Taffy Sinclair 007 - Taffy Sinclair and the Secret Admirer Epidemic

S
ome people think that if you have a boyfriend, all your troubles are over. Especially when that boyfriend is someone such as Randy Kirwan, the handsomest, kindest, and most sincere boy in the sixth grade at Mark Twain Elementary, not to mention the most popular. Well, Randy is my boyfriend, and I thought that all my troubles were over, too, until Monday after school. That
'
s when on
e
of my best friends, Melanie Edwards, came rushing up to my locker with her big news.

"
Jana! Guess what! I
'
ve got a date!
"

"
WHAT!
"
I shouted over the sound of banging lockers and kids yelling in the hall.
"
What did you just say?
"

"
I said I have a
date
,"
Melanie gushed. Her face was pink from excitement, and her blue eyes were sparkling.
"
It
'
s true. Scott Daly asked me to go to a movie with him on Saturday. His father is driving us. He says some of the other boys are going to get dates, too. There will be a bunch of kids going. I can
'
t wait. It
'
s going to be so romantic! You
'
re going with Randy, aren
'
t you?
"

My other three best friends, Beth Barry, Katie Shannon, and Christie Winchell, had come up to us and were standing there, listening. It was like a slow-motion movie the way they turned to look at me. But I hardly noticed. My heart had thudded to the floor.

I shook my head.
"
He hasn
'
t asked me . . . yet,
"
I murmured.

"
You
'
re kidding,
"
said Melanie with a shocked look on her face.
"
Scott passed me a note right under Wiggins
'
s nose and asked me to go. I told him yes in the hall just now, right after the dismissal bell rang. He said Joel Murphy is taking Sara Sawyer, and Mark Peters asked Alexis Duvall before school this morning. Scott and Mark are Randy
'
s two best friends, so you know if they
'
re going, he is, too.
"

I didn
'
t say anything. I couldn
'
t. Why hadn
'
t Randy asked me to go? It didn
'
t make sense.

"
Come on, Morgan. Brighten up,
"
said Beth.
"
You know he
'
ll ask you. He
'
ll probably call you after he gets home from school. After all, he is your boyfriend.
"

I shrugged and tried to smile. Beth was right. He was my boyfriend, all right. I have had a mega
-
crush on him practically forever. For a while I even kept his picture hidden behind a poster of Miss Piggy on the wall beside my bed so that I could look at him in the glow of my night-light while I fell asleep. After ages and ages he finally noticed me, too, and asked me to go to his football game one Saturday and then to Mama Mia
'
s for pizza afterward. A couple of weeks later, he walked me home from Mama Mia
'
s, and then he kissed me. It was fantastic, and even though we haven
'
t had another date, he always gave me his 1,000-watt smile every time he looked at me. He would surely ask me to the movie if his best friends were going. I was starting to feel better. I was certain he would call the minute I got home.

"
I wonder why the boys want to take g
irls to a movie all of a sudden,"
said Katie.

I shrugged. I didn
'
t care. I just wanted Randy to ask me.

"
I don
'
t have to be home until four-thirty,
"
said Beth.
"
Do you want me to come over and help you wait for him to call?
"

As soon as I nodded, Katie piped up,
"
I
'
ll come, too.
"

"
Me, too,
"
said Melanie.

"
Me, too,
"
echoed Christie.
"
After all, we
'
re The Fabulous Five. We stick together.
"

I couldn
'
t help smiling at that. The Fabulous Five is a self-improvement club, and we meet every Saturday in my bedroom to try to find ways to become the most gorgeous and most popular girls in school. We even saved our dues for a while and had blue T-shirts made that say The Fabulous Five across the front in white letters, and we wear them to our meetings. We really are best friends, and we do stick together.

"
Come on,
"
I said.
"
Let
'
s get going. My phone may be ringing off the wall.
"

The first thing I did when we got to my apartment was take the telephone off the end table by the sofa and set it squarely in the middle of the kitchen table where I could grab it the instant it rang. That was no problem because Mom had had an extra-long cord put on it so that she could talk on the phone while she worked in the kitchen. Then I pulled a bottle of soda out of the fridge and scrounged through the cupboards until I found a bag of chips. Since there were only four chairs at the table, Christie dragged in the desk chair from my bedroom, and then we all sat down at the table and stared at the phone.

"
Come on, telephone. Hurry up and
ring
,"
I groaned.

Katie rolled her eyes in disgust.
"
It will never ring if you just sit here and wait for it. Don
'
t you know that?
"

I stuck out my tongue at her. Then I put an index finger at each of my temples, closed my eyes, and said,
"
I am sending an ESP message to Randy Kirwan. Come in, Randy Kirwan. Jana Morgan is home from school now. Pick up the telephone. Dial her number. Ask her to go to the movie with you Saturday. Over and out.
"
I opened my eyes and grinned at my friends.
"
That should do it.
"

But the phone didn
'
t ring. We finished the chips and drank our sodas and even ate all the ice cubes, but there wasn
'
t so much as a peep from the telephone. It just sat there in the middle of the table, refusing to ring.

"
What time is
it? I have to be home at four-
thirty,
"
said Beth, as she put her empty glass in the sink.

I looked at my watch.
"
It
'
s only five minutes until four. You still have lots of time.
"

"
What are you going to do if he doesn
'
t call?
"
asked Melanie.

"
Why don
'
t you call him?
"
asked Beth, as she dropped back into her chair.
"Girls do that all the time, y
ou know.
"

"
I know,
"
I murmured. I could feel my face turning red as I remembered the time I called Randy and disguised my voice by stuffing cotton balls into my cheeks. They made me gag so much that I almost threw up in the middle of our conversation.
"
I
'
d be embarrassed to call him. Besides, maybe he had to go somewhere after school. You know. Do an errand for his mom or something.
"

Christie was shaking her head slowly and on her face was a worried expression.
"
I don
'
t know,
"
she said softly.
"
Maybe I shouldn
'
t mention this, but I saw Randy in the hall after lunch, and he was talking to Taffy Sinclair.
"

"
What!
"
I shrieked.
"
Talking to Taffy Sinclair!? Why didn
'
t you tell me before?
"

"
You don
'
t really think he
'
d ask Taffy out instead of you, do you?
"
asked Katie.
"
Just because she flirts with him all the time. Everybody knows he
'
s your boyfriend.
"

I didn
'
t answer. All I could think of was Taffy Sinclair. Taffy is the most gorgeous girl in school, and she is my worst enemy in the world. We have hated each other practically forever, and she
'
s always trying to take Randy Kirwan away from me. Taffy and I have had clubs against each other, and she even blackmailed me when I found our teacher
'
s wallet after somebody else had stolen it and hidden it in the girls
'
bathroom. The only time we weren
'
t enemies was when we found baby Ashley abandoned on the front steps of Mark Twain Elementary, but that special feeling between us only lasted a few days.

I closed my eyes and saw a picture in my mind of Randy talking to Taffy Sinclair in the hall after lunch. She was twirling a strand of her long blond hair and gazing at him with her big blue eyes. It made me want to die to see him pushing his dark wavy hair off his for
ehead and giving her the 1,000-
watt smile he always gave to me. Just as he was starting to ask her to the movie, the phone rang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"
Oh, my gosh!
"
shrieked Melanie.
"
That
'
s probably him!
"

I swallowed hard and shot a hopeful glance at each of my friends. It had to be Randy. It just had to be. I started to reach for the receiver, but my hand was shaking so hard that I was afraid I
'
d drop it.

"
Go ahead,
"
urged Beth.

"
What are you waiting for?
"
asked Katie.
"
It
'
s probably him.
"

I nodded and grabbed the phone before I could chicken out again.
"
Hello?
"

"
Hi, honey.
"
I slumped against the table. It was only Mom.
"
Just calling to tell you that I
'
m going to be a little late getting home from work. I
'
m going to stop by the cleaners and the grocery store.
"

"
Sure, Mom,
"
I mumbled, and hung up.

I put my elbows on the table and cupped my chin in my hands. Why didn
'
t Randy call? Surely he would be home by this time. Was it possible that he had asked Taffy instead of me? I sat there watching the hands move slowly around the clock above the refrigerator. The later it got, the more worried I became. Finally it got so late that my friends started getting ready to go home.

"
I still think you should call him yourself,
"
grumbled Beth, as she began gathering her books and putting on her jacket.

"
Me, too,
"
said Christie.

"
I
'
m not going to call him, and that
'
s final.
"

"
Okay, then I
'
ll call him,
"
challenged Beth.

"
Don
'
t you dare,
"
I cried, feeling panicky.
"
Besides, he probably wouldn
'
t tell you anything anyway. He knows you would tell me.
"