by Betsy Haynes
"Hi, Melanie. What's up? I thought you and Jana and Beth were going to practice cheers."
Melanie took a deep breath and looked at her two friends for courage. "There's something I have to ask you, and I want you to tell me the truth."
"Sure," said Christie. "You sound so mysterious. Is something wrong?"
Melanie ignored the question. "At the soap game, when Garrett asked you for my name and phone number, was it really me he wanted to know about?"
Christie didn't answer for a moment. When she finally did, her voice was almost a whisper. "Why?"
"Because a few minutes ago he called me again, and he was telling me how cute I am and how much he likes my long blond hair. Long blond hair, Christie. You and I both know who has long blond hair. Taffy Sinclair. And she was sitting next to me at the soap game."
"Oh, Melanie. I'm so sorry. I really did know that Garrett meant Taffy when he pointed up at the crowd and asked me who she was and what her phone number was. But I couldn't stand for Taffy to get him so I told him it was you. Besides, I knew you liked him, and I thought it was a perfect chance for you. You could flirt with him, and he could get to know you. It all happened so fast. I didn't have time to think about what might go wrong, and once I did think about it, it was too late. I'm really sorry. Honest, I am."
"Well, you ought to be!" Melanie blurted. "I don't know what I'm going to do now. I've told everybody about Garrett's phone calls and how I thought he liked me. And today I even told Taffy Sinclair that I was responsible for all the Mark Twain girls getting invitations to Laura's party. Oh, Christie, what's going to happen when she finds out the truth?"
"What are you going to do?" asked Beth after Melanie had hung up the phone.
Melanie didn't look at her friends for a moment. She was thinking the situation over. She couldn't just hand Garrett over to her old enemy. And of course, she wasn't boy crazy, but on the other hand, Garrett was gorgeous. And she did want him for herself. She put her hands on her hips and slowly faced Jana and Beth, determination shining in her eyes. "Well, I'll tell you one thing, Taffy Sinclair is definitely not going to get Garrett Boldt. Not in a million years! So what if this is a case of mistaken identity? It's not my fault. I'm just going to have to impress him with the real Melanie Edwards so that when he finds out the truth, he'll forget all about long blond hair, and Taffy Sinclair."
"Way to go, Edwards," said Beth. "Do you still want to practice cheers?"
"Of course I do," said Melanie. "If I'm a cheerleader, I'll have the perfect opportunity to flirt with Garrett at the games. Besides, I'll absolutely die if Taffy makes the squad and I don't."
"Don't forget Laura McCall and her friends," Jana reminded her. "They're trying out, too."
"There's only one problem," Melanie added slowly. "I've got to convince Garrett that it's me he likes before Laura's party Saturday night, because he's bound to find out who's who then."
For the next hour the girls practiced the routines on the sheets Miss Wolfe had given them at the cheerleader meeting on Monday, trying to get all the foot motions, finger snaps, claps, and jumps to fit the right syllables of the cheers.
"This is hard work," Jana complained later as they sat on the floor sipping iced tea and mopping their faces with towels.
"You're telling me," said Beth. "I haven't done splits in ages. The way my thigh muscles are complaining, I'll be lucky if I can walk much less make the squad."
"Oh, come on, Beth," said Melanie. "You're a natural. I was watching you while we were practicing. Jana and I were puffing and groaning, and you were actually smiling. You can't wait to get in front of a crowd. It's a cinch that you'll make the squad."
Beth smiled, obviously pleased with the compliment. "I wonder who will make it?" she mused. "I just can't see Taffy out there. She's so prissy. Can you imagine her jumping into the air and screaming 'GO WAKEMAN'?"
"Yeah," said Jana. "She might mess up her hair."
"I think she'll try pretty hard," said Melanie. "Being a cheerleader is awfully important at Wacko. It means instant popularity, especially with the boys. You don't think she'd miss a chance like that, do you?"
"No way," said Beth. "And neither would Laura. What do you bet that she and Tammy are practicing up a storm right this minute?"
Melanie scrambled to her feet. "We can't let her get ahead of us. Come on, guys. Let's PRACTICE."
"Oh, no," groaned Jana. "I don't think I can. I've had it. All I want to do is go home and take a long hot shower."
"Me, too," confessed Beth. "Besides, I'm starved."
After her friends left, Melanie kept on practicing. After a while she closed her eyes, imagining that she was standing on the sidelines in front of the crowd. The game was almost over, and the Wakeman Warriors were behind by one point. What the team needed was encouragement from the fans. Some spirit! As the players went into a huddle, she ran onto the field alone. She had to do something to save Wakeman from defeat.
"Got the spirit? Let's hear it! Give me a W!" she screamed, punching the air with a fist.
The crowd came to life. "W!" they responded.
"Give me an A!"
"A!" yelled the crowd. They were catching the fever now, and all eyes were on Melanie.
"Give me a K!"
The entire crowd was on its feet, screaming back at Melanie as she stood alone on the field, spelling out W-A-K-E-M-A-N W-A-R-R-I-O-R-S and punctuating the letters with incredible acrobatic feats.
The whistle sounded. Melanie trotted back to the sidelines as the teams took the field again. She held her breath. There were only seconds left in the game. The ball snapped. The Wakeman quarterback handed it off to Scott Daly. Scott paused for an instant, glancing over his shoulder at Melanie. Then with a burst of pure energy he stormed the opposing team's line, crashing through and heading straight down the middle of the field toward the end zone with the ball tucked under his arm. Touchdown! The whistle blew ending the game. Wakeman had won!
Melanie collapsed with relief as she watched Scott head for the sidelines. But he didn't stop once he reached the bench. He headed straight for her.
"Thanks to you, we won!" he shouted. He was glowing with pride as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "It was your cheer that did it. It fired us up just when our spirits were down."
The crowd thundered its agreement and began to chant:
"MELANIE EDWARDS!"
"MELANIE EDWARDS!"
Shane Arrington lifted her into the air and onto his shoulders as the team swarmed around her and joined the chant:
"MELANIE EDWARDS!"
"MELANIE EDWARDS!"
Suddenly Garrett Boldt rushed up and shouted, "Melanie Edwards! You're the one I really like!" Then he began snapping pictures like crazy, capturing it all on film for the yearbook.
Melanie sighed and opened her eyes, but she still saw the crowded football stadium instead of her own family room, and she could just barely hear her mother calling her to dinner over the cheers of the crowd. "I have to make the cheerleading squad," she whispered. "I just have to. It could end my boy troubles forever and make all my dreams come true."
CHAPTER 10
Melanie awoke the next morning filled with excitement. She couldn't explain why, but she had the feeling that today was going to be her lucky day. She rehearsed the seven tips for flirting as she raced to school fifteen minutes earlier than usual and stationed herself outside the front gate. Scott, Shane, and Garrett all entered the school ground from this direction, and she intended to make the most of it.
Leaning against the chain link fence, she opened her notebook and pretended to be concentrating on her notes. Actually, she didn't even know which subject her notebook was open to because she was trying to see everyone who came up the sidewalk without being obvious about it.
Garrett was the first to appear, sauntering along with his camera slung over his shoulder. It was going to be perfect, if she didn't lose her nerve.
Melanie waited until he was even with her, and then she
closed her notebook and casually fell into step beside him.
"Oh! Hi!" she said, smiling her very best smile and trying to sound as if she hadn't been aware of his presence until that very instant.
"Hi, back," he said, returning her smile.
At the sight of his dimple, Melanie felt her pulse quicken and her face flush. He was so cute that she almost couldn't stand it. There was no way that she was going to let Taffy Sinclair have him.
Quick, she ordered herself, say something else before he gets away. She tried to remember the tips for flirting that she had been rehearsing just moments before, but her mind was blank. Say anything, she thought. Just get some conversation started.
"I see you have your camera," she said brightly, and then felt instantly foolish. Of course he had his camera. He always had his camera. It had been a dumb thing to say. Maybe not as dumb as "I see your nose isn't running," she reasoned, or "I see you're wearing clothes today," but DUMB anyway.
Apparently it hadn't sounded dumb to Garrett because his dimple disappeared as his smile faded. Then he nodded and said, "Yep, I'm going to shoot some pictures at football practice after school. I need to work on getting action shots so that I won't goof up during a real game the way I did at the soap game."
"Oh," Melanie said, and chuckled sympathetically.
He smiled again, too, and called, "See you later," as they entered the gate and he turned to join a group of boys standing nearby.
Melanie wanted to hug herself with joy, but there wasn't time. Instead, she stopped, looked around to make sure no one was watching her, and then put herself into reverse, backing through the gate and into the same spot by the fence where she had waited for Garrett. It was still pretty early and not many kids had arrived yet, so she opened her notebook again and pretended to read.
Her heart had barely stopped fluttering from talking to Garrett when she spotted Scott heading for school. He looked terrific, and his eyes met hers as she peered at him over the top of her notebook.
"Oh! Hi!" she said, trying the same tactic of acting surprised that had worked on Garrett. Still, she felt more relaxed around Scott, and it seemed natural to walk beside him toward school.
"What are you doing here so early?" he teased. "I thought girls always got maximum mirror time in the morning."
Melanie smiled coyly. "Not me. I have more important things to do, like talk to you."
"Great, because I've been planning to talk to you, too. My father is driving me to Laura's party Saturday night. How about if we stop by and pick you up?"
"Super," said Melanie. An image popped into her mind of Laura's opening her door and seeing them standing there together. That ought to give her the message that she can't get away with trying to steal Scott! Melanie had a hard time keeping from laughing out loud. She knew she was grinning from ear to ear, but she didn't even care.
Scott left her at the gate, heading off to look for Randy Kirwan and Mark Peters, and Melanie whirled around and raced back toward her lookout spot, oblivious to everyone around her. For an instant she had caught a quick glimpse of the other members of The Fabulous Five in their regular corner. They had been trying to get her attention. Naturally they would be wondering what on earth she was doing, and she crossed her fingers that they would not come after her.
"Hey, Melody," a familiar voice called out. "Aren't you going the wrong direction? School's the other way."
Melanie skidded to a stop just in time to avoid barreling into Shane. Gasping, she fumbled for words. "Um . . . well . . . I think I dropped a quarter," she offered with a shrug. "Besides, it's Melanie, not Melody."
"Oops! Goofed again," he teased. "Okay, Melanie, let me help you look for your quarter. Now, where do you think you dropped it?"
She felt her face turning scarlet. She had said another dumb thing. There wasn't any quarter. He would think she was an idiot. Oh, well, she thought. I said it. I'll just have to keep on pretending.
"It could be anywhere along here," she said, ducking her head and looking down toward the ground so that he wouldn't see how badly she was blushing. "Or maybe I didn't drop it, after all. Maybe I left it at home." Melanie giggled nervously. She was supposed to be flirting, she reminded herself, not making up idiotic stories about nonexistent quarters.
"Oh, here it is," said Shane.
Melanie watched in amazement as he reached toward a bare place on the sidewalk, but when he pulled his hand away again, he was holding a quarter.
"How did you do that?" she asked incredulously.
"Do what? Find your lost quarter?"
There was such a gleam in his eye that Melanie couldn't help but burst out laughing as she took the coin and tucked it into her pocket, vowing not to spend it as long as she lived. Shane was laughing, too, and she felt a million times better than she had before.
"That reminds me," he said. "I'm bringing a bunch of terrific tapes to Laura's party. Do you like to dance?"
Melanie felt her eyes growing large. "I love to dance," she said in a whispery voice.
"All right!" said Shane, giving her a thumbs-up victory sign. "It'll be you and me and the tunes on Saturday night!"
Her heart was pounding a crazy beat as she raced to tell the news to her friends. She had been right about this being her lucky day, and what was even better, the day was just beginning.
CHAPTER 11
Melanie walked on air all day. Not only had Scott asked to give her a ride to Laura's party and Shane asked her to dance with him, but Garrett had said that he would be taking pictures at football practice after school. And that had given her a terrific idea.
"Let's go to the football stadium and practice cheers," she suggested when she met Jana and Beth at the lockers after school. "It will be just like cheering at a real game. Besides that, I'll bet nobody else has thought of it. Especially not Laura and Tammy or Taffy Sinclair. It will put us miles ahead of them."
"Isn't the team going to be practicing there?" asked Beth.
"Sure," said Melanie. "So what?"
Jana looked worried. "Do you mean the three of us . . . doing cheers in front of them?"
"What do you think you'll be doing if you make the squad?"' asked Melanie. "Besides, they won't be watching us. The coach will keep them too busy."
"Yeah, but I don't know . . ." said Beth, shaking her head.
"Think about this," Melanie insisted. "We'll know how it feels to do the jumps and cartwheels on grass instead of a gym floor. We'll have a better idea of how to position ourselves in front of the cheering section. We'll look experienced. Come on. Let's do it!"
As Jana and Beth reluctantly agreed, Melanie silently congratulated herself on a brilliant idea. It had come to her in a flash as she sat in English class replaying her conversation with Garrett for the millionth time. I'm going to shoot some pictures at football practice after school, he had said. Of course Shane and Scott would be there, too. It would be a perfect opportunity to flirt with all three of them again, and a perfect opportunity for them to see her at her best. Besides, she thought with a smile, this was her lucky day.
The gate was open when they arrived at the stadium, but in spite of all of her earlier confidence, Melanie felt suddenly uneasy. It was awfully quiet, and the stadium grounds seemed different without a crowd milling around and the smell of popcorn and hot dogs in the air.
"Are you sure this is okay?" asked Jana.
"I guess there's only one way to find out," she admitted. "Come on. Let's do it."
Melanie led the way as the three girls tiptoed around the end of the stands and along the edge of field. The football team was in the center going through warm-up calisthenics just as they always did before a game. Coach Bledsoe and his two assistants stood to one side holding clipboards and talking among themselves.
"I see Randy," said Jana. "He's in the seventh row, almost in the middle."
As Melanie scanned the rows of players doing jumping jacks, picking out Shane and Scott, Beth was pointing out Keith Masterson. Oh, no,
Melanie thought, Shane and Scott are standing next to each other! How was she going to flirt with one of them without the other one's seeing it? Just then, Shane looked her way and smiled. Melanie hesitated an instant to see that Scott wasn't looking and smiled back.
But where was Garrett? she wondered. He had definitely said he would be here. Without warning, the coach blew his whistle and barked orders to the team. Melanie jumped involuntarily, exchanging nervous glances with her friends.
"Let's put our books on the team bench where we won't trip over them and get started," she said.
"I'm not sure that this was such a great idea," said Jana.
"Why don't we start with a simple sideline cheer?" suggested Melanie, completely ignoring Jana's remark as nervous tingles danced on her scalp. "How about number three on the cheerleading sheet Miss Wolfe gave us?"
They lined up in front of the team bench with Beth on one end, Jana in the middle, and Melanie on the other end, placing their arms and feet in the proper positions for the cheer.
"Go, Warriors, go!"
"Fight, Warriors, fight!" they began, but Melanie and Jana were repeating the words barely above a whisper.
Beth threw up her arms in disgust and whirled to face her friends. "What's the matter with you two? We're supposed to be cheering, not singing a lullaby."
"I just feel self-conscious," said Jana. "Do you think Coach Bledsoe is looking at us?"
Melanie shot a quick look at the coach, who was turned so that his face was halfway toward them. Even though it had been her idea to practice at the football field, she was fighting her own nervousness. "I don't think so," she said. "Come on, let's get going before we completely lose our nerve."
The girls got back into formation and started the cheer again. This time all three of them yelled at the top of their lungs. The footwork and arm motions were in perfect sync, and they ended the cheer with a gigantic leap into the air.
Applause, punctuated with whistles, broke out behind them. "That was terrific!" Garrett Boldt was standing not ten feet away, camera slung casually over his shoulder, smiling enthusiastically. "You girls are good."