Part 3 (2/2)

*Her broken toe just hurts,' Caroline said.

I was glad Caroline was such a quick thinker. I wouldn't have been able to think of something that fast. I was still remembering how Prince Peter's face had looked as all those girls had caught up with him. He'd seemed totally panicked.

*Oh dear,' Mrs Hunter said. *Well, why don't you three go up the stairs now, ahead of everyone else, so Sophie gets a bit of a head start? That way she won't get crushed when the rest of us go up. Would that be all right, Sophie?'

Sophie lifted her tear-stained face and nodded, unable to speak in her grief.

*Th-thanks,' was all she was able to get out.

Mrs Hunter smiled again and went away. We got Sophie to her feet and started taking her inside.

*The thing is,' Sophie finally managed to burst out, when we were inside helping her up the stairs, and the warm air from the old-timey radiators was melting our frozen cheeks, *she knows. She knows how I feel about him. Because Caroline told her. She's doing it on purpose.'

*Who knows?' Erica asked in bewilderment.

*The new girl,' Sophie said. *That Cheyenne girl. She knows I love Peter.'

*Oh, Sophie,' Caroline said, just as Erica said, *I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose.'

But I agreed with Sophie. I was sure she did do it on purpose. The thing was, I had had some experience with girls like Cheyenne. I hoped I was wrong.

But I didn't think so.

And a few minutes later, when we'd gotten Sophie into her seat, and the bell rang and the rest of our cla.s.s hurried back into the room, I heard enough to confirm that I was right a” at least as far as I was concerned.

*Oh my gosh, that was so fun,' Dominique was saying as she hung up her coat.

*I know,' Marianne was gus.h.i.+ng. *I've never had that much fun at recess before.'

*That's the best game ever,' Shamira agreed. *Who are you going to kiss at afternoon recess, Cheyenne?'

Cheyenne fluffed out her curly hair and looked around Room 209. Her gaze fell on Stuart Maxwell, innocently returning to his desk besides mine.

*Him,' she said simply.

*Oh, excellent,' Rosie Myers said, clapping her hands. *He'll be easy to spot, because of his red hair.'

*Unless he's wearing a hat,' Elizabeth said.

I couldn't believe it! Even shy Elizabeth Pukowski, who never said anything to anyone (or at least, never to me), was in on the Kissing Game! How had this happened? And in just the short time between when we left for lunch and when we came back! How could we have gone from feeling sorry for Cheyenne to her ruling the school (well, practically)?

And how had the Kissing Game gotten so popular? Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good. That's a rule. There were many examples of things that weren't good being popular, such as high-heeled zip-up boots. They could turn your ankle (at least according to my mom).

Also McDonald's. McDonald's tastes good, and of course everyone loves it, but if you eat it every day like I want to, you could have a heart attack and die.

And what about racing cars? Racing cars are very, very popular, but one of the reasons people like watching them is to see them crash. The problem is, when racing cars crash, the people driving them can get hurt. This is exciting for the people watching, but sometimes not so good for the people driving them.

These are just a few examples of popular things that aren't good for you. But of course there are many, many more.

It was amazing to me that Marianne, Dominique, Shamira, Rosie and Elizabeth couldn't see that Cheyenne's game wasn't any good, even though it might seem that way, like high-heeled zip-up boots, McDonald's, and racing car driving. Any game that came from Canada might seem exciting and exotic.

But couldn't they see it had already made Sophie cry?

Well, maybe not.

Still, you would think they would have noticed how mad it had made Prince Peter. He hadn't looked too happy when he'd stalked away from that group of girls he'd been swallowed into earlier. He hadn't looked like he'd liked any of them a” especially Cheyenne a” too much. If getting boys to like them was the goal, why were they all doing something that just made boys hate them?

It didn't make any sense, if you asked me.

But then, no one had asked me.

I went to sit down next to Stuart, who wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention and had no idea what was about to befall him in one hour and twenty minutes, at afternoon recess. I thought that maybe, just to be fair, I should warn him.

I was kind of confused though. I was a girl, not a boy. Should I be on the girls' side, or the boys'?

I decided that, since I was a friend of Sophie's, I'd be on the boys' side.

*Ahem,' I said to Stuart.

*What?' Stuart demanded. *I already said your zombie drawing was the grossest. Leave me alone.'

*No,' I said. *That's not it.' How was I going to explain to him that at recess a whole lot of girls were going to chase him and then trap him into letting Cheyenne kiss him? Maybe he wouldn't mind this. I didn't know. Maybe I should just mind my own business.

*Then what?' Stuart wanted to know. *I'm not doing anything to you, Finkle. Just Stinkle off.'

Well! So much for trying to do a person a favour! Let him get kissed by every girl in the entire fourth grade! See how he liked it!

*Fine,' I said. *Don't I say I didn't warn you then.'

*Warn me about what?' Stuart asked suspiciously.

*You'll find out,' I said. *When it's too late.'

On the other side of me, Joey was looking all around.

*Hey,' he said. *Why are all the girls whispering together?'

*Not all of them,' I said. *I'm not. Rosemary's not. Sophie and Caroline and Erica aren't. So your statement is not very accurate.'

*You guys aren't girls,' Joey said. *Well, not real girls.'

I gave him a very dirty look. Now I felt less like helping those boys than ever. I had only been sitting next to them for less than one day, and already I wasn't a real girl? And neither were my friends?

*Well, you know what I mean,' Joey said, looking a little bit sorry. But just a little bit. Then, because I just kept looking at him, he went, *Ruff!' I noticed he always started barking when he was nervous.

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