Fabulous Five 008 - The Runaway Crisis (2 page)

The first thing Katie did when she got home from school was
dump her books on the kitchen table, grab a nectarine out of the bowl of fruit
on the counter, and head for her mother's office.

Wilma Shannon, who insisted on being called Willie, was a
freelance writer. Ever since Katie's father died, Willie had earned a living
for the two of them doing articles for newspapers and magazines. Often those
articles were about causes that Willie cared about and that she wanted people
to get involved with such as the women's movement and world peace. Katie's
friends sometimes kidded her about being a chip off the old block, but she didn't
mind. She had causes she believed in, too, and right now one of them was
Shawnie Pendergast.

"Hi," she called brightly as she stuck her head
into the bedroom that Willie had converted into an office. "Whoops!"
she said, and ducked out again when she saw her mother sitting before the blue
eye of her secondhand computer and gazing into the distance. It had taken some
doing, but her mother had finally convinced her that she was working her
hardest when she was staring off into space.

"It's okay," Willie called back. "I'm almost
finished anyway. Libber and I just can't get this article to come out right. We
need a break."

Katie chuckled and strolled into the room. Taking a bite of
her nectarine, she stroked Libber, the stray yellow cat they had taken in
months ago, who liked to curl up around the back of the warm and softly purring
computer while her mother worked on her articles.

"I can tell that Libber needs a break," Katie
joked. "She looks exhausted. What's your article about, anyway?"

"Hunger," said Willie. "Did you know that in
this city alone hundreds of people go to bed hungry every night? They sleep on
park benches, in vacant buildings, under bridges. And they're not just adults.
Lots of them are children."

Katie let out a low whistle, but before she could say
anything, her mother went on, her voice rising passionately, "And those
are just the ones the authorities know about. There's no telling how many more
there are. It's a
disgrace
."

"Why are you having such a hard time writing about it?"
asked Katie. "It's obvious you care a lot."

"Nobody's doing anything new that I can build an
article on," Willie said, sounding exasperated. "I mean, there are
soup kitchens and collection points where people can drop off donations, but
that's old news. Those have been around for a long time. What I need is
something different that will grab people's attention and make them want to
help out."

Katie shrugged sympathetically. "I haven't heard of
anything around good old Wacko Junior High."

Willie smiled and shut off her computer. "So what
is
going on at good old Wacko? Anything worth talking about?"

"Well, sort of," Katie began. She knew that hunger
was a lot bigger problem than one girl's troubles with her parents, but she
didn't want to let Shawnie down. "I have a new friend. Her name is Shawnie
Pendergast, and her parents are
unreal.
They won't let her do
anything.
"

Katie told her mother the whole story of Shawnie and her
parents, leaving out only the parts about Shawnie's sneaking around. As liberal
as Willie was about some things, Katie wasn't sure how she would feel about
that.

"Anyway," she concluded, "I'd like to invite
Shawnie over sometime. We'd have to make it a homework session, and you'd have
to call Shawnie's mother and convince her that we were really going to study
before she'd give Shawnie permission, but it would be worth it. She needs to
get out of the house."

Willie sighed deeply. "Wow," she said. "It's
hard to believe anyone could be that strict."

"Will you do it?" Katie asked.

"Sure," said Willie, giving her daughter a hug. "You
decide when you want her to come, and I'll take care of the rest."

Katie didn't know why she felt so relieved. She had known
Willie would help once she understood the situation. That was just the kind of person
her mother was.

When Katie got to school the next morning, she went inside
the building to look for Shawnie instead of meeting her friends outside at the
fence. She found her at the drinking fountain beside the office.

She had meant to ask Shawnie immediately if she had gotten
home from Bumpers before her mother returned from work, but instead her mouth
dropped open at the sight of Shawnie's gorgeous outfit.

"Like it?" asked Shawnie. Then she twirled around
so that Katie could get the full effect of the deep-burgundy-colored jumper and
matching beige-and-burgundy blouse. Even her lipstick matched, and her blond
hair shone like spun gold in contrast to the dark color of the jumper, making
her look like a magazine model.

"It's beautiful," Katie murmured, and tried not to
wonder how much it had cost.

"I like it, too, but it's only a payoff," said
Shawnie.

"A payoff?" Katie echoed.

"To make up for not letting me do anything or go
anywhere," Shawnie said matter-of-factly. "My mom thinks that if she
buys me a new outfit to wear to school every so often, it will fix everything."
Then her face brightened. "At least I made it home before she did
yesterday, but just barely. I hadn't even taken my coat off when I heard her
car in the driveway. You wouldn't believe how fast I moved to make it look as
if I'd been home for ages."

"Whoa! I'm glad you made it," said Katie. "By
the way, I asked my mom about calling your mom to see if you can come over some
evening. I explained that she'd have to promise your mom that we would do
homework. She said she'd be glad to."

Shawnie just looked at her for a moment, and Katie thought
she saw Shawnie's eyes get misty. "Thanks a million. Your mom sounds like
a real doll." Then her face lit up again and she added with a wink, "We
will study, too! At least part of the time."

Katie laughed along with Shawnie, but at the same time she
felt a catch in her throat. Poor Shawnie, she thought. It wasn't fair that her
life was so miserable. Merely inviting Shawnie to her house once in a while wasn't
going to be nearly enough. There had to be more she could do.

At lunchtime Katie brought up the subject of Shawnie with
her friends again.

"Can you believe a mother who pays off her daughter
with clothes for
not
letting her do things? That's what Shawnie told me
this morning that her mother does. And believe me, the new outfit she has on
today looks EX . . . PEN . . . SIVE."

Melanie chuckled. "I wish my mom would pay me off for
not doing something. I could use some new clothes. And there are lots of things
she could pay me off for.
Not
baby-sitting Jeffy.
Not
cleaning my
room. Things like that."

Everybody laughed except Katie. "This is serious. You
have no idea how miserable Shawnie is."

Jana looked at Katie sympathetically. "We didn't mean to
make fun of Shawnie's situation," she said. "You know us better than
that, don't you?"

Katie nodded. "Sure. I guess I'm getting a little
carried away. But it isn't fair, you know. Shawnie ought to have some rights,
too."

"But what can any of us do about it?" asked
Christie. "After all, her parents
are
her parents."

"Well, I'm going to invite her over some evening soon,"
Katie answered. "Shawnie said my mom would have to call her mom and say it
would be a study session, though. Hey! I've got an idea! Why don't you guys
come over, too? We can do our homework and then listen to tapes."

"I've got an even better idea," chirped Melanie. "Let's
invite boys and make it a real party." Her grin faded immediately as Katie
shot her a warning look. "Okay. Okay. I was just trying to be funny,"
she offered. Then she gave Katie a sly glance. "Speaking of boys, though,
didn't I see you kidding around with Tony Calcaterra at your locker yesterday
after school and then talking to him later outside Bumpers?"

Katie could feel her face turning red at the mention of Tony
Calcaterra. What was worse, it was Melanie who had brought his name up. Katie
was always calling Melanie boy crazy because she had crushes on tons of boys
and flirted with every boy in sight. But now Melanie had caught Katie in the
act of flirting, and it looked as if she wasn't going to let Katie off the
hook.

"So? There's no law against talking to someone, is
there?" Katie asked defensively.

"Speaking of law," Beth chimed in, "I'll bet
she was asking him if he's done anything to land himself in Teen Court this
week."

The flame in Katie's face burned hotter. Just wait until
they hear that he
will
be in Teen Court this week, she thought, and then
said quickly, "For your information, I was talking to him about something
very important."

"Oh, sure," teased Christie. "He's probably
decided to take up one of your causes."

"As a matter of fact, he has. He's interested in . . .
in hunger." Katie couldn't believe the words that were tumbling out of her
own mouth, but she couldn't stop them. "He wants to do something. Maybe
even organize a march for hunger. Did you know that every night hundreds of
people go to bed hungry in this town alone?"

"And Tony Calcaterra wants to do something about it?"
Jana asked incredulously. "When did he become Mr. Concerned Citizen?"

"Since he got a major crush on Katie, apparently,"
said Melanie, rolling her eyes heavenward as if she could hardly believe it
either. "Love does strange things to people."

"So tell us about this march for hunger," said
Christie. "It sounds like a good idea."

Katie took a deep breath and tried to sort out her thoughts.
Her mind had been racing ever since she had opened her mouth and told that
incredible lie about Tony and the march. Half of her brain was in shock over
the fact that she would do such a thing and was chewing her out for letting
Tony get to her. The other half was desperately trying to figure out how to get
out of the mess she had just gotten herself into.

"Well," urged Melanie. "Are you going to tell
us? Or is it a deep, dark secret?"

"It's a secret," said Katie, jumping on Melanie's
words. "Well, it isn't exactly a secret," she went on. "We're
still working on the details. In fact, we're going to talk more about it after
school today."

"You're really serious, aren't you?" said Jana,
nodding her head in approval. "I mean, you're probably the only person in
the world who could get Tony Calcaterra interested in doing something for
humanity. I have to hand it to you, Katie. You're special."

"I agree," said Beth. "Most of us just sit
back and shake our heads about things and say 'Isn't that too bad,' but you get
busy and do something about it. Look at how you're trying to help Shawnie, and
now this—inspiring Tony to do something besides get into trouble. You can count
me in for both things. I'll come when you invite Shawnie over, and I'll join
the march for hunger."

"Me, too," said Melanie.

"Me, too," echoed Christie and Jana.

"Thanks, guys," said Katie. "I always knew I
could count on The Fabulous Five." But deep down in the pit of her stomach
a funny feeling was growing. How was she going to get Tony to organize a march
for hunger? And worse yet, persuade him that it had been his own idea?

Katie spent the entire afternoon worrying about what she
would say to Tony. She had never been in such a predicament in her life, and it
was all because of a
boy.
Tony was macho. He was a show-off. He got into
trouble constantly. He was all the things that she had never liked in a boy.

Still, she thought, doodling circles around the edge of her
paper in last period English class. He treated her as if she were special. He
had stood up for her when Teen Court had first started a few weeks ago, and
Clarence Marshall and Joel Murphy were teasing her about her detention. He had
followed the dress code rule by not wearing his earring even though his
petition had failed. He had a major crush on her. And he was just about the
best-looking boy in Wakeman Junior High. But that wasn't all, she mused. There
was something else about him. Something she couldn't quite define that made her
blush and get totally flustered every time his name came up. Something that
even made her think about him at times when she should have been thinking about
something else. Like now.

"Katie Shannon, I asked you a question."

Miss Dickinson's words pierced her daydream and jabbed her
back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Miss Dickinson," Katie said
sheepishly. "I didn't hear what you asked."

Before Miss Dickinson could answer, the bell rang. "Don't
forget, class," she called instead. "Your assignment is to write a
two-hundred-and-fifty-word theme on the quotation on the blackboard. It is due
one week from today."

Katie frowned. She hadn't heard Miss Dickinson make the
theme assignment, either. As kids streamed past her heading for the door, she
hurriedly copied the quotation into her notebook.

If there were dreams to sell
,
what would you buy?
—Thomas Lovell Beddoes

"Fifty-yard-line seats for the Super Bowl!" Matt
Zeboski shouted as he dove for the door.

"A lifetime supply of
pizza!
" roared
Clarence Marshall.

Boys! thought Katie as she gathered her books and followed
the rest of the class out of the room. They were so shallow. So immature.

She was still frowning when she rounded the corner and saw
Tony leaning against her locker again. He was watching her approach with the
same confident smile he had had the day before. But try as she might to stay
cool, she felt a warm glow as a smile spread over her own face.

"Hi, there, Your Honor. Are we still on for today?"

"Sure. I just have to get my jacket out of my locker,"
Katie said, but the instant the words were out, she started to worry. Had her
voice been two octaves higher than normal? Had she sounded uptight instead of
casual?

She put the books from her afternoon classes into her
locker, keeping out only her notebook, and slipped on her jacket.

Tony was grinning slyly as they started off down the hall. "Since
you only have your notebook and I have two
big
,
heavy books
,
maybe today you should help me out," he reasoned. Then, before she could
answer, he flipped his history book toward her.

Laughing, she reached out with her left hand and caught it.

"Not a bad catch for a judge," he teased.

As they left the school ground, Katie hugged her notebook
and Tony's history book to her chest and began to panic. She had to talk to him
about organizing a march for the hungry, and she had to do it today before one
of her friends got the chance to say something to him about it. One of them
might, too, especially Christie or Jana. They might stop him in the hall and
tell him how much they liked his idea. Her face turned red just thinking about
how confused he would be. He might even say something smart, such as, "Yeah,
let's march on down to the cafeteria and see what's on for today."

Bumpers was packed, as usual, and Tony steered her through
the crowd as they looked for somewhere to sit. Katie waved to the rest of The
Fabulous Five in a booth near the front, and Tony gave high fives to Mark
Peters and Bill Soliday as they passed their table. Luckily they had just
stopped beside an orange bumper car when two eighth-graders vacated it, and
they jumped in before someone else could get it.

Katie fidgeted nervously and took long drinks of the soda
Tony brought back from the order counter.

"Are you always this quiet when you're alone with a guy?"
Tony asked.

"No . . . I mean, yes . . . I mean, I was just
wondering something," stammered Katie.

"Something about me?"

Katie nodded. "How do you feel about hunger?" she
blurted.

Tony was looking at her as if she had just asked if he had
ever walked on the moon. She knew her face was blazing. Why couldn't she keep a
cool head and talk like a normal person when she was around him?

"Well, it's a constant struggle," he said with
mock seriousness. "I fight it with at least three meals a day and a bunch
of snacks in between." Then he gave her a puzzled look. "What do you
mean, how do I feel about hunger?"

"I'm very concerned about it," she said over the
hammering of her heart. "You see, my mother is writing an article about
hunger, and she says that hundreds of people right here in this city go to bed
hungry every night. She also said that nothing new is being done about it, and
I think that's awful. Don't you?"

"Well . . . sure. I guess so," said Tony. "But
what does that have to do with me?"

"I just thought that if you were concerned, you might
want to do something about it. That's all."

The puzzled expression was still on Tony's face. "Like
what?"

Katie took a deep breath and charged on. She couldn't stop
now. "Oh, something fun . . . such as getting all the kids at Wacko to put
on a march for hunger."

"Who,
me?
" Tony asked incredulously.

"Sure. Why not?" said Katie. "I'd be glad to
help."

Tony drank his soda in silence for a moment, and Katie could
practically see little wheels turning in his brain as he thought over the idea.
She chewed the end of her straw, not daring to wonder what she would do if he
said no.

"You'd help, huh?" he asked, and then without
giving her time to answer he went on, "I know what you're doing. You're trying
to make me look good for Teen Court and also for Mr. Bell and the school board
so that when the petition comes up again to allow earrings at school, they'll
think I'm a great person instead of a juvenile delinquent. Is that it?"

Katie stared at him. She hadn't thought about it that way,
but it wasn't such a bad idea. "It wouldn't hurt," she offered. "But
also it could really help a lot of people. And I honestly would help get it
organized. I promise." Gulping hard, she said, "We could work on it
together.
"

Tony cocked one eyebrow and looked at her appraisingly. "Okay,"
he said. "You've got a deal."