The Girls' Revenge by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Author:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor [Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-52823-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 1999-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Hot, Hot Chocolate

“What we have to do,” Eddie told her sisters, “is pretend that absolutely nothing happened. The guys are going to be dying to know if we got in trouble, and if they even mention it to us, we don't know what they're talking about. Right?”

“Right,” said Caroline.

“And then,” said Eddie, her eyes beginning to glow, “we wait until they meet in the garage again, and then we trap them.”

Caroline had no idea how they were supposed to do that, but she didn't care. They hadn't got in trouble, because their parents believed that the Hatford boys were just playing a trick. It was great to have Beth and Eddie back again, thinking of ways to torment the guys, even though Eddie really wanted to make the softball team and Beth was sweet on Josh. The thing about the Hatford boys, they were a ready audience. Boys fell for so many things you wouldn't think they'd believe. It was really incredible. None of her friends back home had been quite so stupid.

Well, stupid wasn't exactly the right word, because the Hatfords came up with some pretty good tricks themselves. Fun was more like it. And then she put into words something none of them had really said before: “At least the boys are fun.”

“And cute,” added Beth. “Josh is, anyway. And Peter.”

Eddie wrinkled her nose. “Spare me,” she said. “I can live without cute. Tell me that Jake or Josh or Wally has anything on his mind besides acting silly, and maybe I'll get interested.”

Caroline had never heard her sisters talk like this before.

“Why can't people stay the same, Mother?” she asked later, as they were putting the Christmas bells and holly on the mantel and getting out the holiday candles.

“And whom would we be talking about, I wonder?” said Mother. “Your sisters?”

“Yes. Sometimes they act like they always were, and sometimes they just… just act different. Growing weird, is what they are.”

“Or maybe just growing up?” Mother suggested.

“Whatever,” said Caroline.

When the girls left for school the next morning, West Virginia was having its first big snow of the season. The river had frozen over, and snow was beginning to collect on top of the ice. When the Malloy sisters crossed the swinging bridge, they slid their feet along, rather than risk slipping and falling on the frozen boards. All around them the leafless branches and twigs had taken on a soft furry appearance, and the snow on the roads muted the sound of traffic.

It would have been a perfect morning, Caroline was thinking, if the Hatford boys had not been waiting for them on the other side of the bridge.

“Don't even think it,” Eddie said, as she eyed Jake tossing a snowball from one hand to the other.

“Hey, Whomper, Weirdo, and Crazie!” said Jake. “What was all the excitement over at your place last night? We saw a police car pull up. Somebody get murdered or something?”

“They had the wrong address,” Beth retorted. “They were looking for your place.

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