"Cammi, what great news!" Jessica slid into a seat opposite Cammi in the lunchroom that day. "Wow. Scholar of the Semester. Who could have imagined?"
Cammi smiled. "Actually, I've been working toward it all semester."
"Well, it's incredibly impressive," Jessica said. She examined Cammi's dark brown hair and her pretty green eyes.
If only she weren't wearing a gray jumper with brown shoes and white knee-highs, she could actually be kind of cute, Jessica thought.
"Thanks," Cammi said, poking a straw into her carton of milk.
"I could never do what you do," Jessica said, shaking her head. "The dedication, the hard work, always getting A's on everything--"
"Sure you could," Cammi said. "You just have to spend a lot of time studying, that's all. Anyone can succeed if they work hard enough."
"Right," Jessica agreed. Not that she was about to start ditching football games for study sessions...and even if she did, she doubted she could actually pull off a perfect grade point average, like Cammi. "But you know, sometimes it takes more than hard work. Especially when you want to win Scholar of the Semester."
Cammi's forehead creased. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I bet there's hardly like one one-millionth of a point between the three finalists," Jessica said. "Or maybe the three of you are all
tied. With straight A's. So unless someone starts doing really, really horrible all of a sudden...like, say, Randy--"
"Why would he?" Cammi asked. "He's been getting straight A's and A pluses since kindergarten."
"True. But so have you," Jessica said. "And who deserves to win more?"
Cammi shrugged. "I don't know. Both of us, I guess?"
"No!" Jessica cried. "You've got it all wrong, Cammi. You deserve to win more than anyone. And I'm going to help you. All we have to do is make Randy slip up a little, and presto! You shoot into the lead--you win!"
Cammi didn't say anything. She was staring at Jessica, completely dumbfounded.
"Doesn't that sound great?" Jessica went on. "You'll win Scholar of the Semester, and we'll all have that sixth-grade celebration day at the park, and--"
"You want me to sabotage Randy?" Cammi sounded frightened.
"Don't sweat it," Jessica told her. "Hey, I can do it all on my own, if you don't want to be involved. I'll steal his homework or something. One little C on his record and--kaboom! His grade point average is blown to smithereens."
Whatever a smithereen is, Jessica thought.
Cammi's so smart, she must know."Jessica, if I win the Scholar of the Semester award, I want to do it all on my own," Cammi said. "I would never try to win by ruining Randy's chances--that's not fair! I can't believe you'd even suggest it." She tugged at one of her knee-highs, pulling it up. "Besides, the other student might
still beat me."
"Hmm, good point," Jessica admitted. Obviously, it was no accident that Cammi was a candidate for Scholar of the Semester. Knocking Randy out of the competition wouldn't necessarily ensure Cammi's victory. She tapped her fingernails against the table. She tried to remember what she did whenever she needed a really good grade on something. "I know what you can do!" she cried. "And this is much easier than worrying about Randy's grades."
Cammi looked up distrustfully. "What are you talking about?"
"It's so simple. All you have to do is brownnose your teachers!" Jessica declared happily. "Tell them how wonderful they are, how much you love their classes, how much you're learning, how you'll remember them when you're rich and famous--" She stopped, gazing at Cammi for a second. They probably weren't heading down the same career path. "When you're rich and
smart, I mean," she continued. "Butter them up. Tell them they're the best thing since--since E-mail!"
"Jessica, forget it! I'm going to win fair and square," Cammi insisted. "Not by acting like a phony. I've made it this far on my grades I can make it all the way."
"OK. If you say so." Jessica sighed, standing up. If Cammi wouldn't be a brownnose to win the Scholar of the Semester, she knew someone else who might consider the idea.
It was the only way to make sure Randy got A pluses in all his classes. And an A+ average would beat a plain old A average any day!
Excerpted from
Cammi's Crush by Jamie Suzanne. Copyright © 1997 by Francine Pascal. Excerpted by permission of Bantam Books, a division of the Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
