Part III

Trixie and Honey had agreed to having Honey invite Jessi over for lunch, because it would seem kind of weird having your ‘enemy’ invite you over for lunch.

So, the next day at ten o’clock, Honey called Jessi Billings to invite her over for lunch.

Rrring. Rrring.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Billings?" Honey asked.

"Yes, this is she," Mrs. Billings said. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I’m Honey Wheeler," Honey said. "I just wanted to invite Jessi over for lunch today."

"I’ll go get Jessi. I don’t know what her plans are for today." Mrs. Billings set the phone down and went to find Jessi.

"Hello?" Jessi asked in her snobbish way. "What do you want, Honey? You want me to give up trying to be president so Trixie doesn’t have any trouble, right?"

"No," Honey said. "I just wanted to invite you over to my house to have lunch with Trixie and me."

"You want me, a 17-year-old, to come and eat with you, 14-year-olds?"

"Well, yeah," Honey said. "If that’s how you want to put it, yeah." I hope I don’t sound mean, Honey thought. It would be a miracle if she comes.

Hmmm…Jessi thought. This is a good chance to get Trixie to step down and put me in her place and a good chance to eat luxurious food. Aloud she said, "Yeah, I’ll come. What time do you want me?"

Honey thought she was going to faint. "What? You’re actually—oh, at twelve thirty. Thanks!"

"No, I should thank you!" And with that, Jessi hung up the phone and started thinking about ways to persuade Trixie into letting her take her place.

* * *

"What!" Trixie said. "She’s coming?"

"Yeah!" Honey shouted into the mouthpiece. "How many times do I have to tell you? Yes, Jessi’s coming over for lunch at twelve thirty at my house!"

Calm down, Trixie, Trixie thought. Calm down and let Honey think you’re making sense. Aloud she said, "Honey, I’m going to get dressed in something decent and then I’ll meet you at your house."

"Okay," Honey said. Then she hung up and ran to the front door to wait for Trixie.

Hmmm…Trixie thought as she dug through her drawers of clothes. What should I wear? Ah-ha! The perfect thing!

She pulled out and old, scrunched-up tie-dye T-shirt. "This is going to need some ironing," Trixie said to herself. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of ironing. "Moms is out running errands with Bobby, and Brian, Mart, and Jim, are having a picnic. That leaves all the work to me." So Trixie went into closet, unfolded the ironing board, and ironed her T-shirt. Then she folded the iron back up and exited the big closet.

* * *

When’s she going to be here? Honey thought, leaning against the wall by the front door. It’s only a couple hours before Jessi gets here. Oh, Trixie, hurry up!

Ding-dong!

Honey unlocked the door and flipped it open. Trixie was standing in the doorway. She was dressed better than Honey was used to seeing her. Her jeans weren’t faded and she wasn’t wearing an old T-shirt a size too big. Honey couldn’t help but giggle.

"What?" Trixie said. "Oh, that. I thought that if Jessi saw me this way, she might think differently about me."

"Good idea," Honey said. She was wearing jeans and a light and dark green striped T-shirt.

"You look great, Honey," Trixie said.

"Thanks," Honey said. "Well, let’s get ready."

"Okay."

* * *

"So," Jessi said at lunch. "Why did you invite me here anyway?"

"Well," Trixie began, kicking Honey under the table because she was making a face like she was scared of something. "I wanted to tell you that I really liked your speech and that I wish you were chosen as a candidate."

"Who do you think should have been chosen?" Jessi asked.

"I don’t know," Trixie said. "That’s not for me to decide anyway."

"Jessi," Honey said. "Who do you like to talk to on the phone?"

"Why?" Jessi asked.

"Um, you know Mart’s article in the school newspaper?" Trixie asked.

"The Sleepy-Side High School Press? Yeah," Jessi said.

"Well, Honey and I were thinking about interviewing you and asking Mart to put it in his article, Everything You Need to Know About…."

"That’s so kind," Jessi said. "But why did you pick me?"

"Because you’re so popular," Honey said. "Well, who do you like to talk to on the phone?"

"James Webbert, Tinky Johannes, and Mia Quicky," Jessi said.

Trixie wrote Jessi’s answers down on a notebook she had stuffed in her pocket.

"Who are your best friends?" Honey asked.

"James Webbert, Christiana Higgans, and Gabriela Elina," Jessi said.

Trixie wrote down every answer to the questions Honey asked Jessi.

* * *

"So," Honey said after Jessi left. "Let me see the notebook."

Trixie handed Honey the notebook and she read the following:

"She didn’t really give us that much information, did she?" Honey asked, looking at Trixie.

"Didn’t you see the answer to the questions? What do all of them except for #6 have in common?"

Honey read the paper over and over. "I give up," she said. "What?"

"James Webbert is Jessi’s best friend. She does almost everything with him. He must be involved in the mystery!"

"Trixie!" Honey said. "You’re absolutely right! But I don’t think we should do anything to them. A prank phone-call isn’t that bad."

"They both tried out to be school president, so that either one of them had a chance to become a candidate and do something awful to the school!" Trixie said. "Don’t you see? The school president is always trusted, and so they could plan to make a theft or something and probably get away with it!"

"This is terrible!" Honey said. "We have to do something about it!"

"Hmmm…" Trixie thought. "I know! You have to pretend to like James!"

"Ew!" Honey said. "Why can’t you?"

"Because everyone at school thinks I have a crush on Jim! You just have to, Honey! You’ll save the school!"

"Okay," Honey said. "If it means that much to you, I’ll do it."

"Hey," Trixie said. "Cheer up. I had to fake I liked your cousin Ben Riker!"

Honey giggled. "You’re right, Trixie. You didn’t put up much of a fuss about that.

"But I don’t know. What if he doesn’t like me?"

"That won’t matter. Just keep on following him around. Don’t let him out of your sight! You’ll know exactly what’s going on!"

"Okay," Honey said. "I’ll do it. But I won’t make a sudden move. I’ll be like a cat sneaking up on a mouse. I’ll wait until all the evidence points to them, and then I’ll pounce!"

Trixie clapped at Honey’s speech. "Wonderful!" she said.

Trixie and Honey headed up to Honey’s bedroom to talk about the mystery.