Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Chapter Three

AS MADAME CLOSED THE door and Martin still hadn't appeared, Jenna turned around and gave Emily an appreciative

nod. Emily didn't seem to notice-she had a dazed expression on her face. Which wasn't that unusual- she always looked a little dreamy and out of it.

Jenna hadn't meant to hurt Emily's feelings about her gift. She liked Emily. She might be a space cadet who cried a little too easily, but she was a good person, and she was a friend. And Jenna didn't have all that many friends.

That was pretty much her own fault-she knew that. She'd come to Meadowbrook Middle School after a brief stay in a program for troublemakers, and she hadn't kept that a secret. In fact, she'd acted like she was proud of her bad reputation and kept up a veneer of toughness that scared most of her classmates away. Only Tracey and Emily hadn't been put off by her attitude. They got to know the real Jenna, and they accepted her.

So Jenna really hoped she hadn't hurt Emily's feelings, and just to find out, she searched Emily's thoughts. It was never easy reading Emily's mind- with all those premonitions and visions, it was kind of cluttered. It was easier to figure out what Emily was feeling-Jenna could almost always get a sense of that.

Actually, Jenna sometimes found it difficult reading the minds of everyone in this class, especially Madame. Probably because none of them was completely normal.

But she got enough from Emily to reassure herself that Emily wasn't brooding on Jenna's teasing. Emily-like Jenna-was wondering where all the missing students were.

So was Madame, apparently. The teacher looked seriously disturbed as she surveyed the room.

"I'm going to the principal's office," she announced. "I want you all to spend the time writing down your own personal goals for your gifts."

This wasn't an unusual assignment. Madame frequently ordered them to ponder their gifts and note their thoughts. But this time, she looked like her own thoughts were elsewhere.

She left the room, and Jenna turned to Ken sitting next to her. The dark-haired, broad-shouldered former athlete seemed lost in his own thoughts, which wasn't unusual either. He was a friendly guy, but he always looked like something was bothering him.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "Where do you think they are?"

Ken gave his head a little shake, as if he was trying to lose whatever was occupying his mind. Or maybe he was just responding to her question.

"Not a clue," he replied. "Can you read their minds?"

Jenna didn't think so. Every now and then, if someone was trying to be heard, she could read minds from a distance. But usually she had to be in close proximity to the person.

"I'll try," she said. She closed her eyes and envisioned Carter,Tracey, and Martin. Nothing came to her.

"They're not trying to contact me," she told Ken. "Me neither," Ken said.

Jenna was relieved to hear this, since only dead people talked to Ken. She looked around at the others in the room. Emily was still staring into space, probably trying to drum up visions, which was a good thing, Jenna suspected. She didn't want to disturb her.

Off to the side of the room in his wheelchair, Charles seemed to be trying to amuse himself. Two pencils, engaged in what looked like a sword fight and unguided by any hands, floated in the air in front of him. Clearly Charles was moving them with his mind. He didn't appear to be concerned about the missing students. That made sense, since Charles rarely thought about anyone but himself--which was probably why he didn't have a friend in the world.

Sarah was doing what she was supposed to be doing. She had her class notebook open on her desk and was writing studiously. Jenna didn't bother to read her mind. Sarah seemed to avoid thinking anything interesting in case she felt tempted to use her gift.

Amanda was fidgeting. She rapped her fingernails on her desk, opened and closed her notebook, and tapped a foot. Finally, she got up and went over to Ken, the one person in the class she felt was on her social level and therefore worth communicating with.

"This is creepy," she declared.

"No kidding," Jenna remarked.

Amanda shot her a quick withering look as if to say "I wasn't talking to you." Jenna didn't care. Having hung out with Amanda when Amanda was occupying Tracey's body, she knew that she was a mass of contradictions-inside, she was actually sort of decent. But her mean-girl act wasn't just on the surface. It went pretty deep, and sometimes Amanda could be sincerely nasty.

Never to Ken though. Even if he wasn't involved in sports anymore, he'd been a total jock before his accident, and that obviously counted for a lot in Amanda's book. Jenna often suspected Amanda had a crush on him.

"What do you think, Ken?" Amanda asked.

"Something's going on," Ken said. "If they were sick, they'd be on the absentee list. Their parents must be worried."

"Carter doesn't have any parents," Amanda pointed out. "And Tracey's parents probably think she's vanished on purpose. But if Martin's parents don't know where he is, they have to be going crazy. He used to live across the street from me, and I remember his mother always calling for him to come in if he was out playing."

Jenna couldn't resist. "So you and Martin played together as children?" she asked mischievously. "Were you like best friends?"

Amanda didn't even dignify that with a reply. "Ken, what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know," Ken said simply.

Jenna had a suggestion. "We could ask Emily who's going to vanish next." She turned to Ken. "Emily predicted that Carter and Tracey and Martin would disappear."

Ken's eyebrows went up. "Yeah? Hey, Emily." He raised his voice. "Emily!"

Slowly, Emily turned to them. "Yes?"

"Come here," Amanda said imperiously.

Don't take orders from her, Emily, Jenna thought furiously. But Emily wasn't a mind reader, and she still looked so dazed, she'd probably take orders from a squirrel.

She made her way over to Jenna, Ken, and Amanda.

"What's going on?" Amanda demanded to know.

Emily was taken aback. "How would I know?"

Ken spoke much more kindly. "Did you have a premonition that those three would disappear?"

Emily nodded. "Yes. But that's all I saw. Just them not being here."

Amanda sniffed. "That's all? Oh, great. You see people missing-big deal. What good is your gift, Emily, if you don't know why they're gone or where they are or anything?"

Jenna was glad to see that Emily was now getting annoyed with Miss I'm-All-That. "Sorry if my gift doesn't meet your high standards of--of giftedness, Amanda."

Jenna clapped her hands in glee and Ken grinned.

But Amanda was not pleased. Her voice rose. "You know what I think, Emily? You're just showing off. You didn't even have any premonitions."

"Oh yes she did," Jenna interjected.

Amanda ignored that. "You're a great big fake, Emily."

Emily drew herself up. "I am not."

Now Amanda's voice became shrill. "Oh yeah? Then tell us who's going to disappear next!"

Now Jenna understood. Amanda was getting nervous.

Emily looked directly into Amanda's eyes. "You are."

It was all Jenna could do to keep herself from patting Emily on the back to congratulate her. This was exactly what Amanda needed to hear- something that would make her freak out. She deserved to be frightened.

And she was scared-anyone could see that. She went completely pale, and given the amount of makeup she used, that was pretty dramatic. And her thoughts were so clear to Jenna that she was surprised everyone couldn't hear them.

Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod what am I going to do, help me, somebody, help me. .

And then Amanda ran out of the room, looking as if she was about to throw up.

"That wasn't very nice, Emily," Ken said.

"I couldn't help it," Emily said simply. She turned and went back to her seat.

"It served Amanda right," Jenna said to Ken. "She can be pretty nasty."

Ken shrugged. He'd been distracted by a new game Charles was playing on the other side of the room. Charles was sending things into the wastebasket next to Madame's desk. First, he threw a crumpled piece of paper. It sailed through the air and landed in the basket. Then he crumpled another piece of paper and did the same thing.

"It's amazing, what that guy can do with his mind," Ken said. But Jenna thought it was a waste of a gift to use it on stupid activities like that.

When he got bored, Charles looked around for something more interesting to toss.

"Charles, stop it!" Sarah cried out as her bag suddenly left her side and went sailing through the air in the direction of the wastebasket.

Why didn't Sarah just make him stop? Jenna wondered. She knew why, of course. Because Sarah refused to use her power. What Jenna really wondered was why she wouldn't use it. As with Ken, there was something secretive about Sarah.

Now Sarah's bag hung in midair, upside down, and all the contents poured out into the wastebasket.

"Charles!" Sarah wailed.

"Cut it out, Charles," Ken said, but Charles ignored him. Jenna glared at him in disgust.

"You're such a jerk, Charles. No wonder you don't have any friends."

"Who says I don't have any friends?"

"It's pretty obvious," Jenna retorted. "You're always alone. I think that speaks for itself."

Luckily for Sarah, Madame returned to the room then. She saw Sarah's bag fall into the wastebasket, and no one had to tell her what was going on.

"Charles" she said.

For a second, Charles faked a look of innocence. Then, with a shrug, he looked in the direction of the wastebasket. Sarah's bag rose out of it and returned to Sarah's desk.

Madame didn't say anything else to Charles. She didn't even threaten him with demerits, as she normally would have done. Jenna didn't try to read her mind-she knew from experience that it was impossible to know what Madame was thinking.

The bell rang, and Madame didn't even mention the assignment she'd given them. "Have a nice day," she said automatically as they all got up and headed for the door. But as Jenna passed Madame's desk, she thought she heard an additional remark from the teacher.

It sounded like, "Be careful."