Fabulous Five 006 - The Parent Game

by Betsy Haynes

  They had been working and chatting for a while when Funny suddenly turned serious. "Jana," she said, biting her lip. "I shouldn't tell you this, but I'm going to. Promise you won't tell where you heard it." Jana had never seen Funny look the way she did. "It's kind of like snitching on a close friend."

  "I promise."

  "Laura is really mad at you."

  "Mad at ME? What have I done besides stay alive?"

  Funny giggled for a second time and then looked serious again. "Laura thinks you put Taffy up to being partners with Randy, and then you asked Shane to be your partner. She thinks you're out to get all the good-looking boys for the Mark Twain girls and are trying to cut us Riverfield girls out."

  CHAPTER 10

  "Laura McCall has no right to be mad at me," Jana said angrily. "She's the one who had that party and was going to ask all the seventh-grade boys, including our boyfriends, and not invite us. I should be mad at her."

  "I know. But she thinks that you're still trying to get even. I really wish you two would try to get along."

  Jana sighed and looked at her new friend. She did like Funny so much, and if there was any way in the world she could be close friends with her, she would, but Laura was always making The Fantastic Foursome do nasty things to The Fabulous Five. Such as the time Melissa McConnell ran for class president against Christie. Jana knew that Laura wanted to be sure one of her friends was president. And she certainly wasn't trying to be friends at Bumpers the other day when Jana was talking to Randy.

  Jana changed the subject. "How many kids did you call about having their pictures taken?"

  Melanie's brown hair was curling in little ringlets around her face, and Beth's still looked damp, when Jana sat down with them in Bumpers. They had had cheerleading practice after school and had barely beaten Jana to the hangout. Beth was holding her panda, but Melanie was childless. Jana guessed that Scott must have the walrus.

  "Where's Katie?" Beth asked Christie, who had saved them a booth. Christie had her bunny in the tennis outfit sitting on the table with its back against the end of the booth.

  "I saw her after class and she said she had Teen Court, but she wanted us to save a seat for her," said Christie.

  "I'll bet that Tony Calcaterra is in trouble again, and she's defending him," said Jana. The four laughed. Since the Teen Court had been started, Tony had been before it three times. The last time had been for painting "T. C. + K. S." on the school wall. Everybody knew it meant Tony Calcaterra plus Katie Shannon, and it had embarrassed the life out of Katie.

  "Katie says she really doesn't like Tony," Melanie said.

  "You're kidding," said Beth. "No matter what she says, she likes him."

  "Do you really think so?" asked Melanie.

  "She just doesn't want to admit it because he's so macho, and she's such a feminist," said Jana. "She thinks she'll be considered less liberated if she ever admits she likes him. I'll bet he asks her for a date and she accepts."

  "Sure she will," agreed Christie. "She's gaga over him, and I think he's getting into trouble just so that he can go before the Teen Court and have her stick up for him."

  Beth put her hands out to stop the conversation. "Speaking of gaga. Look who's making eyes at whom."

  They turned to where she was looking. Taffy Sinclair was standing in the checkout line next to Chad Wallace, and she was smiling up at him as he was paying the cashier.

  "I wonder what that's all about?" asked Christie.

  "It looks as if he's buying her a soda," answered Jana.

  Taffy looked toward them at that moment and waved. Jana waved back.

  "I guess Chad is interested in Taffy, if he's buying her a drink," said Christie. "Maybe we've been wrong about her after all."

  Taffy put her hand on Chad's arm and said something to him, and they both laughed. Then she headed for The Fabulous Five's booth.

  "Hi, Fabulous Five," she said as she beamed down at them. "It is easier to say hello to all of you that way. How are my favorite people?" Beth rolled her eyes toward the ceiling in obvious disgust.

  "Fine, Taffy," said Jana. The others murmured their hellos.

  "I was just talking to Chad," Taffy continued. "He's such a riot. He keeps me laughing all the time. The doll just bought me this cola. Wasn't that nice?"

  Jana thought that Taffy was making an awful big deal about his buying her a soda. But that's Taffy, she thought.

  "Isn't the Family Living project a ball?" Taffy asked. "Randy is taking care of our baby right now. He's supposed to be here pretty soon to give it to me."

  Jana gritted her teeth to keep from saving anything. She hated to hear Taffy's talking about Randy as if they were married.

  Taffy seemed to wait a moment for someone else to speak, and when they didn't, she went on.

  "I hear Shane's your partner, Jana, and I saw you at school with a dinosaur. What a big baby. It looked as if you could barely carry it and your books, too."

  "It's big, all right," muttered Jana. What was Taffy getting at, anyway? she wondered.

  "Oh, Jana. I hate to ask you this, but I just remembered. I have an appointment with my studio this evening, and I wonder if you could sit for me. It will only be for a couple of hours."

  "Gee, Taffy, I don't know. I'm going to have Rex and my bunny, and I've got a lot of homework."

  "Oh," said Taffy, looking hurt. "I thought that since I was doing you a favor by keeping Laura away from Randy and you were going to be home anyway, you wouldn't mind. I even thought you said . . ." She didn't finish the sentence, but it was clear she thought Jana owed her for what she had done.

  Jana flushed. "Shane is supposed to bring Rex and my bunny by, too. I don't think I can get all three of them and my books home."

  "Oh, that's all right," Taffy said brightly. "I'll drop Monique off after supper and pick her up after my appointment. Mother won't mind stopping by your apartment. Thanks, Jana," she said before Jana could protest. "You're a true friend. See you all later, Fabulous Five." Jana was about to protest further, but with a swish of her skirt Taffy spun on her heel and was gone, leaving Jana with her mouth open.

  "Wow, did you get sucked into that," said Beth.

  "No, I didn't," Jana protested weakly. "I did say I'd do it the other day, and since I'm not going anywhere anyway, it won't make any difference."

  "Well, don't you think it's funny that the favor your biggest enemy is doing for you means she gets to spend time with your boyfriend?" Christie asked suspiciously.

  Jana felt helpless to answer. Taffy had said she wouldn't be Randy's partner if Jana didn't want her to, and hadn't Chad just bought Taffy a soda? And Randy said Taffy talked about being Jana's friend. Wasn't all that proof that Taffy wasn't trying to pull something? It wasn't that she was taking Taffy at her word. Or did she just want it to be that way so badly that she was blinded to what was really going on?

  After dinner, Jana sat in her room looking at the animals that surrounded her at her desk. Randy had arrived at Bumpers with Shane and had carried Rex home for her. There had been a brief moment of euphoria when Randy had leaned forward, and this time, instead of her forehead, he had kissed her on the lips. The world had turned to sunshine and roses for her at that very moment. Later Taffy had come by in her mother's car and dropped off the bear.

  "Hi, Jana."

  Jana hadn't heard her mother come in. "Hi, Mom."

  "My goodness, you've got even more animals. Who does the bear belong to?"

  "That's Monique. It's Taffy's. I'm babysitting it for her while she keeps an appointment."

  Her mother looked at her curiously. She's probably wondering why I'm doing it, too, thought Jana. Her mother knew that she and Taffy had been enemies all through Mark Twain Elementary.

  After she finished her homework, Jana went into the kitchen to make up another batch of formula. All it was was water and cream of wheat, but it looked like real formula, and besides, she was getting rid of a lot of yucky cream of wheat.

  H
er mother sat at the table. She had papers and receipts pertaining to the wedding spread out in front of her, and she was looking over the guest list. Jana walked to the table and looked over her shoulder. Her father's name wasn't on the list.

  "Mom, could I have some invitations? I promised to invite Christie, Beth, Katie, and Melanie, and I've been so busy with school and yearbook that I forgot."

  Her mother looked up and smiled. "Sure, sweetheart. I've been meaning to ask you about your friends, but I'm afraid that I forgot, too." She slid several invitations toward Jana from a stack of extras on the table. Jana took the spare ballpoint pen that was lying on the table and addressed the invitations to her friends.

  When she finished, she stared at the list for a moment. She hadn't really paid much attention to it before. She read it over and then asked, "Is that the whole list?"

  "Ummm, hmm," her mother answered absently. "Except for your friends, of course."

  "Aren't you inviting any of our relatives except for Grandmother and Grandfather Drake?"

  Her mother shook her head. "None of your aunts, uncles, or cousins live near enough to come. But your grandmother and grandfather will definitely be here. They're driving in on Friday before the wedding and will be staying at a hotel." Jana slid into a depression. Grandma and Grandpa Drake were her mother's parents. Jana loved them, but she had thought her mother might say she was also asking Jana's father.

  Back in her room Jana sat at her desk, thinking. She reached into the pocket of her jeans skirt and pulled out an invitation and an envelope. Her mother had extras and wouldn't miss one. Should she send her father an invitation? How mad would her mother be if she did?

  Jana pulled open the desk drawer. Inside was the wrinkled letter she had begun the day before. The teardrop had formed an inky circle where it had fallen. She took the letter out and placed it at the corner of her desk.

  Next she went to her closet and got an old boot box down from the shelf. Inside was a stack of used envelopes that the support-payment checks used to come in when her father was still sending them. They were all alike, and she had quit collecting them after a while. Underneath the stack were four letters bound together with a rubber band. Jana pulled one free. It was wrinkled and smudged because of the many times she had taken it out to read the letter inside. In the upper left-hand corner of the envelope was written Bill Morgan, followed by an address. Carefully she copied the address onto the invitation envelope.

  CHAPTER 11

  "Where am I going to put all of these?" Pink's voice came from the living room.

  "Oh, my word," Jana's mother's voice followed. "I didn't know there were so many. Jana, honey! Can you come and help?"

  When Jana reached the living room, she found it filled with boxes, and Pink was standing at the door, sweat glistening from his forehead and perspiration stains darkening his T-shirt. "I'll bring in another load if you ladies want to find a place to put my bowling trophies," he said, grinning. His blond hair was wet and mussed as if he had been in a wrestling match.

  "Oh, dear," said Jana's mother. "Where will we put all of these?" She was standing beside two extra-large boxes, set apart from the others, with the words BOWLING TROPHIES written on their sides with black Magic Marker.

  "We could rent one of those storage places and move Pink and his trophies into it," volunteered Jana quickly.

  Her mother looked sternly at her. "That was not a nice remark, young lady."

  "I was only kidding," Jana insisted, thinking to herself that she would absolutely explode if her mother got any more paranoid between now and the wedding.

  Her mother gave her a long look and then followed Pink downstairs. Before she turned away, Jana saw a flash of anger in her eyes.

  Laura McCall stood with her feet planted firmly in front of Jana, blocking her way. Under one arm was a stuffed unicorn, and she had the tail of her braid in her other hand, switching it back and forth as if she were a cat who had cornered a mouse. Melissa McConnell and Tammy Lucero stood on either side of her looking angry, and Funny Hawthorne was just behind them, looking thoroughly miserable. Jana faced them by herself, her books and bunny in one arm and Rex clutched in the other. None of her friends were in sight, and she felt vulnerable.

  "You're not going to get away with stealing Riverfield boys, Jana Morgan. It was a sneaky trick to get Taffy to be partners with Randy Kirwan while you lured Shane into being your partner. Who are you going after next?"

  "I didn't ask Shane to be partners. He asked me," Jana said angrily, glaring back at Laura. She wasn't stealing Riverfield boys. All she wanted was to keep Randy, who had been her boyfriend in Mark Twain Elementary.

  "Do you deny that you asked Taffy to be Randy's partner so he couldn't be mine?"

  Jana hadn't, but she couldn't say so without its sounding like a lie. Taffy had brought up the subject of being Randy's partner, not Jana, but Jana had agreed to it. And how did Laura know Jana had agreed to Taffy's asking Randy, anyway?

  "I don't need to steal boys from anyone," Jana shot back, avoiding Laura's question. "They go out with whomever they want to. If they don't ask you to be partners, you're the one with a problem."

  "Right!" said Katie, sticking out her chin. She had appeared from nowhere and stepped between Jana and Laura. Christie and Melanie moved in beside her, too.

  "Listen, Katie Shannon," said Melissa. "The only boyfriend you can get is in trouble all the time." Melissa was referring to Tony Calcaterra, and Jana thought Katie's red hair was going to burst into flame. Then she noticed that Funny looked as if she were going to cry and remembered what she had said about Jana's being the only one able to stop the war between the two cliques. But Laura had started the argument. She had gotten in front of Jana and stopped her. Funny's eyes were pleading with her.

  "Well, you can think what you want, Laura McCall," said Jana, backing off. "But I am not out to steal Riverfield boys. And you can shout all you want, but we don't have to listen. Come on, everybody," she ordered Katie, Melanie, Beth, and Christie, "let's find better company." She saw a look of relief on Funny's face as they turned away and left The Fantastic Foursome standing in the hall by themselves.

  "The nerve of that witch," said Beth. "If we wanted to, stealing boyfriends from them would be like stealing candy from a baby."

  "She's just mad because she couldn't get Randy to be her partner," said Katie. "I guess you were right about Taffy. If it weren't for her, Laura might be Randy's partner right now."

  "But what I can't understand," said Jana thoughtfully, "is how Laura knew that Taffy asked Randy to be partners so that Laura couldn't ask him."

  "Maybe someone overheard you and Taffy talking and told her," said Melanie. "It could have been some Riverfield kid. What about Funny? Did you say anything about your deal with Taffy to her?"

  "No. I didn't tell anyone except you guys."

  "Maybe Taffy told someone," said Christie.

  "Why would she do that?" asked Jana.

  The Fabulous Five stared blankly at each other.

  "Oh, Jana, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." Taffy seemed out of breath and was hugging her big white stuffed bear with both arms. "I want you to know how much I appreciate your sitting with Randy's and my baby last night. That was super of you. If I can do it for you sometime, let me know. That is, if I don't have an appointment."

  "You're welcome, Taffy. Your dropping it off and picking it up made it easy."

  "Oh, good. Uh, Jana. I was wondering . . . since it was so easy and all . . . if you'd mind sitting again for me? I hate to ask you, but I've got a tryout for this big modeling job, and it means a lot to me. Would you mind too much?" Her voice was like syrup being poured over pancakes.

  Jana hesitated. It hadn't been so hard sitting the extra make-believe baby. After all, Taffy and her mother had delivered it to her apartment and picked it up later. All Jana had to do was carry it to her room and let it sit with Rex. The Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur and the bear wearing a tutu made a
n interesting couple.

  "I guess so, Taffy."

  "Oh, thank you so much, Jana. I'll drop it off again, just as I did before."

  "Great," answered Jana. "When do you want me to sit?"

  "Saturday."

  "Saturday? Taffy, I can't sit Saturday. I've got to go shopping for a dress for Mom's wedding Saturday morning."

  "That's okay, Jana. My appointment is in the afternoon. I'll drop it off around one o'clock."

  "But I'm going to the football game with Trumbull! Besides, don't you have to cheer?"

  "Jana . . . you aren't going back on your promise, are you?" Taffy sounded as if her feelings were badly hurt. Then she said softly, "Miss Wolfe understands. She gave me permission to miss the game because my appointment is so important. I was counting on you to understand, too. After my trying so hard to help you keep Randy out of Laura McCall's clutches. And I thought we were starting to be friends. . . ."

  Jana felt guilty. Taffy had helped her, but the football game was important to Jana, and she was supposed to see Randy after the game. How could she go to the game with all the stuffed animals—especially Rex and Monique? They were so big. She wouldn't be able to get through the crowd, let alone find seats for herself, the dinosaur, and the bear.

  But Taffy had helped her, Jana thought. She was acting like Jana's friend and Jana owed her. She looked at Taffy standing in front of her. How could she be so uncaring after Taffy had been so much help?

  Jana sighed. "I'll do it, Taffy."

  CHAPTER 12

  "If you put the dinosaur in that chair and put the rabbit in its lap, I think they'll be all right," the sales clerk said. Jana could see the Mayfair Dress Shop clerk was suppressing a smile.

  Jana's mother had been as excited as if she were the one who was going to get the new dress when they started out that morning with Pink driving them to the mall. Jana sat in the backseat of the car with Rex and the bunny. She must have tried on a zillion dresses since then, but it was the same in all the shops, and Mayfair was their last hope. Her mother's smile had faded a long time ago.