Fabulous Five 008 - The Runaway Crisis (5 page)

"Hi, Tony," said Katie as she crossed the living
room and entered the foyer. He looked so handsome that it almost took her
breath away. "I see you've already met Mom."

"I sure have," said Tony. "I was thanking her
for that great article about the march in the newspaper."

Katie looked at Tony with a feeling of pride as he stood
there talking so politely to her mother and even thanking her for the article.
She wished some of the kids at school could see how nice he could be when he
wanted to. It made her furious just to think of how unfair they were. But most
of all, she was pleased that Willie seemed to be impressed. Her mother could
see that he was special, even if kids at school couldn't.

"You two run along and have a good time," said
Willie, and Katie could hear genuine warmth in her voice.

"Thanks, Mom," she said. "We won't be
late."

"Mrs. Shannon, there's something I want to show you
before we go," said Tony. He was grinning broadly.

Curiosity flashed in Katie's mind, but before she could
fully wonder what he was talking about, he whirled around.

"Look at this," he said proudly, pointing to the
back of his head where initials had been shaved into his close-cropped hair.

Katie gasped as she read them.

T.C.
+
K.S.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her mother's
smile waver as she cleared her throat and said, "Oh . . . well . . .
that's very nice, Tony."

"It's the latest style for boys," Katie
interjected, trying to come to Tony's rescue. She didn't add that most of the
boys who wore words or initials shaved into their hair were punkers or rockers
and not really the type of guys she would ever go out with. She could see that
her mother was still trying to comprehend Tony's bizarre haircut so she added,
"Come on, Tony. We'd better get going or we'll be late."

As they left the house and got into Tony's father's car, she
turned her face away so that he could not see her exasperated expression.
Why
did he always have to blow it just when someone was starting to see how great
he could be? And if he was going to shave their initials into his hair, why on
earth did he have to point them out to her mother?

The drive to the movie theater was a short one, filled with
polite conversation with Mr. Calcaterra. He had the same dark hair as Tony,
without the initials shaved into it of course, and Katie noticed that the
family resemblance was strong.

There was a crowd on the sidewalk in front of the theater,
and Katie recognized most of them as being from Wacko Junior High. Mr.
Calcaterra pulled into the line of cars dropping off kids, and when their turn
came, Katie said, "Thanks, Mr. Calcaterra," and got out.

"Yeah, Dad, thanks," said Tony. "We'll call
you to come after us later."

They were immediately engulfed in the milling crowd.

"Hi, Katie. Hi, Tony," shouted Dekeisha Adams. She
and Dan Bankston were holding hands and walking toward the ticket line.

Katie waved to Dekeisha and Dan and then to Jana and Randy
and Beth and Keith, who were already in line.

"Do you want to squeeze in with us?" Beth shouted.

"Just a minute. I'll ask Tony," Katie shouted
back.

Just as she turned to talk to Tony, they were surrounded by
a group of Tony's friends.

"Hey, Tony," shouted Bill Soliday. "Let's see
that haircut."

Tony grinned and made a three-quarter turn so that everyone
could see the initials shaved into the back of his hair.

"Whoa!" veiled Joel Murphy. "That's cool!"
A cheer went up from the rest of the boys standing around them.

"T.C. + K.S!" cried Mike Hershenfeld, gesturing
toward Katie. "We all know who K.S. is!"

Katie felt her face turning the same shade of red as her
hair. This was
not
the way she had imagined her first date would begin. "Come
on, Tony. Let's get in the ticket line," she urged, tugging at his arm.
Maybe when they got into the dark theater where no one would be able to see his
haircut the teasing would stop.

"See you guys later," Tony called to his friends,
and followed Katie to the end of the ticket line. Katie noticed that Jana and
Beth and their dates had already bought tickets and disappeared into the lobby.
We'll probably never be able to find them once we get inside, either, she
thought.

"Well, Your Honor, you haven't said how you like my
haircut," said Tony, grinning impishly. "What's the verdict?"

"To be perfectly honest, I haven't decided yet,"
admitted Katie. "I mean, it's better than writing it on the school walls
with spray paint and having to appear before Teen Court the way you did the
other time."

They both laughed at that.

"I did it so that everybody would know how much I like
you," Tony said softly. "But mostly I wanted to make sure that you
got the message."

"Message received," answered Katie, feeling warm
and tingly. She had to admit that Tony really did like her even though he didn't
always show it in a way she would have preferred. She was trying to decide how
to tell him that she liked him, too, when her attention was caught by a man and
a woman walking through the crowd of teenagers and looking in all directions
with anxious expressions on their faces. They were both tall and extremely well
dressed. The woman had short ash-blond hair, and for an instant when she turned
toward them, Katie thought she looked familiar.

"Tony Calcaterra!" the woman called out.

Looking surprised, Tony glanced toward her. "Oh, hi
there, Mrs. Pendergast."

Katie was stunned. In the excitement over Tony's haircut,
she had completely forgotten about Shawnie hiding at home in her bedroom. That's
why the woman had looked familiar. She was tall and blond and looked a lot like
Shawnie.

By this time both of Shawnie's parents had made their way
through the crowd to where Tony and Katie stood.

"What are you doing at the movie on kids' night?"
joked Tony. "Don't you know that they won't let you in on Friday night
unless you go to Wacko Junior High?"

"We're looking for Shawnie," Mr. Pendergast said
solemnly.

"She didn't come home after school, and we're worried
sick," added Mrs. Pendergast.

Katie swallowed hard. They really did look worried as they
scanned the crowd for sight of their daughter.

"I haven't seen her," said Tony. "Have you,
Katie?"

"Katie?" asked Mrs. Pendergast. "Are you
Katie Shannon?"

"Yes, ma'am," Katie answered. The blood was
pounding in her temples. She didn't want to answer Tony's question. It would be
awful to lie and say she hadn't seen Shawnie, but she couldn't tell on Shawnie
either.

"It's nice to meet you, Katie," said Mrs.
Pendergast. "Shawnie has said a lot of nice things about you."

"We've just about run out of places to look for her,"
said Mr. Pendergast, frowning and shaking his head. "Will you give us a
call if she shows up either here or at Bumpers?"

"Tell her we're terribly worried, and we want her to
come home," Mrs. Pendergast added.

"Sure thing, Mrs. P," said Tony, and Katie nodded,
grateful that they hadn't asked her again if she had seen Shawnie.

As they moved on through the crowd, Katie let out a deep
breath she hadn't known she was holding. She needed to talk to Shawnie and find
out what was really going on. Things had happened too fast. She hadn't had time
to think straight when Shawnie appeared on her doorstep because it was time for
her date with Tony. Still, she should have realized how serious the situation
was.

Tony sighed. "See? I told you Shawnie was trouble. It's
just like her to do something lunatic like running away."

Katie didn't answer, and for the rest of the evening she had
a hard time concentrating on the things going on around her. She barely saw the
movie, and even though she had fun being with Tony and they sat at a big table
with her friends and their dates at Bumpers afterward, her mind kept wandering
to Shawnie hiding in the dark in her room.

On the ride home from Bumpers, Tony brought up the subject
that had been on Katie's mind all evening.

"I wonder if Shawnie Pendergast has gone home yet."

"Her parents certainly looked worried," said
Katie, not wanting to deal with his question. Shawnie
hadn't
gone home
yet unless she had climbed out of Katie's upstairs window and shinnied down the
maple tree that grew beside the house, and Katie knew that wasn't very likely.
What's more, she was beginning to have serious doubts about how smart it had
been to let Shawnie hide there. Willie would be berserk by now if she were ever
to run away like that. Didn't Shawnie care about how upset her parents were? "I
hear that Mr. and Mrs. Pendergast are awfully strict," added Katie, "and
they try to buy her affection instead of letting her do the things normal kids
get to do."

"They are pretty strict," Tony admitted. "And
they used to come down on her pretty hard when we were in Copper Beach
Elementary."

Katie wanted to ask Tony more about Shawnie and her
situation at home, but Mr. Calcaterra had reached her house and was pulling up
to the curb. She said good-night to Tony's father and got out of the car.

"I'll be back in a minute," Tony called to his dad
as he followed Katie onto the porch.

They stopped in front of the door, and Katie felt little tingles
tiptoe up her spine as Tony took her hand. "Move over this way a little,"
he said, tugging at her hand.

Katie chuckled. "What are you doing?" she asked as
she allowed herself to be pulled along.

"Okay. Stop right here," said Tony. "This is
just perfect. There's an evergreen tree between us and my dad so now he can't
see us."

They were standing so close that Katie could have counted
his eyelashes if the moon had been full. Suddenly Tony put his arms around her
and kissed her. "I had a terrific time tonight," he said.

"So did I," said Katie.

"I'm really glad we're doing the march for hunger
together, too." A grin spread over his face, and his eyes began to
twinkle. "I never knew staying out of trouble could be so much fun,
Your
Honor.
"

Katie smiled but she didn't answer for a moment. She wanted
to say that she was glad that he was staying out of trouble, too. She also wanted
to tell him that she wished she hadn't waited so long to go out with him, but
standing on the dark porch with him so near suddenly made her feel shy.

"I guess I'd better go in," she finally said.

"I'll call you tomorrow about the march."

"Okay. Good night." She smiled at him to let him
know she really meant what she had said.

Katie hurried into the house and then closed her eyes as she
leaned against the door. "I do like Tony," she whispered to herself. "I
really
do."

"How did it go, honey?" asked Willie, who was
coming into the living room from the hallway. "Did you have fun?"

Katie felt such a wide smile stretch across her face that
she knew she must look like a happy-face sticker, but she couldn't help it. "We
had a
terrific
time," she said. "I'll tell you all about it in
the morning."

Willie smiled knowingly at Katie, and it made her blush, but
she didn't care. She felt as if she were the luckiest girl in the world. They
said good-night, and Katie hurried up the stairs to her room. She would have to
put off her daydreams of Tony at least until in the morning. Right now she had
to talk to Shawnie.

At first when she opened the door everything looked so
normal and so still that it was hard to believe anyone could be hiding in her
room. She tiptoed in and closed the door behind her. Light streaming in the
window made her desk, her bed, even the floor look as if it were frosted with
moon dust.

"Shawnie? Are you here?" she whispered,
half-hoping no one would answer.

The dark smudge beside the window that was Katie's curtain
grew thicker as Shawnie moved forward and then stepped into the moonlight. "Here
I am," she whispered back. "I was afraid it might be your mother."

"Are you okay?" asked Katie, flipping on the
light.

"Sure. But I'll have to admit I'm glad you're back.
Hiding in a dark room is really spooky. I tried not to move around, but your
mom came upstairs a couple of times. I thought she had heard me, and I almost
died."

Katie sat down on the end of her bed, crossing her legs
Indian fashion, and Shawnie sprawled across the other end, lying on her stomach
and propping her chin in her hand.

"I met your mom tonight," said Katie. "And your
dad, too. They were at the theater looking for you. They acted really worried."

Shawnie made a face. "You said it right when you said
they
acted.
They probably convinced you, too. Believe me, someday they're
going to get an Academy Award for their acting. I ought to know. I see it all
the time."

"Shawnie, we have to talk," said Katie. "I
didn't stop to think about how serious running away really is when I said you
could hide here."

"Oh," said Shawnie, pulling herself up to a
sitting position. Her expression changed from the look of anger she had worn
while she talked about her parents to a combination of hurt and disbelief. She
lowered her eyes sadly, tracing the patterns in the bedspread with her finger,
and went on, "If you don't want me to stay overnight, just say so. I don't
have anywhere else to go, but that's okay. I can just walk around all night or
go to the bus station or something."

"Shawnie, you know that's not what I mean," Katie
snapped. "Of course you can stay here. I just need to know why you ran
away. What did your parents do to you? Did they beat you or something like
that? Maybe we should call the police."

"You can't call the police!" There was panic in
her voice. "Promise me you won't. Okay?"

"Will you tell me what happened at home?" Katie
insisted.

Shawnie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Katie
could see tears willing in her eyes as she continued to look down and trace the
patterns on the bedspread. "I can't," she whispered. "Not yet.
Especially not tonight. I know you can't understand. How could you?" She
sighed again. "It's just too hard to talk about it right now, but maybe I'll
be able to in the morning. That is . . . if I'm still here in the morning."

Katie looked helplessly around the room as if searching for
the solution to this predicament and hoping to find it magically written on the
walls. What was she going to do? She couldn't hide Shawnie and not tell anyone,
knowing that her parents were going out of their minds with worry. It wasn't
fair to them. But it would be even less fair to Shawnie to turn her out onto
the street when she needed help so badly.

Shawnie got up and crossed the room to where her suitcase
sat on the floor by the dresser. As she picked it up, she turned back toward
Katie. There were tears streaming down her face.

"Wait," cried Katie, rushing to her and taking the
suitcase out of her hand. "I want you to stay. Honest. Everything's going
to be okay. I promise."