Just Kidding (16 page)

C
harlotte was still thinking hard about the dance and how they could possibly salvage it when she got home from school and went up to her room. She had to finish her
Sentinel
article today if it was to be published in the next issue of the paper. Of course, Jennifer would probably hate it and pull it out of the issue. “Oh well,” Charlotte said with a sigh. Writing the story had made Charlotte feel good, even if no one else would see it.

Quickly, she turned on her computer to write the last paragraphs of the article and to see if maybe there was any news about Miss Pierce. The computer booted up and Charlotte clicked on her Internet icon; she had set it to the homepage of the
Boston Globe
so she could check out interesting headlines whenever she logged onto her computer.

Today, however, when the
Globe
's homepage loaded and Charlotte glanced at it, she stopped cold. Her eyes
widened. Then she ran out of her room and shouted at the top of her lungs, “DAD! DAAAAD! Come up here right now! Hurry!”

Her father took the stairs three at a time. Charlotte's cries had frightened him badly. “What is it? What's wrong? Are you okay?” he panted as he tore into her room.

Charlotte pointed a shaking finger at the computer screen. “Look! Do you believe this? I was right! Can you believe it?!”

They both stared at the screen. There, in a huge photo spread at the center of the
Globe
homepage, was Miss Pierce, standing next to an elderly gentleman in the
Oval Office
and shaking hands with none other than the
President of the United States
!!

Charlotte and her dad began to read….

 

RETIRED SCIENTISTS AVERT SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTER

 

To friends and neighbors around Beacon Street, Sapphire Pierce is a sweet, quiet lady who lives on Corey Hill and generally keeps to herself. Miss Pierce remarked, “I've always loved looking at the stars…perhaps because things here on Earth are often overwhelming to me. Little things—like going to buy fruit or groceries—are difficult for me.” But little did Sapphire Pierce know that everything was about to change.

Enter Dr. Peaker Townsend. When Dr. Townsend was a professor at MIT ten years ago, he published three books and over twenty articles about the increasingly concerning situation
plaguing the universe today known as “space debris.” Lately Dr. Townsend has been spending his time “just hitting a bucket of balls, eating ham sandwiches, and playing with my grandchildren.” When it came to the issue of space debris, Dr. Townsend stated, “I thought the chapter of my life where I studied the stars was over. What I learned was studying the stars was more than just a chapter. Pretty soon I was star-gazing again as a hobby. That's when I discovered Betty.”

No, Betty is not a woman and Betty is not a star. Betty is the code name Dr. Townsend penned for a defunct satellite that he began tracking every night. “Betty started out as sort of a game,” Dr. Townsend noted, “but when she became potentially dangerous, I knew I couldn't sit on this information any longer.” Dr. Townsend realized that Betty was headed right into the projected path of a space shuttle's upcoming launch. If the shuttle launch was not postponed, there would be a ten-to-one chance the satellite would scratch the heat shield of the shuttle and destroy it, causing the shuttle to burn up as it entered space.

Dr. Townsend called on the most talented and meticulous astronomer he knew—an old co-worker at the MIT labs—Miss Sapphire Pierce. “If there was one person who could keep my secret safe it was Sapphire. We'd collaborated before on several projects and theories. She's smart as a whip. And funny too.” The one problem? Dr. Townsend wasn't sure whether or not he could convince his onetime partner to venture out of the house. “I was confident, though. I had a feeling that once Sapphire learned the gravity of the situation she would cave. And I was right.”

“It wasn't just Peaker who convinced me,” Sapphire added. “It was the confidence of my close friends…especially one fellow star-gazer. I knew it was important to be brave and do what I loved. And
I knew I could do it.”

Miss Pierce and Dr. Townsend worked around the clock for a week until they had enough material to present to NASA. Since then, it has been one great adventure after another for these onetime retirees. Not only did Dr. Townsend and Miss Pierce save the lives of all the astronauts on the shuttle, but they were invited to the White House to accept a special medal for their bravery and pursuit of truth. What's next for these two? Miss Pierce responded, “I don't know…and I'm starting to think that's the fun part.”

 

“Well, who woulda thunk it!” Mr. Ramsey exclaimed, thunderstruck. “Miss Pierce is a genuine hero!”

“Miss Pierce
is
a real hero!” Charlotte agreed with her father, awestruck at this development. “Imagine…she hasn't been out of the house in years, and now she's telling NASA how to fix its mistakes–and then meeting with the
President
! I can't wait to tell her how proud I am of her!” She leaned over to read another article on the front page, one about Miss Pierce herself and her life here in Brookline.

Her father glanced out the window. “Well, I have a feeling you'll be able to do that sooner than you think. Look out there!”

Charlotte turned away from the computer and followed her father's gaze out the window. A long black car slowed to a stop in front of their house, and out stepped
Miss Pierce, looking a little flushed and tired, but otherwise smiling!

Immediately surrounding her were serious-faced men in black suits and dark glasses, and swarming all over the lawn were reporters with cameras and microphones!

“Oh, boy!” Charlotte whispered to her father. “This is the kind of thing Maeve would love, but how do you think Miss Pierce will handle it? She looks overwhelmed.”

Just then, Yuri came running up the street, bags of apples in both hands. He must have seen the car pass his stand, because he went straight for the yellow Victorian, dropped the bags on the lawn, pushed his way through the hovering reporters, and wrapped Miss Pierce in a big bear hug, twirling her around.

Charlotte and her dad looked at each other and burst out laughing. Never in a million years would they have predicted the scene in front of them—little Miss Pierce being hugged by the big burly Russian grocer. When Yuri stopped hugging Miss Pierce, Miss Pierce turned even pinker, then threw her arms around Yuri, and hugged him back! A wide-eyed Charlotte wondered,
Could it really be true—is there something going on between Miss Pierce and Yuri?
”

“I better go tell the BSG,” Charlotte told her father when they both stopped laughing. “I know they'll be relieved that Miss Pierce is home.”

A
t the Spirit Week breakfast the next morning, Betsy explained to the BSG her new idea to save the school dance. Encouraged by their interested faces, Betsy pulled out a notebook filled with ideas. Avery faked a coughing fit to cover up her laughter when she saw it. It was such typical Betsy stuff—lists and more lists!

“Is this what you were talking about online last night,” Maeve asked her immediately, “about us inspiring you?”

“Yes!” Betsy declared, looking at each of them in turn. “I really had an epiphany!” To no one in particular, she explained, “It's kind of a flash-of-light moment—like the heavens opening up—and suddenly you recognize something important.”

“Gee, thanks, Betsy.” Avery winced. The BSG could hear the sarcasm in her voice, but Betsy completely missed it. Charlotte figured Betsy didn't really mean to be obnoxious. It was just her annoying way of having to share every bit
of knowledge she had acquired in her lifetime with those around her.

“Avery.” She nodded at Avery first, who smiled back at her. “You had such a great attitude during Sports Day, when the boys were just ruining everything. And Maeve, you kept campaigning for the Birdland theme for the dance even when everybody else shouted you down.” Maeve turned pink, but she also smiled. “But most of all I learned what dignity really means from Isabel, who kept her head up and behaved really admirably when everyone was saying mean things that weren't even true.” Isabel dropped her eyes, but after all the rotten things that had happened that week, Betsy's praise
did
feel good.

“Charlotte,” Betsy went on. Avery squirmed in her seat. Why was Betsy so wordy? Even though what she was saying was pretty nice, it was getting annoying. She wanted Betsy to get to the point already. Avery opened her mouth, only to have Katani kick her under the table.

“…Charlotte, you kept on asking people what gave them spirit, which was the most important question we all should've been asking this week–and most of us didn't.” Charlotte felt warm inside. It felt great to know that someone appreciated her.
Too bad Betsy isn't the editor of the
Sentinel, she thought.

“And Katani,” Betsy continued, “who gave the best speech anybody gave this week. Well, except for her sister Kelley.” They all laughed. Betsy looked earnestly at Katani. “All last night, I was thinking about how you captured everyone's attention and came up with a plan for fixing the gossip situation, which had gotten way out of hand.”

Katani sat up taller. It felt kind of cool to have inspired one of the smartest kids in school, even if she was kind of a know-it-all.

“Thanks for all the nice comments, Betsy, but could you get to the point now?” Avery pleaded. She was ready to do cartwheels around the room.

“Okay.” Betsy cleared her throat. “I really don't know how many people in our class could actually organize something as big as a dance, especially in such a hurry. So it's good that I'm here to do it.” The BSG sighed. Betsy was
still
Betsy.

Katani agreed with Avery. It was time to get down to business. “So what's the deal on the dance?” she asked in her most businesslike tone. “The clock's ticking here, Betsy.”

Betsy nodded. “Right.” She opened her notebook. “Well, we all learned this week that spirit is not about winning and losing. It's about what gets you excited and involved. And I think we should keep our theme really simple, so we can use the little time we have left to make it work. How do you feel about “Got Spirit”? as the dance theme?”

“I love that,” Katani said at once, and the others nodded enthusiastically.

“It's a classic!” “That is way cool.” “It's just what we needed all along!” Everyone was talking at once.

“But, Betsy,” Katani hesitated, glancing at the notes in the A+ student's notebook, “how are we going to get this together in time?”

“That's the beauty of it,” Betsy answered. “It takes
spirit to make spirit, right? If each person in school just brings one thing to the dance—a poster, a knickknack, a piece of music, whatever they want as a decoration—we'll have
everyone
contributing to the theme, not just a dance committee, and kids will feel excited about being there. And we won't have to worry about organizing the decorations ourselves at the last minute. Don't you think it's a great idea?”

“Betsy, I've got to hand it to you. This is genius,” Katani announced. “I can't see how anyone wouldn't love this idea, and we won't have that much to do except tell people about it, because they're going to be the ones bringing in the stuff we need to make the gym look great!”

“That's what I thought,” Betsy agreed, looking pleased.

By then the cafeteria was getting more and more crowded, filling up with students who had come for the free breakfast buffet. It was getting so noisy the girls could hardly hear themselves think. Charlotte's distracted glance around the room settled on Kevin and Chase at an all-boy table nearby.

“You know,” she said to no one in particular, “I don't think we can pull this off unless we get everyone's cooperation, and there hasn't been a lot of that this week. Don't you think we'd better ask the boys what they think?”

The girls looked over at the boys' table. Chase apparently had recovered from Ms. R's remarks the day before, because he was being as obnoxious and loud as usual. The girls let out a collective sigh. “Well,” Betsy paused. “I'm not exactly friends with any of them. Could one of you girls do it?”

The BSG looked at each other. Then everyone turned and looked at Maeve.

“What?” Maeve asked. “Why are you looking at
moi
?”

“Everyone likes you, Maeve,” Katani pointed out. “You're good friends with Riley and Dillon, and you can make anyone listen to you. C'mon, girl, harness your spirit!” Her voice rose as she pumped her fist.

Maeve giggled. Katani could be so funny sometimes. But she looked around at her grinning friends. Maybe she
was
the woman for the job. So, she picked up her empty glass and a spoon, hopped on the bench, and stood up on the table. “Attention!
Attenzione!
Everybody!” She tapped with the spoon on the empty glass, like she'd seen people do in the movies. It had the same magical effect now. The boys quieted down and looked up at her.

“Thanks, guys,” she said, sounding totally confident. “We've been talking here about putting on the dance, and we think it's not too late to do it with style, if everybody agrees to cooperate.”

“Oh, boy.” Chase rolled his eyes. “Here it comes…Birdland again, from the redheaded
birdbrain
.”

Maeve flushed, but she was glad to see that none of the other boys laughed, and Kevin elbowed Chase hard in the ribs. Chase glared at Kevin, but he quieted down after that. “Go ahead, Maeve. Don't listen to this loudmouth,” Kevin called out to Maeve.

“No,” Maeve went on, as if Chase hadn't rudely interrupted, “it's way too late to do something as sophisticated as Birdland or Under the Sea.”

You go girl
, Katani silently cheered her friend.

“But listen,” Maeve went on. “Spirit Week is about spirit, and spirit is about what moves
each
of us.” She went on to explain the idea of having everyone contribute to the decorations in the gym by bringing his or her own personal spirit object. In a few minutes, she was surprised to see that most of the boys were starting to look genuinely excited.

“I don't see why we still can't do the shark thing,” Chase began, but to everyone's surprise, Kevin spoke up now, loud and clear.

“Sharks are lame, dude! They're for the
birds
! And I for one am sick of hearing about sharks! I think this idea is too cool, and I even know exactly what I'm going to bring in for the dance. What about you?”

“Oh, so you
got spirit
, do you, Kev?” Chase jeered, obviously feeling upset because his buddy was going along with the girls. “Well, I think spirit is just another word for
girl drama
…and I'm sick of it!”

“Dude, you're the one causing all the drama,” Kevin fumed. “If it wasn't for you, none of this stuff would've happened!” That brought the biggest laugh of the day, to Chase's embarrassment. The Chase Finley drama was so over.

“So we're agreed, everybody—the theme is Got Spirit?” asked Maeve as she looked around the cafeteria.

“Yeah!” roared the boys. “Great idea, Maeve!”

“Thanks, but this wasn't my idea.” Maeve looked over and beckoned Betsy onto the table. With a big “Ta-da!” she presented the embarrassed girl to her classmates. Everyone gave Betsy a well-deserved round of applause, which made Betsy turn the color of a big garden tomato.