"You haven't figured that out yet?"
"Figured what out?"
"Tracey's special talent. Her gift."
"What is her gift?"
The bell rang, and the few remaining students in the hall headed off. "Meet me after school, at the mall, in front of Barnes & Noble." She couldn't resist one more insult: "That's a bookstore, in case you don't know. It's next to Style Session, and I'm sure you know where that is."
Feeling unusually pleased with herself, Jenna swaggered off to her next class. For the rest of the school day, her spirits were high. She didn't like anything about Meadowbrook, but she particularly despised Amanda Beeson and her crowd. She was going to enjoy watching Amanda squirm.
Amanda felt sick. To have a freak like Jenna Kelley acting superior to her was almost as bad as being a freak like Tracey Devon. Things were getting worse and worse.
But by the end of the day, she'd made the decision to meet Jenna at the mall. Jenna knew Tracey, and Jenna could read minds, so maybe, just maybe, Jenna would be able to help her get out of Tracey's body. She didn't know how Jenna could help, but she figured there was a chance that all these weird kids were connected in some way--that they had some sort of special knowledge.
Only, would Jenna want to help her? Obviously, Jenna despised Amanda, which was natural. Dweebs, nerds, and geeks all pretended to hate popular girls, when they actually envied them and wanted to be them.
But it seemed as if Jenna might care about Tracey. And maybe she'd help Amanda if she thought she was helping Tracey. In any case, Amanda didn't have anything better to do, and going to the mall was preferable to going back to Tracey's house and being ignored.
So when the last bell rang, she hurried out of the school and went directly to the corner where she could safely cross the highway and head to the mall on the other side. And, despite Jenna's snide remark, she knew exactly where Barnes & Noble was. Stupid Jenna didn't realize that just because a girl was pretty and cool and popular didn't mean she'd never read a book.
Just moments after she arrived at the bookstore, Sophie, Nina, and Other-Amanda strolled into the mall. For a second, Amanda froze-what if they saw her with Jenna? And then she almost laughed at her silly thought.
"Why do you look so happy, Tracey?" Nina asked as the group passed her. "You've got nothing to smile about."
Now that was interesting, Amanda thought. Usually, Nina ignored Tracey like everyone else. Maybe she was just trying to impress Other-Amanda with her nastiness. Or maybe she was about to challenge Amanda's status as the Queen of Mean! Amanda made a mental note to keep a close eye on Nina.
She was distracted by the arrival of Jenna, who must have overheard Nina's remark.
"Nice friends you've got," she commented.
"Oh, shut up," Amanda-Tracey replied. "The only reason I'm meeting you here is because maybe you can help me get back inside my body. And get Tracey back inside hers," she added quickly. She guessed Jenna would be more likely to help if she thought it was for Tracey's sake.
"We've got to find her first," Jenna said. "Which might not be so easy, when you think about her gift."
"Which is?" Amanda asked eagerly.
But now Jenna was distracted by a group down at the other end of the mall, in front of Target. "Want to meet some of my friends?" she asked Amanda.
"Not particularly," Amanda replied, but Jenna took off, and Amanda had no option but to follow her. As they got closer to the group, she began to have serious misgivings. Jenna's friends looked like a very creepy bunch.
An older, skinny guy with dyed green hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth said, "Hiya, Janie."
They couldn't have been great friends if he didn't even know her name, Amanda thought. But Jenna didn't seem dismayed. "Jenna," she corrected him. "Yo, Slug."
Slug? Who had a name like Slug? Amanda couldn't wait to find out what the others were called. The sleazy-looking goth girl in black with blood-red lipstick was called Bubbles, while another girl with a shaved head and tattoos up and down her arms was Skank. Jenna introduced the heavyset guy with the half-closed eyes as Harry. Amanda thought they all looked older, at least 18. And they were all extremely ugly.
"This is my friend Am-I mean, Tracey."
Not since this bodysnatching experience had begun had Amanda felt so grateful to look like Tracey. She'd absolutely die if anyone saw her real self with people like this.
"What are you up to?" Jenna asked them.
"Gonna hit Target," Slug said, nodding toward the store. "You ever seen one of these?" From his pocket he pulled out an oddly shaped metal gadget.
"What is it, some kind of weapon?" Jenna asked.
Slug made a snorting sound, which Amanda guessed was his version of a laugh. "Nah. You know those plastic things they stick on stuff so you can't steal it?" He was looking at Amanda now, so she felt obliged to answer.
"It's a security device. The cashier takes it off after you pay for something. Otherwise it sets off an alarm when you leave the store."
"Yeah, right. Well, this handy little number takes that plastic thing off. You can walk right out with half the store in your pocket."
"You'd have to have pretty deep pockets," Jenna said, and Amanda couldn't help laughing, but no one else got the joke.
"I only got two of these things," Slug continued, "but we'll pass 'em around. Then afterward we'll split the stash. I'm going in to check out the place first, see where the good stuff is. I'll be right back." Sticking the gadget back in his pocket, Slug strolled into the store.
Amanda turned to Jenna. "They're going to steal things?"
"Yeah," Jenna replied, in a voice that was just a little bit too cocky. "You have a problem with that?"
"Well, it's against the law, for one thing."
That comment got the rest of Jenna's friends laughing, and Amanda could feel Tracey's face turning red. "Well, you can leave me out," she said.
"Chicken?" Jenna taunted.
Amanda couldn't care less if Jenna thought she was a coward. What worried her was the idea that this enterprise could end any kind of collaboration between them.
"There's Slug," Bubbles said. He was just outside Target's door, and he beckoned them closer. Bubbles, Skank, and Harry started toward him, but Jenna hung back for a moment.
"You sure you're not up for this?" she asked Amanda.
Before Amanda could reply, she heard another familiar voice behind her.
"Hi, guys! What are you doing?"
It was Emily, from their gifted class. She was alone and carrying a bag from the bookstore.
"Just messing around," Jenna said.
Emily smiled vaguely. "I didn't know you two hung out together."
Amanda wanted to correct that assumption, but she held her tongue. "What did you buy?" she asked instead.
Emily reached into her bag and pulled out a book. Jenna read the title out loud. "I Was Marie Antoinette!'