Fabulous Five 002 - The Trouble with Flirting (2 page)

After the soap game Bumpers was packed with kids from Wacko
Junior High. Melanie loved the way the place was decorated with brightly
painted bumper cars that were relics of an old amusement-park ride. The
Fabulous Five had gotten there early enough to get one of the big booths. It
was in a perfect location, near enough to the door to see everybody who came
in, but close to the counter where kids put in their food and drink orders,
too.

As Melanie scanned the room, she realized that most of the
kids who had crowded into Bumpers so far were girls. One table was filled with
eighth- and ninth-grade cheerleaders. Melanie gazed longingly at them in their
short, red, pleated skirts and gold letter sweaters. She wanted more than
anything to make the seventh-grade squad. The football players were probably
still in the showers using the bars of soap contributed at the game. They would
be here in a little while, though. It was part of the Wakeman football
tradition that everybody gathered at Bumpers after a game.

"I wish Garrett would hurry and get here," Melanie
said in a dreamy voice. He had been the only thing she could think about ever
since Christie told her that he had asked for her name and phone number, and
Melanie was keeping one eye on the door so that she would know when he arrived.
"I wonder where he is?"

"Didn't he say he has to get pictures of all the jocks
for the yearbook?" asked Christie.

"Yeah," said Katie. "Maybe he's in the locker
room photographing them in their underwear."

Everybody giggled at that.

"Don't you just love football players?" said Beth.
"Did you see Keith block that pass? He's such a great player."

"Randy, too," said Jana. "I don't care if the
second-string team did lose. They were terrific."

Just then Garrett came through the door. As usual, his
camera hung from his shoulder as he waved to some kids near the front and
sauntered up to the order counter. Melanie watched closely as his food was
placed on a tray. He was having a bacon cheeseburger, large fries, and a large
Coke. Yum! she thought. That's exactly what I'll have, too.

Suddenly a cheer went up as the first group of players came
in the door, water droplets still glistening in their hair. They were all
seventh-graders formerly from Mark Twain Elementary. Randy Kirwan was in the
lead, followed by Mark Peters, Scott Daly, Keith Masterson, Joel Murphy, Matt
Zeboski, and Clarence Marshall. They were smiling broadly even though the
first-string team had beaten them 28 to 0.

"Oh, look," cried Jana, bouncing up and down in
her seat. "They're heading this way." She was waving wildly so that
they couldn't help noticing.

"Jana, stop waving like that," Melanie scolded. "We
don't have enough room for all of them."

"I know that, silly," Jana said. "I just want
to make sure Randy knows where I'm sitting."

Melanie sank back against the booth. What was she going to
do now? Of all the times for this to happen. Of course Randy would sit with
Jana. And when that happened Keith would be sure to sit with Beth, and then
Scott would sit with her. That's the way it had worked all the time at Mama Mia's
when they were in sixth grade. She had loved it then because she really liked
Scott. I still like Scott, she reminded herself. But that was before Shane and Garrett
had come into the picture and complicated things.

Matt Zeboski peeled off in the direction of Mona Vaughn's
table, and Clarence Marshall, Mark Peters, and Joel Murphy stopped to order
something to eat, but the other three were marching straight for the booth
where The Fabulous Five sat. To Melanie each step closer they came was like one
ominous tick of a time bomb.

"Don't any of you guys get it?" she blurted to her
friends while the boys were still too far away to hear. "Garrett Boldt
asked for my phone number, but do you think he'll still want to call me if he
sees me sitting with someone else? The answer is
no.
"

"Oh, Melanie," said Katie in an exasperated voice,
"you are the most boy crazy person I know."

Melanie glared at her friend. Katie couldn't possibly
understand how it felt to change from an ugly duckling to a swan because she
had been thin all her life. Besides that, Katie hardly knew that boys existed.
But before she could answer Katie, the three boys were standing beside their
booth.

"Do you have room for us?" asked Keith, dMng in
beside Beth before anyone could reply. On the other side, Katie and Christie
and Jana shifted to let Scott slide in beside Melanie and Randy sit beside
Jana.

"How did you like the game?" Scott asked Melanie. "Did
you see that great tackle I made in the third quarter?"

"Sure," she lied. "It was terrific."
Melanie tried to smile at Scott and look around the restaurant at the same
time. Where had Garret gone? And where was Shane? She hadn't spotted him at all
yet. Had they seen Scott sit down with her?

Suddenly she saw Garrett heading back toward the order
counter. Had he forgotten something? Ketchup for his fries, maybe? What if he
saw her with Scott?

Instantly, Melanie dove under the table, banging her head on
the edge. All she could think about was hiding so that Garrett wouldn't see
her.

She heard Scott gasp, and then his face appeared sideways in
the opening between the table and the seat. "What are you doing down
there?" he asked incredulously. "Are you okay?"

Melanie grinned sheepishly. "I'm fine," she
assured him. "I just dropped a quarter. I'll be up in a minute."

She waited as long as she dared and then squeezed back up
beside Scott. Her head had begun to throb, and she could feel a little lump
growing on it, but that didn't matter. She was safe. Garrett had left the order
counter and was talking to two boys in a green bumper car, his back turned so that
he was facing away from her.

"I'm going to get something to eat," said Scott. "Playing
football makes me so hungry."

"Me, too," echoed Randy and Keith.

"Do you want me to bring you something?" asked
Scott.

Melanie shook her head. Her appetite was suddenly gone. But
just as the boys slid out of the booth, she realized how thirsty she was and
handed Scott some money for a Coke. Leaning back, she watched him approach the
order counter. He's really terrific, she thought. He's cute and a great
football player and not at all clumsy like Curtis Trowbridge, who fell over his
own feet at least once a day.

Just then she noticed Shane Arrington come into Bumpers with
two boys she had seen around school. They were looking for some place to sit.
As Shane's eyes swept the room, Melanie panicked. She couldn't let him see
her—Scott would be back any minute. She ducked behind Katie and held her
breath.

"What are you doing?" Katie snapped.

"Pipe down," whispered Melanie. "I'm not
doing anything."

"Then why are you scrunched up behind me?" Katie
had twisted around and was peering down at Melanie.

"If you must know, I don't want Shane Arrington to see
me and realize that I'm with Scott. It might spoil my chances with Shane later.
Will you lean forward a little bit? I know he can see me this way."

Katie groaned, but she moved forward. Melanie breathed a
sigh of relief and leaned her head against the back of the booth. Handling
three boys at once was exhausting. Slowly she inched up just enough so that
only her eyes were above the back of the booth. It was time to check things
out. Scott was still in line at the order counter, but it looked as if Shane
and his friends were talking to The Fantastic Foursome. Melanie leaned as far
as she could to the right, but a post was blocking her view. And where was
Garrett? From where she was sitting she couldn't see him anywhere.

Sighing, she thought about how much she liked Scott. I
really do, she insisted to herself. But still she couldn't resist the idea of
someday having a date with Shane or Garrett. Or maybe all three. She closed her
eyes and imagined herself reserving Friday nights for movies with Scott, and
Saturday afternoons for ball games with Garrett, and Sunday afternoons for
pizza with Shane. There's only one way to make it all happen, she thought with
new determination.

"I'm going to the ladies' room," she announced,
pushing her way out of the booth. It was the best excuse she could think of to
get up and move around Bumpers. She could never make any progress with Shane or
Garrett while pinned in a booth next to Scott Daly.

Melanie ducked into the ladies' room and ran her brush
through her windblown hair. Then she added a little lip gloss and stood back
from the mirror, surveying herself with satisfaction.

Luckily she was alone in the ladies' room, so she opened the
door a crack and peeked out. Scott was not in the order line anymore, which
meant he was probably back at the booth and wondering where she was. She could
see Shane. He had moved away from Laura McCall and her friends and was talking
to some guys. At least that much was going her way. But where was Garrett? She
pushed the door open a little bit farther and looked for him again. No luck.
Rats!

Melanie took a deep breath and silently rehearsed the list
of rules for walking across a crowded room that she had learned in the modeling
class she and the rest of The Fabulous Five had taken last year. Then she
opened the door and stepped out.

Bumpers was crowded, all right, and noisy. Kids were laughing
and shouting to each other, and over it all music blared from an antique
Wurlitzer jukebox. Melanie smiled to herself as she began weaving through the
tables and booths. She tried to act casual, stopping to say hello to Alexis
Duvall and waving to Mona Vaughn and Matt Zeboski, but every second she was on
the lookout for Garret. As soon as she spotted him, she would simply walk up to
his table, give him a dazzling smile, and then move on, leaving him love-struck
as he gazed after her. It always worked in soap operas on TV.

But where was he? There wasn't an empty table in the place,
but try as she might, she couldn't spot him sitting at any of them. Just then
she looked toward the door. There he was, and his hand was on the knob.
Oh
,
no. He's leaving!
she wanted to shout, but instead she bit her lip. As she
watched, he opened the door and walked out without even so much as looking
back.

"I blew it,"
she grumbled to herself. "While
I was hiding behind Katie and primping in the ladies' room, he was probably
looking everywhere for me, and what did I do? I missed my big chance."

Melanie went straight to her room when she got home from
Bumpers, leaning back against plump pillows on her bed and opening her notebook
to a clean sheet of paper. Then she began to write.

Melanie Edwards
+
Garrett Boldt

That looks nice, she thought. In fact, it looked terrific.
Still, she couldn't forget Shane and Scott, so she turned to another clean page
and started again.

Melanie Edwards
+
Shane Arrington

Melanie Edwards
+
Garrett Boldt

Melanie Edwards
+
Scott Daly

That looked even nicer. But which one did she really like
the best? What a choice, she thought, shaking her head. Shane was
so
interesting. How many boys had she ever met before who had hippie parents and
an iguana named Igor for a pet? None! And then there was Garrett. Wow! He was
just about as gorgeous as one guy could get, and he was an eighth-grader. It
was the first time someone older and more sophisticated had ever been
interested in her, and it was fun.

But how could she ignore Scott Daly? She was so comfortable
around him, and she had thought for a long time that they would probably get
married someday. Melanie Daly, she wrote. That looked super. Melanie Elizabeth
Daly. Melanie Elizabeth Edwards Daly. Or how about, Melanie Edwards-Daly?

Sighing, she closed her eyes and pictured how her name would
look if she married Shane or Garrett. Melanie Arrington, she thought, or
Melanie Boldt.

Through her closed door she could hear the distant ring of
the phone. By the time her mother knocked softly on the door to say that the
call was for her, she was already naming the children. Garrett Boldt, Jr. Or
should it be Garrett Boldt, II?

She pulled herself out of her daydream and went to the
phone. "Hello."

"Hi, Melanie. This is Garrett Boldt."

Melanie's hand started shaking and she almost dropped the
phone. She would know that husky, romantic voice anywhere.

"Hi," she whispered, but then, remembering that
she had already said hello, she felt herself blush.

"In case you're wondering, I got your phone number from
a girl sitting near you in the bleachers. Did you go to Bumpers after the game?"
he asked. "I looked around for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere."

"I was there," Melanie assured him. "And I
saw you. Maybe I was in the ladies' room when you were looking for me."
Then she felt another blush creep up her face and she added quickly, "Combing
my hair."

"I got some great pictures at the game," he said. "I'll
show them to you after I develop them if you're interested."

"I'd love to see them. Are you going to develop them
yourself?"

"Sure. I have my own darkroom," he said proudly.

Melanie was so impressed that she didn't know what to say
next. Finally Garrett spoke.

"Well, I'll definitely see you at school on Monday. You
will be there, won't you?"

"You bet," said Melanie. "And I'll be sure to
say hello."

After they said good-bye, Melanie hung up and then hugged
herself with joy. He had been looking for her, after all. Wow, she thought. It's
a good thing I didn't let him see me with Scott.

"Who was that, dear?" called her mother from the
kitchen. "It didn't sound like Scott."

Melanie wandered into the kitchen and watched her mother
lift hot chocolate chip cookies off a cookie sheet with a spatula and place
them carefully on a plate. She always thought of her family as being old-fashioned.
Her parents weren't divorced like so many kids' she knew, and her mother stayed
home and took care of Melanie and her six-year-old brother, Jeffy, baking
cookies and things like that.

"It wasn't Scott," she said as she picked up a
cookie with two fingers and blew on it to cool it. "His name is Garrett
Boldt, and he's an eighth- grader."

"An
eighth-grader
?
" her mother
echoed, raising one eyebrow to show her surprise. "Did you meet him at
school?"

Melanie shook her head. "At Bumpers, and he asked
Christie for my name and phone number at the game today."

She started to tell her mother the whole story, but just
then the phone rang again. "I'll get it," she sang over her shoulder.
Maybe it was Garrett calling again.

"Oh, Melanie. I've just got to talk to you."

It was Jana, and it sounded as if she was crying.

"What's the matter?" Melanie asked. "Are you
okay?"

"Yes . . . no . . . Oh, I don't know," said Jana. "It's
Randy. He got one of Laura's invitations in a red envelope, and he says he's
going to her party, even though he knows I wasn't invited."

"You're kidding!" said Melanie. "I can't
believe Randy Kirwan would do a thing like that."

"Neither could I, at first," said Jana. "I
thought he was just joking. But when I asked him if he really planned to go, he
said yes. He said all the guys were going just to see what one of Laura's
parties is like, and they would tease him if he didn't go, too. Of course he
tried to tell me that he wouldn't have any fun without me there, but I know he
was only saying that to keep me from getting mad. But I'll tell you something
else. It didn't work!"

Melanie sighed. She couldn't blame Jana for getting mad. "If
Randy is going, then Scott is probably going, too."

"Of course he is," insisted Jana. "They all
are. Scott. Keith. Randy. Every one of them. If Scott didn't tell you, it was
probably because you didn't ask him about it. He wouldn't want to admit it if
he didn't have to."

Melanie thought a moment. She had chattered all the way home
from Bumpers, hardly gMng Scott a chance to say anything. Partly she had done
it because she was excited to have three gorgeous boys to like, and partly it
was to cover up her guilty conscience over not wanting the other two to see her
with Scott. But now that she knew for sure that he was going to Laura's party,
she was as angry at him as Jana was at Randy.

"How dare those boys go to Laura McCall's party,"
Melanie said. "And if Scott Daly thinks he has me wrapped around his
little finger and can get away with a thing like that, he has another thing
coming. Besides," she added, and smiled to herself, "Garrett Boldt
called me a few minutes ago, just the way Christie said he would. Maybe I'll go
out with him. And if you want me to, I'll ask him if he has a friend for you."

"I don't want to go out with anyone but Randy,"
said Jana, and Melanie couldn't be sure, but she thought Jana was crying again.

After they hung up, Melanie thought the situation over. She
liked Scott, but if he was going to do something as rotten as going to Laura
McCall's party, she would just have to concentrate on the other boys in her
life, Shane and Garrett. Shane was difficult. She only had biology class with
him, and she had already asked him about his pet iguana, Igor. She would have
to think of some way to get his attention.

And then there was Garrett. Gorgeous Garrett, she thought as
she closed her eyes and pictured his handsome face with the big dimple that
always appeared in his left cheek when he smiled. He wouldn't be much easier
since he was an eighth-grader and didn't even have the same lunch period. She
would have to depend on his phone calls, at least for now.

She picked up the new teen magazine that had come in the day's
mail and sank onto her bed again. She was depressed from Jana's call about the
boys' going to Laura's party, and she certainly didn't feel like writing her
name plus the boys' names or picking names for the children anymore. She made a
face at the smiling model on the magazine cover and turned to the table of
contents. Reading quickly down the list of articles, she was jolted by the
title of an article on page 49: "Seven Tips for Flirting" by Miriam
Dunmore.

"Seven tips for flirting!" she whispered
gleefully. "That's just what I need." She turned to page 49 and began
skimming the article, not taking time to read the entire piece, but looking for
the numbered tips and jotting them into her notebook.

"This is terrific," she said out loud as she began
repeating the tips over and over to memorize them. "(1) Make eye contact
with the boy you are flirting with; (2) Act happy and self-confident; (3) Use
positive body language; (4) Give compliments; (5) Show genuine interest in him;
(6) Ask him questions; and (7) Be a good listener."

Wow! she thought. That's all there is to flirting? This is a
piece of cake. Look out, guys. Here I come.

By time for school Monday morning, Melanie had practiced the
seven tips for flirting until she was sure could recite them in her sleep if
she had to. Also, she had almost forgotten her anger at Scott over Laura McCall's
party and was feeling ecstatic again over Garrett's phone call.

"You should hear his dreamy voice over the phone,"
she bragged to her friends as they waited in their special spot by the fence
for the first bell to ring. She had spent at least half an hour on the phone
with each one of them over the weekend talking about Garrett's call, but she
couldn't resist bringing it up again. "And he said that he actually looked
for me at Bumpers.
Thank goodness
he didn't catch me sitting with Scott."

"Do you think he'll ask you out?" asked Beth.

"Yeah," said Christie. "Maybe he was just
being friendly."

"Of course he'll ask me out," said Melanie. "I
mean, a guy doesn't ask for your phone number just to call and say hello. He
was probably just getting up his nerve."

"I think you're right," said Jana.

"
I
think you're boy crazy," snipped Katie. "You
ought to get involved in something worthwhile for a change. School elections
are coming up in a few weeks. Have you thought about running for an office?"

Melanie frowned at Katie instead of answering. She could
never understand Katie's attitude. How could any girl be so
uninterested
in boys and so
interested
in boring things such as school elections?
Besides, once she put her flirting tips into action and got results, Katie
would see that she had been wrong.

Melanie looked around the school ground for someone else she
knew. She was bursting to tell everybody about Garrett. She spotted Alexis
talking to Sara and Kim near the gum tree. Its bark was polka-dotted with wads
of gum stuck there by students when the bell rang every morning, and it was
near the front door of the school.

"I'll see you guys later," she called as she
hurried away from The Fabulous Five. "Hey, Alexis, Sara, Kim, guess what!"

"Who knows?" answered Kim.

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty terrific," said
Alexis.

Melanie could hardly control the grin that was spreading
across her face. "Do you know who Garrett Boldt is?"

"Sure," said Sara. "He's an eighth-grader,
isn't he? The hunk with the dimple?"

"That's the one. Well, I met him at Bumpers last week
after school. Then Saturday, at the soap game, he saw me in the stands and
waved at me. Taffy Sinclair thought he was waving at her, and she made an idiot
of herself weaving back. Then later at the refreshment stand, he asked Christie
for my name and phone number, and after the game, he called me."

"Wow!" said Alexis. "You are so-o-o-o lucky.
I'd give anything if he would ask for my phone number. What did he say? Did he
ask you out?"

"Not yet," said Melanie confidently. "But he
will, and I can't wait to see the look on Taffy Sinclair's face when she sees
us together. She was so sure that he was waving at her."

"Uh-oh," said Sara. "Look over there."
She pointed toward the front gate of the school.

Melanie gasped. "Oh, no," she murmured. Garrett
Boldt was standing there. He was smiling so broadly that she could see his
dimple, and he was talking to
Taffy Sinclair.

The bell finally rang, and the school ground emptied as
students filed into Wacko Junior High. Melanie was glad. She couldn't stand to
watch Taffy Sinclair flirting with Garrett. Everybody knew what a terrible
flirt Taffy was, of course, but that didn't help much. Neither did the memory
of Taffy's waving at Garrett during the soap game. It was pretty clear that
Taffy was after him, too.