Fabulous Five 002 - The Trouble with Flirting (6 page)

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."

Melanie felt crimson climbing up her face like mercury
rising in a thermometer. Even though she had been watching for him, she hadn't
known he was there. How had she looked? Had they really been terrific, as he
had said?

"Thanks," piped up Beth.

Melanie gave him her best smile. "I'm glad you think
so," she said coyly. "We're practicing here so that we'll know how it
feels to cheer at a real game. Tryouts are Friday, you know."

"You'll definitely make it," he said. "You
three and Melanie Edwards."

Melanie froze. He was talking about Taffy Sinclair! What was
happening? Things weren't supposed to work out this way. "What's so
special about
her?
" Melanie almost spat out the words, barely
hiding her anger.

"Are you kidding?" Garrett asked in amazement. "Take
a good look at her. She'll make it, all right."

"There is more to cheerleading than looks,"
offered Jana. Melanie wanted to hug her. She knew about the mixup, and she was
playing along anyway. What a terrific friend, she thought.

"I know that," said Garrett. "I've talked to
her lots of times, and she's really nice. But you already know that. She went
to Mark Twain with you, didn't she?"

All Melanie could do was nod. She had to change the subject,
but how?

"Maybe you could tell me more about her," said
Garrett. He was looking straight at Melanie. "You know, her favorites and
things like that. I'd really like to get to know her better, especially since
we're both going to be at Laura's party Saturday night."

Melanie felt steam rising from under her collar.
Now
what was she going to do? If she told him the truth about Taffy, he'd think she
was jealous. And if she lied, he would like Taffy more than ever. Not only
that, she wasn't impressing him in the least the way she had planned, because
all he wanted to talk about was Taffy Sinclair.

"We'll have to talk about that later," she assured
him. "My friends and I have to practice our cheers right now."

Garrett nodded, giving them a friendly smile, and began
adjusting his camera. Melanie glanced out to the field where the team had
broken into two sections. One was going through passing drills, and the other
was working on the tackling dummies on the opposite sidelines. Thank goodness
Shane and Scott were too busy to notice her flirting with Garrett, if you could
call answering questions about Taffy Sinclair flirting! she thought
indignantly.

"Come on," she said, motioning to her friends. "Let's
try that sideline cheer again."

"We did that one perfectly," protested Beth. "Let's
work on something else."

"Be-
uth,
" Melanie said through clenched
teeth. "Garrett's watching. I want to do something where I know I'll look
good."

Beth shrugged, and the three girls lined up again. Melanie
could see out of the corner of her eye that Garrett was looking through the
viewfinder of his camera, which was pointed straight at them. Her heart leapt
for joy. He was going to practice action shots by taking pictures of them just
as she had hoped he would do.

"Go, Warriors,
go!
" they began. Melanie
could feel the rhythm building, and she could hear the sound of their voices
rising with the spirit of the words. They were doing the cheer more perfectly
than before. Garrett couldn't help but be impressed. He would have to see what
a great cheerleader she was and forget all about Taffy Sinclair.

Then something went wrong. She would never be able to
explain what it was, but she knew it the instant she vaulted into the air for
the final leap. Her eyes and mouth both shot open, and she crumpled to the
ground with a painful wrench in her left ankle just as she heard Garrett's
camera click.

Melanie lay paralyzed with embarrassment that blotted out
everything happening around her. People were talking, but the first words she
understood came from Coach Bledsoe.

"What's going on here?"

Melanie cringed. His voice sounded angry.

"Is she okay? Who gave you girls permission to be out
here, anyway?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Melanie insisted, but the
moment she tried to get to her feet, she sat down hard again as her ankle
refused to support her weight. "Oh, no," she sobbed. "I must
have twisted my ankle when I fell."

Tears squirted into her eyes and threatened to roll down her
cheeks. I'll die if anyone sees me crying, she thought.

Just then she felt strong arms lift her from the ground. "Let
me help you onto the bench," said Scott. He was giving her such a
sympathetic look that she almost forgot to hold back the tears. Wonderful
Scott, she thought. How could I ever have liked anyone else?

As soon as she was sitting on the bench, Shane knelt in
front of her, gently slipping off her sneaker. Then he took her ankle and
pressed lightly all the way around it. "Does that hurt?" he asked.

He said it with such concern that Melanie was too choked up
to speak. She could only shake her head. She was vaguely aware that her two
friends and the rest of the football team had gathered around. Even Coach
Bledsoe seemed worried.

"It doesn't look swollen," Shane said. "At
least not yet. But maybe we should put an elastic bandage around it anyway."

"Good idea," said Scott, and Coach Bledsoe nodded.

Shane dug around in the team's first aid bag and produced an
elastic bandage that he carefully wrapped around her ankle and under her foot. "Now
let's see if you can stand up," he said.

Scott and Shane formed a pair of human crutches and gently
lifted her to her feet. Melanie knew she was smiling as she put weight on her
left foot. She couldn't help it. After her disastrous flirting with Garrett and
her klutzy fall doing a cheer, she was now in the arms of two of the handsomest
boys in Wacko Junior High!

A cheer went up as she took a step, but Scott and Shane did
not let go.

"Look this way with that smile," called out Garrett,
and her heart soared even higher as she looked straight into his camera and
heard it click. He shot several more pictures as Scott and Shane walked her up
and down in front of the bench. He can keep those pictures of me forever, she
thought happily.

Finally it was obvious that her ankle wasn't hurt badly, and
Coach Bledsoe instructed her on how to use an ice pack to keep the swelling
down and then called the team back onto the field. A little later, after the
boys were practicing again and Garrett had packed away his camera and left,
too, Melanie headed for home with Jana and Beth. The pain was almost gone now,
and she had only a slight limp.

"Wasn't that too wonderful for words?" she asked
when they stopped in front of her house to say goodbye.

"Wonderful?" snorted Beth. Then she crossed her
eyes and made a weird face.

"I understand," said Jana, giving her hand a
reassuring squeeze. "See you tomorrow."

The phone rang a few minutes later, interrupting her as she
was explaining to her mother about her ankle, putting in every romantic detail.

"It's for you, Melanie," cried out Jeffy, who had
beaten her to the phone—as usual.

Melanie hurried to the phone, feeling that if her happiness
made her float any higher, she would surely bump her head on the ceiling, but
the instant she heard Garrett's voice, she was sure she drifted a couple more
inches into the air.

"Hi, Mel," he said softly.

Melanie gulped. The sound of his voice made her feel weak
all over. "Hi," she said.

"I'm calling to ask if I can take you home from Laura's
party Saturday night," he said.

Melanie closed her eyes and saw red warning lights flashing.
He thinks I'm Taffy Sinclair, she reminded herself. I can't say yes. If I do,
then when he finds out that I'm not Taffy and that he's stuck taking me home
from Laura's party, he'll absolutely
hate
me.

"Mel? Are you still there?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, all the time thinking, I can't
say no. This is my big chance with Garrett.

"Please say yes," he insisted. "It would mean
a lot to me."

"Yes. I'd love for you to bring me home after the
party," she said in a breathless whisper.

It wasn't until after they hung up that Melanie's panic set
in.
What on earth am I doing!
she screamed inside her mind. Why did I
say yes? But I couldn't say no. Not to Garrett.

She went to her room right after supper to think over the
situation. Scott has asked to take her to the party. Shane had asked her to
dance with him at the party. And now Garrett wanted to bring her home. It could
be the most perfect night of my life, she reasoned.

Then came the objections from the other side of her brain.
Scott had been her boyfriend since sixth grade, and it might hurt him to see
her with other boys. Shane didn't know anything about Scott or, for that
matter, about Garrett. He was so cool and acted so unconcerned all the time
that he would probably just drop her flat and never pay attention to her again.
And then there was Garrett. So far, her plans for impressing him so that he would
forget all about Taffy Sinclair hadn't worked, and he thought Taffy was the one
he was taking home Saturday night.

Melanie didn't even hear the phone, so she was surprised when
her mother knocked on her door and said she had a call.

"It's another boy," Mrs. Edwards chirped as
Melanie took the receiver from her.

Melanie's hand went numb, and she stared at the phone. It
was Garrett, she thought frantically. He had found out the truth and was
calling to tell her off for tricking him. She couldn't tell him he had the
wrong number. He would recognize her voice. I know, she thought. I'll have
Jeffy tell him that I can't come to the phone because my ankle is too swollen.
Oh, no, she thought. I can't do that. He might be calling for some other
reason, and then he'd know I'm not Taffy Sinclair.

She took a deep breath to compose herself and pulled the
receiver to her ear. "Hello," she said.

"Hi, Melody. This is Shane . . ." He said
something else, but the sound of his voice was lost in rock music punctuated by
a hammering sound.

"What!" she shouted. "I can't hear you."

"Just a minute," he shouted back. A few seconds
later the music got softer and the hammering stopped. "There," he
said. "Can you hear me now?"

"Yes, but what's going on?"

"Not much," he said. "I always entertain Igor
at night since he's been by himself all day. He loves for me to play rock music
on my stereo, and I tie a pan lid onto his tail so that he can pretend he's a
drummer and beat it on the floor in time to the music."

"You're kidding!" screeched Melanie. Then, in
spite of herself, she burst out laughing. "This I've got to see."

"Actually, Igor's been practicing for his first public
performance, but I doubt if he'll be ready by Saturday night," said Shane.
"Anyway, that's not why I called. I was wondering how your ankle feels."

"It's great. I don't think I hurt it badly."

"Super," Shane said. There was real concern in his
voice. "I would hate it if you had to miss cheerleading tryouts or . . .
the party Saturday night."

They talked for a little while longer, and by the time they
hung up, Melanie was feeling so dreamy again that she didn't even remember to
remind him that her name was Melanie instead of Melody. Or remember that her
boy troubles were only beginning.