by Betsy Haynes
THE FABULOUS FIVE #2
THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING
BETSY HAYNES
A BANTAM SKYLARK BOOK®
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND
RL 5, 009-012
THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING
A Bantam Skylark Book / October 1988
Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1988 by Betsy Haynes.
Cover art copyright © 1988 by Ralph Amatrudi.
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ISBN 0-553-15633-0
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
S 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CHAPTER 1
"I am not boy crazy!" Melanie Edwards insisted. A hurt expression crossed her face as she sank back into the booth at Bumpers, the fast food restaurant that was the junior high hangout, and scanned her four best friends' faces for signs of sympathy.
"Hey, look," said Katie Shannon. "Here comes Scott Daly, and he's with Shane Arrington. What do you suppose they're talking about?"
Melanie's eyes brightened and she spun around, looking hopefully toward the front door where kids were streaming in for after-school sodas. Her shoulders slumped the instant she realized that Katie had only been teasing her, pretending that the two boys she had mad crushes on were coming into Bumpers together.
Katie was laughing, and so were Jana Morgan, Beth Barry, and Christie Winchell, the other members of The Fabulous Five. The five of them had been best friends for practically forever and had made a pact to stick together when they left Mark Twain Elementary for Wakeman Junior High, or Wacko Junior High, as most kids called it. Melanie laughed too, in spite of herself. She knew her friends loved to tease her about her interest in boys. But how could she help it? There were so many more cute guys in junior high than there had been in her old elementary school.
"Listen, you guys," she said. "I just happen to like boys, that's all. What's so unusual about that?"
Jana leaned toward Melanie, her smile fading. "Speaking of boys, have you heard any more about Laura McCall's party?"
Melanie frowned. Laura McCall was the leader of The Fantastic Foursome, a clique of seventh-grade girls who had gone to Riverfield Elementary School together before coming to Wakeman. They had already established themselves as major rivals of The Fabulous Five. According to what Melanie and her friends had heard, Laura lived with her divorced father and could do absolutely anything she wanted to. What was even worse, there was a rumor out that she was having a party, and had invited lots of kids from her old school and ALL the boys from The Fabulous Five's school but NONE OF THE GIRLS. Melanie and her friends were burned up about that. It was obvious to them that Laura and her friends were trying to steal their boyfriends.
"No," said Melanie, shaking her head. "All I know is that Lisa Snow found out from Mark Peters that Laura and The Fantastic Foursome are passing out invitations in red envelopes, and that every single seventh-grade boy from Mark Twain Elementary got one—including Scott Daly. And even worse, according to Mark, they're all planning to go!"
"What a dirty trick," said Christie.
"It just means that Laura's afraid of the competition," Katie said smugly.
"Yeah," agreed Beth. "She knows that if The Fabulous Five were there, she'd never stand a chance."
Melanie didn't answer. She was too worried. Everyone knew that Laura had a crush on Shane Arrington, the gorgeous guy from her old school, and that she had had parties before just so she could invite him. Shane could win a River Phoenix lookalike contest hands down, but there were other things about him that were special, too. He had parents who were hippies and a pet iguana named Igor. For Laura to go after Shane was bad enough, now that Melanie liked him, too, in addition to still liking her old boyfriend, Scott Daly. But for Laura to invite the Mark Twain boys to this party meant that she would have the perfect opportunity to go after both Shane and Scott at once without any interference from The Fabulous Five. The idea made Melanie's reddish-brown hair curl.
"I can't believe that Randy Kirwan will go," Jana said in a sad voice. "Not after all we've meant to each other."
Beth nodded. "Or Keith Masterson, either."
"Well, if Scott goes, Laura had better keep her hands off him," Melanie said indignantly.
"So, what are you going to do if she doesn't?" asked Katie.
"I don't know, but I'll think of something."
Just then Marcie Bee squeezed through the crowd around the counter and headed for their booth. "Hi, gang," she chirped. "Did you see who just came in?" She nodded in the direction of a tall, sandy-haired boy who was making his way among the tables and heading in the general direction of The Fabulous Five. "That's Garrett Boldt," said Marcie. "Isn't he cute!"
"He's not just cute," said Melanie. She grabbed the table for support as her eyes lit up. "He's absolutely gorgeous!"
Just then Marcie shouted, "Hey, Garrett!"
Melanie's eyes widened. How could Marcie make such an idiot of herself? Melanie thought for an instant that she would die if she couldn't crawl away somewhere and hide. Maybe she could slip under the table before it was too late.
Garrett stopped and looked slowly in the direction of the booth where Marcie had slid in next to The Fabulous Five. Then a smile broke across his face. It wasn't an ordinary smile, though, Melanie thought. In fact, it was such an extraordinary smile that her heart began to pound like crazy. His blue eyes sparkled and his mouth tilted higher on the left side than the right, emphasizing a deep dimple in his left cheek that appeared the instant he smiled.
"Hi, Marcie. How's it going?" he called back in a husky voice. Then, before Melanie had time to recover from the sight of his great smile and the sound of his romantic voice, he started toward the booth.
"Garrett's an eighth-grader and he's in my French class," Marcie whispered, trying to say the words without moving her lips so that Garrett wouldn't know she was talking about him. "He borrowed a pencil from me—twice." Beaming with pride and looking straight at him, she said out loud, "Wow! That's a neat camera."
For the first time Melanie pulled her eyes away from his face and noticed the camera hanging from a wide strap on his shoulder. It looked a lot like her father's expensive 35 mm.
"You probably won't see much of me without this baby," Garrett said, patting the camera. "I'm the sports photographer for the yearbook this year, and my job is to get pictures of all the jocks—in and out of the games."
Even though Garrett was answering Marcie's question, he was smiling and glancing around at all of the girls sitting in the booth as if each one of them was part of the conversation. "That reminds me, the soap game is Saturday afternoon. You girls are going, aren't you?"
Melanie felt limp. From the way he had asked, he made it sound as if he really wanted all of them at the game.
"What in the wo
rld is a soap game?" asked Katie, and Melanie realized that she had never heard of it either. "Is there some kind of new sport called soap?"
Garrett chuckled and then turned his gorgeous blue eyes on Katie. "It's a Wakeman tradition, and it's the first football game of the year except it doesn't count as part of the season. Actually, it's a preseason scrimmage between the first- and second-string players, and the price of admission is a bar of soap."
"A bar of soap!" shrieked Beth. "You've got to be kidding."
Garrett shook his head. "Honest," he said, and then raised his right hand as if he were swearing an oath. "The soap collected at the gate will be enough for the team's showers for the entire season. It's a terrific idea. So, are you going?"
"Of course we're going," said Melanie. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."
Garrett gave the girls a friendly wave as he turned and moved among the booths and tables, stopping here and there to speak to friends. Marcie drifted to another table, too, and for a moment The Fabulous Five just sat there, watching him walk away without uttering a word. They couldn't. They were speechless.
"Wow!" said Melanie after a minute. "Did you hear that? He wants us to go to the game."
Katie frowned at Melanie. "But why did you tell him we were going? We haven't even talked about it yet."
"Are you kidding?" said Melanie. "I'd kill to get to that game! I'd walk barefoot over burning coals! I'd dig my way through an avalanche! I'd bring a case of soap! I'd—"
"We get it! We get it!" shouted Christie. Then in a softer voice she added, "But I'll have to admit, it would take a lot to keep me away."
"Me, too," admitted Beth.
Katie was shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't know about you, Melanie," she said. "First it was Shane Arrington, and now it's Garrett Boldt. What about Scott Daly? In sixth grade, he was all you ever talked about. You haven't totally forgotten about him already, have you?"
"Of course not," Melanie insisted, but deep inside, underneath her excitement at going to the soap game on Saturday and seeing Garrett Boldt again, was a tiny stab of guilt over Scott.
CHAPTER 2
Melanie was ecstatic. Everyone was going to the soap game. From the moment it was first announced the next day during homeroom, right up until time to go to the stadium on Saturday afternoon, the game was the hot topic of conversation at school.
"I'm so nervous," Melanie confessed the minute she and the rest of The Fabulous Five met on the corner two blocks from the stadium to walk together to the game. "Scott and Shane are both on the team, and Garrett will be there taking pictures."
"I'm nervous, too," said Jana. "Randy is going to be playing, and I keep remembering the game last year when he got hurt."
"It was only a bloody nose," said Christie.
"I know," said Jana, "but it makes me nervous, anyway. Besides that, I want to look over the varsity cheerleaders. Seventh-graders get to try out next week for the junior varsity squad. I've got my fingers crossed that they won't have a lot of acrobatics in their routines. Otherwise, I'm doomed."
"Look," said Katie as they approached the entrance to the stadium. "Over there." Her voice had an ominous sound to it, and they looked quickly in the direction she was pointing.
"The Fantastic Foursome," muttered Christie. "Wouldn't you know they'd be here."
Melanie gave them a suspicious glance, but if Laura McCall and her three best friends noticed The Fabulous Five, they didn't let on. They were standing near the gate talking among themselves. Laura was obviously in control. She was taller than the rest and wore her hair in a long blond braid that fell from the top of her head to her waist. Standing in a semicircle around her were tiny, dark-haired Tammy Lucero, Melissa McConnell, who looked very serious, and bouncy, smily Funny Hawthorne.
"I'll bet Laura is gMng them instructions," said Beth.
"I wonder what she makes them do to stay in her group," said Melanie. There was a big rumor around school that Laura gave her followers orders and that they obeyed them or else they were out, but so far nobody could find out what those orders were.
"She's probably telling them to scout the soap game for more cute boys to ask to her party," Katie said sarcastically.
"Oh, no!" cried Melanie. "What if she asks Garrett, too? Then she'll have Scott and Shane and Garrett—all three—in her clutches. I'll absolutely die!"
"Come on," urged Jana. "Let's go on in and find a seat before it gets too crowded."
The girls handed bars of soap to the ticket takers, who dropped them into large cardboard boxes. Then they entered the crowded stadium grounds.
"Want to go to the refreshment stand before we sit down?" shouted Melanie over the noise of the crowd. "I'm starved."
"No way!" said Beth. "Look at the stands. They're packed. If we don't find a seat right now, we may have to stand up through the whole game."
"Do you see anybody we know?" asked Jana, scanning the bleachers.
"That looks like Alexis Duvall and Lisa Snow and Kim Baxter over there," said Christie. She was pointing to the far section of the bleachers where most of the parents sat.
"Look this way," shouted Melanie. "Marcie Bee is over here with Gloria Drexler, and there are some empty seats behind them. If we hurry, we can get them."
Marcie and Gloria were sitting in the middle of the cheering section directly behind the team bench, and they saw The Fabulous Five, too, and began waving. It wasn't until they were already racing up the steps toward the empty seats that Melanie realized they weren't the only ones heading toward them. Climbing the steps on the opposite side of the section was The Fabulous Five's old enemy, Taffy Sinclair, followed by Stacy Holgrem and Sara Sawyer. Taffy was moving fast, and even though she was acting prissy and taking dainty little steps, Melanie could see that she was going to get there ahead of them.
"Come on, Edwards. Go for it!" urged Beth.
Melanie nodded and started taking the steps two at a time. When she and Taffy both reached the row, Melanie went crashing in from her side, crunching the toes of the people already seated and practically falling into the first empty space. Then she scooted toward the center, determined either to beat Taffy or squeeze her out.
"Oh, no, you don't, Melanie Edwards!" Taffy shouted. She made an unladylike dive for the space next to Melanie and came up with her nose practically touching Melanie's.
"I got here first," Melanie growled. "Go find someplace else to sit."
"Make me!" Taffy challenged. "Come on, kids," she said, motioning to Stacy and Sara. "These are our seats."
At the same time, Melanie motioned to her friends, who were stomping into the row and crowding themselves into the remaining space beside her. Beth wiggled in and Christie pressed herself in beside them. On the other side of Taffy, Stacy and Sara were struggling to wedge themselves into a space hardly big enough for one.
"Shove Taffy over," ordered Katie as she tried to cram herself into the shrinking space. "We need more room."
Glaring at Taffy, Melanie planted her bottom firmly on the hard bench of the bleachers and tried to inch her over. Taffy had planted her bottom on the bench, also, and was trying to do the same thing to Melanie while she gave her a terrible poison-dart look.
"I said move, and I meant it," snarled Melanie. "These seats belong to us. We got here first."
"It's a free country," Taffy said in a voice loud enough to be heard all around them. "We can sit here if we want to. Besides," she said, "isn't that Scott Daly over on the sidelines motioning to you?"
"What!" Melanie shrieked, jumping to her feet. The instant Melanie was off the bench, Taffy scooted over into her place.
"Oh, no, you don't," Melanie muttered when she realized she had been tricked. Then she sat down again as hard as she could, practically squashing Taffy. Melanie stared her straight in the eye as she shouldered into her space again. It took ages to wiggle her way back down to the bench, but she did it without pulling her eyes away from Taffy's for an instant.
Suddenly the h
orn bleated, signaling the start of the game and startling Melanie so much that she jumped as if she had hiccups. Had the cheerleaders already been out on the field? She had wanted to watch them since she planned to try out for the junior varsity squad, too.
The crowd roared as the center snapped the ball, and the two facing teams plowed headlong into each other. Melanie couldn't believe that both teams had gone through their warm-up calisthenics and the game had already started, and she was just now paying attention. She scanned the players on the field to see if she could spot either Scott or Shane. She found them immediately in their uniforms of red and gold, which were the Wakeman school colors. Scott was number 27 and Shane was number 31, and they were both on the second-string team, which was made up mostly of seventh-graders.
Suddenly movement on the sidelines directly below caught Melanie's attention. Her heart almost stopped. It was Garrett Boldt. He had turned to face the crowd, and there was a smile on his gorgeous face. Best of all, he had his camera in one hand, and with the other he was waving like crazy straight in her direction.
Melanie took a deep breath, smiling her most alluring smile and returning his wave. But suddenly she was aware of something going on beside her. Turning toward Taffy, Melanie saw that her old enemy was smiling so big that she could see her one crooked bicuspid, and that Taffy was waving at Garrett, too.
Self-consciously Melanie lowered her hand. How could she have ever thought that Garrett was waving to her? she wondered. Not with Taffy Sinclair around. Taffy not only had long blond hair and big blue eyes, but she had been the most gorgeous girl in Mark Twain Elementary. There weren't very many girls in Wakeman who were even close to being as pretty as she was.
But on the other hand, she reminded herself, Garrett had stopped by the booth at Bumpers where she had been sitting with the rest of The Fabulous Five, and he had smiled and acted as if he really wanted all of them, including her, to come to the soap game. But had he actually been flirting as she had hoped, or did he simply have a great personality and was friendly to everyone?