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

"We get kind of tired of it, too," admitted Adam. "But we've got to have a secret language for when we don't want anybody to understand us."
"Pig Latin's too common, though," said Jessi. "Lots of people know how to speak Pig Latin. Bop-u-top nop-o-bop-o-dop-yop kop-nop-o-wop-sop hop-o-wop top-o sop-pop-e-a-kop 'op-talk.' "
"Whaaaat?" asked the triplets in unison.
"That's 'op-talk,' " said Jessi.
"Teach us!" demanded Jordan.
"Yeah! Teach us!" said Adam and Byron.
"What do you say?" asked Jessi, teasing them.
"Please?" said the triplets.
Jessi sat down on the floor with the boys and told them about 'op-talk.' "It's simple," she said. "You just spell out each word, but you add 'op' after every consonant."
"What about the vowels?" asked Byron.
"You leave those alone," said Jessi. "So if you wanted to say, 'I want to go home' in 'op-
talk/ you'd just say 'I wop-a-nop-top top-o-
"Hop-o-mop-e!" yelled Adam. "I get it!"
Jordan was frowning slightly. "What about y?" he asked.
"You treat 'y' like a consonant," said Jessi.
"O-kop-a-yop!" said Jordan. "Top-hop-i-sop i-sop gop-rop-e-a-top!"
"Say my name, Jessi!" said Byron. He still wasn't getting the hang of it.
"Bop-yop-rop-o-nop!" said Jessi, Adam, and Jordan all together. Then they burst out laughing. Byron's name really sounded funny.
"Do mine!" yelled Adam.
This time Byron joined in, too. "A-dop-a-mop!" they yelled. The triplets dissolved in giggles. 'Op-talk' was a big hit.
Jessi sat back and let the triplets go at it. They were fast learners. After they'd done everybody's name, they started to plan how to best use 'op-talk' to annoy their parents. They decided to speak nothing but 'op-talk' at dinner that night, just to see what would happen.
Jessi was happy to see that the boys had forgotten, at least for awhile, how tired they were of being in the house. They'd dropped
their mean-spirited teasing. Now they were just having fun. She thought this might be a good time to bring up the subject of the broken window. Maybe she could get them to tell her which one of them had been responsible.
"So, wouldn't you guys like to be able to go outside?" she asked. "All you have to do is tell me which one of you broke that window."
The three of them sat there silently.
"Come on," said Jessi. "It's not such a big deal. Do you want to be grounded forever?"
Silence.
"Don't you want your allowances back?" she asked.
The triplets ignored her.
Jessi thought for a moment. Maybe she could trick them into exposing the guilty party. She turned to Byron, and said, very casually. "Tell me, Byron. When you threw that ball through the window - "
"I didn't!" Byron said, without thinking.
"Aha!" cried Jessi.
"I didn't, either!" said Adam and Jordan at the same time.
That was it for Jessi. She sighed in frustration and let the triplets go back to practicing
'op-talk' If they were going to be so stubborn about it, she wasn't going to try to help anymore. It wasn't her problem if they wanted to be grounded until they were ninety-two years old.
Chapter 9.
The next day seemed to drag on forever. I couldn't concentrate on what my teachers were saying; I just kept thinking about my problem and how to solve it.
Then it happened.
As I was heading for the cafeteria, I saw Shawna Riverson walking in front of me. Susan Taylor was with her, and so was another friend of theirs, this girl with wild red hair. Their heads were together, and they were talking in low voices as they walked. They were giggling, too. I followed them without really knowing why.
They started to go around the corner toward the cafeteria, but then Shawna stopped and gestured towards the girls' room. She walked into it, and the other two followed her.
I stood outside the door for about thirty seconds, trying to figure out what Nancy Drew would do if she were in my shoes. Then I slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside.
There are four stalls in that bathroom. Three of them were occupied by Shawna and her friends. Quickly, before I could change my mind, I slipped into the fourth.
The toilet next to mine flushed then, and I heard someone walk over to the sink. The water ran for a minute. Then I heard a girl say, "Shawna, I swear. You are so lucky." She was chewing gum loudly. That must be the one with the red hair, I thought.
"I know," said Shawna, who had just come out of her stall. "I still can't believe I got away with it." She giggled. "I just gave Mr. Zorzi this incredibly sincere, honest look - and he let me go!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Were they talking about what I thought they were talking about? I was suddenly terrified that they would find out I was eavesdropping on them. I held my breath and tried to get my heart to stop beating so loudly. I kept listening. This was exactly what I wanted to hear.
"And you know the best part?" asked Shawna. "I don't even have to feel bad about it. It doesn't even matter to her that she's getting an F. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, what's one more bad grade to Claudia Kishi?" asked Susan Taylor.
Oh, wow. I couldn't believe she said that! Suddenly, I was furious. How dare they talk about me that way? My face got all hot again, just like it had that day after math class. I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
I jumped up and started to open the door of my stall. I was going to give them the shock of their lives!
Then I stopped. I can't explain why - but I cooled down as quickly as I'd gotten fired up. It was as if I felt Nancy Drew herself tapping me on the shoulder and whispering in my ear. Maybe if I kept quiet, she was saying, I'd hear some more. And maybe what I heard would help me figure out what to do next. I listened to Nancy's advice.