Fabulous Five 002 - The Trouble with Flirting (4 page)

Four phone calls later, Melanie felt a little bit better—but
only a little bit. She had talked to each of the other members of The Fabulous
Five and told them about her conversation with Garrett and his promise to talk
Laura McCall into inviting them to her party.

"Fantastic!" Jana had said. "With me there,
Laura wouldn't dare try to steal Randy."

Beth had reacted pretty much the same way. "Terrific,
Edwards!" she had shouted into the phone, practically breaking Melanie's
eardrum. "She won't be able to get her clutches on Keith now."

Christie's reaction had been quieter, but enthusiastic just
the same. "Gee, imagine
us
at one of Laura McCall's famous parties."

Even Katie had been mildly excited about going. "It
will be interesting to see what Laura does at her own party." Then, after
pausing for a moment, she added, "But what are you going to do, Melanie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," said Katie. "All three of the boys
you like are going to be there."

"Oh, my gosh," Melanie mumbled just before she
hung up. "I hadn't thought about that."

Now, back in her room with her French book propped open in
front of her, she was certainly thinking about it. Hard. Seventh grade had
started out like one of the fairy tales that she had always loved. Cinderella
trying on the glass slipper and going to the ball with the handsome prince.
Sleeping Beauty being awakened to a world of love by the prince of her dreams. Melanie
Edwards adored by three handsome boys. Well, at least Scott adored her, and
Shane and Garrett were coming around.

But now the wicked witch was trying to spoil everything by giving
a party and inviting all three of them. She will probably invite me, too,
Melanie thought, so that I can watch while she casts her spell on all of them.

Slamming her French book shut, Melanie jumped to her feet
and paced her room. Maybe I shouldn't go, she thought. But that was out of the question.
Of course she would go. She couldn't miss a thing such as that.

Melanie was nervous the next morning when she and her
friends headed for their lockers. "What if Garrett wasn't able to convince
Laura to invite us to her party?" she moaned. "Laura would feel so
superior if she thought we wanted to go and all she had to do was say no. I'd
die of embarrassment."

"Look! On my locker!" Beth cried.

Melanie blinked in disbelief as all five girls stopped and
stared at Beth's locker, logjamming traffic in the hallway behind them for a
moment. Stuck in the U-shaped shank of Beth's combination lock was a small red
envelope—the same kind of envelope in which the boys had received invitations
to Laura's party a few days before.

"Oh, my gosh," whispered Melanie. "He did it!"

As Beth grabbed the red envelope and tore it open, the other
four girls raced to their own lockers. Melanie exhaled, releasing breath she
didn't know she had been holding, and pulled the red envelope out of her lock,
staring at it as if it might bite. Her hands were shaking so badly that she had
trouble tearing it open, but there it was. Her own handwritten invitation to
Laura McCall's party.

You're Invited to a
Party

Where: 7034 Woodstock
Drive, Apt #7
When: Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Given by: Laura McCall

That was it. No bright little note in the corner saying "Hope
you can come!" No happy face drawn beside Laura's name. Not the kind of
invitation kids usually sent. It was almost creepy. Melanie jammed it into her
pocket and got her books.

She was deep in thought and heading for her homeroom when
Taffy Sinclair and Sara Sawyer came strutting up beside her. They were giggling
together as if they knew a big secret.

"You'll never guess what I found when I went to my
locker this morning," Taffy purred. She had a catlike grin on her face, as
if she couldn't be more satisfied with herself.

"Don't tell me. Let me guess," Melanie grumbled. "A
red envelope."

Taffy gasped. "How did you know?"

"Because I got one, too. In fact, it's because of me
that you were even invited to Laura's party."

"I don't believe that!" Taffy huffed, and then
exchanged knowing glances with Sara.

"Well, it's true. Garrett Boldt called me last night
and asked if I was going to Laura's party. I said no. I told him that she hadn't
invited any girls from Mark Twain, and he said he would talk to Laura because
he wanted me to be there. Then," said Melanie, glaring at Taffy through
narrowed eyes, "I said that I thought every girl from Mark Twain should be
invited if I was. So there!"

Taffy raised her nose into the air, and Sara and she wheeled
away. She couldn't have looked more surprised if I had said that school had
just been canceled for the year, thought Melanie. She let a tiny giggle escape
to keep a gigantic laugh from bursting out. It felt good to outdo Taffy
Sinclair for a change.

For the rest of the morning whenever she saw any of the
girls from Mark Twain, she told her story again, basking in their gratitude and
enjoying the flickers of jealousy appearing on their faces at the mention of
gorgeous Garrett Boldt.

Then, as she was changing classes between second and third
periods, she saw Garrett. He had turned into the hall just ahead of her, and he
was coming her way. Oh, my gosh! she thought as her free hand automatically
brushed her hair. I wonder if I look okay.

He was walking along and staring straight ahead as if his
mind were a million miles away.

"Hi, Garrett," she said shyly.

He stopped and glanced at her, but two or three seconds
passed before recognition registered in his eyes. "Oh, hi," he said. "How's
it going?"

"Great," said Melanie. She was surprised that he
didn't seem particularly glad to see her. Maybe he gets shy around girls he
likes, she reasoned. Aloud she said, "I found my invitation to Laura's
party when I went to my locker before classes."

"Yeah? Well, it's going to be a great party. See you
around." He gave her a casual wave and moved on down the hall. Boys! she
thought, and shrugged helplessly. There was no way to understand them.

If Melanie had thought for one moment that Laura would
invite The Fabulous Five to her party and let it go at that, she found out at
lunchtime that she had been very much mistaken. She pushed the door open and
went into the girls' room ahead of her friends and came face-to-face with Laura
McCall and the rest of The Fantastic Foursome. They were all facing the door
when Melanie walked in except Melissa McConnell, who was looking in the mirror
and meticulously applying lip gloss with a tiny pink brush.

"Did you find the invitations to my party?" Laura
asked.

There was a haughty sound in her voice that made Melanie
feel as if she had been invited to an execution. "Yes, we did. Thanks."

"Well . . . are you coming or not?"

"We haven't decided yet," piped up Katie.

Melanie dug an elbow into Katie's ribs. "What Katie
means is, we haven't had time to talk about it yet or check with our parents.
We'll let you know as soon as we do."

"Gosh, I hope you guys come," said Funny. She and
Jana had become friends during the first week of school, and now she was
grinning at each of them. "Laura's parties are always super."

"'Super' isn't even the word for it," said Tammy. "They're
fantastic! Ask anybody who's ever been to one."

"That's right," said Laura. She narrowed her eyes
and smirked at them. "You'll be impressed right out of your socks. Ask
anybody
.
"

"We'll probably be there," Jana said quickly, and
Melanie noticed that she was speaking mostly to Funny. "But we have to
check it out at home first."

After The Fantastic Foursome left, Melanie and her friends
clustered near the mirrors.

"The nerve of that girl!" said Melanie as she ran
a brush through her reddish-brown hair.

"She really has us where she wants us, too," said
Beth. "She knows we'd rather die than miss the party. Can you imagine how
she's going to show off in front of us? I could throw up already just thinking
about it."

"She's such a witch," said Jana. "I don't
know why the others stay friends with her."

"Obviously they think it's a big deal to be known as
her friends," said Katie. "Maybe we'll understand it better after we've
been to her party and seen her in action."

"Action!" scoffed Melanie. "You know what
that's going to be, don't you? She's going to steal our boyfriends right in
front of our eyes."

Melanie was still fuming about Laura McCall as she stomped
up the hall toward her first afternoon class. Rounding a corner, she almost
smacked into Scott.

"Whoa!" he said, laughing and holding up his arms
in mock surrender. "Where are you going so fast?"

Melanie grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to
mow you down. I guess I was concentrating on something so hard that I forgot to
look where I was going."

"I know," he said confidently. "You were
thinking about cheerleading tryouts. Hey, I just heard the good news."

"What good news?" asked Melanie, wondering if Miss
Wolfe had already made a decision on the squad without her knowing about it.

"You're invited to Laura's party. That's terrific."
Then leaning closer to her, he said confidentially, "I hear that her
parties are terrific. I'm really glad you're going to be there."

Giving him her biggest smile, she said, "I wouldn't
miss it for the world."

Melanie couldn't help feeling pleased as she moved on to
class. First Garrett had gotten her the invitation, and now Scott was glad she
was going. Two out of three wasn't bad, she told herself. Saturday night could
turn out to be one of the most exciting nights of her life.

"Hi, Melody," someone called out behind her.
Whirling around, she saw Shane Arrington hurrying to catch up with her.

"It's
Melanie,
" she said, pretending to be
hurt that he had gotten her name wrong again.

Shane snapped his fingers. "That's right!" he
said. "Melanie. How could I forget?"

She could tell he was teasing, and it made her tingle with
excitement.

"So, I hear all the Mark Twain girls found little red
envelopes on their lockers this morning."

Melanie nodded, giving him her best smile.

"I hope you're going to the party," he said
earnestly.

"Hmm." Melanie pretended to stall. "I was
thinking about it but . . ."

"Laura has great parties," Shane insisted.

The shrill sound of the bell brought their conversation to
an abrupt halt. Waving good-bye, Melanie dashed to her classroom. It would be
some party Saturday night, she mused as she dropped into her seat. She just
had
to go.

After school Melanie met her friends at the lockers, and as
usual, the talk turned to Laura's party.

"I told Randy that we got invited," Jana said. "He
seemed really glad. He said he has to get home early, though, because he's in
training for football. The coach wants all the players in bed by ten o'clock
every night of the week."

"Terrific!" shrieked Melanie. "That narrows
down the amount of time Laura has to work on our guys. I'm glad they're on the
football team."

"Hey, wait a minute," said Beth. She gave each of
them a horrified look. "I just thought of something. Cheerleading tryouts
are Friday after school, and Laura and her friends are going out, too. What if
they make it and we don't?"

"Oh, my gosh," said Melanie. "Don't even
think about it. I mean, can you imagine Laura on Saturday night if that
happened? We wouldn't dare go to the party."

"All I've got to say is, I hope you guys are
practicing," said Christie. "Tryouts aren't that far away."

Beth and Jana and Melanie exchanged stricken looks. "Come
on, you two," said Melanie. "Let's go to my house and
practice
.
"

They had just pushed back the furniture in Melanie's family
room and lined up to try the hello cheer when the phone rang.

"I get it! I get it!" shrieked Jeffy, who had been
peering out from behind the sofa and watching the girls get ready to practice. "Edwards
residence. This is Jeffy," he said proudly. He listened for a moment and
then turned to his sister. "Melanie, can you come to the phone?"

Melanie sighed. "It never fails," she said in
exasperation. "Can you find out who it is?"

Her little brother nodded. "This is Jeffy again,"
he said importantly. "Who is this, please?" There was a pause. "Garrett
Boat?"

"Jeffy!" Melanie shrieked. "Give me that
phone!" Then she grimaced. What if he had heard her?

If Garrett had heard her, he didn't let on. "Hi, Mel,"
he said. "Is it okay if I call you Mel?"

"Sure," she said, beaming at her two friends and giving
them a thumbs-up victory sign. "What's up?"

"Not much," he said. "I was just thinking
about you and wanted to hear your voice."

"You did? I mean . . . well . . .
great!
"
Melanie looked at her friends and blushed. She had never felt so flustered.
Especially since he had acted so casual when he saw her in the hall. "I
was thinking about you, too."

"Yeah," he went on. "I like your long blond
hair. You're awfully cute, you know."

Blond hair?
Melanie's lips formed the words but no
sound came out. He had said long blond hair. Her hair wasn't blond. It was
reddish brown. But in that awful instant she knew who
did
have long
blond hair and her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. It was the someone
who had been sitting next to her at the soap game and had waved at Garrett at
the same time as she had. Just before he asked Christie for her name and phone
number. That someone was
Taffy Sinclair.

"Hey, are you still there?" Garrett asked. "I
didn't mean to embarrass you."

"I'm still here," she said quickly, before she
could lose her nerve. "It's just that I have to go now. My mom is calling.
She needs me for something. I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Right," said Garrett, and they hung up.

Melanie stared at the phone. She couldn't turn around and
look at her friends. She couldn't even utter a sound. All she could think about
was Taffy Sinclair.

It's true, she thought. All this time that he's been calling
and talking to me, he's thought I am Taffy Sinclair.