"You're going to lie low in a Catholic girls school?" Maisie grinned.

"I hope so."

"Oh, God, I hope not!" she cried. "Listen, next time you do something crazy, bring me along!"

I was saved by Trevor's mother, who came over to meet me and Mom.

"So, Mark, is it?" she said to me.

I stammered in response.

"Just teasing!" she said. "I'm glad you realized that being a woman is better. Isn't it?"

"Definitely," I agreed.

Dad coughed shifted in his chair. "Marcie said she'd like to come to the office and see what we do," he told her.

"Great!" she said. "Do you want to come and do a little work, or just hang out with Daddy?"

"Uh...," The question sounded like a test, and I figured she wanted me to say work, but I said in a firm voice, "I want to do both."

She nodded approvingly. "I hear you're a sort of Nancy Drew, Marcie. What's that like?"

"I'm nothing like that," I told her.

"Aren't you the Marcie Donner who single-handedly caught two kidnappers?"

"The police caught them," I said.

"You just hung onto the getaway car as it sped through town," she supplied.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Your father mentioned it, and then I googled you," she said. "The Tierson local paper is on the web."

"I didn't know that. Anyway, Nancy Drew was a detective. I'm just... just a girl."

"Actually she was a sleuth," Ms. Means laughed a deep, throaty laugh. "I always thought that was a funny word. In any case, keep me abreast of your new adventures, and do come visit."

Then she crouched down next to my mother and started talking to her. I was surprised by the way she so abruptly dropped me, but in the next moment I felt a small hand lightly touch my shoulder. I turned to see the blonde girl from Ms. Means' table. She looked even thinner up close.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Maisie Beale. You're coming to BYHS, right? Marcie Donner?"

"B-Y–" I started, confused

She interrupted by saying, "Blessed Yvette's" in an undertone. She clearly disliked saying it out loud.

"Oh, oh, yeah!" I agreed.

"You're going to be in my class," she announced, and smiled. I liked her smile, and found myself smiling back.

"Great," I said.

"So where are you from?" she asked.

"Tierson, California," I replied.

I glanced over at Maisie's table. Trevor smiled at me, and the blonde — Maisie's mother — stood up and headed our way. I told Maisie, "Oh, looks like your mother's coming over, too."

Maisie made a look of distaste. "That fat cow!" she snarled.

I was shocked. Maisie went on to criticize and insult her mother in a low voice that only I could hear. Most of it was variations of the words "fat" and "sloppy," but believe me, her mother was neither. She was a complete knockout.

"I think your mother's beautiful," I told Maisie.

She gave me a strange look, as if to say if only you knew or how would you know?

Maisie's mother called, "Oh, honey, have you made a new friend?"

Without even looking at her mother, Maisie said, "Back off."

Her rudeness offended me. I couldn't believe it. Still, no one had heard it except for her mother and me. I was so shocked and disturbed that I couldn't keep my eyes off her mother's face, to see how she'd reaction. I felt mortified for her, but she didn't change expression at all, as if Maisie wasn't speaking.

Without missing a beat, Maisie's mother turned and introduced herself to my mother. She and Ms. Means pulled chairs over and made a little women's circle.

At that, Maisie grabbed my arm, pulled me out of my chair, and said, "Come on. I need a smoke."

Her grip was surprisingly strong, and I found myself running after her down one hallway and then another, until we emerged from the back of the restaurant, where some of the kitchen workers and waiters were smoking. They stood in the warm air of a big exhaust vent.

Maisie, with no hesitation, walked over and said, "Can we get in here, too?" They didn't answer, but moved to make space for the two of us.

She fished two cigarettes and an enormous old-fashioned lighter out of her bag. She put both cigarettes in her mouth, lit them, and passed one to me. She shut the flame inside the lighter with a loud click!

"I don't smoke," I told her.

"I know," she replied. "That's why I lit it for you."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"You didn't reach for one, and you're holding your cigarette all wrong." She smiled, but she wasn't making fun.

I put the cigarette to my lips, but in my nervousness I shoved half of it into my mouth. I pulled it out again quickly, but the workers were already laughing. I fiddled with it until it was between my first two fingers, the way Maisie held hers, but it felt funny. Finally I put it between my thumb and forefinger.

Then I took my first puff, and blew the smoke skyward. I took another puff and blew the smoke away. I wondered whether I could blow smoke rings.

"This isn't bad," I said.

"You're not inhaling," Maisie informed me quietly. "But it's okay. Don't start now."

"Why not?" I asked. Wasn't I inhaling? I drew the smoke into my mouth, kept it there, then inhaled some air through my mouth. The smoke went down my throat into my lungs, and I started hacking and coughing. I bent over, and someone gently put their hand on my back. No one laughed, and when I straightened up, one of the kitchen help handed me a glass of water.

"Oh, little girl, this is not for you!" another man said. "No smoking for you!"

"Sorry," Maisie said. "I wasn't trying to corrupt you. I just wanted company." She ground my cigarette out with her toe.

"That's... okay," I coughed. Then I drew a breath. Much better. "I'm good now."

Someone took the empty glass from me and brought me another. Then the restaurant workers went away, leaving me and Maisie alone. She lit another cigarette, but didn't offer me one.

She asked, "Is it true that you helped catch some kidnappers?"

"Yes," I said. "It wasn't a big deal."

Her eyebrows went up. "No big deal? And did you really climbed up the side of a building to get a kid's asthma medicine?"

"It was only to the third floor," I replied. "How do you know all this?"

"Mrs. Means was talking about you. She said you're a teenage action hero."

I laughed. "Not any more."

"You're going to lie low in a Catholic girls school?" she grinned.

"I hope so."

"Oh, God, I hope not!" Maisie cried. "Listen, next time you do something crazy, bring me along!"

"Okay," I laughed, "but don't hold your breath. I don't think the crazy stuff that happened in California could ever happen here. And I'm really going to try to just be a regular girl."

Maisie shrugged, then laughed to herself. "Maybe all that crazy stuff is in *you*, not California. I always thought California was pretty boring."

"Yeah, so did I," I admitted, "until–" I stopped myself.

"Until what?"

"Uh, until the crazy stuff started happening," I replied, a little stupidly. I'd almost said that it was boring until I became Marcie.

Maisie nodded and give me a wry smile. "We could use some crazy stuff happening around here."

I didn't answer. Maybe a lot of what happened to me was exciting and fun to hear about, but some of it was terrible when it happened. I didn't wish for anything exciting. Just being Marcie was enough for me.

She threw her cigarette on the ground and pressed it under her boot. Then she handed me a piece of gum. "To get rid of the smoke smell," she said. Then she looked in my eyes. "One of your eyes is red from coughing. Come here." She got something out of her purse and unscrewed it.

Quickly, decisively, she grabbed my face with her right hand, tilted it back and pulled open my eye with thumb and forefinger. Before I had a chance to react, she dropped two drops of some liquid into my eye.

"Hey!" I protested, blinking.

"Feel better?" she asked.

To tell the truth, it did. I nodded.

"Visine," she said. "Let's get back before they come looking for us."

© 2007 by Kaleigh Way