Taffy Sinclair 005 - Blackmailed by Taffy Sinclair (8 page)

"I SAID, what fake note?" she demanded. "I heard you. You said something about a fake note and about Wiggins ordering Taffy to confess that she's the thief. W
hat have you done to Taffy? How
could you be so cruel?"

"You . . . you must have misunderstood." I fumbled for words. "I didn't say FAK
E note. I just said note. I saw
it on Wiggins's desk as I came out for recess. I read it. It was from Taffy and it
said she was the thief." I knew
I was talkin
g too fast, but I couldn't slow down. The w
ords were tumbling out before I could stop
them. I couldn't let Mona know
what had really happened. She wouldn't understand—even though I had partly done it for her.

"What do you care?" snapped Beth. "She treats you awful m
ost of the time. Do you think w
e can't see that? Everybody notices. Taffy treats you like dirt."

Tears were streaming down Mona's face. "How
can
you say
that? She isn't perfect, but Taffy is my friend," she insisted. The
n she turned and looked at me w
ith poison-dart eves. "How could you do such a t
hing, Jana Morgan, when Taffy w
as tryin
g to be your friend, too?" Her wo
rds hit me like a bucket of cold water. I wanted to scream
at her and say that if Taffy w
anted to be my frien
d she certainly had a funny way
of showing it. But I didn't. I couldn't help remembering all the times I had thought that Taffy Sinclair didn't know the first thing about making friends. Still, I couldn't stand to think that sh
e really wanted to be friends w
ith me.

Mona wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand
as she turned and started to walk away. After a few
steps she stopped and looked at me again. "Just because you hate Taff
y Sinclair, that doesn't make w
hat you did right. I'm the one who took the money from Wiggins's wallet and from the lunch money box. I have to tell Wiggins the truth now. I can't let Taffy take the bla
me for something she didn't do."

My
friends and I watched Mona head toward the school, scuffing up little clouds of dust with every step. As hard as I tried to shut them out, her angry words kept ringing in my ears. JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE TAFFY SINCLAIR, THAT DOESN'T MAKE WHAT YOU DID RIGHT.

Part of me wanted to shout after Mona and tell her that she was wrong. Taffy Sinclair deserved to be framed. She had been blackmailing me, hadn't she? And she was snotty and stuck-up, and she wanted to take Randy Kirwan away from me. Still, another part of me knew that what Mona said really was true. My
framing Taffy was no more right than her blackmailing me. In fact, it made me just as mean and spiteful as she was. I remembered all the times I had heard people say that two wrongs don't make a right, but I had never totally understood what that meant until now.

"She's really mad," said Christie.

"I guess framing Taffy Sinclair wasn't such a good idea after all," I admitted.

My fr
iends all nodded. I could see by
the guilty expressions on their faces that they had been thinking the same thing I had.

For the millionth time in my life, I tried to figure out Taffy Sinclair. Was Mona right about her, too? Did Taffy really w
ant to be friends? She certainly
wanted people to think that we were. I thought about how she made me sit wi
th her in the cafeteria and how
she paraded me around on the playground at noon. There were plenty of other things that she could have blackmailed me into doing that wouldn't have made it look as if we were friends. It didn't make sense. Why couldn't she see that she already had a super friend in Mona?

When the b
ell rang and my friends and I w
ere walking back toward the door, a terrible thought occurred to me th
at made me forget all about my guilty
conscience and trying to figure Taffy out. "What if Mona tells Wiggins that we wrote that fake note?" I cried.

"Mona may not tell Wiggins, but she'll certainly tell Taffy. And you can bet that Taffy will tell," said Katie.
"She'd die before she'd let Wiggins think she did anything wrong."

Melanie gasped. "Oh, my gosh! Then we'll be in more trouble than Taffy."

"Take it easy, Edwards," said Beth. "We'll think of something."

But we didn't because there wasn't time. We had to go back into class. I felt like a zombie as I marched to my seat. Wiggins was sitting at her desk thumbing through the reading book as if nothing had happened. I wasn't fooled. Mona's eyes were red from crying, and I didn't dare look at Taffy Sinclair. I didn't look at Randy, either, even though I knew he was watching me. I had thought my troubles with him would be over once I fixed things so that Taffy couldn't blackmail me anymore. I was wrong. I had not only made things worse by framing Taffy, but now I was going to get caught. The way things were going, I might never be able to look Randy in the eye again.

All morning long, I waited for Wiggins to call my friends and me up to her desk, but she didn't. I knew she wouldn't make any announcements about the thief confessing. She wouldn't want anyone to figure out that it was Mona. Wiggins was nice about things like that. But she would never let anyone get away with something so horrible as framing another person. It was just a matter of time until she got us.

I kept remembering that it was just one week ago today that my troubles had started. That was the day I found Wiggins's wallet in the girls' bathroom. If only I had just turned it in when I found it. Then none of this would have ever happened.

A couple of times I thought I caught Wiggins looking at me. Was she thinking about what a horrible person I was? Maybe she was trying to figure out how to punish my friends and me so that we would never do something so terrible again.

I held my breath when the lunch bell rang. Still Wiggins didn't call us to her desk.

"What's she waiting for?" I cried as my friends and I headed into the cafeteria.

"Maybe she just wants to watch us squirm," offered Christie as she picked up a carton of milk.

"Or maybe she's going to call our parents to come in for a conference after school and talk to us then," said Katie.

"Oh, no!" said Melanie. "I'll die if my parents find out about this."

Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks. "Look who's waiting for us at our table," I whispered. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Mona Vaughn and Taffy Sinclair.

Mona's eyes weren't red anymore and she was looking adoringly at Taffy, but Taffy wasn't paying the least bit of attention to her. She was looking at me and smiling her nasty smile.

"What do you want?" I grumbled.

"I thought you'd like to know what went on at recess, since you had such a big part in it," Taffy said.

I felt my face turn red and my ears get hot, and I couldn't answer her.

"Mona confessed to Wiggins that she's the thief. Wiggins talked to Mrs. Winchell and they are going to let her work off the money by correcting papers and erasing the boards and things like that," said Taffy. "Isn't that nice of Wiggins? She could have called the police."

I winced at the word "police." Taffy was getting at something, and I almost didn't want to know what it
was.

"Yeah. That's really nice, Mona," I said. "I'm glad she was so understanding."

Mona nodded shyly.

"That's not all," said Taffy. "I thought you would also like to know what happened about the note."

This was it. She was going to zap me now. I knew it had to happen. My friends and I exchanged glances. They were worried, too.

Taffy leaned toward me, looking me straight in the eye. "When Mona confessed, Wiggins realized that when I wrote that note I was trying to take the blame for Mona. She was awfully impressed. Now she thinks I'm the most super FRIEND anyone could ever have."

My mouth dropped open so far that my chin nearly banged on the table. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Taffy hadn't told on us. She had pretended that fake note was really from her!

Taffy and Mona didn't stick around our table to see what anyone would say. I watched them go feeling more confused than ever before. I wanted to hate Taffy Sinclair for making Wiggins think she was some kind of heroine, but at the same time, she had saved my life. Was that why she had put extra emphasis on the word "friend"? Well, at least one thing was certain, I thought. Taffy Sinclair would not be able to blackmail me anymore
.

Bec
ause of Taffy Sinclair I had hardly had time to think about the fact that
my father w
as coming on
the 6 P.M. bus, and all the way
home fr
om school I practiced what I would say to him. First, I w
ou
ld give him a hug, and then I would tell him how glad I w
as to have him back home. Or maybe I should shake his hand instead of giving him a hug. Mom might not be ready for the hug part yet.

I looked at my watch. It w
as almost four. I didn't have a lot of time. I wanted to fix myself up bef
ore we went to meet the bus. I was going to w
ear my best plaid skirt and matching sweater, and I would borrow Mom's curling iron to fix my hair.

The
phone was ringing when I let my
self into the apartment. I dashed across the room to answer it.

"Hello," I said between gulps of air.

There was a pause and then a voice I hadn't heard in a long time said, "Jana, honey? Is that you?"

It was my father. I would know his voice anywhere. "Yes, it's me. Is that YOU?"

He laughed softly. "Is your mother home yet?" he asked. "I phoned her offic
e, but they said she had already
left.
"

"No, she isn't here yet. But where are you?" I paused as a terrible t
hought occurred to me. "Aren't y
ou on the bus?"

I knew what he would say before he said i
t, and hot tears flashed into my
ey
es.

"I'm not coming, Jana." I heard him sigh. "I'm sorry. I really did want to see you again."

"Why aren't yo
u coming?" I cried. "I thought y
ou needed us!"

"Listen carefully," he said. "It has nothing to do with how much I love you. I found a job. Isn't that great? Right here in Poughkeepsie. I'm going to get to stay in my apartment after all."

I couldn't answer. I didn't want him to stay in Poughkeepsie. I wanted him to come here. Today. On the six o'clock bus.

Just then Mom got home. I think she knew from the look on my face who was on the phone. I handed her the receiver without a word and went to my room. Slowly I opened the closet door and looked at the space I had made for his clothes. He wouldn't need it now. He wouldn't need the drawer I had emptied, either. He wouldn't need anything from me because he was going to stay in Poughkeepsie instead of coming here so that we could be a real family again. I slam
med the closet door and threw myself across my
bed.

A little while later Mom knocked on my door. After I said, "Come in," she sat down on the side of the bed and took my hand in hers.

I lifted my face out of my pillow and looked at her. "Why did he have to find a job up there?" I asked.

"I know you're disappointed," she said. "I also know that your dad really wanted to see you, but I hope you'll b
e able to be happy for him now.
"

"Why?" I asked
.

"Because he's finally learning to take some responsibility for himself. He's figured out that no one else can do it for him. I'm sure he's going to have a much happier life now."

We talked for a while, and I started to feel a lot better. I was beginning to understand what she meant about taking responsibility. My life would have been a lot happier lately if I had taken the responsibility of turning Wiggins's wallet in when I found it instead of trying to push it off on somebody else. I could see that all my misery over Taffy Sinclair blackmailing me was really my own fault. I didn't tell Mom about that. Some things are better off staying secret.

When the phone rang a little while later, I rushed to answer it. I hoped it was one of my friends. I had so much to tell them.

"Hi, Jana. This is Randy. Can you talk?"

My heart started doing flip-flops, the way it always did when he gave me his 1,000-watt smile. But what if he was calling to say he had found out that I wasn't the kind and sensitive person he had thought I was? What if he said that he didn't like me anymore? That he liked Taffy Sinclair instead. After all, I had seen him talking to her a couple of times. I didn't want to know a thing like that, but I had to find out.

"Sure," I said, holding my breath.

"I'm calling to ask you what I
've done. Every time I look at you, you look away. Don't you like me any
more?"

"Of course, I still like you," I said, and the breath I had been holding exploded in a happy sigh. "I'm sorry if I've been acting funny lately. You see, I thought my father was going to come and see me, but he's not."

That wasn't quite the truth, but it was close enough. I couldn't let Randy think he had done anything wrong. And I certainly couldn't tell him about Wiggins's wallet or about being blackmailed by Taffy Sinclair.

"I'm sorry your father isn't coming," he said. "And, Jana," he hesitated a second and then added, "I'm glad that everything ELSE is okay." I blushed when he said that, but I could tell he really meant it. Randy is the kindest and most sincere person in the world.

My life was perfect again. Everything was okay between Randy and me. We talked on the phone for ages, and I'll bet it won't be long until he asks me out and maybe even kisses me again! It made me a little sad that my father wouldn't be coming to see me, at least not right away, but I was glad his life was getting happy, too. And as for Taffy Sinclair—my troubles with her were over—at least for now.