Hailey Twitch Is Not a Snitch (4 page)

The Ghost of Room Four

Maybelle is still not back by the next day and I have been looking all over for her! So when recess comes around, I walk around by the schoolyard and call her name real soft.

“Maybelle,” I say. “Maybelle, Maybelle, Maybelle, yoo-hoo! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Then I even say, “I give up, I can’t find you!” just in case she thinks we are playing hide-and-seek.

“Who’s Maybelle?” Russ asks. He has popped up right behind me. He looks all around. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh.

“You should not sneak up on people like that,” I tell him. “You are going to give me a heart attack.” That is something my Grandpa Twitch says when I sometimes pop up behind his chair and take his hat while he is watching TV. It is a very fun game.

“Who is Maybelle?” Russ asks again. And then he starts yelling, “MAYBELLE, MAYBELLE, MAYBELLE!” And he flaps his arms like he’s a bird.

“Shhh!” I say. “Stop that this instant! I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Is she that new girl?” Russ asks. “From room five? Where is she? I want to chase her.”

“Hey, Russ,” I say. “Do you want to go climb on the monkey bars?” This is to make him forget about Maybelle. Russ really loves the monkey bars. He loves to have monkey bar races.

“Okay!” Russ and I run right over to those bars. But when we get there, Natalie Brice is hanging upside down in the middle. Her hair is so long it almost touches the ground.

“Hello, Natalie,” I say.

“Hello, Hailey,” she says. Then she turns herself right side up. And she jumps down.

“I like your shoes,” Russ says.

Natalie Brice is wearing shoes that are roller skates! And she has purple and gold sparkly shoelaces in them! This makes me very, very mad. I am supposed to be the first girl in room four to get those shoes!

“Thank you,” Natalie says.

And then Natalie says, “Hailey, what did you think about how Miss Stephanie couldn’t find the list of partners?”

“I thought it was very weird,” I say. “I have no idea how that list disappeared like that!” Then I give a good laugh, so that she knows I think it is so very crazy. “Ha, ha, ha!”

“Whoever took that list is definitely going to get in a lot of trouble,” Natalie says. Then she leans right against the side of the monkey bars. And lifts up part of her foot so that everyone can see those wonderful wheels on her shoe!

“No one took that list,” I say. “That list just disappeared. Sometimes things disappear. Like socks in the laundry. Or library books. Or lists of partners.” I crouch down in the dirt then so that I do not have to look at those wheels. And then I pick up a stick. I start to write my name, “Hailey Twitch.”

But before I even can finish the
H
, Natalie Brice says, “That list did not disappear. Someone threw it in the garbage can.”

“Why did they do that?” Russ asks. He is zooming down those monkey bars without stopping even once!

“No, they did not throw that list in the garbage can,” I say. I throw my stick down and stand up. “Because Miss Stephanie could not find it.
Poof!
It just disappeared right away!”

I yell over to Antonio who is running around the jungle gym. “Antonio, how do you say
disappeared
in Spanish, please?”

“
Desaparecio
,” Antonio says.

“Yeah, well, that list did not just
desaparecio
,” Natalie says.

“Yes, it did,” I say.

“No, it didn’t,” she says.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“How do you know?” I ask.

And then Natalie Brice gets a little bit of a smile on her face. “Because it turns out that I saw that list. And it was right. In. The. Trash.”

“It must have fallen off Miss Stephanie’s desk,” I say. “And into the garbage. Oops! Like an accident.” I smile at Natalie and quick try to make friends.

“Or,” Natalie says, “maybe someone threw it in there. Maybe
some
people don’t like that list.” And then I think she looks right at me. I am not sure because sometimes my imagination runs wild.

Then I have a very good idea. A fab, fab, fabulous idea. An even better idea than the time I made my own lemonade stand and got eleven whole dollars in one day. “Maybe,” I say, “a ghost did it!”

“There is no such thing as ghosts,” Natalie says. And then she rolls a little bit on her skate shoes.

“Is Maybelle the ghost?” Russ asks. He frowns. “Maybelle is a very weird name for a ghost.”

“Yes!” I say. “Maybelle is the ghost!” I try to give Russ a wink. This is what you do when you are joking around about something. But Russ is not looking. He is still zooming on those monkey bars.

And then all of a sudden, before I can stop it, Antonio Fuerte pops right up from behind us. “There is a ghost named Maybelle?” he asks. “Who stole that list?” His black eyes are looking very black, black, black today.

“Why, yes, Antonio,” I say before I can stop myself. “That ghost is named Maybelle.”

“What does she look like and where is she?” Antonio asks. He jumps up and down and swings his arms all around, like he is pretending to use a sword. “Is she a good witch or a bad witch?”

“She’s not a witch,” Russ says. “She is a ghost.”

“She is a very bad ghost,” I say. “She took that list and smushed it right up. But she’s gone now, and she said that she is never, ever coming back, so yay for us getting rid of that ghost!” I smile at Antonio. “Now do you want to play chase?”

“I thought we were going to play on the monkey bars,” Russ says. He jumps off those bars and into the dirt.

“Oh, yes, we will,” I say. I forgot that I am supposed to be playing with Russ. “Sorry, Antonio,” I say. “But maybe you can chase me around later.”

“I will chase you around and I will stop that ghost at the same time!” Antonio yells. He is really waving his fake sword around now. “I will save you from that ghost, Hailey!” he shouts in a very big outdoor voice. “Her name is Maybelle, and she is queen of the bad ghosts!”

And then before I can stop him, Russ stands up and yells, “GO AWAY, MAYBELLE, YOU STUPID GHOST!”

That is not very nice of him. I am glad Maybelle is not around to hear that. I do not think she would like being called a stupid ghost very much.

“Hey, Natalie, are you glad we got rid of that ghost Maybelle?” Antonio asks. “Since it’s a really mean one?”

“Yes, I am glad,” Natalie says. “I do not think that ghosts should be allowed at this school.” I am very shocked that Natalie is agreeing with me. And for some reason, I am a little nervous, too.

The Addie Jokobeck Surprise

Before I know it, the school day is over! We are done with recess, done with gym class, done with everything! And Addie Jokobeck is coming over to my house to work on our French costumes. Me and her are going to give it another try.

“This is going to be very, very fun,” Addie Jokobeck says. We are waiting in the classroom for my mom to come and pick us up. “I am so excited to be making a nice costume for France!” Addie claps her hands. Then she bounces all around in her chair. She is wearing white earmuffs that are fluff, fluff, fluffy. And it is not even that cold out.

“Why are you wearing those earmuffs?” I ask her. “When it is not even really that cold out?”

“Better safe than sorry!” Addie says. She smiles.

“Yeah,” I say, even though I do not really mean it. I am looking around for Maybelle. She is still not back. I hope she didn’t hear all that talk about her being a bad ghost. I don’t think sprites really like to be called ghosts. Especially because they are supposed to be fun. And especially ones who have lost their magic.

“What are you looking for?” Addie asks me. “Did you lose your earmuffs?” She looks under the table.

“I did not wear earmuffs today,” I say. And then I say, “It is not cold enough.” Just in case she forgot.

“Then why are your eyes moving all around like this?” Addie Jokobeck moves her eyes all around like she is looking for something. “If you are looking for your sparkly pencil, it’s right here.” And then Addie puts her hand into her backpack. She pulls out my pink, sparkly pencil. It is the one with the purple sparkly eraser that matches.

“Where did you get my pink sparkly pencil?” I ask her.

And then Addie Jokobeck’s face turns red, red, red. It is so red that it goes up to her ears. It looks exactly like mine when I am caught doing something I’m not supposed to do. “I borrowed it,” she says so soft it is hard to hear her.

“Oh.” I do not tell Addie that when you borrow something, you need to ask first.

Addie Jokobeck has a weird sort of look on her face. Like maybe she already knows the difference between stealing and borrowing. And then I remember one time when I got in trouble about borrowing. It was last year and it had to do with some wonderful snow boots.

“You know,” I say. “I was not even looking for that pencil. I was not even missing it at all. You can probably have it.” I put the pencil down on the desk between us.

“I can?” Addie Jokobeck seems very happy and excited to get that pencil. She is smiling very, very wide.

“Yes,” I say. “I have blue and silver and green and gold and lots and lots of pink ones.”

“Thank you.” Addie takes that pencil. She really holds on to it tight, tight, tight. I think Addie Jokobeck might love that pencil.

“I thought you didn’t like pencils with sparkles and glitter,” I say.

“Well, I didn’t used to,” she says. “Because I thought they made your printing and cursive all wobbly. But now I am a better printer, so I think I should be able to handle some sparkly pencils.”

And then Addie Jokobeck holds on to that pencil until my mom comes. I think maybe me and Addie Jokobeck might be friends.

“I am going to wear a French mustache,” I tell my mom when we get to my house. “So I hope you got some things to make very curly French mustaches.” Then I push my lip up, up, up and imagine how it would feel to have a fabulous, scratchy, curly French mustache up there.

“Oh, Hailey,” my mom says, sighing. “I wish you had told me that before. I didn’t buy anything to make French mustaches.”

I am about to have a fit about this. Because the very best part of dressing for France is wearing a French mustache! But then my mom tells me that we are going to dress up like French painters.

Then she pulls out a big bag and puts it on the kitchen table in front of me and Addie Jokobeck. In that bag are: Some plain white T-shirts. Some paints. And then comes the very best part. We are going to paint stripes on the T-shirts!

We take those white, white, white T-shirts and paint stripes on them with special paint. I love to make a good mess on clothes! And this one is allowed! I make blue stripes on my shirt. Addie Jokobeck paints red stripes on hers.

And then my mom says, “Now it is time for the special surprise.”

“I love special surprises!” I gasp.

Then my mom reaches back into that bag. And she pulls out two hats.

“These are special French hats called berets,” she says.

I try the beret right on. So does Addie Jokobeck. Those hats are very floppy! They flop, flop, flop right over our eyes.

“
Bonjour!
” I say to Addie Jokobeck from under my beret.
Bonjour
is how you say “hello” in French.

“
Bonjour!
” Addie Jokobeck says from under her beret.

Then we take that special paint and paint those berets right up. I write “Hailey” on mine in pink paint. And then I put beautiful blue glitter all over it.

Addie writes “Adeline” on hers in red paint. Adeline is Addie’s real name. She is just called Addie for short. I am not called anything for short. I think about how maybe I should be called “Hail” from now on. I wonder if that would catch on.

“I love to paint on clothes,” Addie Jokobeck says. This is very shocking. Painting on clothes is very much against the rules. So I thought she probably would not like it too much. That Addie Jokobeck is just full of surprises.

“Do you want to have some ice cream after this?” I ask her. “We have vanilla and strawberries and cream!” Strawberries and cream is the best flavor of ice cream to have. I wait for Addie to get very happy and excited.

“Addie’s going to be leaving soon,” my mom says. “Her mom is on her way to pick her up.”

“Already?” I ask. I feel a little sad in my heart.

“Yes,” Addie says. “I am going over to Natalie’s to look at her tree house.”

My mouth drops all the way open. “You are going to Natalie’s?” I am very, very surprised by this. Addie Jokobeck and Natalie Brice are not even friends! Addie is
my
new friend, not Natalie’s! And I am the boss of her!

“Yes,” Addie says. She is painting stars on her hat.

“You,” I say, “should not go to Natalie’s. She is very, very mean.” I hope Addie Jokobeck knows I am the boss of her. “And I am not invited.”

“But her mom called my mom and we are going to work on her tree house and then we are going to have make-your-own sundaes,” she says. Make-your-own sundaes! That is the very best kind of ice cream activity! It is very delicious and very messy, two of my favorite things!

I do not think me and Addie Jokobeck are friends anymore. And I think everything might just be a big mess.