Sabotage at Willow Woods Read online

  Carrie turned to me, opening her eyes wide. “Do I know it’s not a perfect plan? Sure. There are pros and cons. But I really want to do something to help the athletics program at BHS. I mean, I got so much from my time there.”

  I opened my backpack and fished out the old, creased flyer Barney had given me, then passed it across the table to Carrie, Bess, and George. “I know sports are important to you. But some people are saying that a bunch of old forest will need to be cut down to build the field.”

  Carrie let out a deep sigh and wiped her eyes. “Oh, I’ve heard a little about that.”

  “Could the center be relocated?” asked George hopefully. “Maybe there’s a way for everyone to win here. Does the forest have to be half-flattened to build the football field?”

  Carrie shook her head, pulling her mouth into a tight line. “No,” she said, her voice becoming stronger. “For a lot of complicated reasons, having to do with topography, irrigation, and a lot of environmental engineering reasons, the football field would only work in this one particular place—where the forest is now. That’s the only affordable solution. It’s unfortunate, but I’ve tried to address it in our plans. We’re going to plant a hundred new trees on the existing football field to make up for the trees lost. Isn’t that enough?”

  Bess and George made encouraging noises, but I stayed quiet. I knew that Barney and Eloise would emphatically say that no, that was not enough. And I could see their point. There’s a difference between a hundred-year-old tree growing in a unique forest environment, and a newly planted tree. I could respect that Carrie was trying to address the concerns, but I could also see why the Green Club was still opposing her plans.

  George stood and gestured to me and Bess. “Guys—can we talk for a sec?” she asked, gesturing outside. I nodded and stood, telling Carrie and Julia that we’d be right back. George, Bess, and I walked out the door, and George pointed to a bench sitting in a small garden just across the street.

  “So,” I said, settling down with my backpack at my feet.

  “So,” George said with a sigh, settling heavily down next to me. Bess sat down next to her and crossed her ankles. “It just gets worse and worse, Nance. I used to be opposed to the sports complex, but the more that happens, the more I feel like I want to support Carrie’s plan just to show these yo-yos that they can’t bully her!”

  I nodded, and Bess frowned sympathetically. “I know Carrie wants the best for the town,” I said. “I just hate that whoever’s behind this, he or she isn’t letting their ideas speak for themselves.”

  George nodded too, grimly. “They sure aren’t. Listen, I’ve been using some special software to analyze the voice recording from last night.” Before George had given me the flash drive to dangle in front of Ms. Meyerhoff, she’d copied the recording onto her tablet. “Carrie is right—it’s definitely been tampered with. There are all these cuts, meaning that whoever made this took out huge pieces of what Carrie was saying to manipulate the message.”

  “That’s terrible,” I said, though a little part of me was happy to learn that Carrie had been telling the truth.

  “It is terrible,” Bess said, shaking her head. “And the worst part is that it worked. About half the donors who attended the dinner last night have cut off their support for Carrie’s campaign. She’s worried she won’t be able to pay her employees this week! Even if we can convince her to keep fighting, I’m not sure the money will hold out much longer.”

  I sighed deeply. “I hate it when evil is winning,” I murmured.

  “Me too,” said George, picking at a peeling bit of paint on the bench. “Did you learn anything at the school that might help?”

  “Maybe.” I pulled the packet of papers Eloise had given me from my backpack and explained what had happened, from the apparent dead end with Ms. Meyerhoff to my off-the-cuff poetry slam—

  “Are you kidding?” Bess said, looking at me with apparent delight. “You seriously dropped the mic, Nance?”

  I shrugged. “I think so. I’m not sure. Honestly, the whole thing is a blur. But what’s important is it seemed to convince Eloise to talk to me. . . .”

  I went on, explaining how Eloise had brought me back to her locker—and how a sheaf of BTA stationery had fallen out of it.

  “Whoa!” George cried. “Seriously? So the Green Club is behind this!”

  I sighed. “I’m not so sure,” I said. “I haven’t had time to think it through. Eloise does seem really passionate, but I still can’t really imagine her doing that,” I said, gesturing back to Carrie’s headquarters.

  “That’s also a pretty mixed message,” Bess added, twirling a lock of blond hair around her finger.

  George frowned at her cousin, confused. “What do you mean?”

  Bess tucked her hair behind her ear. “The Green Club is an environmental club, right? Would an environmentalist kill a squirrel to make a point?”

  Disappointment flashed across George’s eyes—another lead gone—but then she turned defiant. “Maybe the squirrel died of natural causes, and the Green Club just took advantage!”

  Bess groaned, and I held up my hand, speaking my thoughts. “Or maybe it wasn’t an environmentalist who sent the note. It didn’t say anything ‘green,’ really—just that there will be more trouble if Carrie doesn’t quit her campaign. Right?”

  Both Bess and George looked thoughtful as those words sunk in. “I hate it when evil is winning and we can’t even figure out who evil is,” George muttered.

  Bess and I nodded, murmuring in agreement. As I turned the case over in my head, trying to make some sense of it, my phone beeped.

  I dug it out of my backpack, read the text on the screen, and then showed it to Bess and George with a smile.

  HEY REBEL—BARNEY GAVE ME YOUR DIGITS. MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION HAPPENING TONIGHT. MEET ME ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD. YOU IN? ELOISE.

  Bess and George read it and grinned, George gesturing furiously that I should write back immediately. I took the phone back and began typing.

  OH I‘M IN, I replied to Eloise. IN FACT, I RECRUITED SOME FRIENDS.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Up for Anything

  “WELL, WELL, WELL.” ELOISE TURNED around with a big, impressed smile on her face as Bess, George, and I strode onto the BHS football field just after dusk that evening. “The rebel showed up!”

  “I told you I was committed,” I said with what I hoped was an enthusiastic-looking smile. “Hey, Barney.” He was standing just behind Eloise and had abruptly stopped his conversation with a Mohawked girl when I walked up.

  He smiled warmly at me. “Oh, she’s committed,” he said, walking over to me. “I knew it when I first saw her! This girl will really help us change things.”

  Eloise wasn’t looking at me anymore, though—her eyes had turned to Bess and George, standing behind me, dressed (as I’d instructed) in utilitarian jeans and T-shirts. “And your friends are . . . ?” she prompted.

  “Mirabelle and Jackie,” Bess replied, reaching out to take Eloise’s hand and forcefully shaking it.

  Eloise nodded slowly, taking it all in. “What unusual names,” she murmured. I shot a pointed look at my friends; I’d said about the same when they’d chosen the false monikers on the ride over, suggesting they might want to go with a nice “Beth.” Or “Jane.”

  George nodded fiercely. “What can we say—creative parents!” She smiled. “Creative parents raise outside-the-box thinkers, right? Mirabelle and I are totally committed to the environmental cause.”

  Overdoing it. I swallowed and shot George a look that said, Cool it.

  “How does Katrina know you?” Eloise asked.

  Bess and George looked at each other. I panicked a little; we hadn’t discussed that on the way over, stupidly. But Bess turned to Eloise with a big smile.

  “Our moms know each other from the local NOW chapter,” she replied. “They really taught us the importance of being involved!”

  “Mirabelle and Jackie go to
St. Mary’s,” I went on, naming the Catholic school in Boylestown, “but they’re really excited to help stop the sports complex from being built.”

  George nodded. “This may not be our school, but it’s still our earth, right?”

  Eloise nodded slowly. “Yeah. Well, okay, guys. Here, let me introduce you around.”

  She went around the small circle of what I presumed to be Green Club members; some of the faces were familiar from the poetry slam that afternoon. “This is Kiki, Justin, Derek, Sara, Alicia, and Carlos,” Eloise said, and each of the Green Club members looked up and nodded or waved in greeting. “These are, like, the most passionate members of the Green Club.”

  Kiki nodded enthusiastically. “We’re the core group,” she added.

  “Whenever I need something done,” Eloise said, “something that bends the rules, maybe, and might make some people uncomfortable, I know I can count on these guys.”

  Barney nodded. “Because all of us are totally committed to preserving the environment.”

  I nodded slowly. Excellent. These were the people I wanted to get to know better. These were the people who could lead me to Carrie’s enemy. “That’s awesome,” I said. “Well, me and my friends are up for anything. Really! Don’t hold back.”

  Barney grinned at me again. “Oh, I wouldn’t hold back from you, Katrina,” he said, reaching out to pinch my side. I let out a squeal and moved away. I am about the most ticklish person on the planet.

  “Um, but really,” I added, looking at Eloise and trying to regain my composure. “Dramatic action is needed, don’t you think? After what Carrie Kim has proposed, and all the environmental damage that it’s going to do . . .”

  Eloise nodded, looking a little well, duh. “Yeah, I got it, New Girl,” she said, one corner of her lips turning up. “You’re totally gung-ho. Noted.”

  I could feel myself blushing, but before I could worry that I’d overdone it, Barney moved over to my side and took my elbow.

  “So . . . what do you like to do besides this kind of thing, Katrina?” he asked.

  “This kind of thing?” I tried to smile. “I don’t even know what we’re doing, yet, actually.”

  Barney shrugged. “I don’t either. Eloise gets all secretive about this stuff. She likes to be the mastermind. Anyway: Do you like music?”

  What a weird question, I thought. Does anybody seriously not like music? “Uh, yeah,” I said slowly.

  “Do you know the Boxing Badgers?” Barney asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

  I scanned my brain. I could sort of remember seeing a CD cover with a couple of rodent-type animals wearing boxing gloves. “I . . . know of them.”

  Barney’s hopeful expression broke into an all-out smile. “Aren’t they amazing? They’re going to be playing the Bell Jar on Friday. It’s open to all ages. Would you maybe . . .”

  Barney trailed off just as I was getting the alarming sensation that he’d been about to ask me out. I glanced nervously behind me to Bess and George, who were clearly listening and clearly trying not to look like they were listening. Bess bugged out her eyes at me like, Come on!

  “Okay, guys!” Eloise yelled at that moment. “Gather round! I have plans for tonight ready. . . .”

  My body went totally limp with relief. I turned around and saw Barney looking at me awkwardly, but I pasted on a bright smile and gestured to Eloise. “Duty calls, huh? Maybe we can continue this conversation later? Like tomorrow?”

  I kept wearing the same aggressively oblivious smile as I grabbed Bess and George and hustled them over to Eloise.

  “Nance,” Bess hissed under her breath. “Seriously, you need to put that guy out of his misery and tell him you have a boyfriend.”

  “I know,” I whispered, shooting a guilty peek back at Barney, who looked both disappointed and confused. “I’m starting to feel a little bad. But I also think he’ll be more likely to share information with me if he thinks he might have a chance to date me.”

  George rolled her eyes. “The ethical dilemmas of sleuthing,” she whispered in a slightly sarcastic tone.

  “Don’t I know it,” I murmured. A small circle had formed around Eloise, who was holding what looked like a map and smiling eagerly. After a few seconds, Barney walked up and joined the circle, a few people away from Bess, George, and me.

  “Okay,” Eloise announced. “Tonight we’re doing something that some of you may not be totally comfortable with. If that’s the case, you can leave, and I won’t think any less of you.”

  My skin seemed to tingle with anticipation. What does she want us to do?

  Eloise took a deep breath and went on. “Tonight, our mission is to . . . egg Mr. Karlowski’s house!”

  The other kids started laughing and cheering.

  It took a minute for Eloise’s words to sink in. Egg . . . a house? What does that have to do with Carrie?

  I looked at Bess and George and could tell they were wondering the same thing.

  Eloise went on excitedly, “You guys know that I have irrefutable evidence that Mr. Karlowski does not recycle, even though he has access to recycling bins. It’s a personal choice, but we’re here to make him see how wrong a choice that is! I can fit three people in my car; Barney can fit four; Katrina, do you have room for anybody?”

  George actually had to nudge me to remind me that I was Katrina. That’s how stunned I was. “Uh . . . no, sorry.” I did have room for one, but I wanted to be able to talk to my friends without censoring myself.

  “Okay. Well, with Justin’s truck, I think we all have rides? I’ve marked Mr. Karlowski’s house on this map here. Everyone meets up there in ten. Got it?”

  “Got it!” people shouted back, but I was still stunned into silence. Bess reached out to take a copy of the map from Eloise, with a big X drawn over where poor, ecologically irresponsible Mr. Karlowski lived. My friends herded me toward my car, and I followed like cattle, still not sure what to make of all this.

  “Hey, Katrina, see you there?” Barney looked over from the small group he was driving to give me a hopeful wave. I shook myself out of my confusion to smile at him.

  “Sure, Barney. See you in ten.”

  He grinned and gave me a thumbs-up, which I returned. Bess, George, and I arrived at my car, parked alone under a lonely lamppost. Parking safety: My father had drilled it into me.

  I plopped into the driver’s seat and slammed my door as Bess and George closed theirs. “You have got to be kidding me,” I said, taking the map from Bess.

  Bess clearly had other things she wanted to talk about. “That Barney kid is in love with you,” she said, poking her head between my seat and George’s. “You get that, right?”

  I held up my hand to imply that she should stop. “As I have indicated,” I said, “I am aware of his feelings, but am choosing to ignore them for the greater investigative good. Now, what are we going to do here?”

  George sighed, examining the map. “This seems like a dead end, Nance,” she said glumly. “I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. I guess it’s possible that the Green Club could still be working on scaring Carrie into quitting whenever you’re not around, but if you ask me? These are a bunch of kids egging teachers’ houses. I don’t think they’re nearly as ‘dangerous’ as they’d like you to believe.”

  Bess tapped her lip thoughtfully. “We don’t know that, though.”

  I groaned. “No, I think George is right,” I muttered. “We’re barking up the wrong tree. What do you think—should we just bail? The last thing I need is to explain to my dad why I was arrested in Boylestown for vandalizing some teacher’s house.”

  George sighed and looked out the windshield. I could tell she was as disheartened as I was.

  “Here’s the thing.” Bess held up a finger, and her clear, confident tone made both of us turn to face her in the backseat. “We struck out tonight; that’s clear. But there’s still some weird stuff going on with the Green Club. They’re the only organization we know that has a defini
te issue with Carrie’s sports complex plan. And we still don’t know why Eloise had the BTA stationery in her locker, which seems fishy to me, to say the least.”

  I twisted my lips to the side, fiddling with my seat belt. Bess was right. But I hated how few answers we were finding.

  “I say we keep going,” Bess said. “We may still learn something that will be valuable down the line. And either way, Nance, despite my teasing, I do think it makes sense to keep Barney close. He definitely knows what’s going on with this club, and he might tell you everything you need to know, if you ask nicely.”

  I looked at George. She turned to face me, and I could see that she saw the wisdom in Bess’s words too.

  “I hate it when she’s right,” George said after a moment.

  I nodded and put the key in the ignition. “So it’s settled. We continue with the mission and try to learn what we can.”

  Bess nodded. “Settled,” she said, putting out her fist.

  “Settled,” George added, tapping her fist to Bess’s.

  “Settled,” I said, adding my fist to make it a trio. “Let’s just hope we don’t get arrested.”

  Mr. Karlowski lived in a modest neighborhood up in the hills of Boylestown. I drove through the mazelike streets until I located his barn-red ranch house and saw several other beat-up cars parked on the street nearby.

  “Here goes,” I said.

  I turned off the ignition, and the three of us unclicked our seat belts and climbed out of the car, trying to make as little noise as possible. Barney had climbed out of an ancient black Ford down the street and gestured to us to hang tight—and stay quiet.

  “Little speed bump. We have a special ally showing up with the eggs,” he whispered. “Stay put until then.”

  We all nodded and climbed back into my car.

  “Seriously?” George asked, annoyance edging her voice. “She didn’t even bring eggs? What kind of amateur hour is this?”

  Bess looked amused. “Like you’re some great expert on egging houses?”

  “If you’re going to egg a house, bring eggs. It’s simple logic!” George fired back, glaring at her cousin in the rearview mirror. “I officially doubt that these guys are involved in harassing Carrie. They’re not organized enough.”