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  “The pleasure was all ours!” Charlotte smiled after a big gulp of hot chocolate that left a whipped cream mustache. “I just hope we didn’t scare that poor lady too badly.”

  “If anything, she’s going to scare someone, dressed up like a bear!” Avery pronounced.

  “Avery!” Isabel giggled into her hot chocolate.

  “So, how’d your meeting go with Ms. R?” Isabel asked Charlotte.

  “Great!” Charlotte answered. “She said my choice was fine, which is a relief because I’ve already written half of it.”

  Avery rolled her eyes jokingly. “Half already? You’re the only person I know who gets her homework done early! I haven’t even started mine. I can’t concentrate at all this week. Maybe after the game. I’m psyched to write about MLK, though. Ms. R totally thought it was a great topic.” Avery fake-shot a basket. “Two points for Abigail Adams!”

  “I’ll definitely be at the game, and Maeve’s going too,” Charlotte announced. “Are you going, Isabel?” she asked carefully, in case Isabel was still feeling sensitive about it.

  Isabel smiled. “Of course! I wouldn’t miss it. I have to support my team.”

  “What about Katani?” Avery asked.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t really talked to her lately. Have you?” Isabel asked.

  “Not really. She hasn’t been at lunch for two days,” Charlotte added. “It’s like she’s disappeared.”

  “Maybe the chill police should drag her down here to Montoya’s, like you did to me!” Isabel laughed.

  “Chill police—I like that,” Avery smiled as she slurped some of her drink.

  “What about you, Izzy? What happened with your idea of illustrating a myth?” Charlotte asked, spooning up the last bit of gooey chocolate at the bottom of her glass.

  “Ms. R said she loved the idea. Big sigh of relief to that!” Isabel lifted her cup in a toast. “She thought it was a really creative approach to the book report idea.” Isabel blushed a little when she told her friends, but couldn’t wait to start painting the illustrations of Icarus.

  “That’s so great,” Charlotte added.

  The door to Montoya’s opened and in walked Yurt and Dillon. The boys waved and headed toward the girls, who scooted over to make room for them.

  “We need our chocolate fix, too,” Dillon said.

  “Especially this week,” Avery agreed. “We’re all in a state of total system overload!”

  “How’d it go with Ms. R?” Charlotte asked the boys.

  “Ms. R rejected my favorite book, Smackdown at the WWE. I am massively depressed,” Yurt complained.

  “What’d she say?” Avery asked.

  “She said I should write about something like A Wrinkle in Time. Def not my thing.” Yurt groaned. “Like I even understand that crazy story. Now I have to read an entire book and write a paper on it. I prefer politics.” With that, the Yurtmeister popped a piece of Charlotte’s cookie in his mouth.

  “Don’t worry, bro. Just hire Betsy Fitzgerald and you’ll get a B or better,” Dillon said. “You know I convinced Maeve to use her too.”

  “You did?” Avery blurted. “I mean, did she?”

  “I think so, why not?” Dillon said. “Betsy’s like some kind of tutoring genius. Now my paper is like something Nobel Prize winner Char here would write.”

  Uh-oh, Isabel thought. Why didn’t Maeve talk to them about this first? She was hiring Katani’s rival. They all knew how competitive Katani was and how much this contest meant to her. The BSG looked at one another. Each of them knew what the others were thinking. Katani was going to be mad with a capital M.

  Part Two

  All’s Fair in Basketball and Business

  CHAPTER 11

  Just Like Romeo and Juliet

  Maeve raced down the hallway with a fresh bag of Swedish Fish tucked in her backpack. She almost ran right into Charlotte, who was just leaving the library.

  “Are they closing?” she panted, out of breath.

  “Pretty soon, I think. What’s the rush?” asked Charlotte.

  “I have to do some research, you know, for the English paper,” Maeve rambled anxiously. Why am I so nervous? she thought. It’s not as if Charlotte could possibly guess I’m here because I’m working with Betsy.

  “Well, I better get started before they close!” she told Charlotte, a little too cheerfully. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  “Sure,” Charlotte said, giving her a funny look. “I’m going to meet some kids in my math class, anyway. I have to find out what they’re doing with their project—before I meet with Betsy. She’s talking to the Crow right now.”

  “Betsy Fitzgerald?” Maeve couldn’t believe it.

  “She’s my partner for the math project, remember?”

  “Oh, right, thanks to the Crow.” Maeve could have told Charlotte right then. She could have told her that she’d just decided impulsively to call Betsy because she was desperate for some help and everyone else was so busy this week. Maybe she could trust Charlotte, who was always so sensible, to put things in perspective. But when she opened her mouth to say something, Charlotte was already turning away.

  “Good luck!” Charlotte called, and disappeared down the hallway.

  Maeve sighed unhappily. She’d just have to find some other time to tell them…later. She stepped inside the library and scanned the large room for Ms. Curtis. Although the school library was not on Maeve’s list of top-ten places to hang out, Ms. Curtis the librarian was definitely one of her top-ten favorite teachers. She was really good at helping Maeve figure out ways to deal with her dyslexia without making her feel dumb.

  “Well hello, Maeve!” Ms. Curtis greeted her, suddenly appearing behind the giant check-out desk. “The library is closing in fifteen minutes. Can I help you with something?”

  “Um, yes,” Maeve said, fumbling to remember what Betsy told her to ask for. “I’m doing a book report…so…I need to find some books, I guess. On Romeo and Juliet.”

  “Of course. Are you writing about the Shakespeare play?”

  “Not exactly. I’m sort of doing my own interpretation of Romeo and Juliet based on the movie version. You know, the one with Leonardo Dicaprio. He’s my favorite Romeo.”

  The librarian smiled. “Come on, then. Let’s see what we can find.” Ms. Curtis typed a search for Romeo and Juliet into the library catalog. She scrolled down the screen, reading through the list with Maeve.

  “Now I have an important tip for your bibliography.” She brought a stack of index cards over and showed Maeve how to write down all the information she needed.

  “I can do this, no problem,” Maeve said. For once, she actually felt excited about writing. Her book report was going to be so romantic and exciting! “Is it all right if I stay for a few more minutes?”

  “Sure. I’m glad to see you’re making progress.”

  Maeve did exactly what Betsy told her to do, typing all the information from her cards into her laptop. She had her bibliography completed before she even wrote her paper. Maeve was thrilled. For the first time in her life she felt like she had a firm handle on a school project. Betsy was worth every cent! After all, she was the one who’d walked Maeve through every step of the way.

  Just as Maeve started to pack up her bag, Ms. Curtis came over and handed her a copy of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. “I thought you might want to read some of this—the original.”

  “I would,” Maeve said confidently. She was surprising herself!

  Maeve checked the book out and thanked Ms. Curtis for her help.

  “Let me know what you think of the play.”

  “Oh, I will,” Maeve promised the librarian. “If it’s anything like the movie, I’m sure it’s simply to die for!”

  While she was waiting in the school lobby for her mother to pick her up for her hip-hop class, Maeve opened the library copy of Romeo and Juliet and started reading. Maeve thought she was reading another language. She flipped ahead to the first
scene between Romeo and Juliet and imagined herself talking to Leonardo in the scene where the lovers have their first fated kiss. She read Romeo’s line out loud: “Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.” Maeve breathed in, her heart aching, and read Juliet’s response: “Then have my lips the sin that they have took.” And Romeo’s: “Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” Just as fabulously romantic as the movie, Maeve concluded. Maybe reading Shakespeare wasn’t completely snooze-inducing after all. Plus, she thought maybe Shakespeare was dyslexic. His spelling was totally weird.

  Go Fly a Kite

  “Sorry I’m a little late,” Katani apologized as she rushed through Mr. Sherman’s door. “I wanted to make some corrections to my plan before I showed it to you.”

  The Crow wrinkled his brow and looked at Katani for a few long seconds before he said, “You can’t afford to be late, Katani. If this were a real business meeting, you would have already made a bad impression.”

  Katani nodded and mumbled she was sorry again, that it was a crazy week. Of course he was right, she should have been more aware of the time. There just didn’t seem to be enough hours to do everything. What’s happening to the Kgirl? Katani felt she didn’t even recognize herself these days.

  Mr. Sherman picked up her smartly laid out budget and took his time going over her figures, occasionally marking the page. After a few minutes he sat back and said, “I’m impressed, Katani. You know, I never would have dreamed of running a company at your age—or my age, as a matter of fact!” He laughed. “In any case, you’ve done a fine job. I’ve made a few comments that we can go over now.”

  He proceeded to go over each line item and made a few suggestions on the overall company goal and future investment plan. The more they talked, the more excited Katani was about the project and her business. It was all starting to become real. She was actually going to do this!

  “Thanks, Mr. Sherman. This has been very helpful,” Katani told him. Maybe the Crow wasn’t really that bad of a guy, she thought. She’d have to tell Maeve not to be so hard on her friend’s least-favorite teacher.

  “I’m here to help,” Mr. Sherman responded, “but I have to say again, I would have preferred you worked on the Egyptian math project with Reggie.”

  Oops, cancel previous opinion, Katani thought. “Yeah, me too,” she answered with irritation. She still couldn’t believe that Reggie had dropped her as a partner. Who did he think he was, anyway?

  Katani heard footsteps and glanced up to see Math Boy standing between her and their math teacher.

  “Sorry…I…just…well…,” he mumbled, and looked sheepishly over at Katani.

  Was the great Math Boy making like things were just fine and groovy now? He hadn’t even responded to her note! No way was she going to acknowledge his presence.

  “How’s the project going, Reggie?” Mr. Sherman asked.

  “Great…I just wanted to run a couple things by you,” he explained, and then dropped some papers on Mr. Sherman’s desk. “I guess I kind of overreacted when you didn’t show the other day, Katani. Sorry about that,” he said, looking down at Katani’s shoes. “Thanks for the note.”

  Katani gathered her papers together and rose like Cleopatra from her throne. With every ounce of confidence she could muster, she stood tall and mighty and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Sherman, I have another very important date,” and she swept out of the room.

  CHAPTER 12

  Storm Clouds

  Snapping her fingers in the air and shaking her head from side to side, Katani stomped her way toward the school lobby. As if Reggie apologizing would make them friends again, she fumed. Clearly Math Boy was clueless. He had absolutely no idea what she was going through this week!

  As she stormed outside to wait for Mrs. Fields, she almost crashed right into Betsy Fitzgerald, the last person on earth she wanted to see. And wouldn’t you know it, Betsy was carrying a black leather briefcase. Grudgingly, Katani had to admit that Betsy looked scarily professional.

  “Well, I’m running into all the BSG today!” Betsy said a bit smugly. “Right after basketball with Avery and Isabel, I saw Charlotte for a minute to talk about our math project.” Betsy paused. “And then of course, I have to talk to Maeve later about her project.”

  “Maeve?” Katani asked, confused.

  “Oh, I’m tutoring Maeve to help her with math and her English paper,” Betsy proudly explained. “I have to say, everyone is pretty psyched with my service right now. Just ask Maeve and Dillon. And, okay, Billy Trentini asked me for help too.”

  Billy Trentini, too. Betsy’s business was doing so awesomely well Katani wanted to scream. But Maeve! Maeve hadn’t even told Katani that she’d hired Betsy! Where was the loyalty? Did the other BSG know too? Katani felt a major meltdown coming on. She had to get away from Betsy Fitzgerald, “business consultant to the stars.”

  But Betsy followed her. “I’ve also worked with Jolene—”

  Before Betsy could rattle more names off her list, Katani headed toward the parking lot, mumbling, “I have to find my grandmother.” She just couldn’t take another minute of Betsy Fitzgerald.

  As Katani crossed the lot to meet Mrs. Fields, she caught a glimpse of herself in a car window, shivering and hunched inside her long, wool coat. She didn’t even look like herself. “Things better change, and soon,” she whispered.

  Katani could hear that clock ticking inside her head again. Four days to go. She had to knit twenty scarves (well, fourteen really, counting Mrs. Martinez’s three and the three Katani had already finished), finalize the contest application, work through the sales plan, revise the financial budget, take pictures of the final product, and on top of all that, do two school projects! And…she hadn’t even started writing her English paper.

  She quickened her pace and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Betsy was so far ahead of her—her tutoring business was already going full swing—and she had the same school schedule as Katani. Betsy was on the basketball team, too. How did she manage it all? Katani had to succeed; she absolutely had to. Be your own cheerleader, her mother always said. She had to pull things together, and fast!

  Yellow Fever

  Thrilled about her session with Ms. Curtis in the library, Maeve practically skipped to the school parking lot while she rummaged through her bag of red, yellow, green, and orange Swedish Fish. She chose a yellow. She felt yellow today—hippie-dippy happy yellow. The first bite of fish was so sweet and chewy, it immediately filled her with a bright and flowery sun-yellow feeling. She tried to chew slowly to make each one last longer, but it was too hard. She popped two more yellows into her mouth as she almost skipped right into Katani.

  “How could you do that to me?” Katani blurted.

  Maeve took one look at Katani’s furious face and knew exactly what she was talking about. All of a sudden, Maeve’s happy yellow feelings burst like a balloon, and she tried to respond.

  “Look, Katani, I meant to tell you, but—” Suddenly Maeve started coughing. Half a yellow fish stuck in her throat. Just as she finally gulped down the sticky yellow glob, her mother pulled up beside the girls.

  “Let’s get going, Maeve. We’re late! Your dance class started ten minutes ago.” Maeve’s mother sounded a little impatient, even as she waved at Katani.

  “Uh…we’ll talk later, okay?” Maeve promised Katani as she got in the car. When she closed the door, she hung her head. Her hippie-dippy yellow mood had turned to gruesome gray. Maeve had known Katani wouldn’t like her working with Betsy, but she hadn’t expected that it would feel quite this awful—that Katani would be this mad. Maeve had to talk to someone. Her mother was looking at her, eyebrow raised, waiting for her to say something.

  “Maeve?” her mother asked. “Is everything okay between you and Katani?”

  That was all it took. Maeve poured out the whole sad story, confessing to her mom all the gory details. “What should I do?” she finally asked in despair.

  “
You have to talk to her as soon as possible and try to explain,” her mother said sensibly. “She feels like you betrayed her.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Maeve said, and sighed tragically.

  “Katani sounds like she’s got a lot going on this week. Maybe she could use some help too,” her mother suggested.

  “How could someone like me possibly help someone like Katani? I mean, she’s like the ace student, a math whiz and everything.”

  “Just being there for her as a friend will help a lot.”

  A Million Things to Do

  Charlotte’s Journal

  Wed. night, 7:50 p.m.

  We had the best time at Montoya’s this afternoon. Avery and I dragged Isabel (who didn’t make the exhibition b-ball team) all the way through the park. We were laughing so much, it hurt. My sides still ache! It made me think that we need to have a Tower sleepover SOON! I’m going to schedule one as soon as we all have time. Did time suddenly speed up or what?

  On the Nick front, I’m going to take Sophie’s advice. As much as I want to go to the Omni movie, I have to finish these projects first or I’ll be distracted and won’t have a good time. I know that about me. But I’m so nervous about telling Nick I need to postpone our non-date-date. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

  I have to get back to work now. Betsy and I have a “power meeting” (that’s what she called it) after school tomorrow. We have to crank out the “Million Project.” We’re going to estimate how long it would take to do something a million times (baking cookies, running three miles, watching a movie) and then estimate all sorts of different equations, games, etc.

  In the meantime, I love writing about Anne of Green Gables. I decided to focus on the power of communication for my topic. I sure hope Katani doesn’t stop talking to Maeve when she finds out about Betsy—like Anne did to Gilbert! Anne was so stubborn, she wouldn’t even admit that she wasn’t mad at Gilbert anymore until the end! Okay, okay. Back to work right now, Charlotte Ramsey.