by Betsy Haynes
When The Fabulous Five met at their lockers after school, no one had any good news.
"Even Taffy Sinclair is going to Laura's slumber party," said Melanie. Taffy had been the snottiest girl at Mark Twain, and hardly anyone had gotten along with her. The Fabulous Five had even had a club against her. Of course, she had had one against them, too.
"So is Mona Vaughn," said Christie. "I asked her in social studies class. She said she was really sorry, but she had already promised Laura and she couldn't back out. Do you guys realize that we'll be the only ones not there?"
"That's it!" cried Beth.
"What's it?" Jana asked sarcastically.
Beth raised an eyebrow and smiled. "If Laura can brag about what's going to happen at her party, so can we. We'll make our party sound so exciting that everyone who is going to hers will back out and come to ours."
"And just how are we going to do that?" asked Melanie. "How can we top hers when we don't even know what she has planned?"
"Leave everything to me," ordered Beth. Even though she didn't have any idea how she would top Laura's party, her mind was racing. That wacky English rock group Brain Damage would be here in concert next weekend, but there was no rock concert in town this weekend that Laura could be taking them to. No other big events, either. And Alexis and Lisa had mentioned that it was something they were going to do after Mrs. Skinner fell asleep. Was she really going to take all of them for a ride in her father's tiny Maserati? Practically every girl in the seventh grade? And what could she come up with so that The Fabulous Five could outdo The Fantastic Foursome and Laura McCall?
CHAPTER 3
All the way home from school Beth rehearsed what she would say to her parents to persuade them to let her have a slumber party Friday night. She would have to start with that and work on a great plan as she went along. If she or her friends thought of a really terrific way to lure girls away from Laura's party, there could be a real crowd. I'll have to deal with that problem later, she thought.
A bigger problem was going to be getting her parents to listen to her request in the first place. Especially since she didn't know how many people would be coming. With five kids in the family it was always a total madhouse around the Barry household.
At least Todd, her younger brother who was in the fifth grade, was shooting hoops in the driveway when she got home. That eliminates one distraction, she thought. She waved to him and ducked in the door beside the garage as he tried to blast her with the basketball.
"Hey. Wanna play bombardment?" he shouted as she closed the door.
Inside, her older brother Brian's stereo was cranked up so high that the walls seemed to pulse with the music. Brian was probably upstairs in his room—where he could hear the music better, she thought wryly.
Looking around the family room, she saw that both of her sisters were in their usual afternoon spots. Alicia, the five-year-old, was stretched out on her stomach watching Sesame Street with Agatha, the sheepdog, who was stretched out on her stomach, too. As usual, sixteen-year-old Brittany was talking on the phone.
"Hey, Britt. Where's mom?" Beth asked.
Usually Brittany's response to being interrupted on the phone registered on the Richter scale, but today she put a hand over the mouthpiece and said, "At Mark Twain. She and Dad had a conference with Todd's teacher. It seems our saintly brother was involved in a mutiny over a substitute teacher."
Beth chuckled. She was dying to ask her sister more about the mutiny, but Brittany waved her off and went back to her conversation. There was no use asking Todd. He would blow the story up so big that she wouldn't be able to tell fact from fiction.
But why did he have to pick today for his mutiny? she wondered as she dumped her books on her bed. That was all her parents would want to talk about at dinner tonight. She wouldn't be able to get a word about the slumber party in edgewise.
"There isn't anything new about that," she grumbled out loud. Sometimes Brian's music was so loud that she had to talk out loud to hear her own thoughts above it. "SOMETIMES I EVEN HAVE TO YELL!" she shouted, knowing that no one would hear her.
It was always the same. Utter chaos. What's more, Alicia idolized Brittany and always bugged her and got into her makeup. Todd idolized Brian and always bugged him and got into his music. Brittany and Brian were always screaming at Alicia and Todd, who always screamed back, which made their parents constantly get after all four of them for fighting. Agatha loved the uproar, and she would run in circles barking. That left Beth to get attention the best way she could, and tonight—if Todd was in trouble at school—that wouldn't be easy. She would have to try hard.
Beth thought for a moment and then knelt beside her theater trunk, which stood in the corner near her closet. Actually the old steamer trunk had been a basement relic that she had rescued and cleaned up. Now it was one of her most prized possessions, which, like vaudeville trunks in the olden days, was filled with the costumes and stage props she would use someday when she became an actress. But until then, when all else failed, she could always find the help she needed inside.
The skre-e-ech of the lid's being opened was lost in the twang of steel-string guitars coming from Brian's room next door. Beth rummaged around in the trunk, which smelled faintly of mildew, tossing out the gorilla costume Brian had worn one Halloween, an Oriental fan, wigs, fake mustaches and beards, and assorted pieces of clothing until, near the bottom, she found exactly what she was looking for.
She smiled as she pulled out a rectangular yellow box and read the words on the lid:
Wounds, Hurts, and Vampire Blood
A complete special-effects makeup lab
Use these specially designed professional quality makeups to create effects that look just like those you see in the movies.
This ought to get their attention, Beth thought gleefully. I'd like to see them ignore me now.
She opened the box and spread the contents out on her dresser. There were horrible-looking wounds made out of soft, flexible plastic, spirit-gum glue for sticking them onto skin, greasepaint makeup, including a purplish color for simulating bruises and black eyes, and skin tone for blending the artificial wounds into the person's skin color and making them look real. Last but not least was the tube marked VAMPIRE'S BLOOD. It would add the perfect touch.
For the next hour and a half Beth worked with the makeup kit, trying a nail wound here, a slash wound there, and bruises in first one place and then another. She was so absorbed that she barely heard when her parents got home, but she pricked up her ears when the doorbell rang a little later. She knew who that was: the kid who delivered pizza. That was normal on nights when her mother was running too late to cook supper.
"Come on kids! Time to eat!" she heard her father call from the bottom of the stairs.
Beth stepped in front of her mirror and smiled with satisfaction. Her dark hair was in total disarray, carefully teased to stick out in all the wrong places. Both eyes were bruised. A gash tore across her left cheek. Vampire blood trickled out of her nose.
"Perfect," she whispered as she pulled the tail of her blouse out of one side of her jeans. Racing to the door, she listened and waited.
There was the thunder of feet on the stairs fading away toward the kitchen and the scrape of chairs being pulled across the tile floor. Voices rose as her brothers and sisters scrambled over pizza slices and her father tried to bring order to the dinner table.
"Beth. You'd better come on," called her father. He was at the bottom of the stairs again. "The pizza's getting cold."
Beth opened her door just far enough to see the kitchen table and her father sitting down again. Everyone was munching contentedly and chattering, probably about Todd's latest fiasco. The moment for her grand entrance had arrived.
Opening her door, she grabbed for the railing, moaning pitifully as she limped down the stairs.
The kitchen got deathly still as all eyes fastened on her. Suddenly Agatha yipped, and her mother jumped to her feet.
"E-LIZ-abeth!" she shrieked.
CHAPTER 4
"So, what did your parents say?" Melanie eagerly asked the moment Beth got to school the next morning. "Do you get to have the slumber party?"
"No," mumbled Beth. "Not only that, I'm grounded."
"What!" shrieked Katie.
With a heavy sigh Beth explained the events of the evening before, ending with Mrs. Barry's reaction to the sight of her daughter's stumbling down the stairs.
"Don't you think you overdid it a little?" asked Christie.
"Yeah," agreed Jana. "She probably thought you'd been run over by a truck."
"Worse," Beth said grimly. "Anyway, I can't have the slumber party, and I'm grounded for the entire weekend except for cheering at the football game Saturday afternoon. I can't even go to Bumpers afterward."
"Now what are we going to do?" Melanie asked in exasperation.
"You guys can go ahead and have a slumber party without me," offered Beth. She didn't want to admit how much she hated the thought of being left out of anything The Fabulous Five did. They had always done everything as a group, from going to modeling and charm school together, when Taffy Sinclair was trying to steal Melanie's friendship, to campaigning for Christie when she ran for president of the seventh grade. Still, Beth knew she had blown it with her parents this time. There was nothing else to do.
Jana gave her an understanding smile. "We can't do that," she said softly.
"You've certainly got that right," Katie said matter-of-factly. "There's no one left to come to our party. Laura has invited them all to hers."
"That's what I heard, too," said Christie. "I don't know how she's going to stuff so many kids into her bedroom."
"Apparently they're not going to stay in her bedroom very long," said Melanie. "Where do you think they're going to go after Mrs. Skinner goes to sleep and they sneak out of the house? Jana, can you find out from Funny Hawthorne?"
"No. Funny and I are friends, but she wouldn't give away any of Laura's secrets."
"Maybe they're going to Bumpers," suggested Christie.
"Or to a late movie," added Katie.
"Naw," said Beth. "That can't be it. Everyone is too excited. It has to be something really wild. Something spectacular."
Melanie's eyes got as round as saucers. "Maybe they're going to do something to us!"
"Forget it," said Katie. "Some of the girls going to Laura's party are our friends, too. They're just as excited as everyone else, and you know as well as I do that they wouldn't do anything mean to us."
"I guess you're right," admitted Melanie.
Beth looked down at the ground, making circles in the soft dirt with the toe of her sneaker and thinking hard about the situation. She had never felt so guilty in her life. Her friends were all being nice and not saying so, but it was her fault that they couldn't have a slumber party and talk some of the girls into coming to it instead of Laura's. That braggart, she thought as her anger swelled again. I'll fix her if it's the last thing I ever do.
"Listen, guys," she said hurriedly. "Don't tell anyone that our slumber party is canceled. Okay?"
"But what if somebody wants to come?" asked Christie.
"Right," said Katie. "What if someone says she has thought it over and would rather be at our party than Laura's?"
"If that happens, tell them it's too late. Just say that what I'm planning for my slumber party is so terrific that only my very best friends—namely The Fabulous Five—are allowed to come now," she said with a grand sweep of her hand. "I'll explain later." She flashed her most theatrical smile and hurried away before anyone could insist that she explain now. She had just come up with a great idea, but she wanted to test it first before mentioning it to her friends.
The first seventh-grade girl she saw was Whitney Larkin. Whitney had gone to Copper Beach Elementary and was such a genius that she had skipped straight from fifth grade into seventh this year. Whitney made a lot of kids nervous because she was so smart, and they snickered at her behind her back and called her a baby. She was standing alone by the front gate. Probably watching for Curtis Trowbridge, thought Beth. He was a genius, too, and Whitney had seemed a lot happier since they had started dating. Beth didn't know her very well, but Whitney certainly seemed nice enough to her.
Beth slowed down so that she would not appear overly eager and walked toward Whitney.
"Hi, Whitney," she said as casually as she could.
Whitney looked around and smiled at Beth, murmuring hello.
Beth gave Whitney the most sympathetic look she could muster and said sadly, "I suppose you're going to Laura's party on Friday night."
Whitney's face brightened for an instant at the mention of the party and then crumpled into a frown. "What's the matter? Shouldn't I be?"
"Oh, of course you should," said Beth. "It's just a shame that so many of you got stuck having to go to Laura's party instead of mine. I guess I'll just have to start asking earlier next time. Still, I can't help thinking how much fun it would have been with you and Curtis there."
Whitney gasped. "Curtis?" she cried. "You're having boys at your slumber party?"
"Oh, they aren't going to stay all night," Beth assured her. "I'm just letting each girl ask a boy she likes for the early part of the evening. It's going to be so romantic. We'll probably sit up all night talking about it."
"Well . . . gee," fumbled Whitney. "Maybe I could tell Laura I can't come to her party and go to yours instead. I mean . . . if I could ask Curtis and everything."
"Oh, gosh, Whitney. I'm sorry," said Beth, looking deep into Whitney's eyes. "I really wish you could do that, but it's too late now. My parents decided that they had to know exactly how many would be there by last night. They're planning special food and stuff. You understand, don't you?"
Whitney nodded, and Beth could see that she was really disappointed. Her plan was working. Beth put a hand over her mouth and pretended to cough so that Whitney wouldn't notice the smile breaking over her face.
Next she sauntered up to Lisa Snow and Kim Baxter. After they exchanged greetings, she gave them the same sympathetic look she had given Whitney and said, "Gee. It's really too bad that you're going to Laura's party. I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything, but I know you'd rather come to mine since you could have invited any boy you wanted."
Lisa and Kim looked stunned. "What are you talking about?" they asked together.
Beth put on her best wide-eyed-and-innocent look. "Didn't I tell you that you could invite boys when I asked you to my party yesterday?"
"No," snapped Kim. "All you said was that you were having a slumber party."
Beth braced herself for the outburst that she knew was coming. Again the two girls spoke in unison: "Boys at a slumber party?"
Beth explained about how the boys would have to go home before bedtime and also that her parents had said she couldn't invite anyone else. Her excitement grew as she watched Lisa and Kim race off to spread the word about the terrific party they were missing, and she had to keep reminding herself that it wasn't really going to happen. It was only a harmless story she had made up to outdo Laura McCall.
CHAPTER 5
"You told them WHAT?" shrieked Katie. Beth had motioned her four best friends to her locker when the first bell rang and everyone was getting their books. She had explained her plan, and Katie exploded. "There isn't even going to BE a slumber party, much less a party with BOYS!"
"Pipe down!" insisted Beth. "We have to outbrag Laura, don't we? Besides, how is anybody going to find out? They'll all be at Laura's. We could pretend to do anything we wanted to, and they'd never know the difference."
"Yeah . . . but . . ." fumbled Melanie.
"You should have seen the look on Lisa's and Kim's faces when I told them," Beth interrupted happily. "They were absolutely ILL. And Whitney Larkin, of all people, wanted to make up an excuse to back out on Laura's party and come to our party instead. Don't you see? Now we look like the big deals, and Laura and h
er friends look like the losers."
"It is sort of funny," admitted Jana. "Yesterday Laura had everybody all fired up to go to her party, and now, they all wish they were coming to ours."
By lunchtime it seemed to Beth that every girl in seventh grade wished she could be invited to Beth's nonexistent slumber party. Heather Clark and Melinda Thaler, seventh-graders from Riverfield, stopped Beth in the halls between classes to ask if what they had heard was true. The two girls had tried out for cheerleading along with Beth and Melanie, and Beth thought they looked more disappointed now because they couldn't come to her party than they had when they didn't make the squad.
Other girls had talked to her in classes during the day. Some of them were upset that they had been left out, and others were sorry that they were going to Laura's party instead of Beth's. But it was the reaction of Laura herself that made Beth the happiest at cheerleading practice after school.
"Does Laura know about our fake party yet?" Melanie asked when Beth trotted out to join her on the gym floor.
"I don't know," admitted Beth, "but I'd be awfully surprised if someone hasn't told her."
Just then Laura came breezing out of the dressing room with Tammy Lucero. Beth swallowed a giggle. Tammy was not only one of the members of Laura's exclusive clique, but in most people's opinion, she was the biggest gossip in the seventh grade. If anybody in The Fantastic Foursome had heard about Beth's boy-girl slumber party yet, it would be she.
Tammy was several inches shorter than Laura, and she had to skip to keep up with her tall friend's long strides. Beth watched in amusement as Tammy bounced along talking a mile a minute.
". . . and wait until I tell you what I just heard . . ." she was saying to Laura.
"Okay, girls. Attention, please," called Miss Wolfe, interrupting Tammy in midsentence. "Time to stop talking and start the varm-ups. Get into position for the leg-spread exercise."
Tammy tossed the German gym teacher a look of disgust and plopped down on the padded mat beside Laura. It was obvious to Beth that Tammy was bursting with news for her friend. It was also obvious that Tammy was avoiding looking in hers and Melanie's direction even though they were sitting opposite one another in a large circle on the floor. She knows, Beth thought, and she felt so terrific that she wanted to laugh out loud.
