Fabulous Five 006 - The Parent Game (6 page)

"Where am I going to put all of these?" Pink's
voice came from the living room.

"Oh, my word," Jana's mother's voice followed. "I
didn't know there were so many. Jana, honey! Can you come and help?"

When Jana reached the living room, she found it filled with
boxes, and Pink was standing at the door, sweat glistening from his forehead
and perspiration stains darkening his T-shirt. "I'll bring in another load
if you ladies want to find a place to put my bowling trophies," he said,
grinning. His blond hair was wet and mussed as if he had been in a wrestling
match.

"Oh, dear," said Jana's mother. "Where will
we put all of these?" She was standing beside two extra-large boxes, set
apart from the others, with the words BOWLING TROPHIES written on their sides
with black Magic Marker.

"We could rent one of those storage places and move
Pink and his trophies into it," volunteered Jana quickly.

Her mother looked sternly at her. "That was
not
a nice remark, young lady."

"I was
only
kidding," Jana insisted,
thinking to herself that she would absolutely explode if her mother got any
more paranoid between now and the wedding.

Her mother gave her a long look and then followed Pink
downstairs. Before she turned away, Jana saw a flash of anger in her eyes.

Laura McCall stood with her feet planted firmly in front of
Jana, blocking her way. Under one arm was a stuffed unicorn, and she had the
tail of her braid in her other hand, switching it back and forth as if she were
a cat who had cornered a mouse. Melissa McConnell and Tammy Lucero stood on
either side of her looking angry, and Funny Hawthorne was just behind them,
looking thoroughly miserable. Jana faced them by herself, her books and bunny
in one arm and Rex clutched in the other. None of her friends were in sight,
and she felt vulnerable.

"You're not going to get away with stealing Riverfield
boys, Jana Morgan. It was a sneaky trick to get Taffy to be partners with Randy
Kirwan while you lured Shane into being your partner. Who are you going after
next?"

"I didn't ask Shane to be partners. He asked me,"
Jana said angrily, glaring back at Laura. She wasn't stealing Riverfield boys.
All she wanted was to keep Randy, who had been her boyfriend in Mark Twain
Elementary.

"Do you deny that you asked Taffy to be Randy's partner
so he couldn't be mine?"

Jana hadn't, but she couldn't say so without its sounding
like a lie. Taffy had brought up the subject of being Randy's partner, not
Jana, but Jana had agreed to it. And how did Laura know Jana had agreed to
Taffy's asking Randy, anyway?

"I don't need to steal boys from anyone," Jana
shot back, avoiding Laura's question. "They go out with whomever they want
to. If they don't ask you to be partners, you're the one with a problem."

"Right!"
said Katie, sticking out her chin.
She had appeared from nowhere and stepped between Jana and Laura. Christie and
Melanie moved in beside her, too.

"Listen, Katie Shannon," said Melissa. "The
only boyfriend you can get is in trouble all the time." Melissa was
referring to Tony Calcaterra, and Jana thought Katie's red hair was going to
burst into flame. Then she noticed that Funny looked as if she were going to
cry and remembered what she had said about Jana's being the only one able to
stop the war between the two cliques. But Laura had started the argument. She
had gotten in front of Jana and stopped her. Funny's eyes were pleading with
her.

"Well, you can think what you want, Laura McCall,"
said Jana, backing off. "But I am not out to steal Riverfield boys. And
you can shout all you want, but we don't have to listen. Come on, everybody,"
she ordered Katie, Melanie, Beth, and Christie, "let's find better
company." She saw a look of relief on Funny's face as they turned away and
left The Fantastic Foursome standing in the hall by themselves.

"The nerve of that witch," said Beth. "If we
wanted to, stealing boyfriends from them would be like stealing candy from a
baby."

"She's just mad because she couldn't get Randy to be
her partner," said Katie. "I guess you were right about Taffy. If it
weren't for her, Laura might be Randy's partner right now."

"But what I can't understand," said Jana
thoughtfully, "is how Laura
knew
that Taffy asked Randy to be
partners so that Laura couldn't ask him."

"Maybe someone overheard you and Taffy talking and told
her," said Melanie. "It could have been some Riverfield kid. What
about Funny? Did you say anything about your deal with Taffy to her?"

"No. I didn't tell anyone except you guys."

"Maybe Taffy told someone," said Christie.

"Why would she do that?" asked Jana.

The Fabulous Five stared blankly at each other.

"Oh, Jana, there you are. I've been looking all over
for you." Taffy seemed out of breath and was hugging her big white stuffed
bear with both arms. "I want you to know how much I appreciate your
sitting with Randy's and my baby last night. That was
super
of you. If I
can do it for you sometime, let me know. That is, if I don't have an
appointment."

"You're welcome, Taffy. Your dropping it off and
picking it up made it easy."

"Oh, good. Uh, Jana. I was wondering . . . since it was
so easy and all . . . if you'd mind sitting again for me? I hate to ask you,
but I've got a tryout for this
big
modeling job, and it means a lot to
me. Would you mind too much?" Her voice was like syrup being poured over
pancakes.

Jana hesitated. It hadn't been so hard sitting the extra
make-believe baby. After all, Taffy and her mother had delivered it to her
apartment and picked it up later. All Jana had to do was carry it to her room and
let it sit with Rex. The Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur and the bear wearing a tutu
made an interesting couple.

"I guess so, Taffy."

"Oh, thank you
so
much, Jana. I'll drop it off
again, just as I did before."

"Great," answered Jana. "When do you want me
to sit?"

"Saturday."

"Saturday? Taffy, I
can't
sit Saturday. I've got
to go shopping for a dress for Mom's wedding Saturday morning."

"That's okay, Jana. My appointment is in the afternoon.
I'll drop it off around one o'clock."

"But I'm going to the football game with Trumbull!
Besides, don't you have to cheer?"

"Jana . . . you aren't going back on your promise, are
you?" Taffy sounded as if her feelings were badly hurt. Then she said
softly, "Miss Wolfe understands. She gave me permission to miss the game
because my appointment is so important. I was counting on you to understand,
too. After my trying so hard to help you keep Randy out of Laura McCall's
clutches. And I thought we were starting to be friends. . . ."

Jana felt guilty. Taffy
had
helped her, but the
football game was important to Jana, and she was supposed to see Randy after
the game. How could she go to the game with all the stuffed animals—especially
Rex and Monique? They were so big. She wouldn't be able to get through the
crowd, let alone find seats for herself, the dinosaur, and the bear.

But Taffy had helped her, Jana thought. She
was
acting
like Jana's friend and Jana owed her. She looked at Taffy standing in front of
her. How could she be so uncaring after Taffy had been so much help?

Jana sighed. "I'll do it, Taffy."

"If you put the dinosaur in that chair and put the
rabbit in its lap, I think they'll be all right," the sales clerk said.
Jana could see the Mayfair Dress Shop clerk was suppressing a smile.

Jana's mother had been as excited as if she were the one who
was going to get the new dress when they started out that morning with Pink
driving them to the mall. Jana sat in the backseat of the car with Rex and the
bunny. She must have tried on a zillion dresses since then, but it was the same
in all the shops, and Mayfair was their last hope. Her mother's smile had faded
a long time ago.

Jana held an armload of dresses as her mother rifled through
a dress rack trying to find others for Jana to try on. Pink sat in the chair
next to Rex and the pink bunny and smiled at everything that was going on
around him.

"That's just about all I can find," said her
mother. "Why don't you try these on, Jana, and for goodness' sake, I hope
there's one you like. The wedding is in one week."

The sales clerk gave Jana four dressing-room tags, which
Jana knew was one more than was usually allowed. The clerk seemed to be
sympathetic to their endless search.

Jana hung the dresses on the wall hook in the dressing room,
putting the lavender one at the back. She tried on the first one and took it
off immediately. It was blue with a tight little collar and it made her look as
if she were ninety years old. The next one was white and green polka dots with
a big bow at the neck. It was strange and didn't warrant a trip to show her
mother either.

The third one was the one Jana had liked. It was navy blue
and had a tight skirt with a vent in back that Jana thought looked
sophisticated. The sleeves were kind of short beneath shoulder pads and the
dress made her look a lot older, like a high school senior.

When she marched out to the showroom to model for her
mother, the look in her mother's eyes told her she didn't feel the same way.
Jana stood between the three mirrors and swung around looking at herself from
all sides. "I like it," she said with a hint of defiance in her
voice.

Her mother waited a moment before speaking. "Jana, don't
you think it's a little too old for you?"

Jana gritted her teeth and tried to keep a tight little
smile on her face. "But I
like
it." She could feel tears
pushing their way into her eyes. There's nothing to cry about, she told
herself. It was just a dumb dress.

"Jana, why don't you try on the lavender one with the
puffy sleeves. It's so pretty."

Jana knew the lavender one had been her mother's favorite. "Why
can't I have this one?"

Her mother took a deep breath. "Jana . . ."

"I'll take the lavender one.
It's your wedding.
"
Jana wished she hadn't said it when she saw her mother's face. She looked as if
she were going to cry. Pink sat in his chair next to Rex and the pink rabbit,
looking equally miserable. It's the two of them against me, Jana thought. She
turned quickly and went back to the dressing room so they wouldn't see the
tears running down her cheeks.

Later, Jana lay on her bed with a pillow scrunched in her
arms that was damp from her tears. The lavender dress hung on her closet door.
It had been a perfect fit. Across the room Rex sat next to her desk chair where
Taffy's bear was sitting. The pink bunny, with no name, was on the bed with
her.

The ride home from the mall had been made in silence. She
could see her mother's back was ramrod straight. Jana had gone directly to her
room and had only come out when Taffy brought the bear.

Jana was miserable. On top of that she knew she was making
her mother miserable, too. She didn't want to do that, but she didn't seem to
be able to stop it, either. Things were piling onto her too fast.

The clock on her bureau ticked away. It was going on three p.m.,
and everyone but her was at the football game. Everyone but Taffy and me she
corrected herself, remembering that Taffy had said she had a modeling
appointment.

Jana sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
The pink bunny her father had given her fell against her leg, and she picked it
up. It was beginning to look old, she thought. She had had it for almost ten
years. That was even before the last time she had seen her father. She guessed
she would probably
never
see him after her mother and Pink got married.

Jana climbed out of bed and went to her desk and opened the
top drawer. The letter to her father and the invitation lay on top, and she
took them out and returned to the bed. She opened the letter and reread it. It
didn't seem like a very good letter now. What would her father think when he
read it? Would he think she was a child? Would he think she was begging him to
come and see her?
Well, she wasn't.
He had to want to see her, too. It
couldn't be just one way.

The last of the four letters she had from him had been written
two years ago when he wrote about the vacation out west. He had not even
bothered to come for her. Some father he was. Pink would
definitely
make
a better father.

She sighed, remembering how her mother had always been there
for her. Whenever she had problems, her mother was always there to help. Jana
looked at the lavender dress hanging on the door. She dropped the letter and
the invitation next to bunny, then went over to take the dress down.

When she stepped into the living room, her mother and Pink
were sitting together quietly. Pink noticed her first, and his face brightened.
He reached over and touched her mother on the knee.

Jana walked into the center of the room and pirouetted in
front of them. The skirt of the lavender dress billowed out as if it were a prom
dress. Before coming out of her room, she had brushed her hair and put on some
lip gloss and now she smiled as brightly as she could. She saw her mother's
eyes brimming with tears. "How do I look?"

"Gorgeous, honey. Just gorgeous," said her mother.

Pink was smiling as if he had just won a first-place bowling
trophy. The three of them sat in the living room and talked about the wedding
for a while before Jana went to her room to change back into her jeans.

She was still lonely, but she felt better. Everything was
going to be okay. Her mother deserved to marry Pink, and it wasn't right for
Jana to fight their being together. She had known that all along, but she had
been so used to having her mother to herself that she couldn't stand sharing
her.

Jana tuned her radio to the local station, hoping she could
hear the score of the Wakeman-Trumbull football game, but all she could get was
world news and music. She had wondered about how the game was going all
afternoon. Now it's halftime, she thought. I wonder if Randy has thrown a
touchdown pass or made a big run? Now it's at least the fourth quarter; is
Wakeman ahead or behind? She couldn't stand being all alone, so she got two
Wacko Junior High pennants and put them in Rex's and Monique's paws as if they
were rooting for Wacko, too. She put a pom-pom in the pink bunny's lap.

When she knew the game was over, Jana thought about calling
Bumpers to talk to her friends, but she would only be more lonely and
depressed. Darn that Taffy. Why did she have to have an appointment on Saturday
afternoon, anyway? Next time Jana would have to tell her to get another sitter.
Her feeling of being obligated to Taffy could only go so far.

"What kind of pizza do you want?" asked Pink. It
was his usual question on the nights that he and her mother were going bowling.

"Deep-dish, pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom."
It was the answer she always gave him.

"Want me to order a large this time? You're growing up,
and it takes more to fill you up," he said, smiling.

"No, regular is fine." She smiled back, trying to
show him she appreciated the offer. Pink was a good guy At least he tried,
which is more than she could say for her father. She noticed how natural he and
her mother looked together when they walked out the door.

When the pizza came, Jana turned on the television and got a
soda before opening the box and setting it on a trophy box next to the couch.
She looked at her watch. She would eat first and then call Beth to see if she
was home yet and find out how the game had gone.

As she was tearing out the second slice of pizza, the phone
rang. It was Christie, and Jana could hear Beth, Katie, and Melanie in the
background.

"Jana! You'll never guess what!" cried Christie.

Jana expected Beth or Melanie to sound so melodramatic, but never
Christie. "Calm down, Christie. Did Randy get hurt? Is he all right? Slow
down and tell me."

"It's worse, Jana. Much worse." Christie paused
for a breath. "We went to the game and Randy didn't get hurt, but guess
who was there."

"Who?"

"Taffy. She was there from start to finish, and after
the game was over she latched onto Randy at Bumpers, and she talked him into
taking her to a movie."

Jana sat stunned. The pizza slice bent in her hand and a
mushroom fell on the floor.