Jonnie noticed Nicole pulling Sarah out the door leading to the field. She had no doubts that Sarah and Nicole were going off somewhere to have a private chat, and that the main subject of their conversation would likely be Jonnie herself.
She was glad, however, that they had not chosen the ladies' room near the cafeteria for their private discussion. That allowed Jonnie to use it herself for privacy under the pretense that she was there to get the spaghetti out of her face and hair after Sarah had tossed the food tray in her face.
Once in the bathroom, Jonnie looked around to be sure no one was there. Then, she grabbed the wishing stone out of her purse, hidden alongside lipstick and other makeup items. At once, she made a wish. "I wish I could eavesdrop on Nicole Tiller and Sarah McMillan's conversation without them knowing it."
At once, she heard their voices, as if over the public address system or on a radio or some form of Internet audio.
"That girl has gone WAY too far! Stealing my boyfriend, stealing my position, stealing my squad, and now ... when I get through with her, she's gonna wish she was never born!" Sarah growled.
"Sarah, I'm not the one you need to convince." Nicole said. "I believe in you. It's the others you need to convince. You need to make a good case as to why you'd make a better head cheerleader than Jonnie."
"Don't you think I've tried?" Sarah grumbled. "The most I get is them saying 'she's just as good'. I expect that from Amber and Tiffany, but I thought Melissa and Allison were smarter than that!"
"Allison just wants to keep the peace, and Melissa doesn't want to rock the boat." Nicole said. "The thing is, this is hurting the squad. We have to work together. We've got a few soccer games and a pep rally to cheer at, and if we can't work together, we'll be embarrassing ourselves in front of the whole school."
"We can't!" Sarah growled. "The squad isn't big enough for the two of us. Either Jonnie goes, or I go, and I'm NOT going!"
"So you're going to have her kicked off the squad?" Nicole asked. "I hate to say it, but what happened back there might lead to YOU getting kicked off the squad. You didn't do yourself any favors by throwing a food tray at her face."
"So we'll both get detention for it. Who cares? I can take it. It wouldn't be my first time." Sarah said. "But we need to get her off the squad somehow. What if, during cheerleading practice, she falls off someone's shoulders while doing human pyramids? Or we toss her in the air and fail to..."
"Sarah, stop right there!" Nicole interrupted. "We are NOT going to deliberately injure her! It's wrong! And we'd never get away with it! People would suspect you got her injured just to get your position as head cheerleader back. It'd never work."
There was a pause as Sarah sighed. "You're right. It's just that ... we need to do something! My reputation is on the line here. I don't want to go into college with people saying 'Oh, that's the girl who got deposed as head cheerleader at her high school and had to kiss the new queen bee's ass the rest of her time there!' We've got to get her out of the squad! It's her or me!"
"I don't know. If she breaks enough rules, she could be forced out, but so far she hasn't." Nicole said. "So what, are we going to start digging up dirt on her? See if we can find blackmail material? Or maybe trick her into getting into some situation that will ruin her reputation?"
Sarah paused. "That's it!" Sarah said, in a wicked tone. "We arrange for her to attend the wrong party, or give her the address of some creepy older guy, or something like that. And then we spread all sorts of rumors. If we're really lucky, we'll have some embarrassing photos she'll be desperately trying to explain away as she's suspended from school and kicked off the squad. And then I'm back where I rightfully belong, as the undisputed Queen of Lake Point High, from now to graduation day!"
Nicole paused. "That actually sounds like it could work, if we did it right. But we've got to be careful where we talk about this. Who knows who might be listening?"
Back in the bathroom, Jonnie listened to that whole conversation, as easily as if she'd had the field bugged or something like that. The wishing stone certainly could do a lot of impressive things.
Having taken in that discussion, Jonnie realized that Sarah and Nicole were just too dangerous. Letting the previous queen bee remain as part of the squad was a mistake, and clearly Nicole was on Sarah's side. She could not allow them to work out the details of their plot to discredit Jonnie. They had to be dealt with now.
It occurred to Jonnie that with the wishing stone, she could just wish for no one to challenge her position as queen bee of Lake Point High School, but what fun would that be? The occasional challenger made life a lot more exciting, even if sometimes she had to resort to drastic means to halt their challenge.
Jonnie looked in the mirror and smiled evilly. She was proud of the idea she had just come up with. This idea would ensure that Sarah and Nicole would not be taking her spot away. With an evil grin, she said "I wish..."
