Lucky Charm (10 page)

Y
ou’re up early!” Mrs. Madden said as Avery came rushing down the stairs.

“I’m meeting Charlotte for breakfast at Montoya’s. To…to…talk about a new strategy for finding Marty,” she stammered. “I gotta run. I’m late.” She gave her bemused mom a quick hug and was out the door.

Avery slammed the door and took off at full speed. She didn’t slow down until she turned onto Beacon Street. She couldn’t be late this morning, not when Charlotte was waiting to go and get Marty. The early morning streets were busy with cars and people on their way to work, and Montoya’s was bustling with a line for coffee that went out the door.

Avery hadn’t eaten anything yet and her stomach growled when she smelled the fresh muffins and donuts.

Charlotte was already there waiting at a table.

“Did you order already?” Avery asked.

“No. They’re really busy. So, we won’t have time. We
need to get to Dogstar’s early so we aren’t late for school,” Charlotte said with firm determination.

Avery couldn’t tell if Charlotte was eager to go after Marty or was still mad at her. Either way, Avery was going to be on her best behavior. She missed Marty and needed Charlotte’s support. Charlotte was still speaking to Avery, but Char’s warm friendliness seemed to have disappeared.

“You did eat before you came, didn’t you?” Charlotte asked pointedly.

Avery’s stomach growled again. “No, I thought we were eating here first. You know, then we’d make a game plan to go and rescue Marty. I mean, Charlotte, we don’t really know these people.”

Charlotte stared at her friend. “You don’t have to come, you know.”

“I’m coming,” Avery said firmly. She was beginning to get annoyed, too. After all, it was Charlotte who hadn’t put Marty’s collar on tight enough.

“It’s almost a mile there, then a mile back to put him safely in my house and then off to school. We don’t have time to eat.”

“Okay.” Avery shoved her hands in her pockets and leaned back in the chair.

“What can I get for you?” Nick asked, swinging a chair backwards and taking a seat.

“Hi, Nick. You’re working before school now?” Avery asked, relieved for the interruption. Besides, she really, really wanted a muffin!

“Not really. I just came to help Mom unload the delivery truck. I finished about fifteen minutes ago, but it was so busy,
she asked me to help out,” Nick explained. “What are you guys doing here so early?”

“Last night, we got a message on the website about Marty. Someone has him in their backyard. They live in the four hundred block of Weeble Street.”

“Weeble Street—I have never head of it. You guys aren’t going there by yourselves, are you?” Nick asked.

“Yeah,” Avery admitted. “But it’s only a mile.”

“We really have to get going,” Charlotte said.

“Please, Charlotte. I’m starved. Can’t we get something to eat?” Avery pleaded.

“Hold on, Avery.” Nick jumped up and ran behind the bakery counter. He grabbed some sugar-coated donuts and stuffed them in a bag. He was back to the table in a flash.

Avery flashed him a grateful smile and stuffed a dollar in his hands.

Charlotte smiled at Nick. He always seemed to do the right thing without being a goody-goody.

“So what’s the name of the people on Weeble Street?” Nick asked Charlotte.

“I don’t actually know. Their screen name was Dogstar.”

“They have a screen name of Dogstar, but they said in the message that they’re allergic to dogs? How weird is that?” Avery asked.

Charlotte shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t think of that.”

“You got this address online? And you don’t know who these people are?” Nick asked. “Do your parents know you’re going?”

Avery and Charlotte looked at each other and shook their heads no.

Nobody said anything for a minute.

Nick stood up. “This sounds suspicious. I’m coming along. In case you need someone to, you know, protect. Help.” Nick disappeared around the line of people at the counter and into the back room.

“Protect us?” Avery asked. “From what?”

Charlotte blushed. “I don’t know. But he is really nice.”

“Whatever,” Avery said. She opened her bag and began snarfing down her donut. If they were going dog hunting, she needed energy.

Nick was back in a second and the group took off out the front door and up Beacon Street.

“Didn’t want anyone to see me bring this out,” Nick said, pulling a white bag from inside of his coat and handing it to Avery. “They’re hot from the oven. But it’s better than listening to your stomach growl all morning, Ave.”

Avery peeked in the bag.

“Biscotti! Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Avery exclaimed. “You’re the man, Nick!”

Halfway to Boston University, Mr. Ramsey realized that he left behind the papers he had just finished grading for his freshman writing class.
I better go back and get those future gems of literature,
he smiled to himself.
I promised my students I would hand them back today.
The vision of impatient students frothing at the mouth for their grades impelled him to make a quick left turn onto Harvard Street and rush home.

He left his car in front of the yellow Victorian and raced up the stairs. His papers were sitting in the hall. He placed
them carefully into his briefcase, and then he suddenly had a thought.
It will be such a nice surprise to have Marty waiting at home when Charlotte gets back from school.
He checked his watch, then turned on his computer and checked the address posted by Dogstar on www.wheresmarty.com.
Might as well give it a try
, he thought.

On the way to Weeble Street, Charlotte relayed Marty stories to Nick and confessed that she just couldn’t face losing another pet. Avery wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation. She really didn’t know where they were going and hoped Nick and Charlotte did. This was a part of Brookline that she didn’t come to very often. She was content to follow along behind them scarfing one biscotti after another.

“Hey, Sugar Face,” Charlotte called out. “You might want to brush yourself so you can make a good impression.”

Avery wadded up the bag and stuck it in her backpack. She wiped her face off with a napkin and then brushed the crumbs from her coat. When she looked up she felt a little uneasy at her new surroundings.

The street was lined with old brick apartment buildings, but it was vacant and a tad creepy. Charlotte wondered if anyone actually lived on the street at all.

“I wonder how Marty wound up here?” Avery asked.

“Does that building have a number on it?” an obviously nervous Charlotte asked.

“Yeah,” Avery said. “It’s number three-eighty.”

“They’ve been skipping by twenties so the next building should be four hundred,” Nick said.

They walked by a vacant lot and came up on the building
on the other side. The number 420 was prominently displayed over the doorway.

“Four twenty? But that can’t be. That means that the vacant lot is four hundred Weeble Street,” Avery said.

“I think we should get out of here,” Nick said, looking around anxiously.

“Wait! Look! There on top of that old Dumpster,” Avery shouted and sprinted in that direction.

“Ave, wait!” Nick shouted. “This could be dangerous.”

Too late, Avery was running toward the Dumpster. What was the thing on top? It almost looked like it was a dog. A dog?
It couldn’t be Marty
, she thought. There was no way that Marty would sit still for that long. Avery looked up.

“Avery!” She heard Charlotte call. “What is it?”

On the Dumpster sat an old tattered stuffed animal that looked a little like Marty. Pinned to the front was a copy of their flier, and written in tiny letters on the front of the flier was a message from Dogstar.

“What does it say?” Charlotte asked again. “Does it say where Marty is?”

Avery squinted to read it. Perhaps Charlotte was right. Maybe there was a clue about where Marty really was.
Was this some kind of crazy treasure hunt?
Avery wondered.

Grabbing the note, Avery began to read it out loud: “Disappointed? So is your little dog. Your dog ran away because it was too embarrassed to be seen with someone as weird as you.”

“It says that? Really?” Charlotte said, pulling the note from Avery’s hand so she could read it herself. She sucked in her breath. Somebody thought she was weird. Charlotte felt
sick to her stomach. She handed the dog and the note over to Nick.

“What kind of creep would write something like that?” Avery asked. Furious, she wanted to wad the note into a tight little ball and throw it right through the side of the Dumpster.

“This dude is so mean!” Nick slapped his hand against the Dumpster.

“Three guesses who did this,” Avery growled.

“You’re kidding. You think A & J…
did this
?” Nick asked. “No way. They’re not this bad.”

“Avery might be right, Nick,” Charlotte said. “Anna and Joline love making other people miserable, and they did take fliers on Monday.”

“I’m throwing this away,” Avery said, opening the top of the Dumpster. “I don’t care who did it. It’s nasty and I don’t want any part of this.”

“No, wait. I think we should keep it as evidence. Maybe we can figure out from the handwriting who wrote it,” Charlotte said.

“What’s the point?” Avery mumbled. “Like you’re going to call the FBI and then arrest them. Besides, it will just waste our time. We don’t want to forget about Marty.”

“I still think we should keep it,” said Charlotte. Maybe it was the reporter or detective in her, but Charlotte really wanted to know who did this and why.

“You know what? What goes around comes around,” Nick said wisely. “Whoever did this is just a low person. And that will come back to haunt them somehow. We better head off to school. It’s getting late.”

Just as they were turning to leave, a familiar car pulled into the lot, and a very worried-looking Mr. Ramsey jumped out of the driver’s seat.

“Uh-oh,” Charlotte said quietly, “This is not good. Not good at all.”

“We’re busted,” Avery whispered.

“Charlotte…you have some explaining to do,” said Mr. Ramsey sternly.

“Mr. Ramsey, we just wanted—” Avery started to say.

“Dad, we
really, really
wanted to get Marty home. We miss him so much. I’m so sorry…I know you told me to wait. It turns out this was all a mean trick. Look,” Charlotte said, and showed her dad the note.

Mr. Ramsey didn’t even look at the note. “You are all smart kids, but this was a really stupid thing to do, coming here all alone. I’m disappointed in all of you. I know you want to get Marty back, but you should not have put yourselves in danger to do that. Avery and Nick, I am going to have to call your parents.”

Charlotte looked down at her feet. She knew she had messed up big time, plus she got her friends in trouble too.

As they rode back in disappointed silence, Avery couldn’t stop thinking about Marty. She hoped that wherever he was, that someone was being good to him. And although Avery was furious that they had been tricked, she wondered how Anna and Joline could really be this mean.

H
i, guys!” Maeve sang out. “Whatcha looking at?”

She stopped by the boys’ lunch table—conveniently located right next to the BSG lunch table. The guys were leaning over the sports section from this morning’s edition of the
Boston Globe
.

“Did you see this? Hey, check out Robbie Flores.”

“Oooh, he’s so cute,” Maeve said, fixing her eyes on the picture of Flores swinging the bat.

“Cute? This player is strong! It says here he can bench press two hundred pounds,” Pete said.

“Wow,” Maeve said. “Is that a lot?”

“Wanna come to the gym after school and find out?” Pete challenged Maeve.

“I don’t think so.” Maeve raised her chin. Boys were so competitive about their muscle power. It could be so annoying.

“Flores really found his rhythm again,” Pete added.

Avery walked up and slapped her super sub sandwich down on the table. “Who found his rhythm again?”

“Flores,” Dillon responded.

“Isn’t it great!” Avery said, unwrapping her sandwich. “He was doing awesome this summer. Third in the League in hitting and fifth in RBIs and then—POOF!—he went into a slump. But he’s found his groove again.”

“What’s the reason for the big turnaround?” Maeve asked.

“He says he has a lucky charm.”

“Lucky Charms? Like the cereal?” Maeve couldn’t believe a batting slump had anything to do with a box of cereal.

“I doubt he’s talking about marshmallows,” Pete chuckled.

“You mean a grown man believes in lucky charms?” Maeve asked.

“Are you kidding me? Athletes are some of the most superstitious people on the planet,” Dillon told her.

“Especially baseball players,” Pete added.

“Like David Ortiz,” Dillon said.

“And Pedro Martinez,” Avery mumbled through a bite of her sub sandwich.

“And don’t forget Manny Ramirez,” Dillon reminded the group.

“What kind of lucky charms do they believe in? Like carrying a rabbit’s foot or four-leaf clover or something?” Maeve wondered.

“All kinds of things,” Dillon answered.

“So what’s Robbie Flores’ lucky charm?” Maeve asked.

“It’s a mystery. That was one of the points of the article. He’s claiming his newest streak is due to a lucky charm, but he won’t say what it is,” Joey said, pointing to the article.

“Well, whatever his lucky charm is, it sure is working,”
said Avery. “Flores is on fire and the Sox are two games up on the Yankees.”

“Yeah, but the Yankees come to town this weekend for a four-game series,” Billy reminded them.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Dillon said. “The Yankees are going down!”

“Yeah right, the Red Sox will blow it this year again for sure,” said Danny Pellegrino, the lone Yankee fan in Ms. Rodriguez’s class.

“Whatever, Pellegrino,” Peter responded, “Schilling’s starting on Thursday and there’s no way he’s losing.”

“Come on, Avery, I’m starved,” Maeve said as the boys launched into the Red Sox vs. Yankees debate they had every day. Maeve thought all this baseball talk was getting to be really boring.

“Be there in a minute,” Avery answered, chomping at her sandwich. She wanted to talk more about Robbie Flores. A nice bit of sports wrap-up would help her forget about this morning’s fiasco.

Maeve walked away.
Avery may want to hang out with the guys, but I’m going to sit down and eat like a civilized movie star
, she thought.

Picture Perfect

Avery glanced over at the BSG table. Maeve motioned for her to come, but Avery mouthed,
In a minute.
She really didn’t want to leave just yet, but she didn’t want to offend the BSG either. After all, she was on shaky ground these days with Charlotte. Even though she’d gone along with Charlotte to the vacant lot this morning, Char was still acting distant.
Avery missed the sensitive, kind Charlotte she used to know. It was as if the loss of Marty had turned her into another person.

“Come on, Pellegrino, Flores is way better than Jeter,” Peter argued.

“Well, you might like a streaky hitter, but Jeter has batted over three hundred all year, and he’s the best clutch hitter in baseball,” Danny replied.

“What!” exclaimed Avery. “No way…Big Papi is hands down better in the clutch.”

Avery liked talking sports with her guy friends. The other BSG just weren’t into the Sox the way she was. And right now it took her mind off other things.

Avery listened intently as Dillon read a brief article about the Sox pitching staff. When he laid down the paper, Avery leaned in close to get a better look at the box score, but got distracted by something she saw in a photograph of the Sox dugout. She blinked. What was that in the dugout? She grabbed the paper and ran off.

“Where’s Ave going in such a hurry?” Isabel asked Maeve.

“Probably went to call the reporter to complain about the sports coverage,” laughed Maeve.

“I wasn’t finished reading that!” Dillon shouted after her.

“I’ll bring it back,” Avery called over her shoulder.

Suddenly the bell rang, ending lunch period, and the girls raced to gather their things before the next bell rang. Somehow, Charlotte ran into Avery, who was racing back into the lunchroom carrying a magnifying glass. “Oh, Charlotte, you have to see this,” she said excitedly. Suddenly, Avery was
pushed into Charlotte, who bumped into Anna and Joline, who tried to shove past them.

“Hey, watch it!” Avery shouted.

“Watch it yourself, shrimp,” Anna shot back.

“Hey, we know what you did,” Avery retorted.

Anna turned around. “What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?! Charlotte, Nick, and I didn’t think your little trick this morning was funny at all.”

“Trick? What trick?”

“The stuffed dog. The nasty note. Hellllllooooooo!” Avery said, pretending to knock on the side of Anna’s head. “Anyone home?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anna winced, batting Avery’s hand away.

“Oh, please—so Dogstar means nothing to you.” Avery put her hands on her hips.

Joline and Anna looked at Avery like she was demented.

“Oh, so four hundred Weeble Street means nothing to you,” Charlotte said, stepping up to defend her friend. She might be annoyed with Avery, but having Anna and Joline dis Avery was a whole other thing.

“Where’s that?” Joline asked.

“Don’t play dumb with us. You know perfectly well that’s where you left that stuffed dog on the Dumpster…” Avery said.

“We don’t know what you’re talking about.” Joline looked genuinely confused.

Charlotte started to get nervous. Joline seemed sincere. What if they weren’t the ones that played such a low trick after all…?

The crowd shuffling around the four girls slowed as everyone turned to listen to the drama unfold outside the lunchroom door.

“So, what exactly are you talking about?” Anna asked, standing face to face with Avery.

“The Dumpster, the message on the website, the stuffed dog, the note pinned on the stuffed dog,” Avery said. “You two are the only ones we know mean enough to think up a trick like this.”

“The note was the giveaway,” Charlotte said, pulling it out of her bag. “Looks like your handwriting,” she added, shoving the note in front of Anna.

Anna gasped as if she had been hit across the face. “I didn’t write that note!” She turned to her friend. “Joline?”

Joline looked like she might cry. “I love dogs,” she sniffed.

Anna looked mad. “If you want to go to the circus go buy a ticket,” she hissed at the gathering crowd.

Charlotte was confused. Had she and Avery made a terrible mistake? Ever since Marty disappeared things had spun out of control. She was mad at Avery, she went somewhere without telling her dad, and now she was in the hall fighting with the Queens of Mean.

Mrs. Treadway, the lunchroom attendant, pushed her way through the crowd to the four girls. “Okay! On your way, everyone! All of you!”

The crowd, which had been silent before, began to buzz with excitement as the students started to move again.

“What are they talking about?”

“What did Anna and Joline do?”

Everyone wanted to know what was going on.

Katani said it wasn’t anybody’s business and to “forget about it.”

While the hall was clearing out, Anna made her way back across to Avery.

“You are so wrong, Avery. You think we would waste our time thinking about you or your stupid dog? Never.” Anna flipped her hair and walked away. Joline looked sad and defeated.

Avery didn’t even notice Joline’s face. “Charlotte, you have to see this. You won’t believe—”

Charlotte cut her off. “I have to get to class, Avery. Now.”

Toil and Trouble

Later that afternoon, on her way into art, Charlotte was handed a note that she should come straight to Ms. R’s office. As she walked down the empty hall, she was feeling optimistic. Maybe Ms. Rodriguez had a new assignment for her for
The Sentinel
. However, the minute Charlotte saw Avery sitting in the teacher’s office with a funny look on her face, she knew that it had nothing to do with the newspaper. Avery was sitting on her hands. She squirmed impatiently as she waited for Charlotte to sit down beside her.

“Charlotte, please take a seat.” Ms. Rodriguez gestured to the chair.

Ms. Rodriguez sounded very serious and somber. Ms. R was Charlotte’s favorite teacher and she hoped she hadn’t let her down. Charlotte bit her lip and sank into the wooden chair next to Avery.

“I heard you two had a little altercation outside the lunchroom with Anna and Joline today,” Ms. Rodriguez said.

“Altercation?” Avery asked.

“A fight,” clarified Charlotte.

“It was more like a shouting match,” Avery said.

Charlotte nodded.

“Well…Anna came to me about it. She was quite upset. It seems you made some accusations about them luring you to some Dumpster this morning?”

Charlotte looked at Avery, who had sat up and was looking like her usual feisty self again.

“Yeah…it was a totally weird neighborhood,” Avery explained to Ms. R.

“With a fake address,” Charlotte added.

“Ask Nick! He went with us,” Avery suggested.

“We got a message on the website that my dad set up. Someone named Dogstar said he had Marty. We shouldn’t have gone there alone, but we wanted to get Marty back right away,” Charlotte said. “When we got to the address, we found a stuffed dog with this note attached,” she explained, pulling the note from her bag. “My dad was really upset. He came out there because he saw the message too.”

Ms. Rodriguez looked at the note.

“It looks like Anna’s handwriting,” Charlotte said shakily. A hint of doubt was beginning to surface in her mind.

“And Anna and Joline both took a stack of fliers with them on Monday,” Avery reported.

Ms. Rodriguez took a deep breath. “And what if it isn’t Anna’s handwriting?”

Charlotte felt her face flush. She looked up at Ms. R and
said in a soft voice, “Then we made a horrible mistake accusing them in front of everyone.”

“But we have proof,” Avery said. “Look at the note!”

“I’m afraid this
doesn’t
prove anything,” Ms. Rodriguez said, handing the note back to Charlotte. “Lots of kids took fliers and this could be anyone’s handwriting.”

The room was quiet. Charlotte could hear the florescent light buzzing above them.

“I know that losing your dog has made the last week very tough for all of your friends, but you owe Anna and Joline an apology,” Ms. Rodriguez said.

“What?” Avery gasped.

“Accusations without solid proof are extremely dangerous. You can easily damage a person’s reputation. And it was especially unfair to make a scene in front of your classmates in the cafeteria. I expect to see a copy of your apology note on my desk by tomorrow. Do you girls understand?” Ms. Rodriguez said firmly.

“Yes,” Avery and Charlotte mumbled at the same time.

“Now, I have something for both of you. It’s a note to your parents. They need to know all about this incident and why it happened. I know Charlotte’s father is already aware of what happened this morning, but making false accusations will not be tolerated.”

“Awww!” Avery put her hand to her forehead. “My mother is going to be so mad at me.”

Charlotte just shook her head. Her dad wouldn’t be as mad as he would be disappointed. She wished she could just turn back the clock to the day of the festival. Then she’d just leave Marty home and none of this would have happened.

“Avery, you may return to class. Charlotte, please stay,” Ms. Rodriguez said.

Avery gave Charlotte a dejected look and left the room.

Ms. Rodriguez waited until the door was pulled closed tightly before she said anything. “Charlotte, what happened here? You are a journalist-in-training. Haven’t we talked about the importance of objectivity and fact-gathering?”

Charlotte didn’t know what to say, but she felt an urge to make some kind of explanation to her favorite teacher. “Ms. R, ever since Marty disappeared I just haven’t been myself. I’ve been so angry at Avery for not paying close enough attention and I acted very irresponsibly this morning. I just wish Marty would come back.” Then, without warning, Charlotte burst into tears. After a minute or two, Ms. R handed her a tissue. Charlotte sniffed a few more times and finally looked up at her teacher, whose large brown eyes were filled with sympathy.

“This has been the most awful week of my life since I came to Boston,” she whimpered.

“Charlotte, I am so sorry about your little dog. But you need to stay more focused. Going to that address without an adult was a very dangerous thing to do.”

Charlotte nodded. She could feel her cheeks turning bright red again.

“How is your piece for the paper coming?” Ms. Rodriguez changed the subject.

Charlotte was grateful to talk about something else.

“Okay.”

“Any problems?”

“None I can’t handle.”

Ms. R gave Charlotte a warm smile. “I suggest that you return to class then.”

“Thank you, Ms. Rodriguez.” Charlotte turned before she exited the room and added, “I’m sorry.” Ms. Rodriguez’s words haunted Charlotte. She was a feature writer for
The Sentinel
. She hoped that accusing Anna and Joline wouldn’t jeopardize her position on the paper. That would be too terrible for words.