Fabulous Five 022 - Melanie's Valentine

by Betsy Haynes

  Mrs. Edwards poked her head in the door. "Come on, sweetheart. It's time to get up. We have to go to the airport this morning to meet your grandmother Dee's plane from Florida."

  Oh, no. Not this morning, Melanie thought. Why does it have to be this morning? All I want to do is lie here and dream about Shane.

  Just then Jeffy, her six-year-old brother, zoomed into the room with his arms spread wide, making noises like a jet airplane. "Come on, Mel!" he shouted between buzzing sounds. "It's time to go!"

  Slowly Melanie dragged herself out of bed. It was no use. She would have to put her dreaming on hold and get up. Throwing on jeans and a ski sweater and giving her hair a quick brushing, she hurried down to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of strawberry-banana yogurt out of the refrigerator.

  Mrs. Edwards was standing at the sink, rinsing dishes and putting them into the dishwasher. She glanced over her shoulder at Melanie and smiled. "I didn't get a chance to talk much with you when you came in last night. How was your date with Shane?"

  Shane's kiss flooded Melanie's mind, and she could feel herself blushing. "Great," she said, suddenly getting interested in her yogurt, in the hope that her mother wouldn't be able to see how red her face was. "We really had fun."

  "That's nice, dear. Who won the game?"

  Melanie blinked. She didn't have the slightest idea who had won the game. She had been too worried about Shane's silence to notice the score or even pay attention to which side was cheering the loudest. "Uhm . . . I forget," she said lamely.

  Her mother chuckled. "Well, one thing's certain. You have a bigger crush on Shane Arrington than you ever had on Scott Daly."

  Melanie couldn't suppress a giggle. Maybe her mother hadn't forgotten what it was like to be a seventh-grader after all.

  In the backseat of the van on the way to the airport, Melanie thought about her mother's comment again. It was true that she had a bigger crush on Shane than she had ever had on Scott, but she had liked Scott a lot. She still did, as a matter of fact. And she knew he still liked her. He had even asked whom she was sitting with at the game last night. So what would he think when he found out that she was going out with Shane now? Or that it had been Shane she was sitting with instead of just some kids from Riverfield, as she had told him?

  She slouched down into the corner and looked out the window, but she wasn't seeing the scenery. She was imagining the look on Scott's face when he got the news. He would be hurt. There was no doubt about it. And maybe even mad at her for not being honest with him. The idea made her tingle all over. She really didn't want Scott to be hurt or mad at her. But what could she do?

  "Melanie! Melanie! Look at that airplane!" Jeffy shouted, poking her arm with one hand and pointing out the window with the other as a huge jet passed right over their van on its way to land at the airport. "We're almost there!"

  Melanie gave her brother a happy grin. She would think about how to handle the problem of Scott later.

  "I'll bet that was Grandma's plane," Jeffy chattered excitedly. "I'll bet she was looking out the window and saw our van, too. Hurry, Dad. She'll beat us!"

  "It's okay, Jeffy," said Mr. Edwards. "The plane she's on isn't due to land for a few more minutes. We'll get there in plenty of time."

  They parked the van and headed into the terminal, arriving at the gate just as the announcement came over the loudspeaker that Flight 306 from Fort Myers, Florida, was on the ground and the passengers were ready to deplane. As the passengers began coming up the jetway, Jeffy turned his head sideways and then upside down as he peered among them, trying to be the first one to spot his grandmother.

  "There she is! There she is!" he shouted, bounding toward a slender woman with a deep tan, blondish-white hair cut in a wavy, windblown style, and a pair of sunglasses perched on top of her head. "Grandma Dee!"

  "Hi, loves!" Dee Edwards cried, trying to scoop the whole family into her arms at once. "Let me look at you kids. Why, Jeffy, you're getting so tall. You look just the way your father did when he was a little boy. And Melanie! What a beautiful young woman you've turned into. I'll bet you have more boyfriends than you know what to do with."

  Melanie's heart swelled at her grandmother's words. Grandma Dee was really cool. She didn't act old like some grandmothers. She knew what was going on in the world. In fact, Melanie thought with a flash, just maybe she would know what to do about Scott. But that wasn't all that Melanie wanted to talk to her grandmother about.

  "I'm dying to hear more about parasailing," she said, her eyes wide with excitement. "I'd never have enough nerve to do that."

  "Yes," Mr. Edwards said, nodding his head slowly. "I'd like to hear about that, too. Melanie showed us your letter, and quite frankly, I can't believe it. My mother, parasailing."

  "What's wrong with that?" Grandma Dee asked indignantly.

  "Oh, nothing, I suppose," admitted Mr. Edwards, "except that as I recall, you were never one to go in much for dangerous activities."

  Grandma Dee laughed nervously. "Well, let's just say that I'm now in my second childhood. Or," she added, giving Melanie a wink, "my second teenhood."

  Grandma Dee sat in the backseat of the van between Melanie and Jeffy and talked to them all the way home about her great life in Florida and all the fun things she did there, including parasailing. "I'm going to miss the Valentine Day tennis tournament," she confided, "but I don't care. I'd much rather be here getting caught up on what my grandchildren are doing." Turning to Melanie, she went on breathlessly, "Now, sweetheart, I want to hear all about junior high. Are you having lots of fun? Do you have a boyfriend? I can't wait to meet all your friends."

  Jeffy was sound asleep by the time the van pulled into the Edwardses' driveway, and Melanie had filled her grandmother in on Wakeman Junior High—Grandma Dee thought calling it Wacko was a riot—and cheerleading and, of course, The Fabulous Five. "I'll tell you about my boyfriend later," Melanie whispered, "when we can talk in private."

  Grandma Dee gave her a conspiratorial wink and climbed out of the van.

  After lunch, Grandma Dee announced that she would like to unpack and get settled into the guest room. "Run along, everyone, and take care of your own business," she said, shooing them away. Melanie was relieved because she needed new sneakers desperately, and it gave her time to go to the mall with her mother.

  The sneakers took longer to pick out than she had anticipated. There were just too many styles and colors to choose from. She had liked the gold lamé deck shoes, but her mother had insisted that they weren't very practical. Then she had seen some beaded ones, but the beads were all the wrong colors. She had finally opted for white shoes with "Wakeman Junior High" stenciled across the toes in bright fuchsia.

  "Grandma Dee will love them," she said to her mother as Mrs. Edwards paid the cashier.

  On the way home she thought again about talking to her grandmother about her love life as soon as they could get some time alone. She wanted to tell Grandma Dee all about Shane, his kooky parents, his pet iguana named Igor, how cool and laid-back he was, and how he looked exactly like River Phoenix at thirteen. Then she would tell her grandmother about Scott and ask her advice about how to break the news to him gently that Shane was her one true love.

  When Melanie and her mother got home, they found Grandma Dee sipping a cup of hot tea at the kitchen table. She was wearing jeans and a yellow sweatshirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front, and her sunglasses were still sitting on top of her head. Rainbow, the multicolored dog the Edwardses had rescued from the pound just before Christmas, lay contentedly at her feet.

  Melanie shook her head in amazement as she noticed that in addition to a sweatshirt and jeans, her grandmother had on pink-and-white high-top sneakers. Melanie couldn't remember ever seeing Grandma Dee dressed that way before, not when she had come here to see them or any of the times they had visited her in Florida. Maybe her grandmother truly was in her second teenhood, as she had called it.

  "I'm all moved in," Grandma Dee anno
unced happily. "Jeffy even helped me hang up some of my clothes."

  Melanie chuckled. "I'll bet he was a big help."

  "Not bad for a six-year-old," said Grandma Dee. "By the way, you had a visitor while you were out, Melanie." Her eyes were twinkling. "Your boyfriend was here, and we had a nice, long chat. I have to say, he's not only handsome, but an extremely nice young man."

  Melanie's mouth dropped open. "He was here?" she gasped. "Oh, my gosh! Why did I have to go to the mall?"

  She sank into the chair beside her grandmother and tried to imagine what it had been like when Shane and Grandma Dee were talking.

  "Did you talk about me?" she asked excitedly.

  "Of course," her grandmother replied. "He thinks you're awfully special. But then, I think he's special, too. You're a lucky young lady to have Scott Daly for a boyfriend."

  "Scott?" Melanie asked in astonishment. "He was here?"

  "Why, yes. That's just what I've been telling you. In fact, I told him you'd be home soon, and he said to say he'd call you."

  Melanie sank back in her chair. Oh, no, she thought. What am I going to do now?

  CHAPTER 4

  Mrs. Edwards poured herself a cup of tea and sat down for a chat with Grandma Dee. Melanie excused herself and started to her room, but just as she passed the telephone on the kitchen wall, it rang.

  Scott! she thought, gulping hard. It's probably him. What if he asks me out? What will I say?

  "Will you get that, honey?" her mother asked. "Sure," Melanie murmured. Biting her lower lip, she picked up the phone and nervously said hello.

  "Hi, Mel. This is Jana."

  Melanie's knees buckled in relief. "Hi," she said gratefully. "What's up?"

  "Beth just called. She wants all of us to go to Bumpers this afternoon. Christie wants to go, too. How about you? I know your grandmother just got there today, but can you get away for a little while?"

  Melanie's mind was racing. If she went to Bumpers, she wouldn't be home when Scott called. What's more, she hadn't talked to any of The Fabulous Five since her date with Shane last night and their kiss in the backseat of the car.

  "Hang on a minute while I ask," she said, cupping her hand over the mouthpiece. "Mom, it's Jana. The Fabulous Five are going to Bumpers for a little while. Is it okay if I go?"

  "First Wacko and now Bumpers," said Grandma Dee, shaking her head. "You kids sure have funny names for things. What in the world is Bumpers?"

  "It's the fast-food restaurant where all the junior high kids hang out," Melanie quickly explained. "The owner, Mr. Matson, named it Bumpers because he bought a bunch of bumper cars from an old amusement park ride for decoration. You can even sit in some of the cars."

  "My goodness, that sounds like a great place," her grandmother exclaimed. "Of course you can go, and I'll go, too." She hesitated, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry, Melanie. I didn't mean to invite myself along. It's just that I'd love to meet your friends, and Bumpers sounds like the perfect place to do it."

  "Oh, Grandma Dee. That would be terrific," Melanie cried, genuinely pleased at her suggestion. "I've been telling all my friends how neat you are, they're all dying to meet you. Is it okay, Mom? Can we go to Bumpers?"

  Mrs. Edwards chuckled. "It sounds to me as if you girls have already decided. It's certainly all right with me. Run along and have a good time."

  As soon as Melanie gave the news to Jana and hung up the phone, her grandmother jumped to her feet. "Am I dressed okay for Bumpers?" she asked.

  Melanie looked at her pencil-thin grandmother in her jeans and Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. "You look perfect," she said, and then added, "except maybe for the sunglasses stuck in your hair. This isn't Florida, you know. Up here, it's the middle of the winter."

  Grandma patted the sunglasses and smiled broadly. "They're just fine right where they are. I always keep them there. That way they're handy in case the sun comes out."

  Melanie shook her head in amusement. Grandma Dee was a riot to have around.

  A large Saturday afternoon crowd had gathered at Bumpers by the time Melanie's mother dropped them off. Melanie led the way, weaving through the groups of boys and girls, until she reached the corner where The Fabulous Five liked to sit. Jana and Katie were already there.

  "Hi, guys. This is my grandmother Dee," she announced proudly. "Grandma, this is Jana Morgan and Katie Shannon."

  "Hi, Mrs. Edwards," the girls said in unison.

  "Oh, please call me Dee. And I'm very glad to meet you," she said pleasantly as she scooted into the booth beside Katie and took off her down jacket to reveal her Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.

  Jana and Katie both rolled their eyes at Melanie, and she wondered if it was because they couldn't imagine calling someone's grandmother by her first name, or if it was because of the way Grandma Dee was dressed. Melanie shrugged back at them. After all, she had warned them that her grandmother was different.

  "You've really got a great tan, Mrs. Ed . . . uhm, Dee," offered Katie.

  "Why, thank you," Grandma Dee began.

  Melanie barely heard her grandmother launch into a story about how she had gotten most of her tan while on a deep-sea fishing trip a couple of weeks ago. Melanie was too busy looking around Bumpers to see who was there. She spotted Laura McCall and her friends in The Fantastic Foursome, Tammy Lucero, Funny Hawthorne, and Melissa McConnell. The sight of Laura made Melanie fume as she remembered how Laura had flirted with Shane at the ball game the night before. Alexis Duvall and Dekeisha Adams were sitting with a big group of girls, and there were tons of boys up at the order counter. She looked quickly for Scott, but to her great relief, he wasn't there. She thought Shane wasn't in Bumpers, either, until she spotted him sitting in an orange bumper car. Igor was in his lap, and Bill Soliday was sitting beside him, feeding the long, green iguana a french fry.

  Melanie's heart began pounding at the sight of Shane and the thought of their kiss. If only he would look her way.

  "Melanie? Did you hear what I said?" Grandma Dee broke into her thoughts.

  "Gosh, no, Grandma. I'm sorry."

  "That's all right, dear. I was just saying how I'd like to sit in one of those bumper cars sometime. It would bring back memories. I used to love the bumper car ride at the carnival when I was your age."

  Melanie's heart leapt. This could be the answer to her dilemma over Scott. There were no empty bumper cars, so she would have to ask if someone would let her grandmother sit in one for a few minutes. Naturally, the perfect person to ask was Shane, and once Grandma Dee met him and saw how terrific he was, she would be happy to hear that Shane, not Scott, was Melanie's boyfriend.

  "Come on, Grandma Dee," said Melanie. She steered her grandmother in the direction of the orange bumper car. Shane had been so busy feeding Igor french fries that she was sure he hadn't seen her yet.

  "Hi, Shane," she called out. "There's somebody I'd like for you to meet."

  Shane looked up and grinned. "Hey, you must be Melanie's grandmother from Florida. She's been telling me all about you."

  Grandma Dee started to return Shane's smile, but then her face froze as she caught sight of Igor, a french fry dangling from his mouth.

  "What is that!" she demanded, pointing straight at the iguana.

  Shane laughed and stroked Igor's back. "Don't worry," he said. "It's just Igor, my pet iguana. He won't hurt you. In fact, he loves people."

  At that, Igor dropped the french fry and flicked his long tongue at Grandma Dee.

  "Young man! Get that lizard out of here!" she snapped, and the crowd in Bumpers suddenly got still. "Don't you know that you're breaking the law? There are health regulations against bringing animals into restaurants. I want to talk to the manager!"

  Melanie let out a gasp of horror as Grandma Dee whirled around and marched toward the kitchen.

  CHAPTER 5

  "What happened? Why is everybody so quiet?" demanded Beth. She and Christie had just walked into Bumpers, where everyone was staring silently at the swinging door that
led to the kitchen.

  At the sound of Beth's voice, soft murmurs of conversation started up around the room again. As Melanie's friends approached the orange bumper car, she blinked and shrugged off the trance that had come over her.

  Suddenly emotion shook her. "It's Grandma Dee," she whispered in a choked voice. "She threw a fit when she saw Igor, saying it was against the law to bring animals into restaurants. Then she stormed off to the kitchen to see Mr. Matson."

  "Mr. Matson never said anything about Igor's being here before," argued Christie.

  A wry smile crossed Shane's face. "That's because he was probably planning to grind him up and serve him as iguana burgers."

  "Oh, Shane," protested Melanie. "You know it was because you always took care of him and kept him away from the food."

  Bill Soliday picked up Igor's half-chewed french fry and held it between two fingers. "Most of the time," he said and grinned.

  Igor's wire cage was sitting on the floor beside the bumper car, and Shane opened it and dropped Igor inside. "Come on, old buddy," he said with a sigh. "We're outta here."

  "Don't go," said Melanie. "Grandma Dee can't do anything. Mr. Matson likes Igor."

  "Yeah, but your grandmother was probably right about the health law."

  "But . . ." Melanie insisted.

  "Hey, it's okay," said Shane. "I don't want to cause Mr. Matson any trouble. And can you imagine what this place would be like if everybody brought in a pet? There would be dogs barking and chasing cats, and cats yowling and hanging from the light fixtures."

  "Right," said Bill. "Alexis Duvall even has a horse. Can you see that?"

  Melanie couldn't help laughing as a picture popped into her mind of the chaos Shane had described plus Alexis's gorgeous Arabian prancing around, knocking over chairs and swishing his long tail into people's food.

  "Okay," she conceded. "I guess you're right. You'd better go. I feel awful about this," she said, looking at Shane with pleading eyes.