What Emma Left Behind

  * * * * *

  At the end of the day, Caera met Ana at her locker.

  "Did you hear the announcements this morning?" Ana unsuccessfully tried to contain her excitement.

  "No, why?"

  "The camping trip is scheduled for a week from this Friday!"

  "Really?" Caera and Claudia had been counting the days until the science survival expedition, but it had been postponed twice because of rain.

  "Of course you mean survival expedition, Ana," she added as an afterthought. Caera could hardly wait to tell Claudia the good news.

  "Oh, I forgot. I thought you liked hiking and camping, though."

  "I do like camping, but you've got to use the right name. This isn't supposed to be fun, Ana. It's supposed to be scientific. You know—educational."

  "You're not going to have fun?" Ana teased.

  Caera just glared at her.

  "Well, that's not the half of it," Ana continued, "Marie Summit is in my math class, and she says that Todd Miller likes me! Isn't that great? I've liked him for ages!"

  "Yeah, that's great." Caera tried not to sound bored.

  "Well then, I'd better not tell you what she said about you and Claudia, because I can see that you're not interested."

  "What? I am, too! Ana Robinson, if you don't tell me, I'll be forced to tell the whole school that you like Todd Miller! I might even be forced to tell Marie Summit, though she probably already knows."

  Everyone knew the true creative spirit of Marie Summit's gossiping genius. In only five short months since her family had moved to town from Los Angeles, she'd practically become a legend. The only problem was that whether or not she liked you could drastically affect your social life.

  If Marie didn't like you, you could look forward to a miserable year filled with rumors and prank phone calls. It wasn't surprising that everybody was so nice to her. It was simply in their best interest. Marie knew everyone's dirty little secrets and used her knowledge to keep the school in line. Naturally, Ana preferred to tell Caera rather than have Marie Summit get any more gossip to spread around.

  "Well, since you put it that way, she said that you, Claudia, Alex, and Andrew would be good for each other, since you both already come in matching pairs. Of course I knew how you and Claudia feel about them—"

  "Of all the NERVE!" Caera couldn't imagine how anyone could even think that she and Claudia wanted to have anything to do with the Davenport twins. She thought that with all their arguing it would be blatantly obvious. Didn't everyone know that they both hated one another?

  Apparently not everyone.

  "By now she's probably spread the news around the whole school," Ana sighed.

  "Well, thank you so much for your optimism, Ana. Now I know who to come to when I really need encouragement."

  "Sure." Ana pretended not to notice the sarcasm.

  "Well, let's get going." Caera said, shouldering her cheetah backpack. "If I'm not home by 3:30, I'll miss my favorite t.v. show." Caera only hoped that Marie would move on to newer and more exciting topics to gossip about and that the news about her and the Davenports would die down before Claudia was back in school. Maybe by then everything would be back to normal.

  For now, she encouraged herself by remembering that Marie's numerous stories were so widely circulated and retold that it was even likely that Caera herself was no longer in the story. Anyway, she just wanted to go home and forget all about it. Ana seemed to agree. As Caera and Ana turned to leave, they saw Alex and Andrew coming down the hallway.

  "Oh Caera, the secret's out!" Andrew yelled.

  "Huh?" Caera said.

  "Marie told me everything." Andrew shrugged.

  "Told you what?" Caera demanded.

  "How much you really care about me, darling." Andrew said with a laugh. (He was not wearing a watch). Alex was laughing hysterically behind his back. Before she could protest, they sauntered away. The Davenports always had to have the last word.

  "Like I said, it's around the whole school." Ana had a knack for stating the obvious, Caera thought. "Don't worry, Caera. I'm sure by tomorrow no one'll remember anything about all this. Trust me." Ana tried to console her friend but was having a hard time suppressing a grin.