Fabulous Five 003 - The Popularity Trap

by Betsy Haynes

  "Did you talk to the coach about the stickers?" Melanie asked Scott.

  "No. I don't think it will be a problem, though. We'll wait until halftime and put the stickers on before we come out."

  "Is everyone keeping it a secret?" she asked.

  "Yep," he said, crossing his heart. The boys said good-bye and wandered off to talk to Tony Sanchez and Bill Soliday, who were standing at the counter placing an order for food.

  "Oh, look. Here comes the head duck and her little ducklings," said Katie.

  Christie turned to see Laura McCall walking in as if she owned the place. Following behind her were Funny, Melissa, and Tammy. They do kind of look like a mother duck and her little ducklings, she thought.

  "I wish you wouldn't say bad things about all of them," said Jana. "Funny Hawthorne is nice."

  "Sorry," said Katie. "We know you like her. But it looked so weird."

  "Hey, there's Shane. I wonder who he's going to vote for," Melanie said, stretching and weaving at him. "Shane! Shane!"

  "Melanie! Can't you control yourself?" snapped Katie, putting her hand over her eyes in embarrassment at Melanie's yelling.

  Shane saw them and headed their way.

  "Hi, girls," he said, flashing his handsome smile. Christie thought that Melanie was right—he did look like River Phoenix. Melanie was so thrilled that he had smiled at her that she looked as if she were going to leap out of her seat at him.

  "Hey, Christie. I see you're running for class president. Lots of luck," he said.

  "Oh, Shane. Who are you going to vote for?" Melanie blurted. "Christie or Melissa?" The five of them looked at him with anticipation.

  He glanced from face to face and a slow smile came to his lips. "Laura asked me the same question. And do you know what I told her?"

  "What?" asked Melanie, bouncing up and down in her seat.

  "I told her that tonight I'd ask Igor who I should vote for and let everybody know tomorrow."

  "You didn't," said Jana, giggling.

  "Yes, I did. I always consult my pet iguana before I make an important decision. And so it's fair to everyone, I'll tell here at Bumpers tomorrow after school."

  "Oh, you rat!" squealed Melanie. "Tell us now," she begged. "Please, please!"

  "You're asking me not to talk to Igor first?" He raised his eyebrows in fake surprise and then laughed coolly. "Hey, I've got to live with him."

  "It would be great if he'd vote for Christie," said Beth after Shane had left. "A lot of the Riverfield kids would vote for her, too, if he would."

  "Do you suppose there's a chance he will vote for Christie?" asked Katie.

  "I don't know," answered Jana. "He's pretty independent."

  "I can't stand to wait until tomorrow to find out," said Melanie. "I'm going to call him tonight and see if I can talk him into telling me."

  "Lots of luck," said Christie. "He's having too much fun."

  "It looks as if everybody's here. Should we have Mr. Matson play the tape?" asked Melanie.

  Christie had the sudden impulse to say no. She was getting pulled deeper and deeper into this election campaign, and the tape might be the thing that would make her the winner. Just then Jon's face flashed into her mind again. It had been comforting in a way to know that another person had to deal with pressure, too. But his way of dealing with it seemed to be by copping out. She couldn't do that. Not in a million years.

  "Okay," she said. "Let's play the tape."

  All five of them waved to get Mr. Matson's attention. He returned the wave and disappeared into the back room.

  A few seconds later the music that had been playing stopped in mid-song. Some of the kids turned and looked curiously at the old-time Wurlitzer jukebox.

  Then over the speakers came Beth's voice:

  "A day without Christie is like a day without sunshine. Christie Winchell stands for . . . MORE SCHOOL DANCES . . ."

  The recording hesitated, and The Fabulous Five started clapping and cheering. Then Lisa Snow, Alexis Duvall, and other kids from Mark Twain joined in.

  "Christie Winchell stands for . . . A SCHOOL INDIAN COSTUME FOR A MASCOT AT ALL THE GAMES."

  The cheers from the Mark Twain kids sounded louder this time. Some of the Riverfield kids booed.

  "Christie Winchell stands for . . . MORE SCHOOL PLAYS."

  The cheers and boos were much louder from both sides. Christie saw Laura looking furious and switching the tail of her long braid like a cat.

  "VOTE FOR CHRISTIE WINCHELL FOR SEVENTH-GRADE CLASS PRESIDENT! SHE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!" cried Beth's voice over the speakers.

  Christie blushed as the Mark Twain kids came up to her to congratulate her on the recording. Between them she saw Jon Smith sitting in a booth in a far corner with some other boys from Copper Beach. He was looking at her, and she couldn't help wondering what he was thinking.

  "My gosh, I've never seen so many oranges in my life," said Katie as the five friends stood in Jana's kitchen. They had giggled all the way to Jana's apartment from Bumpers. Laura had really looked mad after the recording had played.

  There were oranges in mesh bags on the counters, loose oranges that Jana had dumped onto the table, and boxes of oranges on the floor. One orange rolled off the table and landed on Beth's foot. They were surrounded by oranges.

  "Okay. If we're going to get all of these oranges done, we'd better get started. The one who works fastest gets to eat one!" cried Melanie. "Who wants to wipe oranges, who wants to make stickers, and who wants to stick them on?"

  "Me! I'll make stickers," shouted Beth.

  "I'll make stickers, too," cried Katie.

  "I'll stick them on," said Jana.

  "I'll take them out of the bags and boxes and put them back in," said Melanie. "What about you, Christie?"

  Christie sighed and looked at the mountains of oranges. "I guess I'll wipe them," she offered halfheartedly.

  They began laughing and chattering as they wrote "CURE ALL YOUR TROUBLES WITH VITAMIN C—VOTE FOR CHRISTIE WINCHELL" on stickers, peeled off the backing, and stuck them on the oranges, then put them back into the bags and boxes. All of them laughed except Christie. She couldn't get the look on Jon's face out of her mind. The one he'd had after her campaign tape had played at Bumpers.

  CHAPTER 11

  Jon had redone his homework for chapters two, three, and four and gotten nearly all the problems correct. Christie was amazed at how accurate and neat his papers were, and he smiled proudly when she told him so.

  "It's because of your help," he said. "You're a good teacher." Then he changed the subject.

  "I was at Bumpers this afternoon when you played the recording. It really went over big. You probably have a good chance of being elected class president."

  Christie looked down. The tape had gone over well, and it had been exciting when the kids were all congratulating her. But it didn't change anything. After the fun of planning the campaign with her friends was all over, if she won, she would be president.

  "You really don't want to be class president, do you?" he asked as if he had read her mind.

  She shook her head without saying anything.

  "Why are you running, then?" he asked.

  "My friends want me to. I promised them I'd try. And my parents would be disappointed, too, if I dropped out of the election."

  "That's the difference between the two of us, I guess," he said, frowning. "You try to satisfy everyone, and I don't try to satisfy anyone, because I know I can't."

  "But you can do well when you really want to," she insisted. "Look at how fast you're catching up in math."

  He smiled at her. "For some reason I feel like trying now. Maybe you shouldn't try so hard. I don't mean that you should be like me or make bad grades. I mean, just don't do everything everyone wants you to."

  "I don't know," she answered. "I've done it all my life."

  "Don't get me wrong," he added quickly. "It's just that you're important, too. If you keep being the person everybody else th
inks you should be, you'll never find out who the real Christie is."

  "And if you keep copping out," she added, looking deep into his eyes, "you'll never know how special you can be."

  Neither of them said anything for a minute. Then Jon grinned. "What's that old saying about a happy medium?" he asked. "Maybe we should both look for that."

  "It's a deal," said Christie.

  She poured them each a soda, and they settled down at the table to work on math. Jon was almost caught up now. Christie was proud of his progress, but she also dreaded for the tutoring sessions to end. Especially now that things were going so well between them.

  When the lesson was finished, Jon closed his book and started to get up from the table, but for some reason he sat back down. Christie was puzzled by the serious look on his face, and then surprised when he put his hand on top of hers. It made her feel tingly all over.

  "You've helped me a lot," he began. "Now I think I know how to help you."

  "How?"

  "By helping you get out of the elections."

  "I don't know. Everyone is depending on me," she said with a sigh. "I can't just back out."

  "What if someone besides you or Melissa won?" he asked.

  She looked at him, not understanding. "But there's no one else running. No one from Copper Beach Elementary is."

  "I've been thinking," he said. "What if there was a mystery candidate? Someone no one knew? That would get a lot of attention, wouldn't it?"

  She looked at him blankly. "A mystery candidate?"

  "Think about how excited everyone would get if all of a sudden there were posters for a candidate without a name. We could even make a tape like you did and ask Mr. Matson not to tell who made it."

  "But who would the candidate be? Don't tell me that you're thinking of running now?"

  He chuckled and raised his hands in protest. "Not me. I haven't figured out who it could be yet, but we've got until next Tuesday to come up with someone. And I promise you that it won't be a cop-out candidate, either. We'll find someone who'll do a good job."

  "Do you mean to say that you want to campaign for someone and you don't even know who it is?" she asked incredulously.

  "Sure. Why not? Are you game?"

  Christie laughed. Coming up with a mystery candidate really sounded like fun. It just might work. And if it did . . .

  "It's still early. If you could stay a little longer, we could plan our campaign," she said.

  "Let's do it," he said, opening his notebook with a flourish. "Maybe our candidate, whoever it is, will go on to be the next president of the United States." They laughed together.

  As Jon bent his head down over the notebook, Christie looked at him. He was a lot different from the first night he had come over to study. His eyes were twinkling and he was excited about what they were doing. He looked so handsome with the lock of soft brown hair down on his forehead. She was happier being with him than she would ever be running for some dumb old school office. If this was what it meant to look for the happy medium, she was all for it.

  CHAPTER 12

  Christie and Jon were waiting at the school doors when Mr. Bartosik, the head custodian, opened them early the next morning before any other students had arrived. After they dropped her bag of oranges off at her locker, they rushed through the empty halls to carry out their plan.

  Mrs. Winchell had given them long rolls of newsprint that were left over from an art project at Mark Twain Elementary, and they had painted brightly colored banners for their mystery candidate on them, rolled them back up, and carried them to school. Now they were unrolling them again and taping them up in the hallway where everyone would see them.

  Christie took a deep breath and crossed her fingers as she put up the last poster. "We can't back out now," she said.

  "Good luck, mystery candidate, whoever you are!" Jon added with a laugh.

  A little while later Christie hurried to The Fabulous Five's favorite spot by the fence to wait for her friends, and she had been standing there, fidgeting nervously, for nearly fifteen minutes before they arrived.

  "Hi," called Melanie as she and Beth walked up, pulling a wagon full of oranges. "I bribed my little brother by promising him a double-scoop ice cream cone after school if he would let me borrow his wagon," she said brightly. Katie and Jana were right behind them, carrying their oranges in brown paper bags.

  "Boy, I can't wait to see what Laura and her friends have planned for today," said Katie as they unloaded the fruit into their lockers. "You know she's not going to take yesterday without a fight."

  "I couldn't forget the look on her face all last night," said Beth, giggling, as she stuffed a bag loaded with oranges on top of some books. "I even dreamed about her standing there flicking her braid. I woke up laughing."

  "Well, I'll bet The Fantastic Foursome had a long meeting yesterday to figure out what to do next," said Katie.

  "Maybe they'll sing that dumb little commercial in the cafeteria again," added Melanie.

  "I don't know about that, but I'll bet they have a tape to play at Bumpers after school," said Jana. "What do you think, Christie?"

  Christie smiled. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get some surprises today." Then to herself she added, If only you knew!

  "If anyone hears about what they're up to, spread the word," said Katie. "Did you call Shane last night like you said you would?" she asked Melanie.

  "Yes. And the rat wouldn't tell me who he's going to vote for. He said to be at Bumpers this afternoon and he'd tell everyone what Igor said."

  They all laughed at the thought of Shane's talking to his pet iguana. All except Christie. Were they going to stand around talking forever? she wondered. She was dying to walk around the halls where the posters for the mystery candidate were hanging and see what kind of attention they were getting. But at the rate The Fabulous Five were moving, they would still be standing at their lockers when the first bell rang.

  "Hey, look," whispered Jana. "There are Laura and the others. Let's keep an eye on them."

  The halls were filling up as more and more kids arrived for school, so they were able to follow The Fantastic Foursome without being seen. Suddenly Laura and her friends stopped in the middle of the hall by the principal's office and stood looking at a poster. Melanie motioned the others to follow her, and they walked up trying to look as if they were just on their way to class.

  Christie had to bite her lower lip to keep from giggling. The poster had a cutout of Vanna White standing by some hand-printed squares that looked like the ones on the Wheel of Fortune television show. The blocks were empty as if they were part of a puzzle. Underneath them was printed:

  WHO IS THE MYSTERY CANDIDATE FOR 7TH-GRADE CLASS PRESIDENT?

  Christie hoped everyone would realize that they were supposed to guess the name that went in the squares.

  "Is this another one of your tricks?" Laura snapped at them. "If it is—well, you've got it right. It's a mystery why you put Christie up for class president."

  "Yeah," said Tammy. "You would have been better off keeping the whole thing a mystery. Especially after Melissa wins." The four of them turned in unison and stomped off.

  As they moved closer to see, Christie faked interest in the poster. She had to admit that she and Jon had done a good job in the short time they had had the night before.

  "If they didn't put it up, I wonder who did?" Jana thought out loud.

  "You've got me," said Melanie.

  Christie turned so that no one could see her face. She couldn't help feeling a mixture of guilt, over not being honest with her best friends, and glee, over the trick she and Jon had pulled off.

  Just then Lisa Snow and Sara Sawyer came up behind them and stopped to look at the poster. "Who put that up?" Lisa asked.

  "We don't know," answered Katie.

  "Is it legal?" Sara asked.

  "Sure," answered Katie. "You can write in anyone you want. You only have to get petitions signed if the candidate's name is going to be
on the ballot."

  Randy Kirwan and Scott Daly walked up and looked at the poster, too, and soon a crowd had gathered. Everyone started trying to guess the name of the mystery candidate. Christie listened and had a hard time keeping a straight face. What makes it even funnier, thought Christie, is that it's taped up next to one of Melissa's posters. One that says she wants to clean up the gum tree. How boring, compared to a mystery candidate.

  "Maybe it's Whitney Larkin," offered someone in the crowd.

  "Naw," said someone else. "There aren't enough letters."

  "Hey, look," called Jana, who had walked down the hall a short way. "Here's another one." Christie followed as everyone rushed down to see.

  This one said:

  WHO DOES EVERYONE KNOW?

  WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON?

  WHO DOES EVERYONE TRUST?

  WHO WOULD MAKE THE BEST 7TH-GRADE CLASS PRESIDENT?

  VOTE FOR THE MYSTERY CANDIDATE

  ____________________?

  As the group of seventh-graders stared at the poster in silence, Christie had to bite her lip to keep from grinning.

  When the bell rang signaling the start of seventh-grade lunch period, Christie raced to her locker and grabbed her lunch and her grocery bag of oranges. The bag was practically overflowing, and she balanced it carefully, clamping her chin down on the oranges on top to keep them from spilling onto the floor as she headed for the cafeteria.

  She ignored curious stares as she made her way toward The Fabulous Five's regular table. Katie was already there with her oranges, and Jana and Beth were coming through the swinging doors behind Christie. That left Melanie, and she was a few minutes late because she had persuaded Mr. Bartosik to let her store the wagonload of oranges in the supply closet down the hall.

  "That should do it," she said as she shoved the wagon under the table and sat down with a breathless sigh.

  "Has anyone found out who put those posters up for the mystery candidate?" asked Jana, taking a bite of her cream cheese and jelly sandwich. "They're all over school."

  Christie cringed at the mention of the mystery candidate. It was one thing to dream up the scheme with Jon and another to have to keep a straight face while her friends talked about it.