Poisoned (8 page)

Jeri flopped over on her stomach. It might not be an angry
girl
either. It sounded like Mr. Petrie and Nikki had an argument when Show Stopper got loose, and Nikki even complained to the Head about him. What had Brooke overheard him say when he delivered the flowers?
What goes around, comes around?
That might have meant nothing, but it could have been a threat.

Jeri curled up in a ball, disturbed by the direction of her thoughts. She
liked
Mr. Petrie. But other ideas crowded in. Like he grew some of the vegetables they ate. Could Mr. Petrie have slipped some poison foods into the basket that Scottie delivered when he brought the daffodils for Abby’s party? Jeri hated to believe such a thing.
Dear God, what is the truth here?
Jeri tossed and turned, stirring up more questions than finding answers.

Finally she gave up trying to sleep. For one thing, her stomach was growling. She needed something to eat.

She tried Rosa’s snack box first. Empty wrappers were mixed with dead ants. Shuddering, she dumped it in the wastebasket. It was way past eleven—the official stay-in-your-room hour—but she was starving. She’d be quick.

Jeri tiptoed down the carpeted stairs in the dimly lit hall, feeling like a burglar. In the kitchen, she flipped on the overhead light and squinted till her eyes adjusted to the brightness.

What did she want? Cereal or graham crackers, she decided, if she could find a safe, unopened package.

In the pantry she found several boxes and opened a new package of cinnamon graham crackers. She wasn’t taking any chances on the open boxes. She grabbed out five or six large crackers and bit off a piece, returning the box to the shelf and closing the pantry door.

Back in the kitchen, she turned slowly, studying the cupboard doors as she munched. Each girl had a small shelf of her own for personal snacks, with her name on a card taped to her cupboard door. Jeri’s shelf was near the back door. She shared a cupboard with Rosa, Abby, and Nikki. Each girl also had a clearly labeled white plastic container for perishable snacks in the giant refrigerator. Jeri’s was empty now. She’d thrown away everything after Nikki got sick.

She wondered what everyone else had in their cupboard and refrigerator space. There’d never be a better time to investigate. If she looked, could she tell if something was suspicious? Maybe. She’d sure check out anyone with green potatoes, rhubarb leaves, and mushrooms!

But when she looked, the plastic containers in the double-wide refrigerator contained nothing moresuspicious than some yogurt, cheese sticks, and candy bars. Not really surprising, she decided. Would a poisoner be stupid enough to leave her poison in plain sight?

Quietly and quickly, she opened cupboard doors and poked among the girls’ things: cookies, Pop Tarts, birthday candles, cans of soup, chips, and kettle corn. She had just opened Brooke and Emily’s cupboard when she heard a shuffling noise behind her. She whipped around, her heart pounding.

“What are you doing?” Emily’s voice barely carried across the room.

Jeri’s heart sank at the sight of her frightened expression. How in the world was she going to explain this?

Jeri gulped.

Emily stared wide-eyed at her own cupboard door, now standing open. “What are you doing?” she asked again.

“I came down for some crackers.” Jeri tried to keep her voice light and nudged the door shut with her elbow. “You hungry too?”

“No.” She paused. “When I went to the bathroom, I saw you going downstairs and wondered if you were okay.”

“Just hungry.” Jeri moved away from Emily’s cupboard, but Emily remained standing in the doorway. Jeri wished the cracker box was on the counter to make her story look true. She could tell what Emily was thinking.
What are you doing in my cupboard when your own is way over by the back door?

Emily glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll get in trouble for being down here so late.”

“I don’t think Ms. Carter would want me to starve.”

“Probably not.” Emily seemed to consider that. “I’ve been working on my science fair project. It’s chilly in our room.”

“Want some hot chocolate? You have a couple packets left.” Jeri could have kicked herself the moment the words left her mouth. Why not just announce that she’d searched Emily’s cupboard?

“Um, no.” Emily looked at Jeri, and then glanced quickly away. Her fingers twisted the hem of her shorty pajamas into knots. “Good night, Jeri.”

“I’ll come too.” Jeri reached to turn out the overhead light. Before she touched the switch, Emily had turned and fled from the kitchen. In a moment Jeri heard her taking the stairs two at a time.

Oh, brother,
Jeri thought, following more slowly.
Did she think I was going to hurt her? Now what should I do?

On Friday morning Jeri yawned as the Hampton House girls lined up two by two to walk to the dining hall for breakfast. Jeri noticed Emily and Brooke watching her. Jeri tried to catch Emily’s eye to smile at her, but each time Emily turned another direction.

I wasn’t doing anything!
Jeri wanted to scream. But if she tried to explain why she’d been snooping through everyone’s food, it would only make her sound guilty. And yet, Jeri hated the idea that Emily might suspect
her
now. Brooke did too. She could tell by the way she was stealing

dark glances at her. No doubt Emily had told her roommate where she’d found Jeri in the middle of the night.

In her library period that morning, Jeri couldn’t concentrate. She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something important.
God, what is it?
Had she seen something in the cupboards or the refrigerator that hadn’t sunk in? Maybe some of those foods
could
be poisonous under certain conditions. In the computer room next door, she researched more on food poisoning. Although she learned a lot about correct food storage and symptoms of poisoning, none of it was helpful.

She slumped in her chair, wishing she could talk to her mom. But Mrs. McKane was on a business trip in Indiana, giving speeches at a sales conference. Jeri didn’t want to interrupt her presentation. She sighed. Email was better than nothing.

She signed into her email and typed as fast as she could. She didn’t want her mom to freak out about a poisoner on the loose in her dorm. So instead, she wrote about Rosa and the high school boys at the pizza place. “I don’t want that kind of attention. Even so, I wish I got noticed too. You’ll think I’m terrible—”

Just then an instant message popped up on her screen.
ImHis: What luck! I was just checking email and saw your smiley face icon lit up. Glad you’re online. Jerichogirl: HI I ROT U EM ImHis: Whoa! Plain English, okay? No text message gobbledy-gook!

Jerichogirl: sorry—I wrote you an email—let me send it now.

Jeri pushed Send and waited for her mom to read it.

ImHis: No, I don’t think you’re terrible. You’re normal! That’s a good thing. I just think you’re maybe asking the wrong question.

Jerichogirl: what do U mean??????????

ImHis: Do you want the attention of a boy who only goes for mini skirts and tight shirts?

Jerichogirl: no—but I don’t like 2 B invisible either.

ImHis: Think about this — what kind of boy do you want attention from?

Jerichogirl: easy — the kind that treats U like a lady — a guy that’s fun 2 do stuff with—a guy who isn’t fake.

ImHis: Fake?

Jerichogirl: one who only acts like a Christian at church.

ImHis: Great list there! Boys like that make excellent friends. So … next thing to do is ask yourself this: Am I the kind of girl this kind of guy would like for a friend?

Jerichogirl: U don’t understand—I don’t need more guy friends—I wish I could be more than a friend.

ImHis: Well, in sixth grade, you’re too young to have boys be anything more than friends. I know it’s not a popular thing to say, but it’s true. Learn to be friends with boys. Boys who are good friends now make good boyfriends later, when you’re old enough to date. Much later, they also make good husbands.

Jerichogirl: I guess, but that’s a long time away.

ImHis: Yes, there’s PLENTY of time. You want to attract quality boys when the time is right, sweetie. Your job now is to

grow into the kind of quality girl the Bible talks about. Fruity, right?

Jeri smiled then.
Fruity
was her mom’s expression for showing the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Startled, she realized that those words pretty well described Dallas.

Jerichogirl: I NO UR right — but fruity girls don’t get much notice.

ImHis: I won’t lie to you. It’s true that you won’t get noticed by as many boys if you dress modestly and concentrate on developing good character. But when you DO get attention, it will be for the right reasons and from the right boys. It just takes time—which you have plenty of.

Jerichogirl: in fact I don’t—gotta go.

ImHis: Okay. You go ahead, but check email later.

Just then the bell rang, and Jeri logged off. Sighing, she wished she could put boys out of her mind altogether for a couple years.

After her second period class, she ran back to the computer lab and found the email from her mom.

Jeri reread the email, then closed it. At gut level, she knew her mom was right, but sometimes it was so hard. God might look at her heart, but
people
looked at the outside. If they didn’t like what they saw, would they bother getting to know her heart? What was wrong with having a good heart
and
a great “outside"? Surely she could have both, couldn’t she? Yes, she wanted to please God, but she wanted to look pleasing to others too. She sighed. If only it didn’t matter to her.

But since knowing Dallas, it
did
matter.

A lot.

Jeri spent the rest of the school day with her busy mind going from one problem to another — and missing half of what her teachers said. She wanted to figure out what was going on in the dorm. Ms. Carter seemed content to blame a virus, but some of the girls acted like Abby was guilty of poisoning people. Jeri figured she had moved up to the number-one-suspect position herself after Emily caught her snooping in the kitchen. She had to get rid of the cloud of suspicion that floated over them.

Throughout the day, Jeri brainstormed ways to spice up her accidental food poisoning report, but nothing worthwhile came to her. Time was critical, or that slick chick Sierra Sedgewick would win the media fair competition with her dad’s photos. Talk about unfair!

It wasn’t until Friday’s last class that an idea occurred to Jeri that just might trap the culprit. Suddenly alert and focused, she considered her plan from all angles.

Yes.
It ought to work. But to be effective, she couldn’t tell anyone her plan.

On Friday nights, Hampton House ordered food from the pizzeria to be delivered at six. The girls ate pizza and then played cards or board games. Winners of the friendly competitions received coupons from the house mothers for things like “one hour of video games” or “one-hour extension of lights out.” It’d be a perfect night to try her plan.

That evening Jeri waited at the front door until the pizza was delivered and paid for by Ms. Carter. She guarded it till supper, then was careful to eat from all three pizza boxes: pepperoni, Hawaiian, and beef. Half an hour into the
UNO
competition, she pressed on her stomach and tried to look ill.

No one noticed.

A few minutes later, she grabbed her stomach and groaned. Jumping up, she dashed to the first-floor bathroom. She slammed the door, made some barfing noises, and flushed the toilet twice. Ms. Carter was outside the bathroom when she opened the door, with Abby and Rosa behind her.

“Oh dear,” Ms. Carter said, putting her arm around Jeri’s waist. “Looks like you’ve caught the bug too.” She felt Jeri’s forehead, and Jeri tried to look weak. “No fever. That’s a good sign. We’d better get you to bed.”

“But I’m okay now.”

“Are you sure?” Ms. Carter said. “Miss Barbara could sit with you upstairs.”

“No. Really. I’d rather finish the game. I was winning.” Going upstairs would wreck her plan. Jeri padded back into the living room, where the girls looked at her. Trying not to be obvious, Jeri glanced at each girl. Did anyone look shocked that she was sick? The poisoner would know the pizza hadn’t been tampered with, so she’d guess that Jeri was pretending. Would she give herself away?

“Does anyone else feel sick?” Jeri asked. “I think there’s something wrong with the pizza.”

The girls looked at each other and Ms. Carter, shaking their heads. The house mother told them to let her know if any of them felt nauseated.

Brooke fanned out her handful of cards. “Is this your first time getting sick?”

Jeri nodded. “I guess I’m pretty healthy.”

Brooke tapped her cards in her palm. “You should get more sleep. You pick up germs and viruses quicker when you’re tired.”

Should get more sleep?
What was she hinting at? Jeri glanced at Emily, who looked alarmed and then stared atthe floor. Emily had obviously reported that Jeri was in the kitchen during the night.

“Actually I don’t believe it’s a virus.” Jeri took a deep breath. “I think someone in this dorm is poisoning our food.” Two girls who were tallying the score sheets jerked around. “On purpose.”