Free Plastic Polly by Jenny Lundquist Page B

the show was against the rules?”
    Kelsey shrugs. “Have you seen how thick that PlanMaster guide thingy is?”
    Which is basically her way of saying no.
    My cell rings—it’s a number I don’t recognize—and I answer it.
    â€œPolly? Don’t hang up. It’s Justin.”
    â€œJustin?” I look at Kelsey and mouth, It’s him! I punch the speakerphone button so she can hear.
    Kelsey hurls the pillow at me. I duck, and it sails into a bunch of get-well cards on her desk. “You tell that lying, spying little—”
    I motion for her to be quiet. To Justin I say, “That was my friend. Don’t mind her. What do you want? And how did you get this number, anyway?”
    â€œIt’s on the list of contact numbers Mr. Fish passed out after you left. You ran out of there really fast, and I wanted to talk to you.”
    â€œWhy? So you could spy on me some more? Did you tell your whole team about me?”
    â€œHang up!” Kelsey yells. “He’s probably spying on you right now!” Kelsey throws another pillow at me, and it hits me in the head.
    â€œDon’t hang up!” Justin sounds panicky. “I’m not spying on you, and I wasn’t last night either. I tried to tell you not to talk about Groove It Up, but—”
    â€œTried!” Kelsey shouts. “Of all the idiotic, stupid, and—”
    â€œKelsey!” I yell. “If you don’t stop talking, I swear I’m going to tell your mom about the time you borrowed her diamond earrings without asking.”
    Kelsey lies back in bed, grumbling. “Fine, but if you need me to beat him up with my cast, you just let me know.”
    â€œPolly, I didn’t mean to spy on you,” Justin says. “And I didn’t tell Mr. Pritchard I met you. I just said I’d heard somewhere that Winston Academy was giving all their slots to their cheerleading squad.”
    â€œSo basically you just blew our whole strategy.”
    â€œPolly, it was against the rules. It wasn’t fair.”
    â€œWhatever,” I say, even though I agree with him. “I’ve got to go. Thanks to you I have to come up with a whole new plan.”
    I punch the disconnect button and then collapse onto the bed next to Kelsey. The phone rings—it’s Justin again—but I let it go to voice mail.
    â€œWhat an idiot,” Kelsey says.
    â€œJustin’s not an idiot,” I say, staring at the ceiling.
    â€œI wasn’t talking about Justin .” Kelsey nudges me, to let me know she’s just kidding.
    I turn and look at her. “You’re not going to tell anyone about this, right? I mean, if Melinda and everyone else found out, I’d probably get banished from the Court.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? You’re not going to get kicked out of the Court.” Kelsey looks offended. “ I’m the one who kicks people out of the Court, and I say you’restaying. Although, you do something like this again, and I might reconsider.”
    â€œGee, thanks. Your compassion is truly amazing.”
    â€œDon’t mention it.” Kelsey settles back on her pillows. “How were things at the Court today?”
    I shrug. “Melinda invited Jenna to eat with us.”
    The minute the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. Melinda has mentioned inviting Jenna to the Court several times this year, and Kelsey has always told her to forget it.
    â€œShe what?” Kelsey’s voice is low. Dangerous. I figure it’s a good thing for Melinda that Kelsey won’t be in school tomorrow.
    Kelsey grabs her cell phone from her nightstand, and soon her fingers are flying as she taps out one, two, three text messages with her good hand. I assume they’re to Melinda, but I don’t ask.
    â€œFeel better?” I ask when she’s finished.
    â€œSlightly.”
    â€œYou know, if you came back to school tomorrow, you could