‘I won’t be there — I’ve got a dentist appointment,’ Emily told her. ‘I’ll call you tonight.’
Tracey hurried upstairs to Room 209. Madame wasn’t there, but someone else was.
The Queen of Mean, who could usually be found wherever she could see and be seen, and who was always surrounded by friends, was hidden away in an empty classroom and all alone. And she didn’t look mean today. People who were truly mean didn’t bury their faces in their hands.
‘Amanda?’ Tracey murmured.
Amanda looked up. Instantly, her expression changed — but now she seemed more frightened than mean.
‘Leave me alone!’ she hissed. ‘Stop bothering me!’
Tracey took the seat next to her. Ken had said he’d talk to Amanda later, but Tracey figured this was as good a time as any to hit her with the ultimatum.
‘Look, Amanda, you can make us stop bugging you right now. All you have to do is come clean about Jenna.’
‘What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything to Jenna!’
She seemed honestly and sincerely bewildered. Ken would say that Amanda was putting on a good act, but Tracey wasn’t so sure.
‘We think you set up Jenna to get her into trouble. You work in the office, which means you can get your hands on the master key to the lockers.’
Amanda still looked confused. Tracey was going to have to spell it out to her.
‘You put the knife in Jenna’s locker.’
Amanda’s eyes widened. ‘Why would I do that?’
‘Because. . because she was on to you. And you wanted to get rid of her.’
Amanda didn’t blink. ‘On to me about what?’
Tracey took a deep breath. ‘We think you’re the spy, Amanda. We think you’re the one who’s communicating with our enemies: Serena, Clare — all those people who want to use us.
Amanda gasped. ‘Are you nuts? Why would I do something like that?’
‘Because. . because. .’ Tracey tried to think of a way to explain their suspicions which wouldn’t be too hurtful. It was impossible, so she told the truth.
‘Because you’re selfish,’ she said finally. ‘You don’t care about anyone — you only think of yourself. You think you’re better than the rest of us.’
Amanda’s eyes narrowed but she didn’t deny any of the accusations.
‘And you took that job in Mr Jackson’s office so you can find out more about us,’ Tracey finished.
Now Amanda became annoyed. ‘Is that what you think?’
‘Well, you don’t need the job. And I seriously doubt you’re interested in learning office skills. So what other reason could there be?’
Amanda’s lips tightened. Tracey got the feeling there was something she wanted to say but she was keeping it inside.
‘It’s not just me,’ Tracey added. ‘Jenna, Emily, Ken. . we all think you’re spying on us.’
‘Ken. .’ Amanda murmured. ‘So that’s why he’s been acting so nasty.’
‘That’s why we’ve all been acting nasty,’ Tracey corrected her, but she could tell it was only Ken that Amanda cared about.
‘If he only knew why I took that job, he’d feel so bad about treating me like this,’ Amanda declared hotly.
Tracey blinked. ‘Then why don’t you tell him? I mean, us? You could tell me right now why you took that job.’
For once, Amanda seemed uncertain. She bit her lip, and rapped her manicured fingernails on the desk. Finally, she spoke.
‘Can you keep a secret?’
‘That depends,’ Tracey said carefully. She hated the idea of swearing to secrecy before she knew what the secret was. What if Amanda was up to something that might put all the Gifted students in danger?
‘I’m not going to tell you unless you promise not to tell anyone,’ Amanda stated. ‘Not your friends, not Madame, not anyone.’
Tracey was torn, but she knew that if she didn’t give in she’d learn nothing. ‘OK, I promise. Why did you take the job in the principal’s office?’
Despite the fact that they were alone in the classroom, Amanda lowered her voice.
‘Remember when I went into the hospital last month to get my tonsils out?’
Tracey nodded.
‘Well, you know that wasn’t me in the hospital.’
Tracey nodded. ‘Like I told you when you came to school, Emily and I went to visit you at the hospital. We could tell it wasn’t you.’
‘And you remember who I was when I was out of my body.’
Again, Tracey nodded. ‘You were the woman who was working with Serena on that seance scam. I forget her name.’
‘Margaret. And when I was in Margaret’s body, Serena took me to a meeting. And you know who else was there? Clare, the woman who kidnapped us. And that man who claimed he was Jenna’s father.’
‘So there really is a conspiracy,’ Tracey murmured in wonderment.
‘Someone else was there too,’ Amanda said. She did another of her dramatic pauses.
‘Who?’ Tracey asked impatiently.
‘Mr Jackson.’
Tracey drew in her breath sharply. Nobody liked Mr Jackson, and Jenna was always saying he gave her the creeps. But this was a little hard to believe.
‘But Madame says he doesn’t know about us!’ Tracey exclaimed.
‘Madame doesn’t know everything,’ Amanda countered. ‘I’m pretty sure it was Mr Jackson who planted the knife in Jenna’s locker.’
‘But — why?’
‘If he’s in on the conspiracy, then he knows about Jenna’s gift,’ Amanda said. ‘Jenna was in the office earlier today, and Mr Jackson saw her. Maybe he was thinking about us, and he was afraid Jenna read his mind. So he had to get rid of her. I can’t prove it, but he did leave the office just after Jenna was there, even though there were all these people waiting to see him.’
‘Maybe he had to go to the bathroom,’ Tracey offered weakly.
Amanda gave her a sceptical look. ‘Yeah, sure. And maybe he went to the cafeteria and picked up a knife.’
Tracey’s head was spinning. But everything Amanda said made perfectly good sense.
‘What did Madame say when you told her about Mr Jackson?’ Tracey wanted to know.
‘I didn’t tell her,’ Amanda replied. ‘And you’re not going to tell her either.’
‘But Amanda, this is important! If our own principal is working against us, we’re in danger right here at school!’
Amanda agreed. ‘And I’m going to prove it. All by myself. That’s why I’m working in the office — so I can watch him, so I can listen in on his meetings and phone calls, and read his emails. I want to get real evidence.’
‘But you’ve already got evidence,’ Tracey protested. ‘Even if you can’t prove that he put the knife in Jenna’s locker, you know he’s guilty of something. You saw him with your own eyes. Well, Margaret’s eyes. He was meeting with people who have tried to get to us. That proves he’s a bad guy.’
‘It’s not enough,’ Amanda said. ‘Who’s going to believe that I was in someone else’s body?’
‘Madame would.’
Amanda shook her head. ‘That’s not enough. Look, Tracey. You said I think I’m better than the rest of you. Well, socially, that’s true. I am.’
Tracey rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not exactly modest, Amanda.’
Amanda ignored that. ‘But you guys look down on me! You think my gift is worthless, you think I can’t do anything important. Well, I’m going to show you I can.’
So that was what this was all about. It wasn’t enough for Amanda to be the prettiest, the best-dressed, the most popular girl at Meadowbrook. She wanted to be queen of the Gifted class too.
‘Amanda, that’s stupid!’ Tracey declared. ‘We should all be working together on this.’
‘And let someone else get the credit? Forget it!’ Amanda began ticking items off on her fingers. ‘It was Jenna who figured out that Serena was hypnotizing Emily to get winning lottery numbers. Ken saved Jenna from going off with that man who said he was her father. Charles got the gun away from Clare in the bank robbery. You pulled the scarves off Serena at the seance. Well, now it’s my turn to be the hero.’