by Betsy Haynes
"Mu-THUR!" cried Melanie as she scrambled around on her hands and knees gathering books and papers that had tumbled onto the floor. "You said I was supposed to start watching him as soon as the passenger got in. Besides, I can't ride up to the school in front of everybody with Jeffy on my lap. Come on, Mom! I'll watch him. I promise!"
Her mother shook her head firmly. "I can't take any chances. This taxi service is a big responsibility, and Jeffy could cause an accident. You simply have to hold him in your lap at all times."
"Oooooh," Melanie groaned as she sat down hard in the tall, chairlike seat next to her mother and jerked Jeffy onto her lap. "You sit still or I'll kill you," she mumbled into his ear. Then she snapped the seat belt across both of them and took a deep breath to calm herself.
"There it is. Pebblestone Road," her mother chirped a moment later.
Melanie barely glanced up as the big van swung left onto the street because Jeffy was kicking her shins and trying to wriggle out of her lap.
"Jeffy. I said to sit still," she said through clenched teeth.
"I want down," he insisted, planting an elbow firmly in her stomach.
"You know what you're going to get?" she challenged. "You're going to get me sitting on your lap, if you're not careful," she warned. "Then let's see you move even so much as an inch."
She shot an angry look at her mother, who was totally absorbed in reading house numbers and oblivious to what was going on between Melanie and Jeffy. Why didn't she take care of Jeffy? Melanie wondered. Wasn't that what mothers were supposed to do? She opened her mouth to say so when Mrs. Edwards abruptly sat up straight behind the wheel and called out triumphantly, "There it is. Fourteen-oh-seven Pebblestone Road." Then she swung the van into the driveway and beamed at Melanie. "And here comes our first rider."
Melanie heard the van door slide open on its tracks, and she started to turn around to see who was getting in, but Jeffy picked that moment to try to squeeze himself upward and out of her grip. She tightened her arms around him and pulled him back into her lap, growling, "Don't you dare!" in as mean a voice as she could muster.
Just then the door slammed shut again and Melanie half-turned to see a hulking form sink into the seat directly behind her. Then a huge face loomed toward her that was wearing an idiotic grin.
"Hi, Melanie! Hey, this is great! You and me! Riding to school together!"
Her heart stopped. The rider was Brian Olsen.
CHAPTER 6
If this is a nightmare, please let me wake up, Melanie pleaded silently as her mother stopped the van squarely in front of Wakeman Junior High. Over Jeffy's bobbing head she could see students standing in clusters or walking in ones and twos, all acting as if this were a perfectly normal day and that everything in the world were okay. But it wasn't, not for Melanie anyway.
What am I going to do? she thought. Over her shoulder she could see Brian Olsen getting to his feet as she unbuckled the seat belt and let Jeffy off her lap. Brian was still grinning that same idiotic grin he'd had on his face when he got into the van fifteen minutes ago, and she wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if he'd started slobbering all over her.
"Come on, Melanie. We're here!" he shouted as if he had just given her the greatest news on earth. "Let's get out."
Brian stretched an arm toward her, and Melanie had the split-second impression that he was going to scoop her up—the way King Kong scoops up Fay Wray in the movie—and carry her off. Maybe he'd even make his way up to the roof of the school with her in his arms and wait for airplanes to attack. But to her immense relief, he only motioned for her to follow him.
"Come on," he insisted. "What are you waiting for?"
"Umm, I have to talk to my mom for a minute," she said quickly.
Brian raked his fingers through his short blond hair as if he were thinking the idea over. Then he grinned broadly again and nodded. "Okay. See you around," he called as he lumbered out of the van.
"Not if I see you first," Melanie mumbled too softly for her mother to hear.
"What is it, honey?" her mother asked brightly. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh," said Melanie. "Well, umm, nothing really. I'd better run."
"Okay, but don't forget that I'll be here after school to drive him home and I'll need you to help with your little brother again."
"Oh, Mom," Melanie pleaded. "Can't you let him play at a friend's house or something? Or maybe Mrs. Miller would keep him for a few minutes. I really wanted to go to Bumpers with my friends."
"I'm sorry, honey, but I really need you to help me. I'll be right out here when the dismissal bell rings. See you then."
Melanie barely answered. How could her mother do this to her? Sliding out of the van, she pulled the door shut and checked to see which way Brian Olsen had gone. She wouldn't go that way herself, no matter what. As she turned to find her friends, she noticed that several kids had stopped and were staring in her direction. She panicked. Were they looking at the van? Were they reading the taxi sign on the side and thinking how weird it was for a student's mother to do a thing like that? Or were they too busy noticing that the biggest moron in Wacko had just ridden to school with her? Whichever it was, she wanted to get out of there before the laughing started.
She was breathless when she reached her friends at the fence.
"So how did it go?" asked Jana.
"We saw Brian Olsen getting out of the van," Beth said sympathetically. "Of all the rotten luck."
"You can say that again," huffed Melanie. "Half the school must have seen him. You should have seen the stares I got. It was awful."
"Is he your mom's only rider?" asked Christie.
Melanie nodded. "I scared off all the rest of them, but I didn't know about Brian."
"Speak of the devil," said Katie, nodding in the direction of the sidewalk. "I think he's headed this way."
"Hey, Melanie," Brian called as if on cue. "Come here a minute. I want to talk to you."
Melanie felt as if her knees were going to buckle. Brian was practically shouting, and other kids were stopping to see what was going on.
"Hey, Melanie!" he shouted again before she had figured out what to do. "Hey, I want to ask you something."
Brian was moving closer to The Fabulous Five, and more kids were stopping to stare. Melanie felt the hair rising on the back of her neck. There was nothing to do but talk to him, and she would have to do it fast before the entire student body was looking at them.
"Sure, Brian. I'll be right there," she said quickly. She looked at the ground as she hurried toward him, not wanting to look anyone in the eye.
"So, what do you want?" she asked impatiently as she looked up at him. "Are you canceling out on my mom's taxi service or something?"
"Gosh, no," he said, grinning broadly. "What I wanted to ask you is if you think she'd mind if I brought a bunch of bricks along in the morning?" He squinted thoughtfully. "Maybe a dozen, fifteen bricks. Do you think she'd have any objection to carrying them in the van? I'll make sure that they aren't dirty."
Melanie stared at him openmouthed. Then she screwed up her face and asked, "Bricks? Why on earth would you want to bring bricks to school?"
"Actually, I may need to bring some boards, too," he said thoughtfully. "But I'll definitely need to bring bricks. They're for a karate demonstration I'm giving at the school assembly tomorrow. Did you know that I'm a brown belt and that I can smash bricks with my bare hands?"
His eyes were gleaming as he grinned at her, and she felt a queasy sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Smash bricks?" she whispered, unable to believe the words.
"You bet," said Brian proudly. "Actually, I can smash concrete blocks, but they shatter and make a bigger mess than bricks. Hey, I've got an idea. Would you like to come onstage with me and be my assistant?"
A snicker from nearby jolted Melanie, and she looked around. To her horror, a crowd was gathering and kids were listening to their conversation, and right in the center stood The
Fabulous Five's archrivals, The Fantastic Foursome. Tammy Lucero, Melissa McConnell, and Funny Hawthorne were standing around Laura McCall, who looked as if she were having the time of her life at Melanie's expense.
"Go ahead, Mel," called out Alexis Duvall. "Maybe you can wear a cute little short skirt like they do on TV."
Some other kids burst out laughing at that, and Melanie wanted to die. She knew that Alexis was only joking, but this was no joking matter. And to say it in front of The Fantastic Foursome only made things worse.
"Thanks, Brian, but . . . but loud noises give me a headache," she offered with a shrug. It was a lame excuse, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. He looked disappointed so she added, "You can talk to my mom about the bricks. Okay?"
When Brian had gone and most of the other kids had wandered off, leaving Melanie and her friends standing alone, she sighed deeply. "A karate demonstration smashing bricks. Can you believe that?" she said. Then she looked pleadingly at each of her friends and added, "Somebody help me think of something to do about him. I have a terrible feeling that this is only going to get worse."
CHAPTER 7
By now everyone at school knew about the teen taxi. Kids came up to Melanie everywhere she went. But instead of asking her the question she had expected—how does it feel to have a mother who runs a taxi service to and from Wakeman Junior High?—they all wanted to know about Brian Olsen.
"How can you let a drip like that ride with you every day?" asked Mona Vaughn, stopping Melanie outside her English class. "I mean, doesn't your mother screen kids or anything?"
"No," Melanie grumbled. "She'll let anybody ride if they pay the money."
"But Brian Olsen!" protested Sara Sawyer, who had walked up just in time to hear Mona's question. "He's such a Neanderthal."
"Tell me about it," Melanie said with a sigh.
At lunchtime it was even worse. Funny Hawthorne came sailing up to The Fabulous Five's table carrying her hot-lunch tray out in front of her. Then she bent down and whispered something to Jana, who rolled her eyes and made a face.
"What was that all about?" asked Beth.
Jana looked at Melanie as if she hated to speak, but then she said, "Funny said Joel Murphy and Clarence Marshall are giving Scott Daly a hard time about Brian's riding to school with Melanie."
"What!" shrieked Melanie, rising up off the bench and dropping her sandwich.
"Calm down," said Christie. "You know how boys are. Besides, if they see that they're getting to you, they'll tease him more than ever."
Melanie sank back to her seat, but she didn't pick up her sandwich. She couldn't eat. Not if one of the boys she liked was getting teased over Brian Olsen. Actually, she had liked Scott longer than any of the other boys she had crushes on, which made him special. She was going to have to do something about Brian and do it fast, before her entire love life went down the drain.
"Maybe your mom won't let Brian bring bricks in the van tomorrow, and he'll have to find another ride," offered Katie.
"Fat chance," scoffed Melanie. "She's so desperate for riders that she would probably let him bring a baby elephant, if he had one."
"What about the stuff you told the other kids?" suggested Jana. "You know, about your mother's being a reckless driver and always being late?"
"No, Brian would never fall for that," said Melanie, shaking her head. "He's already ridden with Mom once. She was a model driver, and she got to his house exactly on time."
"There has to be something you can do to get rid of him," said Christie. "You're such an expert on getting boys to notice you. You've even memorized seven tips for flirting. Don't you know anything about reversing the whole thing?"
"Yeah," said Jana. "How do you turn guys off?"
Melanie bit her lower lip and thought over Jana's question. It was true, she had made it practically a lifetime project to learn how to attract boys. And Christie was right about the seven tips for flirting, too. She had not only memorized them, she could even say them backward. But never once in her whole life had it ever occurred to her to get a boy to stop liking her. She hadn't considered the possibility that she would ever want to do a thing like that.
"Wow," she said just above a whisper. "I don't have the faintest idea, but if there are ways to get guys, surely there are ways to get rid of them, too."
"Let's think about this. Maybe we could help," said Katie. "After all, The Fabulous Five sticks together. We could ask some boys what girls do that bug them the most, especially things that would make them stop having a crush on someone. I'll ask Tony, if you want me to."
"Great idea," chimed in Jana. "I'll ask Randy."
Melanie's eyes got wide with excitement. "I could even ask some guys myself," she said. "In fact," she added with a twinkle, "it's the kind of information that we ought to have anyway. Who knows when somebody else might need it?"
The girls finished their lunches talking about how they would approach all the boys they knew really well and ask them to name their biggest complaints against girls.
"Not just silly stuff, but stuff that keeps them from asking girls out," Katie reminded them.
"As soon as we get a list made, I'll try every single one of them on Brian Olsen!" Melanie vowed. "If that doesn't get rid of him, nothing will."
The first boy Melanie talked to was Shane Arrington. He was in her biology class right after lunch, and they walked into the room at the same time.
"Shane, what do girls do sometimes that bugs you the most?" she asked.
Shane looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "What really bugs me is when girls gossip. I really hate to hear them saying nasty things about other girls."
"Oh, yeah?" she said casually, making a mental note to write his reply in her notebook. That was actually a useful thing to know about Shane, even if she didn't have a problem with Brian Olsen. She would be extra careful not to say anything bad about anybody when she was around Shane from now on.
Next she stopped at the drinking fountain between classes and talked to Curtis Trowbridge. "Say, Curtis, what do girls do sometimes that really makes you mad enough not to like them anymore?"
"Who, me?" said Curtis, as if he couldn't imagine anyone's asking him a question like that. "Well, probably what I hate most is when they talk about other guys. You know, how handsome they are, what jocks they are, things like that," he answered with an embarrassed smile.
Melanie couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, too. Curtis certainly wasn't handsome. And he wasn't a jock. What he was, was a genius, and fellow-genius Whitney Larkin was the only girl Melanie knew of who had ever liked him for a boyfriend. But still, she couldn't imagine anyone being mean enough to talk about how much of a hunk someone else was in front of Curtis.
Between her next two classes, Melanie spotted Garrett Boldt in the hallway. She couldn't believe her good luck. In fact, it was perfect. It would give her a chance to start up a conversation with him, which she had been dying to do ever since he had agreed for her to be his assistant. She could also get some information she could use to get rid of Brian.
She looked around nervously. Garrett was an eighth-grader and a lot more sophisticated than the other boys she had talked to. What could she say? Hi, Garrett. What bugs you most about girls? Eeek! she thought. He'll think I've lost my mind. Hi, Garrett. If you liked a girl a lot, what would she have to do for you to change your mind? No, that wouldn't do either.
I'll just have to wing it, she thought desperately as she raced down the hall after him.
"Hi, Garrett," she called. "Wait up."
"Oh, hi, Mel," he said, giving her a friendly smile and slowing down until she caught up. "How's it going?"
"Great," she said. "By the way, I'm doing a project for social studies," she lied, hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt. She could never tell a lie without blushing. Not even a teensy white lie. "I was wondering if you'd answer a question for me."
"Sure," said Garrett.
Melanie nibbl
ed on her lower lip and then plunged on. "If you could name the one thing that would make you stop liking a girl, what would it be?"
Garrett looked at her quizzically for a moment. "Must be a new project this year," he said. "I don't remember anything like that last year."
"Oh, it's new all right," she assured him. "And really interesting. I'll tell you more about it later."
"Okay," he said, nodding. "Now back to the question. I guess the one thing that bothers me most is when a girl reneges on a promise. I really hate it when she says she'll do something and then she doesn't do it. I don't know why some girls are like that. Do you?"
"Gosh, no," said Melanie. "That's awful. I mean, when you make a promise, you should keep it. I can see why that would bother you."
Garrett nodded and then glanced around at the dwindling crowd in the hall. "Gotta go," he said, taking off at a run. "The bell's going to ring any second. Hey, but Mel," he called back over his shoulder. "I just remembered. I'm supposed to shoot some pictures of the drama club's rehearsal tomorrow after school. Meet me in the yearbook room right after the bell. Okay, assistant?"
"Sure," she called after him, almost choking on the word. Tomorrow after school? She watched him disappear into a classroom, wishing she could crawl into a hole in the wall and hide. She had really blown it now. What was she going to do? How could she tell him that she had to ride in her mother's teen taxi every day after school? After what he had just said to her, how could she possibly explain that she was going to renege on her promise?
CHAPTER 8
"We'll walk you out to the taxi," offered Christie. She and the rest of The Fabulous Five had gathered at Melanie's locker after school and were giving her sympathetic looks.
"Thanks, guys," Melanie said. "You're really good friends."
Katie chuckled and linked an arm through Melanie's. "Hey, we're The Fabulous Five," she said. "And we promise to talk to the guys at Bumpers and let you know what they say about turnoffs."
Melanie nodded gratefully. "Let's not hurry to the van," she said, ambling slowly down the hall toward the door. "I know my mom is probably already parked out front in the bus zone, but if I stall awhile, maybe most kids will already be gone when we get out there. The fewer people who see me get into the taxi with Brian Olsen, the better."