Fabulous Five 003 - The Popularity Trap Read online

  Ever since she had found out that Mr. Bell, the principal, had decided to try a Teen Court instead of detentions as an experiment, she had wanted to be on it. Teen Court would be made up of three students from each class and two faculty members who would hear each complaint as if it were a court case. The court would establish the punishment for the ones found guilty. It would be an awesome responsibility, Katie thought, but it would give her a chance to express her feelings about a lot of things, such as the way girls were sometimes treated unfairly, and how some kids got away with things they shouldn't.

  She smiled to herself. There were several seventh-graders running, but her record was excellent. She knew she had a super chance of being picked. She had never been in trouble in either elementary or at Wakeman Junior High. Not one detention. That had to count for a lot. And everyone knew that she was a no-nonsense person. Just the kind of person who should be on the Teen Court.

  Katie relaxed in her seat. English Lit was one of her favorite subjects. She liked to read stories written by women authors such as Emily Brontë and Louisa May Alcott. It had made some of the boys in the class furious when Miss Dickinson announced that Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley—a woman. She smiled to herself, remembering how they had booed.

  The chattering and giggling in the next row was irritating her. She frowned at Mona Vaughn and Matt Zeboski again. They had been talking ever since they came into the classroom. So what if they had a big romance going? They should know better, and it wasn't fair to the rest of the class or Miss Dickinson.

  Katie looked at the teacher. She still had her back turned. Teaching was hard enough without kids acting up, she thought. It miffed Katie when they did it.

  She glanced again at Mona and Matt. This time she gave them an angry glare that she thought would stop them. Instead, they laughed at her, and Matt whispered something to Mona. Katie's face turned as red as her hair.

  "You two had better stop!" she whispered angrily. "If Miss Dickinson catches you, you'll get a detention."

  "Katie Shannon, come up to my desk!" Miss Dickinson's command hit Katie with the force of a Wakeman Warrior football player crashing into her. The teacher was standing by the desk with her hands on her hips, and she was looking directly at Katie.

  Katie struggled out of her seat, and the room was deathly quiet as she walked to Miss Dickinson's desk. The aisle seemed a mile long, and she could feel everyone staring at her.

  "Katie Shannon, I'm amazed at you, of all people. I didn't expect you to act up in class."

  "But Miss Dickinson—"

  "No arguments." She wrote hurriedly on a pink detention pad and then tore off the paper and gave it to Katie. "You deserve a detention when you cause a disturbance just the same as everyone else. Take this to Miss Wolfe after school today."

  Katie was stunned. She had always been an exemplary student, and now she was being treated like Clarence Marshall and the other troublemakers in school. The piece of paper in her hand might as well have been a death sentence. Everyone would laugh at her now. But what was even worse, she might as well forget about being on the Teen Court.

  What will happen to Katie's ambitions to be on Teen Court after she gets detention? Will she become the laughingstock of Wako Junior High, as she predicts? And how will she face her friends? Find out in The Fabulous Five #4: Her Honor, Katie Shannon.

  Table of Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18