Taffy Sinclair 008 - Taffy Sinclair and the Melanie Make-Over (7 page)

So
far, anyway, the things I was learning in modeling school hadn
'
t done much for my relationship with Randy. He not only hadn
'
t given me one of his 1,000-watt smiles in a long time, but when I got to school Monday morning, he glanced at me for an instant and then looked away so quickly that my heart almost stopped.

"
I think Randy is avoiding me,
"
I confided to my friends as soon as I reached our special spot by the fence where they were waiting.

"
Don
'
t be silly,
"
said Beth.
"
Randy Kirwan is crazy about you. Hasn
'
t he kissed you TWICE? Why would he avoid you?
"

I frowned.
"
He
'
s probably so impressed with Taffy that he doesn
'
t care about me anymore. I mean, have you noticed that ever since modeling school started she always walks absolutely perfectly and sits down absolutely perfectly and does EVERYTHING as perfectly as Laura MacLeod?
"
Then I went on to tell them about how Randy had started to look at me and then turned away.
"
I definitely think he did that on purpose,
"
I confessed.

"
You thought he had lost interest in you when Taffy pulled that secret-admirer trick on you, too, but he hadn
'
t,
"
said Christie.

"
I know,
"
I responded,
"
but he really did turn away. That means something must be wrong or else why would he do it?
"

"
Psst
, guys,
"
Katie whispered loudly.
"
Here comes Mona. Everybody smile.
"

Mona was trudging up the front walk with her shoulders slumped forw
ard and her hair hanging in her
eyes, as usual. She reminded me of a sad puppy.

"
Hi, Mona,
"
I said, trying my best to sound cheerful.

"
Hi, Mona,
"
echoed my friends.

She looked up and gave us an embarrassed smile. Then she made a quick left and hurried toward the side entrance.

"
What are we going to do when she comes to our club meeting after school?
"
Beth moaned.
"
What will we say to her? Did you see how she just acted? She
'
s scared to death of us.
"

Christie sighed.
"
We can
'
t just start right in trying to make her over. We
'
re going to have to get some conversation going. Make her trust us and stuff.
"

"
Sure,
"
I agreed.
"
But how?
"

We worried about that for the rest of the day. I even forgot about Randy
'
s avoiding me and about Taffy and Melanie
'
s hanging around together. I could think about those things later. But Mona was coming to my apartment after school.

At morning recess we huddled in the cold beside the fence and stared at each other with blank expressions. At noon we were so worried that we couldn
'
t look at Mona across the cafeteria or finish our lunches, and by afternoon recess panic had set in.

"
I guess changing Mona from an ugly duckling into a swan wasn
'
t such a super idea after all,
"
conceded Beth as we headed for my apartment after school.
"
We can
'
t even think of a way to begin.
"

"
Yes, it was,
"
I insisted.
"
Have you forgotten how it
'
s going to make Taffy feel?
"

"
You
'
re right,
"
said Katie.
"
We
'
ve got to do it. Let
'
s act as if it
'
s just any ordinary day and we
'
ve been good friends with Mona forever.
"

A little later when the doorbell rang, my friends pushed me toward the door.
"
It
'
s your house,
"
Christie reminded me.
"
So you have to answer it.
"

I took a deep breath and opened the door. Mona was standing there looking more forlorn than ever. I could see that she was wishing she had never come. I started to panic again as I struggled to think of something to say, but then I remembered that getting even with Taffy Sinclair wasn
'
t the only reason we had invited Mona to our meeting.

I asked her in, and while I hung up her jacket, I noticed that everyone was smiling and talking and being nice to her. She looked as if she might be relaxing just a little. I was glad about that.

"
The Fabulous Five is a self-improvement club,
"
I explained as I handed out glasses of instant iced tea.
"
We meet once a week to try to figure out ways to become the most gorgeous and most popular girls in Mark Twain Elementary.
"

Mona
'
s face turned red and she looked down into her lap.
Eek!
I thought. Have I said the wrong thing already?

"
We have a lot of fun, too,
"
I added quickly. Then I looked at each of my friends, hoping one of them would rescue me by taking over the conversation. Beth got my message.

"
Today we
'
re going to work on hair. You know, give each other new styles and things.
"
Then, in an extraloud voice, she said to me,
"
Do you have the shampoo and towels out yet, Jana?
"

Of course I didn
'
t, since I didn
'
t know she was going to say that. I jumped up and ran first to the linen closet to get towels and then to the bathroom to get shampoo and conditioner. While I was in the bathroom, Beth yelled,
"
And don
'
t forget the blow dryer, the curling iron, and your mother
'
s hot curlers.
"
I grabbed those, too, and hurried back to the kitchen.

A few minutes later we had all washed our hair and were standing by the sink with our heads wrapped in towels, Mona included, deciding what to do next.

"
I think we should work on Mona
'
s hair first,
"
announced Katie.

Mona
'
s eyes widened, and I could see her Adam
'
s apple bob as she tried to swallow down a lump in her throat.

"
That
'
s a good idea,
"
I said before she could protest.
"
We
'
ve all done each other
'
s hair tons of times. It will be fun to work on somebody new. Besides,
"
I added brightly,
"
you
'
re our guest.
"

"
Sit down here the table,
"
said Beth, pulling out
a chair for Mona.

Mona perched gingerly on the edge of the chair, and I put Mom
'
s m
akeup mirror in front of her.

"
Now,
"
I said w
ith satisfaction.
"
It
'
s ju
st like the beauty parlor at Ta
nninger
'
s.
"

Mona laughed along with the rest of us and scooted back into her chair. She seemed to be losing her shyness and was starting to join in.

"
I get to do the styling,
"
Christie
announced, racing up behind M
ona and whisking the towel off her hair.
"
Don
'
t forget.
My aunt Helen is a beautician, and the ability to style hair runs in our family.
"

"
How could we forget?
"
I muttered. I wa
s thinking about the other tim
e Christie had said that. It was right after Taffy Sinclair and I found
baby Ashley, and Christie and my
other friends gave me a haircut that was a total disaster.

She must have read my mind.
"
I
'
m not going to cut,
"
she said as she stabbed the air with
a hairbrush to emphasize her mea
ning.
"
Just style.
"

This time, Mona actually giggled. She was having fun. This might work out all right, after all, I thought.

Christie began drying Mona
'
s hair while the rest of us stood around in our bath-towel turbans discussing how it should be styled. When it was dry, Christie brushed it first one way and then another as we swarmed around, suggesting ideas and trying them out. Through it all, Mona sat as still as a mouse, her eyes rolling expectantly from one of us to another.

What we finally decided was that she needed a perm and a cut. Since that was out of the question, we rolled her thick bangs away from her face on Mom
'
s hot curlers. Then we used the curling iron to put soft waves into the rest of her hair.

"
Close your eyes, Mona!
"
Beth said gleefully.
"
It
'
s time for the grand finale.
"

Obediently, Mona closed her eyes. She was smiling, too, and it was plain to see that she was getting excited.

Katie started to pull the hot curlers out of her hair.

"
Wait,
"
I said.
"
I have another idea.
"

I raced to my room and came back with my blush and lip gloss. I patted just a touch of blush on Mona
'
s cheeks and added pale pink gloss to her lips.
"
There,
"
I said with satisfaction.
"
Go ahead and comb her out.
"

Christie brushed out the roller marks and fluffed out the sides. Then she smoothed the top and arranged two wispy curls on Mona
'
s forehead. The rest of us had gotten quiet. It was incredible. Mona
'
s appearance was changing before our eyes.

"
Okay,
"
said Christie.
"
You can look now.
"

Mona opened her eyes, which we could see were a striking shade of violet now that they weren
'
t hidden
by thick bangs, and the blush and lip gloss added a rosy glow to her creamy skin. She took one look at herself and drew in her breath. Then a slow smile spread over her face as she stared at her reflection through misty eyes.

She didn
'
t make a sound. She didn
'
t have to. We all knew how she must feel. She wasn
'
t beautiful like Taffy Sinclair or Laura MacLeod, but she wasn
'
t homely like the old Mona, either. She was pretty. The new Mona Vaughn was actually
pretty
!
I was so happy for her, I thought I
'
d die
.

It
was getting late by then, so we mostly just dried our hair and styled it the same old way, although Beth did take Mona
'
s suggestion that she part her hair on the opposite side. It really looked good like that. Then Christie gave Mona detailed instructions on how to curl her hair for school the next day.

"
Why don
'
t we get together again tomorrow afternoon? We can meet at my house,
"
Katie said, and she was looking right at Mona when she said it.
"
We have to practice some things we
'
re learning in modeling class,
"
she explained.

Mona blushed.
"
Modeling class?
"
she whispered.

"
Yes, but don
'
t let it fool you. I wouldn
'
t be caught DEAD being a model,
"
Katie assured her.
"
We
'
re learning a lot of things that are useful every day, like how to walk across a room when everybody is looking at you and you feel like an idiot. We could show you, if you want to come. Then you could practice with us.
"

Mona
'
s face brightened.
"
Gosh, that would be fun.
"

Everybody went home right after that, and I collapsed on the sofa thinking that things were working out all right with Mona after all. I felt a stab of guilt as I thought about what a nice person she was. We had always known that, but if it hadn
'
t been for Taffy Sinclair
'
s stealing Melanie away from us, we might never have gone to the trouble to make friends with her.

My friends and I were waiting for Taffy and Melanie the next morning. Mona had come to school with her hair curled and her violet eyes sparkling, and we had called her over to stand with us in our special spot. Of course we didn
'
t tell her that we could hardly wait to show her off. She might not have understood.

Lots of kids noticed Mona
'
s new look. We could tell by the way they were staring at her. She noticed them looking at her, too, and dropped her eyes each time it happened.

Finally the moment we had been waiting for arrived. Taffy and Melanie came strutting onto the school ground as if they owned the world. Their arms were linked, and they were chattering away. Suddenly Taffy
'
s gaze brushed over Mona and then backed up as total surprise registered on her face. Her mouth dropped open, and she stopped dead still in her tracks.

She looked so stunned that I wanted to laugh, but instead, I flashed a big smile in her direction and said,
"
Hi, Taffy. Is something wrong?
"

My friends were trying to keep from laughing, too, but they joined right in saying hi to Taffy the same as I did. Only Mona didn
'
t speak.

By then Taffy had recovered from her shock.
"
Of course not,
"
she insisted.
"
What could be wrong?
"
Then tilting her head and giving us a superior look, she said,
"
Melanie and I are going to a photographer after school to have pictures made for our modeling portfolios. My mother talked to Laura yesterday, and she thinks the two of us are ready to get modeling jobs.
"

"
Oh, yeah?
"
I said.
"
I
'
ll bet!
"

"
It
'
s true,
"
said Taffy, stamping her foot and glaring at me.
"
My uncle is the photographer, and he takes portfolio pictures of lots of famous models. Of course, YOU probably haven
'
t heard of any of them.
He
'
s going to take at least a dozen pictures of us in different modeling poses, and my mother has already got each of us a regular portfolio to put them in that is made of
real leather.
Then, as soon as we get our pictures back, we
'
re going to fix up our portfolios and take them around to Tanninger
'
s and lots of other department stores. Just wait. You
'
ll believe me when you see our pictures in the
Bridgeport Post!
"

I glared right back at her. I knew that she was probably telling the truth, but I didn
'
t want to let her off the hook that easily.
"
Big deal!
"
I said, spitting out the words.

"
It is a big deal,
"
Taffy countered.
"
Isn
'
t it, Melanie?
"

I looked at Melanie for the first time since the two of them had stopped to talk to us. She had a funny expression on her face, and I could tell that she wasn
'
t listening to what Taffy was saying. Her eyes were darting from one of us to another, stopping every so often to rest on Mona. Suddenly I knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if Mona had replaced her in The Fabulous Five!

I hadn
'
t actually thought about that myself. If we started hanging around with Mona all the time, would she expect to be invited to join our club? And what would we do if Melanie came to her senses and wanted to be our friend again? You couldn
'
t have six people in The Fabulous
Five.

I knew I had to talk the situation over with Katie and Beth and Christie, and I couldn
'
t do it when Mona was around. I didn
'
t get a chance to signal my three friends that I had something important to talk about because the bell rang right after Taffy and Melanie walked away. I also couldn
'
t help noticing that Melanie looked back over her shoulder at us a couple of times. I didn
'
t get a chance to talk to my friends at morning recess, either. Mona came along and stood with us by the fence. By lunchtime I was getting frantic. I had to talk to them before the situation got out of hand, and it was too late.

"
I have to get something out of my locker. I
'
ll meet you on the playground in a few minutes,
"
Mona said as we were getting ready to leave the cafeteria. I couldn
'
t believe it. She had saved my life. I was going to get to talk to my friends in private, after all.

"
Sure, Mona,
"
I said.
"
Come on, guys. Let
'
s stop in the girls
'
bathroom before we go outside.
"

I guess they could tell by the sound of my voice that I had something urgent to say, because they hurried after me without any arguments. Once we were in the hall and away from Mona, I told them what I had been worrying about.

"
Gosh. You
'
re right,
"
said Christie.
"
We were so busy trying to get even with Taffy that we forgot everything else.
"

"
What are we going to DO?
"
I implored.
"
We can
'
t just drop Mona. Do you realize how badly her feelings would be hurt after the way we
'
ve started treating her? Besides, she
'
s awfully nice. I really like her a lot.
"

"
So do I,
"
said Beth.
"
If you ask me, we should drop Melanie and ask Mona to join The Fabulous Five. Melanie is acting like such a jerk. And if she and Taffy really do get modeling jobs, she won
'
t want to be friends with us anymore, anyway.
"

"
You
'
re right,
"
said Katie.
"
Some
friend
Melanie
'
s turned out to be. She and Taf
fy Sinclair deserve each other.
"

We had reached the girls
'
bathroom, and I pushed the door open and led the way in. I should have known. Taffy Sinclair was standing in front of the mirror, as usual, and she was dabbing her mouth with a paper towel again. I was tempted to tell her that she was the most conceited person in the whole world, but I noticed that she got a look of panic on her face when she saw my friends and me come in. Just then I heard a familiar retching sound, and someone in one of the stalls began to throw up.

"
Melanie!
"
I shrieked.
"
Is that you? Are you okay
?
"

The sound of the toilet flushing almost drowned me out, and Katie and Christie and Beth all began talking at once.

"
What
'
s going on?
"

"
Is Melanie sick?
"

"
Where did Taffy go?
"

I spun around to see the bathroom door closing. Taffy was gone. Vanished. An instant later Melanie came out of the stall. I frowned as I looked at her. I had never seen her looking so pale.

Nobody said a word. We just stared at her as she went to the lavatory and washed her face. Then she cupped her hands and got a drink of water, which she sloshed around in her mouth and spit into the sink. Only then did she meet our eyes.

"
It
'
s a model
'
s trick,
"
she said apologetically.
"
Taffy told me about it. She does it all the time. You can eat anything you want if you throw it up as soon as you eat it. You just stick your finger down your throat and it comes back up.
"

We must have had shocked looks on our faces because she stopped talking for a minute and looked at each of us.

"
That
'
s why you were throwing up before, isn
'
t it?
"
I asked accusingly.
"
The day you said you were allergic to cheese.
"

Melanie nodded.

"
And Saturday, when you fainted,
"
I went on,
"
it was because you were too weak to do the exercises, wasn
'
t it?
"

She nodded again, and this time tears filled her
eyes.

"
Don
'
t you know that what you
'
re doing is dangerous?
"
shouted Katie.
"
If you do that too much, you might not be able to stop. That has happened to some girls. Some girls have even died.
"

Melanie shrugged and took a step toward the door.
"
But Taffy said
. . ."
Suddenly her knees buckled and she grabbed the sink to keep from falling.

My friends and I rushed to help her.
"
Come on,
"
I said.
"
We
'
re taking you to the school nurse.
"