"I should call home, too," said Mary Anne. "Kristy was supposed to come over for supper tonight. I better tell them we'll be late." She stood up to join me.

"I'm hungry!" Brenda wailed all of a sudden. "I want dinner."

"Shhh!" whispered Mara. "We'll eat later, when everybody's gone."

"In the kitchen at Casa Grande?" asked Kristy. "I had a feeling you guys were the burrito banditos." She was trying to keep the tone of the conversation light, but Mara still blushed a deep red.

"We used their kitchen because it was the easiest to get into, out of all the places on the food court. We were going to pay them back as soon as we could," she said earnestly. "And we always cleaned up after ourselves." She looked down at her hands.

Mary Anne touched her shoulder. "It's okay, Mara," she said. "Everything's going to be okay." Mara gave her a timid smile.

"Let's get these kids something to eat," said Charlie, springing to his feet. "Do you like cheeseburgers, Kyle?"

"Oh, wow," said Kyle, grinning. "I love them."

"Great," said Charlie. "And I bet you like fries, don't you?" he asked Brenda.

She nodded shyly. "With ketchup!" she said.

"You don't have to do this," Mara said to Charlie. "We'll get by. Really."

"No way am I missing out on a cheeseburger," said Kyle, frowning at her. "I'm sick of burritos. Come on, Mara, please?"

"Okay," said Mara, nodding to Kyle. Then she turned to Charlie. "But we'll pay you back as soon as we can. That's a promise."

Charlie stuck out his hand, and they shook. Then he looked at me, and I knew he knew I was planning to call the police. "Why don't you and Mary Anne go make your calls," he said, "and we'll meet you at Friendly's. In, say," he checked his watch, "fifteen minutes?"

He gave me another Look, and I nodded. He wanted to be sure I would let the police know where to come and when to get there.

"See you!" I said, waving to everybody. "Better order me a grilled cheese. I'm starving. Oh, and Jessi, I'll call your aunt Cecelia for you," I added.

"And I'll have a cheddar burger," said Mary Anne. "Well done."

Kristy pretended to write our orders on an imaginary pad. "Coming right up!" she said. "See you!"

Mary Anne and I took off toward the phones near the main entrance. On the way, I explained what was up. She wasn't surprised. "That's what I thought," she said. "I hate to do that to the kids, after they've put so much energy into surviving on their own. But the fact is, they need help."

When we reached the phones, we both called home first and explained that our dinner plans were off. Then I called the Ramseys, and then the police, which was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. "We'll send somebody right out," said the person who answered the phone. After that, Mary Anne and I ran over to Friendly's.

We found our friends and the three kids at a big round table. Kyle was taking huge, hungry bites out of a cheeseburger, Brenda was loading fries with ketchup and wolfing them down, and Mara was taking tiny, polite bites of a tunafish sandwich, the cheapest thing on the menu. She looked up at Mary Anne- and me and smiled - and then she looked past us and her body stiffened. I turned around and saw a policewoman approaching the table. Mara looked as if she wanted to take off running, but she held her ground. She shot fierce looks at Brenda and Kyle, as if warning them to let her do the talking. The policewoman pulled up a chair. "Are you Mara?" she asked. I had given the police her name. Mara nodded, looking frightened. "Don't worry," said the policewoman. "I'm Lieutenant Shay - you can call me Irene - and I'm here to help you." Mara didn't look convinced. "Why don't you tell me your story?" Irene asked gently. "And then we can figure out what to do next." She took off her hat and stuck it on Kyle's head, which made him grin. Mara started talking, slowly at first. Then she built up steam and the words spilled out. My friends and I leaned toward her, listening as eagerly as we had the first time. I had never heard anything like the story Mara told. She added some details we hadn't heard the first time: about how she and Brenda and Kyle had only moved to the area a few months ago, and hadn't enrolled at school yet. That was one reason n.o.body had missed them. And how they hadn't had a phone put in yet - because they couldn't afford it - which was why their mother couldn't call and had no idea that they weren't in the apartment where she'd left them. They'd visited her a few times, using coins fished from the fountain for bus fare, but they never told her where they were living. "She was just so, so sick," said Mara. "I couldn't stand to add to her worries."

It turned out that the strongest force driving Mara to do what she did was her fear that if the child welfare people got involved, she and Kyle and Brenda would be separated. "But I guess now that's going to happen anyway," said Mara. She looked at me, and I knew she felt betrayed. She had probably figured out I was the one who had called the cops.

Once she had finished telling Irene how she and Kyle and Brenda had survived in the mall, Mara stopped talking. Brenda filled in the silence with a little made-up song about her french fries.

"Isn't there something else you want to tell me?" asked Irene, after a minute or so. She had been taking notes while Mara talked, and now she looked Mara in the eyes. "Something about the expensive merchandise that's been disappearing at night? We know you didn't take it - none of you looks strong enough to carry away a microwave, much less a treadmill. So what about it?"

Mara looked trapped.

"Don't worry. n.o.body will ever find out who told us," said Irene.

Mara mumbled something about Mr. Morton, and then began to speak more freely. Irene listened closely and took some more notes. Then she took her hat back from Kyle and stood up. "Time to go find Ted Morton, I think," she said. A woman who had entered the restaurant a few minutes earlier and sat at a nearby table, stood up also, and came over to our table.

"I'm Mrs. Peabody," she said to Mara. "I'm a social worker with Stoneybrook Social Services. We want to help you. We have a car waiting outside. Will you come with me, please?"

And that was the last we saw of Mara, Brenda, and Kyle. As the social worker led them away, Brenda waved a french fry at us, Kyle gave us a ketchup-smeared grin, and Mara looked at us with accusatory eyes.

"I guess my favorite day would have to be the day Benny - he's the cook at Casa Grande - taught me how to make enchiladas," said Logan. "I was surprised at how much fun it was. I've even been thinking lately that I might want to go to cooking school someday, and learn how to be a great chef."

It was a week and a day later, and we were gathered in Claud's room for a BSC meeting. Claud had pa.s.sed around a bag of Chee-tos Paws, plus some cookies sweetened with fruit juice that are okay for me to eat. We were celebrating our last day of Project Work, and between calls from clients we were talking over what we had liked best about working at the mall.

"I loved the BookCenter," said Mal. "Maybe I'll have a little bookstore someday. I could work there in the mornings, and write in the afternoons." She looked dreamy.

"I'll run the bookstore in the afternoon," said Jessi. "It sounds like a lot more fun than working in a movie theatre. Although I do have to say I enjoyed learning how to operate the projector."

Mary Anne showed us the present her boss had given her on the last day - a red collar for Tigger - and Claud brought out the paint set she had saved for and bought from Artist's Exchange.

"My last day with security was pretty quiet," said Kristy. "It seems as though the serious shoplifting has finally stopped. We met with the new mall manager today, and he's excited about some plans he has for deterring shoplifters before they even start stealing. He's a great guy - Mr. Buford, his name is - and he has some excellent ideas for the mall. Plus, he's had lots of experience."

"What about Mr. Morton?" asked Shannon. "What's going to happen to him?"

Kristy frowned. "I guess he'll have to go to court, it's a shame, really. He did mean well."

"But I'll never be able to forget how he threatened those kids," said Mary Anne. "How could such a nice guy do such a rotten thing?"

We sat there shaking our heads, puzzled.

"And what about the day-care center?" Shannon asked. "Is there still going to be one?"

"Oh, definitely," I said. "April told me they hope to open within a few weeks. And guess who's quitting his job to be the center's full-time director? Mr. Williams, the guy from the Cheese Outlet."

"That's great," said Kristy. "He'll be wonderful with the kids."

"Speaking of kids," I said, "I haven't told you all the best news. I called Mrs. Peabody today, over at Social Services? And it sounds like everything is working out just fine for Mara and Kyle and Brenda. The night they took them away, they contacted Mara's mom in the hospital. She was almost ready to be released. Mrs. Peabody brought the kids over to the hospital and they had a really great reunion."

"So they'll be living together again, back in their apartment?" Kristy asked.

I nodded. "They're going to get some a.s.sistance from Social Services, and the family will be getting some counseling, too. I felt so much better after talking to Mrs. Peabody. I mean, turning Mara in was incredibly hard - but now at least I know that was the right thing to do."

"Wait till I call Dawn and tell her about all of this," said Mary Anne. Her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears. "It's such a great story, with a 'happily ever after' for everyone."

"Everyone except Mr. Morton," said Kristy. She looked at the clock. "By the way, it's after six," she said. "I think this meeting is adjourned."

"Then let's call Dawn right now," said Claud, diving for the phone. "I want to talk to her, too. Once she hears about our next Short Takes cla.s.s, maybe she'll come back home even sooner."

"What's the next cla.s.s?" asked Shannon.

"Oh, it's a great one," I said.

"It should be totally fun - and relaxing, compared to Project Work," said Kristy.

"What is it?" Shannon asked again.

"Something everybody really needs, after six weeks of Project Work," said Mary Anne. We all started to giggle, except for Shannon, who sat there looking bewildered. Soon we were laughing so hard it was impossible to talk, but I finally managed to squeak the words out. "Stress Reduction for Teens," I said. Then I fell back onto the bed, gasping for breath as my friends and I laughed some more.

About the Author.

ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College.

Ms. Martin lives in New York City with her cats, Mouse and Rosie. She likes ice cream and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.

Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks include Yours Turly, Shirley; Ten Kids, No Pets; With You and Without You; b.u.mmer Summer; and all the other books in the Baby-sitters Club series.