Twisted Read Online Free PDF Page A

Mr. Dorman knew we’d have to clean up the lounge to use the table.”
    Gail nodded. “Amy’s right. The cooks usually clean it right before they go home. I guess Mr. Dorman figured he’d free them up for bigger and better things.”
    â€œLike thinking up new ways to poison us?” Amy started to laugh.
    â€œExactly.” Colleen laughed, too. “Come on, you two. We might as well make the best of it. At least the teachers have cold drinks in the refrigerator, and we can help ourselves.”
    In less than ten minutes the table was clean, the dishes were stacked neatly in the rubber tubs the kitchen had provided, and the girls were enjoying their favorite soft drinks from the teachers’ refrigerator. They’d developed a system for counting the votes. Gail would unfold the votes and read them aloud. Then she’d hand them to Colleen, who would verify them. Amy would do the actual count by making a tally mark on the lists Mr. Dorman had given her, one for the Senior boys, and one for the Senior girls.
    Their first task had been to separate the votes. That wasn’t difficult because the names were written on hearts cut out of construction paper. There were red hearts for the Valentine Queen, and green hearts for the Valentine King.
    They’d counted the green votes first, and Brett had taken a decisive lead for Valentine’s Day King. He’d chalked up thirty votes out of the fifty-two that had been cast. Now they were counting the votes for Valentine’s Day Queen, and there were many more of them. It was pretty obvious that the boys had purchased more cards than the girls.
    Gail unfolded another red heart, and frowned as she read the name inside. “Here we go again. It’s another vote for Tanya.”
    â€œThat figures.” Colleen sighed as she verified the vote. “Chalk up another one for Tanya. How many does that make, Amy?”
    â€œFifteen. Out of twenty. You’ve got one, Gail’s got one, Jessica’s got one, and Michele’s got two.”
    â€œHere’s one for you, Amy.” Gail unfolded another red heart.
    â€œFor me?” Amy looked astounded. “Who’d vote for me?”
    Colleen grabbed the heart-shaped ballot out of Gail’s hand. “Let me see. I know everybody’s handwriting.”
    â€œYes?” Amy held her breath. She hoped the vote had been cast by Brett.
    â€œI don’t know. It’s printed. And that means it could be anybody. Maybe you’ve got a secret admirer, Amy.”
    â€œOh, sure.” Amy sighed. “It’s probably from your brother and you made him do it.”
    Colleen shook her head. “No, it’s not. Danny had to go to the dentist at eleven this morning, and he’s not back yet. He missed lunch and that’s when they sold the cards.”
    â€œAre you sure it’s not from Danny?”
    â€œI’m positive. Somebody else must have voted for you.”
    Amy began to grin as she turned back to her tally sheet and put a check mark by her own name. Even though the skies outside were still gray, it made the whole day seem much brighter. Someone had actually cast a vote for her! Maybe Colleen was right and she did have a secret admirer. She just wished she knew who he was.

Three
    C at scowled as he studied the bulletin board. They’d posted the totals during fifth period, but this was the first chance he’d had to look.
    The bulletin board had been decorated since he’d seen it this morning, and it was a total mess. Cat remembered the old joke Mr. Dorman had told them, that the camel was a horse that had been designed by a committee. Even though it was a joke and Cat knew it, he decided that the same committee had decorated the bulletin board.
    The bulletin board was covered with red construction paper. That, in itself, was just fine. But someone had cut Cupids out of glossy pink paper and stuck them up in a random design with