Fabulous Five 001 - Seventh-Grade Rumors (6 page)

Jana stayed glued to her seat while the rest of the class
filed out of homeroom. She was staring at the doodles on the page.

T-R-A-I-T-O-R

T-R-A-I-T-O-R

T-R-A-I-T-O-R

I'm not a traitor, she thought stubbornly, but still, it was
pretty obvious that her friends saw her that way.

She made it to English class just as the bell was ringing.
Fortunately Funny had saved her a seat, and she sank into it just as Miss
Dickinson was announcing the assignment. She gave Funny a quick smile and
opened her book. Deep down she was glad that there wasn't time for conversation
with Funny. As much as she liked her new friend, a lump the size of a tennis
ball formed in her throat every time she thought about Melanie, Christie,
Katie, and especially Beth. She couldn't just abandon them completely and spend
all of her time with Funny. It wasn't the same. Something was missing. There
were no memories of things they had done together the way there were with her
old friends. With The Fabulous Five she had memories of good times. Even of bad
times. Hadn't Laura reminded Funny that they had stuck together through thick
and thin? She had been talking about the very same thing, only Jana hadn't
realized what she meant until Christie had refused to look at her in homeroom.

Thick and thin, she mused, thinking of all their problems
with Taffy Sinclair. The club they'd had against Taffy. The time she got a part
on a soap opera. The time she blackmailed Jana! Her friends had stuck by her
and helped her out of every one of those dilemmas. They had helped her in her
romance with Randy Kirwan, too. Wonderful Randy, who was not only the handsomest
boy in the world but the kindest and most sincere, also. She thought about his
call last night. What would he think of her if he suspected that she was
abandoning her best friends? The thought hit her like a bolt of lightning. She
couldn't lose Randy Kirwan. She just couldn't.

Morning classes went on as usual, but Jana hardly noticed
what was going on. Her mind was on her friends in The Fabulous Five and the
misunderstanding that was growing between them. Maybe Mom was right, she
thought. Even though they should know that they were special to her without
being told, if they needed reassuring, she would do it. At lunch period, she
thought. I'll do it then. It was amazing how easy it would be now that she
thought about it. She would simply march up to their table and say that she had
something to talk about. Then she would explain how much she still wanted to be
friends with them. Surely they would listen, and when they did, everything
would be all right again. She would explain about Funny, too. About how she was
a nice person, not a bubblehead, and how they ought to give her a chance.

Jana was actually humming to herself as she got her lunch
out of her locker and headed for the cafeteria. Her plan was going to work. She
was sure it would. She forced herself to hang back a little, letting the
lunchroom fill up so that her friends would be sure to be there when she went
in. She giggled to herself, feeling a little like Taffy Sinclair making a grand
entrance. That's okay, she told herself. It's for a
fabulous
cause.

She had barely stepped inside the cafeteria when she heard a
familiar voice call her name.

"Jana! Jana! Over here," Funny gushed. She was
sitting at a table not three feet from the door and she was waving like mad. "Hurry.
I've had a terrible time holding your seat."

Jana's heart sank. There was no way she could ignore Funny
without insulting her. Scanning the cafeteria, she saw her friends sitting at a
table on the opposite side of the room. How could she ever get over there to
talk to them?

Just then a brilliant idea struck. "Milk," she
called back to Funny. "I've got to get in line for milk. I'll come back as
soon as I can."

"I got your milk," cried Funny. "See!"
She was holding up two cartons, one in each hand, and grinning like mad. "Sit
down."

Jana sighed and joined Funny at the table. She tried to
smile and mumble thanks, but her heart felt as if it were made of lead and her
appetite was totally gone. She couldn't talk to her friends with Funny around.
She had to get to them
alone.
But how?

"What's wrong?" Funny asked around a bite of
apple. "Bad morning?"

Jana nodded, glad to have an excuse for her behavior. She
didn't want to hurt Funny After all, it wasn't Funny's fault that she had
gotten herself into such a mess.

"Me, too," Funny confessed. "Talk about
freeze out. Of course, Laura's the worst, but whatever she does, Tammy and
Melissa do also."

"I've heard some things about Laura," said Jana.

"Like what?"

"That she's in control of your group, and if she tells
you to do something and you won't do it, you're out. Is that true?"

Funny shrugged. "I've heard some things about The
Fabulous Five, too," she said, and Jana had the distinct feeling that she
was changing the subject to keep from talking about Laura. "For instance,
is it true that your club used to be
against
Taffy Sinclair?"

Jana frowned. It hurt to hear The Fabulous Five being
criticized. "Taffy's not so bad
now,
" she said. "But she
used to be the snottiest person alive. You just don't know her."

"You don't know Laura, either," countered Funny.
Then her face brightened. "Hey, let's not get into an argument. If we lose
each other, we're
doomed!
" Then she put one hand around her neck,
stuck out her tongue, and made a strangling sound, which sent Jana into
convulsions of laughter in spite of herself.

Jana didn't get a chance to talk to her friends anytime
during lunch period. Funny Hawthorne stuck to her like frost, giggling and
chattering as if things could not be better. To make matters worse, Jana saw
Katie and Christie on the way to history class, but when she waved to them and
tried to motion with her hands for them to wait for her, they wheeled around
and stomped off in the opposite direction.

"What am I going to do?" she said half aloud as
she opened her history book. "I've got to talk to them, but how?"

After school, she thought. After school I'll call an
emergency meeting of The Fabulous Five. Why didn't I think of it before? While
her history teacher droned on about the winning of the American West, Jana was
busy writing notes. She wrote one to Christie. One to Katie. One to Melanie.
And one to Beth. Maybe Beth wouldn't come, but she had to try.

Emergency meeting of The Fabulous Five at my house after
school. This is urgent. BE THERE!!!

Jana

Between classes Jana raced to the hall where the
seventh-grade lockers were and slipped a rolled-up note into the U-shaped shank
of the combination lock on each door. They can't open their lockers without
finding them, she thought happily. And they'll come. I know they will. And when
I explain to them about how I feel, everything will be all right again.

Still, she couldn't resist crossing and uncrossing her
fingers three times for luck.

Jana couldn't remember when she had been so nervous. She
hadn't even stopped by her locker after school. Partly it was because she didn't
want to come face-to-face with her friends when they found her notes, but
mostly it was because she was in a hurry to get home and get ready for the
meeting.

She tore around the apartment straightening up, plumping pillows
on the sofa, checking the refrigerator for soda, and doing a million and one
things that she didn't ordinarily bother to do when her friends were coming
over. But this meeting was important, she told herself, and special.

When the doorbell rang, she almost jumped out of her skin.
Putting her hand on the knob, she took a deep breath to steady herself and
opened the door. It was Melanie.

"Hi," she said weakly.

"Hi," said Jana. "Come on in."

"Can I use your phone to call my mom and tell her where
I am?" asked Melanie.

Jana nodded. She was glad that Melanie wanted to use the
phone. Maybe the others would get there before she was forced to make
conversation. Things were so awkward now, and she wanted everyone present
before she made the speech she had been rehearsing in her head all afternoon.

The doorbell rang again. It was Christie and Katie. They
peered anxiously into the apartment when she answered the door but seemed to
relax when they saw that Melanie was already there.

Jana busied herself in the kitchen fixing drinks while the
others got settled. She knew she was stalling as she checked each glass for
smudges, counted out exactly four ice cubes per glass, and poured the soda very
slowly so that it wouldn't bubble over the top, but she was getting more panicky
by the minute. Should she start explaining as soon as she passed out the sodas?
But Beth wasn't there. What if she didn't show up? How long should she wait?

Three pairs of eyes met her as she entered the room,
carrying the sodas.

"So what's the emergency?" asked Katie in a cool
voice.

"Yeah, you said it was urgent," said Christie.

Even though Beth hadn't arrived, Jana knew she couldn't
stall any longer, so she set the glasses on the coffee table where everyone
could reach them and began.

"There is an emergency. A BIG one. Probably the biggest
one we've ever had. There's something none of you seem to know, and if you don't
find out right now, something awful is going to happen to The Fabulous Five."

Melanie gasped. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll bet I know," said Katie. "Rumors! I'll
bet Laura McCall is spreading rumors about us again." She shot a warning
glance at Jana and added, "It better not be anything you told that Funny
Hawthorne."

Jana bristled. "It has nothing to do with rumors,"
she insisted. "And I have not told Funny anything about The Fabulous Five.
What I'm trying to tell you is, I'm not a traitor. I like Funny Hawthorne. She's
nice and we're starting to be friends. But you are my very best friends in the
world, and I really,
really
don't want that to change . . . because if
it changes, we won't be The Fabulous Five anymore . . . and I don't think I
could stand that."

Nobody said anything for a moment. Jana could feel all their
eyes on her, but she couldn't look at them. Her heart was too full of pain, and
tears were brimming in her eyes and threatening to spill down her cheeks. What
if they didn't believe her? What if they didn't
care
?

Suddenly Melanie sprang off the sofa and threw her arms
around Jana. She didn't even notice that she had nudged the coffee table,
rocking it so that the glasses teetered and then tumbled over, spraying the
room and everyone in it with soda and ice cubes.

"Oh, Jana," she cried. "We want to stay
friends! We really do!"

They were all crying now, and Christie and Katie rushed over
and wrapped their arms around her, too.

"It was awful without you," said Christie. "We
weren't
The Fabulous Five."

"Nothing was the same," insisted Katie. "Honest,
but we thought you didn't like us anymore. We thought that when you got to
Wakeman and met Funny and started spending all that time with her that suddenly
we weren't good enough for you anymore."

"That's not it at all!" Jana protested. "It
is true that I made a new friend, but nobody could ever take your place, and as
far as spending more time with her than you, she's in more of my classes than
any of you are."

A moment later everyone was crawling around the floor,
blotting wet spots, picking up ice cubes, and talking at once.

"We really missed you," said Melanie. "I was
so upset that I couldn't even think about Scott or Shane. All I could think
about was you."

"Yeah," added Katie with a grin. "And when
Melanie can't think about
boys,
you know she has problems."

"Okay, guys," said Jana. "I feel a lot better
now that you understand. I also hope you'll give Funny a chance. She's not like
Laura. Believe me. She's not a bubblehead, either. She's just got a great sense
of humor."

The others shrugged, and Jana could see that they weren't
totally sold on Funny. I'll drop it for now, she thought. At least I've made a
little progress. And the best thing of all, The Fabulous Five are back
together!

Jana stopped and looked at her friends. "The Fabulous
FIVE," she whispered. "Where's Beth?"

"Who knows?" muttered Katie. "She hasn't
spoken to any of us for a couple of days."

"She acts as if she's far off somewhere," said
Christie.

"
So
far off that she even has her own zip code,"
Melanie said wryly.

Frowning, Jana said, "I thought it was just me she was
mad at. I mean, really mad, and I don't know what I've done." She
explained to them about the scene at the fence and Beth's angry insistence that
she be left alone. "I've never seen her like that," said Jana. "It
was unreal."

"One thing's certain," said Christie. "It isn't
just you she's mad at. And have you been noticing that bracelet she carries all
the time?"

"It looks like a child's bracelet," added Melanie.

"Yes," said Jana. "She had it on the school
steps and again at the fence. I'd never seen it before that. Have you?"

No one had.

"I'm really worried," said Jana. "Maybe she
isn't mad.
Maybe
she's in some sort of trouble."

"And needs us," whispered Melanie, her eyes
growing wide.

Jana raced to the phone and punched in Beth's number. "She
always goes straight home after school unless she's coming over here," she
reasoned.

She held the receiver away from her ear so that all four of
them could count the rings. Finally, after fifteen, she hung up the phone.
Before everyone left, they tried again—this time they let it ring twenty
times—and Jana tried twice before she went to bed, but still, there was no
answer.