Fabulous Five 005 - The Bragging War (5 page)

Beth was staring at her fake bruises in the bathroom mirror
and wondering what on earth she was going to do when she heard a horn honk in
the driveway. A split second later Brittany's bedroom door slammed and she
clattered down the stairs, making more noise than a stampede of elephants.

The house was totally quiet now. Brian was at his Saturday
job bagging groceries at a supermarket; Mom had taken Alicia to her ballet
lesson; Todd had gone to a friend's house; her dad was in the garage
refinishing an old chair; and even Agatha had gone off somewhere to nap. It was
the perfect chance to go back into Brittany's bedroom and use some of her
makeup. This time she didn't even have to sneak.

When she left for the football stadium a little while later,
she was ecstatic. "Not only am I a terrific actress," she told
herself as she walked along, "I'm also a super makeup artist."

Her first impulse had been to wash off the bruises and just
use the makeup to hide her pimple. But that could get her into trouble with
Keith, she had reminded herself. Instead she decided to apply Brittany's
flesh-toned foundation, called Shimmering Gloss, right on top of the fake
bruises. That way, if Keith asked any questions, she could always rub off just
a little bit of the foundation and show him that the bruises were still
underneath. Best of all, buried beneath layers of gooey stage makeup and
Shimmering Gloss was the horrid pimple. No one would ever know it was there.

Melanie was waiting for her outside the main gate of the
stadium. She was easy to spot in the milling crowd because she was wearing her
short, cardinal-red cheerleading skirt and gold letter sweater, just as Beth was,
and she bounced on her tiptoes and waved to Beth with a red-and-gold pom-pon.

"Hi," Melanie said brightly, and if she noticed
Beth's makeup, she didn't let on. Instead her eves got big and she began
talking excitedly. "Boy, have I got a lot of stuff to tell you. Alexis
just told me all about Laura's slumber party last night, and wait until you
hear what happened."

"I already know what happened," grumbled Beth. "They
went out TPing cute boys' houses and then came to mine. They also know that I
didn't have a slumber party last night and invite boys."

"Yeah," said Melanie. "Alexis told me all
about that, but that's not everything. She said just a minute ago that Laura
said she might make her clique bigger and let some more kids in. She was even
making up new names, like The Sensational Seven, The Exotic Eight, and . . .
get this," Melanie added with a tinkling laugh, "
The Naughty Nine
.
Alexis said that girls were making idiots of themselves trying to do things for
Laura and get on her good side. Everybody wants to be in her group. And you'll
never guess who some of them are."

Melanie didn't give Beth a chance to answer. "Kim
Baxter and Sara Sawyer and Lisa Snow! Our old friends from Mark Twain
Elementary, of all people. Alexis said she didn't want in Laura's clique, but I'm
not so sure. All she could talk about was Laura McCall and the things her dad
lets her get away with."

"Big deal!" Beth said with a sniff. It made her
furious to think of their old friends buttering up Laura McCall. "So what
if Laura can get away with things? That doesn't mean her friends can get away
with them."

"Oh, yes, it does," argued Melanie. "All they
have to do is hang around with her. They just tell their parents that they're
going over to her apartment. Then when Laura does something, they do it, too.
None of their parents ever finds out."

Beth was just about to explode and yell at Melanie that if
she was that impressed with what Laura's friends could do, then why didn't she
try to get into the clique, too, when Whitney Larkin and Mandy McDermott
stormed up to her.

"What's the big idea, Beth Barry?" demanded
Whitney. "Were you trying to make us look stupid, or something?"

"Yeah," said Mandy. "You said
you
were
having a slumber party and inviting
boys.
But when we came to your house
last night to TP, there wasn't a single boy there, or girls either, for that
matter. What if we had skipped Laura's party thinking we were going to yours?
We would have been the laughingstock of Wacko Junior High when everybody found
out."

"Just like
you
are now!" added Whitney. "And
it serves you right."

The two girls whirled around and marched toward the stadium
gate with their noses in the air.

Beth watched them go in stunned silence. Then she turned to
Melanie. "I told them it was too late for them to be included in my party,"
she argued. "I didn't want them to think that they were really
invited—just that our party was going to be better than Laura's. What do they
mean, I'm the laughingstock of Wacko Junior High?"

"Eeek!" squeaked Melanie. "That was the other
thing I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how."

"Well, you'd better tell me right now," warned
Beth.

"Okay. Here goes," Melanie said with a sigh. "I
hate to say this because we're good friends, but you're starting to get a
terrible reputation. Everybody says that you have a super extralarge mouth and
that nobody can believe a word you say. They say that you make up things just
to get noticed. They say that they're tired of it and that your big story about
the slumber party was absolutely the last straw."

"Who says that?" Beth demanded.

Melanie looked down at her shoes. "Practically
everybody," she murmured.

Beth stared at her friend without moving a muscle or
blinking an eye, but inside she felt as if she were crumpling into a tiny ball
and growing smaller and smaller by the second. How could Melanie say such a
thing? she wondered. How could
anybody
say such a thing? It was
incredible. They just didn't understand her. That was all.

"Well, I'll show them," she muttered under her
breath. "I'll show every single one of them. And I'll do it by making them
see the truth about Laura McCall."

Beth couldn't ignore the angry looks she got when she and
Melanie joined some of the other cheerleaders on the sidelines beside the
VVakeman Warriors' bench where they were waiting for the team to come out of
the locker room. Taffy Sinclair and Alexis Duvall were there, and they started
whispering as soon as she got near. She glanced at the cheering section up in
the stands. It was almost filled, and all the kids there seemed to be talking
among themselves. Gossiping, she thought. And she was sure the gossip was all
about her.

Just then Laura and Tammy came bounding up, grinning as if
they were bursting with news.

"Guess what, everybody," Laura called as the other
members of the squad gathered around her. "Have I ever got some terrific
news."

Beth hung back, staying just far enough to be out of the
crowd around Laura but close enough to hear what she was saying. The others were
pushing to get nearer to her, including Melanie, Beth noticed, and frowned.

"Everybody knows that Brain Damage is going to do a
concert here next Friday night, right?" Laura nodded to the girls, and
almost everyone nodded back.

Beth didn't respond, but she definitely knew that the wacky
English rock band was coming to town. They were the craziest bunch of teen
musicians on the planet, dressing in outlandish costumes and sometimes even
dragging kids out of the audience to join their group for a song or two. It was
always big news when they scheduled a concert. In fact, it had been plastered
all over the newspaper for weeks, and everyone was going. But what did that
have to do with Laura? Beth wondered.

"Well, get this," Laura went on, flicking the end
of her long blond braid and giving Beth a look of superiority. "My father
is a personal friend of the promoter who is handling Brain Damage's North
American tour, but that's not all. Daddy said that he can get front row seats
for me and any of my friends!"

Beth could feel the blood draining out of her face as a wild
whoop went up from the cheerleading squad. Everybody—except for Beth and
Melanie—was jumping around and hugging each other and squealing about how cute
the rock stars were.

"Front row tickets to Brain Damage!" Dekeisha
shrieked. "I think I'm going to die!"

Most of the others scrambled toward the cheering section to
tell their friends, and Beth watched in disgust as word spread through the
crowed like a wave. How could this be happening to me
now
?
she
thought. Just when I absolutely have to get even with Laura, she's going to get
front row tickets to Brain Damage! It was almost more than Beth could stand,
and when she looked Laura's way, she saw every conceivable shade of purple and
red.

A moment later the Wakeman Warriors jogged onto the field to
the roar of the crowd and began their warm-up calisthenics. Beth caught sight
of Keith in the second row. He was smiling at her, and she waved a pom-pon back
in his direction. Suddenly she remembered her pimple, safely hidden under
layers of goop. Thank goodness, she thought, breathing a huge sigh of relief. A
fiery pimple blazing beside her nose would have made her day even more
unbearable than it already was.

Dekeisha signaled the squad onto the field, and Beth tried
to concentrate on the cheers. She was going through all the motions and saying
all the words, but she could tell that she wasn't at her best. Her definition
of movement was lousy, and each time she did a jump, she came back to earth
like a ton of bricks. She looked at Laura out of the corner of her eye and
scowled. It was all Laura's fault. Laura's fault that Beth had had to make up a
story about a slumber party. Laura's fault that she was getting the reputation
of having a super extralarge mouth. Laura's fault about
everything
!

Beth was beginning to perspire. The chilly wind that had
been blowing this morning had died away, and her gold letter sweater was
beginning to itch. To make matters worse, Dekeisha was really putting them
through their paces, calling for only the most difficult cheers and strenuous
gymnastics, and Beth was panting like crazy when the horn finally blew
signaling halftime.

Melanie caught up with her on the way to the refreshment
stand. "Great game, huh?"

Beth nodded. She didn't even know who was winning or what
the score was much less whether or not it was a great game.

"Can you believe that Laura McCall?" Beth
grumbled, keeping her voice low so that none of the other cheerleaders heard. "I
mean, front row tickets to
Brain Damage!
We can't let her get away with
that. The Fabulous Five won't have a single friend left in the world."

Melanie nodded forlornly. "Just wait until the guys
hear about it. I'll be lucky if Scott or Shane or Garrett or
anybody
ever wants to take me out again. They'll all be after Laura." Then Melanie
snapped to attention and put a hand on Beth's arm. "But promise me one
thing, Beth Barry. Swear that you won't come up with any more harebrained
schemes to outdo Laura. Come on.
Swear!
"

Beth smiled sweetly at her friend. As a matter of fact, she
had just come up with a terrific idea. Harebrained scheme?
Humpf!
she
thought, but she just kept on smiling.

"Raise your hand and swear, Beth," Melanie
insisted as they stopped beside the rest of the squad at the refreshment stand.

Beth slowly raised her hand. I could fake it, she thought,
but then changed her mind. What's the use? she wondered, and instead of swearing,
she brought her hand down across the left side of her face to wipe away some
perspiration.

At that same instant Mandy McDermott, who was standing
beside Beth, glanced at her. Mandy's mouth dropped open, and the next thing
Beth knew, she was pointing straight at Beth's face and letting out a
bloodcurdling scream.

Beth stared at Mandy in surprise. "What's the matter!"

"Your face! You're bleeding!" shouted Mandy.

"Bleeding?" asked Beth incredulously.

"Oh, Beth," cried Melanie. "You've got blood
all over your face!"

Beth touched her face and looked at her fingers. They were
smeared with the greasepaint she had used to fake the bruises. Her sweating had
made it and the Shimmering Gloss foundation run together and turn bloodred, and
swiping at it had made it run all over her face.

"Quick! Call a doctor!" yelled Mandy, rushing
around in circles. "Get the paramedics!" People started running
toward Beth.

"Oh, my gosh! Stop her someone," Beth pleaded. She
didn't want hundreds of people rushing to see her zit.

"Beth, are you hurt?" Melanie looked scared.

Beth pushed her way through the crowd and ran for the girls'
room at the back of the refreshment stand. Inside, she slammed and locked the
door and ran to the mirror over the sink. She stared in horror at the red
makeup that had run down her face in streaks. No wonder Mandy had screamed.

Frantically Beth turned on both faucets and grabbed a
handful of paper towels from the dispenser and started scrubbing the makeup
off. The water ran bright red in the sink.

She took more paper towels, drying her face and patting away
beads of moisture from the top of her pleated skirt. She was glad it was
cardinal red. No spots showed on it.

Next she examined her face closely. She had gotten all the
makeup off, but her zit stood out in proud majesty. Oh, no, she thought. What
am
I going to do? Someone was pounding on the door.

"Beth! Beth! Are you all right?" It was Melanie. "Open
the door, Beth! I want to help."

Beth looked around furtively. She couldn't open the door and
show her zit to the world. There were probably hundreds of people out there
waiting for her. It was just like the last scene in her favorite movie,
Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
,
when the walls were lined with men
with guns waiting for the pair to come out. Beth sighed. She only wished she
could die in the same blaze of glory when she opened the door.

"Beth Barry! Answer me," Melanie insisted.

Beth spoke at the door. "I'm . . . I'm okay, Melanie. I
. . . uh, the heat just got to me! Yeah! That's it. It's the heat."

"The heat? Get serious. The temperature's in the
fifties, Beth," Melanie responded.

"I know . . . but the cheers. Doing the cheers with
this heavy sweater on overheated me. I just need to cool off for a few minutes."
Then Beth had a great idea. "Melanie," she called through the door.

"Yes, Beth."

"Do you remember the ice pack the football team put on
your ankle when you sprained it during cheerleading practice?"

"Sure."

"That's what I need. I definitely need an ice pack to
help me cool down. Can you get me one from Coach Bledsoe? I know he keeps them
beside the team bench in case any player gets hurt."

Beth heard talking on the other side of the door. Then
Melanie spoke again.

"They said they could get you one. Someone's gone after
it."

Beth smiled to herself. Maybe she was going to talk her way
out of this yet.

Shortly Melanie spoke again. "Beth, we've got the ice
pack. Can I come in?"

"Yes," Beth answered. "You can. But no one
else! And tell everyone else to go away." She cracked the door just enough
for Melanie to squeeze inside, and then she locked it again quickly.

"Beth, are you sure you're all right?" Melanie
asked. Beth was struck by the deep look of concern on Melanie's face.

"I'm okay. Really I am. Let me have the ice pack. How
do you work it?"

"You twist it like this," said Melanie. "Apparently
some chemicals mix together inside and make it cold. You do look all right.
What happened to the blood on your face? I know I saw blood."

"It wasn't blood. Really. I had some theater makeup on
under some flesh-toned foundation, and when I got hot doing the cheers, it
started running."

"Beth Barry! You mean you scared the living daylights
out of everyone over your makeup running? We thought you were in here bleeding
to death."

"It's worse than bleeding to death. Look!" Beth
took her hand away from the pimple she had been covering.

"Oooh," said Melanie, making a face. "That's
gross."

"I knew you would say that," Beth huffed. "If
I opened the door with everyone standing out there, a thousand people would
have said the same thing
in unison.
I'd die. Worse yet, I wouldn't die."

"Well, you're going to have to leave here sooner or
later. You can't wait until Mount Everest disappears."

Beth frowned at Melanie. "I thought it looked like
Mount Everest, too, but you didn't have to say so." Then she put the ice
pack against her face.

"I'm going to claim that I got too hot, and my face
turned beet red. It wasn't blood everyone saw. It was just my red face and
perspiration. You've got to stick up for me. Tell them that's what I looked
like when you came in, but the ice pack cooled me down. I'll keep it against my
face so they won't see my zit, and they'll think I'm trying to stay cool."

Melanie looked at her dubiously. "Okay, but I don't know
if they'll believe it. Not after . . ."

Beth felt a stab of guilt. She knew what Melanie had started
to say. Not after her big story about the fake slumber party and now everybody
thought she had a super extralarge mouth. "Please, Melanie. It's so
important," she began. "And I promise. I'll never ask you to do
anything like this again. I
swear
!
"

"Well . . . okay," Melanie relented slowly. "But
just this once."

"Thanks," said Beth. "You're a real friend."

Beth sat in the grass behind the team bench and kept the ice
pack against her face. She had to admit that she sort of enjoyed the attention
that everyone gave her. She felt like a star, not like at home where she had to
fight to get noticed. Miss Wolfe even came over to sec how she was doing and
told her not to do any more cheers. She also instructed the rest of the
cheerleaders to take off their sweaters so they wouldn't overheat the way Beth
had. Beth knew it was working perfectly when all the cheerleaders, except for
Laura and Tammy, stopped by to tell her how worried they were about her. So
what if I'm getting a reputation for an extralarge mouth? I'm an actress! she
thought proudly, and someday I'll get an Oscar to prove it.

When Keith heard she wasn't feeling well, he left the
Wakeman Warriors bench to see her, too. She moved the ice pack so that it
covered both the zit and the place where the imaginary bruise was supposed to
be and gazed up at him. She loved the look of concern on his face and thanked
her lucky stars she had survived one more incident.

When the second half of the game started, she had time to
think. The ice pack was starting to lose its coldness, but that was okay. At
least it hid her pimple. On the way home she would definitely have to get some
Band-Aids. She could put one on, and the next time she saw Keith she could tell
him the ice pack cured her bruises. Wasn't that what you were supposed to do
for bruises? she wondered. Apply ice?

Now all she had to do was figure out a way to stop Laura
McCall and her father from getting front row tickets for Brain Damage. A tiny
idea was starting to form in one of the wrinkles of Beth's brain. The more she
thought about it, the bigger it grew. She giggled to herself.
There was a
way!