Free Fabulous Five 009 - The Boyfriend Dilemma by Betsy Haynes

the room with his broom and Mr. Neal
moved in herky-jerky motions that made all the kids laugh. Christie looked at
Mr. Neal, and even he was smiling at the way he looked.
    As the videotape reached the point where the custodian was
cleaning the table, Jon slowed it again, and when the custodian put the blue folder
on her books, it stopped. Christie looked at the faces of the Super Quiz team,
and their eyes were fixed on the television screen.
    Then the custodian started cleaning again, and when he moved
half of her books, the video stopped so no one could miss what was happening.
The frame froze once more when he placed the books on top of the blue folder,
sandwiching it in between. The room was deathly quiet as everyone stared
transfixed at the television set.
    " That's how Mr. Neal's folder got in with my
books," said Christie loudly so everyone could hear.
    The kids in the room started applauding and Tim began
shouting and punching his fist into the air. No one paid any attention to the
rest of the video.
    Shivers of joy ran through Christie, and the tears she had held
back so long ran down her cheeks as she stood in front of the Super Quiz team
and listened to their cheers. She smiled at Jon, who stood in the back. He
returned her smile, gave her a thumbs-up, and walked out of the room.
    "Wait!" Christie cried as she raced after him. He
was more important than all the Super Quiz teams in the world, and she had to
tell him so.
    "Jon?" she called shyly when she reached the
hallway and saw that he had stopped to wait for her. "Can I talk to you a
minute?"
    "Sure," he said.
    "I just want you to know that you're the best friend
anyone could ever have. No matter what happens, I'll never forget this."
    Jon chuckled softly. "Want to know a secret?"
    Christie nodded.
    "I'm not the one who spotted the blue folder in the
tape. In fact, I was so busy thinking about all the technical stuff that I wasn't
really paying much attention to what anyone in the film was doing."
    Christie frowned. "What do you mean?" she
sputtered. "Of course you did. Otherwise . . ." She shook her head
and raised both arms in a helpless shrug. "Otherwise how . . ."
    Jon held up his hand. "Kimm was the one who noticed it.
Like everybody else in school, she had heard about the mess you were in over
the folder and the questions, and when she looked at the tape, it was the first
thing she saw."
    "Kimm?" Christie whispered in astonishment.
    "That's right," said Jon. "I tried to get her
to come along and take the credit, but she wouldn't. She even made me promise
that I wouldn't tell you. She knows that things have been a little rocky
between us lately, and she not only wanted to make sure you got out of trouble,
but that you and I patched things up with each other."
    Christie swallowed hard. "She sounds terrific to do a
thing like that."
    Jon nodded. "I have a feeling the two of you are going
to be friends, too."
    Christie smiled to herself as she watched him walk away a
few minutes later. Their special friendship would probably last forever, and
now she knew there was no way that she would ever be jealous of Kimm again
either. Kimm was a special person, just as Jon was, and everything was truly
going to be all right from now on.
     
    The score was tied at one hundred eighty each, and the
moderator was taking a few minutes to confer with the judges. It was the third
and last match between the Wakeman and Trumbull Super Quiz teams, and they had
each won one game. Christie could feel the tension among the players, and the
audience was getting noisier and noisier as the match drew near its end.
    She could see The Fabulous Five sitting five rows back. Beth
had her head in her hands and was rocking back and forth dramatically in her
excitement. Melanie had her eyes covered, as if she were afraid to look, and
Jana and Katie were sitting on the edges of their seats.
    Christie's mother and father sat farther back. She smiled at
them and wondered if they could see her