Fabulous Five 014 - The Seventh-Grade Menace (6 page)

Jana's mother's face was full of anger when she walked back
into the room.

"Mom, I'm not picking on Geena! Honest!"

Her mother's face softened. "I
know,
sweetheart.
You would never do a thing like that. It's obvious, however, that Mr. McNatt
totally believes his daughter, too." She reached out and took Jana's hand.
"Come on. Let's sit down and talk about this."

The tears finally leaked out as Jana told her side of the
story, and her mother put her arm around her comfortingly.

"Was I wrong to bawl Geena out in front of Bumpers?"
Jana asked.

"No, you weren't." Her mother looked thoughtful for
a moment. "I just wonder what makes Geena do those things. Her father
seems like a nice enough man. Still, there has to be a reason why she acts the
way she does. What do you think it is?"

The thought startled Jana. A reason for Geena's picking on
Mona and Whitney and squirting catsup in lockers? She was starting to believe
that it was just because she was mean. "I don't know," Jana mumbled.

"Well," said her mother, getting up, "it's
something for us to think about. Right now I need to get supper started. Sloppy
joes okay tonight?"

"Yum," said Jana. "Do I have time to bike
over to One-Hour Photo?"

"I think so, but don't be too long. Oh, by the way. Don't
forget tomorrow's Pink's and my bowling night. You'll have to order a pizza."

Jana nodded and bit back a smile. As if she could forget
that Friday night was bowling night. Her mom and Pink had been going bowling on
Friday nights since they had started dating when Jana was a little girl. She
wondered how many hundreds of deep-dish, pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom
pizzas she had consumed on Friday nights.

As Jana pedaled along, an idea began nibbling at the back of
her brain, and it was full grown by the time she reached the photo shop. She
thumbed through the pictures she had taken with Garrett's camera as the clerk
stood watching. They had turned out terrific. "How much would it cost to
get a couple of these made into eight and a half by eleven inches?" she
asked.

The clerk gave her the price, and she calculated what she
would have with the money in her bank at home and her allowance, which she
would get tomorrow. It would be more than enough. "I'd like this one and
this one enlarged."

Jana hummed to herself on the return trip home. The nerve of
Geena, lying to her father and bringing him to Jana's house to tell stories to
her mother. As her mother had said, Geena seemed to have her father convinced
she was a nice girl. Her mother was right about another thing, too. Something
was definitely wrong with that girl, and Jana knew what it was. She had a
terminal case of meanness. Well, if Geena's father was as nice as Jana thought,
she might just have a way of showing him what his daughter was
really like.

"I asked at the office," said Christie at noon the
next day, "and no one besides you and Randy has signed up to run for Miss
and Mr. Seventh Grade. You're home free!"

"Yea!"
cheered Katie, Beth, and Melanie.
The Fabulous Five raised their milk cartons in a salute.

"Can you imagine?" said Beth. "That's
awesome."

"Does your majesty want anything from this lowly
servant?" said Melanie, bowing her head to Jana. "A quart of blood?
My head? Anything?"

"Quit fooling, guys," said Jana. "After what
Geena said about my thinking I'm a big deal, I'm not sure I want to be Miss
Seventh Grade. Other people might get the same idea about me."

"Hey. Don't let it bother you," said Katie. "She
was just trying to make you feel bad. You're not that way at all."

"How could you be bigheaded when your best friends are
so outstanding?" kidded Beth.

"Seriously. It bothers me," said Jana. "I've
never had anyone say that to me before. It's made me stop and think. I do have
the best of everything, you know. Randy is fantastic. You guys are the best. Everything
is just so great. Do I show off without realizing it?"

"Hey, no," said Melanie, putting her hand on Jana's.
"You're not that way at all. Why do you think everyone wants you to be
Miss Seventh Grade? It's because you don't have a big head, that's why."

"Yeah, Jana," added Christie. "I've heard
kids say they're going to vote for Marsha Reel for Miss Ninth Grade because
they think Kaci Davis is stuck up. No one feels that way about you."

Jana looked at each of her friends' faces. They all wore
concerned expressions. "Okay," she said, laughing. "I'm super. I
just wanted to hear you say it."

Four wadded-up paper napkins hit her in the face at the same
time.

Jana left Bumpers early that afternoon so she could go by
the One-Hour Photo store and get the enlargements she had ordered. She was glad
that Geena and her brothers were still there. So far everything was going
according to her plan.

On the walk to the store, she thought about all the yellow
ribbons that were being worn for Igor by seventh-graders. Girls were wearing
them on their blouses and in their hair, and nearly every boy had picked up on
it. Of course, good old Clarence Marshall was still wearing his huge ribbon,
only now it was starting to get so smudged it didn't look very yellow anymore.
It was funny, she thought, but it seemed to her as if Clarence was starting to
hang around Geena a lot. He couldn't possibly be interested in a girl that had
bloodied his nose, could he?

Jana's thoughts turned to Igor. She had talked to Shane at
Bumpers, and he told her that he had put Igor in a box and taken him to Mr.
Dracovitch, who took the iguana home to observe him for a few days and to try
to get him to eat. Poor old Igor. She really hoped the science teacher could
figure out what his problem was.

The enlargements were ready, and Jana paid for them and
headed for Geena's house. Her father should be home from work by now, and if
she was lucky, she could talk to him before Geena got there. She sighed. She'd
have to do it, even if it meant having another confrontation with Geena and
maybe even Max and Joe. But Mr. McNatt
is
a nice man, she told herself.
I just
know
he is. If I can just get him to listen and look at these
pictures, he'll know I'm sincere and will have to believe me.

Still, going to Geena's house was scary. She drew in a deep
breath and turned the corner onto the McNatts' street.

Jana punched the doorbell, drew in a deep breath, and
squared her shoulders. The garage door at the side of the house was closed, and
she couldn't tell if Mr. McNatt was home or not. She crossed her fingers behind
her back.

A young man who was obviously a McNatt opened the door. He
had the same blondish hair his father had, but he wore it longer, and his
features were more delicate. He also had a light sprinkling of freckles across
his nose like Geena. Jana guessed he was older than Max, probably high school
age, and must be George. The last of the McNatts, thought Jana. Now I've met
them all.

"Is Mr. McNatt home?" she asked as cordially as
she could.

"If you mean my dad, no, but he should be here in about
two minutes," the boy answered. "You can come in and wait for him if
you want."

Jana was surprised at how pleasant he was. "Uh, no. I
don't know if I should."

"Sure you should," he said, smiling and opening the
door so she could enter. "You came to see him, and I know he'll be here
shortly. I've got dinner just about ready, and he can smell it from
wherever
he's at. By the way, I'm George."

Jana laughed in spite of herself.

George showed her into the living room, and she sat
nervously on the edge of the couch listening for sounds that would tell her if
Geena, Max, or Joe might have come into the house from another direction. The
only sounds she could hear were made by George in the kitchen, so they must
still be at Bumpers.

Minutes passed and Mr. McNatt didn't come. Jana squirmed on
the couch. The longer she waited, the more likely it was that Geena and the
others would come home first.

Then she heard footsteps on the front porch and the doorknob
rattled as someone turned it. Jana sprang to her feet, hoping against hope that
it was Geena's father.

Max stepped into the room, and he and Jana stared at each
other. A puzzled look crossed his face.

Geena pushed Max out of the way and barged in. "What's
for sup—" When she saw Jana, she stopped dead in her tracks. "What ar
e
you
doing here?"

Joe came in next and looked at Jana. To her relief he gave
Max a shove, and the two of them went into the kitchen.

Jana clutched the envelope containing the photos close to
her chest. "I came to see your father," she said as bravely as she
could.

"My father?
Why?
"

Jana squared her shoulders and made her backbone straight
and rigid. "Because I have something to show him." She heard a car
door slam in the driveway.

"What do you have to show him?" demanded Geena.

"You'll see."

Geena glared at Jana as if she could eat her alive.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked Mr. McNatt as
he stomped into the house. "What brings you here, Little Miss?"

Before Jana could answer and tell him about the pictures, he
continued, "I'll bet I know." He waved a finger in the air. "You've
thought about the trouble you and Geena have been having, and you want to be
friends with my daughter, don't you? I
knew
as soon as I saw you that
you were a fine girl yourself. Come on then," he said, reaching out and
taking hold of her and Geena's arms. "Why don't you give your mother a
call and stay for dinner?"

Jana was pulled into the kitchen where George was taking a
big casserole of lasagna out of the oven, and Max and Joe were arguing over who
should set the table. Mr. McNatt grabbed the two boys by the shirt collars and
bumped their heads together. Max and Joe frowned at Jana as if she were the
cause of their being punished.

"Quit the arguing! We've got company for dinner,"
their father ordered. Then, turning to Jana, he commanded, "There's the
phone on the wall. Pick it up and dial your mother."

"Really, Mr. McNatt, I ought to . . ." As Jana
tried to protest, he turned his back on her and went to the sink and started to
wash his hands.

"Nonsense, Little Miss," he said over his
shoulder. "If you and my Geena are going to be friends, you might as well
start
right now
."

Jana looked at Geena, who stared back.

Jana gulped and reached for the phone to call her mother. As
she dialed, she heard Geena's father say, "George, you idiot, you burned
the lasagna again." Her mother sounded surprised at Jana's plans, but she
said she was pleased that Jana was making an effort to be friends with Geena.
Unfortunately there was no opportunity for Jana to blurt out the truth and ask
her mother to rescue her from the McNatts without Geena's father's hearing. She
sucked in a deep breath as she hung up the telephone and turned back to the
dinner table, where the McNatt family was waiting expectantly for her.

The dinner was like nothing Jana had ever experienced in her
entire life. Max and Joe battled each other for the lasagna and the garlic
bread, and their father bellowed at Joe, who sat next to him, each time he
reached across the table to get the Parmesan cheese.

"The five of us have been making do ever since the
children's mother died ten years ago," Mr. McNatt explained to Jana. He
jerked the lasagna platter away from Joe, who had jerked it away from Max, and
handed it to Jana so she could have seconds. "We've done pretty well, if I
do say so myself. The boys have been easy for me, of course. I know how to
handle men. You just rap them across the head to get their attention. But Geena
has been something else. She's a young lady. I'm real glad you've decided to be
friends with her, Little Miss. For some reason, she doesn't bring any of her
other girlfriends home."

Jana looked out of the corner of her eye at Geena, who was
staring red-faced into her plate. She's embarrassed, thought Jana. Geena McNatt
is actually
embarrassed.
Just then Max grabbed the garlic-bread basket.
Seeing it was empty, he lunged for the half-eaten bread on the edge of Geena's
plate. Jana watched in amazement as Mr. McNatt's long arm streaked out, and he
hit Max on the back of the hand with the ladle from the lasagna before Geena
even had time to react. Max jerked his hand back and rubbed his knuckles, and
Geena flashed him a look of triumph.

"Geena looks a lot like her mother. She has her tiny
freckles and wavy hair, only she doesn't keep it as neat as her mother did. But
I suppose that will come when she gets interested in boys." Mr. McNatt
looked at Jana hopefully. "Maybe you can give her some advice on how to
dress a little more . . . feminine."

Geena's father really
doesn't
understand why she has
no friends, Jana thought. It boggled her mind. She had to agree that after
seeing the family up close, Geena probably wasn't too bad, compared to Max and
Joe and even her dad. All of them, except George, who ate quietly by himself at
the end of the table, were pretty rough. George seemed somehow to be different.
She wondered if he was more like his mother than the other children.

After the meal, Mr. McNatt ordered Max and Joe to do the
dishes so that Jana and Geena could spend some time together. Jana looked
longingly toward the front door. The last thing she wanted to do was spend time
with Geena, and she knew Geena felt the same way about her. If only there was
some way to escape. But there wasn't—for either of them—and Geena led her
silently up to her room.

The room was pretty much what Jana expected. Sweat suits and
dirty tube socks littered the floor, and jeans were hung on the bedpost. She
didn't see one piece of feminine clothing in the room. She would have liked to
look in the closet to see if there were any there.

Geena stood to one side, chewing her lip while Jana looked
around. Suddenly she snarled, "What do you have in that envelope? Is it
something you're going to show my dad?"

Jana looked at her for a moment, thinking. "No,"
she said. "They're just some pictures I took with Garrett Boldt's camera."

Geena stared at her as if she didn't know whether to believe
her or not. "Well, I guess you think you're really big time now that no
one is going to run against you for Miss Seventh Grade."

"Look, Geena. I didn't want to run for Miss Seventh
Grade. My friends talked me into it. I couldn't care less about it, except that
Randy Kirwan is running for Mr. Seventh Grade, and I think it would be nice to
run with him."

Geena sneered, "You've got all the friends in the
world, don't you? I bet you make your Fabulous Five friends jump through hoops."
She moved a picture of a pretty red-haired lady that was on a table that served
as a desk.

"No," Jana said patiently as she moved toward the table.
"As a matter of fact, I don't think
anyone
could make people like
Katie Shannon and Christie Winchell do something they didn't want. They're
pretty strong. We've just been friends a long time. Is this your mother?"

Geena nodded.

Jana picked up the frame and looked at the smiling, freckled
face in the photo. "She's so pretty. Do you remember her at all?"

"It's none of your business!" Geena snapped.

Jana put down the frame and backed away a little. "I
don't remember much about my father," she said softly. "He's not
dead, but my mother divorced him when I was little. He's an alcoholic, and I
write to him sometimes, but he hardly ever answers."

Geena squinted her eyes and stared at Jana, as if trying to
decide whether or not to believe her.

"You're lucky to have such a nice dad," said Jana.
"He really loves you. I can tell."

Geena shrugged. Suddenly her face seemed to soften. "Are
you going to have a new dress for when you win Miss Seventh Grade?"

"I hope so," Jana said. "But I'm not sure.
Listen, I'd better go. Randy's coming over tonight, and we're going to listen
to records."

All at once the sparks flew back into Geena's eyes, and she
turned away. Jana mumbled good-bye, but Geena didn't respond.

As Jana was making her way down the stairs by herself, Geena
called out in an ominous tone, "You'd better take care of that dress."