Framed (2 page)

NEW YORK JETS
WORLD CHAMPIONS

It was a heavy gold ring, designed to fit a very big finger. A large central diamond, surrounded by smaller diamonds, formed the shape of a football outlined in Jets green.

Melissa agitated her head, and her curtain of hair parted to reveal eyes wide with wonder. “You always hear about Super Bowl rings, but I’ve never seen one close-up before,” she said in her quiet voice.

Pitch nodded, impressed. “Super Bowl Three was one of the greatest games in NFL history.”

A jet of Windex hit the display case, and Pitch had to jump back to avoid being splattered.

Mr. Clancy, one of the custodians, reached a cloth over Pitch’s shoulder and scrubbed at the glass in front of the ring. “Super Bowl Three was a joke,” he muttered.

“But wasn’t that the game where Broadway Joe Namath guaranteed victory and then made it happen?” Pitch asked.

“He got lucky,” the custodian said sourly. “I was right about your age for that so-called Super Bowl. Worst day of my life.” And he walked off, a Windex cloud obscuring the blue and white headband he wore at all times.

“I guess Mr. Clancy isn’t a Jets fan,” Savannah observed.

“I guess not,” Pitch agreed. “But he’s got to appreciate a real Super Bowl ring — that’s pretty cool.”

Griffin was disgusted. “Does it make you want to go out there and do more jumping jacks? This time in a blizzard? Or maybe a flood? Then we could burn extra calories by treading water!”

“All right, Griffin, we get it,” soothed Ben. “You don’t like Dr. Egan very much. Neither do I. You think I enjoy being barfed on by a ferret at eight o’clock in the morning?”

“At least you guys just have to deal with him at school,” put in Savannah. “Try living across the street from the guy.”

Pitch was appalled. “He’s your
neighbor
? That’s awful!”

“Everybody has to live somewhere, I guess,” Savannah said unhappily. “Anyway, I don’t see him around much. He’s probably here all day, kissing his Super Bowl ring.”

“It
is
something you don’t see every day,” Pitch admitted.

“It’s nice,” agreed Logan. “Not as nice as an Oscar, of course.”

Darren came lumbering up, eavesdropping as usual. “The only Oscar you’re ever going to touch, Kellerman, is the Mayer-wiener kind.” He turned to Griffin. “How’s the retainer? Got the swamp out of it yet?”

Griffin had just spent nearly twenty minutes rinsing the dental appliance under hot water. The last thing he was in the mood for was Darren’s moronic sense of humor. But when he opened his mouth to fire off a retort, his retainer popped out again. He barely managed to catch it just before it hit the floor.

“Nice save,” Darren sneered.

“Beat it, Vader.”

“Dr. Egan told us to admire this ring and be inspired,” said Darren, “and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Wait a second —” Griffin’s eyes narrowed. “You
like
him?”

“Best principal on Long Island,” Darren affirmed.

Griffin scowled into the display case. “More like Dr. Evil.”

“We lucked out when we got him,” Darren said smugly. “I’m the only seventh grader who made the football team, and I’m going to dominate!”

Pitch muttered something under her breath that no one could make out, which was probably just as well. For some reason, she’d been in a foul mood all week.

Darren beamed. “You guys are just bent out of shape because Dr. Egan will never let you get away with the kind of stuff you pulled in elementary school.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Griffin could barely contain his anger. “You were there with us every step of the way — double-crossing us, stabbing us in the back —”

“Yeah — funny how it all got blamed on you
dopes, not me.” The big boy peered through the glass of the display case at the Super Bowl ring. “I’m going to own one of these someday. Those are real diamonds! What do you think it’s worth?”

“More than we could get for you,” snapped Pitch. “Lard and hot air doesn’t bring in much.”

“It’s not just the value of the diamonds and the gold,” said a deep voice behind them. “It’s the fact that it’s so rare.”

They turned to see Tony Bartholomew, a tall, serious eighth grader. “Every Super Bowl championship team has its own unique ring. Only the Jets and their coaching staff were given these. There are probably no more than fifty or sixty of them in the whole world.” He paused. “And this one’s mine.”

That got their complete attention.

“How do you figure that?” Darren demanded.

“Art Blankenship was my grandmother’s first cousin. That makes me his closest living relative.”

“Except for his wife,” Savannah pointed out. “And she gave the ring to the school.”

Tony nodded his agreement. “But when the school tossed it in a dark corner somewhere, they were throwing it away. That’s when it should have gone to me.”

“Wow,” said Logan. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said with equal parts dejection and determination. “Something. That ring belongs to me.”

The bell rang, and the bustle in the hall grew louder. Tony melted into the crowd, and Darren took his leave with a cheerful “Later, losers.”

Pitch shook her head in amazement. “Is it just me, or is this place even weirder than our last school?”

“I have a prescription ferret,” Ben said with a sigh. “I’m not a good judge of weird.”

A
low growl issued from a set of jaws that would have fit a young
T. rex
.

Luthor didn’t like computers. It was a holdover from the big Doberman’s days as a guard dog in a collectibles shop — long nights locked in the store with only the power hum and the dim glow of the screen saver for company.

Griffin could feel hot breath on the back of his neck as he called up the e-mail on Savannah’s monitor.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Savannah informed him.

“I have another one about how jumping jacks destroy ant habitats,” Griffin offered.

“Okay, second stupidest. And if a kid can see that, Egan will spot it in a heartbeat.”

“You’re missing the point,” Griffin insisted. “Yes, it’s all fake. But it’s just real enough that he’ll have to check it out. The lawn
might
be sloped; the repetitive strain people
might
be real. How’s he going to know unless he looks into it?”

“And how long is that going to take?” Savannah asked.

“Not long,” Griffin admitted. “But we’re going to give him hundreds of these things. Thousands, if we can think of them. And if he’s busy twenty-four seven following up on our complaints, he won’t have any time for his witch hunt against the kids Celia White says are ruining Cedarville.”

“Yeah, but the message is going to be from
my
computer. He’ll be able to see it’s from me.”

Griffin shook his head. “Melissa knows how to make an e-mail totally untraceable. She can bounce it twenty times around the world till it seems like it came from the president of Zambia. Let’s see Dr. Evil try to give
him
a detention.”

Savannah’s eyes narrowed. “This is a
plan
, isn’t it?”

“Of course not. This is more like a strategy. You know, a tactic —”

“That’s the same thing!” she stormed. “I hope you’re delirious, Griffin Bing! Have you forgotten what happened with the last plan? And the one before that?”

“Hey, I know it got a little hairy,” Griffin said defensively, “but we came through it okay.”

“Don’t you remember what that cop said would happen if we broke the law again? He said, ‘arrested, cuffed, fingerprinted, and prosecuted.’ Those were his
exact words
. I know, because we’ve all been hearing them in our dreams for the past four months, three weeks, and six days, give or take a few hours.”

“Egan’s got no right to treat us like criminals
for what we haven’t even done,” Griffin said stubbornly.

“I agree with you. We all do. But not a plan. It’s just too risky.”

Outside, a motor roared to life. A familiar stout figure came into view across the street, walking behind a gas lawn mower.

“It’s him!” exclaimed Griffin, his face darkening. “Dr. Evil really
is
your neighbor!” Griffin watched as the principal carefully maneuvered the mower, cutting perfectly straight lines into the front yard. “He treats his own grass like it’s sacred ground, but has no problem sending hundreds of kids out to do jumping jacks on public property.”

Savannah looked distracted. “You’d better go now, Griffin. I’ve got a lot on my mind. We have a rat.”

Griffin’s gaze traveled to the small rodent habitat where a collection of hamsters, gerbils, and white mice scurried about the maze of multicolored plastic tubes. Savannah’s room was a regular menagerie. She also had cats, rabbits, turtles, a parakeet, a capuchin monkey, and an albino chameleon named Lorenzo.

“I mean a real rat.” She was tight lipped. “Loose in the house.”

When the truth dawned on Griffin, he couldn’t hold back a peal of laughter. “You’re
infested
? You? The animal expert?”

Luthor let out a bark that rattled the windowpanes.

“No offense,” Griffin added quickly. “It’s just that if there’s anyone who could handle animal problems, I thought it would be you.”

Savannah sighed. “Well, you’re wrong. It hits us twice as hard as anyone else. The animals sense there’s a stranger in the house. Tempers are short. The rabbits are bickering. The turtles haven’t come out of their shells in days.”

Griffin shrugged. “Call an exterminator.”

Savannah’s eyes shot sparks. “You mean a hired assassin who kills living creatures in exchange for money? I don’t think so. Besides, poisons and traps don’t discriminate. How would I keep the others safe?”

Griffin could see her dilemma. Savannah had devoted her entire life to loving, collecting, and caring for living creatures. To treat any animal as an enemy would be as difficult for her as flying to the moon.

He tried to lighten the mood. “Maybe you can send the rat across the street to Egan’s house. I’ve
got to get over to Logan’s. Let me know if you change your mind about the e-mail.”

Logan frowned. “There is no Friends of the Drama Club.”

“Egan doesn’t know that,” Griffin told him. “And while he’s finding out, he isn’t making our lives miserable. The best part is Melissa will fix it so that no one will ever realize the e-mail came from you.”

Logan was skeptical. “I don’t know, Griffin. I’ve got my career to think about. I’ll never make it in Hollywood with a criminal record. At least, not a boring one.”

“That’s why we have to do this,” Griffin argued. “Dr. Evil’s so convinced we’re dirty that he’s going
to pin some rap on us sooner or later, even if we’re totally innocent.”

“Yeah, but if he finds out what we’re doing, everything Celia White put in that article will be true,” Logan reminded him. “The new curtain sounds great, though. Do you think we’ll have it in time for
Hail Caesar
?”

Griffin held his head. “There
is
no new curtain!”

“But you said —”

“Just forget it. I’m going to see Pitch.”

But Griffin found an even less receptive audience at the Benson house.

“Buzz off,” Pitch told him. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. From now on,
plan
is a four-letter word.”

“At least take a look at the e-mails,” Griffin pleaded. “I’ve written some really classy ones for you.”

Pitch would not be moved. “I don’t care if they’re all by Shakespeare. If Egan hates us as much as you say, the last thing we want to do is make him mad.”

Griffin would not back down. “So it’s totally fine for him to accuse us — not to mention turn the whole school into football workouts.”

“Hey,” Pitch snapped, “I
like
football. I like all sports. As a matter of fact …” Her voice trailed off, and she stared at the wall behind him, looking miserable.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled evasively. “It’s no big deal.”

“What’s up with you, anyway?” Griffin demanded. “You’ve been in a lousy mood for weeks! Since even before school opened, way back when Darren started bragging about …” His eyes widened. “Pitch — you tried out for football, didn’t you? And you’re upset because you didn’t make it?”

“Worse.” She studied her sneakers. “I went to that scrimmage. I was as good as anybody there. Not as big as Vader and some of the eighth graders, but faster and more athletic. Then Egan saw me. He wouldn’t even let me on the field. He said girls can’t play football — that I was just going to get hurt.”

Griffin grinned. “You could press Vader into salami. I’ll bet you told Egan that, too.”

She did not share his smile. “He really is Dr. Evil, Griffin — and it has nothing to do with morning calisthenics or Celia White. The first game starts in a few hours, and it kills me that I won’t
be in it. I always believed there was no cliff I couldn’t scale, no crag I couldn’t beat. But being a girl — that isn’t something you overcome with second effort.”

“That’s why you should be on board with this,” Griffin argued.

“What’s the point?” she replied listlessly. “Like there’s anything he could do to me that would be worse than brushing me off like a piece of lint without even giving me a chance.”

Ben didn’t even finish reading the message on the screen. “You said the e-mails were supposed to be anonymous.”

“It’s
about
you, not
from
you,” Griffin explained reasonably. “It’s signed the ASPCA, see?”

Ben wasn’t convinced. “And everybody else said yes to this?”

Griffin chose his words carefully. “They will once you’re on board.”

“Why can’t you just admit that
you’re
the only person who wants to do it? Even Melissa said no, didn’t she?”

Griffin knew a moment of doubt. Shy, withdrawn Melissa was usually so thrilled to have friends that she was an automatic yes. But this time he wasn’t so sure about her. He thought back to her exact words:
I think I might be out
, she’d told him.
I want to be in, but I’d better be out.

Aloud, he said, “You know Melissa — she’ll come around eventually.”

“It’s different now,” Ben argued. “We’re done with second chances. You know, there are worse things in the world than jumping jacks in the rain.”

Griffin looked totally defeated. “Then Dr. Evil
wins
.”

“He was
always
going to win, Griffin. He’s the principal. It’s his game.” All at once, Ben peered critically at his best friend. “Hey, man, did you forget your retainer?”

“No, I put it in this morning, same as —”

And then Griffin registered that the familiar pinching discomfort was no longer there.
“Oh, no!”

The cry of alarm was so sharp that Ferret Face emerged from Ben’s collar to investigate the disturbance.

Ben tried to be helpful. “Were you at anybody’s house before you came here?”

“I was at
everybody’s
house!” Griffin lamented. “It could have popped out anywhere!”

The hunt began. They scoured Ben’s room and then retraced Griffin’s steps from the front door and up the stairs. Next, the search followed the bike route to the Slovak home from Griffin’s previous stop — Melissa’s house. And from there they backtracked to the Bensons’, the Kellermans’, and the Drysdales’. There was no sign of the missing dental appliance.

Griffin was devastated. “I’m dead! I was so worried about Dr. Evil that I forgot about Mom the Merciless! When she finds out the retainer’s gone, she’s going to Krazy Glue my mouth shut!”