Chapter One

  Jill sat alone in her room, crying.

  Everything seemed terrible.

  She had decided she was the saddest, dumbest, ugliest girl in town. The only reason she had any friends was because they pitied her.

  Why couldn't her life just change? She wanted it to change just as quickly as that — as quickly as she could snap her fingers.

  Why couldn't she become someone else? Someone smart and funny and pretty, like her best friend, Molly?

  Molly had everything. Sure, Jill was glad for Molly's great luck. But she envied her, too.

  Molly had two wonderful parents, both of whom were good-looking and nice. Jill's parents were divorced, and sometimes her mother was nasty to her.

  Molly already knew what she wanted to be when she grew up — a newspaper reporter. But Jill had no idea if she had enough talent for any kind of work at all.

  Molly had beautiful long, black hair. She had a pretty, slim face, too.

  But Jill choked in disgust every time she looked in the mirror. She had awful orange hair and freckles on her face and arms. Her face was way too fat.

  And she wore horrible black glasses her mother had bought for her.

  There was nothing she could do except cry — and wish as hard as she could that she was someone else.

  How happy life would be, she thought, if she didn't have to be the same dumb old Jill all the time.

  After a while, she blew her nose and dried her tears. Then she sat on the edge of her bed and closed her eyes.

  Who would she most like to become, she wondered.

  A famous movie star? Think how glamorous every day would be!

  Maybe a famous scientist. Discovering cures for diseases would be so interesting and rewarding, and people would be so grateful to her.

  What about a book writer? Imagine how much fun it would be to invent thrilling stories!

  But no. Jill decided that, if she could pick anyone in the world to turn into, it would be none of those. She wouldn't choose to be a scientist or a movie star or a writer.

  The person she would choose to become would be Molly.

  Molly was still a kid, with her whole life ahead of her. And what a life it would be, Jill thought.

  It would be filled with cute boyfriends and family celebrations. She'd see exciting events as a newspaper reporter, and maybe meet famous people or travel to foreign countries.

  Jill closed her eyes even tighter. So tight they almost hurt.

  And she wished. She wished silently over and over, "Let me turn into Molly! Let me turn into Molly! Let me turn into Molly!"

  After a minute or two of wishing, she opened her eyes and looked at her arms. And she was amazed!

  The freckles were gone!

  Not one spot on either arm!

  She gasped. Had her wish come true?

  She felt her own face — and, yes, it seemed thinner!

  She was thrilled! Maybe it was true!

  Quickly Jill turned towards the mirror over her dresser, looked — and cried out in delight.

  It was true!

  She had wished so hard to become Molly that she had turned into Molly!

  She would never have to worry about being dumb old Jill again.

  Her whole life was about to change forever!

  Chapter Two

  But, in the next instant, Jill understood that nothing had changed after all.

  She stared at her arms again. They were still covered with freckles.

  She realized that her vision had been blurry from closing her eyes so tightly. That's why she hadn't seen the spots for a moment.

  Now she felt her face again, but it didn't feel any thinner. Not like Molly's at all.

  Her imagination had only made it seem thin and pretty for a second.

  And the mirror?

  Of course. How stupid could a girl be, she thought.

  She had taken her glasses off earlier, when she had started to cry. So when she looked at the mirror, she couldn't see clearly.

  She had seen just what she had wanted to see — Molly's face instead of her own.

  But she wasn't Molly. Nothing about her life was any different. She was still dumb old Jill!

  Biiiing-boong!

  The doorbell rang. Maybe that was Molly, Jill thought. Her friend was coming over so they could walk downtown together.

  Jill tried to make sure all the tears were gone from her eyes.

  Then she heard her mother yelling.

  "Jill, it's Molly! Why do I have to answer the door for your friends?" her mother shouted. "Can't you do anything right? Answer the door yourself next time! You're so stupid sometimes!"

  Jill hurried downstairs as quickly and quietly as she could.

  "Bye, Mom!" she called sweetly, opening the door. "I'm going out with Molly for a while, OK?"

  "Yeah, right! Go out with your stupid friends and do whatever!" her mother said. "I'm stuck here cleaning the dishes while you're out with more of your little buddies!"

  "But, Mom — I cooked the dinner tonight," Jill said softly. "You said I didn't have to wash the dishes, too. But I will if you want me to."

  "Nah, just get out! I don't care. It's not like I have anything else to do!" her mother said. "You 're the Miss Popularity, remember? No one ever asks me to go out!"

  "Uh, well, OK then, I guess. Bye, Mom," Jill said, and quietly closed the door.

  The two girls walked down the steps of the apartment building where Jill lived with her mother. Then they headed down the sidewalk into the moonlit night.

  Molly looked at her friend and smiled.

  "It's OK, Jill," she said. "Your mom doesn't mean all the bad things she says. My mom says it's just because your mom isn't happy, that's all. My mom thinks your mom is kind of jealous. You know, jealous of you."

  "Jealous of mel That's silly! Why would she be jealous?" Jill asked.

  "Jill, come on! Get a clue," Molly said. "Everybody is jealous of you! You're the smartest girl

  in sixth grade. You've got a great sense of humor. And you're by far the best-looking girl in the whole school. All the guys want to be your boyfriend."

  "As if!"

  "As if, nothing. It's true. Why don't you ever see yourself the way your friends see you?" Molly asked.

  "Just look at your beautiful red hair! And guys love your freckles. And you're really athletic — strong and coordinated. Can't you see how lucky you are?"

  "No," Jill said. "You're the lucky one, not me. You're just too nice to tell me the truth. No one wants to hurt my feelings and that's the only reason they're friends with me. I know that I'm just a boring nerd."

  "Girl, if you believe that, you're nuts," Molly laughed. "Your mom is right about one thing — you are Miss Popularity!"

  "Yeah, right. Anyway, let's stop talking about me, OK? I'd rather talk about something interesting. Like you," Jill said, a wicked smile spreading across her lips. "Or maybe you — and Jimmy Smathers!"

  Molly shrieked, and both girls giggled together.

  "He really likes you!" Jill teased.

  "He does not!" Molly answered with an embarrassed laugh.

  "Does too!"

  "Does not!"

  "And he's sooo handsome!" Jill said. Then she imitated Jimmy Smathers walking through school. "Hi, I'm Jimmy and I'm captain of the football team. I'm really cute and I can have any girl I want. But 1 want Molly T

  The two friends exploded in laughter.

  "I think Jimmy really likes you, Jill! I see him looking at you every time we walk by him," Molly said. "He knows you're the best-looking girl."

  "No way, Jose! It's you, girl! Jimmy goes for the brunette type, I think," Jill said. "The other day, 1 saw him in the hall. He was talking to Marcia Walker, but I can tell he doesn't like her. 'Cause when we walked by, he stopped talking and stared straight at you."

  The girls shrieked together again.

  "No way," Molly said. "I saw him. He was looking at you!"

  "At you!"

  "No, at you!"

  But suddenly, all the kidding and joking stopped. The girls had noticed something as they walked along

  the quiet street towards the center of town.

  Something frightening.

  "D-do you see what I see?" Jill whispered.

  "Y-yes! I think so," Molly said. "Are they following us?"

  "I, uh, I think so. Yeah," Jill said.

  A car was casting a large, black shadow on the street beside them. The car stayed close behind them, but it was so quiet that they could barely hear the motor running. The shadow didn't move past them quickly, as a car's shadow normally would. It didn't slow down, either, as if the driver were looking for an address.

  The shadow stayed exactly in the same place.

  The car was following them — rolling along with its headlights off, just a few feet behind them.

  "Walk a little faster," Jill suggested. Then she grabbed Molly's shoulder. "No, don't look. If we turn around and look at them, they'll know we suspect something. Let's just try to get down the street a little farther and then we'll run into the grocery store."

  Before they had a chance to get that far, the car's shadow suddenly sped up. Then a big black Cadillac pulled up right next to the girls.

  It was a huge car with windows so dark you couldn't see who was inside.

  Molly looked at Jill with fear in her eyes. "They're beside us," she said. "What should we do?"
< br />   "Just try to stay calm. They probably don't want to hurt us," Jill said. "And if they try anything, we'll run like crazy!"

  With an electric hum, the car's rear window slid open. Jill and Molly looked over but the inside of the car was dark, and they could not see anyone.

  The interior of the car seemed as black as a grave.

  "Say there, girls!" a man's voice called. It was a rough-sounding voice, the kind killers have in movies.

  "Hey! Where ya goin' so fast?"

  Molly looked at Jill, too afraid to open her mouth.

  But Jill replied in a confident voice. "We're just going up the street to the police station where my father works," she lied. "Can we help you?"

  From inside the car, she heard the rough, sarcastic laughter of three or four men.

  "Her daddy works at the cop shop!" one man snickered.

  "Yeah! The girls are maybe a little scaredy right now, huh? So they're gonna go see daddy, the big tough

  cop, so he'll protect them!" another man said, guffawing as if someone had just cracked a very funny joke.

  The car stopped. Someone stuck a large hairy hand out the window and beckoned the girls to approach by curling one finger.

  "Come on over here, girls!" the voice rumbled from inside the car. "Don't be scaredy of us or nothin'. We don't wanna hurt ya."

  Another man in the car laughed.

  "No, we don't wanna hurt ya or nothing," he said. "We only want to murder ya! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

  Chapter Three

  Murder?

  Was that what he said? Murder?

  Yes, that's exactly what he said! Murder!

  The car door opened and out stepped a fat man in dark red clothes.

  Molly stood frozen in panic. She couldn't move.

  But Jill thought quickly. She grabbed Molly's hand and, pulling her along, started to run.

  They only got about two steps away, though, before the fat man snatched both of them by the arms.

  "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" he said. "Wait, girls! We ain't gonna hurt ya! We was just kiddin'!"

  "Let us go!" Jill yelled. "You have no right to bother us like this! We don't know what you want!"

  "OK, OK. Jeez!" the man said, releasing them.

  "Sorry, girls. My friends and me got a little carried away with our joke, I guess. We was only gonna ask ya for directions."

  "Directions? To where?" Jill asked.

  "Well, see, there's this place around here somewheres. We gotta find it," the man said, smiling. "It's called Kalber Concert Hall. They play, like, music there and stuff. You girls know where it is, by any chance?"

  "You just want to find the concert hall? Why didn't you just say so?" Molly asked angrily. "You frightened us!"

  Jill touched Molly's shoulder to calm her down because she didn't want to upset the fat man and his friends. She just wanted to get away from these strange men as soon as possible.

  "Look, mister, it's easy," Jill said politely. "You go down this street for two more blocks and turn right.

  The concert hall is right there. You can't miss it."

  A voice called out from inside the car.

  "See, boss? I told ya we was close," the voice said. "I knew these nice pretty little girls could help us.

  They look the type to go for that music stuff."

  "Shut up!" the fat man growled towards the car. "I don't need no help from you guys, ya moron! Keep your big trap shut!"

  "But boss, I was only saying ..." the voice tried to answer.

  "I said shut up!" the fat man screamed. "Or I'll shut ya up permanent when I get back in that car, understand?" Then he turned back to the girls with a big syrupy smile on his face. "Sorry, girls," he said.

  "Gotta keep my employees in line, ya know? Sorry we scared ya. Thanks for the help."

  Then he walked back to the car with surprising speed, considering how fat he was. The door slammed shut and the car raced off towards Kalber Concert Hall.

  "Wow! That was close, huh?" Molly said. "I thought we were goners for sure."

  "I don't know if they wanted to hurt us or not," Jill said. "But I didn't want to take any chances so I thought we should be polite. But, hey, Mol — why would weird guys like that want to find our local concert hall? It's closed now. There's nothing going on there tonight."

  "You're right," Molly said. "I hadn't thought about that. What do you think we should do? Call the police?"

  "Nah, we're just kids," Jill said. "The police won't care if some guys asked us for directions to the concert hall. We'd better go over there ourselves. We'll be real careful. But if these guys are robbing the concert hall or something like that, we should try to find out. Then we'll get the police."

  "Yeah, maybe we can call your dad, the police officer, huh?" Molly said, laughing. "See, that's what I meant about you, Jill. You're so smart to think up a story like that. I was terrified. But you were cool through the whole thing."

  "I was just as scared as you," Jill said. "I was only trying to say something that might make them leave us alone. I'm not so smart."

  "Oh, yes, you are!"

  "Oh, no, I'm not."

  "Oh, yes, you are!"

  "Oh, no, I'm not," Jill said. "You 're the smart one, Mol. Anyway, I don't really want to talk about this

  right now, OK? Let's hurry over to the concert hall and see what those guys are up to."

  "Sure, Jill," Molly said, shaking her head. "But some day you're going to have to admit how really cool you are. Hey, wait up! I can't run that fast!"

  The two girls trotted two blocks down the street, then turned right towards the concert hall and looked for the black Cadillac. Everything appeared quiet at the auditorium, which loomed dark and empty.

  They saw no sign of anyone.

  "Maybe they were just going to the house of a friend who lived near the concert hall," Molly said.

  "Besides, it's getting late and those guys gave me the creeps. I want to get out of here. Let's go to the drug store and buy some chocolate, then go home, OK?"

  "OK, but let's look around for another minute first," Jill said. "I don't trust those men. I still think they had some reason they wanted to find the concert hall."

  "I don't trust them, either," Molly said. "But do we have to look around some more? I don't like this, Jill."

  "Just stay behind me. Don't be scaredy, like that guy said to us," Jill said, smiling.

  As they drew near the concert hall, the two girls walked on the lawns rather than the sidewalks, so no one would hear their footsteps.

  They looked all around, creeping silently towards the old red brick building where the local symphony orchestra performed great works of music by composers such as Beethoven and Mozart, Bruckner and Bach.

  The moon was high. It cast heavy shadows from the tree branches and the telephone poles onto the lawns surrounding the concert hall.

  Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.

  "There's nobody here," Molly whispered. "Come on. This is too creepy for me."

  "Shhh!" Jill hissed. "If there's anyone here, they must be on the far side of the building. Let's go look."

  With Jill leading the way, the girls tiptoed around the building. Then Jill saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

  She stopped so suddenly that Molly bumped into her. Jill turned quickly with her finger to her lips, then pointed towards the concert hall windows.

  In a corner of the building that was almost completely hidden by shadows, one window was propped open. The black Cadillac sat parked in the street, its motor running quietly.

  Jill felt Molly tug on her arm.

  "This is crazy. Let's go call the police," Molly whispered. "They're robbing the concert hall. Maybe they're stealing money — or maybe the musical instruments or something. If they see us, we're dead!"

  "Shhhhhhhh!" Jill said. "We'll be all right."

  A moment later, two men climbed out of the window. One was the fat man, and behind him came another man.

  Jill knew that the hall's windows and doors were always kept locked. Obviously these men had broken into the building.

  But one thing struck her as odd. If they really were burglars, she wondered, why did they carry nothing in their hands?

  Jill saw no pillowcases stuffed with money stolen from the concert hall safe. The men carried no bags or boxes full of drums and trumpets and clarinets and other musical equipment.

  What were they doing, Jill wondered. Why had they gone to so much trouble to break into the concert hall if they weren't going to steal anything?

 

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