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  David slapped his forehead with his hand. “Busted,” he groaned.

  “In my desk?” Alice asked.

  Emily dug into her backpack. She pulled out the pink jump rope with the sparkly handles. “The boys also gave me this,” she said angrily. “And they made me promise I wouldn’t tell!”

  “My jump rope!” Alice cried.

  Mrs. Reynolds put her hands on her hips. “I think Jason, David, and Mike have some explaining to do,” she said.

  Mike took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. We took Alice’s jump rope before recess.”

  “Why did you give it to me?” Emily demanded.

  “We wanted to get rid of the evidence,” Jason said.

  “And we didn’t want to get caught with a girl’s jump rope,” David said.

  Nancy glared at the boys. “Did you also pour Pucker Powder on Alice’s macaroni and cheese?” she asked.

  “How did you know?” David asked. He looked surprised.

  “Does that mean yes?” Nancy asked.

  “Okay, we did that, too,” Jason admitted. “But you still don’t have proof that we messed up the welcome sign.”

  “Yeah!” Mike said.

  Nancy looked at the picture. She could see the school in the background. She could also see three tiny figures standing at the door. But who were they?

  Nancy snapped her fingers. She ran to the science shelf and grabbed the magnifying glass. She placed it over the tiny figures. Through the glass she could see Jason, David, and Mike.

  “Proof!” Nancy said with a smile.

  Mrs. Reynolds peered through the magnifying glass. Then she looked up and frowned at the boys.

  “I just want to know one thing,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “Why did you cause so much trouble for Alice? Don’t you like her?”

  “Sure, we do,” Jason said.

  “We wanted to get Brenda’s goat by spoiling Alice’s article,” David said.

  “She called us the school’s biggest brats,” Mike said. “So I guess we wanted to get even.”

  “You little creeps!” Brenda cried.

  Mrs. Reynolds held up her hands for attention. “Now it’s my turn to get even,” she said. “You boys are going to write letters of apology to Alice. Then you’re going to have a special class job for the rest of the school year.”

  “What?” David asked slowly.

  “You’re all going to clean the hamster cage,” Mrs. Reynolds said sternly.

  Everyone laughed except for the boys. Nancy could see that they looked sick.

  “Well, Nancy,” Alice said. “You really are a good detective.”

  “Thanks, Alice,” Nancy said. She looked over at Brenda. Miss Snooty Pants was actually smiling at her. It was only a half smile from one side of her mouth, but it was still a smile. Amazing!

  “Roses are red, violets are blue,” Andrew rhymed. “Another case solved by Detective Drew.”

  “Yay, Nancy!” Bess cheered.

  As they walked to the coat closet, Nancy turned to Alice. “Are you still going to write a bad article about our school?” she asked.

  “I was never going to write a bad article,” Alice admitted.

  “You weren’t?” Bess asked.

  “I had a great time here this week,” Alice said. “In fact, Jason, David, and Mike remind me of two boys who used to be in my class. Their names were Victor and Joel. They were always making trouble!”

  “Does that mean our school is exactly as you remember it?” George asked.

  “Exactly!” Alice said with a smile.

  Nancy hung up her jacket. Then she sat down at her desk, opened her detective notebook and began to write:

  Good news! Now everyone will know what a great school Carl Sandburg Elementary really is. I also learned something important in this case: if Miss Snobby Pants can grow up to be someone as nice as Alice—then maybe there’s hope for Brenda Carlton!

  Case closed.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original

  A Minstrel Book published by

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2000 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN 0-671-04266-1

  ISBN 978-1-4424-7202-0 (eBook)

  The text of this book was set in Excelsior.

  NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Cover art by Joanie Schwarz