Earth Day Escapade, Page 2

  Felicity marched to the lunch counter, where Mrs. McGillicuddy was handing a veggie burger plate to Nancy.

  “Is that one of those foam plates?” asked Felicity. “And are those plastic water bottles you’re giving out?”

  “Yeah, so?” Mrs. McGillicuddy said.

  “Foam plates can’t be recycled,” Felicity said. “And plastic bottles take a thousand years to break down!”

  Then she pointed at Mrs. McGillicuddy and announced, “The Queen of Green declares you guilty of trash treason!”

  “Okay, Your Majesty,” Mrs. McGillicuddy said coolly. “Now give me your tray so I can give you a veggie burger.”

  “No, thank you,” Felicity said. “I always bring my own organic sandwiches to school in a one hundred percent recyclable brown paper bag.”

  “Hey, Felicity!” Trina shouted from the back of the lunch line. “Be like an organic tree and leave. We’re hungry!”

  “Hmph!” said Felicity as she huffed away.

  “I see what you mean,” Nancy whispered to George.

  Mrs. McGillicuddy scooped sweet potato fries onto the girls’ trays.

  “Who was that kid anyway, Iris?” another lunch lady asked Mrs. McGillicuddy.

  “I don’t know, Sylvie,” Mrs. McGillicuddy said. “But she’ll never say that again. She’s in for a big surprise!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George traded looks. What surprise?

  The girls forgot about Mrs. McGillicuddy as they ate yummy veggie burgers and sweet potato fries. When lunch was over, it was time to get back to work.

  Nancy and her classmates talked excitedly as they followed Mrs. Ramirez out of the building. But when they neared the float behind the school, they froze one by one.

  Nancy stopped too when she saw their float. Felicity’s throne was not just covered with pretty red velvet—it was covered with garbage!

  “My throne!” Felicity cried. “Someone dumped trash all over my throne!”

  Nancy’s mouth hung wide open as she stared at the trashed throne. It was dripping with goopy brown and green stuff. The beautiful red velvet had clumps of white gook stuck to it.

  “Who did this?” Felicity wailed.

  But Felicity wasn’t the only one who was upset.

  “What if it happens again?” asked Kayla Bruce.

  “Yeah,” Kendra Jackson said. “What if our whole float is ruined right before the parade?”

  Everyone began talking at once.

  “Let’s take a recess, class,” Mrs. Ramirez said. “I’m going to find the custodian and ask him to help clean the throne.”

  On most days Nancy, Bess, and George would love an extra recess. But this time they were too stunned to have fun.

  “I think the creep who trashed Felicity’s throne also wrote that mysterious note,” George said as they walked through the school yard.

  “It’s my fault!” Nancy groaned. “I should have showed that note to Felicity or to Mrs. Ramirez.”

  Bess saw Felicity running over. “Here she comes. Maybe you can tell her now.”

  But Nancy shook her head. “No!” she whispered. “If Felicity finds out I didn’t show her the note, she’ll hate me!”

  “Okay, okay. My lips are zipped!” Bess promised.

  Felicity was frowning as she hurried over. “You’re detectives, right?” she said. “You’ve got to find out who trashed my throne.”

  “But we don’t have a clue!” Nancy said.

  “Yeah,” Bess chimed in with a shrug. “The only clue we have is that weird note we found—”

  Nancy clapped her hand over Bess’s mouth.

  But it was too late!

  “Note? What note?” Felicity asked.

  “Sorry, Nancy,” said Bess. But with Nancy’s hand over her mouth it sounded more like, “Pffrorrrphy, Nmmphy!”

  Nancy dropped her hand. She then pulled the note out of her backpack and showed it to Felicity. “This was on your throne a few days ago,” she explained.

  Felicity’s eyes popped open as she read the note. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

  “I thought it might make you feel bad, and you were so excited about being queen,” Nancy admitted.

  Nancy still felt awful. It was too late to stop someone from dumping on Felicity’s throne—but it was not too late to help!

  “Don’t worry, Felicity,” Nancy said, patting her shoulder. “We’ll find out who did it.”

  “You will?” Felicity cried.

  “We will?” Bess and George asked at the same time.

  But Felicity was already jumping up and down.

  “Thanks, you guys!” she said. “If you find out who did this, I’ll do you a humongous favor too!”

  “You will?” Bess asked.

  “Like what?” George asked.

  “You can be my ladies-in-waiting on the float!” Felicity said. “All queens have ladies-in-waiting!”

  “Great,” George muttered.

  But Nancy got right down to business. She pointed to the note and asked, “Do you know what ‘come clean’ means, Felicity? Is there anything you did wrong?”

  Felicity looked surprised. Then she quickly shook her head.

  “No,” she said. “All I know is that somebody hates me—and you have to find out who it is!”

  So after school the Clue Crew did what they always did at the start of a new case—they headed straight to their detective headquarters in Nancy’s bedroom.

  George sat at the computer, opening a new case file, while Nancy examined the mysterious note. Bess stood by Nancy’s closet, trying on her shoes.

  “Okay,” Nancy said, putting the note down. “What do we know so far?”

  “That your new spring shoes are fabu-mazing!” Bess declared, wiggling her foot.

  “She means what do we know about the case, Bess!” George groaned.

  “We know the throne was trashed during lunch,” Bess said. “We worked on the float that morning and everything was fine.”

  “Timeline: lunchtime,” George said as she typed.

  “But who would want to ruin Felicity’s throne?” Nancy wondered out loud.

  “Someone who hates Felicity,” George guessed.

  Nancy tapped her chin with her finger. It always helped her to think.

  “Deirdre was mad at Felicity for winning the contest,” she said. “Also, she and her friends left the lunchroom to wash their hands. They could have sneaked outside and dumped the garbage on the throne.”

  “Deirdre Shannon and the supermodels,” George said out loud as she typed. “Our first suspects.”

  “Who else was mad at Felicity?” asked Nancy.

  “I know!” Bess waved her hand. “Remember what Mrs. McGillicuddy said in the lunchroom?”

  “Yes!” Nancy said. “She said that Felicity was in for a big surprise. Maybe the surprise was her ruined throne.”

  “But Mrs. McGillicuddy is the head lunch lady,” George pointed out. “She would never leave the lunchroom during lunch.”

  “Unless some other lunch ladies did the job,” Nancy said.

  “And there’s plenty of food in the kitchen to dump on the throne,” Bess added. “A lot of it’s yucky, too!”

  “Write that down, George,” Nancy said.

  “Okay.” George sighed. “But if we stop getting extra desserts in the lunchroom, don’t blame me.”

  Nancy smiled as she studied the case file. Two suspects already—not too shabby. Now all they needed were some more clues from the scene of the crime.

  Nancy got permission from Hannah to walk her puppy, Chocolate Chip, to the school. She and her friends were allowed to walk up to five blocks from their houses as long as they walked together. And the school was exactly five blocks away.

  When they reached the float behind the school, Nancy pointed to the throne. The dirty velvet cover had been taken off. All that was left was a naked chair.

  “There goes our evidence,” George said with a sigh.

  But the Clue Crew did
n’t have to look far to find more clues. There on the green felt were smudges of red, yellow, and blue paint!

  “How did those get there?” Bess asked.

  “Deirdre, Madison, and Nadine were painting their hats today,” said Nancy. “Their hands were covered with paint when they left the lunchroom.”

  The leash tugged as Chip scurried under the float.

  “Chip, come out now!” Nancy called.

  Chip finally scampered out, a red sneaker dangling from her mouth.

  “Do you think that’s a clue?” Bess asked as Nancy pulled the sneaker from Chip’s mouth.

  “Maybe,” said Nancy. “The models were wearing old clothes made to look new. This could have been part of an outfit.”

  “Deirdre wearing an old sneaker?” George laughed.

  “As if!” Bess laughed too. Suddenly—

  “Woof!”

  Nancy turned to see Chip barking at a row of trash cans. But as she looked closer, she saw tall leafy stalks, bobbing up and down over the lids!

  “What … is … that?” Nancy asked slowly.

  “It looks like … giant broccoli or celery!” George said.

  “Omigosh!” Bess shrieked. “They’re giant walking veggies—and they’re alive!”

  Chip barked louder as Bess kept screaming. The leafy green stalks ducked out of sight around the corner. Chip broke free from Nancy’s grip. Still barking, she ran toward the trash cans. Nancy and George ran too. They looked behind the trash cans but saw nothing.

  “Maybe we were just seeing things,” Nancy said.

  “Or they were seeing us!” George said.

  It was getting late. The girls walked home and said good-bye to one another, promising to work on the case the next day.

  Back at home, after helping Hannah sprinkle crunchy noodles on the tuna casserole, Nancy went upstairs to her room.

  First she did her math homework. She was able to solve every math problem except one. But her biggest problem was figuring out who had messed up Felicity’s throne.

  Nancy hoped Deirdre, Madison, and Nadine hadn’t done it. Deirdre could be a princess sometimes, but she wasn’t mean—she did invite Nancy, Bess, and George to her sleepovers.

  “Deirdre likes being a model,” Nancy told Chip, who was sitting at her feet. “Maybe she’s over the whole queen thing.”

  Chip nibbled lightly at Nancy’s shoe while Nancy opened up Deirdre’s website, Dishing with Deirdre. There on the main page were the words, “Ten reasons I should have been the Queen of Green!”

  “Number one: Queen Deirdre sounds better than Queen Felicity,” Nancy read out loud. “Number two: Felicity’s favorite color is red. My favorite color is royal blue.”

  Nancy stopped there. She had read enough.

  “Oh, well.” She sighed. “I guess Deirdre isn’t over it.”

  “I thought Deirdre did it!” George said the next morning. “I think we should tell Mrs. Ramirez right now.”

  The girls were hanging up their jackets before class. Nancy had just told Bess and George all about Deirdre’s website and her ten reasons.

  “We can’t tell anyone yet,” Nancy whispered. “We still haven’t questioned Deirdre and the other models.”

  “What are we waiting for?” said Bess. She nodded at Deirdre, Madison, and Nadine hanging their jackets on nearby hooks.

  Nancy didn’t like questioning friends. But as her dad once said, friends sometimes make mistakes too.

  The girls walked over to the three models. Nancy smiled at them and said, “Can we ask you something?”

  “Let me guess!” Madison giggled. “You want our autographs!”

  “Why would we want your autographs?” asked Bess.

  “Because we’re famous supermodels, that’s why!” Nadine said, striking a glam pose.

  “We don’t want your autographs,” Nancy said. “We want to know if you know anything about the throne.”

  “You mean, did I dump trash on it?” Deirdre demanded.

  “Well … yeah,” Nancy admitted.

  “We found spots of paint on the float,” Bess said. “And you models were painting your hats, so—”

  “We weren’t the only ones who were painting yesterday!” Madison insisted. “Lots of kids had arts and crafts—and dirty hands, too.”

  Nancy thought Madison had a point. But it wasn’t enough.

  “Where are the hats you painted?” Nancy asked.

  “If you must know, they’re drying in the art room,” Deirdre said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Madison and Nadine. “Come on, girls. Let’s practice our turns!”

  Nancy watched as the supermodels sashayed away. “Too bad we can’t look at their hats in the art room.”

  “Who says we can’t?” George said.

  Nancy and Bess followed George to Mrs. Ramirez’s desk.

  “I’d like to go to the bathroom, please, Mrs. Ramirez,” George said. “I picked Nancy and Bess to be my buddies.”

  “Why two buddies?” Mrs. Ramirez asked.

  “Um … because we’re going to save water by washing our hands in the same sink!” replied George.

  Mrs. Ramirez thought about it, and then she smiled and said, “That’s a good idea. Go ahead, girls.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George left their classroom and hurried down the hall to the art room. Slowly Nancy opened the door. Mr. Kaplan, the art teacher, was not in the room.

  “Come on,” Nancy whispered.

  The girls scurried into the room. They walked around the easels and craft tables until Nancy spotted three painted cans on the windowsill. They were decorated with feathers, sequins, and pieces of felt.

  “Those are the hats!” said Nancy.

  “Ooh!” Bess swooned. “Pretty!”

  Before Nancy could stop her, Bess grabbed a hat and stuck it on her head. She giggled as she strutted around the room.

  “And here eez Bess,” George said with a French accent. “Looking bee-oo-tee-ful in a spaghetti-sauce can!”

  “Take it off, Bess,” Nancy urged. “Before Mr. Kaplan gets back.”

  Bess reached up. She put both hands on the tin can hat and began to pull.

  “I can’t!” she grunted.

  “What do you mean you can’t?” asked Nancy.

  “I can’t—because it’s stuck!” Bess wailed.

  “Oh, no! Let me try!” Nancy said. She ran to Bess, grabbed the tin can hat on her head, and began to pull. The can had smooth safety edges, but that didn’t stop Bess from crying out.

  “Owww!” she said. “You’re pulling off my head!”

  Nancy gave the tin can hat a big yank and it popped off. With the hat still in her hands, she stumbled back and slammed right into—

  “Deirdre!” Nancy gasped. The models were in the room!

  “Mrs. Ramirez said we could check on our hats,” Deirdre said. “But what were you doing with mine?”

  “We wanted to check out your hats too,” Nancy explained.

  “Because you still think we trashed the throne,” said Deirdre. “Give me one good reason why we would want to ruin our own float.”

  “Because you were mad at Felicity for getting to be the Queen of Green,” Bess said.

  “That’s a good reason,” said Madison.

  Deirdre glared at Madison. Suddenly Nancy noticed something about the tin can hat. It was painted pink, purple, and spring green. She looked at the other hats on the windowsill. They were the same colors!

  “Bess, George,” Nancy said. “Check out the colors of the hats. They’re not the same as the smudges on the float.”

  “The smudges were red, blue, and yellow,” Bess remembered.

  “Told you!” Deirdre exclaimed. “Why would we want to touch all that garbage, anyway?”

  “We don’t even clean the class hamster cage when it’s our turns!” Madison added.

  “I mean—ick!” Nadine cried.

  Nancy thought they had a point. She also thought Deirdre and the models were innocent.

&n
bsp; “Here, Deirdre,” she said. She handed her back the hat. “Sorry we accused you.”

  But when Deirdre looked down at her tin can hat, she cried, “Look what you did—you got your handprints on my hat. It was still wet!”

  The door opened, and in walked Mr. Kaplan. He was wearing a blue smock, but he did not wear a smile when he saw all six girls in the art room.

  “What are you girls doing in here without a teacher?” he asked.

  Nancy was about to say something when Deirdre stepped forward.

  “Mr. Kaplan, Mr. Kaplan!” she said. “Nancy just got handprints all over my hat!”

  Nancy thought she’d be toast.

  Until George came to the rescue. “What a cowinky-dink! Handprint designs are what all well-dressed women are wearing this year!”

  “Seriously?” Deirdre asked.

  “Sure!” said George. “Handprints are all over the Paris runways.”

  “Then I want handprints too!” Madison declared.

  “So do I!” Nadine chimed in.

  While Madison and Nadine pressed their handprints all over their hats, Nancy, Bess, and George left the art room.

  They stopped at the bathroom so Nancy could wash the paint off her own hands.

  As Nancy washed her hands, she heard a toilet flush … once, twice—three times!

  “Someone is wasting water big-time,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George.

  The girls turned toward the bathroom stall where the endless flushing came from. The door opened, and out stepped Felicity!

  Nancy’s eyes popped wide open. The Queen of Green—wasting water?

  “Hi, guys!” Felicity said. She walked over to a sink and turned on the water full blast. “Any news on the case?”

  Felicity’s bathroom buddy, Marcy, was at a sink too. “I heard you’re going to find out who ruined Felicity’s throne,” said Marcy.

  “We don’t think it was Deirdre or the other models,” Nancy reported. “The paint on their hats didn’t match the paint we found on the float.”

  “They wouldn’t touch garbage, either,” Bess added.

  “Well, keep trying, please,” Felicity said. “Someone out there hates me!”

  “I don’t,” said Marcy with a smile. “I like being friends with a queen.”