Fabulous Five 023 - Mall Mania (6 page)

"You did what!" Mr. Barry exploded over the top of
the sports page. He leaned forward, pushing his recliner into an upright
position, and gave Beth an astonished stare.

Her mother was frowning as she put the mystery she was
reading down on the sofa beside her. "I think you'd better explain."

Beth nodded. She wasn't sure she could. The lump in her
throat was getting bigger by the second. But she took a deep breath and started
telling her parents all about using Shawnie's credit card to get new clothes to
wear on TV.

As soon as Beth finished, she could see that her parents
looked just as angry and disappointed with her as she had expected them to be.

"This is very serious, Beth," Mrs. Barry said
finally. "I hope you understand that."

"I do," Beth answered in a small voice.

"I simply can't believe you'd do it!" Mr. Barry
looked at her, shaking his head. "You sneaked around. You lied . . ."
His voice trailed off in exasperation.

Beth hung her head. "I know. I just got carried away."

"Well, young lady," her father said, "I think
your mother and I had better talk this situation over. Go up to your room, and
we'll be up to discuss this further in a little while. Why don't you give some
thought to solutions, too."

Beth dragged herself up the stairs. What could she do? She
didn't have any money stashed anywhere. There was only one solution. Her
parents would have to pay the Pendergasts' credit card bill, and then she would
have to spend the rest of her life paying her parents back.

In her room she went to her closet and pulled out the
gorgeous black dress with the red trim she had worn last week. She held it up
and looked at herself sadly in the mirror. If only she had never seen this
beautiful dress. Or, at the very least, resisted the temptation to buy it. With
a sigh she hung it back in the closet. As she started to step back, her gaze
fell on the blazer hanging next to it. The great blue blazer she planned to
wear for Friday's taping. It had never been worn. In fact, the tags were still
on it.

Beth bit her bottom lip. She didn't
absolutely
have
to have the blazer. Her old dress would look brand-new with the scarf from
Whitley's. Anti if she took the blazer back to Tanninger's and asked them to
credit Shawnie's account with the purchase price, that would make up for some
of what she owed.

She was feeling a little better by the time her parents
knocked on her bedroom door a few minutes later, and she eagerly explained her
plan to return the unworn blazer.

"That's a wonderful idea," her father said,
sounding genuinely pleased.

"The next order of business is to decide how you will
pay off the Pendergasts' credit card bill," said her mother.

"I know," Beth whispered.

"We'll take care of their payment," said Mr.
Barry, "but then you'll have to pay us back."

"And take care of the debt you incurred with your
friends," added her mother.

"We've decided that your allowance will come directly
back to us, and every penny you earn babysitting will come to us until your
debt is paid off," said her father.

"Okay," Beth agreed. "That sounds fair."

"It's
more
than fair," said her mother. "When
you're out on your own, there won't be anyone to bail you out of trouble, you
know."

"That's right," added her father. "People can
lose everything they've worked for if they get into debt over their heads."

Beth nodded. "I know. I've learned my lesson."

"Honey," Mrs. Barry said, "I think we need to
rethink some of your spending habits. Would you get us some paper and a pencil."

Beth got up and grabbed a pad and pencil.

"Let's write down how much you usually spend in a week
and see how you're spending it," her mother continued.

"Okay." Beth thought a minute. "Well, there
are sodas and ice cream and sometimes french fries at Bumpers a couple of
afternoons a week, paperbacks at the bookstore"—she glanced at her mother,
who was busily writing what she said, along with approximately how much those
items cost—"and maybe a pair of earrings or a necklace or something when I
go to the mall on Saturdays. Oh, and tapes and records, too."

"And you buy your lunch at the mall, too, right?"
her mother said.

"Yeah, and sometimes we go to a movie."

Her mother held her pencil poised over the list. "Is
that it?"

"I guess. That's kind of an average week."

"Okay," her mother said. "Let's add those up."
She did the figuring and showed the total to Beth and her father. "Now let's
write down your allowance."

"They're almost the same amount," Beth said sadly.

Mrs. Barry nodded. "That's right. Now, you have
baby-sitting jobs that allow you to buy a little extra occasionally."

"A lot of times I save baby-sitting money to buy
birthday and Christmas presents," Beth pointed out.

Mrs. Barry looked at her husband. "What do you think,
dear?"

"I think it's time for Beth to start a savings program,"
he said, turning to Beth.

Her mother nodded. "After you pay off your debt to the
Pendergasts and your friends, we'd like you to begin saving half of everything
you earn."

Beth's heart sank.
"Half?"
she whispered in
astonishment.

"You know, Beth, college isn't many years away,"
her mother said. "With five kids, your dad and I will need for you to help
out with college expenses."

"But . . ." Beth interjected.

Her mother held up her hand. "If you start saving half
of what you earn now, you'll have a substantial amount of money when you
really
need it," she went on.

Beth had expected a lecture on finances. She knew that what
her parents were saying was absolutely true, but that didn't make it any easier
to sit here and listen to it. And putting
half
her money into a savings
account sounded horrible! How could she possibly do that?

"But Mom, Dad," she said in her most controlled
voice. "If I have to save half of what I earn, I'll only be able to buy
half
the number of sodas, I probably won't be able to afford a new pair of earrings,
and there's no way I'll be able to go to a movie, no matter how super it is . .
. or how
educational,
" she added, hoping to tip the scale.

"Well," said Mr. Barry, and Beth saw a twinkle in
his eye as he looked at her mother, "I think that if we require you to
save half of what you earn, it's appropriate that we increase your allowance a
bit."

Beth brightened. "Really?" she said. She wondered
how much "a bit" was, but she knew this was definitely
not
the
time to ask!

"Really," her dad answered. Then he pointed at
her. "But we expect you to watch your money and your spending more
carefully from now on."

"I will," Beth said sincerely. "I don't ever
want to get into this mess again!" She shivered.

"Good," said her mother.

Beth sighed with relief. Her talk with her parents hadn't
been fun, but it could have been worse. Much worse. After all, she wasn't
grounded until she was twenty-one or anything.

But it was going to take a very long time—
months
!
—to
pay off her parents, and during that time, she wouldn't be able to order snacks
at Bumpers or go shopping with her friends at the mall, or go to the movies,
or—oh, it seemed too awful to think about.

Beth put her face in her hands, and her mother stroked her
hair. "You're going to have a tough couple of months, honey," her
mother said. Beth looked up at her and smiled a little. "But you'll live."

Beth groaned and put her face back down into her hands.

Maybe, she thought. Just maybe.

Paul finished his part of the ecology segment and smiled
into the camera. "And now Beth Barry will share an idea with you for
making something out of practically nothing. I think you're going to like this!"

Jon shifted the camera to Beth. She looked into the lens and
smiled.

"I have something exciting to show you this morning,"
she said. "It's distinctive and attractive, and it makes a definite
fashion statement. I call it Junque Jewelry. Jon, can we get a close-up of
this?"

Beth saw Jon tilt the camera down to focus on the jewelry
items with the little sign she'd made saying JUNQUE JEWELRY behind them.

She was proud of how her creations looked. She had spent the
rest of the week working on them, and now her jewelry was displayed on top of a
board she had covered with blue velvet. The jewelry shone and glistened under
the bright TV lights.

Beth centered the board in front of her and pointed to each
item. "This pair of earrings was made from fishing line, paint, and
colorful buttons." She slid her hand along the display. "This pair
was made of thin wire and a couple of bus tokens. I used old luggage keys to
make the next pair."

Then she pointed to the other side of the blue velvet tray,
where some of her more unusual creations were. "To make this necklace, I
tied a lot of knots and loops in a long piece of fishing line and then sprayed
it with gold paint," she continued. "For the matching earrings, I
used shorter line and fewer tangles."

Out of the corner of her eye Beth could see admiring glances
from Funny and Shawnie. They seemed to really like her jewelry.

Beth pointed to the last item on the tray. "I made this
necklace by cutting out the individual circles from a plastic six-pack holder
and painting each circle a different color. Then I strung them together. You
can use the individual circles from the six-pack holder for earrings, too."

Beth looked up into the camera. "The best thing about
Junque Jewelry is that it's unique
and
you can make it from whatever you
find around the house. All it takes is a little imagination!" She looked
to her left. "Shawnie?"

Jon shifted the video camera back to Shawnie, who was
dressed in a stunning ice-blue suit. A large ribbon of the same shade of blue
held back her hair. With a tiny stab of jealousy, Beth thought about the
gorgeous blue blazer she'd returned to Tanninger's. It was true that she'd like
to be wearing the blazer, but she really didn't need it. Actually, her old blue
dress and the new scarf from Whitley's looked great together.

Shawnie continued the program by reporting the lunch menus
for next week. Beth noticed that she wrinkled her nose ever so slightly when
she mentioned the goulash. Beth almost laughed out loud. Everybody hated the
school's goulash!

After the taping was finished, everyone agreed that the show
was even better than it had been the week before.

"Beth," Funny said, "I think your Junque
Jewelry was the hit of the show."

"I agree," said Mr. Levine. "Viewers should
be very interested in that segment. Good work."

"Thanks," replied Beth. She thought it had gone
well and was pleased that the others agreed.

As the members of the Media Club began packing up their
belongings and taking down the lights, Shawnie approached Beth and guided her
out into the hall.

"Sorry about this, Beth," she said. "But my
parents reminded me this morning that I have to collect that thirty percent
from you today."

Beth nodded. She unzipped her book bag and pulled out a
check. "Here it is," she said, "minus the price of the blue
blazer, which I took back and had credited to your account." She handed
the check to Shawnie.

Shawnie glanced down at the check. "It's from your
parents," she murmured. "You really told them? I didn't think you'd
actually do it."

"Yup," Beth replied. "I finally told them
what was going on. They wanted to pay your parents back right away, and so I'll
pay
them
back."

"Wow. Were they furious?" Shawnie asked.

Beth shrugged. "They weren't thrilled, but in the end
they were pretty nice about it."

"How long will it take you to pay them back?"
asked Shawnie.

Beth sighed. "I don't know. But it will probably be a
while before I make any trips to the mall."

Shawnie nodded and was silent for a minute. Then she said, "We
really knocked 'em dead again today. And you know what?"

"What?" asked Beth.

"Your blue dress looks even better with just the scarf
than it would have if you'd been wearing that blazer," Shawnie said. "But
that's not all. You've got poise and imagination." She paused a moment. "That's
even more important than looking stupendous."

"Thanks, Shawnie." Beth grinned. "It was an
expensive lesson, but I guess I just learned that."

"This pair with the buttons is for you." Beth
handed the earrings to Jana.

"Oh, Beth," Jana exclaimed. "I love them."

"And these with the bus tokens are for you, Christie,"
Beth said.

Christie laughed. "They're great! What a conversation
piece."

It was Saturday morning, and the girls were lounging on Beth's
front porch, waiting to watch
The Wakeman Bulletin Board.

"The earrings with the multicolored paper clips are
yours, Katie," Beth said.

"When I'm not wearing them, I can clip together my
notes for Teen Court," Katie joked. "Thanks."

"And these little key earrings go to Melanie."
Beth grinned. "I'll bet you can guess the significance of these."

"The key to my heart!" Melanie said. "Thanks."

"But there are two of them," Jana pointed out.

"Of course," Beth insisted. "Have you ever
known Melanie to stick to only
one
boy at a time?"

Melanie giggled. "Maybe you should add a couple more
keys—just in case."

"How about a whole key ring on each ear?" Katie
joked.

Laughter filled the porch.

"Thanks, Beth," Jana said. "These earrings
are so great. I just love them."

The others chimed in their thanks again, too.

"You're welcome," Beth replied as she sat back in
the porch swing, tucking one leg up underneath her.

"So you can't go to Bumpers until you pay off the loan
from your parents?" Jana asked.

"Well, I can
go,
" said Beth. "But I
won't have any money to buy anything. I'll just watch you guys eat."

"It probably won't be so bad," remarked Jana.

Beth sighed. "Yeah, I know. It'll just be hard to get
used to it. No movies, no shopping, no treats, no—anything!"

Melanie shrugged. "You still have
us.
"

Beth smiled. "You're right about that, Mel. I still
have you guys!"

The front door opened, and a little face peered out.

"Bethy," Alicia said, "Mommy says it's almost
time for your show to be on."

"Okay. Thanks," Beth said.

The girls trooped inside and plopped down on the floor in
front of the TV. The rest of the Barry family was there.

"Yeah, well, let's see if you can top
last
week's
show," challenged Todd.

"Of course I can!" Beth said, accepting his
challenge. "We're even
better
this week."

"I'll be the judge of that," Todd muttered,
turning to face the television.

Beth stuck her tongue out at Todd's back, and the rest of
The Fabulous Five laughed.

Just then the sign for
The Wakeman Bulletin Board
appeared on the screen, and Beth scooted forward and turned up the volume.

"Shh," she said. "Here it is."

For the next few minutes everyone in the room quietly
watched the cable show. When Beth's Junque Jewelry segment came on, the girls
sat forward.

"Hey, there are my earrings!" Jana exclaimed,
watching Beth's hand on the screen point to the pair with the buttons.

"And mine!" said Christie, eyeing the pair with
the bus tokens.

"And there are the keys to my heart!" Melanie
cried, clapping her hands.

"The keys to your heart?" Todd said. He and Brian
looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

When the camera went back to Shawnie, Beth turned to Katie. "Sorry,"
she said. "I didn't get yours made until last night."

"No problem," Katie answered, waving her hand.

As Beth watched the show, she felt as proud this week as she
had the week before. The show really was good, and her Junque Jewelry looked
fabulous on TV! It was definitely a super addition to the ecology portion of
the show.

She also couldn't help thinking that she looked just fine in
her old blue dress. It was great to wear new, expensive clothes, of course, but
what really made the show special was the professionalism of the whole team.
The information presented was interesting, the camera work was smooth, and the
whole production was organized and well rehearsed. Why hadn't she seen how much
that mattered before she'd spent all that money to look good? Why hadn't she
realized that it wasn't her wardrobe that would make her become another Joan
Lunden or Connie Chung someday?

When the show ended, Katie turned to Todd. "Okay. You
have to agree that Beth's Junque Jewelry was the hit of the show, and this show
was better than the first one."

Brittany socked Todd in the arm. "Admit it, Todd. It
was
better."

"It was terrific," said Brian. "Even with you
in it, Beth."

"
Especially
with Bethy in it!" Alicia
cried.

"You tell 'em, Alicia." Mrs. Barry laughed.

Beth turned to Todd. "
Better
than last week,
right?"

Todd tried not to smile. "Yeah. I guess so."

Beth and the rest of The Fabulous Five cheered. When the
phone started ringing, Brittany dashed toward it. "It's probably for me,"
she called out.

But she was back a moment later. "Hey, Beth, it's for
you." She sounded disappointed.

Beth hurried to the phone. "Hello?"

"Beth?" the voice said. "This is Whitney
Larkin."

"Oh, hi, Whitney!" Beth said. "How are you?"

"Fine. I just saw your Junque Jewelry on TV, and I love
it," said Whitney. "Do you think you could make a pair of earrings
for me? I mean, I'd pay you to make them."

"Really?" Beth could hardly believe her ears. "Well,
sure, I'd be glad to. I'll let you know the price after I decide what to use to
make them."

"Terrific!" Whitney replied. "Thanks, Beth. I
can't wait to see them."

"Guess what!" Beth cried excitedly as she ran back
to the living room. The rest of her family had scattered to various parts of
the house, so The Fabulous Five were alone. "Whitney Larkin just called
and asked me to make her a pair of earrings. And she's going to pay me!"

"You've been commissioned," Christie said.

"What?" Beth asked.

"Great artists are commissioned to do work for people,"
Christie explained. "And now you're being commissioned to make Junque
Jewelry."

Katie let out a low whistle. "That's fantastic."

The telephone rang again, and in a moment Mrs. Barry called
out, "Beth! It's for you!"

Beth ran to the phone.

"Beth? You don't know me, but I'm a ninth-grader at Wakeman.
My name is Jennifer Perkins, and I just saw you on TV and wondered if you'd
consider selling some of your earrings."

"Oh!" Beth said, startled.
Another commission!
"Sure. I'd be glad to sell you some."

"Great," said Jennifer. "Could you bring some
to school so I can choose?"

"You bet," Beth said. Her head was spinning. She
was actually going to earn money selling her earrings! Breathlessly, she told
her friends the news. She was going to sell earrings to someone she didn't even
know.

"It's incredible!" Beth added. "I can't
believe these people want to buy Junque Jewelry."

"Why not?" asked Katie. "They know a good
thing when they see it. Besides, it's a bargain."

"I think it's great," said Jana. "You'll be
able to pay back your parents even faster."

"You're right," Beth said. "Talk about
miracles."

The telephone rang again, and this time it was Kaci Davis,
who wanted a gold necklace and earrings made out of tangled fishing line.

"Beth, we'll see you later," Jana said. "We
don't want to get in the way of a budding career."

"Just think," Christie commented. "Wakeman's
own entrepreneur!"

By lunchtime Beth had taken orders for over ten pairs of
earrings and several necklaces. Deciding she'd better get started on the work,
she hurried down to the basement. She met her mother coming up the stairs
carrying a laundry basket piled high with clothes fresh from the dryer.

"You'll never guess what, Mom! All those phone calls?
They were from people who saw the show and wanted to order Junque Jewelry from
me!"

Her mother's mouth fell open. "Wonderful!"

"I'm going to be able to pay you back in a
much
shorter
time than I had thought," Beth said, beaming.

Her mother laughed. "Well, Junque Jewelry to the
rescue!"

"You said it," Beth said.

Mrs. Barry started up the stairs.

"Mom?" Beth called, just as her mother reached the
top.

Mrs. Barry turned. "Hmmmm?"

"Thanks," said Beth.

"For what?"

Beth smiled sheepishly. "For bailing me out with my
debts. I didn't say thank you before because I was too caught up in how
miserable I was going to be."

Mrs. Barry smiled warmly at her daughter. "You're
welcome, honey."

Just then the phone rang.

"Don't you think you'd better get it?" her mother
asked, grinning. "It's probably for you."

"Right!" shouted Beth. She maneuvered past her
mother on the stairs and hurried on up to answer the phone, calling over her
shoulder, "Make way for Beth Barry, ENTREPRENEUR!"

Mr. Levine lifted his paper cup filled with root beer. "Congratulations,
folks, on our first month of productions. I think our first four shows were
excellent, and you all deserve this little celebration."

The students in the Media Club cheered. They had met at
Pizza Perfect after the final shoot of the month. Friends were welcome, so Beth
had invited The Fabulous Five to join the group.

"I can't believe a whole month has gone by!" said
Beth. "It went so fast!"

Shawnie nodded. "It seems as if we shot the first show
just last week."

"But on Monday," Mr. Levine went on, "it will
be time to get to work again on our next month of
The Wakeman Bulletin
Board.
All of you will have the opportunity to see Funny and Shane on TV—"

"I'm going to be a star," Shane said with just a
trace of a smile.

"I can't
wait,
" Melanie whispered to Beth.

Beth squeezed Melanie's arm affectionately.

"And," Mr. Levine continued, "I think they
will do a super job. Beth will be directing, Tim will operate the camera, Jon
will have the ecology segment, and Paul and Shawnie will be reporters."

"Sounds like another great lineup," Jana said to
Beth.

Mr. Levine heard her remark. "I agree," he said,
and looked around the room. "On that note, I'd like to adjourn. It's been
a great first month, gang. Let's keep it up!"

The whole group burst into applause. Then the sounds of
chairs scraping the floor and talk and laughter filled the small room while the
kids got up to go home.

Beth, Jana, Christie, Katie, and Melanie strolled out of
Pizza Perfect's front door together and into the evening air. The sun was
sitting on the horizon like a huge yellow balloon.

Beth sighed. "That was quite a month. Fun, exciting,
terrifying, and
educational!
"

Jana laughed. "Well, it had a happy ending. That's what
counts."

"I guess you're right," said Beth.

"We're so proud of you, Beth," Christie said.

Beth turned to Christie. "Thanks," she replied,
her cheeks tinting pink with pleasure.

"That's right," added Katie. "You were
polished, and poised, and a real pro."

Beth stopped walking and looked around at her friends. "Thanks,
guys," she said. ''But I'm the proud one. You're always there for me.
Whether it's to support me when I perform, or to lend me money, or to just be
there when I need a friend. I'm so proud to be one of The Fabulous Five!"

The girls grinned back at her. Then they locked arms and
headed toward home.