Fabulous Five 026 - Laura's Secret (2 page)

"Sit here, Laura." Tammy patted the spot next to
her at the lunch table.

Tammy, Funny, and Melissa were already seated at The
Fantastic Foursome's regular table in the cafeteria. The girls were eyeing her
with more than the usual amount of interest. That maid story had sure paid off!

"Hello, everyone," Laura said, sliding her tray
onto the table and sitting down with them.

"I'm surprised you don't have Chantal pack you a
fantastic lunch to bring to school," Funny commented. "These school
lunches are so gross!"

"You said it," grumbled Tammy. "Goulash! The
absolutely
ickiest
food ever invented."

Funny giggled. "Come on, Tammy, you can take it." Then
turning to Laura, she added, "Yeah, Laura, why don't you?"

"Oh," Laura said, smiling and waving her hand,
dismissing the idea. "Well, she comes after I leave for school. Besides,
Chantal works hard enough making us dinner and cleaning up the apartment. I
guess I can force down school food to give her a break."

"Let me tell you, Laura," Tammy said. "I'd
ask my maid to fix me peanut butter and jelly rather than face the school's
goulash."

"So why don't you make your
own
peanut butter
and jelly sandwich then?" asked Melissa.

"Too much bother," Tammy replied.

Funny giggled again. "But not for the maid, right?"

The girls laughed.

"I can't imagine having a maid," Tammy said
dreamily. "I mean, not having to clean up your room or take your turn
washing dishes . . ." She took a bite of a carrot stick.

"What do you do with all that spare time that the rest
of us don't have?" Melissa asked.

Laura grinned. "I have fun."

The others groaned.

"You already had it easy, not having a mother breathing
down your neck," Melissa said.

Laura's smile faded a little. Melissa had no idea how
hard
it was not having a mother. Laura had no one to ask about blush stains on her
blouse, or the best way to deal with boys, or . . .

The faces of her friends faded as she remembered last year when
she got her period for the first time. What a disaster! She hadn't had any of
the supplies she needed, she didn't know
what
to do, and she was too
embarrassed to ask her dad about it. She ended up scribbling down the name of a
brand of pads she'd read about in
Seventeen
magazine and taking it to
the drugstore. She'd paced up and down the aisles for fifteen minutes before
she found a female clerk to show her piece of paper to. When she'd brought her
purchase home, she'd headed straight for her room and locked the door.

Safely alone, she'd read every word on the box and figured
out for herself how the pads were used. If only she had had a mother to talk
to. It would have been so much easier!

". . . and my mother drives me nuts!" Melissa's
voice floated back into Laura's consciousness. "She's always making me
baby-sit for my little sister, even if I already have plans of my own."

"What I like about your setup, Laura, is that you can
have kids over to your apartment any time you want to," said Tammy. "Nobody
else I know gets to have friends over without parents around."

Laura smiled. "Yeah, I like that, too."

I'd still rather have a mother, though
, she thought.

"So," Laura said to the group. "You want to
come over tomorrow after school? The next day's Saturday, so your parents won't
be able to say you have to go straight home and do your homework."

Tammy rolled her eyes. "Boy, do I hear
that
a
lot."

"Yeah," agreed Funny. "Let's go to your
place."

"Great," Tammy said.

Laura looked at Melissa. "Sure," Melissa answered.
"Sounds good to me."

Laura gazed toward the ceiling. "Let's see," she
said slowly. "I'll ask Alexis Duvall, Marcie Bee, Sara Sawyer, and Lisa
Snow to come over, too. In fact, I'll have Chantal make some special snacks.
How does that sound?"

Chantal sure does come in handy, Laura thought, smiling to
herself. Of course that little extra lie was going to mean a lot of extra work
tonight, baking cookies and other goodies, but boy, were her friends impressed!

"Great," said Tammy. "And we'll gab our
brains out!"

Funny giggled. "You do that
already
, Tammy."

Tammy stuck out her tongue playfully, and the girls laughed.

"We'll
be
there," The Fantastic Foursome
said in unison.

Laura sat at the kitchen table and stared at the frozen
dinners in front of her.
If only we really had a maid
, she thought,
we'd
be having something totally awesome for dinner.

She put her hand on her abdomen. Terrific. Cramps starting.
Her period had begun just this afternoon, so Laura should have known cramps
couldn't be far behind. What rotten timing. She had so much work to do tonight!
She had to get the apartment as spic and span as a maid would, bake cookies and
brownies, and—

"Don't forget I need that shirt ironed, hon," her
dad said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin.

And the shirt!

It was a good thing she'd already finished her homework.

The dull pain in her abdomen increased a little, and she
leaned toward the table and sighed heavily.

"You okay, babe?" her dad asked.

"Yeah," answered Laura. How do you tell your dad
you have cramps? It wouldn't be hard to tell your mother.

"You look a little pale."

"Oh, I'm okay," Laura assured him.

He reached over and felt her forehead. "You don't seem
to have a fever," he offered. "But maybe you're coming down with
something. Why don't you go to bed a little early tonight?"

Fat chance!

"Maybe," Laura said.

If only she could talk to her dad! She'd seen a medication
advertised on TV that was supposed to help with cramps. She wished she could
ask her father to go to the drugstore and buy some for her.

Laura got up from the table and carried her plate to the
sink. When she heard her father stroll into the living room to watch
television, she breathed a deep sigh. Then she cleaned up the kitchen and got
out the mixing bowl, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and other ingredients she
needed. She turned the oven on to 350 degrees.

By now the cramps were awfully uncomfortable. She crossed
the living room and walked into the bathroom. Behind the closed door she took a
couple of aspirin. That should help, she thought.

When she left the bathroom and reentered the living room,
her father looked up from the TV. "Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"You really aren't feeling well, are you?" he
asked, frowning with concern.

"Well, not really great, I guess," answered Laura.

"What's the problem?" pressed her father.

Dare she tell him? Had any girl on the face of the earth
ever told her father she was having cramps?

"Well—"

"What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked.

"Oh." She shrugged, pretending it was nothing. "Just
some, uh—cramps, I guess." She said the last three words very quickly and
very softly.

Her father's eyes darted away, and Laura could have sworn he
turned a little pink. Was he embarrassed? She turned quickly and fled into the
kitchen.

Why did I tell him
, she scolded herself.
I'm an
IDIOT!

She furiously tossed ingredients into the bowl. Turning the
mixer on high speed, she worked the spatula around the inside of the bowl.

"Hon?"

She suddenly realized that her father was right beside her.

"What?" she said loudly, partly to be heard over
the mixer, partly out of nervousness.

"I thought this might help."

He held up a bottle of milk of magnesia. A
LAXATIVE!
Her father held it up near his face as if he were selling it on a TV
commercial.

If Laura hadn't been so embarrassed, she would have exploded
with laughter.
Her father was hopeless!

"Thanks, Dad," she murmured, her cheeks hotter
than the oven. She grabbed the bottle, put it down on the table, and stared at
the floor.

"Uh, well," her father said, rocking nervously
from foot to foot. "I brought a lot of work home from the office. I guess
I'd better get at it."

"Okay," Laura replied.
The sooner, the better.

Her dad left the kitchen, and Laura shook her head.
Men!
They're pitiful. It's amazing how dumb they can be about women.

She started to laugh quietly. Then she thought of the way
her father looked, holding up that silly bottle of milk of magnesia, and she
laughed harder. A laxative for menstrual cramps! What a riot!

She finished baking the cookies, then started a batch of
brownies. When the brownies were finally in the oven, she hauled out the
ironing board and plugged in the iron, pressing and spray-starching her dad's
dress shirt.

"Here's your shirt, Dad," she said when she'd
finished, standing in the doorway to his room and holding up the hanger so he
could see what a great job she had done.

He looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. "Terrific.
Hang it in my closet, will you, hon?"

Laura heaved a sigh of fatigue, trudged into her father's
room, and hung up the shirt. She was getting awfully tired. And she still had
the cleaning to do.

She took the brownies out of the oven, pulled the vacuum out
of the front closet, and vacuumed the living room and the hallway.

As she was putting the vacuum away, her dad stuck his head
out of his bedroom. "I'm turning in early," he told her. "I want
to be sharp for that presentation tomorrow."

"Okay," Laura said. "Good-night."

Going to bed sounds good to me, too, she thought. I'll
finish up the kitchen and do the rest of the cleaning in the morning before I
leave for school.

She headed for her room and her soft, comfortable bed,
daydreaming about having her friends over the next afternoon. She couldn't wait
to see their reactions to the goodies that "Chantal" had slaved over!

"Here we are, guys," Laura announced, grinning.
She unlocked the apartment door and led Melissa and Tammy inside. "Let's
party
!
"

"Does anyone know where Funny is?" asked Tammy. "I
thought she was supposed to be here, too."

Laura shrugged. "She wasn't at her locker, but she
knows we're having a party today. I'm sure she'll be here in a few minutes."

Tammy plopped down on the living room couch. "Hey,
Laura, when are Alexis, Marcie, Sara, and Lisa coming?"

"Any minute," Laura answered. "They said they'd
be here right after school. What do you guys want to drink?"

Tammy followed her into the kitchen. "Chantal really
keeps this place clean. Not even a spoon in the sink."

Laura smiled. She nearly hadn't gotten the cleaning done
this morning. She'd been so tired last night that she'd forgotten to set her
clock radio. She'd awakened ten minutes later than usual this morning, and she'd
still had dusting to do, dishes to wash, and her bathroom to clean.

She'd managed to finish everything by skipping breakfast.
Then, just as she was about to head out the door for school, she'd spotted a
big pile of dirty clothes in one corner of her bedroom. She couldn't let her
friends see that. After all, Chantal kept things spotless. She'd grabbed the
pile of laundry and pitched it into her father's bedroom, slamming the door.
She would gather it up again and do the wash after everybody left.

Now Laura peeled the aluminum foil off the pan of brownies
and the platter of cookies.

"Wow!" said Tammy. "Those look wonderful."
She took a cookie off the top of the platter and tasted it. "They're
incredible." Then she raised an eyebrow and said in her most sophisticated
voice. "Send my compliments to your maid."

Laura laughed. "Sure. Why don't you take them into the
living room, and I'll bring the drinks."

There was a knock at the door, and Melissa ran to answer it
as Laura entered the room with a tray of drinks.

"Hi, guys!" Tammy cried. "Come on in. We've
got the place to ourselves, as usual, and Laura's maid baked some terrific
stuff."

"Maid?" asked Alexis, walking into the apartment. "I
didn't know you and your dad had a maid, Laura."

"They sure do," said Tammy. "Look at this
place—squeaky clean. And taste these yummy cookies."

The girls settled themselves around the living room. Laura
took drink orders from the new arrivals and hurried back into the kitchen.
While she was pouring the soda, she listened to the conversation in the other
room.

"Laura lives a life of luxury, you know that?"
said Tammy. "What a setup!"

"Yeah," agreed Melissa. "This is living."

"I thought only movie stars had maids," Lisa
added.

Alexis spoke up. "We have a maid."

"Really?" three voices chorused.

Laura frowned.
Alexis would have a maid! And of course
she's going to tell everybody about it.

"If I had a maid," commented Tammy, "I could
forget about chores and concentrate on more important things—like BOYS!"

"Yeah!" cried everyone.

Laura laughed in spite of herself and opened a bag of potato
chips. She dumped half of the bag into a large ceramic bowl, put it on the tray
with the drinks, and carried it out to the living room just as the doorbell
rang again.

"Must be Funny," she said, setting the tray on the
table and hurrying to the door.

Funny was breathless as she came in. "Wow, what a
bummer," she said.

"What happened?" asked Laura. "Where have you
been?"

Funny shrugged off her jacket and looked at the others with
exasperation. "Miss Dickinson kept me after class to talk to me about my
giggling in English class."

"Your giggling!" hooted Tammy. "It's about
time someone mentioned it. You giggle all the time."

"So what finally got you into trouble?" asked
Laura.

"Well, you know how dramatic Miss Dickinson can get
sometimes when she's reading a poem out loud. You know, how she swoops around
the front of the room as if she were on stage?"

The others nodded.

"Well, today she was doing that, and Joel Murphy ducked
down behind Clarence Marshall and started imitating her. It was a scream. I
just couldn't help it. I started laughing, and naturally Miss Dickinson saw me."

"Did she see Joel, too?" asked Lisa.

Funny shook her head. "And I didn't dare tell her,
because she would want to know what he was doing that was so funny."

"Well, you can laugh all you want to here," Laura
told her, chuckling at Funny's predicament. "Sit down and have something
to eat."

"Hey, did you hear that Keith Masterson sat with Shawnie
Pendergast at the game last weekend?" asked Tammy. She grinned. "I
bet Beth Barry was furious."

Laura laughed. "Serves Beth right. She's such a
show-off. Did you ever see anybody wear such bizarre clothes?"

Funny giggled. "I kind of like her style, though,"
she said, cocking an eyebrow. "She's got guts!"

Laura snorted. "You'd never catch
me
wearing
some of the combinations she comes up with."

"I saw Keith sitting with Shawnie," said Marcie, "but
I happen to know that Shawnie was just saving a place for Beth. Shawnie even
sat with Beth and Keith for the rest of the game. Besides, doesn't Shawnie date
Craig Meachem?"

Tammy grinned impishly. "So what? Shawnie might've
pretended
she was saving a seat for Beth. But what she really wanted was to be near
Keith. She was flirting with him like you wouldn't believe."

The girls continued to gossip about kids at school while
they devoured cookies, brownies, and chips, and drank soda.

"Hey, did you get some new charms for your Wakeman
bracelet?" Tammy asked Funny.

Funny nodded, holding up her wrist and shaking it a little
to make the charms clink together softly. "My mom gave me the one spelling
Wakeman
in cursive letters for my birthday last week, and Melissa gave
me this jukebox."

"I love those Wakeman charm bracelets," said
Tammy. "I'm going to ask for one for Christmas."

Laura was pleased that everyone seemed to be having a good
time. Of course that was her reputation—she had great gossip parties, with
no
parents around
.

"What time is it, Laura?" asked Sara.

Laura glanced at her watch. "Four-thirty."

"Rats! My mom is picking me up in fifteen minutes,"
said Sara. "You know, she's starting to drive me nuts!"

"Tell me about it." Melissa rolled her eyes. "My
mother is like a drill sergeant."

"Man, Laura," said Lisa, "I hope you know how
lucky you are."

"Right," Laura replied, forcing some enthusiasm
into her voice. "I've got it pretty great."

Alexis smiled. "I guess I'm pretty lucky then. My
mother and I get along pretty well."

"Really?" asked Funny in amazement. "Don't
you ever argue with her?"

Alexis shrugged. "I guess we argue sometimes, but it's
never very serious. Basically, I think of her as a friend. I can tell her just
about anything."

Laura felt a wave of envy wash over her. It must be great to
have a mother you can tell your secrets to.

"Gee, your mother must be a very understanding person,"
Funny said.

Alexis nodded. "She is. She still remembers what it was
like to be in junior high."

"Back in the dark ages." Funny chuckled.

"Right," Alexis agreed, and laughed. "She had
some of the same problems with boys that I sometimes have."

Tammy's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "You talk
to your mom about
boys
?
"

"Sure," Alexis answered. "She's saved me from
doing some pretty stupid things."

"Wow." Funny shook her head in amazement.

Alexis turned to Laura. "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure," said Laura. "Through my bedroom and
to the right."

Laura watched Alexis as she headed down the hall, and she
wished for a moment that she could trade places with her. Not only did the
Duvall family have plenty of money, but also Alexis was popular, and now it
turned out she had a terrific mother. What more could any girl ask for?

Laura hopped up, went out to the kitchen, and brought back
the bag of potato chips. She emptied the rest of the chips into the ceramic
bowl on the coffee table. "Anybody want more cookies?" she asked. "Or
brownies?"

"I thought you'd never ask," said Sara. "I
could eat a
ton
of those terrific cookies."

Laura headed for the kitchen, piled more cookies on the
platter and returned to the living room.

". . . well, I heard that Mrs. Lemane had a facelift,"
Tammy was saving.

The rest of the girls roared with laughter.

"Are you kidding?" asked Funny.

"Well, just
look
at her sometime," Tammy
insisted.

"But I don't take French," Lisa protested.

"Okay, well, next time you see her in the hall,"
Tammy suggested, "go up to her and say something, and look at her face."

Lisa frowned. "But what should I say?"

"Just make up something," said Tammy. "The
point is to get really close so you can examine her. Just look at the skin
around her eyes. It looks really
tight.
"

The girls howled again.

Laura looked around the room. Alexis was still gone. Uh-oh,
thought Laura with a sudden stab of panic. What if I forgot to put out towels
or something a maid would
never
forget to do? Jumping up, she headed
down the hall and into her bedroom. She stopped short in the doorway.

Alexis was standing still next to Laura's bureau, reading a
scrap of paper that was taped to the mirror.

Laura gulped. Her father always taped messages on her mirror
when he was angry with her, and lately, since he was on edge about the
promotion, he was angry with her a lot. She moved closer to the bureau and
cringed as she read the note over Alexis's shoulder.

Laura
,

What's the big idea of throwing YOUR dirty laundry all
over MY bedroom? Is this some kind of new teenage rebellion? All I ask is that
you keep the apartment reasonably clean
,
and I come home for lunch and
find this! We'll talk about it tonight.

Dad

Laura froze.