Not Nice on Ice

  IT’S THE GREAT SKATE DATE . . . AND NANCY MAY BE LEFT OUT IN THE COLD!

  * * *

  It’s so unfair! The Champions on Ice show is coming to River Heights, Olympic stars and all, and Nancy signed up early to be one of the skating flower girls. But she may be sitting on the sidelines instead.

  Someone erased her name from the list, and she could just cry. Better yet, she’s going to find out exactly who did it. Nancy has just one clue, and it’s her only chance to learn the truth—and be a flower girl after all!

  * * *

  A Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

  ALADDIN

  A Ready-for-Chapters Book

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Cover photography by Michel Le Grou at Media Photo Group

  Cover photo-illustration copyright © 1999 by Joanie Schwarz

  Ages 6–9

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Not Nice on Ice

  “But I did sign up! I did!” Nancy cried.

  Ms. Swanback shook her head. “Your name wasn’t on the list, Nancy,” the skating teacher said firmly.

  “Now, girls,” Ms. Swanback went on. “Next Saturday you should wear a skating dress and tights. Be on the rink an hour early to warm up.”

  Nancy wasn’t listening. She stared at the list with a lump in her throat.

  “I don’t believe it,” Nancy said to Bess. “I know my name was on the board.”

  “I know, too,” Bess said. “Because I saw your name when I signed up. What do you think happened?”

  “I think someone erased my name,” Nancy said, “and put her own name in my place!”

  The Nancy Drew Notebooks

  # 1 The Slumber Party Secret

  # 2 The Lost Locket

  # 3 The Secret Santa

  # 4 Bad Day for Ballet

  # 5 The Soccer Shoe Clue

  # 6 The Ice Cream Scoop

  # 7 Trouble at Camp Treehouse

  # 8 The Best Detective

  # 9 The Thanksgiving Surprise

  #10 Not Nice on Ice

  #11 The Pen Pal Puzzle

  #12 The Puppy Problem

  #13 The Wedding Gift Goof

  #14 The Funny Face Fight

  #15 The Crazy Key Clue

  #16 The Ski Slope Mystery

  #17 Whose Pet Is Best?

  #18 The Stolen Unicorn

  #19 The Lemonade Raid

  #20 Hannah’s Secret

  #21 Princess on Parade

  #22 The Clue in the Glue

  #23 Alien in the Classroom

  #24 The Hidden Treasures

  #25 Dare at the Fair

  #26 The Lucky Horseshoes

  #27 Trouble Takes the Cake

  #28 Thrill on the Hill

  #29 Lights! Camera! Clues!

  #30 It’s No Joke!

  #31 The Fine-Feathered Mystery

  #32 The Black Velvet Mystery

  #33 The Gumdrop Ghost

  #34 Trash or Treasure?

  #35 Third-Grade Reporter

  #36 The Make-Believe Mystery

  #37 Dude Ranch Detective

  #38 Candy Is Dandy

  #39 The Chinese New Year Mystery

  #40 Dinosaur Alert!

  #41 Flower Power

  #42 Circus Act

  #43 The Walkie-talkie Mystery

  #44 The Purple Fingerprint

  #45 The Dashing Dog Mystery

  Available from Simon & Schuster

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1996 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Produced by Mega-Books, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  NANCY DREW and THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The text of this book was set in Excelsior.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition September 2001

  First Minstrel Books edition January 1996

  ISBN-13: 978-0-671-52711-2

  ISBN-10: 0-671-52711-8

  ISBN 978-1-43911-232-8 (eBook)

  Contents

  Chapter 1: A Skater’s Dream

  Chapter 2: Not Fair

  Chapter 3: Clues on the Ice

  Chapter 4: Trapped!

  Chapter 5: I Hate You, Nancy Drew

  Chapter 6: Mandy’s Confession

  Chapter 7: The Too-Late Truth

  Chapter 8: Nice in the End

  1

  A Skater’s Dream

  Watch this!” Nancy Drew called to her best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.

  Nancy bent forward and lifted her right leg behind her. She held her arms out for balance. Then she glided gracefully across the ice.

  “You look just like Kristi Yamaguchi,” Bess said.

  “Do I really?” Nancy asked. She smiled. Kristi Yamaguchi was an Olympic ice-skating champion. She was coming to River Heights the next weekend as part of the Champions on Ice skating tour. Eight-year-old Nancy and Bess and George were going to see the show.

  “Maybe we’ll get to meet her,” Nancy said as she put her right foot down. She turned to skate back to Bess and George.

  Snow was falling on the pond in the park. The sky was cloudy. It was a Monday in February—a holiday. The girls had the day off from school.

  Nancy pulled her fuzzy blue hat down over her ears. It matched her blue eyes. Her reddish blond hair hung out in back.

  “Maybe we’ll get to skate with her,” Bess said. “Wouldn’t that be super terrific?”

  “Super impossible!” George Fayne said. George was Bess’s cousin. Her real name was Georgia.

  “We might get to,” Bess insisted. “Our skating teacher said that we could get to help out at the ice show on Saturday.”

  “Help out?” George asked. “How?”

  “By being flower girls,” Nancy said.

  “What’s that?” George asked.

  “You know,” Nancy said. “People always throw flowers onto the ice at the end of an ice-skater’s program. So someone has to skate out and pick up all the flowers. That’s what the flower girls do.”

  “Sounds silly,” George said.

  “It’s not silly,” Bess said. “Even boys do it sometimes, but there are no boys in our skating class. Anyway, Nancy and I signed up, and we really want to do it. We’re going to find out about it today.”

  “I still think it’s silly,” George said. “I mean, throwing flowers on the ice just makes a mess when the leaves fall off. Nothing like that ever happens in hockey.”

  Nancy laughed. “No kidding!” she said, pretending to be surprised.

  “Hockey is more fun than figure skating,” George said. “You get to skate really fast the whole time.”

  Just then Amara Shane came zooming across the ice. She was friends with Nancy and George. They were on the same soccer team at school. She skidded to a stop in front of Bess, spraying snow and ice.

  “Whoa! Look out!” Bess said. “You’re getting snow on my new yellow leggings.”

  Amara laughed. She was wearing all blue—blue jeans, a pale blue down jacket, and a blue hat. She was covered with snow—as if she’d fallen down lots of times.

  “Yo
u have snow all over you,” Nancy told Amara.

  “I know. I’ve been trying my toe loop jump,” Amara said. “But I can’t do it yet. I keep falling. Anyway, where’s Danielle? I thought we were going to play hockey.”

  “We are—if Danielle ever shows up,” George complained.

  “She’s always late,” Amara said.

  “Yeah,” Bess agreed. “So if you want to play, you’ll have to play without her.”

  “Play without her? But we need four players,” Nancy said.

  All at once everyone turned and stared at Bess.

  “Not me,” Bess said.

  “Good idea!” George said, grabbing Bess’s arm. “You can be on Nancy’s team.”

  “No way!” Bess moaned, pulling back. “I’m terrible at hockey. And I don’t want to get my leggings dirty.”

  “Oh, come on,” George said. “Just until Danielle gets here.”

  “Please?” Nancy said.

  Bess finally gave in.

  “Okay,” she said. “But if I fall down even once, I’m going to quit.”

  George and Amara quickly skated over to the edge of the pond. George picked up the hockey sticks that she and Nancy had brought. She also got an extra one for Bess. George always brought an extra stick when she played hockey. Amara picked up her stick, too.

  For the next ten minutes, Nancy and Bess played hockey against George and Amara. George and Amara scored three times. Nancy and Bess didn’t score at all.

  Bess hardly skated. She just carried her hockey stick around in her arms. Nancy thought Bess looked as if she didn’t want to get her hockey stick dirty, either.

  Finally, at about four o’clock, Danielle Margolies arrived. She was all bundled up in a pale blue parka with a hood. Underneath the hood, she had on a pale blue, brown, and white knit hat. The hat matched her hand-knit mittens.

  “Where have you been?” George asked Danielle. “We were supposed to meet here at three.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Danielle said. “I had to go shopping with my mom first.”

  Nancy and Bess looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Then Bess skated over to Danielle and handed her the hockey stick.

  “Here,” Bess said. “Take this. I’m going to practice my spins.”

  Nancy watched Bess skate away. Then she and Danielle began playing hockey against George and Amara. Danielle played hard, but she and Nancy still lost. George was the best hockey player. It was hard to beat her.

  At half-past four, Nancy saw a red minivan pull up near the pond. Bess’s mother was driving. She had come to take Bess and Nancy to their skating lesson at the ice rink.

  Bess skated over to Nancy.

  “Time to go,” Bess said.

  “Do you need a ride?” Nancy called to Danielle.

  “No, thanks,” Danielle said. “My mom is coming back to get me.”

  “Then she’ll be late for her lesson, too,” Bess whispered under her breath.

  Nancy nodded as she hurried to the edge of the pond. She put the rubber skate guards on her blades. Then she picked up her backpack and walked across the snowy ground to the car.

  “I can’t wait to get to the rink,” Nancy said as she climbed into the car. “We’re going to be flower girls—I hope.” Then she added, “Hi, Mrs. Marvin.”

  “Hello, Nancy,” Bess’s mother said. She gave Nancy a sweet smile. Nancy liked Mrs. Marvin. She had blond hair and pink cheeks, just like Bess.

  It took only a few minutes to drive to the rink. When they arrived, Nancy and Bess hopped out of the minivan. Nancy grabbed her backpack from the floor in the backseat. It had her regular shoes in it. Bess took her bag with her shoes, too.

  “See you at six,” Mrs. Marvin called.

  Nancy and Bess waved goodbye. Then they hurried inside. The lobby of the ice rink was large. On the left was a door to the girls’ locker room. Right next to it was the boys’ locker room.

  At the other end of the lobby was a place to rent skates and a snack bar. Next to the skate rental counter was a red door leading into the ice rink.

  But Nancy and Bess almost never went through the red door. Instead, they hurried into the girls’ locker room. They put their jackets, backpacks, and shoes in empty lockers. Then they walked through a green swinging door that led straight from the locker room into the ice rink.

  Inside, the ice rink was dark. Straight ahead was the narrow end of the oval ice rink. On the two long sides of the ice were wooden bleachers. The open floor space between the locker room and the ice was covered with black rubber mats. That way, the skaters could walk to the ice in their skates without scratching the blades.

  The ice itself was circled by a low wooden wall. It was called “the boards.” There were only two openings in the boards—one on each side.

  A lot of girls were already on the ice when Nancy arrived. So was Claire Swanback, the skating teacher.

  Nancy and Bess hurried onto the ice and skated toward their teacher.

  “Girls,” Ms. Swanback called. “Gather around. I have an announcement to make.”

  “This is it,” Nancy said, grabbing Bess’s arm. “She’s going to tell us about being flower girls.”

  “Don’t hold on to me,” Bess said. “I’ll fall.”

  Nancy skated a little closer to the teacher. Ms. Swanback had a piece of paper in her hands.

  “Well, I have good news,” Ms. Swanback said. “I wasn’t sure how many flower girls we needed. But the ice show people called me. They said that all ten girls who signed up will get to be flower girls for the show.”

  “Yay!” Nancy and Bess both cheered.

  “Shh,” Ms. Swanback said, putting a finger to her lips. “Let me read the names, just to be sure you all still want to do it.”

  Nancy clapped her hands together. Of course I still want to do it! she thought.

  Ms. Swanback started to read aloud. “Rebecca, Laura, Mandy, Danielle, Megan, Susan …”

  Hey, where’s my name? Nancy wondered.

  “… Amara, Bess, Molly, and Julie,” Ms. Swanback said.

  “What about me?” Nancy called out.

  “I’m sorry,” Ms. Swanback said. “But I guess you forgot to sign up in time. Your name wasn’t on the list.”

  2

  Not Fair

  But I did sign up! I did!” Nancy cried.

  Ms. Swanback shook her head. “Your name wasn’t on the list, Nancy,” the teacher said firmly.

  “But I know I signed up,” Nancy said again. “I put my name on that white board in the lobby. I used the blue marker that was hanging there.”

  Ms. Swanback pushed her long brown hair away from her face. Then she looked at Nancy thoughtfully.

  “Nancy, there were only ten spaces on the board,” Ms. Swanback said. “All ten spaces were full when I took the board down today. And your name wasn’t on the list. I erased the board, but I copied the names onto this piece of paper, exactly as they were. Here—you can see for yourself.”

  Ms. Swanback handed the list to Nancy.

  “Now, girls,” Ms. Swanback went on. “I want to tell you about next Saturday. You should wear a skating dress and tights. Be at the rink at four o’clock to watch the champion skaters warm up …”

  Nancy wasn’t listening. She stared at the list with a lump in her throat.

  “I don’t believe it,” Nancy said to Bess. “I know my name was on the board.”

  “I know, too,” Bess said. “Because I saw your name when I signed up. What do you think happened?”

  “I think someone erased my name,” Nancy said, “and put her own name in my place. And it’s not fair!”

  A few girls looked over at Nancy. They had heard what she’d said, and they looked as if they felt sorry for her.

  Bess nodded. “That’s so terrible,” she said. “Who do you think did it?”

  “I don’t know,” Nancy said, lowering her voice so the other girls couldn’t hear. “But I’m going to find out. If I could remember where my name was on the list
—I mean, which number—then I’d know who did it.”

  “Think hard,” Bess said. “You’re good at figuring things out. If you can prove who did it, maybe Ms. Swanback will let you be a flower girl.”

  Nancy closed her eyes and thought. She could picture everything perfectly: The shiny white board hanging in the lobby. The blue marker dangling on a string. And the names.

  There had already been a few names on the list when Nancy had written her own. But how many?

  “I think I was somewhere in the middle,” Nancy said, opening her eyes. “Maybe number three, four, or five.”

  Bess grabbed the list from Nancy’s hand. “Okay, let’s see. Number three is Mandy Trout. Number four is Danielle. And five is Megan Kline. So those are your suspects.”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “And maybe even number six. My name could have been that far down on the list.”

  “That’s Susan Hong’s name,” Bess said. “Put her on the suspect list, too.”

  “I will,” Nancy said, starting to skate away.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Bess called.

  Nancy didn’t answer. All she said was, “I’ll be right back.”

  She hurried into the locker room with Ms. Swanback’s list of names still in her hand.

  I’ve got to write these clues down, Nancy thought. Before I forget.

  The floor in the locker room was covered with thick rubber mats, too. That way Nancy didn’t have to take off her skates or put on her skate guards. She went right to the locker where she had put her things.

  Inside was her backpack. And inside her backpack was her special blue notebook. She always used it when she was trying to solve a mystery.

  Nancy took it out and sat down on a long wooden bench.

  At the top of a new page, she wrote: “The Ice-Skating Mystery.”

  Below that, she wrote: “Ms. Swanback’s list.

  “1. Rebecca 2. Laura 3. Mandy 4. Danielle 5. Megan 6. Susan 7. Amara 8. Bess 9. Molly 10. Julie.”

  Then she wrote: “Suspects: Mandy, Danielle, Megan, and Susan.”

  “What are you doing?” a voice suddenly said.

  Nancy was startled. She looked up. Danielle had just walked in. She was late for her lesson, as usual.