Fabulous Five 001 - Seventh-Grade Rumors (8 page)

Taking a deep breath, Jana turned and faced the crowd.
Everyone was talking and laughing as if it were the greatest night in the
world. Waving her hands over her head, she tried to get their attention. Nobody
looked or paid the slightest bit of attention to her. Tears spurted into her
eyes. She had to find out if anyone had seen Beth or had any clues to where she
might be. Quickly she scrambled up onto the counter, astounding the man in the
cook's apron and everyone else nearby. "Quiet, please!" she shouted. "This
is an emergency! May I have everyone's attention?"

Slowly a hush spread over the crowd as Jana continued to
call for silence. Finally, every eye in Bumpers was on her. She cleared her
throat, wiped the tears from her eyes, and said, "I just found out that
Beth Barry is missing."

Her words were met with gasps and murmurs from shocked boys
and girls in the crowd, but they quieted down again immediately and leaned
closer to hear as she explained about Mrs. Barry's surgery and the
misunderstanding that had caused Beth to run away.

"Everybody think hard. This is important. Has anybody
seen her anywhere today or this evening?"

Heads shook and kids talked quietly among themselves, but no
one came forward with information about Beth. Katie, Melanie, and Christie
stood close by, looking as stricken at the news as Jana felt. They helped her
jump down from the counter and briefly described Beth to the man in the cook's
apron, who introduced himself as Mr. Matson and said he was the owner of
Bumpers and wanted to help.

"What are we going to do?" she sobbed as kids
drifted out the door and headed for home.

Just then an arm slipped around her shoulder. "It'll be
okay," said Randy, gently pushing her head onto his shoulder. "We'll
find her."

Later, he walked her home just as he had promised, but
instead of kissing, they made plans for what they would do if Beth wasn't home
by morning.

Jana stared at the ceiling all night long worrying about her
best friend and trying to figure out where she might be. She and Randy had
hurried home, hoping that by then her mother had heard good news, but she hadn't.
Poor Beth, Jana thought. She believed her mother had died. Jana wanted so badly
to find her and tell her that her fears were wrong.

Early the next morning Jana and her mom called Mr. Barry,
but there was still no good news about Beth. Then she called Randy to put their
plan into action.

Splashing cold water on her face and jumping into her most
comfortable jeans and sweatshirt, Jana was gulping down a glass of orange juice
when the phone rang.

"Oh, my gosh!" she shouted. She dashed past her mother
and lunged for it, nearly dropping the receiver in her excitement. "HELLO!"

"Hi, Jana. It's me, Funny. I just called to see if Beth
has been found yet."

"Not yet." Jana collapsed limply onto the sofa,
feeling breath leave her lungs like air rushing out of a balloon. "I was
hoping that you were Mr. Barry . . . or Beth."

"I'm really sorry," said Funny. "I didn't get
a chance to tell you last night in all the excitement. Can I come over and wait
with you?"

"I won't be here. All the kids from Mark Twain are
meeting at the mall when it opens at ten. It was Randy's idea, and he's calling
everyone and telling them what to do. We're going to form search teams and comb
the whole town looking for her."

"Wow! What a great idea. Can I help?"

"No," snapped Jana. "It will just be Mark
Twain kids."

Even though Funny was silent, Jana could tell she was hurt.
In some ways Jana was sorry, but Funny would just have to understand. It was
something private that they wanted to do together. At least, she wanted it that
way. She wanted things the way they used to be, without anyone from Riverfield
horning in.

The doors hadn't opened yet when she got to the mall, but
already a few kids were standing outside. Marcie Bee, Gloria Drexler, and Sara
Sawyer were leaning against the building. Richie Corrierro and Joel Murphy were
locking their bikes in a rack by the front door, and Taffy Sinclair and Alexis
Duvall were crossing the parking lot. No one smiled or said much of anything.
It was as if they were going to a funeral, Jana thought, and then shuddered.
She couldn't let herself or them think that way. Her heart was pounding, and
the lump in her throat kept growing larger. As frightened as she had been last
night when she heard that Beth had disappeared, somehow she had honestly
believed that everything would be all right by morning. Things such as this
happened to other people. You read about it in the paper all the time. But it
never happened to her . . . or to
Beth.

A couple of minutes later a man in a security guard's
uniform opened the mall doors. Jana and the others went in, heading for the
goldfish pond by the escalators where they had agreed to meet. One by one the
others arrived. Christie Winchell. Randy Kirwan. Scott Daly. Lisa Snow.
Clarence Marshall. Mark Peters. Curtis Trowbridge. Katie Shannon. Melanie
Edwards. Mona Vaughn, and the others, until all twenty-six members of Miss
Wiggins's sixth-grade class at Mark Twain Elementary had assembled except
one—Beth Barry.

Randy came over to stand beside Jana as she held up her hand
for quiet, even though it wasn't necessary. Everyone was already quiet, stunned
and silent as they worried about their classmate, and they were looking to her,
Beth's best friend, to tell them what to do next.

"First," she said, "has anybody thought of
any place she might have gone?"

"Did they search the hospital?" asked Matt
Zeboski. "She might have just ducked into an empty room where she could be
alone and think."

Jana nodded. "They looked there. In every room and
every supply closet and behind every door that she could have opened."

"What about her grandmother or an uncle or cousin or
someone like that," offered Kim Baxter.

Jana sighed. "They checked them, too. Doesn't anyone
have any
new
ideas?" she blurted, aware that panic was creeping
into her voice. "We have to find her! Come on, everybody. Think!"

Just then Jana was aware that more kids were joining their
group. She looked up and gasped. "What are you doing here?" she said
angrily.

Laura McCall was standing slightly in front of her three
friends, but it was Funny Hawthorne who stepped forward and spoke.

"We want to help. Honest. We really do."

"How could you figure out where Beth would go?"
challenged Alexis Duvall. "You hardly even know her."

"Yeah," murmured others in the crowd.

"I have an idea," offered Laura. "At least I
know where I go when I'm upset." Everyone got quiet and looked at her. "It
may sound silly, but I go to my old playhouse in my backyard. When I was little
I always went out there and told my troubles to my dolls, probably because it
was my favorite spot in the world. My very best memories are there. My dolls
aren't there anymore, but I still feel safe and protected there, anyway."

"But Beth doesn't have a . . . playhouse . . ." Jana
started to protest, but she stopped in the middle of the sentence, suddenly
understanding what Laura was getting at. "You're saying that we should try
to figure out where she felt the happiest and most secure because that might be
where she is right now."

Laura nodded.

Jana looked at her friends. There was one place that they
had all wished they were over and over again during this first wacko week of
junior high, she thought. Mark Twain Elementary. Was it possible that Beth had
hidden there? Had she taken refuge in the school where she had been so happy in
the past now that she thought the future looked so bleak? She could have gotten
in yesterday afternoon before the building was locked and hidden out until
everyone went home.

A cheer went up when Jana suggested their old school. A lot
of kids agreed that it was a logical place to look.

"I'll call my mom and ask her to meet us there with the
key," called Christie, running for the pay phones.

"Let's go," shouted Randy. He took Jana's hand and
gave it a quick squeeze, and she gave him a smile back that said thank-you.
Then he added, "Even if she loves Mark Twain enough to hide there, she's
probably pretty scared right now."

"And lonely," added Melanie. "Let's just hope
she's there and that she's okay."

Jana started to leave with the others, but instead she
stopped and turned to Funny. "I'm sorry I doubted your friendship. Come
with us. We want you to." Then, motioning to all of The Fantastic
Foursome, she added, "If we find her at Mark Twain, we'll have you to
thank, Laura. It really is a good idea."

The entire group marched out of the mall and toward the
school together, spilling over the sidewalk and into the street. Some jogged in
nervous anticipation. Others pushed bikes. Jana walked along with her arms
around two of her friends, Melanie on one side and Funny on the other.

The crowd got quiet as they approached the school. Mrs.
Winchell's car stopped at the curb a moment later. Jana and the others milled
around anxiously while she found her key. "I hope you kids are right about
her being here," she said as the lock turned and the door swung open. "Beth!"
she called into the empty corridor. "Beth Barry. Are you here?"

Only silence greeted them, and after a moment they tiptoed
inside in single file.

"It sure is spooky in here," whispered Funny.

Jana nodded and looked around. The morning light was slanting
in the windows, causing long shadows to angle off eerily. But most of all,
somehow Mark Twain Elementary looked smaller than she remembered it after a
week at Wakeman Junior High.

"Beth Barry? Are you here?" Mrs. Winchell repeated
insistently. This time when no one answered, she added, "Okay, let's fan
out in all directions. Be careful, though. She's very upset. We don't want to
scare her any more than she already has been."

Jana motioned to Katie, Christie, and Melanie to come with
her. "I'll bet I know where she is," she whispered.

When they reached their old sixth-grade classroom the door
was closed. All the others along the hall were open. Jana pointed to the door. "She's
in there," she said, forming the words by moving her lips and not making a
sound. The others nodded that they understood.

Now what can we do? wondered Jana. She agreed with Mrs.
Winchell about how upset Beth was. They had to be careful. Suddenly it dawned
on her. She knew exactly what to do.

She pressed her face against the door. "Beth," she
called softly. "It's Jana. Listen. I have something wonderful to tell you.
That doctor you heard in the waiting room wasn't talking to you. Your mother's
okay. She came through the operation just fine, and she's going to get well.
Please come out now. She wants to see you."

The four friends joined hands and held their breaths. Was
Beth really inside? Had she heard what Jana had said? Finally the door opened a
crack. From inside came one sniffling sound and then another.

"Beth?" Jana pleaded. "Did you hear what I
said? It was all a misunderstanding. Your mother is okay."

This time the door swung open all the way and Beth stepped
out. Her eyes were puffy and her hair a tangled mess, but she was smiling.

"Oh, Jana," she cried, rushing into her best
friend's arms. "I've been so scared. I thought that she was . . ."

"It's okay," said Melanie, putting her arms around
Beth and Jana. Christie and Katie joined in, and the five of them stood in the
middle of the hall hugging and crying tears of happiness.

The next day was Sunday, and Jana's mother invited Beth and
her father to come over for dinner after they visited Mrs. Barry at the
hospital.

Beth was all smiles. She even looked normal again in a
bright fuchsia miniskirt and matching knit top and huge, brightly colored
earrings in the shape of parrots. "You should see Mom! She's walking up
and down the halls, and the doctor said she can go home sometime this week."

"That's terrific," said Mrs. Morgan. "I'm
glad that everything worked out so well." She excused the girls right
after dessert, saying that she and Jana would do the dishes later.

It was only then, after the girls were in Jana's room with
the door closed, that Beth told Jana the rest of the story.

"It's hard to explain," she said, "and I know
you think that I get carried away and overly dramatic about things sometimes,
but this is true. I was really worried that my mother would die and that it was
all my fault."

"Beth!" Jana exclaimed. "How could you
believe such a thing?"

Beth gave her friend a helpless shrug. "Believe it or
not, it all started when I was five years old. I yelled at Mom. Things like, 'I
hate you,' ' I wish you were dead.' The kind of things little kids say without
thinking. Later that afternoon Mom was in an automobile accident coming home
from the grocery store. I thought she was going to die, and I thought it was
all my fault. And then last weekend we had a big fight over new clothes for
junior high. Later that night I found out she was going into the hospital for
surgery, and—I couldn't help it—the old guilt came back again." She wiped
away a tear.

"But your mother didn't die in the accident or in
surgery," Jana insisted. "Besides, you don't really believe in
superstitions like that anymore. You're old enough to know better."

"I know," confessed Beth, sighing. "But it's
happened a couple of other times. Nothing as serious as a car accident or an
operation, but I guess it
was
enough to make me superstitious, like you
said. I told you it was going to sound weird. That's why I couldn't talk to you
about it and why you thought I was mad at you and didn't want to be friends
anymore. I was mad at myself for hurting my mom."

"Oh, Beth," cried Jana, throwing her arms around
her best friend. "I didn't know what to think. And then you were always
playing with that little bracelet. What was that all about?"

Slowly Beth pulled the bracelet out of her pocket and
dropped it into Jana's wastebasket. "I guess I won't need this anymore."
She grinned sheepishly. "It goes back to Mom's car accident when I was
five. There was a lady in the hospital waiting room that time who was holding
beads. I was too small to know that they were a rosary and that she was praying,
so when she got good news, I decided I would get my beads, too. When I went home
that night I got out my bracelet and held it in my hand all night long. The
next morning they told us Mom was going to be okay. Even though I knew the
bracelet didn't have any magical powers, I just couldn't help it. I got it out
again when she went into the hospital. Does that make any sense?"

Jana nodded. She really did understand. It was easy
sometimes to believe something even though you knew deep down that it couldn't
possibly be true. Poor Beth, she thought. All these years she's been blaming
herself for things she had nothing to do with, and her superstitious fears had
even made her run away.

"Promise me one thing," she said, taking Beth's
hand. "You won't forget that The Fabulous Five always stick together and
talk their problems over with each other."

Beth laughed. "I promise," she said. "Now let's
decide what we're going to wear to school on Monday."

"Okay," said Jana. "I can't wait to get back
to Wacko Junior High!" It surprised Jana to hear herself say that, but the
more she thought about it, the more she knew it was true. She had grown up a
lot over the past few days, and she was ready to leave Mark Twain Elementary
behind and go on to junior high.

Later, after Beth and her father went home, Jana went to the
phone and called Funny.

"Hi," said Jana. "I just want you to know how
much I appreciate your help in finding Beth. I have to admit that I was wrong,
especially about Laura. If she hadn't come up with that idea, we might still be
looking for Beth."

Funny laughed a tinkling little laugh. "I told you
Laura was okay. She just comes off wrong sometimes."

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have been so quick to believe
the rumors I heard. I should have tried to find out the truth for myself."

"You mean about my being a bubblehead?"

Jana gasped. "You know about that?" she shrieked.

"Sure. I think it's a riot."

Jana couldn't help breaking up over that. All this time she
had thought that calling Funny a bubblehead would be a put-down, and Funnv,
with her usual sense of humor, thought it was . . .
funny
.

"Do you still want to try for coeditors of the
yearbook?" Jana asked once they had stopped laughing. "My friends can
handle it now. They're still my BEST friends, and I'll go around with them most
of the time, but I'd like to be your friend, too."

"I feel the same way," said Funny. "I guess
my deepest loyalties are still to Laura and Tammy and Melissa. We've been
friends for a long time, but I like you, also."

After they hung up, Jana gave herself a hug. It had been
quite a first week at Wacko Junior High. Her friendships and her loyalties had
been put to the test. She had found out that you couldn't believe all the
rumors you heard, and she had made a new friend without losing her old ones.

In fact, she thought with a grin, the best news of all was
that things had never been more fabulous among The Fabulous Five.