Lost in London (17 page)

“Pardon me, Mrs. Lively,” Ellie said. “I see you have a computer there.” She indicated behind the counter. “I’m looking for a grade from my teacher. Would you mind if I checked my school account really quick? I’m so nervous about this grade.”

“Well, I suppose that would be okay. I understand how important your grades are,” she said. “You know, Sebastian is handing in a critical paper today. His scholarship depends on it. You help yourself.” She placed a glass of juice on the counter for each of us. We hadn’t even asked for them.

Ellie walked behind the counter.

“What do you mean about his scholarship?” Sam asked Mrs. Lively.

“Sebastian has to keep a B-plus average or he’ll lose the scholarship he needs to attend your school.”

“Oh.” Sam tugged me, Gordo, and Caroline away
from Mrs. Lively. “If Sebastian gets caught cheating, or gets an F, he’ll lose his scholarship.”

“He’s a cheater,” Caroline said. “He deserves to fail and to lose his scholarship.”

“If everyone got what they deserved, you’d be locked up somewhere for spending the night at Daphne’s,” Sam said.

“You know that was way different. I’m not a jerk and a blackmailer,” she said.

Gordo said, “Sebastian and I used to be science lab partners. He was fine until you started talking rubbish about him.”

“Are you joshing me? He’s evil,” she said. “You’re just gonna have to trust me on that.”

No one said anything. It seemed like Caroline’s friends weren’t willing to “just trust” her the way they used to or the way she wanted.

Ellie came out from behind the counter.

“What was that about?” I asked her.

“I asked myself, if I was Sebastian, would I just hand over all my videos to you guys?”

Gordo asked, “And what did you answer yourself?”

“No. I would make a copy.”

Sam said, “Which you just found.”

“I did. And I replaced it with this.” She pointed to
her phone’s screen. There was a video of Ellie. Her hands were in front of her mouth and she pretended she was playing a clarinet. “Hmm doot doot doo.”

“What’s this?” Sam asked her.

“It’s that new Mash-Up song played on an invisible clarinet. Can’t you tell?”

Gordo said, “That doesn’t sound like Mash-Up at all.”

Sam ignored the insignificant debate. “What did you do?”

“I replaced the video of Caroline and J.J. with their bums in the pastry case with this,” she said. “I left the old file name so he’ll think he still has it, but he has Invisible Clarinet instead.” Then she added, “BTW, in the cloud he has another folder called ‘Caroline Heart.’ ”

“Ooh, someone has a crush,” Gordo said.

“Heart?” Caroline asked. “I think I just barfed in my mouth.”

Gordo started a slow, steady clap. We all joined in. She smiled a huge yes-I-know-I-am-awesome smile.

“He can’t get us now. We’re free,” Caroline said.

Sebastian came into the Hall of Gourmets, nearly a half hour late.

“You’re late,” Caroline said. “I guess you’re not too worried about having that paper in by ten o’clock.”

“Patience, Cruella,” he said. “It’s actually not due until eleven. I just wanted you to wait for me.”

“You’re a real creep,” Caroline said.

“And you’re a snob,” Sebastian said back.

“Oh, blast!” I yelled, using my new British expression. I’d spilled my juice down the front of my shirt. Everyone looked at me. “Sebastian, can you show me the sink, please?”

He huffed like it was terribly inconvenient, then led me to their kitchen and to the sink. I turned on the water, and he was about to walk away. “Wait,” I said. “Remember when I said I was nice?”

He nodded.

“Well, I did something not very nice.” He listened. “You’re gonna get an F as soon as you hand over the flash drive. And then you’ll lose your scholarship.”

“No I won’t. I have insurance.”

“Not anymore.” His forehead creased in the center. “Turns out Ellie is a computer wiz. Your insurance is gone.” His face turned a dark shade of red.

He smashed his fist into his hand. “I’ll still get them.” His evil mind looked like it was racing for a new plan.

“How about you don’t?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Take the B-plus. Keep your scholarship.”

“You said you made it so I would get an F.”

“I can undo that.” I hoped I could. “And when I do, let’s just drop this, okay?”

He thought and picked at the bandage on his burn. “What’s in it for me?”

“Seriously? You get to stay in school, keep your scholarship, and get a B-plus on a paper that you didn’t even write.”

He picked some more.

•  •  •

Sam handed Sebastian a small red flash drive. “Now hand over the flash drive.”

Sebastian took it out of his pocket. “Here you go. One worm chock-full of incriminating videos and pictures. It’s all yours.”

Caroline took the worm and squeezed it in her fist.

Sebastian disappeared behind the pastry counter, but not before glancing at me.

“We should check it,” Sam said. “Make sure it’s the right worm.” He put it into the iPad and started watching the video of us dancing around in costumes. “You two had quite a busy night.”

“Then our mission is complete,” Caroline said. “By this time tomorrow he’ll be tossed from school.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I knew he cheated, but jeez, this was extreme. “Wait,” I said. “We can’t let him get kicked out of school.”

Caroline said, “Yes we can. We have the flash drive. Let’s just go.”

I pushed some more. “This isn’t worth him losing his scholarship over.”

“You don’t know him like we do. He’s wicked. Now let’s get out of here and do something fun. J.J., apparently you’re the Queen of Fun. What do you have up your sleeve today?” She didn’t sound like she really thought I was the queen of anything.

I asked Ellie, “Is there anything you can do?”

Caroline said, “I said we’re leaving it.”

“No,” I stated firmly. “We’re not going to make him lose his scholarship.”

She narrowed her eyes into little slits. “What did you say?”

I wanted someone else to say something, but no one did. My heart was racing. I felt sweat in my palms and armpits as Caroline continued to drill me with her nasty stare. “Ellie, what can you do?” I asked.

“Jeez, I perform a few computer miracles, and now you guys think I’m some kind of fairy godmum. Oh, let
me wave my wand and—Poof!—it’s all good now.”

“What about changing his grade in the school computer?” I asked.

“I have ethical standards, and that crosses the line.”

“You can do that?” Sam asked.

“Maybe I can, but I don’t. If I did, I would’ve changed your science midterm. You mixed up meiosis and mitosis. I mean, come on, Sam, use your head!”

“What? How did you know I missed those questions?” Sam asked.

“I might snoop from time to time. But that’s not important. What we’re talking about is where I draw the line. No grade changing.”

Sam shook the confusion out of his head. “You are one weird chick.”

“Gimme the iPad,” I said, and I handed it to Ellie. “Can you make our URL actually go to the real article, so it’s all fine?”

Ellie thought for a second, tapped the screen a few times, and said “Uh-huh.” Then she handed the tablet back to me. “There you go. Just like you wanted. Fixed,” Ellie said. “Now, does anyone want me to change a pumpkin into a carriage?”

“So it’s all good, then,” I said. I looked at Caroline,
who I knew disapproved of everything I had done. I tried to lighten the mood. “I mean, besides the grossness of Sebastian’s crush, of course. That’s not good.”

There was an awkward pause of quietness.

“Well,” Caroline finally said. I was sure her next words would be harsh and hurtful. I squared my shoulders and prepared for the blow. “It’s done, then.” She un-narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t think you had it in you, J.J.”

I waited. The lashing was coming; I just knew it. I saw Ellie cringe as she waited for it too. “I expected you to be more of a slug. But you’ve proven me wrong.”

Wait, what just happened?

Gordo studied Caroline with great suspicion in his face. “Who are you, and what have you done with Caroline?”

“Oh, shove off,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows. “It’s Caroline.”

“This is one of those unusual times when things didn’t pan out like I’d planned. I didn’t mean for you to overhear me at the nail salon, but it was the truth.” She continued. “My stepmum bribed me to hang out with you because I didn’t want to. I don’t really like hanging out with new people. I like my life exactly the way it is. I wasn’t interested in prancing around London from sight to sight entertaining a stranger during my week off from school.”

Well, at least she was honest. I hadn’t really considered that my arrival might have botched up her week.

“Your mom called, and my stepmum said yes, and the rest was on me. No one even asked me if I wanted to be your hostess and tour guide.”

I hadn’t even thought that she wouldn’t be psyched about our week. “So you were promised a trip to Jamaica in exchange for schlepping me around?”

She nodded. “Not a bad deal, eh?”

“I guess.”

“What I didn’t say at the salon, and maybe I should’ve, is that I’ve kinda liked it. I mean, I’ve lived in this city all my life and I never knew there was a wax figure of my favorite person at Madame Tussauds,” she said.

“And the truth is that the whole London Dungeon thing was . . .”

It was coming now. I was going to get a full verbal assault.

“It was freakin’ amazing! I mean, I
totally
believed that you had been slashed. I’ll be talking about that forever. And the night at Daphne’s was pretty awesome.” She tossed her beautiful blond hair over her shoulder and put on her big white sunglasses. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“You want to thank
me
?”

“Yes. I just did,” she said, and rummaged through her purse for her mobile, probably to see who had texted in the last hour. “Should we get going to the abbey, then?”

“Bril,” I agreed. Things with Caroline felt good, and I was glad Sebastian would keep his scholarship.

The day was dreary and rainy. Everyone was fine with heading home early. Even me. I had to admit that I was exhausted. And maybe I was a little depressed that this would be my last night in Caroline’s house, which was like a palace to me.

“It feels good to have all of the Sebastian stuff over with,” Ellie said.

Caroline said, “And since the police think our video was just a diversion from the real thief, I feel like I can watch the telly without cringing.”

“But the real thief is still out there,” Sam said.

“Speaking of the telly, look,” Sam said. “It’s Skye and Cole with the news.”

“This just in. A priceless painting was stolen from Buckingham Palace,”
said Skye. She showed a shot of the painting. It was the one of the boat.

“Let me guess,”
Cole said.
“The tools used for this heist were the ones stolen from Daphne’s.”

“You got it.”

“Do the police have any leads on the robber or robbers?”

“As you know, they have been cross-checking the surveillance footage from all the sights: Daphne’s, the Tower of London, Madame Tussauds, and now Buckingham Palace, and they’ve narrowed down the potential suspects,”
Skye said.

“That is wonderful news. What about the mirror image from the Tower of London?”
Cole asked.

“As soon as it’s released, you’ll see it here,”
replied Skye.

“I kinda hoped they’d figure out who it was before I went home,” I said. “But I’m just glad they don’t really think it was the Daphne’s Duo.”

“You’re going home with a cool story to tell,” Gordo
said. “Being suspected of trying to steal the Crown Jewels? It doesn’t get any more exciting than that.”

“Too true,” I agreed.

•  •  •

It was dark when Liam woke me. “Miss J.J., it’s time to get ready to go to the airport.”

I packed my things and was filled with a satisfaction that I had done what I came for, plus so much more. I’d had a major adventure that I’d never forget, I felt totally un-boring, and most importantly, I’d made four new friends.

I figured I could google the UK news from home to see updates on the crime spree that had plagued London since my arrival.

I brought my things to the living room, where Mrs. Littleton was in front of a seventy-two-inch TV screen, twisting her body in a yoga pose.

“Liam is gonna take you to Heathrow. Gimme a hug now.”

I did, and I thanked her for everything.

In the grand marble foyer of the mansion, Caroline waited with a suitcase of her own. “Are you coming with me to Delaware?”

She rolled her eyes. “No. It’s a gift.” She pushed a case
with a pretty floral pattern on it and the word
LONDON
written across the top.

“Oh, thank you,” I said. I pulled it by its handle. “Why is it so heavy?”

“I might’ve filled it with the stuff you wanted but didn’t buy from Daphne’s.”