The Girls Take Over (16 page)

“Yeah?” Wally said. “What's up?” His brothers came into the living room, glad of a little break. But Wally didn't like the look in Beth's eyes.

“Guess what?” Beth said, hardly able to contain herself. “You know what day this is? The last day of April! And I just got a phone call from a man up near Philippi who said he found my bottle! So I'm Queen for a Day! Beginning tomorrow!”

The boys groaned.

“Yeah?” said Jake. “How do we know you're telling the truth? How do we know the bottle wasn't found right here in Buckman?”

“Because I got his phone number, and you can check with him yourself,” Beth said.

“Okay,” said Jake, “but how do we know that was one of the bottles we all started with? What did he say was in it?”

Beth's eyes narrowed with delight. “A matchbox cover! Right?”

Jake groaned again. “Right.”

There was no getting around the fact that a deal was a deal and that Beth was now queen. The girls seated themselves on the couch, but the Hatford boys flopped down on the living room rug and prepared for the worst.

“Okay,” said Jake, resigned. “What do we have to do?”

“I've made a list,” said Beth, and pulled it out of her pocket. “If you think
you
worked
us
hard at the police
station, Jake, wait till you see what I'm going to make you do!”

Jake looked helplessly around at his brothers while Beth began reading her list aloud: “Wash all my sneakers, type my book report, check my math homework, polish my toenails, mend my jeans, paint my bookcase, transplant my ivy, clean out my goldfish bowl, give me a perm, build me a—”

She was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone, and Wally reached behind him and picked it up.

“Could I speak with Peter?” a girl asked.

“Peter! For yoooouuuu! A giiirrrlll!” Wally teased, holding the phone out in front of him.

With a quizzical look, Peter got up from the floor and took the phone.

“Ohhhh, Peter!” Jake cooed.

“Hello?” Peter said.

Everyone was quiet while he listened. Beth took the opportunity to scribble another chore on her list.

“Yeah?” said Peter into the phone. Then, “What?” Then, “Yeah?” again.

He stopped and looked at the others. “It's a girl,” he said. “She just found my bottle. She was walking her dog.”

“Where?” everyone asked at once.

Peter put the phone to his ear again.

“Where?” he asked. He listened, then said to the others, “Up near Tygart Lake.”

“Tygart Lake!” cried Josh. “Way up there?”

“Peter, your bottle went farthest of all!” said Jake. “You're King for a Day.”

Peter put the phone down on the table, a grin spreading slowly across his face.

“Hello?” came a voice from the phone.

Caroline grabbed it. “Hello,” she said. “Can you tell me what else was in the bottle?” She waited. “Oh …. Yes, it's a button, all right. A Girl Scout button. Thanks.” And she hung up.

Beth looked around the room in dismay. “But I had it all figured out. I knew exactly what I wanted each of you to do.”

“That's the way the ball bounces,” said Jake.

“That's the way the cookie crumbles,” said Josh.

“Oh, well,” said Eddie. “We have the baseball games to look forward to next month.”

“And there will always be another time to be queen, Beth, though I don't know just when it will be,” said Caroline.

“So, Peter, what do you want us to do?” said Jake. “We're your servants! Your slaves!” He knelt dramatically and touched his head to the floor.

Peter giggled. “Ride me around on your shoulders and I'll tell you,” he said.

Jake waited while Peter climbed on, and, once up in the air, Peter took the yardstick Josh handed him to use as his scepter.

As Jake moved slowly about the room with Peter on
his shoulders, Peter touched each person on the head with the yardstick and gave a command.

To Eddie he said, “Bake me a double batch of chocolate brownies.”

To Beth he said, “Bake me a great big giant batch of chocolate chip cookies.”

“Peter, you're going to get sick,” Wally warned, but Peter ignored him. He touched Caroline on the forehead with the yardstick and said, “Make me a great big pan of chocolate marshmallow fudge.”

“What about us?” said Jake. “What do we have to do?”

Peter thought about it.

“For a whole day,” he said, “you have to take me everywhere you go and let me do whatever you do.”

“Easy,” said Jake, grinning.

“You have to let me read all your comic books and play all your computer games.”

“It's a deal,” said Wally, thinking how easy they were getting off.

“I get to borrow your skateboards and your felt-tip pens and your baseball cards and your binoculars.”

“Is that all?” said Wally.

“I get all your leftover Halloween candy,” said Peter.

“Sold!” said Jake.

“And one more thing,” said Peter, holding tightly to Jake's forehead so that he couldn't be dropped. “You've got to clean out my closet.”

“No!” cried Jake and Josh and Wally together.

“A deal's a deal!” said Eddie. “Peter is King for a Day.”

“That's the way the ball bounces,” said Beth.

“That's the way the cookie crumbles,” said Caroline.

The Boys Start the War

Just when the Hatford brothers are expecting three boys to move into the huse across the river where their best friends used to live, the Malloy girls arrive instead. Wally and his brothers decide to make Caroline and her sisters so miserable that they'll want to go back to Ohio, but they haven't counted on the ingenuity of the girls. From dead fish to dead bodies, floating cakes to floating heads, the pranks continue—first by the boys, then by the girls—until someone is taken prisoner!

The Girls Get Even

Still smarting from the boys' latest trick, the girls are determined to get even. Caroline is thrilled to play the part of Goblin Queen in the school play, especially since Wally Hatford has to be her footman. The boys, however, have a creepy plan for Halloween night. They're certain the girls will walk right into their trap. Little do the boys know what the Malloy sisters have in store.

Boys Against Girls

Abaguchie mania! Caroline Malloy shivers happily when her on-again, off-again enemy Wally Hatford tells her that the remains of a strange animal known as the abaguchie have been spotted in their area. Wally swears Caroline to secrecy and warns her not to search by herself. But Caroline will do anything to find the secret of the bones.

The Girls' Revenge

Christmas is coming, but Caroline Malloy and Wally Hatford aren't singing carols around the tree. Instead, these sworn enemies must interview each other for the dreaded December class project. Caroline, as usual, has a trick up her sleeve that's sure to shock Wally. In the meantime, Wally and his brothers find a way to spy on the Malloy girls at home. The girls vow to get revenge on those sneaky Hatfords with a trap the boys won't soon forget.

A Traitor Among the Boys

The Hatford boys make a New Year's resolution to treat the Malloy girls like sisters. But who says you can't play tricks on sisters? The girls will need to stay one step ahead of the boys and are willing to pay big-time for advance information. Homemade cookies should be all it takes to make a traitor spill the beans. In the meantime, Caroline is delighted with her role in the town play. Don't ask how Beth, Josh, and Wally get roped into it—just wait until showtime, when Caroline pulls her wildest stunt yet!

A Spy Among the Girls

Valentine's Day is coming up, and love is in the air for Beth Malloy and Josh Hatford. When they're spotted holding hands, Josh tells his teasing brothers that he's simply spying on the girls to see what they're plotting next. At the same time, Caroline Malloy, the family actress, decides she must know what it's like to fall in love. Poor Wally Hatford is in for it when she chooses him as the object of her affection!

The Boys Return

It's spring break, and the only assignment Wally Hatford and Caroline Malloy have is to do something they've never done before. Wally's sure that will be a cinch, because the mighty Benson brothers are coming. It will be nonstop action all the way. For starters, the nine Benson and Hatford boys plan to scare the three Malloy sisters silly by convincing them that their house is haunted. Meanwhile, everyone in town has heard that there's a hungry cougar on the prowl. When the kids decide to take a break from their tricks and join forces to catch the cougar, guess who gets stuck with the scariest job?

The Girls Take Over

The Hatford boys and the Malloy girls are ready to outdo each other again. Eddie is the first girl ever to try out for the school baseball team. Now she and Jake are vying for the same position, while Caroline and Wally compete to become class spelling champ. As if that's not enough, the kids decide to race bottles down the rising Buckman River to see whose will travel farthest by the end of the month. Of course, neither team trusts the other, and when the girls go down to the river to capture the boys' bottles, well … it looks as if those Malloy girls may be in over their heads this time!

Boys in Control

Wally Hatford always seems to get a raw deal. The rest of the family goes to the ball game, and he has to stay home to watch over a yard sale. Caroline Malloy writes a silly play for a school project, and he gets roped into costarring in it with her! Things are looking down, especially when the Malloy girls stumble across an embarrassing item from the boys' past. But Wally finally gets his chance to turn the table on the girls' scheme and prove who's really in control. Boys rule!

Girls Rule!

The rivalry between the Malloy sisters and the Hatford boys is heating up! The kids have two weeks to earn money for a fundraising contest. All those who collect twenty dollars or more for the new children's wing at the hospital can be in the annual Strawberry Festival Parade or get lots of strawberry treats. The only place Caroline wants to be is on the Strawberry Queen's float. How will she earn the money in time? Do the Hatfords have moneymaking secrets they're not telling the girls?

Boys Rock!

Wally Hatford dreams of long lazy days far away from school and Caroline Malloy. But Wally, the best speller among the Hatford brothers, gets roped into helping them with a summer newspaper project that will earn the twins school credit. What does that get Wally? When he hears scratching noises coming from Oldakers' bookstore cellar, Mr. Oldaker trusts him to keep a secret that could turn into a scoop for their newspaper. Wally worries that the secret may be too scary to keep to himself. What's worse, the Malloy girls have horned in on the newspaper. If there's one person Wally won't spill his secret to, it's nutty Caroline Malloy. No matter what it is!

Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York

Copyright © 2002 by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Song lyrics on page 83 adapted from “Nobody's Darling”

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eISBN: 978-0-307-52858-2

March 2004

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