by Betsy Haynes
"I'm okay," said Grandma Dee, waving a hand as if to dismiss it all as a lot of nonsense. "I just twisted my ankle, that's all. Thank goodness I didn't break my sunglasses." She pulled off the ski cap to reveal her sunglasses with the earpieces firmly stuck in her hair. "It's been a while since I've been on ice skates, you know. In Florida we don't do much ice skating."
Mr. Edwards shook his head as he knelt beside his mother and began examining her ankle while Melanie's mother got ice and a towel. After a moment her father pulled a footstool under Grandma Dee's ankle, sighed, and said, "Well, it just seems to be sprained. We can be thankful for that."
"But you'll have to keep ice on it and keep it elevated for a while," warned Mrs. Edwards.
Melanie felt a flood of relief. "Here, Grandma Dee. I'll fix the ice pack for you," she said, rushing to her grandmother's side. "Don't worry. You'll be up and around in no time."
"You bet I will," Grandma Dee said with determination. Giving Melanie a big wink, she added, "You don't think I'm going to let a little thing like a sprained ankle keep me away from the Valentine party, do you?"
CHAPTER 15
Melanie avoided both Scott and Shane at school the next day. It wasn't easy. She got to school just as the first bell was ringing so that she wouldn't have to talk to either of them on the school ground. She turned about-face in the halls three times to avoid bumping into Scott twice and Shane once. She ducked into an eighth-grade social studies classroom between second and third periods when she saw Scott just ahead at the drinking fountain. By lunchtime, when she met her friends in the cafeteria, she was frazzled.
"Melanie, you jerk, you're going to lose both of them if you don't fix things—and fix them fast," chided Katie. She was smiling, but Melanie knew from the look in her eyes that she wasn't joking.
Melanie sighed with exasperation. "Okay," she said, "if you're so smart, tell me what to say to Scott." She dug into her backpack and pulled out a pencil and a scrap of paper and posed as if she were ready to write. "Go ahead," she urged. "I'm ready."
"Get real, Mel. You have to say it in your own words," said Katie.
"She's right, you know," said Christie, and the others nodded.
Melanie knew Katie was right. But couldn't they understand how she felt about hurting Scott? There was no use talking to them about it anymore. She would just have to do it her own way.
When she got home after school, she found Grandma Dee on the family room sofa, with her foot propped up on the footstool again. Crossword puzzles and magazines were scattered around her, and the television was tuned to a game show, but it was obvious to Melanie that her grandmother was bored out of her mind. The least I can do is keep her company for a while, she thought.
"Hi, Grandma Dee," Melanie called out as she dumped her books and hung up her coat. "I'll come in and have my after-school snack with you. Do you want some, too?"
"You bet!" said Grandma Dee, beaming at Melanie. "Doing nothing has given me a terrific appetite."
Melanie giggled. Grandma Dee was really something. She hurried to the kitchen and poured two glasses of milk and dug two chocolate brownies out of the cookie jar. She put each brownie on a paper napkin and carried all of it into the family room.
"Here you are, Grandma. Chow down."
After they finished their snacks, Melanie inquired about her grandmother's day. It had been exactly as Melanie suspected. Bor-RING!
"I've had lots of time to think about things, though," Grandma Dee admitted, "and I started wondering if you have a date for the Valentine party. Have you talked to that nice Scott Daly yet?"
Melanie cringed. That was a question she didn't want to answer. Maybe if she just tried to blow it off, her grandmother would be satisfied and let the subject go.
"Yeah, I've talked to Scott," she admitted, casually picking up brownie crumbs from her lap and dropping them into her napkin. "And to another boy, too. I haven't decided whom I'm going with yet."
"Do you mean that you'd actually consider going with someone other than Scott?" Grandma Dee asked crisply. She leaned forward and looked straight into Melanie's eyes as if the idea were simply too bizarre to comprehend.
"Grandma, there are a lot of nice boys out there," insisted Melanie. "Scott's just the only one you've really met so far."
"Well, I've met the boy with the lizard," grumped Grandma Dee.
Melanie looked up at the ceiling, praying silently for patience. "That's Shane Arrington, Grandma Dee, and he's a very nice boy. In fact, he just might be the nicest boy in Wakeman Junior High."
Grandma Dee didn't reply. She simply folded her arms across her chest and sat back against the sofa.
Melanie saw her opportunity and went on talking about Shane, almost tripping over her words in her hurry to convince her grandmother of Shane's worth.
"I know Mom and Dad told you that his parents used to be hippies, and you probably think he's some kind of weirdo since he has a pet iguana, but he's not. And he's not like his parents, either. Not that there's anything wrong with them. He's just himself, that's all. And he's friendly, and nice, and cute, and . . ."
She could see that she was getting nowhere with her grandmother. Frustration bubbled up inside her. Why did Grandma Dee have to dislike Shane? Why couldn't she mind her own business and stay out of things like a normal grandmother? Her mother's words echoed in her mind. Remember, dear, she doesn't mean any harm. She just wants to be involved.
Well, she is causing harm, Melanie thought stubbornly, terrible harm to my social life. Why doesn't she get involved with Jeffy? But then she remembered that her mother had also said that Grandma Dee's children had all been boys and that Melanie was her first granddaughter.
Melanie bit her lower lip and thought that over. Okay, she decided. So she wants to be involved. It's up to me to think of some other part of my life for her to be involved in so that she'll leave my love life alone. She needs something else to think about besides Scott and Shane.
"Grandma Dee," she said slowly as an idea started to form. "You were pretty good in school, weren't you?"
"Oh, my, yes," said her grandmother, brightening up again. "Why, I made all A's."
"Terrific," said Melanie. "Could you do me a favor and help me with some math problems?"
Grandma Dee looked startled. "Well," she began, "I suppose these days they do math a lot differently than we did in my day."
"Oh, it's just simple algebra," Melanie assured her. "The same old stuff. It's just that with all the excitement around here last night, I didn't get much studying done. Now I have homework and a test to study for tonight, and I can't do both. It would really help a lot if I could leave my problems down here with you. It wouldn't be cheating, since I know how to do them. I just don't have time."
Grandma Dee shrugged. "I guess I could try. If it would help."
"Oh, it would save my life," said Melanie as dramatically as she could. "You don't know how much it would mean to me."
"It's settled then. I'll do it," said Grandma Dee. Melanie pulled out an old problem sheet from her notebook and handed it to her grandmother with a couple of pencils, and some paper. She'd done this assignment weeks ago, but Grandma Dee didn't have to know that. It would keep her busy and feeling involved.
"Thanks a million, Grandma Dee," said Melanie. "After supper, I'll study for my test, and you can do homework."
As soon as the supper dishes were cleared, Melanie excused herself to study. She headed upstairs, and Grandma Dee waved the problem sheet at Melanie and then gave her a victory sign.
Melanie was feeling a lot better about Grandma Dee as she closed the door to her room. All it had taken was a little thought. If only my other problem could be handled so easily, she thought.
With a sigh she opened her notebook to the math section and tried to study her notes. She had heard that the math test was going to be a killer, so she had no choice but to study. She shuffled through the pages. Something was missing. The classwork they had done today.
&n
bsp; Uh-oh, she thought. It must have been mixed in with the stuff I gave Grandma Dee. At this rate, I'll never get ready for the test, she thought in exasperation as she jumped up from her desk and went racing down the stairs.
Melanie started to enter the family room and then stopped at the door. Blinking, she stared at her grandmother, trying to understand. Grandma Dee was bent over the problem sheet, working the math homework in the light from the table lamp, all right, just as Melanie had expected. But it was her sunglasses that caught Melanie's attention. They weren't stuck on the top of her head anymore. Grandma Dee was using them to read!
CHAPTER 16
"Whoops!" Grandma Dee chirped, whipping off her sunglasses when she looked up and saw Melanie standing in the doorway. Then she sighed, smiling slightly, and put them on again. "Caught me, didn't you?" she asked sheepishly. "Here I was, trying to make you think your grandmother didn't even need glasses, when actually I'm as blind as a bat."
Melanie didn't quite know what to say. Her grandmother had obviously been wearing those sunglasses on top of her head when people were around and then sneaking them on to read when she was alone.
"Gosh, Grandma Dee," she began. "It's okay. I mean . . . You didn't have to worry about a thing like that. You're the only grandmother I know who goes parasailing, and scuba diving, and ice skating."
There was a moment of silence, and Grandma Dee looked down at her hands.
Melanie swallowed hard. "I guess you don't do those things, either, huh?" she asked in a small voice.
Grandma Dee shook her head. "I haven't been ice skating in years. That's why I fell down. Somehow I thought ice skating was like riding a bike: Once you learned how, you never forgot. But I was wrong. Couldn't stand up on the blasted things anymore. And as for those other things . . ." Her voice trailed off, and tears rimmed her eyes.
For the first time, Melanie noticed little wrinkles around her grandmother's eyes, and her heart filled with sympathy as she suddenly understood. It was no wonder she had been confused by the way Grandma Dee acted so with it sometimes and so old-fashioned other times. She had been faking it, pretending to be daring and adventurous all along.
"But why . . . ?" Melanie started to ask.
Grandma Dee cut in. "You'll think I'm just an old fool, but I love you so much, and I wanted you to love me just as much. I've seen so many children act as if visiting with their grandparents were a chore. So it seemed to me that if you thought I was really 'cool and with it,' as you've said, that you'd include me in your life, and we could have special times together. I wanted you to believe that your grandmother could do anything you could do. I guess I acted pretty silly, didn't I?"
Melanie went to her grandmother, dropping to her knees beside the sofa and taking Grandma Dee's hands in her own.
"I want you to know that you're the most wonderful grandmother in the world," she said firmly. "You don't have to do all those other things for me to love you or want to be with you. Honest."
Grandma Dee pulled a hand away and stroked Melanie's hair. "But I didn't want you to think of me as just a grumpy old fogey," she said earnestly. "I wanted for us to have fun together and for your friends to like me, too."
"We can have fun together, and my friends do like you," Melanie insisted. Then she added with a laugh, "You don't really have to entertain them with stories about your big adventures. I'll bet you do a lot of things that are interesting."
Grandma Dee was thoughtful for a moment. "I guess I could tell them about the two groups I work with who are trying to help endangered wildlife along the Florida Gulf coast. I man a watchpost on the water, looking for manatees, those big sea cows that look something like walruses. I watch for ones that have been injured by pleasure boats and then alert the proper authorities, who come to the manatees' aid. And I help newly hatched baby sea turtles make it from the beach to the water before the birds can swoop down and eat them. But I was afraid that would sound boring to someone your age. There certainly isn't much action involved."
"Gosh, Grandma Dee," Melanie said with a laugh. "Those are big adventures, especially if you're a manatee or a baby turtle. My friends would think so, too."
"Do you really think so?" her grandmother asked.
"I know so," Melanie said confidently. "They'll think you're a hero. I love you, Grandma Dee," she said, scrambling up onto the sofa and giving her grandmother a big hug.
"I love you, too, sweetheart," Grandma Dee said.
Melanie and her grandmother talked for a few more minutes about manatees and turtles and Grandma Dee's enormous collection of seashells. Finally Melanie went back to her room. She was glad that tonight had happened. She understood a lot of things about her grandmother that she hadn't known before. So many things that her heart was bursting with love.
A little while later she heard the doorbell. She frowned and glanced at the clock beside her bed. It was a little after eight. Her parents hadn't mentioned expecting any company tonight. But that didn't mean that someone couldn't drop by.
She went back to studying for her test, but her thoughts kept returning to Scott and Shane. She would have to talk to Scott tomorrow. There was no way she could put it off any longer. Sometime between now and the morning she would have to figure out what to say.
Melanie was so deep in thought that she was startled when a soft knock sounded at her door a moment later.
"Melanie," her mother called. "Shane's here to see you."
"Shane? Here?" she asked, opening the door for her mother. "I wonder what he wants."
"I don't know, honey. Shall I send him up? Your grandmother is in the family room."
"Sure," said Melanie as her heart began to pound. Why had Shane come over? Was something wrong?
A look at his expression when he entered her room was all it took to convince her that something was indeed wrong.
"Hi," he said. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
A chill passed through her. "Sure," she murmured, and motioned for him to sit down on the floor. She perched nervously on the edge of her bed.
He traced a pattern in the carpet with the toe of his sneaker, and Melanie thought she would explode. What did you come over to talk to me about? she wanted to shout.
Sighing deeply, Shane looked at her. "I came over to tell you that I'll understand if you want to break our date for the Valentine party."
Melanie's eyes grew large. "What made you think I'd want to do a thing like that?"
"I heard a rumor," he said softly.
"A rumor?" Melanie echoed.
"Right," said Shane. "A rumor that you'd rather go with Scott but you've already said you'd go with me."
Melanie's heart almost stopped. "No!" she whispered in horror. "I don't want to break our date! Who told you a thing like that?" As soon as the question was out, she was sorry she asked. There was only one place a rumor like that could have started.
"Some of the guys were talking after school," replied Shane.
"Scott didn't tell you that, did he?" she asked cautiously.
"No," said Shane. "In fact, I don't think he actually said it. He just sort of hinted around about it to Bill Soliday. But why would he even do that if it isn't true?"
Shane was looking at her, waiting for an answer. Melanie tried to keep her expression from giving away how awful she felt inside, but it seemed as though her face were just a mask that could crumble any second and give her away. There was only one thing to say, only one thing that would make any sense to Shane.
"I'd better start at the beginning," she said. For the next few minutes she told him all the things that had happened and how hard she had tried to keep from hurting Scott.
"So, you see," she finished, "I couldn't just look him in the eye and say, 'I like Shane now, and I'm going to the party with him.'"
"Why not?" Shane asked matter-of-factly.
Melanie let her breath out in exasperation. "Haven't you heard anything I've said? I just explained all that. It would have hurt him."
"I really do understand," Shane said. "I understand that you're the kind of person who wouldn't hurt a fly. That's part of the reason I like you. But don't you see now how much more trouble you can get into by trying too hard not to hurt somebody?"
Melanie nodded slowly. This week had sure taught her that. Shane had been hurt when he'd heard the rumor, and now she would have to hurt Scott anyway when she told him the truth.
"I think you can be honest and still be nice," said Shane. "You may not believe this, but most guys appreciate knowing where they really stand. Just look at how I felt when I heard you wanted to go to the party with Scott. If I were in Scott's shoes, I'd want you to be honest with me."
"You would?" she said incredulously. "Even if it hurt your feelings?"
"Yup," said Shane, nodding. Then he grinned and added, "I'd want you to tell me anytime you decided you like someone else better than me. Especially if it was Igor who beat me out. I'd pound that little rascal."
They both laughed at that.
"Okay," said Melanie. "I'll talk to Scott in the morning before school."
"Good," said Shane. "You'll feel a lot better. Well, I guess I'd better go."
"Okay. And Shane," Melanie said softly, "you really are the one I want to go to the party with."
He gave her a lopsided grin and then kissed her gently on the cheek.
After he left, she floated around the room on a cloud of daydreams. Shane really was the boy she liked best, she thought, touching the spot on her cheek where he had kissed her. She would follow his suggestion and be honest with Scott. She wouldn't try to plan what she would say. She would just let it come naturally, and she knew deep down that that was the right thing to do.
CHAPTER 17
The next morning she was waiting outside the gate at school when Scott came by.
"Hi, Scott," she called. "Can I see you a minute?"