Fabulous Five 002 - The Trouble with Flirting (5 page)

"What's the matter!" cried Jana.

By this time tears were streaming down Melanie's face. How
could Christie have done this to her? Once it got out, she would never be able
to face Garrett again. Or Taffy Sinclair. Or the entire student body of Wacko
Junior High, for that matter. Between sobs, she explained to Jana and Beth what
had happened.

"I think you ought to call Christie," said Beth.

"Me, too," said Jana. "Maybe she can explain
it. You know she would never do anything on purpose to hurt you."

Melanie nodded. Beth was right, she thought. There was
probably some simple explanation to the whole thing. But what good would that
do? another part of her brain argued. Garrett still thought he had been talking
to Taffy Sinclair on the phone all this time. What was worse, it was Taffy
Sinclair that he WANTED to be talking to.

Picking up the phone, Melanie punched in Christie's number. "Christie?"
she said when her friend answered.

"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."

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.