Wrong Number 2 (2 page)

“W
ho was it?” Jade asked, walking back into the room. She set a bowl of chips on the dresser and handed Deena a can of Coke.

“It was— I think it was a wrong number,” Deena stammered.

“I get a lot of wrong numbers,” Jade said, chewing on a large potato chip. “I wonder if—” She stopped when she saw Deena's expression. “Deena? You look weird. Is something wrong?”

“It was the call,” Deena explained. “He said he was your—your wrong number.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Jade, it sounded like Mr. Farberson!” Deena cried. “His voice was all deep and hoarse.”

“You're kidding,” Jade said, surprisingly calm. She
reached for another handful of chips. “It couldn't be him, Deena. No way.”

“I know,” Deena admitted. “But he had the same kind of scary voice. And he said—he was coming here or something.”

“No way,” Jade repeated. “Farberson was sentenced to twenty years. He won't even be up for parole for years.”

“Well . . .” Deena thought about it a moment. “You're right. I know you are. But I can't help being upset whenever I think about him. I still have nightmares about what happened.”

“So do I,” Jade admitted. “I mean, he nearly killed us, after all.

“It's hard to believe it all started with a phone call,” Jade continued.

“A
prank
call,” Deena added. “But it was so much fun—at least at first.”

“I loved it when we were calling up those guys,” Jade said, grinning. “Remember putting on those sexy voices and trying to convince them we were secretly in love with them? What a crazy thing to do.”

“But it stopped being fun once Chuck got involved,” Deena reminded her. “Especially when he started making threatening calls.”

“Chuck is a baaaad dude,” Jade said, snickering. She offered Deena the bowl of chips. “That call you just answered was probably some jerk from school trying to scare us. After all, everyone in Shadyside knows what happened last year.”

“Yeah. Probably,” Deena replied thoughtfully. “But it was still kind of frightening.”

“Forget about it,” Jade said firmly. “Here. Have some potato chips. Live dangerously!”

• • •

Deena's call came a little before midnight.

She had just turned out the light and was drifting off to sleep. The ringing phone jarred her awake.

“Hello?” she murmured, her voice clogged with sleep.

“Deena? Deena Martinson?” the voice on the other end whispered.

“Yes?” Fear rushed in.

“I called your friend earlier,” the voice rasped.

“Who is this?” Deena demanded, sitting up, her heart pounding.

“Let's just say I'm an old friend. Someone you haven't seen for a long time.”

“What do you want?” Deena cried shrilly.

She suddenly felt angry. It
couldn't
be Farberson. He was in prison. So who was making these calls?

“What do you
want?
” Deena shouted.

“Revenge,” the voice whispered.

Deena heard a click. The line went dead.

• • •

The next morning Deena struggled to pay attention in algebra, but she couldn't get her mind to concentrate on numbers. Instead, she kept hearing the caller's rough voice, and the frightening one-word threat—
“Revenge.”

Deena was taken completely by surprise when Mr. Forrest handed out a review quiz. She didn't have a chance to complete it by the time the bell rang. So she quickly scribbled answers to the last three problems.

She handed in her quiz and began gathering her papers and books. As she headed through the door, she nearly bumped into Steve Mason. He had a class in that room next period.

The trouble with you is you don't have any confidence.
Jade's words from the night before rang in her mind.
Just talk to him,
Jade had instructed.
Let him know you're interested.

Why not? Deena thought. Before she could think twice about it, she made herself talk to him. “Hi, Steve!” She greeted him with a big smile.

“Hey. G'day,” he replied, surprised.

“How do you like the cold weather?” Deena blurted out.

“It's not bad, actually,” he said. “Different from Sydney.” He smiled at her.

“Who's Sydney?” Deena joked.

She expected him to laugh, but he didn't.

Does he think I don't know that Sydney is a city in Australia? Deena wondered, feeling her face grow red.

“Well, have a nice day,” she finished lamely. What a
bomb!
she thought unhappily, hurrying away.

“Yeah. Bye now,” she heard him call after her.

• • •

When Deena came out of gym, her last class, she found Jade waiting for her by the water fountain. Jade was wearing a bright red cat suit with a short black jacket.

I could never wear anything like that
, Deena thought. But Jade, as usual, looked fabulous.

Also, as usual, she was surrounded by boys—Teddy and three of his friends from the basketball team.

“Talk to you later, Teddy.” Jade gave him a big smile. “Deena and I are going to my house to work on our science term papers.”

“Later,” Teddy said, giving both girls a quick one-fingered salute. He ambled off with his friends.

Deena led the way out of school. A bright sun peeked through puffs of cloud, but the air felt cold. Snow had been on the ground for several days. Now it was patchy and gray. The sidewalks were puddled and covered with dirty slush.

Jade's house wasn't far from school. As they walked down Park Drive, Deena began telling her friend about the midnight phone call.

“You're kidding!” Jade exclaimed. “The same guy?”

“It sounded like him,” Deena insisted. “He called me by my name, and he mentioned you.”

“It's got to be some jerk playing a dumb joke—right?” Jade asked. “No way it could be Farberson.” She sounded a little uncertain. “People can't sit
around in their prison cells making phone calls, right?”

“I don't think so,” said Deena. “But even if Farberson could, why would he call us? He's going to be in there for years and years.”

“So it's
got
to be someone else. Someone who wants to give us a scare,” Jade decided.

“I guess.”

“That means the best way to deal with it is to not be scared,” Jade suggested.

“Right,” Deena echoed. She started to tell Jade about her very short conversation with Steve that morning—when her friend suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“Deena!” Jade whispered. “Do you see that car up ahead?”

Deena hadn't been paying attention, but now she turned to the street. A battered green Oldsmobile with tinted windows was slowly cruising away from them. “What about it?” she said.

“It just passed us for the second time.”

“You're kidding,” said Deena. “Why would it do that? Is it someone from school?”

“I don't know. But I wonder—There it goes.” The car abruptly sped up and turned the corner, its tires squealing.

“Weird,” Jade murmured. “Anyway, what were you about to say?”

Deena gathered her scattered thoughts and told
Jade what had happened that morning when she'd run into Steve. “He didn't even get my joke!” she wailed.

Jade laughed. “Maybe he heard it before.” Her expression turned serious. “So what happened after you talked to him?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, I had to go to class. Besides, I didn't know what else to say.”

“It doesn't matter what you say,” Jade assured her. “Just keep letting him know you're interested. Next time you see him, ask him about something. Ask him about his favorite Australian rock band. Or ask him what sports he played back home. Just don't make any more jokes about Sydney.”

“But I don't know anything—” Deena stopped as a car drew alongside the two girls. “Jade—it's the same car!”

“I see it,” Jade whispered. The beat-up car was a deep, muddy green, with windows tinted so dark it was impossible to see who was inside.

“Just ignore it,” Jade instructed. The car was barely crawling now, keeping pace with the girls.

They began to walk a little faster, and the car sped up.

Deena squinted to see the driver. But the dark-tinted windows acted as a shield.

Jade stopped abruptly. The car stopped too.

“Jade, come on,” Deena said breathlessly. “Let's get
out
of here.”

Jade turned to face the car. At the same time, Deena heard the click of a car door opening.

“Jade—” she cried in panic. “He—he's coming after us!”

“Run!” Jade yelled.

J
ade grabbed Deena's arm and tugged her over the patchy snow. They ducked into an opening between two houses.

Was he following them? Was he right behind them?

The girls were too afraid to turn back. Slipping through soft ice and mud, they ran down a narrow, twisting alleyway.

By the time the concrete wall that surrounded Jade's yard appeared, Deena was struggling to breathe. A sharp pain stabbed at her side.

“Come on!” Jade gasped, pulling open the gate.

Panting, Deena ducked inside to the safety of the yard.

Jade slammed the gate. Then, sucking in deep
breaths, she poked her head over it and peered back the way they had come. “No one there,” she reported.

“But that car was
definitely
following us,” Jade insisted, still breathing hard.

“Maybe the person just wanted directions,” Deena suggested, waiting for the pain in her side to fade.

“Maybe,” said Jade. “But I don't really believe that—and I don't think you do either.”

“You don't think it was the same person who made the phone calls, do you?” Deena asked.

“I—I don't know what to think,” her friend stammered. “But I don't want to take any chances. Let's go inside.”

• • •

The next day, Friday, her frightening run down the alley lingered in Deena's mind as she made her way through the halls of Shadyside High.

Steve Mason, where are you? she wondered to herself.

She had decided to try to talk to him again. But she hadn't seen him all day.

Was he out sick?

No. Turning a corner, Deena caught a glimpse of him going into the science lab. He wasn't alone.

He was walking with Bree Wade, one of the tall, dark-haired Wade twins. They were walking close together and sharing a laugh.

Of course! Deena thought bitterly. Why did I ever think I could go after a boy the way Jade does?

Forget about Steve, she told herself. And that's just what she tried to do all during the volleyball game in gym. She was drying her fine, short blond hair after class, when she noticed Jade standing behind her in the mirror.

“Oh, hi, Jade.” Deena gave a last blast of hot air to her bangs and set the dryer down.

“If we're going to get to the game to watch them practice, we have to hurry,” Jade said. “The bell rang ten minutes ago.”

Right. The game. Deena slid the dryer into her backpack and slung the pack and her overnight bag over her shoulder. Her parents were going to a concert in Waynesbridge, so Deena was going to Jade's to spend the night after the game.

They dropped their gear at Jade's, then took a bus to Mattewan High. They arrived in time to get fifth row seats at center court.

Deena had never really liked basketball, but she loved going to games. She loved to see all her friends and to cheer the Shadyside players.

“Hi, Deena! Hi, Jade!” It was Lisa Blume, carrying a big bag of popcorn. “Great seats, guys!”

“See?” said Jade. “I told you it pays to come early.”

“Yeah, maybe,” said Deena. But she knew the real reason Jade liked to come early—to watch the guys warm up.

Most of the rows were filling up. Jade made her way down to the floor to say hello to Teddy. Deena let her eyes wander around the crowded stands.

Steve—are you here? she wondered.

No sign of him.

Maybe he doesn't like American sports, she thought. Or maybe he's sitting on the wrong side. After all, he hadn't been in the States that long. Maybe he didn't know about home and visiting teams.

She glanced across the court to the home team seats. The bleachers were a sea of red and blue, Mattewan's colors. She'd never find Steve if he was over there.

Deena was about to give up—when someone caught her eye. A man wearing an orange hunting cap slouched in the shadows at the side of the bleachers.

His cap was pulled down so far she couldn't see his face. There was something strange about him, but something familiar too.