"Babysitters Club 040 Claudia And The Middle School Mystery" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

After all, the main thing was to prove my own innocence - not to Shawna, since she obviously already knew I was innocent - but to Mr. Zorzi and to the principal.
I took a few deep breaths (very quiet deep
breaths) and settled down to listen some more. I peeked, carefully, through the crack between the stall and the door. Shawna and her friends were still standing there, looking in the mirror and talking while they brushed their hair and made what they seemed to think were movie star faces. Susan Taylor pulled a tiny can of hairspray out of her purse and touched up her perfect perm.
"I wouldn't have done it unless I had to, you know," said Shawna. "I've never done it before."
"I know," said Susan. "But nobody could be expected to do everything you do and also get good grades all the time."
"I just had too much going on," said Shawna. "There was that skit I was directing for Drama Club, and that long paper for English - "
"Yeah, and then you had to help plan the Pep Rally on top of it all!" said the girl with red hair. "How were you going to find time to study for some dumb math test, too? What are you supposed to be, Supergirl or something?"
I rolled my eyes. Was I supposed to feel sorry for Shawna? I mean, give me a break.
She's the most popular girl in school! Of course she's too busy.
"I just figured it was too, too perfect when I heard Claudia telling mousy Mary Anne Spier that her genius sister, Janine, was helping her study," said Shawna.
"Yeah, everybody knows what a brain Janine is," answered Susan. "But who would ever suspect you of copying off of Claudia Kishi's paper? It was the perfect crime." She giggled.
This was too much. Not only had she copied off of me, but she'd planned the whole thing. And she sounded proud of herself.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Shawna and her friends packed up their purses and left, letting the door slam shut behind them. I let out a big sigh and walked out of my stall. Looking at myself in the mirror, I shook my head. This was unbelievable.
I flew to the cafeteria to meet my friends. I couldn't wait to tell them what I'd heard.
They were already sitting down and eating by the time I got there. I skipped the line, too excited to eat. I threw myself down at the table and said, "You'll never guess what I just heard."
I looked around the table at my friends.
Mary Anne was sitting next to Logan. They had been talking quietly together, but they looked up at me as soon as I started to speak. Dawn put down her sprouts-on-cracked-wheatberry-bread sandwich (it looked disgusting) and turned to me, too. Kristy and Stacey were all ears. (Jessi and Mallory weren't there - the sixth-graders eat during another period.)
I turned and checked over my shoulder, just to make sure that Shawna and her friends weren't standing behind me. Then I told the whole story from beginning to end.
Kristy got furious. "That. . . that dirty rotten cheater!" she sputtered.
Mary Anne felt sorry for me, I could tell. "That must have been horrible, to hear them saying those things about you," she said. "That's so mean!"
Stacey just gave me a sympathetic look. Then she smiled. "But Claud - now you have proof, right?"
"I wish," I said. "But even though I know for sure now that Shawna cheated, I still can't prove it." I bit my lip and shook my head. "If I tried to tell that to Mr. Zorzi, it would just be my word against Shawna's -and we know who he'd believe."
Logan nodded. "Claudia's right," he said. "So what do we do?" I guess Mary Anne had filled him in on the details. It was nice to know that I had one more person on my side.
Dawn hadn't said anything yet, but just then she spoke up. "So Claud has solved the mystery of who really cheated - and why. Now we have to figure out how to help Mr. Zorzi and the principal solve the same mystery." She paused for a minute, then spoke again, in a lower voice. "We could always try what I thought of the other day," she said. "You know - we could check Shawna's locker."
I noticed that she wasn't using the term "break into" anymore.
Mary Anne looked shocked. "Dawn!" she whispered, looking around the cafeteria. "Shhh! Don't talk about that here. Somebody might hear you and take you seriously."
"I am serious," said Dawn, more quietly. "I think it's our only chance."
"I don't believe you," said Mary Anne. "The whole idea is just unthinkable."
"I kind of agree with Mary Anne," said Stacey quietly. "I'd do almost anything to help you prove you're innocent, Claud." She
looked over at me. "Almost anything. But not that. That's going too far."
I had to admit that Stacey was right, kind of. But what else could we do?
"Wait a minute," said Kristy. "Do you guys want Claud to have to quit the club?"
Stacey put her hand over her mouth. "Oh!" she said. "I wasn't thinking about that."
Mary Anne frowned. "Of course we don't want to lose Claudia. But there must be a better way of keeping her in the club."
Kristy sat up straight in her chair and pounded her fist on the table. "You know what Watson would say in a case like this? He'd say, 'Desperate times call for desperate measures!' "
I looked at her. What on earth was she talking about?
She must have seen that I was confused. "It just means that some things are emergencies, and that during an emergency you have to do things you might not otherwise do," she explained.
I nodded. I agreed completely. When I looked over at Stacey, she was nodding, too.
"You're right, Kristy," she said. "I think we should do it. And I'll be glad to help, if it
means keeping Claudia in the club."
Dawn was grinning now.
Mary Anne was the only one of us who wasn't totally convinced. She still looked worried. "I think it's wrong," she said. "But if you have to do it, please be careful. Imagine what could happen if you got caught!"
Chapter 10.
I didn't want to imagine what would happen if we got caught "checking" Shawna's locker - so I just didn't think about it. Instead, I joined my friends in planning exactly how to go about doing the deed.
The five of us spent the rest of lunch period talking about it. (Logan had left by then - I don't think he wanted to be involved in our plan.)
"I happen to know that the Pep Squad has a meeting after school this afternoon - at three o'clock," I said. "Susan Taylor mentioned it when they were in the girls' room. She was worried that it would go past four o'clock and she'd miss the chance to go shopping with her mom."
"Is that all she ever does - shop and get perms?" asked Kristy.
"Seems like it," said Dawn. "Anyway, this
meeting is perfect. By three o'clock, most of the other kids in school will have left - or else they'll be involved in some activity."
"But what about the teachers?" I asked, picturing Mr. Zorzi strolling up behind me as I rummaged through Shawna's locker. "Won't they still be around?"