11 Ch11-The Stakeout

Chapter 11 The Stakeout "Meet me by the monkey bars at three o'clock," Andrea whispered as she passed my desk. "I've got a plan." When I got to the playground after school, Ryan and Michael were there. So were Andrea and Emily. Andrea looked around to make sure nobody else could hear us.

"I overheard Mrs. Cooney talking to Principal Klutz," Andrea said. "She's going to be in her office at seven o'clock tonight." "So what?" Ryan asked. "So we can catch her in the act, dumb- head!" Andrea said. "We can peek in the window of the nurse's office," said Emily. "I'll bring my camera," Michael said "We can use the pictures as evidence," "Smart thinking," said Andrea. It sounded like a good idea. But there was one problem. Even though I only live a block from school, my mom wasn't going to let me go out by myself at night. I didn't want to tell everybody that,

because I didn't want them calling me a baby. When I got home, I told my mom that, oh, by the way I have to go over to school after dinner. "What for?" my mom asked. "It's a secret," I said. "We're making presents for Mother's Day." I don't usually like to lie. But my mother once told me that sometimes it's okay to lie. Like when your grandma gives you a present, you have to say you like it no matter how horrible and dis- gusting it is. The fate of the world was on my shoul- ders. I figured this was one of those

times it was okay to lie. "Mother's Day, eh?" said Mom, all smiles. "Okay. But you be careful crossing the street." It was drizzling a little when I got to school. It didn't look like anyone else was around. But then I heard somebody call out, "In here!" I looked in the bushes under Mrs. Cooney's window. Michael and Ryan and Andrea and Emily were huddled in there. "Shh!" Andrea said. "Mrs. Cooney isn't here yet." "We should synchronize our watches," Ryan said. "What does that mean?" asked Emily.

"How should I know?" Ryan said. "But they always do that in the movies." None of us had watches, but it didn't matter because at that very instant a car came around the corner and pulled up to the curb in front of the school. "Wow, a Jaguar!" said Michael, who knows a lot about cars.

"Spies always drive cool cars," said Ryan. The car stopped and somebody got out. "Look, it's her!" we all said. "It's Mrs. Cooney!" "And she's wearing a trench coat!" Ryan said. "Spies always wear trench coats." "Maybe she's wearing a trench coat because it's raining," I said. "She's got a briefcase, too," Ryan said. "Spies always carry briefcases." Mrs. Cooney walked around to the front door of the school. It wasn't long until the light went on in the nurse's office over our heads.