Part 6 (2/2)

8.

setting a trap.

Jeri gulped.

Emily stared wide-eyed at her own cupboard door, now standing open. ”What are you doing?” she asked again.

”I came down for some crackers.” Jeri tried to keep her voice light and nudged the door shut with her elbow. ”You hungry too?”

”No.” She paused. ”When I went to the bathroom, I saw you going downstairs and wondered if you were okay.”

”Just hungry.” Jeri moved away from Emily's cupboard, but Emily remained standing in the door-way. Jeri wished the cracker box was on the counter to make her story look true. She could tell what Emily was thinking. What are you doing in my cupboard when your own is way over by the back door?

Emily glanced over her shoulder. ”You'll get in trouble for being down here so late.”

”I don't think Ms. Carter would want me to starve.”

”Probably not.” Emily seemed to consider that. ”I've been working on my science fair project. It's chilly in our room.”

”Want some hot chocolate? You have a couple packets left.” Jeri could have kicked herself the moment the words left her mouth. Why not just announce that she'd searched Emily's cupboard?

”Um, no.” Emily looked at Jeri, and then glanced quickly away. Her .ngers twisted the hem of her shorty pajamas into knots. ”Good night, Jeri.”

”I'll come too.” Jeri reached to turn out the overhead light. Before she touched the switch, Emily had turned and .ed from the kitchen. In a moment Jeri heard her taking the stairs two at a time.

Oh, brother, Jeri thought, following more slowly. Did she think I was going to hurt her? Now what should I do?

On Friday morning Jeri yawned as the Hampton House girls lined up two by two to walk to the dining hall for breakfast. Jeri noticed Emily and Brooke watching her. Jeri tried to catch Emily's eye to smile at her, but each time Emily turned another direction.

I wasn't doing anything! Jeri wanted to scream. But if she tried to explain why she'd been snooping through everyone's food, it would only make her sound guilty. And yet, Jeri hated the idea that Emily might suspect her now. Brooke did too. She could tell by the way she was stealing dark glances at her. No doubt Emily had told her room-mate where she'd found Jeri in the middle of the night.

In her library period that morning, Jeri couldn't con-centrate. She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something important. G.o.d, what is it? Had she seen some-thing in the cupboards or the refrigerator that hadn't sunk in? Maybe some of those foods could be poisonous under certain conditions. In the computer room next door, she researched more on food poisoning. Although she learned a lot about correct food storage and symptoms of poison-ing, none of it was helpful.

She slumped in her chair, wis.h.i.+ng she could talk to her mom. But Mrs. McKane was on a business trip in Indiana, giving speeches at a sales conference. Jeri didn't want to interrupt her presentation. She sighed. Email was better than nothing.

She signed into her Yahoo! mail and typed as fast as she could. She didn't want her mom to freak out about a poisoner on the loose in her dorm. So instead, she wrote about Rosa and the high school boys at the pizza place. ”I don't want that kind of attention. Even so, I wish I got noticed too. You'll think I'm terrible -”

Just then an instant message popped up on her screen.

ImHis: What luck! I was just checking email and saw your smiley face icon lit up. Glad you're online.

Jerichogirl: HI I ROT U EM ImHis: Whoa! Plain English, okay? No text message gobbledy-gook!

Jerichogirl: sorry -I wrote you an email-let me send it now.

Jeri pushed Send and waited for her mom to read it.

ImHis: No, I don't think you're terrible. You're normal! That's a good thing. I just think you're maybe asking the wrong question.

Jerichogirl: what do U mean??????????

ImHis: Do you want the attention of a boy who only goes for mini skirts and tight s.h.i.+rts?

Jerichogirl: no- but I don't like 2 B invisible either.

ImHis: Think about this -what kind of boy do you want attention from?

Jerichogirl: easy -the kind that treats U like a lady -a guy that's fun 2 do stuff with -a guy who isn't fake.

ImHis: Fake?

Jerichogirl: one who only acts like a Chris tian at church.

ImHis: Great list there! Boys like that make excellent friends. So . . . next thing to do is ask yourself this: Am I the kind of girl this kind of guy would like for a friend?

Jerichogirl: U don't understand- I don't need more guy friends- I wish I could be more than a friend.

ImHis: Well, in sixth grade, you're too young to have boys be anything more than friends. I know it's not a popular thing to say, but it's true. Learn to be friends with boys. Boys who are good friends now make good boyfriends later, when you're old enough to date. Much later, they also make good husbands.

Jerichogirl: I guess, but that's a long time away.

ImHis: Yes, there's PLENTY of time. You want to attract quality boys when the time is right, sweetie. Your job now is to grow into the kind of quality girl the Bible talks about. Fruity, right?

Jeri smiled then. Fruity was her mom's expression for showing the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Startled, she realized that those words pretty well described Dallas.

Jerichogirl: I NO U R right- but fruity girls don't get much notice.

ImHis: I won't lie to you. It's true that you won't get noticed by as many boys if you dress modestly and concentrate on de-veloping good character. But when you DO get attention, it will be for the right reasons and from the right boys. It just takes time- which you have plenty of.

Jerichogirl: in fact I don't- gotta go.

ImHis: Okay. You go ahead, but check email later.

Just then the bell rang, and Jeri logged off. Sighing, she wished she could put boys out of her mind altogether for a couple years.

After her second period cla.s.s, she ran back to the computer lab and found the email from her mom.

Sorry we got cut off this morning. In your email you mentioned Rosa's clothes and her beautiful black hair several times. We all envy others' looks sometimes, but work hard to be satisfied with how G.o.d made you. You're beautiful - in G.o.d's eyes as well as mine. Try to really believe this truth: a gentle, peaceful spirit is more becom-ing at any age than any clothing you could wear or any hairstyle. ”The Lord does not look at the things [human beings look] at. [ People] look at the outward appear-ance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam uel 16:7). Don't let the world dictate how you feel about yourself.

Jeri reread the email, then closed it. At gut level, she knew her mom was right, but sometimes it was so hard. G.o.d might look at her heart, but people looked at the out-side. If they didn't like what they saw, would they bother getting to know her heart? What was wrong with having a good heart and a great ”outside”? Surely she could have both, couldn't she? Yes, she wanted to please G.o.d, but she wanted to look pleasing to others too. She sighed. If only it didn't matter to her.

But since knowing Dallas, it did matter.A lot.Jeri spent the rest of the school day with her busy mind going from one problem to another-and missing half of what her teachers said. She wanted to .gure out what was going on in the dorm. Ms. Carter seemed content to blame a virus, but some of the girls acted like Abby was guilty of poisoning people. Jeri .gured she had moved up to the number-one-suspect position herself after Emily caught her snooping in the kitchen. She had to get rid of the cloud of suspicion that .oated over them.

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