Who Killed the Homecoming Queen? (2 page)

Two hands, reaching out.

Reaching …

Tania let out a scream. Eva turned—and saw her friend go hurtling down the stairs.

chapter 2
 

T
ania pitched forward, her arms flailing in the air. Students cried out in alarm and leaped out of the way.

Eva made a desperate grab for Tania's sweater.

Missed.

Tania skidded down a couple of steps, her arms still swinging wildly for balance. Finally, she managed to grab on to the metal railing with one hand.

She swung out into the air, then pulled herself back, crashing hard against the wall.

“Wow. Are you okay?” someone asked. Tania nodded and tried to smile.

Eva rushed down the steps. “What happened?”

“It was my fault,” a voice behind them said.

Eva and Tania spun around.

Leslie Gates stood at the top of the stairs, gazing down at them with an anxious expression on her face. “It was my fault,” she repeated. “I slipped. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to push you, Tania.”

Maybe not, Eva thought, staring up at Leslie. But if Tania had fallen and cracked her skull or something, you wouldn't be
totally
sorry, would you, Leslie? After all, then you'd have a better chance of being Homecoming Queen.

“I'm so sorry, Tania,” Leslie repeated, pushing up the sleeve of her red sweater. “Really. Are you okay?”

Tania swept her hair out of her eyes. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Oh, good.” Leslie let out a sigh of relief. “Well, see you in the gym.” She turned and trotted down the steps.

Eva watched her as she hurried past them. Tall and athletic, with silky brown hair and a great figure, Leslie was Tania's biggest rival.

In more ways than one, Eva thought.

According to Leslie, Tania always got everything she wanted. Tania had more friends than Leslie. She was going on the senior trip to London in the spring. Leslie wasn't. Tania had her own car. Leslie drove her family's station wagon—when she got the chance.

And Tania had Sandy, the guy Leslie had drooled over for months.

Tania and Leslie used to be good friends, Eva
knew. But Leslie became too jealous and broke off the friendship. Now she barely spoke to Tania.

Eva turned to Tania. “Are you sure you're okay? You crashed into that wall really hard.”

“Did I? I didn't notice. I guess I'm too excited to notice anything.” Tania straightened her sweater and patted her hair. “How do I look?”

“Great,” Eva assured her.

“Okay. I'd better hurry and get into the gym. See you later.”

Forcing a smile to her face, Tania turned and hurried down the steps.

“Hey! Good luck!” Eva called after her.

She didn't really hear me, Eva realized. She's too crazed. Too happy.

How long can so much happiness possibly last?

As another bunch of students clattered past her down the stairway, Eva shivered. The laughter and shouts seemed far away, and the sounds of the band faded.

She felt as if a dark, chilly cloud had suddenly settled over her.

The sensation lasted for only a second. Then everything became bright and noisy again.

It wasn't one of my “feelings,” Eva told herself. I skipped lunch. I'm hungry, that's all. And excited for Tania.

Nothing's wrong.

Nothing bad is going to happen.

Taking a deep breath, Eva walked down the stairs and joined the crowd streaming into the gym.

The band sat in one section of the bleachers, still tuning up. In front of them, Shadyside's cheerleading squad practiced one of their routines, leaping and whirling and urging everyone to chant along. The wooden bleachers shook as the crowd stomped its feet in rhythm.

There was a low platform in the center of the shiny wooden floor. Jason Thompson, who had been named Homecoming King the day before, stood on the platform next to the coach.

Behind them, Tania and three other girls sat in a semicircle of chairs. All four of them were smiling nervously and waving to their friends in the stands.

But there should have been
five
girls.

Eva studied the faces on the platform. Tania. Julia Moran. Mei Kamata. Dierdre Bradley.

But not Leslie.

Where is Leslie? Eva wondered. She went down ahead of us, and now she isn't here.

She quickly scanned the crowd. Don't be stupid, she thought. Leslie wouldn't be in the stands. She's
dying
to be named Queen. She should be up on the platform, acting as if the crown is already on her head.

So why isn't she?

The strange, foreboding feeling began to creep over her again. Eva bit her lip tensely, then forced herself to smile as Tania waved to her from the platform.

Waving back, she edged her way through the
crowd and began climbing the steps into the bleachers.

As she climbed past the band section, the trumpets blared in her ears. The music grew louder, then ended abruptly.

In the sudden quiet, another sound rang out.

A single, sharp, metallic sound.

A piercing blast that echoed off the walls of the gym.

A shot! Eva thought with a cry.

A gunshot!

chapter 3
 

E
va's mouth went dry. The blood pounded in her ears.

A gun! she thought in panic. Someone fired a gun in the gym!

Terrified, Eva opened her mouth to scream again.

And stared as a boy sitting near her pulled something shiny and metallic off the floor of the bleacher.

A crushed soda can.

Eva snapped her mouth shut, feeling embarrassed.

The guy just smashed a can under his foot. I've heard that sound a million times. Why did I think it was a gun?

Because I'm jumpy, she realized. Because I've got a bad feeling about things.

Well, get over it, Eva ordered herself. So
what
if those feelings always came true before? They won't this time. Everything's fine—just look around.

A flash of red caught her eye. She turned and saw Leslie running across the gym floor, smiling and waving. The crowd clapped, and Leslie's face flushed with pleasure. She climbed onto the platform and joined the other candidates.

Eva rolled her eyes. So
that's
what Leslie was up to. Waiting to make a grand solo entrance.

Shaking her head in disgust, Eva turned and began climbing the steps again. As she did, she caught sight of Keith Hicks. Keith—a thin guy with dark, wavy hair—wore his usual color, black. Black jeans, black shirt, black cap. The only colorful things about him were the shiny gold hoop in his left ear and the piercing blue of his eyes.

Eva grinned, feeling better all of a sudden. Not because of Keith, even though she liked him okay. But because of the guy sitting next to him.

Jeremy, Tania's new stepbrother.

Tall and lanky, Jeremy leaned his elbows on his knees and stared down at the platform. His curly chestnut hair gleamed under the lights as he listened to whatever Keith was saying to him.

The space on Jeremy's other side was empty. Go
for it, Eva told herself. Get up there before somebody else does.

As the band started playing again, she trotted up the steps, then edged her way across to Keith and Jeremy. “Hey, guys,” she said, interrupting Keith in mid-sentence.

“Hey, Eva.” Keith gave her a distracted smile.

Jeremy smiled, too, and a cute dimple flashed on the right side of his mouth. But then he turned and stared straight ahead again.

Sit down, Eva told herself. Get his attention. Flirt with him a little.

Then ask him to the Homecoming Dance.

Crossing her fingers that Jeremy didn't already have a date, she slid next to him and propped her feet on her book bag. “Let me guess,” she declared. “Keith has been talking to you about movies. Right?”

It was an easy guess. Keith wanted to be a film director. He
always
talked about movies.

“Yeah,” Jeremy nodded. “But I haven't been listening much.”

“Thanks a lot,” Keith muttered.

“Give him a break, Keith,” Eva said. She leaned closer to Jeremy.

“I'm too tense to listen to anyone,” Jeremy confessed. He pointed to the platform. “I really hope Tania wins. Do you think she will?”

Eva's shoulders sagged a little. He's too busy worrying about whether Tania wins to pay any attention to me, she thought.

“I don't know,” she replied. “I hope she does, too. But she won't be upset if she doesn't. Didn't she tell you that?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, she did. But
I
still want her to win. She's my sister, you know? Well … my stepsister, but that doesn't matter. We've gotten really close since my dad and her mom got married this past summer.”

“That's great,” Eva told him.

“It really is,” he agreed. “I guess it sounds weird. But having a real family is so awesome. I never really had one before. My mother died when I was a baby. And I hardly ever saw my father because he worked all the time. He stays home more now.”

Why is he telling me all this? Eva wondered.

“Tania's really happy about it, too,” she said.

“That's one of the reasons she doesn't care about being Queen. She said so many good things have happened, it just doesn't matter.”

Keith sighed loudly. “If this were a movie, the sappy music would start playing right now.”

Eva reached behind Jeremy and jabbed Keith in the arm. “What's the matter? Don't you like happy stories?”

“They're okay,” Keith replied with a shrug. “But movies need more drama.”

“This isn't a movie,” Jeremy reminded him.

“No kidding. Anyway,” Keith went on, “let me tell you more about my video.”

“What video?” Eva asked.

“The one I'm going to make,” Keith declared. “The one that's going to get me a scholarship to film school. That's what I was talking about before.”

He gazed at Jeremy, his blue eyes bright and intense. “Hey. You know what would really make it a great video?”

Jeremy shook his head.

“If Tania would act in it,” Keith exclaimed. “She'd be perfect, right? Do you think she'd do it?”

“Man!” Jeremy laughed. “You'll do anything to get close to Tania—won't you?”

Keith's face grew dark. He raked his fingers through his black hair and licked his lips. “Yes,” he replied softly. “Anything.”

Whoa!
Eva thought. What a weird thing to say. And what a weird look in his eyes. So
what
if he has a crush on Tania? How come he's suddenly acting so strange?

“Hey, maybe I'll write in the video script that Tania dumps Sandy for me,” Keith announced.

Jeremy snickered. “Why don't you just
murder
Sandy? That's the only way you'll get Tania to notice you!”

Keith's grin grew wider, but Eva thought it looked fake. And his eyes! Why did they glitter like that?

Another chill raced up Eva's spine.

Ignore it, she told herself. It doesn't mean anything.

But the feeling didn't go away. She glanced sideways at Keith.

What is he thinking?

“Come on, everybody!” one of the cheerleaders shouted from below. “Let's hear some
real
noise!”

Eva dragged her eyes away from Keith and watched as the cheerleading squad began another routine. Everyone else clapped and cheered along, but Keith kept talking about the video he wanted to make.

“Leslie already volunteered to be in it,” he shouted above the loud chanting. “She said she'd do the lead role, like it would be a big favor.”

“Wouldn't it?” Jeremy asked.

Keith shook his head. “Leslie is desperate to be an actress. She's applying to every acting school in the country. If she's in the video, then she'll have something to show. I'd be doing
her
the favor.”

“Sounds like a good deal for both of you,” Jeremy commented. “Is Leslie any good?”