Poached (32 page)

Truthfully, even though I liked Violet, the idea of a date with her—or whatever it was—felt a little bit wrong. Like I was cheating on Summer, somehow. Which was crazy, of course. Summer and I were only friends, she was going to school two thousand miles away, and she could be annoyingly distant at times. She hadn't even called me after Kazoo had been recovered. She'd only sent texts. A lot of texts, but
still, it wasn't a substitute for talking. Plus, her own father didn't seem to care much for me. Yes, he acted friendly to my face, but over the past few weeks he'd threatened my parents' jobs and allowed me to be arrested—and yet, once I'd been proved innocent, he hadn't even thanked me for my help, let alone apologized. I'd come to realize that J.J. McCracken was far more slippery than I'd thought, and sometimes I even caught myself wondering how much Summer was like him.

While I was standing there, watching the bulldozers with my parents, my phone rang. It was Summer. Any doubts I'd had about her immediately melted away. I answered as quickly as I could. “Hey! How are you?”

“I should be asking
you
that,” she said. “You've been through a lot more than me lately.”

“I'm fine,” I said. “Want to video chat?”

“Nah,” she replied. “I've got a better idea. Turn around.”

I did. To my surprise, Summer was standing only twenty feet behind me. She was wearing a pink parka and a big smile. Her usual bodyguards stood a few steps behind her.

I couldn't believe she was actually there. I kept staring dumbly, as though maybe she were simply a mirage.

Dad gave me a nudge with his arm. “What are you still hanging around here with us for?” he asked. “Go say hi.”

I tucked my phone in my pocket and trotted over to Summer. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here,” Summer teased. “Did you forget already?”

“I mean, why aren't you still at boarding school? Isn't there still a week until winter break?”

“I took all my exams early,” Summer said, like this was no big deal. “I wanted to come home sooner. I wasn't enjoying school all that much.”

“Really?” I asked. “I thought you liked it there.”

Summer shrugged. “It's nice and all, but it's kind of dull. This place is a lot more exciting. Hippo murders. Koala kidnappings. Who knows what will happen next?” Summer lowered her eyes. “Plus, there were some things I missed here.”

I wasn't sure, but it looked like behind her curtain of blond hair Summer was blushing. Before I even knew I was doing it, I said, “I missed you, too.”

Summer turned even redder, but she looked up and smiled again. “My dad will probably flip, but . . . I was thinking of asking him if I could go to school
here
next semester.”

Despite all the excitement I'd had lately—being framed for the koala theft and getting caught in the shark tube and punching out Vance Jessup—my heart now beat faster than it had for anything else the previous week. Suddenly I understood Dad's comment from a few days before—about how someday there'd be a girl I'd do anything to get the attention of, no matter how stupid it was.

“That'd be awesome,” I said.

In fact, all koalas are in serious trouble. Sadly, these adorable creatures are heading toward extinction. The primary reason for this is habitat loss. Koalas can live only in eucalyptus forests—and those forests are being torn down all over Australia.

Koalas used to be hunted for their fur. Today, they die from malnutrition, from being hit by cars, and from being mauled by pet dogs—at a rate of thousands every year. Australia's wild koala population has dwindled from millions to a few hundred thousand.

Unless koala habitat is protected, soon the only place to see koalas may be in a zoo. And your grandkids might not be able to see them anywhere but a museum.

But this fight isn't over yet! The koalas can still be saved! To find out what you, your friends, and your school can do to help them, visit the Australian Koala Foundation online at savethekoala.com.

And if you're interested in helping protect other animals and critical habitats all around the world as well, check out the websites of these wonderful organizations.

World Wildlife Fund:
worldwildlife.org

The Nature Conservancy:
nature.org

Center for Biological Diversity:
biologicaldiversity.org

Thanks!

Stuart Gibbs

Also by Stuart Gibbs

Belly Up

Spy School

Spy Camp

The Last Musketeer

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2014 by Stuart Gibbs

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Book design and cover illustration by Lucy Ruth Cummins

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gibbs, Stuart, 1969–

Poached / Stuart Gibbs. — First edition.

pages cm

Summary: Twelve-year-old Teddy Fitzroy is the prime suspect when FunJungle's newly acquired koala goes missing, thanks to a prank staged by middle school bully Vance Jessup.

ISBN 978-1-4424-6777-4 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-1-4424-6779-8 (eBook)

[1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Zoos—Fiction. 3. Zoo animals—Fiction. 4. Bullies—Fiction. 5. Family life—Texas—Fiction. 6. Texas—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.G339236Po 2014

[Fic]—dc23

2013000539