Kristy's Mystery Admirer (11 page)

"We were all pretty scared just last Halloween," pointed out Mary Anne. "Thanks to

Cokie and Grace and their friends."

"That's for sure," said Jessi.

"I'm kind of sorry I missed all that," said Stacey.

"No, you're not," Claud told her. "It was really scary."

"I'm glad Cokie gave herself away at the game last weekend," I said. "Can you imagine how we'd feel right now if I were still getting those notes?"

And at that very moment, a scream ripped through the air. I froze. Then I thawed out and looked at my friends. They were all looking at each other. None of us had screamed.

"Yikes!" I said. I tiptoed into the hallway — just in time to hear another scream. It came from Karen's room.

The door to Mom and Watson's bedroom opened then, and Watson rushed out. "Don't worry," he told me. "I think Karen's having a nightmare."

With a sigh, I returned to my friends. "Just Karen," I said. "Bad dream. Watson's taking care of her."

We began to get ready to go to sleep. We put away our nail polish and barrettes, shoved our junk into a corner of the room, and my friends rolled out their sleeping bags. I was going to sleep in my bed. Even so, seven

sleeping bags made the floor of the room pretty crowded.

Scritch, scratch. Scritch, scratch.

Mary Anne jumped a mile. "What was that?"

"Just branches scraping my windows," I said carelessly. I wasn't going to let Halloween spook me. "A storm must be blowing in."

I waited until everyone was settled in their sleeping bags. Then I pulled back the covers on my bed and found ... a kidnapping note on my pillow. It was all I could do not to shriek, but I didn't want Watson to come dashing into my room. Instead I just gasped.

"What? What's wrong?" asked Dawn.

"This is," I whispered. I held up the note. It was made of letters cut from magazines and newspapers and said, "I am coming for you tonight. I will be there at 3:00 A.M. There's no way to escape me."

Everyone crawled out of their sleeping bags and was reading the note wide-eyed, looking ready to scream.

Everyone except Shannon. She began to laugh.

"Shannon! Did you do this?" I demanded.

Shannon couldn't control herself. "Yes," she said, giggling. "I didn't know what to do with myself all evening while I waited for you

guys to come back from the dance. So I made that letter. It took hours."

"I'll treasure it always," I said sarcastically.

"You aren't mad, are you, Kristy?" asked Shannon.

"Nah. In fact, you just gave me an idea."

"What, I'm afraid to ask," said Mary Anne.

"Come on. I'll show you."

If any of us had been sleepy before, we weren't now. Shannon's note had given us a second wind. So everyone jumped up and followed me out of my room, down the hall, down the stairs, and into the den, where our computer is set up. I slipped a disk into the drive and typed out:

My dearest, darling Cokie,

You are the light of my life. You make the sun rise every morning. You make the flowers grow, yellow-dappled and dewy. Every day I watch you. I watch you in the halls and the cafeteria and science class. You are a creature more gorgeous than a goddess. Please accept this heartfelt invitation to dissect a frog with me.

Always and forever, Your Mystery Perspirer

Everyone was howling, and Shannon asked, "What are you going to do with that note, Kristy?"

"Stick it in Cokie's locker on Monday morning."

"Don't you think she's going to know who wrote it?"

"Yes," I replied, "and I don't care. I know I said I didn't want to continue the war with Cokie, but I can't help it. This is too good an idea to pass up. Come on, you guys. Let's go to bed."

And so, note in hand, I led my friends back to my room, where we promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up until eleven o'clock the next morning.

About the Author

ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey, Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.

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

She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.