Mackenzie Blue (12 page)

As Zee waited for the coast to be completely clear, she could hardly believe what she saw. With her music folder in hand, Chloe shut her locker, picked up her cello, and just walked away. She didn't put the lock back on. The locker might as well have been wide open, screaming, “Please, Zee, look inside!” Cool beans! Zee could just take the diary and save Chloe a ton of embarrassment. In fact, maybe that's
exactly
what Chloe wanted her to do. Maybe that's why she didn't lock it.

Dodging sleepy upperclassmen with hot cups of coffee and a trio of ninth graders walking and texting at the same time, Zee wove her way to Chloe's locker. Zee took a quick look to the left, then to the right. All clear! She pulled up the handle and casually popped the door open. She carefully flipped through the math, Spanish, and science textbooks on
the top shelf. No diary. Slowly Zee reached for Chloe's bag, lifted the flap, and reached in.
Ohmylanta!
Zee thought as her hand clasped a small book. The diary!
I was right!

Her heart pounding, Zee pulled the book out of the bag.

“What are you doing?” a voice behind her asked. A voice with a Southern accent.

Zee spun around. “I wanted to get
this
,” she said, holding the book for Chloe to see.

Chloe looked confused. “The novel we're reading for English?” Zee looked down. It wasn't her diary at all. “You were snooping in my locker.”

Yup. That's what Zee was doing—which made it hard to figure out what to say next. “Ummm…,” she stalled.

“Why would you do that?” Chloe asked.

Zee's shoulders slumped. “I thought maybe you took my diary.”

“Huh? You're my friend.” Chloe's twang caught on the lump that was forming in her throat.

Zee wanted to believe her, but her thoughts were all mixed up. “You were the only one in the music room when that note was written on the board.”

“I wasn't even
in
the room,” Chloe defended herself. “I didn't want to hang out all by myself, so I went to the bathroom while you checked the lost and found. I got
back right before you did.”

“What about when you went upstairs in my house before Marcus's party?” Zee asked. “Did you even go to the bathroom?”

“No,” Chloe said quietly, looking down. “I wanted to see what Adam's room looked like. When I heard you coming upstairs, I panicked. I shut his door and ran into your room.” When Chloe looked up again, Zee could see that she was blushing. “I know I shouldn't have been snooping around, but I didn't
steal
anything.” She shut her locker door, then put the lock on, making sure it was secure. “I didn't even go into his room.”

As Chloe stormed off, Zee leaned against the locker and slid down to the floor.

 

Chloe wasn't Zee's only problem. As she stepped through the door to music class, giant purple letters on the whiteboard screamed,

 

I WONDER IF LANDON WILL BE CUTER THIS YEAR THAN HE WAS LAST YEAR

—MACKENZIE BLUE

 

Zee looked at Chloe, but she couldn't read her expression. She rushed to the front of the room and, with a shaky hand, picked up an eraser and furiously removed every last piece of evidence. To her horror, she had to pass Landon to get to her seat. She gave him an apologetic half smile, but a bright shade of red had replaced his tan. He was as embarrassed as she was and couldn't even look at her.

Of course, Zee had had such a busy morning upsetting people, she'd practically forgotten all about what she, Kathi, and Jen had done to Mr. P Friday night. Until the bell rang and he came in the room. Ugh!

Mr. P tapped his baton on his desk. “Settle down, everyone!” he called over the murmurs and giggles that were still bouncing around the room. Gradually the noise died to a silence. “We're going to try something different today.”

Zee sat at attention. Something different was exactly what she needed.

“One day each week,” Mr. P continued, “I'm going to select a different student to lead the class. Once you understand how we make music as a group, you'll be stronger individual musicians.”

Marcus raised his hand and asked, “Do we get to pick the music we play? Because I have a set that I think would sound great.”

“No.” Mr. P laughed. “I'll pick the music, and I'll be right next to you to give you tips. But you'll mark the beat and help me keep the group on track.”

Kathi sighed so loudly, they must have heard it all the way in the main office. Then she leaned toward Jen. “I guess he knows his students are better teachers than he is,” she whispered so everyone could hear.

Suddenly it was clear to Zee. Kathi hadn't gone to Mr. P's concert to hear his music. She'd gone to humiliate him—and she'd used Zee to help do it. She couldn't believe she had actually fallen for the popular girl's phony-friend act. Although she didn't think it was possible, Zee felt even more awful. It was time for a new list. This one would have to be in her head.

Ways My Life Could Get Worse

• 1. Walk around with a booger hanging out of my nose.
  
• 2. Body slam the head of school on my way to second period.
  
• 3.
  

“Our first student leader will be Mackenzie Carmichael.”

Yes, that would definitely make my life worse.
Wait! Zee hadn't thought that! Someone had said it. She looked at Mr. P.
Oh no
. He was smiling right at her.

“Mackenzie, come on up here,” Mr. P suggested, gesturing toward the front of the room.

Before she got up, Zee gazed down at herself. In her worst dreams, she showed up at school wearing a bra on the outside of her blouse. Luckily she had on her shirt and vest, shortened skirt, monkey-head socks, and her new chocolate Converse All Star sneakers. What a relief!

Zee rose up out of her seat and walked to the front of the silent room. Mr. P handed Zee his baton. Zee took it and turned to the class. Now what would she do? She was too embarrassed to look at her classmates.

Evidently eye contact was an important requirement
for leading a group of musicians. Mr. P's experiment was a disaster. Landon's drums were way out of sync. Chloe kept losing focus. Jasper didn't know whether to follow Mr. P or Zee on his bass. Even perfect Kathi was off. As usual, Jen followed Kathi, and it sounded as though she was purposely hitting her wooden marimba bars off beat. Marcus followed Mr. P's downbeat on his piano, but it wasn't enough to save the group. They must have stopped and started again a hundred times, but each version was worse than the one before.

“Great job, everyone!” Mr. P announced at the end of the period.
Really?
Zee thought.
How is that even possible?
As she handed the baton back to her teacher, it didn't take long for her to figure out why Mr. P was so happy. Of course! He had chosen her to lead the group to punish her for Friday night. He was angry that she had humiliated him at the concert—especially after he had helped her out with her
Teen Sing
audition. And now he had gotten her back.

Outside in the hallway, Jasper and Chloe were standing with their heads together. Zee couldn't hear what they were talking about, but when Chloe saw her coming, she turned and went off toward English class without waiting for Zee.

Zee pasted on a smile and walked up to Jasper. “So, are you going to help me crack ‘The Case of the Missing Diary' during study hall?” she said, even though she really wanted to ask,
Are you still my friend?
Chloe must have told him what had happened.

Jasper slapped himself on the forehead. “Oh, bother! I forgot. I'm really sorry, Zee,” he apologized. “Chloe and I need to work on our science project.”

“Oh, okay,” Zee said, wondering if that was his polite British way of telling her he didn't want to be friends anymore.

Landon zipped past Zee—without saying hello or good-bye.
I guess he doesn't want my help for
Teen Sing
now,
she thought. And since Mr. P was obviously angry with her, Zee decided to go home right after school instead of practicing with him, too.

 

In study hall, Zee sat at a desk in the corner, as far away from everyone else
as was humanly possible. She pulled out a piece of paper and began writing.

“Hi, Zee,” Kathi interrupted her. Zee slipped the sheet of paper into her binder as Kathi and Jen sat down next to her.

“Hi.” Zee wanted to tell Kathi that she didn't appreciate being tricked into going to see The Crew. But at that moment, she didn't feel like having another embarrassing confrontation.

Kathi had something else on her mind anyway. She stuck her lip out to make a major pouty face. “Couldn't you just die? That note on the board was the
worst
.”

“Yeah,” Zee said weakly, not wanting to talk about it.

Jen looked over at Jasper and Chloe, who were sitting in front of a computer. Jasper was typing on the keyboard while Chloe pointed to something on the screen. “Boy, they got chummy really fast,” Jen said.

Zee pretended not to care. “They have to work on their science project together.”

“What is it about anyway?” Kathi asked.

“I don't know. They want to keep it a secret.”

“A secret?” Kathi looked stunned. “From their best friend?”

Zee shrugged. “That's okay.” No matter what she said to Kathi, though, she couldn't hide her fears from herself. Maybe they never really were friends. What if Jasper never cared about Zee and was just waiting for someone better to come along?

Then Zee realized that talking to Kathi had actually helped. “The science project!” Zee said out loud, remembering something important. She had left Jasper alone with her bag the day he came over to borrow the book. The day the diary was stolen.

“What about it?” Jen asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Zee said. But she knew it was much more than nothing. It was huge! If Jasper wasn't the friend she thought he was, maybe he was the kind of person who would steal her diary.