Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? Read Online Free Page B

the floor.
    Still invisible, I stood up and placed it carefully back in Annabelle’s hand. The girl gazed at the watch in her palm, her mouth open. Then she glanced at her mom — who was still talking to the shop assistant. Without missing a beat, she quickly reached up and, more carefully this time, put the watch back in its box.
    A decade’s worth of allowance stayed intact. Perhaps a young girl’s belief in magic did, too.
    And I had done my first heroic deed.

    We had come out the other end of Bertram’s and were heading back through the square when we spotted a crowd of people.
    Wondering what was going on, we squeezed our way through the crowd, until we were stopped from going any farther by a thick rope and some security guards in front of the Penbridge Hotel.
    “What’s happening?” Izzy asked.
    “Hang on. I’ll find out.” I glanced around to check that no one was looking. All eyes were fixed firmly on the hotel doors, so I quickly turned myself invisible. Then I slipped under the rope and went right up to the hotel doors to see what all the fuss was about.
    Two people were coming out of the hotel. Instantly, the crowd started roaring and holding out books and photos for them to sign.
    I recognized the couple right away. Andy and Celia Fairhurst — one of those athlete-marries-model celebrity clichés. What on earth were they doing in Penbridge? Other than standing on the hotel steps flashing toothy grins at the crowd?
    Actually, I didn’t really care what they were doing here. They’d been on
Celebrity Marriage Wars
last year and had come across as the rudest, nastiest, and most unpleasant couple in the world. Why people were crowding around to get their autographs I had no idea.
    I slipped past and headed back to the crowd. Just when I was almost near enough to touch them, and blinking in the glare of all the cameras flashing as everyone took pics of the celebrity couple, I was suddenly overcome with an urge to tell them what I thought of them.
    Obviously, I was invisible, not un
hear
able — and with so many people around I didn’t want to get caught — so I did the next best thing. I stuck my tongue out at them.
    I mean, it wasn’t as if anyone could see me do it, right?

Wrong.
    It was at approximately half past seven on Monday morning, as I was in the process of washing down two slices of toast and marmalade with a swig of orange juice and sitting opposite Dad as he read the newspaper, that I discovered quite
how
wrong I’d been. And quite how visible!
    Andy and Celia were pictured in full-color glory on the front page of our local paper.
    Directly behind them, thumb on nose, fingers waggling in a childish wave and tongue sticking out, so was I.
    To be fair, the main focus of the picture was the happy couple, and I was completely blurry behind them. If I was lucky, no one would even recognize me. But
I
recognized me — and someone who knew me well might recognize me, too! How had it happened? I’d been invisible at the time. Hadn’t I?
    I didn’t have time to ponder any more questions. I had about three seconds to do something. Dad was holding the paper up in front of him. Luckily, in his opinion the most important news is what’s happening with the local sports teams, so he always starts with the back page. But his fingers were starting to twitch. Any second now he would turn the newspaper over and see me — possibly.
    I wasn’t prepared to take the risk. Dad runs a real estate agency in town and is vice president of the Penbridge Chamber of Commerce. He’s always telling me this means it’s important for us to set a good example. To whom, I’m not sure. I’m also not sure what difference it makes to him selling houses if I get into trouble from time to time. (Which I do. Quite a bit.) But, either way, he’d go crazy if he saw me sticking my tongue out at celebrities. Plus, how on earth would I explain it?
    I thought quickly, and then I did the only possible thing I could do. I