Stealing Popular (15 page)

“A little?” Fawn rubbed her eyes. “I'm starting to see spots.”

“Well, I like it,” announced Adair.

“Only because Her Fabulousness told you to,” I said.

“That's not true.”

“How come when I told you about Firefly lip gloss, you said, ‘Ick to the hundredth power'?”

“Well, that was . . . before.” Adair's mouth formed a pouty O, making her look more like a fish than ever. “And I asked you to stop calling Dijon names.”

“Why don't you ever tell Venice to quit calling me Cuckoo or Liezel Weasel?”

Adair ignored me, pretending to be deeply engrossed in a chipped fingernail.

We heard the
clitter-clap, clitter-clap
of heels against white-and-green-speckled tiles. Turning, I found myself face-to-face with Dijon. Venice, Évian, and Stocklifter flanked her. Venice and Évian were furiously wiping gloss from their lips with tissues. Clearly, Dijon had informed them of the security breach at the beauty board.

Dijon's eyes drilled into me. “I know what you did, Coco Sherwood. What gives you the right to touch other people's stuff?”

I wanted to argue with her, to say what I had done was not anywhere near as bad as what she had done to Fawn. But I remembered my plan to get through the day and the PTA meeting tonight without any royal drama. “Sorry, Dijon,” I said as sincerely as possible. “I shouldn't have written on your beauty board.”

“You?” the entire circle of girls, including Dijon, said simultaneously.

Fawn's thumb motioned to Adair. “
You
did this?”

I lifted a shoulder.

“I wasn't talking about the board,” said Dijon. “I meant—”

“Oh, you mean, the stinky gym sock and sauerkraut under your locker,” I squeaked. “Sorry about that, too.”

Dijon's mouth fell open.

“
That
was you!” shrieked Venice, flicking her tissue at me. “You owe me for, like, five cans of Glade, Cuckoo.”

“She does not,” said Liezel, muscling her way between Venice and Stocklifter. “Dijon bullied Fawn out of her own locker. She started it.”

“She did not,” spat Stocklifter.

“Did, too!” I cried.

“You shut up!” shot Venice.

“
You
shut up,” Liezel fired at Venice.

“She yelled first,” snapped Venice, pointing at me, which set off a chain reaction of accusations about who started what and when. Stock, Venice, and Évian were shouting at Fawn, Liezel, and me, who were, naturally, shouting right back.

“Quiet!”

We froze at Dijon's scream.

“Is everything okay out here?” Mrs. Dawkins stuck her head out of the library.

All eight of us nodded.

“Please keep it down, girls. I don't want to have to come out here again.” The librarian turned away.

Putting her hands out in front of her, Dijon took a long, deep breath. “I wasn't talking about the beauty board or the smelly locker, though we
will
be discussing these things later.” She whirled to face me. “I was talking about my tiara.”

I tipped my head. “What about it?”

“As if you didn't know.”

I didn't. “What?”

“It's missing.”

“Missing?”

“It was in my locker last Friday, and now it's not. Évian told me she'd seen you'd sneaking around my locker, and with all of the weird smells and everything—”

“You think
I
took
your
tiara?” I couldn't help snorting. “What would I possibly want with that dumb thing?”

Dijon's pretty lips became a thin line. “Look, I'm not going to get you in trouble for stealing it. I just want it back. I
need
to have it back.” It was the first time I'd ever heard desperation in Dijon's voice.

A shudder went through me.

“I told you, I don't have it. I didn't take it,” I said. “I don't know what else I can say.”

“If that's the way you want it, Coco.” Dijon stuck her chin up, flung her hair over one shoulder, and pushed past me. The Royal Court was inches behind her.

Clitter-clap, clitter-clap. Clitter-clap, clitter-clap.

The usual heel clicking doubled in speed as the four of them marched in perfect time down the hallway. Dijon did not stop to wave to a Sortabody or even say hello to Mrs. Gisborne and Waffles, who were coming our way.

“Look!” said Liezel. “I think she's going to the principal's office.”

When they approached the intersection in the hall, Her Fabulousness and the Royal Court charged straight through the double doors and into the main office.

“I knew it,” said Liezel.

“She sure is upset,” said Fawn.

I ran a hand through my hair. “And over some fake crown. It's ridiculous. Dijon has too much control here.”

“Not anymore,” said Liezel with a grin. “Thanks to you, Coco. When word gets out about what you did to her beauty board—”

“People will hate me,” I finished.

“No, they won't,” said Fawn, reaching into our locker for her math book. “Well, at first they might. But then
they'll realize just how silly they've been, following her orders. You'll be a hero.”

“Nah,” I said shyly. Opening my backpack, I tossed in my leadership notebook. “Hey, everybody, don't forget, voting for fall court starts today at lunch. We need to get as many people as we can to vote for Renata, okay?”

“I'm on it,” said Liezel.

“Practically our whole PE class is voting for her,” said Fawn, shutting our locker. She spun the dial. “And I've told everyone in orchestra, too.”

For the first time in days, I started to relax. Dijon's power was draining away. I could feel it.

“Coco?” Adair's hand was on my arm. “I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I swore I wouldn't, but I think I'd better now.”

“Better what? What are you talking about?”

“Dijon's tiara.” Her eyes were filling with tears. She had a streak of Firefly lip gloss on her chin. “It's . . . it's . . .”

“What?”

“It's not hers.”

Liezel's face was between us. “Well, whose is it?”

“Her mother's.”

“Her mother's?” echoed Fawn.

Adair yanked all of her hair over one shoulder and began twisting it. “Yeah, it's the one she wore at her third wedding—her really,
really
expensive third wedding.”

I think I understood. “You mean Dijon's fake tiara is . . . is . . .?” My throat was collapsing.

Nodding rapidly, Adair said what I could not. “It's real. The diamonds are real.”

I could not stop my hands and legs from fidgeting. A human earthquake, I kept knocking stuff off my desk.

The first-period tardy bell had already rung, and Dijon was not in her chair. Venice had swung around and was forehead to forehead with Truffle.

“Here.” Adair had picked my pen up off the floor and was trying to give it back. “Will you stop twitching? You didn't do anything wrong.”

“Then you believe me?”

Two dimples appeared. “Always.”

Her tone, that familiar warmth, wrapped itself around me. It gave me comfort. And hope. Maybe I hadn't lost her to them after all.

“Guess what?” she asked, not wanting or waiting for me to guess. “Our cheerleading uniforms came in. Coach Notting is handing them out at practice today after school. I'm so excited! I'm officially going to be
a cheerleader. Did you ever think it would actually happen?”

“Yes,” I said. “It's your destiny.”

Mr. Tanori took roll, then called for our attention. “Just a reminder, class, tonight Adair, Coco, and Renata will be presenting their mural idea to the PTA for final approval. The meeting starts at seven p.m. I'll be there to introduce them, and if you can make it, please come. I'm sure they'd welcome your support.”

That got a “Yow!” from Parker and Breck in the back of the room.

Ten minutes into the period, Dijon showed up. Her face a mask, she handed Mr. Tanori a hall pass and went to her seat. I was relieved. Maybe Dijon had only pretended to have a diamond tiara so she could show off to her Royal Court and impress Adair. Or maybe Adair had misunderstood. Whatever it was, it was over now.

I got down to work, giving my full attention to the assignment sheet Mr. Tanori had given us on cooperation. A few minutes later I was filling in the blanks when my teacher knelt by my desk. “Coco,” he whispered. “Mr. Falkner wants to see you in his office.” He put a hall pass on my desk. “Immediately.”

My eyes went straight for Adair.

She had her hands over her nose and mouth.

“Take all of your things with you to the vice principal's office, in case you aren't finished by the end of the period,” instructed my teacher. “You can finish your assignment sheet at home and turn it in tomorrow. And if you don't make it back before the period ends, I'll see you at the meeting tonight.”

“O-okay.” I started to gather my books. When I stood up, my legs felt like dry twigs. So did my mouth.

The last thing Adair said to me before I went to the office was “Don't worry. It'll be all right.”

Mr. Falkner didn't keep me waiting long. “Dijon Randle says a valuable tiara that she had in her locker was—is—missing,” he said, sitting in the maroon leather chair behind his desk. “Do you know anything about it?”

“No,” I said, clutching my backpack to my chest. I couldn't seem to stop rocking back and forth, and licking my lips. I'm sure it must have made me look totally guilty.

“She says you've been leaving, uh”—he glanced down at a piece of paper—“sauerkraut and other disgusting things in her locker? Is this true?”

“Well, sort of. Not in her locker, exactly. More like,
under
it. It's a long story.”

“She says you have her locker combination.”

“See, technically, she's supposed to be locker partners with my friend Fawn. You know Fawn Ralston, right? But Dijon kicked Fawn out of the locker on the first day of school, so Fawn had to move in with Liezel and me—”

“Coco.” He put up a hand. “Do you know her combination or not?”

I licked my lips for the billionth and first time. “I do.”

“Dijon says she put the tiara in her locker last week. She says she has reason to believe you may have taken it.”

“I didn't.” I shook my head as hard as I could, which probably made me look even more guilty. “I didn't take it.”

Mr. Falkner rubbed his chin. “I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just trying to get to the truth. Although she definitely made a mistake leaving it at school, I'm under a bit of pressure here. It's a pricey item.”

“Pricey? How pricey?”

He took a moment. “Three thousand dollars.”

“Three.
Thousand
?” If I hadn't grabbed his desk, I would have fallen out of the chair.

“It's made of white gold and diamonds, according to her mother, who is, by the way, the owner of the crown. And given that Mrs. Randle is a key figure in our school community . . .” Mr. Falkner did not finish. He didn't have to. The vice principal wiped his brow. “To be sure we've covered our bases, I'm going to need to look in your backpack, your locker, and your PE locker. You may come along, if you want, while I do this.”

“Can I call my dad and tell him what's going on?”

“Certainly. I had planned to call him before we got started, to explain what we're doing.”

“Mr. Falkner, I'm not lying.”

He gave me a painful grin. “I believe you, Coco. But just—”

“I know. Just to be sure.”

Mr. Falkner went through all of my stuff. He didn't find Dijon's tiara. I knew he wouldn't, but it was still nerve-racking. There's always that part of you that wonders if the missing crown will somehow, magically appear when and where you least expect it. When he was finished, Mr. Falkner thanked me for my patience and handed me a hall pass so I could go back to first period. The paper was damp with sweat. I think we were both glad the whole thing was over.

I strolled into leadership class with no expression on my face. I gave Mr. Tanori my wrinkled, sweat-stained pass and took my seat. I felt Dijon's eyes on me. I lifted my head and stared at her. I did not blink or move. She was the first to turn away.

Adair was poking me. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You're not in trouble?”

“No.”

“Thank God. Are you ready for our presentation tonight?”

“I think so,” I said, pretending to buzz saw all of my fingernails.

Adair giggled.

Mr. Tanori was kneeling between our desks. “Adair, Mr. Falkner would like to see you in his office. Go right away, please.”

“I'm sure Dijon gave him all of our names,” I explained, trying to calm her. “He's just going down the list—you, me, Fawn, and Liezel. That's all. It's super easy. He'll go through your stuff, and then you'll get to come back to class, like I did.”

“Super easy,” Adair repeated, her long hair falling in front of her face.

The last thing I said to my friend before she left was “Don't worry. It'll be all right.”

When the bell rang twenty-five minutes later and Adair still hadn't returned, I tried to shake off my worry. Mr. Falkner had probably finished his inspection so close to the end of first period that he'd let Adair hang out in the main office until the bell.

I was on my way to second period PE when I heard Fawn behind me. “Coco! Wait up!”

I stopped in the middle of the courtyard. “What's the matter?”

“They found . . . Dijon's tiara . . .”

“Thank goodness that drama is over.”