Free Who Killed the Homecoming Queen? by R.L. Stine, Bill Schmidt Page A

school,” Eva explained. “Yesterday afternoon, right before the shoot. He was at his locker and you two were around the corner from him.”
    Cherise thought about it a moment. “Oh!” she cried. “I know what that was! I was helping Sandy rehearse for Keith’s video. I was helping him learn his lines!”
    Eva felt a surge of relief. Keith’s script was full of lines like the one Jeremy overheard. Cherise’s explanation made total sense.
    Thank goodness, she thought. Now I don’t have to walk around thinking Cherise is a killer.
    â€œI can’t believe Jeremy would accuse us of something like that!” Cherise declared. “That’s horrible!”
    â€œHe’s kind of a mess, too,” Eva reminded her.
    â€œYeah. I guess so.” As Cherise started toward the table for her soda, the phone rang. She turned back to the counter, and punched a button on the telephone. “Hello?”
    A muffled hissing sound filled the room. Eva glanced around.
    â€œSpeakerphone,” Eva whispered to her. “Hello?” she repeated.
    The hissing stopped.
    Eva heard the caller take a long, slow breath.
    And then an eerie, whispery voice filled the kitchen. “I killed Tania,” it rasped. “You’re next.”

chapter 19
 
    E
va gasped as the words echoed in the big kitchen.
    â€œWho is this?” Cherise demanded. The blood had drained from her face. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œTania was first,” the voice rasped. “You’re next.”
    A loud click made Eva jump.
    Then the dial tone hummed in the room.
    Cherise hung up and wrapped her arms around herself with a shiver. “Who
was
that?” she asked shrilly.
    Eva shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    Cherise shivered again. “I couldn’t even tell if itwas a boy or a girl! And who was he talking to? Me? You? Both of us?”
    Eva didn’t reply. She stared at her glass of soda, trying to figure out what was going on.
    â€œEva? What are you thinking?” Cherise asked.
    â€œSomething is wrong,” Eva told her.
    â€œNo kidding.”
    Eva shook her head again. “No, I mean this whole thing just doesn’t feel right. Something is not the way it seems.”
    â€œWell, what?” Cherise demanded.
    â€œI don’t have a clue,” Eva admitted. “It’s a feeling.”
    â€œOh. One of your psychic ones.” Cherise sounded skeptical.
    â€œThey’ve never been wrong,” Eva told her. “But it’s not like a vision or anything like that. I can just feel when something is wrong.”
    â€œToo bad your ‘feeling’ can’t tell us who called.” Cherise rubbed her arms and eyed the phone warily. “That voice really spooked me. I keep trying to convince myself it was just a prank call.”
    â€œMe too. But we’d better report it to the police.” Eva sighed as Cherise picked up the phone. The caller said he killed Tania, she thought. Maybe Tania really is dead.
    â€œWhoa! That must have freaked you out,” Keith declared after school the next day. “What did he say again?”
    â€œHe said ‘I killed Tania. You’re next,’” Eva repeated. “But I couldn’t really tell if it was a he—and neither could Cherise. The voice was so weird. Harsh and whispery.”
    Eva shivered as she stood with Keith in the school parking lot. Dry leaves skittered around in the wind, and dark clouds raced across the sky.
    Winter will be here soon, she thought, shivering again.
    And Tania is still missing.
    She gazed across the parking lot. Jeremy leaned against the side of a car, a glum expression on his face. She’d just told him and Keith about the phone call.
    Jeremy hadn’t said a word. He’d just walked halfway across the parking lot and then stopped, as if he couldn’t decide what to do or where to go.
    The longer Tania stays