Free Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 00.5 - Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures by Elaine Orr Page B

small, but it’s just my parents and me. ”
    A couple of schoolbooks were on the kitchen table and a notebook next to them showed she was working on some kind of homework . “You want some juice or something?” She walked toward the kitchen and I followed her. She gestured to a chair next to the one she was using.
    “I don’t think so, but thanks .” It was an older-style kitchen, with nothing like the expensive stove my dad had bought my mother for Mother’s Day last year. I sat down.
    “I’m trying to finish homework in time to watch that new show, Quantum Leap .”
    “Time travel,” I said . “That would suit me a lot of days.”
    “Scoobie told me your parents came home for awhile over Christmas. That was good, right?”
    Scoobie was one of the only people in town who knew what was really going on with my parents but I’d told the lie about travel in Europe to so many people I couldn’t keep track. I wondered why Scoobie had discussed Christmas dinner with Margo. “Yep. They’re gone again, though.”
    “Gee, your parents must be into some heavy coin .” She glanced at my camouflage pants as she said this. I made a mental note to get a second pair, maybe the darker color.
    “I think my dad invests a lot in the stock market .” My heart was pounding. “I guess I should…”
    “Jolie, I um…”
    I had half stood up to leave, but sat back down. Margo looked uncomfortable. “What?  Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine .” She said this very quickly. “I thought you should maybe know something about Scoobie, something he’s kind of worried about.”
    This surprised me . “Okay…”
    “It’s just, he and his parents, they didn’t really go to Vermont.”
    Double surprise . “How do you know that?”
    “My mom, she kind of knows Scoobie’s mom.”
    I wasn’t sure why Margo was telling me this. I also wasn’t sure I believed her, but she’d never been mean, that I could see, anyway. “Does your mom work nights, too?” I asked.
    This seemed to confuse Margo, so I added, “Where Scoobie’s mom works .” I realized I was not sure where this was.
    “Oh, no,” she said . “They’ve both lived in Ocean Alley most of their lives. They, uh, run into each other in the grocery store sometimes.” She fidgeted with the pencil that sat on her notebook.
    “I wonder why he would lie ?” I said this almost to myself.
    “It probably wasn’t intentional,” she said, quickly.
    That unfogged my brain a little. It sounded as if she was saying Scoobie’s trip had been canceled. I couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t tell me that. “Oh, okay. Well, thanks for telling me.” This time I did stand up, and she did the same and followed me to the door.
    When I put my hand on the knob I half turned to face her . “Thanks for asking me in.”
    “Sure,” she said.
    When I looked back at her door once I reached the sidewalk, she had shut it. That was one weird conversation.
     
    SCOOBIE CAUGHT UP with me when I was on my way to homeroom the next day. “Are you still ticked at me?”
    “You were the one who was ticked about something,” I said . “Are you going to tell me what it was?”
    “Just something somebody said . I’ll catch you after lunch.” He turned and walked in the opposite direction.
    I couldn’t figure out what was going on with him . It looked as if he found me this morning to be sure I was talking to him.
    Usually when we say the Pledge of Allegiance I think about whether I did all the homework I was supposed to . Something about being actually in the building seems to improve my memory. Today I tried to interpret what Margo had said about Scoobie’s family trip and wondered why he had lied about coming home early rather than not going at all. Nothing made sense, so I decided to go for the ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away option. It was up to Scoobie to talk to me if he wanted to.
     
    “MS. GENTIL. THE ANSWER to how many countries were formed from the former Soviet Republics is