon pink shopping bag on her bed. Jeri started telling her about the girls' reactions to Abby's brownies-but her voice drifted off when she realized Rosa wasn't listening.

Jeri studied her friend's serious expression. "Anything the matter?"

"No." Rosa sniffed. "What stinks in here?"

"Ant spray. I got some from Ms. Carter." Jeri peered closer. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Rosa shook her head and went to stand before the mirror. Jeri studied her friend's re.ection. Her tan legs and bare arms showed no signs of injury that Jeri could see.

"Did you and Shauna have a .ght?" Jeri . nally asked.

"No." Rosa gulped. "Shauna wasn't even there when it happened."

"When what happened?"

Rosa wrapped her arms around herself. "It was at the pizzeria. Shauna went to the restroom to wash sauce off her shorts, and I was by myself eating breadsticks." She paused and a shudder pa.s.sed through her. "Then these two guys-high school, I guess-came over to our booth. One sat real close beside me and the other one across from me."

Jeri held her breath for a moment, bracing herself. "Then what?"

"They called me babe and said there was a party they wanted to take me to. I told them no, and they just laughed. The one beside me scooted so close I could smell his stinky breath." She glanced at Jeri in alarm. "I was smashed against the wall and couldn't get away from him."

Jeri's stomach knotted in fear as she imagined the scene. If she'd been trapped by two high school creeps, she'd have been too paralyzed to even scream. "What'd you do?"

"I told them to leave me alone!" Her eyes . ashed with anger then. "You know what they said? They told me to stop playing innocent. Then that creep put his hand on my leg!"

Jeri's heart hammered. "Did he hurt you?"

"No. Shauna came back then and told them to get lost or she'd call mall security. They said they'd be looking for me later, but they left." She sighed. "I don't know why they bothered me."

Jeri hugged Rosa and said, "I'm so sorry that hap-pened. I'm so glad Shauna came back to help you get rid of those creeps. Are you okay?" She could feel Rosa relax as Jeri held her a moment longer.

Rosa nodded. "I'm gonna take a quick shower."

Jeri crawled in bed and snuggled down into her pillow when Rosa left the room. Lying there, she imagined what Rosa had gone through with those boys and thanked G.o.d that she was only frightened. If Shauna hadn't shown up when she did, it could have turned out much worse. Rosa might be interested in attracting boys, but she didn't deserve that kind of attention! Jeri already knew what kind of guy she wanted someday. The Dallas kind.

Whenever Jeri brought up the subject of boys at home, her mom usually reminded her of a verse in 1 Peter. Your beauty "should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in G.o.d's sight." Would a gentle and quiet spirit really be enough though? It was kinda hard for Jeri to believe. Sure, G.o.d thought those traits were worth a lot, but would some boy?

As she lay there, her mind drifted to the people she liked best at Landmark School, like Abby and Rosa and Ms. Carter and Emily. What traits did she admire about them? Well . . . they were friendly, always ready to help, encouraging when she was down. None of those traits, Jeri realized, had anything to do with looks. Not a single one.

Abby and Rosa were de.nitely cute, but that wasn't what Jeri valued about them.

Jeri rolled over, throwing her arm over her eyes. What was taking Rosa so long in the bathroom? Probably telling her story to every girl who came in there.

Each time Jeri closed her eyes, she pictured the high school boys hara.s.sing Rosa, or Nikki being taken to the in.rmary, or the girls refusing to eat Abby's brownies, or Claire claiming Sierra would win the scholarship. Jeri tossed back and forth. By the time Rosa came back, Jeri was wide awake. Just minutes later, Rosa was sound asleep, hugging a stuffed bunny. Jeri stared at the patterns of shifting light on the ceiling made from trees outside swaying in the breeze.

The giant red numbers on her digital clock changed, slowly but surely. Mentally she reviewed the order of events. Sat.u.r.day night-just .ve nights ago -Abby . xed the birthday supper and .ve girls (including herself) got sick. Nikki spent the night in the in.rmary. Monday night she found Brooke sick again in the restroom. After break-fast on Tuesday, some girls and Miss Barbara were sick, and Abby went to the in.rmary. Tuesday evening Emily, Brooke, and Nikki watched the movie together, ate trail mix, and got sick-with Emily landing in the hospital. Jeri had learned from Mr. Petrie that some common plants were poisonous, so the poisonings could have been acci-dental. But could so many incidents be accidental?

But if it was on purpose, why?

With so many getting sick, it was impossible to tell who was targeted. Was one girl the intended victim, and the rest of the girls poisoned to confuse everyone? It did make it look more like a virus that way.

Jeri went over the possibilities in her mind. Nikki could be the target. She got the sickest after the birthday dinner, putting her in danger of not being able to compete on Sat-urday. Then she got sick again on the trail mix. There were probably several girls besides Janeen who needed to win that horse show scholarship.

Or had Nikki simply made someone mad enough to take revenge? Nikki could be more abrasive than sandpaper on an open sore. An angry girl might not .ght back directly, since Nikki was bigger than most everybody. But poisoning the food would certainly be great revenge.

Jeri .opped over on her stomach. It might not be an angry girl either. It sounded like Mr. Petrie and Nikki had an argument when Show Stopper got loose, and Nikki even complained to The Head about him. What had Brooke overheard him say when he delivered the . owers? What goes around, comes around? That might have meant nothing, but it could have been a threat.

Jeri curled up in a ball, disturbed by the direction of her thoughts. She liked Mr. Petrie. But other ideas crowded in. Like he grew some of the vegetables they ate. Could Mr. Petrie have slipped some poison foods into the basket that Scottie delivered when he brought the daffodils for Abby's party? Jeri hated to believe such a thing. Dear G.o.d, what is the truth here? Jeri tossed and turned, stirring up more questions than . nding answers.

Finally she gave up trying to sleep. For one thing, her stomach was growling. She needed something to eat.

She tried Rosa's snack box .rst. Empty wrappers were mixed with dead ants. Shuddering, she dumped it in the wastebasket. It was way past eleven-the of. cial stay-in-your-room hour-but she was starving. She'd be quick. Jeri tiptoed down the carpeted stairs in the dimly lit hall, feeling like a burglar. In the kitchen, she .ipped on the overhead light and squinted till her eyes adjusted to the brightness.

What did she want? Cereal or graham crackers, she decided, if she could .nd a safe, unopened package.

In the pantry she found several boxes and opened a new package of cinnamon graham crackers. She wasn't taking any chances on the open boxes. She grabbed out .ve or six large crackers and bit off a piece, returning the box to the shelf and closing the pantry door.

Back in the kitchen, she turned slowly, studying the cupboard doors as she munched. Each girl had a small shelf of her own for personal snacks, with her name on a card taped to her cupboard door. Jeri's shelf was near the back door. She shared a cupboard with Rosa, Abby, and Nikki. Each girl also had a clearly labeled white plastic container for perishable snacks in the giant refrigerator. Jeri's was empty now. She'd thrown away everything after Nikki got sick.

She wondered what everyone else had in their cup-board and refrigerator s.p.a.ce. There'd never be a better time to investigate. If she looked, could she tell if some-thing was suspicious? Maybe. She'd sure check out anyone with green potatoes, rhubarb leaves, and mushrooms!

But when she looked, the plastic containers in the double-wide refrigerator contained nothing more suspi-cious than some yogurt, cheese sticks, and candy bars. Not really surprising, she decided. Would a poisoner be stupid enough to leave her poison in plain sight?

Quietly and quickly, she opened cupboard doors and poked among the girls' things: cookies, Pop Tarts, birthday candles, cans of soup, chips, and kettle corn. She had just opened Brooke and Emily's cupboard when she heard a shuf.ing noise behind her. She whipped around, her heart pounding.

"What are you doing?" Emily's voice barely carried across the room.

Jeri's heart sank at the sight of her frightened expression. How in the world was she going to explain this?

8.

setting a trap.

Jeri gulped.

Emily stared wide-eyed at her own cupboard door, now standing open. "What are you doing?" she asked again.

"I came down for some crackers." Jeri tried to keep her voice light and nudged the door shut with her elbow. "You hungry too?"

"No." She paused. "When I went to the bathroom, I saw you going downstairs and wondered if you were okay."

"Just hungry." Jeri moved away from Emily's cupboard, but Emily remained standing in the door-way. Jeri wished the cracker box was on the counter to make her story look true. She could tell what Emily was thinking. What are you doing in my cupboard when your own is way over by the back door?

Emily glanced over her shoulder. "You'll get in trouble for being down here so late."

"I don't think Ms. Carter would want me to starve."

"Probably not." Emily seemed to consider that. "I've been working on my science fair project. It's chilly in our room."

"Want some hot chocolate? You have a couple packets left." Jeri could have kicked herself the moment the words left her mouth. Why not just announce that she'd searched Emily's cupboard?

"Um, no." Emily looked at Jeri, and then glanced quickly away. Her .ngers twisted the hem of her shorty pajamas into knots. "Good night, Jeri."

"I'll come too." Jeri reached to turn out the overhead light. Before she touched the switch, Emily had turned and .ed from the kitchen. In a moment Jeri heard her taking the stairs two at a time.

Oh, brother, Jeri thought, following more slowly. Did she think I was going to hurt her? Now what should I do?

On Friday morning Jeri yawned as the Hampton House girls lined up two by two to walk to the dining hall for breakfast. Jeri noticed Emily and Brooke watching her. Jeri tried to catch Emily's eye to smile at her, but each time Emily turned another direction.

I wasn't doing anything! Jeri wanted to scream. But if she tried to explain why she'd been snooping through everyone's food, it would only make her sound guilty. And yet, Jeri hated the idea that Emily might suspect her now. Brooke did too. She could tell by the way she was stealing dark glances at her. No doubt Emily had told her room-mate where she'd found Jeri in the middle of the night.

In her library period that morning, Jeri couldn't con-centrate. She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something important. G.o.d, what is it? Had she seen some-thing in the cupboards or the refrigerator that hadn't sunk in? Maybe some of those foods could be poisonous under certain conditions. In the computer room next door, she researched more on food poisoning. Although she learned a lot about correct food storage and symptoms of poison-ing, none of it was helpful.

She slumped in her chair, wishing she could talk to her mom. But Mrs. McKane was on a business trip in Indiana, giving speeches at a sales conference. Jeri didn't want to interrupt her presentation. She sighed. Email was better than nothing.

She signed into her Yahoo! mail and typed as fast as she could. She didn't want her mom to freak out about a poisoner on the loose in her dorm. So instead, she wrote about Rosa and the high school boys at the pizza place. "I don't want that kind of attention. Even so, I wish I got noticed too. You'll think I'm terrible -"

Just then an instant message popped up on her screen.

ImHis: What luck! I was just checking email and saw your smiley face icon lit up. Glad you're online.

Jerichogirl: HI I ROT U EM ImHis: Whoa! Plain English, okay? No text message gobbledy-gook!

Jerichogirl: sorry -I wrote you an email-let me send it now.

Jeri pushed Send and waited for her mom to read it.

ImHis: No, I don't think you're terrible. You're normal! That's a good thing. I just think you're maybe asking the wrong question.

Jerichogirl: what do U mean??????????

ImHis: Do you want the attention of a boy who only goes for mini skirts and tight shirts?

Jerichogirl: no- but I don't like 2 B invisible either.

ImHis: Think about this -what kind of boy do you want attention from?

Jerichogirl: easy -the kind that treats U like a lady -a guy that's fun 2 do stuff with -a guy who isn't fake.

ImHis: Fake?

Jerichogirl: one who only acts like a Chris tian at church.

ImHis: Great list there! Boys like that make excellent friends. So . . . next thing to do is ask yourself this: Am I the kind of girl this kind of guy would like for a friend?

Jerichogirl: U don't understand- I don't need more guy friends- I wish I could be more than a friend.

ImHis: Well, in sixth grade, you're too young to have boys be anything more than friends. I know it's not a popular thing to say, but it's true. Learn to be friends with boys. Boys who are good friends now make good boyfriends later, when you're old enough to date. Much later, they also make good husbands.

Jerichogirl: I guess, but that's a long time away.

ImHis: Yes, there's PLENTY of time. You want to attract quality boys when the time is right, sweetie. Your job now is to grow into the kind of quality girl the Bible talks about. Fruity, right?

Jeri smiled then. Fruity was her mom's expression for showing the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Startled, she realized that those words pretty well described Dallas.

Jerichogirl: I NO U R right- but fruity girls don't get much notice.

ImHis: I won't lie to you. It's true that you won't get noticed by as many boys if you dress modestly and concentrate on de-veloping good character. But when you DO get attention, it will be for the right reasons and from the right boys. It just takes time- which you have plenty of.

Jerichogirl: in fact I don't- gotta go.

ImHis: Okay. You go ahead, but check email later.

Just then the bell rang, and Jeri logged off. Sighing, she wished she could put boys out of her mind altogether for a couple years.

After her second period cla.s.s, she ran back to the computer lab and found the email from her mom.

Sorry we got cut off this morning. In your email you mentioned Rosa's clothes and her beautiful black hair several times. We all envy others' looks sometimes, but work hard to be satisfied with how G.o.d made you. You're beautiful - in G.o.d's eyes as well as mine. Try to really believe this truth: a gentle, peaceful spirit is more becom-ing at any age than any clothing you could wear or any hairstyle. "The Lord does not look at the things [human beings look] at. [ People] look at the outward appear-ance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sam uel 16:7). Don't let the world dictate how you feel about yourself.

Jeri reread the email, then closed it. At gut level, she knew her mom was right, but sometimes it was so hard. G.o.d might look at her heart, but people looked at the out-side. If they didn't like what they saw, would they bother getting to know her heart? What was wrong with having a good heart and a great "outside"? Surely she could have both, couldn't she? Yes, she wanted to please G.o.d, but she wanted to look pleasing to others too. She sighed. If only it didn't matter to her.

But since knowing Dallas, it did matter.A lot.Jeri spent the rest of the school day with her busy mind going from one problem to another-and missing half of what her teachers said. She wanted to .gure out what was going on in the dorm. Ms. Carter seemed content to blame a virus, but some of the girls acted like Abby was guilty of poisoning people. Jeri .gured she had moved up to the number-one-suspect position herself after Emily caught her snooping in the kitchen. She had to get rid of the cloud of suspicion that .oated over them.