Read Online A Spy Among the Girls by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Free Book Online

it.”
    Both Caroline and Eddie turned and stared at Beth.
    “You wouldn't!” said Eddie. “Run away from home over a boy? Over a
Hatford
?”
    “Over Josh, I would,” Beth said determinedly.
    “But where would you go?” asked Caroline. Oh, this was wonderful! Beth was actually talking about forsaking her family and home for the boy she loved! How Caroline wished it were
she
who was thinking of running away—
she
who would do something really romantic! She just
had
to make Wally Hatford fall in love with her, if even for five minutes. “Where would you
live
?” she questioned.
    Now it was Beth's turn to stare. “Live? Why, right here, of course! I didn't mean I would run away
to
somewhere. I just meant run off for the day to be with Josh for a while.”
    “Hey!” said Eddie. “Do you see what I see?”
    Beth and Caroline looked toward the window again.
    “Somebody's coming across the swinging bridge,” said Beth. “It looks like…like…”
    “Peter!” said Caroline. “No one in Buckman takes as long to cross that bridge as Peter Hatford.”
    “Or finds so many excuses to stop.” Eddie laughed.
    They studied the young boy standing at the cable handrail, watching the water flow under the bridge.
    “What's he got under his arm?” mused Beth.
    “Looks like a book. A dictionary?” Caroline guessed.
    “It's not a dictionary, it's a box,” said Eddie, craning her neck and staring hard out the window.
    Down below, Peter started forward again. Yes, it
was
a box, Caroline decided. A yellow box. Peter was holding it in both hands now and studying it as he crossed the halfway point on the bridge and kept coming. Now she saw him hold the box up to his ear and shake it.
    “You know what I think he's got? A box of Whitman's chocolates,” Eddie said, beginning to smile. “Doesn't it look like it's wrapped in cellophane? And isn't that a wide red ribbon across the front?”
    “Beth, I'll bet it's for you!” Caroline cried excitedly. “I'll bet Josh sent it over here with Peter.”
    They watched in fascination as Peter held the box to his face and appeared to be sniffing it. Yes, it
was
a box of Whitman's chocolates. The girls would recognize one of them anywhere. Caroline had seen rows and rows of them in the drugstore.
    “They're chocolates, all right,” Beth said.
    “Or they
were
—what will be left of them if Peter doesn't stop shaking them.” Eddie laughed as Peter shook the box still again.
    Peter came off the bridge at last, but he took only two steps up the long hill to their house before hestopped, looked over his shoulder, then sat down on a large rock there on the bank.
    “
Now
what?” Beth wondered aloud, then gasped as she watched Peter pull off the ribbon and work his finger under the cellophane in one corner.
    “He's
opening
it!” Caroline shrieked. “He's going to eat your candy, Beth!”
    “I don't believe this,” murmured Eddie.
    “
I
believe it!” said Caroline.
    Peter was holding his mitten in his mouth while his finger probed around under the cellophane, trying to lift a corner of the lid. But it didn't seem to be working, and so, with a shrug, Peter dropped both his mittens on the ground and gently tore all the cellophane off the yellow box. The girls stared in fascination.
    They watched as Peter opened the lid. They saw him study the diagram on the inside. They saw him lift up the cardboard over the first layer of chocolates to peer at the candy beneath. And finally his hand roamed around the top, started to descend over a chocolate, paused, then plucked a piece out of the box and popped it into his mouth.
    “My candy!” Beth wailed, laughing nonetheless.
    “At least, we
think
it's your candy,” said Caroline. Who was to say it might not be for
her
?—a box of Whitman's chocolates from Wally?
    Peter seemed to be having a marvelous time. He probably had selected a nougat, Caroline decided, since those were usually the largest pieces of all and his jaws were still