Dead Body
Girl

Sandra, you are SO noble. Guys, the Dead Body Girl is gonna be the bait.

Tuesday

My brain slowly starts working. I'm frozen in the doorway. I'm supposed to be here -- Mrs. Andersen told me to get a top hat. The dead body is NOT supposed to be here.

I try really hard to see his chest move. No movement. His arms and legs are in an odd position. Like someone dumped a dead body on the floor. 

I should tell Mrs. Andersen! I back out of the storage room, slam the door shut, and run. I dash past Belle practicing her lines with the Beast, techies repainting a backdrop, and I dodge through some teacups and silverware doing their homework. Someone yells at me, "Watch it, Screech."

Wait! Was that just a prop?

I stop running and catch my breath. It was just a dummy! From a previous play. Of course. It had to be a dummy. I calm down and wait until my breathing is normal. It had to be a dummy.

I help Mrs. Andersen for the rest of rehearsal, then I quit being a helper.

* * *

I stop doing my homework and try to take the position of the dead body. I can't. I relax as much as I can, and that helps. But I think you have to be dead to be in that position.

I go downstairs. My parents are sitting on the couch, reading their books. "Mother, Father, what should you do if you see a dead body?"

My father's eyes light up and he sets down his book. "A very interesting question, Andrea. I'll go first. If it's in a museum, for example a mummy, you should study it. Alice?"

It's my mother's turn. "If it's in a morgue, you shouldn't touch it unless you are wearing gloves. I have read that there is a serious risk of infection from bodies that have been dead too long."

Father: "If the dead body is at a funeral, different cultures have different traditions. In some cultures, they kiss the dead body."

Mother: "In our country now, we usually just pay respects to the dead body."

My chest feels empty. I say, quietly, "Never mind," and start walking back upstairs.

Father: "I once read an article about funeral directors preparing the dead body for viewing. It's really quite an art."

Mother: "If you see a dead body on TV, you should change channels. There is too much violence on TV already."

And then I'm upstairs and I can't hear any more.

Wednesday

I'm sitting by myself on the school bus, replaying yesterday in my mind. I opened the door and saw the body. I probably shrieked. I don't know how long I was in shock. I remember every detail of that scene -- it's like a video, except he wasn't moving.

* * *

Mr. Zane is our ninth-grade math teacher. He's nice. "It's important to see the structure of numbers. That's often your first hint for solving the problem. For example, what do you think when you see the number 25? Andrea?"

I look at it. "Two is the number of moons of Mars. Five is the number of fingers on a dead hand."

He looks startled. Doesn't he know moons of Mars? I should have used ears or eyes. Stupid.

I never can guess what people will know. Sometimes they don't know facts that seem obvious. Other times they know things I can't see at all. Mr. Zane would know what to do if he found a dead body.

* * *

We're learning about the environment in science. I go up to my teacher after class. "Mr. McBride, why doesn't Greenvale have an Ecology Club?"

"I don't know if there's any interest. But that's a good idea, Andrea, Greenvale should have an Ecology Club."

If I show Mr. McBride that there's interest in an Ecology Club, maybe he'll start one.

* * *

At dinner, I tell my parents that our high school might start an Ecology Club.

Father: "What a wonderful idea."

Mother: "And a natural idea too, Samuel. Who should care more about the environment than the children? They will have to live in this world long after we are dead."

Father: "If your mother and I can do anything to support your club, please let us know. Right, Alice?"

Mother: "Of course."

Me: "How do I know if there's any interest in an Ecology club?"

Mother goes first. "You can take a poll of your fellow students. However, polls tend to be biased towards socially-favorable answers, such as expressing an interest in ecology."

Father: "Behavioral measures are always preferable. You could start a club and see how many students join."

Mother: "However, that would tend to underestimate interest. Many students might be interested but for one reason or another be unable to join."

I interrupt. "Which of those is the easiest?"

Mother: "The poll. Ask people if they are interested in an Ecology Club. Try to take an unbiased sample from your population."

I can't just go up to people and ask them questions. Doesn't she know I'm shy?

Thursday

I'm reading the notices on the bulletin board next to Principal Yancy's office, when I see

the face of the dead body

I SCREAM.

He's stalking me! Except he's just a picture. I stop screaming. He isn't stalking anyone.

He's alive in the picture. The poster says Missing Person. Wayne Jenkins. It says he is a 10th grader. That should be past tense. I start looking in my backpack for a pen.

People are standing around me in a circle and watching. I find a pen and start changing the poster. Principal Yancy comes out of his office and asks me what I'm doing, in a very firm principal's voice. "I'm changing this to past tense. Because he's dead." Do I need to explain that? "It's considered proper to use past tense for describing dead people."

Principal Yancy arches one eyebrow. "And what makes you think he's dead?"

"I saw his dead body in the Auditorium Storage Room."

Principle Yancy starts running in that direction. The kids who were watching us all run to follow him. I follow too, in the back.

We get to the door of the storage room. Principal Yancy fumbles with his keys while everyone watches. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to be letting high school students follow him and see a dead body. He hasn't thought this through very carefully.

He finally opens the door and bursts into the room. The other students rush in behind him. They all run past where the dead body was.

I look in. There's no dead body on the floor where I saw it. Everyone is searching the room for a dead body. The search isn't very organized -- everyone looks everywhere. I don't understand why someone would look for a dead body in a small drawer.

Eventually the principal realizes there is no dead body in here. "Boys and girls. What are you doing here? Return to your classes right now."

We start to go back to our classes. I feel a large hand on my shoulder. Principal Yancy says, "Not you. Come with me." He sounds angry. I'm scared. I follow him back to his office; he's walking so fast I have to run sometimes to catch up.

We walk into his office and he points to the chair facing his desk. "Sit." We sit down.

"I don't appreciate you lying to me. Do you know the story of the boy who cried wolf?"

"Yes." It's a very well-known story.

"What's your name?"

"Andrea Wellington."

"Andrea, do you want people to trust you to tell the truth?"

I shrug my shoulders. I can't imagine when that would be important.

"You can't make up stories and then expect people to believe you when you do tell the truth."

"Yes, sir." But in the story, they believed the boy the first time.

"It's okay to tell small lies that don't hurt anyone."

"It is?" I'm screeching. No one ever told me that. I thought lying was wrong.

"Everyone does it."

"I never did that."

"Andrea, do you remember when your parents told you there was a Santa Claus?"

"They never told me that. He's a fictional character." I thought everyone knew that.

"The point I'm trying to make is this. It's okay to tell small lies. But you can't lie about something like this."

"Yes, sir." Principal Yancy is telling me it's okay to lie? Is he allowed to do that?

"I think you can go back to class now. Let me be very clear, Andrea -- I don't want anything like this ever happening again."

"I promise." It won't -- I NEVER want Principal Yancy yelling at me again.

* * *

"Andrea Wellington please report to the principal's office." That's on the loudspeaker in our classroom. And every classroom. I'm embarrassed.

Everyone in my class is looking at me, making me even more embarrassed. When I stand up and start to leave, Miss Banks says, "Maybe you should take your things with you, Andrea."

Was I supposed to know that? I've never been called to the principal's office. I pack up my things with everyone still watching me, hoist my backpack onto my shoulders, and leave.

Samantha is sitting in the hallway as I pass by. She tells me, "You're in trouble, Screech. They're going to kick all the freaks out of this school."

The principal's secretary walks me over to the principal's office and opens the door. The principal isn't there -- instead, a policeman is sitting in the principal's chair. I sit across from him in the same chair I was in just an hour before. There's a large desk between us. "Hi Andrea. I'm Detective Jacobs."

His nametag says Jacobs. He's young for a policeman and he doesn't have a gun. He gives me a nice, friendly smile. That helps me be not as nervous.

Detective Jacobs: "According to Mr. Yancy, you reported seeing Wayne Jenkins in the Auditorium Storage Room."

"Yes sir."

He stands up and sits on the side of the desk. He smiles at me. "Tell me what you remember."

"I was the helper for Mrs. Anderson in the play. She sent me to the Auditorium Storage Room to look for a top hat. The Beast somehow lost his. We keep the props and equipment from previous plays in there."

He nods and smiles. "Yes, go on."

I'm babbling, he doesn't care about props. "When I got there, I opened the door like nothing was going to happen."

Detective Jacobs: "Keep going."

"Then I was staring at a dead body." I can still see the empty look on his face.

Detective Jacobs: "I see. How did you feel?"

"Shocked."

Detective Jacobs: "I imagine. Now, why did you think he was dead?"

"The arms and legs were in strange positions. Like this." I get out of my chair, lie on the floor, and show him as well as I can. "It wasn't exactly like this. But close. A real dead person could show you better." That's stupid. I stand up and go back to my chair. "And he wasn't breathing."

Detective Jacobs nods. "Was there any blood?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Was there any sign of violence?"

"Doesn't there have to be violence for a person to be dead?"

He smiles at me. "Were there any other signs of violence?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "But you were sure he was dead."

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Were there any signs of decay?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Was he warm?"

I shriek. "I didn't touch him!" Now I'm breathing really fast.

Detective Jacobs: "You just looked at him."

"Yes." I'm trying not to hyperventilate. I take slower breaths.

Detective Jacobs: "Did he move?"

"No." Dead people don't move. He should know that.

Detective Jacobs: "Then what happened?"

"I looked at him more." Every hair was perfect. He couldn't have been a dummy. Why did I convince myself he was a dummy?

I get his friendly smile again. "What happened when you were done looking at him?"

"I ran to tell Mrs. Andersen."

Detective Jacobs: "And what did Mrs. Andersen do?"

"I changed my mind and didn't tell her."

He frowns quickly, then goes back to smiling. "Why? Why did you change your mind, Andrea?"

"I decided the dead body was just a prop. From a previous play. You know, a dummy."

Detective Jacobs looks at me like he doesn't believe me. "I see. Even though you were sure you had just seen a dead body, you decided it wasn't a dead body."

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Detective Jacobs: "And then you changed your mind again later on and decided it was a dead body?"

I think about that. "No, sir. I always knew it was a dead body."

Detective Jacobs: "But you didn't tell anyone until today."

"It was too late to tell anyone." Is this one of those things I'm supposed to explain? No, he was a kid once. And I got in trouble for telling people today.

* * *

Rachel stops me in the hallway between classes. Rachel teases me more than anyone. I try to walk around her, but her friends won't let me get past. "You are so weird, Screech. Telling people you saw a dead body. You shouldn't be allowed to go to this school." She looks at me more. "When we aren't calling you Screech, we're going to call you the Dead Body Girl."

Then her friends let me past and they all call me Dead Body Girl and laugh. I should have known better than to tell anyone. She's right, I'm weird.

* * *

Bradley sits down next to me on the bus ride home. No one ever does that, I always ride the bus alone. He's a 10th grader. He's not ugly or gross, and he's never been mean to me, so worse people could be sitting next to me. He still makes me nervous.

Bradley: "Did you really see a dead body?"

He's actually talking to me. I try to talk back. "Yes."

Bradley: "That is so cool."

"Wasn't."

He thinks. "Okay, maybe it wasn't cool for you. Was it scary?"

"Yes. Very."

Bradley: "I'm sorry you had to see a dead body."

"Thank you." Bradley is nice.

Bradley: "And you got called on the PA. I heard that."

"Yes, a detective wanted to talk to me."

Bradley: "Cool! He was grilling you about the body."

"Not cool."

Bradley: "I'd like to be grilled by a detective some day."

He stops talking and we ride for a little while. Then he says, "Um, if you want, I can help you catch the killer."

"What?" Don't screech, Andrea.

Bradley: "When you find a dead body, you're supposed to try to catch the killer. I can help. I'm kind of smart. Not as smart as you, I know you get 100's on almost every test. But I'm strong and brave."

He doesn't look strong. Is there a way I'm supposed to know if he's brave? "Why would I try to catch the killer?"

Bradley: "Don't you want to prove you weren't the one who killed him?"

"I'm a ninth grade girl. No one thinks I killed him. No one even believes I saw him."

Bradley: "Oh, they'll believe you on that. They can suction the floor, pick up dead skin tissue, then do a DNA analysis."

That makes me anxious. I like it that people don't believe me, because then they don't pay attention to me. "Then everyone will think I killed him?"

Bradley: "I know you didn't."

It feels good to have him on my side. "Do you know how to tell if there's any interest in an Ecology Club?"

Bradley: "An Ecology Club. That would be so cool."

"Yeah."

Bradley: "Put up posters around school. On the poster, tell people to email you if they're interested. Do you want help?"

"Yes." I definitely need help with that.

* * *

Detective Malich: "Get anything interesting from the girl?"

Detective Jacobs. "She was strange, and things didn't add up right. I'm guessing she was making up a story to get attention. But something's bothering me about that."

Detective Malich: "Or she really saw a dead body, decided not to tell anyone, then decided to out herself with the whole school watching. Yeah right. And what happened to the dead body? He had to get up during the night to take a piss?"

Detective Jacobs: "I guess you're right. Should I still order a lab test of the floor for DNA samples?"

Detective Malich: "And what did I tell you is the first rule of being a detective?"

Detective Jacobs: "Cover my ass. I'll order the test. If the chief doesn't want to pay for it, that's his problem."

* * *

Bradley emails me a possible poster. It's really good, but there are errors. I fix some grammar and email it back to him. He changes his mind on a few things, then I remember something we forgot to say. Finally we agree on a poster.

Friday

Bradley isn't on the bus in the morning.

* * *

During lunch, a boy sits next to me at my table, even though no one ever sits with me. He makes me really nervous."Hey, you must be Andrea. I'm Kyle. Cute sweater, I like it."

"Thanks." I think I'm blushing.

Kyle: "Are you just bullshitting everyone, or did you really see a dead body?"

"Really saw." Why do I have to get so nervous?

Kyle: "Well, if you want help catching the killer, let me know. I can be your muscle."

He looks really strong. I think he's a 12th grader. "Are you interested in an Ecology Club?"

Kyle: "What's that?"

"It would try to help save the environment. That's really important."

Kyle: "Nah, not my thing. What do you say? Do you want help catching the killer?"

"Are you brave?"

Kyle: "The bravest."

"I'm not trying to catch him yet. But when I do, sure."

Kyle: "Great. I'm your guy. Well, see ya' around."

He leaves. I hope Kyle isn't disappointed when he finds out I'm not looking for the killer.

* * *

"Next week, we'll be dissecting dead frogs. If you have a signed note from a parent or legal guardian, you will be excused from this assignment. But I strongly recommend that you participate. You will be tested on this, whether you participate or not. Furthermore, this will be a good learning experience. For you, not the frog." The class laughs nervously. "Yes Andrea?"

"I can't dissect a dead frog, Mr. McBride." I cannot stand to look at another dead body. Even if it's a frog. I'll spend the whole time thinking of the dead boy I saw.

Mr. McBride: "I'm sorry to hear that, Andrea. As I said, bring in a signed note from one of your parents."

"I can't imagine them doing that." My parents love all things science.

Mr. McBride: "Then you'll have to dissect a dead frog. It won't be as bad as you think."

"Will there be any live frogs we can dissect instead?"

 Some people in the class go, "Eww."

Hannah: "She's the Dead Body Girl, Mr. McBride."

Mr. McBride: "Hannah, that's not a nice thing to call her."

Hannah shrugs. "That's not my fault, Mr. McBride."

It hurts me to be called that name. But I don't like being called Screech either. Why do people make up cruel names?

* * *

I print up copies of the poster and give some to Bradley. I put the posters in places where there is no Missing Person sign.

* * *

Bradley sits next to me again on the bus ride home. We don't have much to say. He tells me some things that happened to him today. He can be funny. I really like it when he talks to me.

WEEK 2

Monday

Bradley isn't on the morning bus again. I guess he doesn't take the morning bus.

* * *

On the bus ride home, I tell Bradley that four people emailed me to say they were interested in the Ecology Club. I'm discouraged. He says four is good. He must be an optimist. We talk a little about the poster.

* * *

"Andrea! What in the world are you doing?"

"Hi Mrs. Starring. Look how the limbs of this squirrel fall into different positions when you just drop it different ways. See how the head is turning now? That's very unnatural. I don't think a live squirrel could do that."

Mrs. Starring: "You're playing with a dead squirrel, Andrea."

"I know. I think it just died." I pick up the squirrel and drop it again. I look. The left paw would never take that position if the squirrel was alive. I try to hold my left hand in that position.

Mrs. Starring: "Leave it alone, Andrea. Right now!"

"Yes Mrs. Starring." I put it back in the street where I found it and walk home.

Tuesday

After class, I wait and talk to Mr. McBride. I explain that six people are interested in an Ecology Club. Is that enough interest to start a club?

Mr. McBride: "Oh gosh, Andrea. It's nice that you're finding a little interest. But . . ." He looks embarrassed. "I don't really have time to supervise a club. It's not really my main interest, and they don't pay us for that. But mostly I'm really busy. I'm sorry I can't help you."

I'm heartsick.

* * *

On the bus ride home, I tell Bradley that Mr. McBride isn't going to sponsor an Ecology Club, so we can't have one. But he says he'll ask his science teacher. So I go back to having hope.

I tried to tell Bradley something about my day. But I told him about a test, and then it just sounded like bragging, and he looked uncomfortable. I don't know how to be funny. So I mostly listen to him. When he's done, we don't have anything more to talk about. I wish we did.

* * *

Bradley emails me an idea for a new poster. This one is in color. I email back a change saying how important an Ecology Club is. He adds some changes about how interesting it will be.

My father agrees to make copies at work, because the school doesn't let us make color copies. My father is really happy to help. He asks if the Ecology Club needs any money. "Father, there isn't even a club yet."

"You're in it, right? It only takes one person to make a revolution."

Mother: "I thought it was one person to have an idea, two to make a movement, and three to make a revolution."

Father: "Well, you get the point, Andrea. One person can be a voice for change and make a difference."

I'm not a person who makes a difference. He should know that. 

Wednesday

At lunch, another boy volunteers to help me catch the killer. He's the fourth one now, including Bradley. It must be a boy thing.

* * *

Bradley still sits next to me on the bus ride home. His science teacher wouldn't sponsor the Ecology Club either. Bradley says we're going to ask as many science teachers as we have to, until we find a sponsor. I agree. This is new for me, to keep trying.

We sit in silence for a while, then I say, "When I saw the dead body, I went to tell Mrs. Andersen. Then I convinced myself it was just a dummy from a previous play. But I really knew it was a dead body."

Bradley just nods.

I keep talking. "That made the detective suspicious. I think that's one reason he didn't believe me."

"Yeah, it's their job to be suspicious. It's called a hole, you had a hole in your story. But I believe you, Andrea."

I like that he believed me.

* * *

Why did I bring up the detective again? We were done with that conversation, and it isn't something I like to talk about. I just knew Bradley would be interested.

I wait until there is a free moment in the dinner conversation. "Mother, Father, why would I tell a boy something, just to keep him interested in talking to me?"

When I hear what I just said, I flush really badly. "Never mind."

The both have a big happy-parents smile. Father: "That was a lob pitch."

Mother: "No problem hitting that one out of the park."

Thursday

Detective Jacobs: "There's a DNA match on the Jenkins kid. His DNA was on the floor where the girl said she saw him. Maybe the girl was really telling the truth."

Detective Malich: "That just means Jenkins was that room at some time. You can find his DNA all over the school. No dead body, no murder. He still probably ran off."

Detective Jacobs: "Yeah, but's a locked room. You're probably right, but I think I need to talk to the girl again."

Detective Malich: "Don't be soft on her. Do you want me to come along?"

Detective Jacobs: "She was pretty frightened the first time. I think I better talk to her myself."

* * *

I give half of the posters to Bradley. We put them up.

Someone should take down the Missing Person signs. They are showing signs of decay.

* * *

Miss Banks is explaining irony to us. "Miss Banks, isn't irony a lie?"

"Technically yes, Andrea. But the reader knows it isn't true."

She's explaining exaggeration, which is also a lie, when we are interrupted by the PA: "Andrea Wellington please report to the principal's office."

I pack up my things, hoist my backpack onto my shoulders, and leave. It feels good to know what to do.

Mrs. Simonsen, she's the principal's secretary, sends me into the principal's office. The only person there is Detective Jacobs, sitting in the principal's chair. He smiles at me, and I sit in my chair on the other side of the desk.

Detective Jacobs: "Hi Andrea. It's so good to talk to you again. Why don't we start out by you telling me what you remember seeing from the other day in the Auditorium Storage Room."

I spend three minutes describing Wayne Jenkins. Detective Jacobs takes notes.

Detective Jacobs: "And you aren't making any of that up?"

"No, sir." Am I allowed to make things up? I thought I had to tell the truth.

He stands up and walks around the room, sometimes sitting on the side of the desk, and he asks me more questions. "Did you know Wayne Jenkins?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Did you know any of his friends?"

I don't know who his friends were. Was I supposed to find out his friends on Facebook so I could answer questions about them? "I don't know."

Detective Jacobs: "But you thought about it before answering me."

"Because I don't know who his friends were."

Detective Jacobs: "Do you ever get teased or bullied?"

"I get teased a lot. It isn't bullying. They aren't allowed to bully in school any more." He should know that.

Detective Jacobs: "Did Wayne or any of his friends ever tease or bully you?"

I just shrug. If I don't know who is friends are, how am I supposed to know?

Detective Jacobs: "Did you ever have any thoughts of revenge against people who tease you?"

"I used to hope that someday they would get teased. Then they would learn how I feel. But that isn't nice."

Detective Jacobs: "I agree. But still, did you ever want to harm them in any way?"

"No. Why would I want that?"

Detective Jacobs: "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Did you ever date Wayne Jenkins?"

I am tying to imagine how I could date someone and not know who they were. That sounds like a TV soap opera. "We had an affair one weekend in Moscow."

Detective Jacobs: "When were you in Moscow?"

"That was supposed to be irony, Detective Jacobs. We were learning about that today in English. I'm sorry. I've never been to Moscow. I've never had an affair. I'm a 9th grader, I've never even been on date."

Detective Jacobs: "Where have you traveled outside the United States?"

I'm really sorry I tried irony. "London, Paris, Naples, most of the cities in Europe with a good museum."

Detective Jacobs: "Including Moscow?"

Moscow doesn't have a good museum. Doesn't everyone know that? "I've never been to Moscow. I've been to St. Petersburg, of course."

Detective Jacobs: "And that's in Russia, correct?"

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Did you see Wayne Jenkins in St. Petersburg?"

"Detective Jacobs, St. Petersburg is a large city. I saw thousands of people. I can't remember them all. Can I go to the bathroom?"

Detective Jacobs: "I suppose we're done here. Thank you for your cooperation."

* * *

Bradley still sits next to me on the bus. Neither one of us found an advisor for the Ecology Club. I admire how Bradley is going to keep trying. I give up.

We ride for a while, then I say, casually, "I have news on the murder front."

Bradley's interested. "Yeah?"

"I was grilled again by the detective today."

Bradley: "Oh wow. Yeah, I heard your name called on the PA and wondered about that. Why did he grill you?"

"He suspected me of killing Wayne Jenkins."

He's interested. "They always suspect the person who finds the body." He adds, "They must be believing you now about seeing him. I bet they got the DNA results."

We ride for a while. What else can I tell him? "And I told a lie."

His eyes get big. "You did? To the detective?"

"I told him that Wayne Jenkins and I had an affair in Moscow."

His eyes get big. "You had an affair?"

"Of course not. It was irony. How could the detective believe that? It just came out of me. I never lied before."

Bradley: "You must lie sometimes. Everyone does."

"I didn't. Until today."

He smiles. "Welcome to the world of liars."

I don't know if I want to belong the world of liars. But I don't like living in a world by myself either.

* * *

At dinner I say, "Santa Claus is real."

My father's eyes twinkle. "Yes, of course."

My mother adds, "Wherever there is love and kindness and giving, the spirit of Santa Claus is alive."

I hate lying. It makes me anxious, and it's too complicated. I don't even see the point of doing it. I'm just going to live in my own world.

* * *

I read on the internet for what to do when you are questioned by the police. But it's mostly advice for criminals, not ninth-graders.

Then I read about words detectives use, in case I ever again talk to Bradley about it.

Friday

I go up to Miss Banks after class. "Miss Banks. I can't do the assignment to use irony and exaggeration. Because they're lies."

She thinks about it. "And you don't like lying. I guess that's fair, Andrea. I'll find another assignment for you."

"Thank you."

Miss Banks: "How's your Ecology Club coming? I saw the posters. That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Me: "It's not doing very good. Nine students are interested. But no one will be the advisor."

Miss Banks: "Let me think."

I wait patiently.

"I can sponsor your club. If you find someone better than me, I understand. I know I'm just an English teacher."

I shriek with delight. Then I don't know what to say. "Thank you. Thank you very much Miss Banks."

* * *

Mrs. McVeigh: "What was that scream?"

Miss Banks: "Some 9th-grade over-enthusiasm. I just volunteered to be the advisor for their Ecology Club."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Are you sure you want to do that? No one looks at that much when you are evaluated for tenure to see if you keep your job."

Miss Banks: "I've heard. But you have to admit, it's strange that our school doesn't have an Ecology Club."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Probably because being the advisor doesn't pay anything and doesn't count for anything. How much do you know about ecology?"

Miss Banks: "I'm not a science person. I hope that doesn't become too much of a problem."

Mrs. McVeigh: "I think you're right about the school needing a club like that. If you need a warm body, let me know. A ninth-grader is trying to start a club?"

Miss Banks: "Andrea Wellington. She's an excellent student and a very sweet girl."

Mrs. McVeigh: "The Dead Body Girl?"

Miss Banks. "That's her."

* * *

Bradley is excited that we found a sponsor. He asks me what the Ecology Club actually does. I don't know, except that we try to save the environment. He says that's cool.

* * *

I wake up from a nightmare. I was walking down the hallway after school. Someone threw a coin at me and hit me in the back of my head. I tried not to cry. I didn't turn around. He shouted, "Pick it up, Screech." I kept walking. I heard him running behind me, so I started running. But he caught me and turned me around. He spit in my face.

I tried to get away, but he was holding me too hard. I screeched, "Let me go." But he didn't. Then the janitor appeared. "Let her go, boy." The boy ran away.

His face was Wayne Jenkins. Now I remember that really happening two years ago. I tried to forget that, it's a really painful memory.

WEEK 3

Monday

After class, Miss Banks tells me that our meetings will be after school on Thursday. I'm supposed to inform everyone who told me they were interested. Miss Banks asks me what an Ecology Club actually does. I tell her I'll find out.

* * *

On the bus ride home, I tell Bradley, "The Ecology Club Meetings are on Thursday after school. Starting this week."

Bradley: "I'll make up posters saying that. We can interest more people if they know we really have a club."

* * *

I take out my house key. I turn the key and open our front door. I take one step into our house

and SCREAM.

a  dead body

in our front hallway. The side of his head is bloody, and parts of his head are gone.

When my mind comes back to me, I'm running to the library. I try to study there, but all I can think about is the dead body. I remember everything about it. He was mostly bald, with long strands of black hair over his bald spot. He wasn't breathing. It was horrible.

My parents call me when they get home, then my father comes and picks me up. I walk into the house holding his hand, even though I haven't done that in years. I'm not surprised that the body is gone -- in my experience, dead bodies usually disappear. There's a spot of blood on the rug. So his brain leaked blood onto our rug.

I carefully step over the blood spot. It's disturbing to walk on a rug that had a dead body on it.

What do you do when you see a dead body? Study it, don't touch it unless you have gloves on, add it to your collection of dead bodies you have found. I wonder if I can get my name in the newspaper for finding two dead bodies. But I'm not telling anyone -- I learned my lesson on that.

* * *

At dinner, my Mother asks, "Why were you at the library today, Andrea?"

Me: "Why would a student go to the library instead of going home?"

Father: "The student could be working on a paper and need to use resources at the library."

Mother: "The student could be interested in the social aspects of being at the library."

Father: "Perhaps the reason is something about physical comfort, such as the library being warmer."

Mother: "Would a student go to the library to do research? Let's rethink that first answer, Samuel. With the widespread availability of the internet, the library might be outdated."

Father: "The student might be required to use books as references. Also, the encyclopedias in the library would be more reliable than information from the internet."

Mother: "The library might be closer than home."

Father: "Or perhaps it is farther and the student wants exercise."

* * *

It bothers me that there was a dead body in our house.

I look on the internet and copy a list of things an Ecology Club can do.

Tuesday

Mr. McBride's classroom door is closed. I'm too scared to open the door. I don't know why -- but I can't. I wait for another student to come and open the door, then I scurry inside.

* * *

On the bus ride home, I show my list to Bradley. Conduct an audit of the plants and animals found on the school yard. Make birdhouses and nesting boxes to place on school grounds. Build a compost pile, using grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps. There's 12 suggestions.

Bradley: "Interesting."

"Which one do you like best?"

"I don't know. Maybe the one about building a nature trail with signposts and information."

I've seen Bradley when he's interested. He doesn't look interested now, even though he said he was. That would have confused me before, but I've learned about small lies. "Is there anything you want to do that's not on the list?"

He thinks. "I don't know. These are fine."

I know where to get more ideas.

* * *

I stand motionless on my front porch. I'm terrified to open the door.

I force myself to put the key in the lock. I force myself to turn the key. But I can't open the door. I panic and start running to the library.

I stop. I, responsible latchkey kid, go back and remove the key from the door. But I'm not opening the door. I walk calmly to the library. After a few minutes of waiting in the cold at the library door for someone else to open it, someone comes out of the library and I can go in.

I see his picture in one of the newspapers in the library. The man from my hallway. It's a shock. I have the feeling he's following me. But it makes sense -- dead people get their picture in the newspaper. I don't read the article, it's none of my business. And I don't want to.

* * *

"Mother, Father, what would be interesting things for an Ecology Club to do?"

Father: "Alice, you can go first."

Mother: "There is an anti-fracking demonstration in the capital a week from Saturday. You could go to that. Fracking needs more regulation."

Father: "And raise awareness about the chemicals used in fracking. That would be useful."

Mother: "The voice of concerned youth could carry some weight on that issue."

Father: "You could raise money to support Greenpeace."

Mother: "What about looking for endangered species in the land they are planning to use for the new mall? We really do not need another mall."

Father: "I've been saving this idea for last. Bud Bowy at the university has wanted to chemically analyze the Reeding River for years. But he doesn't have the manpower. You could collect water samples for him."

* * *

I'm petrified to call Bradley on the phone. I would almost rather find another dead body. But I won't know if he's telling the truth if I email him.

"Hello."

"Hello, this is Andrea Wellington, from Greenvale High School. Could I please speak to Bradley?"

"Yeah." It sounds like his older sister. I hear her shouting, "Bradley, some girl on the phone for you."

Bradley: "Hello?"

I read what I have written down. "Hi Bradley. This is Andrea Wellington. Could I tell you some additional ideas for the Ecology Club and hear your opinions?"

Bradley: "Sure."

He doesn't know what fracking is, so I have to explain it. He says that sounds interesting, but he's just being nice. He says he doesn't want to raise money for Greenpeace. He doesn't even tell a small lie about that idea.

"Looking for endangered species in the land they're going to use for the new mall."

Bradley: "Cool. If we found an endangered species, we could shut down the whole mall." He's telling the truth about being interested!

"It is hard to find an endangered species. Just so you know."

"It would still be fun to look. And you never know, I bet we could find one."

Then I tell him about collecting water samples.

Bradley: "That one's even better. I want to do that one."

"Thanks. Good-bye." Now I don't feel anxious about not having any ideas that interests Bradley. 

I liked talking to him on the phone, even though I was really nervous.

I take some of the ideas from my first list, plus the ones from my parents, and make a new list. I email it to Bradley and he says it's good.

* * *

"Mother, Father, how do you say good-bye in a phone conversation?"

Mother: "Arrivederci."

Father: "Ciao."

Mother: "Au revoir, mon ami."

Father: "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

Mother: "Happy trails, to you . . ." She starts singing, and my father joins in.

I wait until they are finished singing, then I interrupt. "Yes, but suppose you are talking to someone and you don't have anything more to say. Then do you just say good-bye?" Or arrivederci or sing them a song, but I will probably just say good-bye.

Mother: "I don't believe I have ever read anything on that topic."

Father: "Interesting question Andrea. I don't know the answer! Alice, I think our daughter is growing up. Good question, Andrea, I'm proud of you."

Mother: "You could try a search for transitions in phone conversations."

* * *

The internet says, "Smile, state that you enjoyed the conversation, and say goodbye." Smiling doesn't make sense -- this advice must be for face-to-face conversations. I feel more confident knowing this. I can learn to be normal, it just takes time.

Wednesday

Bradley and I are on the bus riding home. I have to tell someone or I will go crazy. "Can I tell you something gross?"

Bradley gets a big smile on his face. "Sure."

"I found another dead body."

His smile disappears. "Another one?" He doesn't believe me.

"Yeah, two. I know, that gives me serious credibility issues."

Bradley: "You're right on that. Where did you find the dead body?"

"In my house. I opened the door and it was right there in our hallway." I can still see his chest not moving.

"Did anyone else see the body?"

"No. It disappeared."

Bradley: "So it's going to be hard to get people to believe you. Did you tell the police?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Um, you're supposed to tell the police when you find a dead body."

"My parents didn't tell me that. Will the police believe me?"

He thinks. "Pretty unlikely without a body to back up your story."

"And then they will grill me."

Bradley: "For sure. And don't expect them to believe you about anything. Did you tell your parents?"

"No. You're the only one I'm telling." He smiles at that. "There's still a small blood stain on the rug."

"Cool. Can I see it?"

"Not cool. Of course you can see it. Do you want to see it now?"

Bradley: "Definitely." He looks at me. Then he smiles. "You wouldn't lie."

I hold up two fingers.

Bradley: "You lied twice?"

"My Moscow affair with Wayne Jenkins. Then I told my parents that Santa Claus was real."

Bradley: "Whoa, you are wicked." We get the giggles.

We get off the bus together and walk to my house. I tell him everything I can remember about the dead body. When we get to my house, I give him my house key and let him open the door.

I'm disappointed about how small the blood spot is. It seemed so big and scary when I first saw it. Now, it could be just a little spot of mud.

Bradley's disappointed too. He kneels down and examines it. He sniffs it, but it has to be too dry to smell by now. It's not very good evidence. He takes a picture with his cell phone. When we look at the picture, we can hardly even see the spot.

"If you want, you could cut off a piece of the rug. There must be a way to test if it's blood." I want to make this more interesting for him.

"Yeah, I could probably find out how to do that. But won't your parents be upset if I cut off some their rug?"

I shrug. "If it's for learning something, my parents are always happy." I get him some scissors, and he cuts away some of the hairs of the rug where the blood is.

"I'll get you a plastic bag." Detectives put their evidence in plastic bags.

"Thanks." He puts the rug hairs in the plastic bag, seals it up, and puts it in his pocket. Now he can be a detective. He looks happy.

Bradley leaves and I go upstairs. My bedroom door is closed. I go downstairs and study until my parents get home. Then I ask my father to open my bedroom door.

Thursday

I remember not to close my bedroom door before going to school.

* * *

I can't really concentrate all day in school. The Ecology Club meets today after school, and I keep thinking about that. Probably no one will come except Bradley, Miss Banks, and me. But at least we'll have an Ecology Club. I'm excited.

* * *

Twelve students are at the Ecology Club meeting -- eight girls including me and four boys including Bradley! Miss Banks greets everyone and starts explaining what the club is. Then she starts presenting ideas from the list I made.

When they get to the idea of a compost pile, one girl starts talking about a lot of other things the school could do to save energy and be nicer to the environment.

Then we have a vote on which project to do. Helping the school go green gets the most votes. Bradley voted for collecting water samples, so I did too. Another boy also voted for that, but that wasn't enough to win.

The go-green girl raises her hand. "Miss Banks, why can't we do more than one project? According to my notes, if we do the green school project, the anti-fracking demonstration, and collecting water samples, there would be something for everyone here."

The guy who voted for water samples says, "I can find other people to help with the water sample project."

Back to the go-green girl: "So we'll encourage more participation if we have three different projects."

Then we wait for Miss Banks. She says, "That would be a lot for this club to do, and we shouldn't overextend ourselves. Plus we are just starting. But it's up to you. Let's vote."

Everyone votes for the idea of doing three projects. Roberta, that's the name of the go-green girl, is head of the Go Green Project. Matthew, that's the guy who said he could find more people to collect water samples, is head of that project. And a girl named Cynthia is in charge of the anti-fracking demonstration.

I volunteer to help with collecting water samples and anti-fracking. When I say I want to be on anti-fracking, Bradley joins that one too.

Then we elect officers. Roberta is unanimous for President, and Matthew is Vice-President. No one wants to be Secretary-Treasure, so I raise my hand for that.

And then we are done, except I should get everyone's email address and what projects they are on. I tell that to Bradley, and he tells it to the club, so there's a signup. The signup sheets have cell phone numbers on it, including Bradley's.

As people leave, Matthew stops to talk to me. "Can you find out how I'm supposed to contact Dr. Bowy?"

"Sure."

Cynthia also talks to me. "We need to get going on the Anti-Fracking demonstration. Send an email to everyone who signed up as interested and ask if their parents can drive."

"Okay."

Bradley asks Cynthia, "Did you want me to make a poster? We could put it up to see if anyone else from the school wants to go to the demonstration."

She smiles at him and touches his arm. "That would be great, Bradley. Thanks. We should work on that tonight. Call me." She tells him her cell phone number.

I hope Cynthia is an eleventh- or twelfth-grader and too old for Bradley. She's really cute.

* * *

We're on the late bus together. Bradley says, "It was blood."

"I know."

Bradley: "I would need fancy equipment to tell if it was human blood. But it was definitely blood."

"He was human."

Bradley: "Do you know what this means?"

"Dead body in my house." I can still see his mouth hanging open as he lay on the floor with his bloody smashed-in skull.

Bradley: "There's more. The dead body was for you."

I SCREAM. The whole bus looks at us. I try not to hyperventilate. "For me? Like a present?" I'm screeching.

Bradley: "Or a message or something. You were supposed to find it."

"Like a homework assignment?"

Bradley: "Yeah, like someone's giving you a really gruesome homework assignment."

"I'm not doing it."

We sit for a while, then Bradley asks, "Did you ever see him before?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

Bradley: "Well, do you remember seeing him?"

"No."

Bradley: "Then you can answer the first question no."

I'm grateful to Bradley for explaining that. He's really nice to me.

Then I try to touch Bradley's arm, but I can't do it.

I go straight to the library after school, I know I can't open our door.

* * *

I'm so excited about the Ecology Club. I send out the email to everyone who signed up as being interested in the anti-fracking demonstration.

Bradley doesn't answer. Maybe he's too busy.

I look up Cynthia on the internet. She's a 10th grader, the same grade as Bradley. That gives me a sick feeling about why Bradley is busy. He usually answers my emails.

Friday

I help Bradley put up the posters he made for the Anti-Fracking Demonstration. They give some information about what fracking is. But fracking is hard to explain, so the posters are kind of confusing.

* * *

Mrs. McVeigh: "How was Ecology Club?"

Miss Banks: "Except for the fact that I don't know anything about science, or Ecology Clubs, or for that matter even how to start a club, it was good."

Mrs. McVeigh: "You have to fill out a form. The counseling center has them. It was good?"

Miss Banks: "Twelve students were there. I wasn't expecting that many."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Twelve is good."

Miss Banks: "They have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It was enough to make me proud of our students here. Roberta Friend is in the club. What a fireball!"

Mrs. McVeigh: "Maybe you hit on something."

Miss Banks: "Are you still interested in coming? Our next meeting is next Thursday. I think I need all the help I can get."

Mrs. McVeigh: "It depends on my schedule. Will a history teacher help?"

Miss Banks smiles. "As much as an English teacher. Do you know anything about fracking?"

Mrs. McVeigh: "What's fracking?"

Miss Banks: "I think something to do with oil and shale."

Mrs. McVeigh: "What is shale exactly?"

Miss Banks. "Some kind of stone, right? I have a few days to find out."

Mrs. McVeigh: "And that's the project for the Ecology Club?"

Miss Banks: "Just one of them. We have three."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Three? That's too many. You are so deep in trouble."

Miss Banks: "You got that right."

* * *

On the bus ride home, Bradley says, "Andrea, I think you have to tell the police about the body you found in your house."

"I do?" I hate myself when I screech.

Bradley: "Yeah. Maybe the body wasn't dead when you saw it. Maybe someone killed it somewhere else. But someone put it in your house for you to see."

"I saw it. So I did what I was supposed to do. Why do I have to call the police?"

Bradley: "That's not going to be the end of it."

"Will you tell the police for me?"

He smiles. "Sure!"

I couldn't have called them.

He gets off the bus with me and we walk to my house. I wish I could think of things to talk about. I give him the key and he opens the door. Then we go into my house and Bradley calls from our house phone.

Bradley: "Hello. I would like to report the discovery of a body." He listens. "Bradley Jankowski." He listens. "1237 Lochmore St." That's my address. He listens some more. "Okay."

Bradley ends the call and turns to me. "We have to wait here. The police are coming."

There's a boy in my living room. Do we just sit here? "Did you want something to eat?"

Bradley: "Sure."

My mother left a plate of carrot and celery sticks for me. Does Bradley eat healthy? We don't have a lot of junk food, just some potato chips and an old can of coke. I put the coke in a glass with ice, the potato chips in a bowl, and bring it out to Bradley with the carrot and celery sticks.

He eats the potato chips and drinks the coke. I try to eat a carrot stick, but I'm too nervous. Then a police car with a siren pulls up in front of our house. They turn off their siren but leave their rotating lights on. I'm so embarrassed. Two policemen run to our porch and starting knocking loudly on our door. Bradley opens it.

Policeman: "Where's the body?"

Bradley: "It's gone."

Policeman: "You said you found a body."

Bradley: "It's gone now. She found it three days ago." He points at me.

Everyone looks at me. I hold up four fingers.

Bradley: "Four days ago."

Another police car pulls up. It's Detective Jacobs and another policeman. The policeman who got here first explains everything to the policeman with Detective Jacobs. They thought we found the dead body just now. Except we never said that. Detective Jacobs tells the regular police that they can go.

Detective Jacobs: "Hi Andrea. This is quite the coincidence. You remember me, right? I'm Detective Jacobs. Can we come in?"

"Yes."

They walk in and sit on the couch; Bradley and I sit on chairs. Detective Jacobs says, "This is my partner, Detective Malich. Are you Bradley Jankowski?"

Bradley "Yes Sir."

Detective Jacobs: "And Bradley, you found a body four days ago?"

"Me."

Detective Jacobs: "You found the body, Andrea?"

"Yes sir."

Detective Jacobs: "Why am I not surprised? Detective Malich, I think you've heard of Andrea."

Detective Malich: "She's the girl who claimed to have found a dead body at the school?"

Detective Jacobs: "Yes."

He shakes his head. "This is such a waste of time."

Detective Jacobs turns to me and smiles. "Do you mind if we talk about this a little? We want to hear what you have to say."

"Okay."

Detective Jacobs: "Great. To start, why don't you just tell me what happened."

"Do I get to hear my Miranda Rights?"

He winces. I probably asked a dumb question. "You're not being charged with anything, Andrea, and we don't suspect you of anything. We just want to hear what you have to say. You called us, remember?"

Bradley nods at me that it's okay to talk.

"I came home from school on the bus. I walked up to my door. I got my key out the backpack." He doesn't care about that. "I unlocked the door and turned the key." I act out that part. "Then I opened the door." I act that out. "And then I saw the dead body."

Detective Jacobs: "Can you describe the dead body?"

I take about 3 minutes describing everything about him. I lie on the floor and show him the position of the dead body and the vacant look on his face. I can still see both dead bodies perfectly in my mind.

Detective Jacobs: "How did you know he was dead?"

I think. "I just thought he was dead."

Bradley: "Why would a live person be lying in her hallway?"

Detective Malich: "Why would a dead person be lying in her hallway?"

Detective Jacobs turns to Bradley. "Bradley, could you do us a favor and let Andrea answer the questions? We need to hear what she has to say." He turns to me. "How did you feel when you saw the body?"

"I don't remember."

Detective Jacobs: "Did you scream or anything?"

"I probably shrieked. I'm not a good screamer."

Bradley: "You're a good screamer too."

"So maybe I screamed."

Detective Jacobs: "Then what happened?"

"I stared for a while."

Detective Jacobs: "And after you were done staring?"

"I went to the library to study. I studied there until my parents called, then they came and picked me up."

Detective Jacobs: "What did your parents do when they saw the body?"

"It disappeared before they got home."

Detective Jacobs: "What makes you think that?"

I just shrug my shoulders.

Bradley: "They would have called the police if they found it. So it must have been gone when they got home."

Me: "They would have called the police if they found a body in their hallway."

Both detectives give Bradley a dirty look. Detective Jacobs says, "Mr. Jankowski, could you please wait in the kitchen while we finishing asking Andrea our questions?" Bradley scowls and then goes into the kitchen.

Things are a lot scarier now. There are two detectives, and Detective Malich doesn't like me and he has a gun. Detective Jacobs returns to grilling me. "This happened after school on Monday?"

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "And why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Quit now. Talking."

Detective Jacobs gives me a big smile, but it doesn't help, I'm still scared. "You're helping out a lot. We really appreciate you doing this for us. Just a few more questions and we'll be done. Did you tell anyone that you found this body?"

"Can't."

Detective Jacobs: "You can't tell anyone?"

"Can't answer more questions." This is too frightening.

Detective Jacobs: "Would it help if Bradley came back?"

I nod my head yes.

Detective Jacobs shouts, "Bradley, could you please come back and join us?"

Detective Malich: "Jesus Christ, Jacobs."

Bradley comes back and sits down again. Detective Jacobs asks, "Did you tell anyone you found a body?"

"I told Bradley."

Detective Jacobs: "When did you tell him?"

"Wednesday."

Detective Jacobs: "I see. Why did you tell him?"

"I was going crazy not telling anyone."

Detective Jacobs: "Of course. Now, why didn't you tell your parents or the police?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to tell the police. Bradley told me that today."

Detective Jacobs: "And this is Friday."

"Yes sir."

Detective Jacobs: "So you are telling us about the body on Friday."

"Yes sir." I turn to Bradley. "Why is he asking me what day it is?"

Bradley: "They want to know why you didn't tell them until Friday."

"Oh." I turn back to Detective Jacobs. "Detective Jacobs, if you find a dead body, you can tell people, because you know what to do. You don't have to feel anxious about doing the wrong thing. And when the police come to grill you, they're just your friends. You can joke around and have a good time. When you're a 9th grade girl, it's completely different."

Detective Jacobs: "I understand."

Detective Malich: "You understand? This is all such a crock of shit, Jacobs. Why are you putting up with this?" He turns to me. He's not smiling and he sounds angry. "Lying to us is a crime. Do you know what a crime is? That means we can put you in jail. Just tell us the truth. There was no dead body, no live body, no body at all. This is just a story you're making up to get attention. Right?"

I start to cry. Everyone waits for me to stop. Bradley says, "I think you can ask them to leave and then they have to leave."

Detective Jacobs: "We have just a few more questions. I'm sorry my partner disturbed you. He just gets that way sometimes. He had a hard day and he has hemorrhoids."

Me: "Please go."

Detective Jacobs: "Are you sure? It doesn't really help anyone now if we leave. Can I ask just one more question?"

I shake my head no.

They look at each other, then stand up. Detective Jacobs: "Thank you for answering some of our questions."

Detective Malich: "Yeah. If you ever do find a dead body, call us before it disappears."

My parents didn't tell me that. "Can I leave town? We have an anti-fracking demonstration at the capital a week from Saturday. It's for the Ecology Club."

Detective Jacobs smiles at me. "You can leave town. We don't suspect you of anything." 

"I enjoyed talking to you. Good-bye." They leave.

Bradley: "That was so cool. I mean, I know it wasn't cool for you. But thanks for letting me be here and watch."

"Now do you see why I didn't want to tell the police?"

Bradley: "Totally. I still think you had to, though. They did good cop/bad cop. That was so cool to see."

After Bradley leaves, I put the carrots and celery back in the refrigerator. He ate the junk food. So I did something right. That's new for me.

* * *

Detective Malich: "That story was the biggest piece of bull I ever heard. I told you we were wasting our time. Did you really have to make up that part about hemorrhoids?"

Detective Jacobs: "Creative genius at work."

Detective Malich: "I owe you one, Jacobs. And you should have left the boy in the kitchen."

Detective Jacobs: "Funny, I was thinking I sent the wrong boy to the kitchen."

Detective Malich: "The description she gave, that fit the Burson suicide from Monday. Did you notice that? She saw him in the paper on Tuesday and made up that story."

Detective Jacobs: "If what she said was true, maybe that wasn't a suicide."

Detective Malich: "If what she said was true, I'm the Pope. Gimme a break, Jacobs."

Detective Jacobs: "I know, her story is impossible. Should I ask for a DNA testing of the hallway anyway?"

Detective Malich: "Depends. You can if you want to look like an idiot."

* * *

At dinner Mother says, "I had a strange experience today, Samuel. A detective from the Greenvale Police Department called me. He said Andrea had reported seeing a dead body in our house last Monday. He thought she actually had not seen anything."

Father: "That is most strange. I can't even guess at an explanation. Andrea, would you like to try?"

"Mother, Father, what are the different ways of using a toothpick?"

Father: "I'll start with the obvious -- to pick your teeth. Alice?"

Mother: "We can answer that later, Samuel. Andrea, can you explain why I received that call?"

"I reported seeing a dead body in our house."

Mother: "And why did you do that?"

"Bradley told me I should."

Mother: "And if Bradley told you to jump off a cliff, would you do that?"

"We don't have any cliffs in Greenvale."

Father: "She has a valid point, Alice."

Mother: "It was a rhetorical question, Samuel. Andrea, why did you tell the police you saw a dead body in our house?"

"Because I really saw a dead body in our house."

My mother's eyes get big and just stare forward, her mouth falls open, and she stops moving. She's just staring at nothing. But I can see her breathing. I like it when I can see people breath.

Father: "Good answer, Andrea. It was simple, but simple answers are often the best." My mother is still sitting motionless. She looks like I do when I find a dead body.

Me: "I'm not hungry any more. May I be excused?"

Father: "Of course." I pick up my plate and silverware, take them to the kitchen, and put them in the dishwasher. I hear my father, "Alice? Alice, are you okay?" I don't think she's okay.

I'm walking upstairs when my father asks, "Andrea, can you come help me?"

I walk back downstairs and take my place again at the dinner table. My father says to me, "I don't know what to do."

I try to think what Bradley did when we were talking to the police. "Maybe you could try to help her and protect her."

He stands up and goes behind my Mother and puts his hands on her shoulders. "I'm here, Alice. What can I do to help?"

She puts her hand on his, but she's still staring straight ahead. "Know more."

"She wants to know more, Father. Should I tell her more?"

Father: "Please, Andrea."

"I came home on Monday. There was a body in the hallway. It looked like a dead body. So I went to the library. It was gone when I came home."

Mother: "Hold me, Samuel. There was a dead body in our house."

My father puts his arms around her. "We don't know that, Alice. The policeman believes that nothing happened."

Mother: "Andrea is usually right."

Father: "You have a valid point, Alice."

It's nice that they believe me. It feels so lonely when people don't believe me.

Father: "I'm sure the police will find whoever did this."

Mother: "That's a good answer. Thank you, Samuel."

I like that answer too. My father is really good at thinking of answers.

* * *

I look up on the internet what 10th grade boys like to eat. But all the web pages are about healthy eating. I don't think that helps me.

Saturday

Mother: "I read that the police do not find the killer in more than 60% of the murders."

Father: "That's interesting, Alice. TV shows probably give us an unrealistic expectation of how often killers are identified."

I try to signal my father that he should try to help Mother. He sees me and adds, "And we don't know that the body in our hallway was a murder victim."

Mother: "The failure rate is 73% for serious crimes not involving murder."

Father: "Yes, but those statistics would include urban crime. In small cities like Greenvale, the police are much more likely to find the guilty person."

Mother: "Do you really think so?"

Father: "I'm sure of it."

Me: "Would you like Father to find out the statistics for Greenvale?"

Father: "I'll find that out."

Mother: "Thank you, Samuel."

WEEK 4

Monday

Detective Jacobs: "Did you read the autopsy report for the Burson suicide?"

Detective Malich: "No, I didn't. But we found him with a gun by his side and a bullet hole in his temple. I'm just a dumb cop, but I'm gonna guess he died of a gunshot wound to the head. What did the coroner say?"

Detective Jacobs: "He agreed. However, when someone shoots himself in the temple, the bullet usually travels slightly backwards from the point of entry. Here, the bullet traveled slightly forwards. That's a slightly unusual way to hold the gun and kill yourself."

Detective Malich: "I'm hearing a lot of slightly's. Jacobs, the coroner always finds something unusual. That's his job. It never means anything."

Detective Jacobs: "I know. But it makes me wonder about the suicide. Burson's business was doing badly. But there was no indication he had given up."

Detective Malich: "Maybe it's just my way of looking at the world, but to me suicide seems like giving up."

Detective Jacobs: "And we found his body in the woods. Who commits suicide in the woods? Why didn't he just kill himself in the comfort of his home?"

Detective Malich: "Maybe he didn't want his wife or kids finding the body."

Detective Jacobs: "Yeah. Still, I'm getting a funny feeling about this."

Detective Malich: "And how many times have I told you? A good detective follows his gut."

Detective Jacobs: "So I should look into this more."

Detective Malich: "Do you want any help?"

* * *

Rebecca Valfont walks into class in front of me. She stops in the doorway, and turns to me, so I have to stop. She sticks her tongue out at me and then shuts the door on me. I have to wait until another student comes to class and opens the door. Then I hurry into the classroom and take my seat. I don't understand why people are mean.

* * *

Bradley says to me on the bus, "We never told the police about the blood stain."

"Do we have to tell them?"

Bradley: "We're supposed to. Or else it's called concealing evidence."

"They won't believe me."

Bradley: "Right. But they can't prosecute you as long as we tell them."

"I don't want to be put in the slammer."

Bradley: "If they DNA test the blood stain, then they'll believe you."

"Is it my turn to call?"

Bradley: "I'll call for you."

"Thanks."

We get to my house. Bradley opens the door. I fix him another coke and a bowl of Fritos and pretzels. My mother and I picked those out at the grocery store this weekend -- she didn't know what he would like either.

When I bring out the food, Bradley starts eating and then calls. "Hello, this is Bradley Jankowski. Could I please speak to Detective Jacobs?"

He waits a little, then says "Can I leave a message?" Another small wait. "During the grilling of Andrea Wellington last Friday, we didn't tell Detective Jacobs that a spot of blood from the victim is on the rug. We want to confess that now. Thank you."

He turns to me. "Done. Is the spot of blood still there?"

We go look. It's not there.

Bradley: "Where did the spot go? Did your mother clean the rug?"

"Bradley, this is a different rug. She must have gotten a new rug."

Bradley: "Why did she change rugs now?"

"Because it had a dead body on it. She didn't deal with that information very well. It caused psychological trauma."

Bradley: "You decided to tell your parents?"

"Detective Jacobs ratted me out."

Bradley: "Yeah, you're a minor, they had to tell your parents. Couldn't you lie your way out of it?"

I just shake my head no.

Bradley: "Right, you don't lie. I forgot that."

"What about the piece of the rug you took?"

Bradley: "I threw that out."

* * *

According to behavioral measures, he likes Fritos more than pretzels.

Tuesday

Guidance Counselor: "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Wellington. The reason I asked you here is that Andrea seems to have developed a fear of opening doors by herself."

Mrs. Wellington: "I have read that females are twice as likely as males to develop a phobia."

Guidance Counselor: "That's interesting. And useful to know. Thank you for that information. Anyway, if I may go on, her fear creates problems for her at school."

Mrs. Wellington: "It's quite natural to suffer emotional distress when confronted with the source of a phobia. Is Andrea required to open doors in school?"

Guidance Counselor: "We don't formally require it, but it would be very useful if she could. We thought you might have some insight into what's causing her difficulty."

Mrs. Wellington: "Usually, the feared object or situation has been associated with a unfavorable outcome. For example, perhaps she opened a door and hit her head. There is also vicarious fear acquisition and informational fear acquisition, but those aren't as common."

Guidance Counselor: "Well, we'd like to try to help her."

Mrs. Wellington: "I once read an article on that from Mayo Clinic. I can email it to you if you would like. There are several different treatment modalities. Prognosis is reasonably good, though many people cannot be helped."

* * *

According to the internet, there is no name for a fear of opening doors. One girl got this fear from opening a door and finding her friend dead. So I feel more normal.

Wednesday

"Andrea Wellington to the principal's office."

I collect my things, pack them into my backpack, and leave. When I get to the principal's office, I wave to Mrs. Simonsen and walk into the principal's office. It's Detective Jacobs again. I'm not surprised.

Detective Jacobs: "Hi Andrea. How are you doing?"

"Good."

He smiles. "I guess you know why I'm here."

I shake my head no.

Detective Jacobs: "You reported that there was a spot of blood on your hallway rug."

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "You didn't tell us about that when we talked on Friday."

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "But you called with that information on Monday."

"Yes."

"Why did you call on Monday?"

"That's when Bradley said we had to. Or else we would be concealing evidence."

Detective Jacobs: "He's right. Bradley Jankowski?"

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Is he your boyfriend?"

I feel myself flushing. "No. But we're friends."

Detective Jacobs: "I talked to your mother yesterday. She said she threw out that rug on Saturday."

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Do you know why she threw out that rug?"

"The dead body news was psychologically traumatic to her."

Detective Jacobs: "Yes, well, I'm wondering why you didn't mention that the blood spot was gone when you called on Monday."

"Didn't know."

Detective Jacobs: "You didn't know she had thrown out the rug?"

"Right."

Detective Jacobs: "Things have a way of disappearing around you."

"Do."

"You can relax, Andrea. Calm down. I just wanted to talk with you about this. Let me give you the number for the police station. If you think of anything else we should know, you can call us right away."

"I enjoyed talking to you. Good-bye."

I leave. On my way back to class, I hear "Bradley Jankowski to the principal's office." He's going to be so thrilled.

* * *

Today is our first day to collect water samples. Bradley and I are in a car with a 12th-grader named Marshall. We're in charge of going North; Matthew, Robin, and two of Matthew's friends are going South. Marshall stops at the first bridge. "Let's take a sample here."

I explain, "This isn't where Dr. Bowy said he wanted a sample from." His instruction said to take samples every mile.

Marshall: "He's crazy if he thinks we're taking samples from the locations he said. They're too hard to get to -- it would take us all afternoon just to get two. This is good enough."

Marshall waits in the car while Bradley and I climb down to the river to do the sampling. Bradley takes the sample, and I write down where it's from and when we took it. The first sample is from the surface of the river. The second one is supposed to be 6 feet deep. Bradley: "I can't take a sample that deep."

Me: "What are we going to do?"

Bradley: "I guess I'll roll up my sleeve and get as deep as I can."

No one is doing what Dr. Bowy told us to do. That makes me anxious.

We stop at the other places where it's easy to get to the river by driving. While we are driving, Marshall wants to hear all about our grilling by the detective. So Bradley and I tell about that.

When we have taken six samples and run out of time, we drive back to the school and meet up with Matthew. They give all the samples to me, so I can give them to my father, who will give them to Dr. Bowy. Then Marshall takes us home.

* * *

Detective Jacobs: "The girl said she didn't know her mother threw out the rug."

Detective Malich: "Well, let's start believing her now, even though she hasn't yet told the truth. Jacobs, if the girl said the sky was blue, I wouldn't believe her."

Detective Jacobs: "Her boyfriend backed her up."

Detective Malich: "So what? You still got no evidence. You're supposed to be DNA testing a possible blood spot, not spending all day finding out exactly when and why some small rug went missing."

* * *

I wake up from a nightmare. In it, I'm in 6th grade and at a birthday party. We're sitting around the table and the birthday girl's mother serves me some cake. I'm excited to get it and I must have screeched, because the birthday girl says, "Stop screeching all the time, Andrea. We should just call you Screech. Mom, why did you make me invite her?"

And then she calls me Screech for the rest of the party. And the other girls start calling me that too. Her mother and father are at the table, and they just let everyone tease me even though they're adults. Finally I start crying and leave the party.

I remember that really happening. I tried to forget. It was Rachel Burson's birthday party. Her father was the dead body in my house.

Thursday

As I'm riding the bus into school in the morning, I imagine walking into the Ecology Club meeting and no one is there. Everyone else quit, even Miss Banks and Bradley. It's like another bad nightmare. I wish Bradley took the morning bus.

* * *

Fourteen students are at our Ecology Club meeting. Plus, Cynthia says that Robin couldn't make it, and Matthew explains that a few of his friends are helping with the Water Sample Project but they couldn't come. So we're getting great attendance. I'm relieved and really happy.

Matthew goes first. He describes what we did. Someone wants to know if we have any results, but Matthew says that takes time.

Cynthia goes next. She reminds people that the demonstration is in two days. I'm so excited I can hardly sit still in my seat. She encourages more people to come.

Roberta points out that not many students actually understand anything about fracking. Cynthia says she explained it, people just didn't read the posters carefully. Roberta says it needs to be explained better.

Miss Banks interrupts their argument. "This is a problem we environmentalists often face. Scientific issues can be very difficult to explain. We just have to keep trying out best."

My parents make it look so easy to understand things.

"Cynthia, you did a wonderful job of collecting and organizing information, in a very short time too. It would be A+ work on any school essay. But maybe we should brainstorm how to put up information in a way that it might sink in to students. That's an art of writing too."

 I love the sound of 'we environmentalists'.

Then Roberta talks about their project. They're evaluating the different ways the school could go green. Building a compost pile using leftover potato peels isn't practical, because all the school food comes from cans and packages. But recycling would be important, because the school lunch room has a huge amount of waste.

Miss Banks: "How are you getting this information, Roberta? It sounds excellent."

Roberta: "The kitchen people are letting us watch what happens in the kitchen."

Miss Banks: "That a great idea, Roberta. Remember to make friends with them too, they might be the ones who have to help implement whatever plan you decide on."

* * *

On the ride home on the late bus, Bradley is still talking about getting grilled yesterday. Maybe it's a boy thing to like getting grilled. But no one thought he killed anyone.

He says he's now a mini-celebrity at school. So I must be one too. Not everyone calls me the Dead Body Girl, but everyone knows that's me. I wish no one knew who I was and they left me alone. I look plain, I dress plain, I wish I just faded away and no one noticed me.

Friday

"Andrea Wellington to the principal's office."

I pack up my things, hoist my backpack onto my back, and leave class.

The principal's secretary just points to his office. "You know the way."

I'm surprised to find the principal in his office. When he sees me, he stands up. "Follow me." He sounds angry, making me very anxious.

I follow him. He walks really fast when he's angry, so again I have to run sometimes to keep up. Eventually we get to Assistant Principal Johanson standing next to my locker. There's a bad smell in the hallway here. Principal Yancy says in a firm voice, "Andrea, why does your locker smell?"

"I don't know. I didn't know it smelled." My parents could think of ten reasons why my locker smells. I wish they were here. It's hard for me to think of any reasons with the principal and assistant principal staring at me.

Principal Yancy: "Could you please open your locker for us?"

"I don't open doors." I try not to hyperventilate.

"Did you say no?" He sounds really angry.

"I can't open doors. It's too scary. I'm sorry."

Principal Yancy: "What do you do when you want to get into your locker?"

"I don't go to my locker any more." There's no reason to go to my locker if I'm afraid to open the door. Do I have to explain that?

Principal Yancy: "When's the last time you went to your locker?"

"Ten days ago."

Assistant Principal Johanson: "She probably left her lunch in there."

Principal Yancy: "What could you possibly be afraid of, Andrea?"

"Finding a dead body."

Principal Yancy: "There's no dead body in your locker."

Assistant Principal Johanson: "From the smell, there could be."

There could be? A dead body in my locker?

Principal Yancy: "Andrea, stop screaming! There's no dead body in your locker."

I stop screaming. "Mr. Johanson said there could be a dead body in there."

Principal Yancy: "He was joking." Mr. Johanson shrugs.

Principal Yancy: "What's your combination?"

I say my combination. The assistant principal opens my lock. I close my eyes as he opens the door. The smell gets really bad. He quickly shuts it.

Principal Yancy: "What's in there?"

Assistant Principal Johanson: "A dead cat."

What? I pull out my phone.

Principal Yancy: "Andrea, stop screaming. Who are you calling? Can you please stop screaming? You can't use your cell phone in school during school hours. In God's name, STOP SCREAMING. Everyone in the whole school can hear you."

I stop screaming. The police have answered the phone. "Could you please tell Detective Jacobs I found another body? It's a dead cat in my locker. I can't use my phone now. I enjoyed talking to you. Good-bye."

I explain to the principal: "When you find a dead body, you're supposed to call the police before the dead body disappears."

Mr. Johanson says to Principal Yancy, "I don't think this dead body is disappearing by itself. I'll get the janitor." He walks off.

Principal Yancy: "Follow me." He walks slower now, so I can keep up without running. We go back to his office and I sit in my chair. He doesn't look happy with me. "I would appreciate it if you let me call the police first."

"Yes sir. I'm very sorry. Detective Malich, he's the detective who didn't believe that I found a second dead body, said I should call before the body disappeared."

Principal Yancy: "He meant a human body."

"I didn't know that." I hate how I don't know things. Why don't people explain things?

Principal Yancy: "The police aren't interested in a dead cat. You told the police you found a second dead body?"

"Yes."

Principal Yancy: "Andrea, I warned you about this. The police aren't going to believe anything you say."

His secretary quickly opens the door and puts her head in the office. "A Detective Jacobs just called. He said not to touch anything and keep everyone away from that locker. It's very important. He'll be here in 8 minutes."

Principal Yancy starts running back to my locker and I follow. But we're too late -- the janitor took the cat away. We try to chase down the janitor, but he already put the cat in the incinerator. When Detective Jacobs gets here, he's very unhappy about that.

Detective Jacobs gives me his own cell phone number.

* * *

Detective Jacobs: "The girl found another body."

Detective Malich: "So she says. One dead body -- unlikely. Two dead bodies -- impossible. Three dead bodies -- she needs psychiatric help."

Detective Jacobs: "The assistant principal and janitor saw it too."

Detective Malich: "Holy shit! A real dead body?"

Detective Jacobs smiles. "A dead cat."

Detective Malich: "Don't jerk me around like that, Jacobs. Where did they find it?"

Detective Jacobs: "In the girl's locker. The locker was smelling pretty bad, so they asked her to open it."

Detective Malich: "Gimme a break. She put the cat in her own locker."

Detective Jacobs: "I don't think she would do that."

Detective Malich: "Combination locks, right?"

Detective Jacobs: "Right."

Detective Malich: "So we can eliminate everyone who doesn't have the combination. That leaves. . . whaddaya know? The girl! Don't be an idiot Jacobs, she put a dead cat in her own locker."

Detective Jacobs: "Why would anyone do that?"

Detective Malich: "She's crazy, Jacobs. Crazy people do crazy things. Trust me. It's a law of nature."

Detective Jacobs: "I dunno. I feel like something's going on."

Detective Malich: "Or Greenvale has a crazy psychopathic serial killer leaving dead bodies for some random ninth-grade girl to find. Now he's escalated his violence to cats. Next he'll be leaving dead flies for her."

Detective Jacobs: "Heh, that's a good one. But I'm going to keep looking into it."

Detective Malich: "Do your thing, Jacobs -- make the world safe for the cats and flies of Greenvale."

Saturday

We have three full cars going to the  Anti-Fracking Demonstration. That's really good. Cynthia assigned us to cars. I'm with my parents, and Bradley is with Miss Banks. Cynthia is in that car too, with Bradley. I don't feel good about that.

When we get there, Bradley comes and stands by me in the group. Most of the day, Cynthia stands with us. She talks to Bradley a lot, probably because I can't think of anything to say to Bradley.

We hold our signs and march. Then we listen to some speakers and cheer. It's so great to feel comfortable in a crowd -- we are all marching for the same good purpose.

Cynthia is interviewed by a TV person after the demonstration. She seems so grownup when she talks. She does a great job of saying why we don't want fracking unless there is strong regulation. They talk to Miss Banks too.

Then we get to see them on the news at night. A TV star who was at the demonstration was also interviewed on the news. I ask my parents why she was in the news. "Shouldn't they have interviewed some scientists?"

Father: "I believe that would have been more appropriate."

Mother: "One study found that celebrities are more influential than scientists, even though you would expect the opposite. Perhaps that is why the TV station interviewed a celebrity."

WEEK 5

Monday

Mrs. McVeigh: "Hey, is something the matter? You look like your dog got run over by a car."

Miss Banks: "I was called to the principal's office. Yancy didn't like seeing me on the news."

Mrs. McVeigh: "You were on the news?"

Miss Banks: "WACZ interviewed Cynthia and me at the Anti-Fracking Demonstration. We made the late night news."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Congratulations. I suppose cute/young/female didn't hurt on their choice to interview Cynthia."

Miss Banks: "Or that I'm Afro-American."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Yeah, they hit the jackpot on that news story. But why didn't Yancy like that? It's great publicity for the school."

Miss Banks: "He thought the school shouldn't be sponsoring political activities."

Mrs. McVeigh: "It was your own time. Did he actually give you a bus to use? Or some money for expenses?"

Miss Banks: "Yancy? Of course not. But it was an activity of the Ecology Club. Or, as Yancy calls it, the Greenvale High School Ecology Club. Then he wanted to know if we were planning anything else."

Mrs. McVeigh: "And?"

Miss Banks. "He said we couldn't do the water sample project. His exact words were, 'What if you find pollution?'"

Mrs. McVeigh: "What? That's the point. What if there is pollution? He doesn't want to know about it?"

Miss Banks: "That was just the warm up. He went ballistic when he learned about the Go Green project. He said I had to close down the Ecology Club."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Sounds like you don't want to do that."

Miss Banks: "For the young adults of tomorrow, it's so very important to teach the use of parallel form in sentence construction. We shouldn't be distracted by superficial concerns such as having a healthy environment to live in."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Sarcasm."

Miss Banks: "A+."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Get tenure. You have two more years until that happens. Then they can't fire you and you have a lot more freedom."

* * *

Because of the dead cat in my locker, everyone calls me the Dead Body Girl now. Mostly they are being mean. Like, they'll call me that, then shut the door so I can't get into my classroom or the lunchroom. My day is really frustrating, but I cry only once.

* * *

There are two boys sitting at my lunch table. I look around for another place to sit, but all of the other tables already have people in them. So I ask if it's okay if I sit down. I'm going to sit at the opposite end of the table, so I don't see why I would bother them, except people usually yell at me if I try to sit at their table.

They aren't annoyed, they actually want to hear about the cat and the other dead bodies. So they come sit next to me. Then three other boys join them, including Kyle. So I have to start over with telling my stories. They're like Bradley -- anything about detectives and dead bodies is really interesting.

* * *

Matthew: "Okay, guys. I heard from Dr. Bowy. He said, and I'm not shittin' you, that we did a good job, he's really excited, and this could be important. How cool is that? These are our new assignments for today. He turns to Marshall. "You still get North."

I look at our map. The Bellamy State Forest runs for four miles along the Reeding River. The road curves away from the river, so last week we didn't get any samples from that there. Now Dr. Bowy wants four samples from there, one every mile.

While we are driving there, Marshall asks, "Did the police think you killed the cat?"

Me: "What?"

Marshall: "Whoa, no screeching in the car. They always suspect the person who finds the body."

Bradley: "She didn't kill the cat."

Marshall: "Way too obvious on that. But detectives suspect everyone. Who else knew your lock combination?"

Me: "No one."

Marshall. "Then you're their only suspect."

He parks on a stretch of road that is surrounded by just trees. Bradley gets let out. Then Marshall drives farther and lets me out. I have to walk through the woods to get to the river. I take my own samples. Then I have to walk back. Eventually I get to the road and see the car.

By the time we're done, it's time to go back. So we only took two samples and Dr. Bowy wanted four. That makes me anxious.

Tuesday

Miss Banks: "You're welcome to come to the Ecology Club meeting on Thursday."

Mrs. McVeigh: "It's on? Yancy changed his mind?"

Miss Banks: "It turns out he can't force me to close the club, he can only threaten me. I'm tired of saying yes to everyone and always doing what I'm supposed to. Helen, I found something I care about."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Sounds like you're growing some backbone."

Miss Banks "I wish. What really happened was I imagined telling the Wellington girl that she couldn't have her club. I couldn't face her and do that. I just couldn't."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Yancy can make sure you don't get tenure. You need his recommendation."

Miss Banks: "Maybe he'll change his mind. Maybe he'll move to a different school district before I go up for tenure."

Mrs. McVeigh: "I'm hearing a lot of maybe's. You shouldn't be risking your teaching career on maybe's."

Miss Banks. "I know. But I feel like I'm doing the right thing."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Then you are."

* * *

I have trouble finding my lunch table at first, because a bunch of boys decided to sit at my table. I go to eat in the hallway, because there are no empty tables in the lunchroom, but they call me over and say I should sit with them. They make room for me and I do.

They are in the middle of an argument about what name to call themselves. They decide on the Great Detectives Club. Then they start to argue about how to catch the killer.

They decide to find out all the people who have missing cats in the last month. I end up forgetting to eat my lunch. I'm definitely a mini-celebrity -- they wanted me at their table even though all I did was listen. They were even talking to me instead of ignoring me.

* * *

I look up on the internet how to talk with someone and eat at the same time. I find webpages saying why people can't talk and eat at the same time. But no one else in the lunchroom has any problems.

Wednesday

Alisyn is waiting at the door of my English class. When she sees me coming, she goes into the class and shuts the door behind her, so I can't get in the classroom. I used to that by now, but it still hurts my feelings, plus I can't get into the classroom until someone else comes.

So I'm standing outside the door as Kyle is walking by. He comes over, even though he isn't in my class, and opens the door for me. "They're jerks, Andrea. Don't let 'em bother you." He shouts into the classroom, "Hey, show some respect for the Dead Body Girl." Then he gives me a smile and walks off.

Thursday

I'm confident that at least some people will be at the Ecology Club Meeting. That feels so good.

* * *

Miss Bank's classroom is full. We have 15 students here. But nine teachers are here too. I don't know why teachers are here. They make me nervous.

Cynthia goes first and describes our participation at the Anti-Fracking Demonstration. When she's done, the teachers start clapping, so everyone claps.

Then we get a report from Matthew. According to him, we found a way to get a lot of samples the first day. That wasn't why our car did what we did, but he's right, we got a lot of samples. Then he describes how Dr. Bowy was really happy with what they did. This week we collected more samples.

Then he gets applause too.

Roberta has a list of nine things the school could do to go greener. The teachers start participating for that topic. They explain which ones would cost too much money. And they point out a few that wouldn't need Principal Yancy's approval. But I'm sure he will approve them, they're all good projects.

When they're done with that discussion, Camique raises her hand. "What do people think of the slogan, Put the Green Back into Greenvale?"

Robin: "Yeah. If you think about it, name one thing this school does to help the environment."

Cynthia: "That's just not right. The school is supposed to be a good example for the students." Everyone agrees.

Roberta: "Great idea for a slogan, Camique."

Miss Banks: "Do people like that idea?" Everyone nods in agreement. "Let's try it out then."

Friday

Mrs. McVeigh: "You look happy."

Miss Banks: "I had a really nice surprise yesterday and I'm still on my happiness cloud. What was with all the teachers coming to our club meeting?"

Mrs. McVeigh: "A rare display of teacher solidarity, plus I suspect some genuine interest in the environment. Throw in a pinch of teachers tired of Yancy."

Miss Banks: "I assume you're behind that. Thanks, I really appreciated that."

Mrs. McVeigh: "You're welcome. But that one girl was dead-on with her comment that our high school doesn't do one thing to support the environment. It's really the wrong message to be sending to the students. She hit a nerve with a lot of teachers. Phillip Leland has been ranting about that all day."

Miss Banks: "Math Department."

Mrs. McVeigh: "I guess he's an environmentalist. Who knew? Anyway, here's what you're going to do. No arguing. Go to counseling and get the form you turned in to start the club. Cross off your name as sponsor and put in Jaime Guiterez."

Miss Banks "Head of the Science Department."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Bingo. There's a line for other sponsors. Put yourself on that line. I have a list of 11 other sponsors to put on that line. It's still your club, we're not stepping on your toes or stealing your thunder. We're just protecting you. If Yancy wants to complain about the club, he can talk to Guiterez. And she'll bite his head off."

Miss Banks: "You can steal my thunder all you want. I'm just an English teacher."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Sayeth the woman who found something she was willing to stand up for. You're doing great, don't mess with success."

* * *

The boys at lunch ask me if I've found any more dead people or animals. They're disappointed that I haven't. They're disappointed again that I haven't been grilled recently. I hate disappointing them.

They ask if anyone is still teasing me. One boy shut a door on me today. They ask me his name and say they'll talk to him. I don't see how that will do any good -- I used to ask people to stop teasing me but they never did.

Then I get to hear about missing cats. In my neighborhood, no one lost a cat in the last month. Two students at Greenvale lost cats in the last month. They show me pictures to see if the missing cats were in my locker, but I never saw the cat in my locker. "You have to ask Assistant Principle Johanson or the janitor."

Raj asks, "Did anyone check if Wayne Jenkins or Rachel Burson lost a cat? Rachel hasn't been in school since her father died."

No one checked that. So they discuss who's going to do that. Then they think of other things they can do. They decide to try to search the dump for the missing rug.

Then their meeting is over. I forgot again to eat my lunch, so I gobble down as much as I can before running to science.

I go up to Miss Banks after class. "Miss Banks, you said William in our book was putting his best face forward. What did you mean by that?"

"Well, sometimes you have a choice of how to present yourself. You can choose the presentation that's most favorable to you. It's used extensively in public relations."

"And that's not a lie?"

"No, you're still telling the truth."

"But you aren't being as honest as if you present yourself both ways."

"That's true, Andrea. I guess it isn't completely open. But it still isn't a lie."

"If I think of one way of presenting myself, do I have to say it? Or can I try to think of a better one?"

"You can try to think of a better one. Why are you asking me all this, Andrea?"

"I want to know the rules."

WEEK 6

Monday

Dr. Bowy just wants two samples of mud from the same place as last week.

Like last week, Marshall drops off Bradley at the first location and me at the second. Then I have to walk through the woods. When I get to the river, I take off my coat, roll up my sleeve, reach out as far as I can, then fill up the test tube with mud. I wash off my hand in the cold river. Then I start walking back.

CRACK

A bullet ricochets off of the tree right above me. Someone is shooting at me. I'm petrified.

CRACK

Marshall: "She's taking even longer than normal."

Bradley: "Yeah. Should I call her?"

Marshall: "Yep."

Bradley calls. "No answer."

They sit for a while.

Marshall: "She's taking too long."

Bradley: "Do you think she's okay?"

Marshall: "Call again."

Bradley calls. "Still no answer."

Marshall: "Maybe she slipped in the snow or something. She's a girl. I guess you better go check."

* * *

"Andrea, are you okay?" It's Bradley, running towards me. "Why are you just standing here in the middle of the woods?"

"Shot at."

"Someone shot at you? Are you sure?"

"Yes. There was a really loud gun sound. It scared me to death. Then I heard a bullet hit that tree branch." I point.

Bradley looks. "Right here?" He is pointing to a place where the bark looks ripped and is a lighter color.

"I guess. Bradley, I was almost killed."

"Yeah, but you weren't. You're not even hurt. Just a little shook up."

"I could have been the dead body for someone else to find."

"Don't think that way, Andrea."

I can't help it.

He uses a rock to scrape the bark, marking the tree with a big X. All I can do is stand there and watch and shiver. Then he takes a picture of the tree and a picture of where the bullet hit.

When he's done, he puts his arm around me because I'm cold and helps me walk back to the car. I get warm and happy.

* * *

I wait for a break in the dinner conversation, then I ask, "Are there different types of lies?"

Father: "There's the selfish lie. Someone tells you something wrong, they know it's wrong, and they hope to deceive you for their own selfish interests. That is what most people think of when they hear the word 'lie'."

Mother: "If we include other things that aren't really the truth, we have irony, exaggeration, sarcasm, and understatement."

I interrupt. "I know those. We learned them in English."

Mother: "Good for you, Andrea."

Father: "You can go again Alice, Andrea knew those."

Mother: "The white lie."

"What?" I screeched, but my parents look like they didn't notice. There's still more types of lies?

Mother: "That's when you tell someone something that isn't true, but your goal is to be nice to them."

I interrupt. "I know there are probably more types of lies, but I've heard enough now."

The world is too complicated. I give up. I do want to live in the same world as other people and have friends and not get teased all the time. But it's too hard.

Tuesday

Detective Malich: "I heard that the Dead Body Girl reported being shot at in the Bellamy State Forest."

Detective Jacobs: "I really don't want to talk about it."

Detective Malich: "No one actually heard a shot. She was off by herself in the middle of the woods. No supporting evidence. Are we surprised about that?"

Detective Jacobs: "It's really not funny, Malich."

Detective Malich: "Complete change of MO for the psychopathic serial killer. I think we're hot on the trail of the world's first split-personality serial killer."

Detective Jacobs: "What does it take to get you to stop? Shut your mouth, or I'm pulling my gun."

Detective Malich: "Oh, and there was absolutely no way to know she was going to be there. So, let me see. Hmm. The serial killer just happened to be waiting in the cold, in some random place in the middle of the woods some seven miles away from Greenvale. By the most amazing coincidence, the Dead Body Girl just happened to be walking by. So he tried to kill her. Then she stood still in the woods, like a total dummy, but he didn't take a second shot."

Detective Jacobs: "F- off, Malich. I was wrong about the girl. You were right. Are you happy?"

Detective Malich: "You should always listen to the voice of experience."

* * *

At lunch, I wait until all the boys are there. Then I tell them the story of being shot at. Their eyes get really big and they listen really carefully to the whole story.

When I'm done, they start asking me questions. Then they start planning a search party for the bullet, just in case the police didn't find it yet. So they are like scavenger detectives, but I don't say that.

* * *

Mrs. McVeigh: "I've been reading up on the history of the environmental movement. It's really quite fascinating. Do you think your club might be interested in a little lecture on that?"

Miss Banks: "Um . . ."

Mrs. McVeigh: "Never mind. Exceptionally dumb question. I had this momentary hallucination. Don't worry, I'm a teacher, I can find my own captive audience."

Wednesday

At lunch, Randall holds out his hand and rolls two bullets and two shells onto the table. "We found these at the crime scene."

"Two bullets."

Kyle explains, "One bullet was stuck in the tree about 2 feet above your head. You didn't tell us about that, you said there was only one shot. The other bullet hit the tree where you said. We found it in the woods behind the tree. The two shells came from where the shooter was. We decided he wasn't aiming at you, he was aiming over your head."

What do you do when someone gives you a present? You say thank you. "Thank you very much. Um, I have to call Detective Jacobs to tell him. It's a rule."

They all nod. They know these rules. I add, "He's going to be amazed." I know how to keep boys interested. "Kyle, you keep the bullets and shells. Then the Detective will have to grill you."

His eyes get really big.

Arthur: "I found the bullet in the woods.”

Randall: "I'm the one who found the bullet in the tree.”

Jackson: "I found the shells.”

Kyle: "Guys, guys, stop arguing. I'll make sure that everyone gets grilled by the detectives. There's more, Andrea. Tell her, Raj."

Raj: "Rachel Burson's cat is missing. They aren't sure exactly when it disappeared, but it was around the time of the funeral. Everything was crazy, and they think they just left the door open and it ran away. Anyway, they didn't notice him missing until days after the funeral. But no one remembered feeding him the two days before that."

I call Detective Jacobs and tell him this new information. The boys are all gaga. "You have a detective on speed dial?"

"Yes, it goes straight to Detective Jacobs. I wonder if I have my own ring tone on his cell." I'm being a celebrity. And I really like having people at my table for lunch.

* * *

"Kyle Robertson and Raj Samavi to the principals office."

I smile.

10 minutes later, eight more boys are asked to report to the principals office. So all of the Great Detectives are there. I get an even bigger smile. They're going to be so happy.

* * *

On the bus ride home, Bradley asks me, "Do you like Kyle?"

Me: "Yes. He's nice."

I want to like everyone, but some people are too hard to like. Bradley looks unhappy.

Thursday

Detective Jacobs: "The Burson's cat went missing some time around his suicide. They aren't sure exactly when."

Detective Malich: "Could the assistant principal or janitor ID the cat?

Detective Jacobs: "I didn't do a lineup."

Detective Malich: "Good joke, Jacobs. Keep working on that sense of humor and some day you'll be a real cop."

Detective Jacobs: "Neither one paid any attention to a decaying dead cat, which they incinerated before I could get there. So no definite ID."

Detective Malich: "So it could just be a coincidence."

Detective Jacobs: "And what do you always tell me about amazing coincidences?"

Detective Malich: "They don't happen. This is looking bad."

Detective Jacobs: "So am I. I didn't look for a dead cat. I got beat by a bunch of high school boys. And it just gets much worse. The same high schoolers found two bullets in the woods. One was embedded in the tree where the Dead Body Girl was standing when she said someone shot at her. They also found two shells."

Detective Malich thinks. "Ah shit. This changes everything. Crow dinner for me tonight. But it's just two bullets in the woods. She still could be lying and these could still be coincidences. What now?"

Detective Jacobs: "Something's going on, I just don't know what. I'm gonna go talk to the girl again."

Detective Malich: "She does scare really easy. You were right about being soft and letting the Jankowski kid sit with her. You might try that again."

Detective Jacobs: "Won't he contaminate the interview?"

Detective Malich: "Yep. But you'll probably get more out of her. Your choice."

Detective Jacobs: "Maybe I'll let him sit in."

Detective Malich: "A good cop knows when to break the rules."

* * *

"Andrea Wellington and Bradley Jankowski to the principal's office."

I stand up. "Excuse me, Mrs. Meadows, but the detective wants to grill me." I'm putting my best face forward. I pack up my things and leave the room.

I'm coming from one direction and Bradley is coming from the other, and we meet in front of the principal's office. We give each other smiles and shrugs. We don't know why we both got called at the same time. We walk into the office. The secretary tells me to go into the principal's office and for Bradley to sit and wait outside.

Detective Jacobs: "Good morning, Andrea. How are you?"

"Good." I haven't found any bodies in a long time now.

Detective Jacobs: "Would you feel more comfortable if Bradley was here too?"

"Yes. Totally."

He calls Bradley in. Bradley sits in the chair next to me. Then Detective Jacobs shows me a picture. "Do you recognize this cat?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Have you ever seen this cat?"

I look at Bradley. He explains, "It's the same question, Andrea."

"Thanks." I turn back to Detective Jacobs. "No."

Detective Jacobs: "This cat belonged to Rachel Burson. Do you know her?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been to her house?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever see this cat at her house?"

Bradley: "If she doesn't remember seeing the cat, then she doesn't remember seeing the cat at Rachel's house."

Detective Jacobs: "I would like to hear Andrea's answer."

Bradley: "It confuses her when you ask questions you already asked."

Detective Jacobs: "That's standard police procedure, Bradley."

Bradley: "I know, sir. But it confuses Andrea."

He grimaces. "I'll try to stop."

I give Bradley a thumbs up behind the desk. Bradley smiles.

Detective Jacobs: "Are you friends with Rachel?"

"No."

Bradley: "Rachel teases Andrea more than anyone else does."

Detective Jacobs looks at me. "Is that true?"

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Do you hate Rachel?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "Are you sure?"

Bradley: "She never lies, Detective Jacobs."

I hold up two fingers. Bradley says to me, "Those weren't lies."

Detective Jacobs: "How do you feel about Rachel Burson?"

"I'm afraid of her."

Detective Jacobs: "I asked before, and I know you said no, but I just want to ask again to make sure. Did you know Wayne Jenkins?"

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "Yes. Now the answer is yes. When I asked you before, you denied ever meeting him or knowing Wayne Jenkins."

"Yes."

Bradley: "He wants to know why you didn't tell him the truth the first time."

"Thanks Bradley." I explain to Detective Jacobs, "I tried to tell the truth the first time. I really didn't remember. Then I had a bad dream and it reminded me of when he bullied me." I tell him the story about Wayne Jenkins bullying me.

Detective Jacobs: "Have you had any more dreams I should know about?"

I tell him the dream reminding me about Rachel's birthday party.

Detective Jacobs: "Any more dreams I should know about?"

"No."

Detective Jacobs: "You told me there was just one shot in the woods."

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "But they found two bullets."

"Yes."

Detective Jacobs: "How do you explain that?"

"Can't there be one shot with two bullets?"

He shakes his head. "No. Not for a rifle. The bullets were from a rifle."

"He could have shot the second bullet into the tree after I left."

Detective Jacobs: "Very unlikely. Why would he do that?"

"Maybe the second bullet was already in the tree before we got there because someone else shot it."

Detective Jacobs: "The bullets match, Andrea. They're from the same rifle."

My parents makes this look a lot easier than it really is. They're really smart.

Bradley: "That means there's a hole in your story, Andrea. That's why he won't believe you."

Detective Jacobs: "Of course I believe her. I'm just trying to understand this discrepancy."

I turn to Bradley. "Is he lying about believing me?"

Bradley shrugs. "Probably."

Detective Jacobs: "I'm trying to believe you."

Bradley. "Maybe she didn't hear the second shot."

I didn't think of that answer.

Detective Jacobs: "She didn't hear a gunshot from 60 feet away?"

Bradley: "Maybe he had a silencer on his gun."

Detective Jacobs. "She said the first shot was very loud."

Me: "We give up, Detective Jacobs. It's too hard for us to think of an answer."

Detective Jacobs: "I want to believe you, Andrea. But it would help if there was some explanation of why you said there was only one shot yet your friends found two bullets. I guess we're done now, you can go. Thank you for your help."

We stand up.

Detective Jacobs smiles at me. "Do me a favor, Andrea. If someone ever shoots at you, start running. As fast as you can, as far as you can."

"Yes sir."

Roberta starts out the meeting. She's upset. They're doing recycling in the lunch room now, but a lot of students just throw their trash wherever. So like bottles end up in the basket of things to go to the dump and recyclable plastic ends up in the bottle basket.

Miss Banks: "No one blames you for being angry, Roberta. But you don't need to be discouraged. What your group did was important. Greenvale High School is finally saying that students should take care of the environment and that they should recycle. Greenvale never said that before."

Miss Banks keeps talking. "Some students might be hearing that message for the first time. It takes time for people to change. Let's work on educating them. But we have to be patient too."

Roberta: "You can be patient, Miss Banks. I quit." And she walks out. Even though Miss Banks just said she was supposed to be patient and not be discouraged.

The other people in her group say they'll continue working on the Go Green Project. But they don't sound very confident.

Matthew reports that we collected samples again. But Dr. Bowy didn't say anything more about what we did being good, and he didn't say anything about needing more samples. So Matthew sounds discouraged.

Cynthia reports about the new posters she made. With Bradley's help. She's working on how to explain fracking to the students. She's discouraged because some committee recommended to the legislature that fracking be allowed without any regulation. "Miss Banks, what good does it to tell our legislators what we want if they don't listen?"

Everyone seems discouraged, because nothing we did made any difference.

* * *

We are taking the late bus home together. I know Bradley will sit with me. That's so cool. "Bradley, why was everyone so upset that Roberta quit? They still have eight people in that group. It's still our largest group."

Bradley: "Roberta was the leader. She had the ideas and got everyone working and organized things and told them what to do. I don't know if the group will stay together without her."

"So that's really bad."

Bradley: "Yeah. Kind of. Yeah, to be honest, it's bad."

"Miss Banks said her group was doing really good things."

"Roberta didn't see it that way."

"Maybe we weren't putting our best face forward."

Bradley: "Can you explain that more to me? I'm not as smart as you, Andrea."

"I'm not good at explaining things. I know that. Thanks for putting up with me." He smiles. "Maybe we aren't telling Roberta and Cynthia and Matthew what a good job they're doing."

Bradley: "Oh, wow, good idea. Same for the other students in the high school. Andrea. You are really smart. I think people just have trouble keeping up with you, that's why they don't understand you."

* * *

"Mother, Father, suppose a girl was standing in the woods and someone shot at her. And it was really loud. When they ask the girl, she says she heard only one shot. But when they search, the police find two bullets and two bullet shells. How could you explain that?"

Mother: "What a gruesome question!"

Father: "I agree Alice. But it could be very interesting too. Did you want me to go first?"

Mother smiles. "You can go first, Samuel."

They say the same answers Bradley and I thought of. Plus that the police planted the second bullet and something really creative about aliens from space that I couldn't understand.

Father: "Perhaps the girl had amnesia. The first shot scared her so much, she went into shock and didn't hear the second shot."

Mother: "That's an excellent answer, Samuel. I have read that amnesia is common for severe traumatic shock."

I interrupt. "Thanks." I go upstairs and call Detective Jacobs and leave a message. I remember the first shot, then nothing until I saw Bradley running towards me in the woods. I had traumatic amnesia.

Friday

Bradley: "I checked with Miss Banks. She said it was okay for me to try to put our best face forward to the school. I'm going to make posters saying what we did and how that's a good thing. And I'm going to make a website and a Facebook page."

"That's great, Bradley."

He gets a big smile. "It's kind of my thing, Andrea. I love making posters and things like that."

We ride for a little while without talking.

Bradley: "Um, did you want to help me?"

Of course! "Yes."

He gets a big smile on his face.

Saturday

My phone rings. It's Bradley's ring tone. He's never called me before. I try to stop hyperventilating. "Hello?"

"Hi Andrea. Did you want to come over to my house and work on posters and stuff for the Ecology Club?"

"Sure!"

We spend all day working on posters and a Facebook page. When I come home, I'm so happy I can't believe it.

On Sunday, we email our ideas back and forth. So, we have a poster that says, "The Ecology Club took water samples of the Reeding River. Did they find any pollution?" Another one says, "The Ecology Club: Defending the Reeding River from pollution." Bradley has great pictures to go with them. For Roberta's group, there is a picture of someone using the recycling bins and "Putting the Green back into Greenvale." 

WEEK 7

Monday

I'm riding the bus to school in the morning. I wish Bradley took the morning bus, but he rides in with his older sister. My seat is the second row on the right side of the bus by the window. Most of the kids sit in the back. So I'm just looking out the window and thinking.

Principal Yancy's body

Propped up in a sitting position against a tree and holding a sign. His mouth is hanging open. He's dead.

It's so horrible I can't even scream.

The girls in the back of the bus start screaming when they see him. They never found a dead body before. Zena finally calms down enough to scream to the rest of the bus what she saw. Then everyone starts screaming and yelling. Then a lot of people start texting.

I call Detective Jacobs. But when he answers, I can't talk. All I can see is Principal Yancy. His neck was broken.

When I get to school, everyone crowds around me and asks what I saw. But I can't answer them or say anything.

* * *

Mr. Billings is calling roll in homeroom: "Andrea Wellington."

I can't answer. I saw Principal Yancy, and he was dead.

"Andrea Wellington?"

"She's here, Mr. Billings."

He looks up and sees me and smiles. Then he goes on with the rest of the roll call.

* * *

Bradley: "Hey Andrea. Did you want some posters to put up?"

I nod my head yes.

Bradley: "I heard about you seeing the principal and he was dead. That sounds horrible."

I try to say yes but I can't.

Bradley: "Are you okay?"

I shake my head no.

Bradley: "Have they grilled you yet?"

I shake my head no.

Bradley: "I'll be glad to help if you need me. Can I do anything?"

Make the dead bodies go away.

* * *

The people on my side of the bus are called to the principal's office one by one. I'm last. "Andrea Wellington to the principal's office."

I can't go. I just sit there. Thomas, who sits next to me and is one of the Great Detectives, says "Andrea, they're calling you to be grilled." I still can't go.

Mrs. Meadows asks, "Would you like me to walk with you, Andrea?"

I just shake my head no.

In a few minutes, Mr. Johanson opens our door. He sees me and says firmly, "Andrea, please follow me."

I shake my head no. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it either, but I can't stop. Principal Yancy was leaning a little bit to the right and his mouth was hanging open. His face was white. Mr. Johanson studies me, then leaves.

Five minutes later, Mr. Johanson comes back. Bradley is with him. Bradley says, "C'mon, Andrea, let's go talk to Detective Jacobs. It'll be okay."

I get up, I pack my things into my backpack, hoist my backpack onto my shoulders, and follow them. Mr. Johanson guides us to the principal's office.

Detective Jacobs: "Did you want Bradley to stay?"

I nod my head yes. I need him to be here.

Detective Jacobs: "Did you want Mr. Johanson to also be here?"

I shake my head no. Mr. Johanson leaves, and we sit down.

Detective Jacobs: "Well, it's good to see you again, Andrea. How are you doing?"

I show him a thumbs down.

Detective Jacobs: "I heard about your problems today. You must have me on speed dial by now."

I nod my head yes.

Detective Jacobs: "Really? I was joking. But that's good thinking, Andrea. Anyway, let's get down to business. I need you to tell me what you saw today."

I shake my head no.

Bradley: "I don't think she's talking right now, Detective Jacobs. We're sorry."

Detective Jacobs turns to Bradley. "That's a problem. In fact, it's a serious problem. We need to know what happened this morning."

Bradley: "Can't you get that from the other people on the bus?"

Detective Jacobs: "Four other girls reported seeing a body. But, to be honest, their descriptions aren't very good."

Bradley: "The body was on the sidewalk. You can just go see for yourself."

Detective Jacobs: "Good idea, Bradley. Actually, we somehow thought of that ourselves. However, the body was gone when we got there."

Bradley: "Same MO. That's spooky."

Detective Jacobs: "Unfortunately, you're right. Now you can see this is serious. That's why we need Andrea to answer my questions."

Bradley turns to me: "Can you answer Detective Jacobs now?"

I try to say no, but nothing comes out.

Bradley turns back to Detective Jacobs. "Is there anything important you need to know right now? She can move her head yes or no."

Detective Jacobs: "I guess we'll have to do that. Andrea, was he standing?"

I shake my head no.

Detective Jacobs: "Was he sitting?"

I nod my head yes.

Bradley: "Are you starting out with questions you already know the answers to?"

Detective Jacobs frowns, then says, "Yes."

Bradley: "Cool. I read about that. Oh, sorry for interrupting."

Detective Jacobs: "Did he look dead?"

I nod my head yes.

Detective Jacobs: "Were there any signs of violence? Other than him being dead."

I nod my head yes. Then I mime someone having a broken neck and their head being at a huge angle.

Detective Jacobs: "He looked like his neck was broken?"

I nod yes.

Detective Jacobs: "Are you sure?"

Bradley: "She doesn't lie."

I smile at Bradley, but I know it isn't much of a smile.

Detective Jacobs: "I just wanted to make sure. No one else reported that. Now, was there anything like a sign?"

I nod yes.

Detective Jacobs: "People have told me different things about what the sign might have said. Did you see any words on it like 'I'm dead' or 'Friend me'?"

I go to my backpack and take out some paper and a pen and write on the paper and give it to Detective Jacobs. They look at it.

FIND ME OR
YOUR MOTHER
IS NEXT

Detective Jacobs is stunned. All he can say is "Shit." He's not supposed to say that in school in front of students.

Bradley saw what I wrote. "Yeah. The person who finds the body is supposed to try to find the killer."

Detective Jacobs shouts "NO!" and pounds on the desk. Then he calms down a little. "No, Bradley. The police are supposed to find the killer. Not Andrea. Not you. This is very dangerous. Please, stay out of this and be safe."

Bradley is going to argue, but I nod my head yes. Bradley sees that and says, "Okay."

* * *

Kyle: "Okay. The Dead Body Girl isn't talking today. We have to respect that. She's found three dead bodies. That's enough to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. But something like that takes it's toll on the human psyche. We can't even imagine what she's feeling like inside."

He turns to me. "Can you talk to us?"

I try to say yes. But I can't. Kyle is disappointed in me. Everyone at the table is.

So they discuss what to do and what it means. After a while, I give Kyle the picture I've been drawing. It's Principal Yancy, sitting down, with a broken neck and the sign.

They always seemed like boys playing. Now I see how serious they can be. They discuss whether I should try to find the killer. They don't like that idea any more than the police, but they seem more honest about the fact that I might have to.

They decide to try to help me find the killer. But then they can't think of any way to do that. If no one else can find him, how am I supposed to find him?

* * *

Miss Banks: "Andrea, what do you think Robert Browning was trying to portray in this poem?"

I just shake my head no.

Miss Banks: "You must have had some feelings when you read the poem."

I try to answer her, but nothing comes out. I feel bad for not helping Miss Banks. I really like her.

Rosemarie: "She's not talking today, Miss Banks."

Miss Banks: "And still not opening doors?"

Rosemarie: "No Miss Banks. Did you hear the message she got from the killer? Find me or your mother will be the next dead body."

Miss Banks: "Yes, I heard something like that. Poor Andrea. She's been through a lot. Okay, Rosemarie, what do you think Browning was trying to portray in this poem?"

* * *

Rebecca is waiting for me at the classroom door. "Cat got your tongue? It's going to be so nice not hearing any screeching today." And she shuts the door on me. I don't even care. I saw Principal Yancy dead. Eventually someone who is walking by opens the door for me so I can get into my class.

* * *

Detective Malich: "We're out of our playbook. Time to call in the FBI."

* * *

On the bus ride home, Bradley explains that it's a serial killer. That's a big deal anywhere, especially in a small town like Greenvale. Now the police are going to think that Wayne Jenkins and Mr. Burson are murder victims, even if they don't have any proof.

Bradley offers to go home with me. I smile and nod my head yes.

When we are standing on the sidewalk outside my house, Bradley asks me if I screamed when I saw Principal Yancy being a dead body. I shrug that I don't know. Sometimes I realize I'm screaming and sometimes I don't. He says maybe I should try screaming now.

I try to scream. A little noise comes out. Bradley smiles. "You made a noise. That's good. Try again, Andrea."

I try to scream again. I think of Principal Yancy sitting on the sidewalk with a broken neck. Then I scream and scream and scream, really loudly. I can't stop.

Eventually I stop. Bradley is holding my arms. I'm still crying. "Bradley, I found another dead body. It was Principal Yancy. I knew him. We talked. And now he's dead. Someone broke his neck. I don't want to find any more dead bodies. I want everything to stop and everyone to be alive." I'm still crying.

"I know, Andrea."

"And now he's threatening my mother and no one knows what to do and even Detective Jacobs is worried."

"I know, Andrea. It's really bad. Can I help?"

"Can we go work on some ecology stuff?"

"Sure. Good idea."

He comes in and we find other demonstrations our club could go to. And we search the internet for other ways an Ecology Club can help save the environment. Maybe some ideas will help everyone not be so discouraged.

I don't know if we accomplished anything important. But it was nice to spend some time not seeing Principal Yancy's dead body in my mind.

* * *

I wake up in the middle of the night, frightened to death. There was a loud crashing noise that woke me up. My father comes to my bedroom doorway. "Andrea, stop screaming. Everything's going to be okay."

I stop screaming. My father runs downstairs, so I follow him. He's stopped on the bottom of the stairs. I stand behind him in my pajamas and look. There's glass all over our carpet. Our front window is shattered and cold wind is blowing in. There's a black bowling ball in the middle of our living room floor.

This has gotten ridiculous.

My father is in shock. He keeps saying "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God . . . " over and over again. I should try to make him feel better. "Father, what do you do when you find a bowling ball in your living room?"

Even that doesn't distract him, he keeps saying "Oh my God." I carefully pick my way to the bowling ball, being careful not to step on any glass. I turn it over with my foot so I can read the message taped on it. It says:

STOP LOOKING
OR YOU DIE

My father is going to have a lot of trouble dealing with that. So will my mother. I know I should be frightened. But somehow I can't. It isn't even my first death threat today. I just keep thinking -- it's a bowling ball, thank God it's just a bowling ball. I call Detective Jacobs and wake him up and tell him what happened.

"Father, I'm going to be okay." He's stopped talking and is just standing there. "Detective Jacobs is coming to talk to you. He's nice, don't worry." I pat his hand, walk back up the stairs, and go back to sleep. I get the best sleep I've had in a month.

Tuesday

"Good morning, detectives. I'm Thomas Chien, Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Thanks for coming. I'm Frank Malich. This is my partner, Sandy Jacobs. He's been leading the investigation so far. I thought the FBI was sending a task force. Are you the advance man?"

"I'm who they sent. Tell me what you know."

* * *

Agent Chien: "So, let me summarize what little solid evidence you actually have. Wayne Jenkins is a missing person. Horace Burson was originally called a suicide and still may be a suicide. Principal Yancy is missing. A few high school girls think they might have seen him sitting on a sidewalk. All you really have is a dead cat. Which you managed to lose."

Detective Jacobs: "The girl saw Wayne Jenkins. We know that, because we found his DNA where she said."

Agent Chien: "That doesn't mean he was dead. And he could have been there days or even a month before."

Detective Jacobs: "There are some unusual things about the suicide --"

Agent Chien: "There always are."

Detective Jacobs: "-- and they're both connected to the teasing of the girl."

Agent Chien: "Not even an unlikely coincidence -- it sounds like half of the school has teased this girl at one time or another."

Detective Jacobs: "The cat probably belonged to the man who suicided. That's almost impossible to explain."

Agent Chien: "Did you do DNA testing?"

Detective Jacobs: "On a cat?"

Agent Chien: "Cats don't have DNA?"

Detective Jacobs: "Four of the five girls identified the body on the sidewalk as being Principal Yancy. They had no way of knowing he was missing."

Agent Chien: "So he's missing. A drunk who looked like your principal could have been sitting on that sidewalk, and some hysterical girls jumped to the conclusion that it was another dead body. One girl screams the principal's name and pretty soon everyone thinks they saw him."

Detective Jacobs: "Someone was shooting at the girl."

Agent Chien: "Which doesn't make any sense. And you just have a two bullets, no evidence for any shooting except the girl claimed she was shot at."

He continues. "Don't look so glum. What I'm trying to say is this. The FBI doesn't send a dedicated task force for a dead cat and a few coincidences. But it does send one agent. I'm here. Let's see what we can do. The first thing for me is to talk to the girl."

Detective Jacobs: "She scares easy, so you have to be really careful. We've been letting her boyfriend sit in on the questioning, just to help her feel more at ease."

Agent Chien: "Which compromises the questioning."

Detective Malich: "We aren't idiots. That was the best way to get the girl to talk."

Agent Chien: "Then thanks for the heads-up."

* * *

"Andrea Wellington and Bradley Jankowski to the principal's office."

"Mrs. Meadows, I'm sorry, but we have to go help Detective Jacobs. Again." I roll my eyes dramatically, pack up my stuff, hoist my backpack onto my back, and leave.

I get there. "Hi, Mrs. Simonsen. How are you doing today? Don't get up, I know the way." I walk into the principal's office. "Hi Detective Jacobs. Who's your new friend?"

He looks puzzled. "Hi Andrea. This is Agent Chien, from the FBI."

Agent Chien: "Hi Andrea. It's good to meet you."

"FBI?" I'm screeching. But it's the FBI! "You have to let Bradley be here for my grilling. He'll be in boy heaven."

Agent Chien: "Would it help if Bradley was here too?"

I give him a thumbs up. "He helps me understand you."

They call in Bradley from outside. "Hi Andrea. Are you okay?"

"I'm great. I found a dead bowling ball last night." I start to get the giggles, and that makes Bradley laugh too, but of course FBI Agent Chien has better things to do than listen to us giggle.

Agent Chien: "Can you perhaps describe things from the start?"

Me: "Can I tell about the bowling ball first? Bradley hasn't heard about that. He doesn't ride the bus with me in the morning."

So I tell what happened last night. When I'm done, Bradley says, "Now they're going to start calling you the Dead Bowling Ball Girl." And we get the giggles again, but this time really bad.

Agent Chien waits for the giggles to mostly stop. "You don't seem to be taking this very seriously."

Me: "Agent Chien, what do you think I want to find in my living room -- a dead person, a dead cat, or a dead bowling ball?"

Agent Chien: "What about the threat on your life?"

I turn to Bradley: "Why didn't he answer my question?"

Bradley: "He knows you would rather see the dead bowling ball. He thinks that's obvious, so he saved time and went on to his next question in the grilling."

"Thanks." I turn back to Agent Chien. "I'm not looking for the killer. So he doesn't have any reason to kill me. The other threat was a lot scarier. And it's hard to take someone seriously when they're throwing around bowling balls."

I mime zipping my lips -- no more giggles. "But I understand that my father isn't going to like more bowling balls being thrown through his window." And then I can't help it, I have to giggle some more -- a bowling ball is just too funny.

Bradley: "Andrea, he's going to think you're being hysterical. It's the way some people respond to situations like this. So you should probably be more serious."

Me: "Okay." Then I describe everything, starting with seeing Wayne Jenkins and ending with seeing Principal Yancy.

When I'm finished, Bradley explains, "She always tells the truth, Agent Chien. So it would save a lot of time if you didn't ask the same questions over again. That confuses her. Unless you have to do that in the FBI."

Agent Chien thinks for a few seconds. "We're supposed to. But I'll skip that step, if you promise not to rat me out to my boss."

Bradley smiles. "I promise."

Was that male bonding? I should look that up on the internet.

Agent Chien turns back to me. "So, Wayne Jenkins bullied you, and Horace Burson was the father of a girl who teased you a lot. That could be a coincidence. But we police don't like coincidences." He winks at Bradley. I have to look up male bonding on the internet. "Did Principal Yancy ever tease or bully you?"

"No sir. He didn't like it when he thought I lied about Wayne Jenkins. And he didn't like that there was a dead cat in my locker making a bad smell. But he couldn't blame me for that."

Agent Chien: "So, if someone was targeting people who had been mean to you, they had no reason to target Principal Yancy. Correct? I think I'm asking the same question again. Sorry."

"That's okay. And yes, no reason."

Agent Chien: "No reason that you know of."

I turn to Bradley. "Help?"

Bradley: "Just say no."

I tell Agent Chien, "No." I turn back to Bradley: "Why was he asking me about something I don't know?"

Bradley: "Don't worry about it. I'll explain it later."

Me: "Okay."

* * *

Agent Chien: "The girl didn't seem scared."

Detective Jacobs: "She was completely different today. I think her boyfriend accidentally nailed it -- she's in hysterical denial."

Agent Chien: "Did what she said today pretty much fit with what she has said in the past?"

Detective Jacobs: "Pretty much yes."

Agent Chien: "No elaboration?"

Detective Jacobs: "You're asking the same question twice." He smiles. "It was perfect. She's a high quality witness."

Agent Chien: "With an impossible story."

Detective Jacobs: "That pretty much sums it up."

Agent Chien: "It was still a good idea to include the boyfriend. Anyway, here's what I don't get. The killer -- if there's a killer -- sends a message to the girl to find him or else he will kill her mother. Then he sends another message that she should stop looking for him or else he will kill her. Those messages don't add up."

Detective Malich: "The obvious explanation is that the Dead Body Girl got the first message wrong. Two girls didn't even see a message, and no one reported a long message. So the only reason to think the message is about finding him is the word of the girl. What is the chance that she could accurately read a long message while traveling by on a bus, and being more than a little distracted by the sight of her dead principal? About zero."

Detective Malich adds, "The problem is, every time we don't trust this girl, she turns out to be right. And we end up looking like idiots."

Detective Jacobs: "We spun around the idea of a split-personality serial killer. One of the personalities wants to be found and the other one doesn't."

Agent Chien: "You need something more plausible than that. Right now, all we have is that the girl made a mistake."

Detective Malich: "Look Chien, I know you don't want advice from a hick cop. But this case is weird. That girl is strange, but she has a good brain in her head. You can say she's wrong, and maybe you'll come out smelling like a rose. But when the long shot always wins, I stop betting against it."

Agent Chien: "Okay. Let's get to work. Jacobs, you're point man for the girl. You've established a good rapport with her."

Detective Jacobs: "She has my cell number. And uses it often."

Agent Chien: "Do you have a special ring tone for her?"

Detective Jacobs: "No."

Agent Chien: "Get one. And make it loud. Malich, I want DNA testing on the cat."

Detective Malich: "The janitor incinerated the cat. It was in the incinerator before we could get to it."

Agent Chien: "The cat was in the girl's locker, right?"

Detective Malich: "So there's DNA in the locker. But how do I tie that to the Burson's cat? Look for DNA on the Burson cat's toothbrush?"

Agent Chien shakes his head. "You never owned a cat. There are still hairs all over that house. Jacobs, I want you to search the school with a cadaver dog."

Detective Jacobs: "We don't have a cadaver dog. There aren't a lot of murders in Greenvale."

Agent Chien: "The county, or state, has a cadaver dog. My guess is that you don't have any real murders here. But if it's a serial killer, he won't stop -- we'll just keep piling up dead bodies until we find him. If you aren't getting cooperation on anything, let me know and I'll bust their balls."

* * *

At lunch, they have pushed together two tables to try to fit in all of the boys who want to hear about me being grilled by the FBI.

* * *

Rachel is back in school and waiting for me at my classroom door. "Everyone knows you're lying about the dead bodies, Screech. It's just a pathetic attempt for attention." She closes the door on me.

I don't understand why people are so mean. I'm afraid to open the door, but . . . nothing bad is going to happen to me. So I open the door and walk into the classroom.

* * *

On the bus ride home, Bradley asks, "How are you doing, Andrea? I'm sorry you had to be grilled again today."

Me: "I'm used to it. It was exciting to be grilled by the FBI."

He gets a big smile. "Yeah!"

I hand him a poster I drew. I can't even breath while he looks at it. It's supposed to be a picture of my face and the words 'The Dead Body Girl Wants You to Recycle'.

He looks at me: "Do you really want to do this?"

"Do you think it will increase recycling?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it will."

Because I'm a celebrity now. "Then I want to do it."

"This is a cool idea, Andrea. Do you mind if I do some other posters that have the same idea but say other things?"

"Whatever you want, Bradley, I trust you totally."

We get off the bus together and go to my house to work on the new posters. But the police are there with my parents. My parents both look like they are in shock. I grab an apple and we go over to Bradley's house to work.

* * *

Male bonding is fascinating. I spend too much time reading about it and have to rush to get my homework finished.

Wednesday

I go up to Roberta in the hallway. She's talking with her friends, so I wait. I'm so nervous I just want to run away. But Bradley said we need Roberta. When she sees me, she tells them she'll see them later, and turns to me. "Hi Andrea. What's up?"

"Can you come back to the Ecology Club? We need you."

"Sorry, Andrea. Big sorry. I was working too hard to help Greenvale do recycling and save energy and help the environment. And all I got was broken dreams. Just recycling in the cafeteria, and even that wasn't working. How hard is it to throw your trash in the right bin?" She's getting tears.

"They're jerks. Don't let them bother you."

"That's easy for you to say."

Why is that easy for me to say? "Because I get teased all of the time?"

"I forgot about that. Sorry."

"I think it's so cool that you can make any difference. I want to be like you when I'm in 12th grade."

Roberta: "Maybe you're better than me at keeping going when things are get bad."

"No, I'm horrible at that. But I'm trying to get better."

Roberta: "But you stayed in the Ecology Club."

"I would never quit that. The environment is too important."

She looks at me. "Tell you what. I'll come back and give it one more try. Hey, no need to shriek about it."

"Sorry, I didn't know I was shrieking. I'm just so happy."

Roberta: "You can't tell when you're shrieking or screaming?"

"No. Or screeching. They just happen to me."

Roberta: "That must be hard on you."

"Very."

Roberta: "Poor kid. Look, it's just a try. We'll see what happens. I can't let it burn me out like it did before."

"Maybe you could talk to Miss Banks about that."

She thinks. "Not a bad idea."

She doesn't seem to have anything more to say. "I enjoyed talking to you. Good-bye." I go to class.

* * *

"Bradley Jankowski and Andrea Wellington to the principal's office."

No one in my class pays any attention to the announcement. I pack up my things, hoist my backpack onto my back, and leave. Bradley is already there. Principal Johanson meets us and escorts to his office. There are two strange men there instead of Detective Jacobs.

"Andrea Wellington?"

"Yes."

Bradley Jankowski?"

Bradley: "Yes."

"Thank you for coming. I'm Agent Frank DeBelski from the Environmental Protection Agency. This is Agent William Payne."

I look at Bradley to explain what's happening, but he just shrugs. So he doesn't know. That makes me nervous.

Agent DeBelski hands me a piece of paper. "Is this your handwriting?"

It's one of the forms I filled out for water samples for Dr. Bowy. "Yes."

Agent DeBelski: "You were taking water samples with Mr. Jankowski?"

"Yes."

Agent DeBelski: "Follow us."

Apparently we're allowed to leave school. We follow them to a large van parked right in front of the school. It has the EPA logo really large on the door. Agent Payne holds the back door open for us and we climb in and they start to drive.

Bradley whispers to me, "Are we allowed to talk?"

I just shrug that I don't know. I never know anything important.

Agent DeBelski is driving. He says, "You can talk."

We don't talk. They drive North on the road along the Reeding River. Finally they stop the van by a farmer's field. We all get out. We all walk through the farmer's field. He's not going to be happy, but the agents don't seem to care. Finally we get to the river. The agents stop. "Is this where you took this sample from?"

I shake my head no. Bradley: "No sir. We never walked though any farms."

Agent DeBelski: "Lets walk around and see if we can find the place where you took this sample."

Bradley: "I don't think we were ever this far north."

Agent DeBelski: "This is about 12 miles from the center of Greenvale. You used the town center as your reference point, correct?"

Bradley: "Yes. The bridge over the Reeding River in the center of Greenvale."

Agent DeBelski: "And you measured distance by driving distance, correct?"

Bradley: "Yes."

Agent DeBelski: "This is almost exactly 12 driving miles from the bridge in Greenvale. How accurate were you in measuring driving distance?"

Bradley just shrugs. "Marshall was doing that. He was the driver."

Me: "Kilometers."

Bradley: "Explain more, Andrea."

"Science project."

Bradley: "You're doing good, but still more."

Agent DeBelski slaps his forehead. "I get it. It was a science project, so she recorded the distance in kilometers."

I nod yes.

Agent DeBelski turns to Agent Payne: "She didn't take any samples from here. She took the sample 12 kilometers from town." He turns back to me. "Did you tell Dr. Bowy that you used kilometers?"

"No sir. He would already know that. He's a scientist."

We trudge back to the van. They start driving South back towards Greenvale. They stop at a different place along the road. "Is this more familiar?"

Bradley: "All I see is trees. But we parked in a place like this."

We all get out of the van and start walking towards the river. We pass the tree that Bradley marked with an X. I point it out to Bradley in the distance. He tells the agents we're going in the right direction.

We get to the river. Agent DeBelski: "Is this about where you took your sample?"

"It was a little this way." They follow me and I show them where I took the sample from.

Agent Payne: "What do you think, Frank?"

"Let's take a sample from right here, then take three heading upriver, spaced out every 200 yards."

He looks at me and smiles. "I meant every 180 meters. We should be scientific about this, right Andrea?" That's the first time he smiled. He's trying to be nice.

He takes a sample at water level, then another 2 meters deep. They have better equipment than us. We were just doing a science project for Ecology Club; this is the real thing. He asks me where I took my mud sample, and I show him. He takes a sample from there.

Bradley and I are alone while they take their other samples. Bradley: "Maybe we found some pollution."

"Do you think we'll be mini-celebrities for this too?"

He gets a big smile. "Yeah. And it's really cool. Plus, if we found pollution, I can do some amazing posters."

We talk a little more about the Ecology Club and detective stuff and being mini-celebrities. Finally the agents come back. The pack up their things and we start walking back to the van. We are getting closer to the tree with an X

CRACK

Agent DeBelski falls to the ground.

"BRADLEY! RUN!" I grab his hand and pull him until he starts running. Agent Payne turns towards the shooter

CRACK CRACK

I don't look back to see who's shooting at who. I hear more gunshots as we run and run and run.

Finally I can't run any more. I stop and take huge breaths of air. Bradley is breathing really hard too.

Bradley: "Now what do we do?"

"I don't know."

Bradley: "Maybe we should go back and see if the agents are okay."

I hit him on the chest and shout, "I'm not finding any more dead bodies. I'm done. Let someone else do it."

Bradley: "Anyway, the shooter could be coming this way."

I scream and start running again. Bradley catches up to me. We get to the road and keep running. When a car comes, I stand in front of it so it has to stop. Then we get a ride. The first thing I do when I catch my breath is call Detective Jacobs and tell him about the shootings.

* * *

Bradley decides it's a waste of time to go to class, they're just going to call us to the principal's office for our grilling. So we go straight there and Mrs. Simonsen lets us sit in our chairs while we wait.

I ask Bradley, "Did the woman in the car believe we had been shot at?"

Bradley: "I don't think so."

"But she stopped for us and drove us back to school."

Bradley: "Yeah. But you didn't give her much choice."

"She was nice to do that."

Detective Jacobs rushes in. "Do you still say you saw a shooting in the woods?"

Bradley: "Yes. We were with some EPA agents and at least one of them was shot."

"Let's go. Follow me."

We run to the police car parked right in front of the building. Detective Jacobs turns on the siren and flashing lights. That's really embarrassing, and I want to just slump in my seat so no one can see me. Then I remember about saving the environment and how I need to be a celebrity. So I smile and wave at everyone who is watching, which is a lot of people -- everyone's crowded at the windows staring at us.

Then we peel out of the parking lot. That's the detective word for driving really fast. I look at Bradley. He's in boy heaven.

Detective Jacobs: "Tell me what happened." So Bradley tells him what happened while Detective Jacobs drives really fast. Detective Jacobs explains that the EPA agents aren't answering their radio and the police can't find them.

We drive to the EPA van parked on the side of the road by the forest. Three other police cars are parked there. We get out. Detective Jacobs radios everyone that we're here. Then he turns to us and tells us to show him where the shooting was.

So then we have to wander through the woods. Finally I see the tree with the X. Then I can find the place where we were shot at. "It's over there."

We run to the place. Detective Jacobs: "Are you sure this is the place?"

Bradley: "It's hard to tell."

Me: "It is."

Detective Jacobs: "No one's here."

In my experience, dead bodies usually disappear.

Detective Jacobs radios everyone again. Agent Chien comes running. So do a lot of other policemen. They start finding shells and bullets. But no bodies.

Detective Malich drives Bradley home and Detective Jacobs drives me home. He calls my parents, they meet us at our house, and Detective Jacobs tells my parents what happened. My mother and father suffer more psychological trauma.

* * *

Agent Chien: "The FBI is sending a task force in. We're meeting at 8 a.m. I want you both to be there.

Detective Malich: "Now you think we might have more than a dead cat and a few coincidences?"

Agent Chien: "There's nothing here to joke about."

* * *

I look up being a girlfriend on the internet. There's a lot to read. I mostly don't understand it, and the things I understand sound too hard. I'm just going to be Bradley's friend.

Then I look up serial killers. They are crazy. No one told me that. That changes everything. They just keep killing until someone stops them. No one told me that either. If he doesn't kill my mother, then he'll just kill someone else. That's horrible. Now I understand why everyone is so worried.

I don't want any more dead bodies. No one should have to find a dead body. No one should be killed.

Thursday

Agent Chien: "Okay, it's 8 a.m., let's start. Detective Malich from the Greenvale Police Department should be here shortly. Let me first summarize the latest events. The EPA agents are missing and presumed dead. The killer probably meant to shoot both agents and the Jankowski boy. He thought, based on past experience, that the Dead Body Girl would go into shock. Then, when she came out of shock, she would find the three bodies. Instead the girl bolted at the first gunshot. After his battle with the EPA agents, he removed their bodies."

"The killer somehow knew she would be in the woods at that location, based on the previous shooting. We've eliminated Dr. Bowy as being the killer, because he's been out of town since before the Yancy killing. He also seems to have no prior connection to the Dead Body Girl."

"The EPA is sending another team. They should be here by Saturday. Then we can learn what in the hell those agents thought they were doing, dragging those kids out of school and into the area of the last shooting."

"Okay. What else have we got?"

* * *

Agent Chien: "Let me summarize. The killer is telling the Dead Body Girl to find him yet not look for him. That suggests some sort of Zen Buddhist koan. Agent Moray, I want you to check out Buddhists in the area."

Detective Malich: "No Buddhists that I know of in Greenvale."

Detective Chien: "Thank you Detective Malich, I believe you already noted that. Next is the possibility of a split-personality. Agents O'Neal and Bloch, I want you to check out mental hospitals. Do you have any mentally ill people in Greenvale, Detective Malich?"

Detective Malich: "Lots."

Agent Chien: "Agent Healy, I want you to work on the bowling ball angle. Check out people in Greenvale who like bowling. Yes, you have another objection, Detective Malich?"

Detective Malich: "Maybe it's just me, but if I throw my bowling ball through a window, I'm not expecting to get it back. That means I don't like bowling. Maybe Healy should also check out the people who don't like bowling."

"Good point. Healy, also look for people who have given up bowling in the past year. Anything else?"

Detective Malich: "I'm guessing the guy is old or fat. He didn't chase the Dead Body Girl."

Agent Chien: "Interesting use of minimal information to create a physical profile. Detective Malich, you can check out elderly and obese people in Greenvale."

* * *

Detective Malich: "Eight people just spent three hours, and they came up with nothing. I knew we had nothing before we even started the meeting."

Detective Jacobs: "You told them that several times. I don't think you'll be invited to the next meeting.

Detective Malich: "That's breaking my heart. Next meeting you can sit there for 3 hours and give me the 2-minute summary."

Detective Jacobs: "What is it you always tell me to do when I don't have any leads?"

Detective Malich: "I haven't mentioned that yet. But we go drink some beers. I'll buy the first round, you can get the rest."

Detective Jacobs: "What about checking out the elderly and overweight?"

Detective Malich: "We can look for old fat people in the bar."

* * *

At lunch, I wait until all the boys are there, then I say "I'm going to find the killer." Everyone cheers. The whole lunch room looks at us. Then they see it's us and go back to eating. "Crowd around close so no one else can hear."

And then I start talking. I have about 20 boys sitting at my lunch table. Kyle: "I thought you couldn't look for the killer."

"I'm not looking for him. I'm going to let him find me. It's the perfect plan." That's detective talk. "I'll just go for a walk in the woods where he shot at me. If he shoots again, I found him and he doesn't have to kill my mother."

Kyle: "What if he shoots you?"

I get a sick feeling. I didn't think of that. "You said he didn't try to shoot me last time."

Kyle: "That was last time. He killed the EPA agents, so he's escalating. That's the MO for serial killers."

"If I die, at least I save my mother."

Kyle: "You are so noble. Guys, the Dead Body Girl is gonna be the bait." Everyone cheers for me.

Kyle: "Then what happens after he starts shooting at you?"

"I didn't think about that."

Kyle: "We'll figure it out. I solemnly promised that I would help you when this time comes. What do you say, guys, do we help her?" They all cheer again.

Kyle: "Can you do this tomorrow after school? We have to think of a plan, but we don't want your mother in danger any longer than necessary."

"Okay." They start planning.

* * *

Bradley isn't at the Ecology Club meeting, because the Great Detectives asked him to help. I like that he's trying to save me, so I don't mind that he's missing this meeting. But it's lonely without him.

Miss Banks and Roberta walk in a little late. Miss Banks has her arm on Roberta's shoulder, so I think they were talking. I'm so glad to see Roberta. Everyone else is too.

Marilyn reports from the Go Green group. She's an 11th grader and a little shy. She says that people are doing better at throwing their trash where they are supposed to. She tells me to thank Bradley for his posters. Miss Banks asks me, "Are you okay with the new posters in the lunchroom?"

She means the Dead Body Girl posters. "Yes Miss Banks. I don't want to be the Dead Body Girl. But if those posters help get people to recycle, that's more important." Do I need to explain about celebrities?

They voted their next project to be solar panel collectors for the roof. First they have to see if that's a good idea, but they didn't know how to do that. So they didn't make any progress. Roberta offers to help. Marilyn seems pretty happy about that.

Matthew is totally thrilled that the EPA was here. That means we maybe found pollution on the Reeding River. I don't want our river to be polluted. But if there is pollution, it's good that we could find it and help get rid of it.

Miss Banks: "I wonder if other schools along the river would like to help us protect it. That would be if Dr. Bowy is willing to analyze samples. Maybe you should be contacting them?"

Matthew's eyes get big. "Wow."

Miss Banks: "Cynthia, I want to tell you something great. When we started this club, I asked one of the teachers how much she knew about fracking, and she knew nothing. I was talking to her yesterday and she knew all about fracking and was ranting on the possibility that our state might allow it without any regulation. That's a really good sign that you're having an effect."

Me: "You could do a poll."

Miss Banks: "What do you mean, Andrea?"

I wish Bradley was here to explain things. "Never mind."

Miss Banks: "You can explain it to me later."

Cynthia: "I never thought about just raising awareness. Maybe we should put up posters around town and try to educate everyone."

Miss Banks: "Now that you've developed effective posters, I think that would be an excellent idea. Perhaps a letter to the editor of the newspaper would also be good."

Cynthia: "That's a great way to reach the people who still read newspapers. Thanks, Miss Banks. We should also be putting the information on our website."

Miss Banks: "One more thing before everyone leaves. It's natural to let a few people do most of the work. But it isn't fair to them, because they have homework and friends and other things to do. And it isn't fair to the other people who want to do more, either. We all want to help the environment." She indicate all of us with her hands. "So let's try to spread the work around a little more evenly and make sure we all do something."

After people have left, I explain to Miss Banks about doing a poll. I leave the meeting really happy. I think the Ecology Club is going to keep going and be really good. Even if I never get to see that.

* * *

Kyle: "Bradley, when the time comes, is the Dead Body Girl gonna do it? Walk into the woods and be the bait?"

Bradley: "I don't know. Maybe."

Jackson: "She'll be the bait. Count on it."

Adam: "She's a girl. No way, she'll get afraid and back out."

Kyle: "'Maybe' is good enough for us. If she might be the bait, we have to be ready to protect her. Let's get to work, guys."

Bradley: "Did she say she would be the bait?"

Samuel: "Yep."

Bradley: "Then she'll do it. She never lies."

* * *

I read up on the internet for what to do before you die. Everyone talks about a bucket list. I start making my bucket list, like I want to save the environment and stop pollution. But there's no time to do those things. So I give up on that.

I'm supposed to get a last dinner. But I already had dinner, so I'm too late for that too.

The only thing I have enough time for is to let my life pass before my eyes. I try to do that, but I can't. So dying is one more thing I can't do right. I get so frustrated not being able to do what everyone else can do.

I email Bradley and we work on more ideas for posters around town. I want to get as much done as I can tonight.

It's hard to sleep when you're worried about dying.

Friday

At lunch, Kyle tells me that they aren't ready. So we have to wait until Saturday. He says he'll feel horrible if the killer murders my mother today, but they have a responsibility to protect me.

As soon as I get this news, I text my mother and tell her what I want for dinner.

* * *

Bradley is meeting with the Great Detectives again. So he isn't on the bus.

* * *

Kyle emails me my instructions. I install an app on my phone so the Great Detectives can track me when I'm the bait. There's nothing else I have to do to get ready. I usually do my homework on Friday night. But that seems like a waste of time if I might die tomorrow.

Then I get too anxious sitting around thinking about dying. So I do my homework anyway. And I go to sleep early because I'm so tired.

Saturday

"Father, can you give me a ride to school? I'm taking another water sample from the Reeding River in the Bellamy Forest." This is part of the plan, in case the killer bugged my house. The Great Detectives thought of everything. I hope.

At school, Marshall meets me and drives me to the same spot. This is in case the killer is tracking Marshall's car. They don't really know how he knew to find me that first time in the woods.

I'm so nervous and filled with dread. Marshall tries to talk to me during the car ride, but I can't concentrate. He drops me off. "Don't worry, Andrea, everything will be fine." That reassures me until I remember about small lies. 

"It's been nice talking to you, Marshall. Good-bye."

Marshall: "Hey, don't say good-bye like that. You'll be fine."

"Okay." I give up on how to say good-bye. I thought I was doing it right. I give up on saying the right thing. I give up on trying to be normal.

So I get out of the car, feeling frustrated about me and my life, and I start walking by myself into the woods. The plan is that he will shoot above me when I get to the tree with the X. He doesn't want to kill me. His MO is to leave dead bodies for me.

But serial killers are crazy. If he decides he wants to kill me, then I have to hope he's a bad aim. Except he was a good aim when he shot the EPA agents.

I start to imagine him shooting me in the head and killing me. I walk slower. I try to imagine I'm just taking a walk in an empty woods. I can't -- I keep imagining the killer waiting for me with a rifle. I stop, paralyzed, in the middle of the woods.

I feel my body turn around towards the car. But the Great Detectives would be so disappointed in me. They planned a lot for this day. All I have to do is be the bait. I turn around, try to be brave, and walk further into the woods.

If he shot me in the head, I would fall to the ground, lifeless. My life would be over. My parents would be so sad. I stop again. I can't go on. I start walking back to the car.

So we won't find him today. Then he'll kill my mother. The police can't protect her forever. Or he'll just kill someone else. Then maybe he'll leave the dead body for me. Like a really gruesome homework assignment.

I turn around and start walking towards the tree with an X. I have to do it.

It's like I'm in front of an execution squad, except I don't even get a blindfold. I try to close my eyes, but then it's too hard to walk. So I walk towards my execution with my eyes open.

When I get to the tree with the X, I start holding my breath, waiting for the bullet. Then I run out of air and have to breath. I try not to gulp air and make too much noise. The Great Detectives told me not to scream or shriek or screech.

crack

I step on a small dead branch and scare myself to death.

And then I'm past the tree. So the plan didn't work. But, before, he shot at me on my way back. So I keep walking to the river. The plan is for me to take a water sample, in case the killer is watching or if that's what makes him shoot.

I take my sample and start walking back. I wish I was walking with Bradley. I decide my bucket list is to feel his arm around me one more time. I don't want to die today.

But I have to save my mother and other people. So I vow to be a good bait when I get near the tree with the X. And anyway, the only way back to the car is forwards.

CRACK. Everything happens at once. I feel a sharp pain in my right leg. The plan is going wrong, because he's shooting at me in the wrong place in the woods. So the Great Detectives aren't here. I look down and my jeans are ripped and I'm bleeding. So he shot me.

I start running away from the killer. I start to cry, because he's really shooting to kill me. The tears in my eyes make it hard to see.

CRACK

His second shot hits me in the back. I fall face first onto the ground. My back really hurts. When the Great Detectives made me wear this vest, they didn't tell me the bullet would hurt so much. I roll behind a big rock, so he can't see me. But all he has to do is walk up to me and kill me. There's silence. Then I hear him start walking towards me through the woods, getting closer to me.

To kill me.

Then there's this huge noise from all around, like giant lawnmowers or small cars. It surprises me. It surprises the killer too, because when I peek out at him, he's just standing there, looking around. Then I hear the sound of a lot of gunshots from far away but all around us.

I watch the killer from behind my rock. We're both listening and wondering. Suddenly fireworks explode in the sky right above us. They're hard to see because of the daylight, and the killer and I have too much to worry about to be looking at fireworks. But it's confusing. I think the killer has forgotten about me.

Boys on motorcycles start appearing around us in the distance. The get off the motorcycles and hide behind rocks and trees so they don't get killed. But they keep shooting their guns. And when the killer looks one way, the boys on the other side creep up closer. Plus the fireworks are still going off and someone starts ringing a really loud bell.

Then the noises stop, and there is a loud voice from a loudspeaker. It's Kyle. "Killer. Put down your gun and everyone gets out of here alive."

I can see that we are surrounded by Great Detectives. The killer can see that too. He points his rifle at his face. CRACK

I stand up. I can't stop screaming. I can see every second. He looked determined. Then when he saw the boys, he looked worried. Then he gave up and just looked really sad. He pointed his rifle right between his eyes. Then he fired his rifle. Some brains and blood and bone chips came flying out the back. There was blood all over. Then he fell to the ground.

I run to where he is, but I can't do anything. I step away to where I can't see him. Raj is the first one to get to us. He sees the killer and throws up on the ground.

Kyle is the first boy to get to me. "Andrea, stop screaming. You're okay." The other boys get there, including Bradley. He says to Kyle, "She can scream all she wants." He turns to me. "You can scream if you want to, Andrea." Then he puts his arm around me and I stop screaming.

One of the Great Detectives: "She got shot in the leg by the killer. Cool."

Bradley. "NOT COOL!" He looks closely at the wound on the front of my thigh, which is embarrassing because he can see my skin. It's still bleeding a little. "It's a flesh wound. You got lucky Andrea. Can you walk?"

I nod my head yes.

Kyle: "Calvin, get your first aid kit." Calvin runs off. Kyle turns to me. "You should call Detective Jacobs now, Andrea."

I pull out my phone and call Detective Jacobs. Then I give my phone to Jackson, the nearest Great Detective, so he can be the one to talk. He's so nervous he has trouble talking. "Detective Jacobs? We're in the woods. The killer killed himself. Andrea is safe. We're past the tree with the X. This is Jackson." He gives my phone back. "Thanks Andrea, that was the best."

The Great Detectives start talking about what they did and how cool it was, and each one has to tell his own story, except they're all talking at once and I'm the only one who's listening, so they all start talking to me. They are totally in boy heaven.

During this, Calvin comes back with the first aid kit. Bradley tries to pull the bandage out his hand so he can put it on me, but Calvin won't let him because he wants to be the one to put the bandage on my leg. 

Then they argue about whether the killer deserved to die. A few boys say no, but they change their mind when everyone else says that serial killers are supposed to kill themselves when they are surrounded.

Bradley holds me the whole time, so I'm in girl heaven.

Eventually the police get here. They cordon off the area. That's the police word for putting up yellow tape. So it's hard to walk into here, except we're already inside. One policeman starts taking pictures of the dead body.

The detectives arrive right after. When Detective Malich sees the killer he says, "Fat guy." He isn't supposed to talk about people that way.

Detective Jacobs comes straight to me. He looks at my leg too and says I have to go to the hospital to be checked. But Bradley says I don't have to go. So Detective Jacobs was telling a small lie.

Without thinking, I go to touch Detective Jacob's arm, then I realize what I'm doing and pull my hand back. "I'm sorry, Detective Jacobs. But I want to save the environment. It helps if I'm a celebrity." Then I invite everyone to my house.

Detective Malich says they need to question everyone first. I invite the police to my house too. Detective Malich shrugs and agrees to grill everyone at my house. The boys run back to their motorcycles, and Marshall walks back with me to his car and we drive to my house.

I phone my mother and tell her to buy a lot of junk food right now, including Fritos and coke. We are getting a lot of company. She asks why. I tell her to think of why 12 boys and 2 detectives would be coming to our house, and I'll tell her the correct answer when I get there. But she better go to the grocery store first.

On the way we are joined by the Great Detectives and Bradley, all riding their motorcycles and waving at us and smiling.

When we get to my house, everyone parks and runs in. They start eating, then they tell my parents what happened. Except they are too excited and there's always at least 3 boys talking at once. Then Calvin mentions that I was shot.

My mother screeches, "What?" when she hears this.

Everyone stops talking and looks at me. I lift my hand off of my jeans, showing the rip and the blood. My mother faints.

My father tries to help her. So do the boys, but they don't know what to do. Finally my mother revives.

"I'm okay mother. It's just a small flesh wound. I was really lucky."

Bradley: "Wow, Andrea. Now you can tell people you were shot. I mean, I know that's not cool for you. But, but, but . . . it's really cool."

I hold up two fingers. The room goes silent. "I was shot twice."

I go to the closet, get my jacket, and show everyone the hole in my jacket. "He shot me in the back. It's still hurts, but that's all."

Randall: "I bought that bullet-proof vest for her. I saved her life."

Samuel: "It was my idea to get a bullet-proof vest. I'm really the one who saved her life."

Peter: "It was my idea."

As they keep arguing about who saved my life, I realize . . . The only reason I'm alive is that some high school boys thought to get me a bullet proof vest. And I would be dead except they quickly got to me on their motorcycles, even though the killer shot at me in the wrong place in the woods. So they were ready for that too. I feel so grateful.

Then Detective Jacobs and Detective Malich arrive. Detective Jacobs lets only one person talk at a time, though the boys still keep interrupting a lot, and he tries to take notes. Detective Malich just says cool and great and tells the boys how good they did. He's really good at male bonding.

Detective Malich: "What do you think, Jacobs, should we tell the FBI that everyone is here?"

Detective Jacobs: "You called them 20 minutes ago. You didn't say we were coming here? I wondered why they weren't here."

Detective Malich: "I might have forgotten. Whaddaya say boys, should we call the FBI?" They all cheer.

Then an ambulance finally arrives for me. They walk in and ask if someone was shot. Everyone points to me. I put my best face forward: "I was only shot twice." The boys start cheering and laughing and shouting, "Only twice."

The ambulance people take me into another room and look at me, which is embarrassing. They decide my back is just bruised and there are no broken ribs. They put their own bandage on my leg wound. I can see it's a better bandage -- they're experts. Then they leave.

Then Detective Jacobs and Detective Malich have to leave. Detective Malich explains, "We have to go see about a dead man." The boys all want to come, but they aren't allowed to. Detective Malich asks Detective Jacobs, "Do you want to be the bad cop, or should I?"

Detective Jacobs: "I'll do it. I'm sorry, boys, but I'm going to have to take your guns. Minors can't have handguns."

Kyle: "All right, guys, he has to confiscate our weapons."

So they confiscate all of the guns. As they are leaving, Detective Jacobs gives me a big smile and says, "From now on, Andrea, stay out of trouble."

I smile. "Yes sir."

Then Agent Chien arrives with some of his partners. My mother sends my father out for more food and says to get real food this time. I tell him we need more junk food too, because everything got eaten. Then we get to tell our stories all over again. And the boys can say they were grilled by the FBI.

Then the EPA arrives. "Bad news. We found a bunker in the forest that the killer was using. The bodies of Agents DeBelski and Payne were inside. So they're dead. The killer was storing radioactive cobalt and a few other things we haven't been able to assess yet."

Agent Chien: "How bad is it now?"

"The structure is starting to crumble and leak. That's why Dr. Bowy detected elevated radioactivity in the water samples. People shouldn't use water from the Reeding River until we stop the leaking. We were headed for a possible disaster if the leaking became a lot worse. It'll be around a hundred thousand to clean up, and that area of the forest will be quarantined for about a year."

Bradley says softly, "Wow, Andrea. We were protecting Greenvale. Just like our poster said."

The agent turns to us. "There could easily have been illness and eventual deaths from an undetected major leak."

He turns back to Agent Chien: "His bunker also contained a plane ticket to Brazil for Monday. He was fleeing. So there would have been no one to monitor the bunker as it decayed."

Then the TV people sweep in. They ask if they can televise here, but they don't wait for an answer, they just start setting up. When the lights and camera are set up, this beautiful woman with a lot of makeup and who is dressed perfect says, "Quiet everyone. We go live in 7 seconds, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. This is Melissa Perry, live, speaking to you from the house of Andrea Wellington. She's the 9th grader who was the gruesome fascination of the Greenvale serial killer. Right now I'm talking to Agent Chien of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. What can you tell us?"

"You might want to first talk to Agent Bodrowski from the EPA. He has some important news."

Agent Bodrowski tells everyone about the pollution and that no one should drink or use the water until the EPA says it's safe. That includes drinking water in Greenvale, they get that from the river. He confirms the deaths of the EPA Agents. Finally he says that Dr. Bowy and the high school students helping him are heroes.

Then Agent Chien is interviewed. Wayne Jenkins had nothing to do with the case. He's still listed as a missing person. If he's listening, his parents miss him and he should come home or call. Horace Burson and Principal Yancy were copycat killings, designed to distract me from forming the Ecology Club and investigating the river. "And of course, this depraved killer did not deter Andrea. Greenvale should be very proud of her."

Melissa Perry: "And now let's hear from this brave 9th grader about what happened today with the serial killer."

I point at Kyle. Bradley says, "You should interview Kyle. He was the head of the Great Detectives Club. They caught the killer."

So then she interviews Kyle. Kyle seems really nervous. But he describes everything they did and then everything that happened, including the serial killer blowing his brains out.

"Thank you, Kyle. Andrea, can you tell us about your discovery of the pollution in the Reeding River?"

I point to Bradley, who says, "She wants me to describe that." So Bradley tells about us taking water samples. He's nervous too, and even stammers once. But he explains it.

I'm thinking what to say when it's my turn. I know I should be nervous. I try to, but I can't. I was shot at by someone wanting to kill me. I'm alive only because some high school boys thought to give me a bullet-proof vest and bring motorcycles. People might have died from pollution if we didn't find the killer. I can't get nervous about a TV camera.

"Thank you, Bradley. Andrea, you risked your life to stop this serial killer. How did you feel when he started shooting at you?"

They point the camera and lights at me, and then I get nervous. But I say what I planned. "Roberta Friend and her group worked really hard to get the Greenvale lunch room to recycle. They made bins for glass, plastics, and paper. But some kids don't pay attention and still dump their trash in the wrong place."

I point at the camera. "You adults are supposed to be taking care of the environment. But it's our environment too, and we have to care. Kids should be recycling, volunteering to help, and telling everyone we want a good environment to live in." And that's what I wanted to say.

Then I answer her question. "I was really scared when he started shooting at me."

Melissa Perry: "What did you do when you heard the first shot?"

"It hit me in the leg, so I started to bleed. It was just a flesh wound. But it hurt, and it's really scary when someone is trying to kill you. Then I started running. Detective Jacobs told me to do that. But the next bullet hit me in the back. I was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but it still knocked me down. Then I just watched."

Melissa Perry: "So you were shot twice. Why did you risk your life?"

"When I decided to be the bait, I thought he wouldn't try to kill me. He just killed other people and left me bodies to find. It was very scary when the Great Detectives said he might try to kill me."

"But you risked your life anyway."

"Yes." Doesn't she already know that? I look to Bradley for help.

Bradley: "She's asking why you went into the woods to be the bait even though you knew you might die."

"Thanks." I turn back to Melissa Perry. "He threatened to kill my mother if I didn't find him. If he couldn't kill my mother, then he would just kill someone else." Do I have to explain that? "It's the MO for serial killers. Plus I didn't know what else to do -- I couldn't bear to find another dead body."

At the end of my interview, we stop going live. Melissa Perry turns to the cameraman and they give each other an excited high-five while all the other TV people start packing up. Camera man: "That was great, Melissa. Do I cut out the ecology speech?"

Melissa Perry: "God no! Half of America will cry when they hear that. That girl has been shot twice, found dead bodies, seen people killed, and she even saw someone blow his brains out. But she still cares about the environment. That's our angle. Put that out in two hours and every TV station nationwide has it in time for the evening news."

She turns to us. "Thanks everyone. You were great. We have to run, that video has an important date with an editing machine." She gives us a big smile and they leave.

The EPA and FBI leave too, so it's just the boys, telling their story again and again. But they have a lot to be proud of -- the killer had a gun, so they risked their lives to save me and stop him. Eventually my parents tell them they have to go and return the motorcycles they rented.

* * *

Now that I'm by myself, I can't stop thinking about the killer, his face changing to hopelessness, him lifting the gun to his face, the explosion, then parts of his brain flying out the back and all of the blood. That was the end of his life.

And then it keeps repeating: The killer, him suddenly being so hopeless, pointing the gun to his face, the loud explosion, parts of his brain and skull flying out the back, and blood all over. That ended his life. I saw his limp body splayed on the ground.

Again. The killer was worried, then he just gave up. He pointed his rifle between his eyes. Then he fired. The explosion was so loud, and I could see his face turning into a bloody mess, parts of his brain flying out the back. Then he fell to the ground, dead. I saw his lifeless body and all of the blood.

Again. The look of total despair on his face. Then something like resolve as he turned his rifle around and pointed it at his face. He grabbed the trigger, and there was this huge explosion, and blood all over his face, and brain and bone and other gunk flying out the back of his head. His life was ended. I saw his chest, not moving, and the emptiness of death.

And again and again.

I look up psychological trauma on the internet. I have it.

* * *

"Mother, Father, what could someone do if that person saw too many dead bodies?"

My mother puts down her book and holds out her arms. "Come here, Andrea." I sit in her lap, she holds me, and I cry. Father stands behind us with his hands on my shoulders.

Father: "We've been studying this topic, Andrea. You need to talk to a psychologist."

Me: "I read that too. But I never know what to say to people. I would be too nervous and anxious."

Father: You can say whatever you want, Andrea. And we'll find the nicest psychologist in Greenvale."

I think about this. Maybe it would be okay.

Mother adds, "You like talking to some people. You like talking to Bradley."

She's right. "And I talked to the Great Detectives."

Mother: "And your friends at the anti-fracking rally."

"Maybe I don't have to be so nervous talking to someone when I know they're on my side."

Father: "If you can talk like that in front of the TV camera, you can talk to anyone. You showed a lot of poise and courage."

"Am I growing up, Father?"

He smiles. "That's a lob pitch. You are growing up so fast."

Mother smiles. "Easy to hit that one out of the park. Finding a new friend -- Bradley."

Father: "Inviting friends to our house."

Mother: "Protecting the Reeding River."

Father: "Helping to find a killer."

As they list ways I have grown up this year, I sit in my mother's lap and she holds me. It's a long list, and it helps me feel better about myself.

Sunday

The news people call him the Pollution Killer. He was getting money to store radioactive cobalt and other bad things, then keeping most of the money and not storing everything properly.

He worked near Dr. Bowy, so he heard about the plan to take water samples. That's when he started trying to scare me off. When the EPA came, he killed them before he could be caught, so he would have time to flee the country. So he was an evil person, risking other people's lives and safety just to make money.

Bradley emails me some great ideas for new posters. Some of them are because I'm a celebrity. "The Dead Body Girl says, wear a bullet proof vest when people are shooting at you and recycle your trash after lunch." "Andrea would rather find another dead body than your glass bottle in the plastics bin." But some are because of the good work we did. "The Greenvale Ecology Club: Protectors of the Reeding River and the people of Greenvale."

Mother and Father ground me for a week because I risked my life without first asking their permission. Except I never go out anyway. They must have found that punishment on the internet.

Cynthia texts me that we have an appointment to talk to our State Representative about fracking.

WEEK 8

Monday

I'm a celebrity at school. I just walk in and everyone starts calling out to me. "Hi Andrea."  "Hey, Dead Body Girl!" "Saw you on TV. Cool!"  "I'm going to recycle now, Dead Body Girl." "Only shot twice!"

A lot of students want to talk to me. I have a really exciting day.

Rachel gives me a mean look. "This won't last, Screech."

Miss Banks gives us an assignment to find three examples each of metaphors, similes, and symbols. So now we are studying different ways of telling the truth. I like that better.

Tuesday

I still wish Bradley rode the morning bus.

Symbol. I erase Detective Jacobs' phone number from my cell phone. I'm done with finding dead bodies and being grilled by the police. That feels so good.

* * *

Today at school things are back to normal and no one is paying attention to me. Now I can just be an ordinary student in the Ecology Club. I like it. If I have children, I can tell them about when I was a celebrity.

* * *

Symbol. My table is empty. My life is back to normal now.

Before, it was okay to eat by myself, because I got anxious about talking to people. But I really liked having all of the boys at my table. Now I feel lonely eating by myself. I hope so much that Bradley still sits by me on the bus ride home. Is that going to change too?

Robin comes over. She's a 9th grader in the Ecology Club. "Come eat with us, Andrea."

"Can I just listen? Or do I have to talk?"

She smiles. "You can just listen if you want to."

"Thanks." I pick up my stuff while she waits for me, then I follow her over to her table. She pulls up a chair for me and I sit down at a crowded table of ninth-graders. Robin introduces me to her friends. Everyone knows me of course because I was the Dead Body Girl. But she calls me Andrea and says nice things about me being in the Ecology Club.

I look around the lunchroom while I listen to them talk. The Great Detectives are spread out over the lunch room. Jackson sees me looking and waves hi to me and smiles. I blush and smile and wave back. Then someone asks me a question and I join into the table conversation for a little while.

I see my empty table. I decide it's not mine any more -- someone else can have it. I remember starting 9th grade without a single friend. The Great Detectives still act like they are my friends. Robin acted like my friend today. Maybe I can make friends with other people in the Ecology Club. I never realized how lonely I was before. Nobody should have to be that lonely.

* * *

I get on the bus. Bradley comes on and sits with me, making me so happy. He acts like this is his place to sit on the bus and he wants to be with me. We ride and talk. I have a friend who likes me. And I can talk to him and not be nervous.

Bradley: "How cool is this, Andrea? Mrs. McVeigh is teaching us the history of the ecology movement. Did you know that in the olden days, no one worried about the environment? They just thought they could do whatever they wanted."

"That's so wrong."

Bradley: "Totally."

"You should be in my English class. Today Miss Banks started teaching us about putting our best face forward and making posters and public relations."

Bradley: "Wow. Can I look at your notes when she's done?"

I touch his arm. "Sure."

* * *

I stand at my front door. Metaphor. This door opens to the rest of my life. I'll still have problems, like being teased and people who don't care about the environment. But I can face them -- just like I can open this door. I smile and bravely walk into my house.

Mr. McBride's body

On our living room floor.

When my mind comes back to me, I realize I've been screaming. I don't know how long. I stop screaming. His chest isn't moving. Our house phone is ringing.

I tell myself not to be scared of another dead body. But this is too horrible. It's Mr. McBride. I knew him. He was my teacher. And now he's dead. The phone is still ringing. The sign on his chest says

ANSWER
THE PHONE

Mr. McBride was funny. He taught me science and about the environment. The phone keeps ringing.

I answer the phone. My mother screams from the phone, "Andrea, don't let him kill you. Whatever he says, don't do it. Let me die." She sounds terrified. I hear a man tell her, "Shut up." Then he talks on the phone to me very nicely. "Hi sweet Andrea. Did you recognize that voice?"

I'm so terrified I can barely answer. "My mother."

"Right. Be a good girl, or I'll kill her."

"Being good."

He's still talking very nice. "I killed Mr. McBride. He should have sponsored your club. I heard him saying he didn't because it was too much work. Wow, I feel like a cat proudly showing off a dead mouse. His dead body is a present from me to you, Andrea."

I can't say thank you. I just can't.

"Walk outside right now. Get in my car. Do that and I won't kill your mother. I promise."

"My Mother said I shouldn't."

"You said you would be a good girl. Do you want to open a door and find your mother's dead body?"

I look at Mr. McBride and imagine seeing my mother in his place. Her limbs in some strange position only a dead person would take. A lifeless look on her face. Her chest not moving. My own mother. I would rather be dead. "I don't want that."

He says, "Then be a good girl and come to me. I'm right in front of your house."

"Okay. I have to get my coat and put it on."

When I walk outside, there's a car in front of my house. A man in the front seat is waving at me happily. It's the janitor from school. The janitor in my Wayne Jenkins dream.

He opens the front door on the passenger side and I get in. My mother is lying in the back seat. She's tied up and gagged, but she's still screaming a lot and struggling frantically to get free. She isn't happy to see me. The Beast's top hat is on the floor in the back seat, but it's crumpled.

I sit in the front seat and let the janitor tie my hands behind my back. Now I can't use my arms. I feel helpless. Then he ties a rope around my neck and to the headrest on the car. So I can't move at all. I feel completely trapped, like I'm just an object. Finally he ties my legs. I think about kicking him while he does that. But I'm too afraid, and it wouldn't accomplish anything.

Then he takes out a syringe. I think he is going to inject me, but instead he grabs my mother. My mother tries to fight him, but she's tied up and he's strong. So he just holds her arm and injects her. She slowly relaxes and stops yelling and fighting and screaming. So it's more peaceful in the car.

"I'm going to put her back into your house. I promised I wouldn't kill her. Did you leave the door unlocked?"

"No." I would never do that.

"Good girl. You should always be careful."

"The house key is in my coat pocket."

He holds up a key. "I have my own. You left your key in your locker. I made a copy."

Then he carries my mother into the house. I try to move, but I can't.

He comes back. He buckles my seat belt and we drive off. "There, she's safe, just like I promised. And I locked the house door. Are you happy?"

"About my mother. About the door."

He drives into the school parking lot, then over to the far side of the lot away from the school, to the small bumpy road that leads to the log cabin. It's just an old cabin in the woods near the school, and it never gets used for anything. No one's around. He unbuckles me and unties my neck from the headrest. Then he carries me to the cabin, holding his hand over my mouth. It's always locked, but he has a key to the door.

I walk down the steps into the room. He tells me to sit in the large chair in the middle of the room. He unties my hands, then reties them in the back of the chair. I try to move the chair, but it's too heavy.

He just looks at me and studies me. I can't move, I can only sit there. Simile. I feel like a butterfly in his butterfly collection.

He softly strokes my face. I don't like it.

The janitor: "You're so sweet. And smart. And pretty."

"What? I'm pretty?"

"Your screeching is hard on the ears, I gotta admit that." He laughs. "And you're still gawky. But your face is so pretty. And your long blond hair is so silky and beautiful. You would have grown up to be a beautiful woman."

Past tense. "Are you going to kill me?"

The janitor: "Yes."

"I don't want to die." He didn't tell me he was going to kill me. But I always knew he would. He's a serial killer. That's their MO.

The janitor: "No one ever wants to die. I've learned that. When people are facing their own death, they realize that they really really don't want to die." He smiles at me. "But then they do."

"Because you kill them."

He smiles. "Yes. When I saw Wayne Jenkins spitting in your face, I vowed to kill him. He should never have done that to you."

"He was mean. But getting killed seems like too much punishment."

"Not for him. Anyway, being a killer made it easier for me to kill again. I wanted to kill Rachel Burson. I saw how much she teased you. But when I went into her house, her father was home instead of her. So I had to kill him. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. You did your best." I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

The janitor: "Principal Yancy tried to stop your Ecology Club."

"He did?" Stop screeching, Andrea.

"Yes, I overheard your advisor talking to another teacher. He told her to stop the club. Principal Yancy was evil."

"Yes." Why did he try to stop our Ecology Club? It's doing good things. We protected the Reeding River. That doesn't make any sense.

The janitor: "So I killed him for you. I told you about Mr. McBride. He was too lazy to be the advisor for your Ecology Club."

"Is that really evil? It seems bad to me, but I don't understand how it's evil."

"That was a stretch, I admit that. But I wanted to leave a dead body for you today, and I didn't want to leave your mother."

"Thank you." I appreciate that. "Except for killing people, you seem like a nice man."

The janitor gets some tears in his eyes. "I am. You're the first person to see that. Even my mother didn't appreciate me. I always knew you were special."

"Thank you."

The janitor: "Did you touch any of the dead bodies I left you?"

I shriek at the thought. "No."

The janitor: "They're cold. And lifeless. When I was a boy, I would play with the dead animals I found in the street. Did you ever do that? No, you wouldn't do that."

"Once."

The janitor: "Really? What kind of animal?" He's interested.

"A squirrel."

"Squirrels are fun to play with. Tell me about it."

"I dropped it on the street and looked how the limbs and head fell into different positions."

The janitor looks like he's in serial-killer heaven. "It was freshly dead then. Rigor mortis hadn't set in."

"I read about that on the internet."

The janitor: "You are so smart."

I knew that part.

The janitor: "You and I are alike then." He smiles. "Everyone teased me when I was in school. They made my life miserable." Then he looks sad. "Except you're good and I'm evil. That's how we're different."

"You can try to be good from now on."

The janitor: "No, sweet Andrea. My life is over too."

"Maybe if you apologize, the police will let you go."

The janitor: "You are too nice."

I knew that part too.

The janitor: "I left a message for you to find me. Did you see that?"

"Did."

The janitor: "But you didn't try to find me. Were you being a bad girl?"

"The message on the bowling ball said not to look for you."

He looks puzzled. "What bowling ball?"

"You threw a bowling ball through my window."

The janitor: "That must have been the Pollution Killer. Really, a bowling ball? That's kind of funny."

I'm glad someone else agrees with me about that.

The janitor: "So I made it easy for you to find me. I was right outside your house."

"Thank you, I don't think I could have found you without your help. Why did you shoot at me?"

"I never shot at you. That was the Pollution Killer. Didn't you see the news?"

I forgot. Stupid.

The janitor: "Does anyone know you are here?"

"No."

"You wouldn't lie, right?"

"I lied twice."

He looks disappointed in me. "Tell me all about it. I'm a very good listener."

"I told Detective Jacobs that Wayne Jenkins and I had an affair in Moscow."

The janitor: "You never had an affair. You're a good girl. Right, Andrea?"

"Yes." But when he says that, I don't want to be a good girl. Tomorrow, I want to start smoking, say curse words in front of my parents, and throw glass bottles in the plastics bin. But I won't be alive tomorrow.

The janitor: "Why did you do that?"

"We were learning about irony in my English class."

The janitor: "Are you sorry you told that lie?"

"Yes."

SLAP. He suddenly slaps me really hard on my face. It hurts a lot. I start to cry.

"You're forgiven, Andrea. What was the other lie?"

"I told my parents that there was a Santa Claus."

The janitor: "Why did you do that?"

"I was just seeing what they would do if I lied."

The janitor: "Are you sorry you did that?"

"Yes."

I know another slap is coming. I could try to avoid it, but I want to be forgiven. SLAP. He slaps me really hard on the other side of my face. It really hurts. But I don't cry.

The janitor: "Now you can die without sin, Andrea. So pure. So sweet."

"Why are you killing me?"

He looks sad. "You don't know what it's like, Andrea. You don't know what's ahead. I see the 12th grade girls wearing heavy makeup and earrings in their nose. I see them dressing in short skirts like sluts. I hear about some of the pregnancies. I don't want that to ever happen to you."

"I promise not to be like that."

"You can promise. But women are weak. And temptation is strong. Today you can die pure and innocent. You'll go straight to heaven. That's the safest way. Trust me."

"But I want to help save the environment. My parents will miss me."

He shrugs. "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette."

"Are you going to shoot me?"

"No, then someone would find your body. They might touch you. I want to be the last one who sees you. That means a lot to me. That reminds me, I want to take a picture." He takes a picture of me. Then he takes a selfy of us together. He looks at them on his camera. "You aren't smiling."

"Sorry. I tried to smile, but I couldn't."

The janitor: "That's okay, you did your best. Well, let's get going with this." He starts the curtains on fire.

"I'm going to burn down the cabin with you in it. The police will find just your ashes." He puts wood around my chair so that I will burn better when the fire starts.

The janitor: "I have one more dead body for you, Andrea."

"I don't want any more dead bodies."

The janitor: "Relax Andrea, you're with a friend. Who was mean to you?"

"Rebecca?" A lot of people.

"Really mean."

"I don't know."

The janitor: "Me, Andrea. I was mean to you. You should have guessed that. Your last present is my dead body." He shows me a small bottle. "This poison will kill me in minutes. I kill each person a different way, that's my MO. I'm kind of proud of that."

"I don't want you to die."

"You are so sweet, Andrea." The curtain is burning hard and it starts the wall on fire. "The Pollution Killer was my inspiration. If he can die in front of your eyes, I can too."

So the cabin is starting to burn down. I see a chair catch fire. Then he stands in front of me and swallows the poison. He softly strokes my hair for a few seconds. He likes me. Then we watch together as more of the house burns. I start to cough.

Then his body starts to tremble. He starts twitching and falls to the floor. He can't talk easily now, but he forces out, "Help me, Andrea. I don't want to die."

He was right, no one does. But my hands are tied behind my back to the chair. Plus he didn't tell me where the antidote is. So I can't help him. He stops twitching. Then I can see he isn't breathing, so he's dead and I'm all alone.

Now I see the house starting to burn a lot. I'm choking and coughing bad from the smoke. I'll be just a charred, burned-up skeleton. Or maybe just ashes.

I don't want to die either. But there's nothing I can do. I will never again see my parents smiling as they answer one of my questions. I will never again be sitting in the bus and have Bradley come and sit next to me. And I won't be able to help the environment. It's not fair.

I try to imagine Bradley crashing through the door and saving me, so I can die with a happy thought. But the door just looks closed. So I can't do that right either. The smoke is getting really bad and hurting my lungs. I hold my breath as long as I can, so I don't have to breathe the smoke. I see the smoke around me getting thicker as I hold my breath. The ceiling is catching fire in places.

Finally I have to breathe. I take a big gulping breath, but it's all hot air and smoke. It hurts my lungs really bad. I start to lose consciousness and there are dark spots in my eyes. But that helps me hallucinate Bradley rushing through the door to save me. So my last thought before I die is happy.

* * *

I wake up in heaven. I still feel groggy and my lungs still hurt. I have to cough. I open my eyes and see Bradley up above me. I feel him holding my head in his lap. The rest of me is on a cold ground. But it feels good to be held by Bradley. I like heaven a lot.

But then I get a horrible thought. "Are you dead too?"

He looks at me. "You're conscious. Good. I was worried about you. I'm not dead."

"Am I dead?"

Bradley: "Not on my watch."

"Good. I didn't want to die. What happened?"

Bradley: "When I got here, the house was on fire. I saved you from the fire. Then stuff started crashing in all over and I couldn't go back for that guy."

"He was already dead. Bradley, he was the real serial killer. He killed Wayne Jenkins and Mr. Burson and Principal Yancy, and Mr. McBride. And he was seconds from killing me."

"Mr. McBride?"

"I found his body too."

"I'm really sorry about that, Andrea."

"Thanks." He understands me. "How did you know I was here?"

Bradley: "I got your call asking for help. You sounded terrified. But you hung up before saying what the problem was. I finally got my sister to drive me to your house. When you weren't there, I tracked your phone to this building. My sister parked in the school lot and I ran up the road as fast as I could."

I hold up three fingers.

"You lied a third time?"

"He told me to come out to his car. I said I would but that I was getting my coat on. Really, I still had my coat on and I was calling you. But I didn't have much time to talk, I didn't want him to get suspicious. I also told him no one knew where I was. But I thought that was true, I forgot about the locater app on my phone. So that wasn't a lie."

"Smart thinking. You're a good heroine."

"Thank you." I look up at him. "So, you ran into a burning building to save my life."

He gets a really big grin on his face. "Yeah!"

"You're a really good hero. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome."

Then I notice his arm is bleeding and looks burned. I go to touch it, but Bradley flinches away. "What happened to your arm?"

"I couldn't lift the chair, it was too heavy. And I couldn't drag it up the steps. So I had to untie you. Burning pieces were starting to fall from the ceiling, so it was really scary, plus there was all the smoke and heat. A burning piece of wood hit me while I was untying you."

"Does it hurt?"

He smiles a little. "No." Then he grimaces. "Yeah, it hurts a lot."

"You should go to the hospital."

"I know. I called the police. They'll be here soon. You'll have to go to the hospital too, for smoke inhalation."

"We can take the ambulance together."

Bradley: "Cool."

"Yeah, cool."

Bradley: "Did you know the killer?"

"The janitor."

He nods. "It's always the janitor."

And then I don't know what to talk about. "The janitor thought I was pretty."

He looks surprised. "You are."

"I am?" I'm trying my best not to shriek.

Bradley: "I think you're pretty." He turns bright red.

"No one told me before."

Bradley: "I thought you knew."

I get so frustrated with myself. "Didn't." He thinks I'm pretty! "Um, Bradley, I think the boy and girl are supposed to . . ." Before the police come. I can't say it. But they always do in all of he movies.

Bradley: "I know. I just didn't know if you wanted . . ."

I look up at Bradley. "Do."

I close my eyes, then feel his lips softly on mine. I'm happy.