Fabulous Five 018 - Teen Taxi (3 page)

On Sunday night Melanie tossed and turned in bed, imagining
what it would be like to arrive at school the next morning. Would kids laugh
when the van saying EDWARDS'S TEEN TAXI pulled up to the curb and other kids
got out? Would they snicker behind her back when she walked through the halls
and make jokes about her mother's being a taxi driver?

When she came down to breakfast the next morning Mrs.
Edwards was sitting by the phone, frowning and tapping her fingers on the
kitchen counter.

"I've just had another cancellation," she said in
an agitated voice. "I don't understand it. I had four students lined up to
ride today, and three of their parents have called and canceled. And when I
asked them why, they hemmed and hawed and wouldn't really give me a reason."

Melanie's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, faking
concern. Little tingles raced up her spine. Her campaign to sabotage the taxi
service had worked. Now surely her mother would give up if no one wanted their
children to ride.

"At least we still have one customer," said Mrs.
Edwards with a sigh. "But I'll need to find more if this taxi business is
going to succeed. We'll never be able to make the van payments with only one
rider."

Melanie knew she shouldn't feel so jubilant. Her mother
really wanted to make her new business work, not just for herself, but for the
whole family's benefit as well. But why couldn't she start a business selling
her fabulous homemade brownies instead? she wondered. She might get rich. Look
what had happened with Famous Amos's cookies, or Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

"Hurry with your breakfast, dear," her mother
called, interrupting her thoughts. "We'll need to leave in ten minutes."

Melanie's optimistic mood vanished, and she scowled after
her mother, who hurried off to get Jeffy ready for the trip. Melanie couldn't
even make something as easy as toast and get it eaten in ten minutes. It was
just one more example of what was wrong with running a taxi service. Her mother
was more interested in her career than in her daughter's nutrition!

She downed a fast glass of milk and stuffed the last bite of
a banana into her mouth as she climbed into the van ten minutes later.

Her mother looked up from buckling Jeffy into the front
passenger seat and said, "Now, honey, don't forget that you are in charge
of your little brother beginning the instant the young man steps into our van."

"Young man?" Melanie echoed, sliding into the seat
directlv behind her mother, her interest suddenly piqued. Perhaps she should
have asked more about her mother's riders after all.

"Yes," said her mother as she started up the
engine, backed out of the driveway, and headed down the street. "I'll need
your help watching for his street, too. It's Pebblestone Road. His mother said
it is four blocks south of here and six blocks west. Then it's the fifth house
on the left . . . JEFFY!"

Melanie gasped as her little brother popped the buckle on
his seat belt and rolled out of his seat, heading for the back of the moving
van as fast as he could scramble. Just as Melanie leaned forward to grab him,
her mother pulled to the curb and hit the brakes, sending her lurching onto the
carpeted floor beside Jeffy.

"Jeffy! You get back in your seat!" shouted Mrs.
Edwards. Then she turned her glare on Melanie. "You were supposed to be
helping me. Now we can't have things like this happening while we have
passengers in the van. Get into the front seat, please, and hold Jeffy on your
lap."

"Mu
-THUR!
" cried Melanie as she scrambled
around on her hands and knees gathering books and papers that had tumbled onto
the floor. "You said I was supposed to start watching him as soon as the
passenger got in. Besides, I can't ride up to the school in front of everybody
with Jeffy on my lap. Come on, Mom! I'll watch him. I promise!"

Her mother shook her head firmly. "I can't take any
chances. This taxi service is a big responsibility, and Jeffy could cause an
accident. You simply have to hold him in your lap at all times."

"Oooooh," Melanie groaned as she sat down hard in
the tall, chairlike seat next to her mother and jerked Jeffy onto her lap. "You
sit still or I'll kill you," she mumbled into his ear. Then she snapped
the seat belt across both of them and took a deep breath to calm herself.

"There it is. Pebblestone Road," her mother
chirped a moment later.

Melanie barely glanced up as the big van swung left onto the
street because Jeffy was kicking her shins and trying to wriggle out of her
lap.

"Jeffy. I said to sit still," she said through
clenched teeth.

"I want
down,
" he insisted, planting an
elbow firmly in her stomach.

"You know what you're going to get?" she
challenged. "You're going to get me sitting on
your
lap, if you're
not careful," she warned. "Then let's see you move even so much as an
inch."

She shot an angry look at her mother, who was totally
absorbed in reading house numbers and oblivious to what was going on between
Melanie and Jeffy. Why didn't
she
take care of Jeffy? Melanie wondered.
Wasn't that what mothers were supposed to do? She opened her mouth to say so
when Mrs. Edwards abruptly sat up straight behind the wheel and called out
triumphantly, "There it is. Fourteen-oh-seven Pebblestone Road." Then
she swung the van into the driveway and beamed at Melanie. "And here comes
our first rider."

Melanie heard the van door slide open on its tracks, and she
started to turn around to see who was getting in, but Jeffy picked that moment
to try to squeeze himself upward and out of her grip. She tightened her arms
around him and pulled him back into her lap, growling, "Don't you dare!"
in as mean a voice as she could muster.

Just then the door slammed shut again and Melanie
half-turned to see a hulking form sink into the seat directly behind her. Then
a huge face loomed toward her that was wearing an idiotic grin.

"Hi, Melanie! Hey, this is great! You and me! Riding to
school together!"

Her heart stopped. The rider was Brian Olsen.

If this is a nightmare, please let me wake up, Melanie
pleaded silently as her mother stopped the van squarely in front of Wakeman
Junior High. Over Jeffy's bobbing head she could see students standing in
clusters or walking in ones and twos, all acting as if this were a perfectly
normal day and that everything in the world were okay. But it wasn't, not for
Melanie anyway.

What am I going to do? she thought. Over her shoulder she
could see Brian Olsen getting to his feet as she unbuckled the seat belt and
let Jeffy off her lap. Brian was still grinning that same idiotic grin he'd had
on his face when he got into the van fifteen minutes ago, and she wouldn't have
been the least bit surprised if he'd started slobbering all over her.

"Come on, Melanie. We're
here!
" he shouted
as if he had just given her the greatest news on earth. "Let's get out."

Brian stretched an arm toward her, and Melanie had the
split-second impression that he was going to scoop her up—the way King Kong
scoops up Fay Wray in the movie—and carry her off. Maybe he'd even make his way
up to the roof of the school with her in his arms and wait for airplanes to
attack. But to her immense relief, he only motioned for her to follow him.

"Come on," he insisted. "What are you waiting
for?"

"Umm, I have to talk to my mom for a minute," she
said quickly.

Brian raked his fingers through his short blond hair as if
he were thinking the idea over. Then he grinned broadly again and nodded. "Okay.
See you around," he called as he lumbered out of the van.

"Not if I see you first," Melanie mumbled too
softly for her mother to hear.

"What is it, honey?" her mother asked brightly. "What
did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh," said Melanie. "Well, umm, nothing
really. I'd better run."

"Okay, but don't forget that I'll be here after school
to drive him home and I'll need you to help with your little brother again."

"Oh, Mom," Melanie pleaded. "Can't you let
him play at a friend's house or something? Or maybe Mrs. Miller would keep him
for a few minutes. I really wanted to go to Bumpers with my friends."

"I'm sorry, honey, but I really
need
you to help
me. I'll be right out here when the dismissal bell rings. See you then."

Melanie barely answered. How could her mother do this to
her? Sliding out of the van, she pulled the door shut and checked to see which
way Brian Olsen had gone. She wouldn't go that way herself, no matter what. As
she turned to find her friends, she noticed that several kids had stopped and
were staring in her direction. She panicked. Were they looking at the van? Were
they reading the taxi sign on the side and thinking how weird it was for a
student's mother to do a thing like that? Or were they too busy noticing that
the biggest moron in Wacko had just ridden to school with
her
?
Whichever it was, she wanted to get out of there before the laughing started.

She was breathless when she reached her friends at the
fence.

"So how did it go?" asked Jana.

"We saw Brian Olsen getting out of the van," Beth
said sympathetically. "Of all the rotten luck."

"You can say that again," huffed Melanie. "Half
the school must have seen him. You should have seen the stares I got. It was
awful."

"Is he your mom's only rider?" asked Christie.

Melanie nodded. "I scared off all the rest of them, but
I didn't know about Brian."

"Speak of the devil," said Katie, nodding in the
direction of the sidewalk. "I think he's headed this way."

"Hey, Melanie," Brian called as if on cue. "Come
here a minute. I want to talk to you."

Melanie felt as if her knees were going to buckle. Brian was
practically shouting, and other kids were stopping to see what was going on.

"Hey, Melanie!" he shouted again before she had
figured out what to do. "Hey, I want to ask you something."

Brian was moving closer to The Fabulous Five, and more kids
were stopping to stare. Melanie felt the hair rising on the back of her neck.
There was nothing to do but talk to him, and she would have to do it fast
before the entire student body was looking at them.

"Sure, Brian. I'll be right there," she said
quickly. She looked at the ground as she hurried toward him, not wanting to look
anyone in the eye.

"So, what do you want?" she asked impatiently as
she looked up at him. "Are you canceling out on my mom's taxi service or
something?"

"Gosh, no," he said, grinning broadly. "What
I wanted to ask you is if you think she'd mind if I brought a bunch of bricks
along in the morning?" He squinted thoughtfully. "Maybe a dozen,
fifteen bricks. Do you think she'd have any objection to carrying them in the
van? I'll make sure that they aren't dirty."

Melanie stared at him openmouthed. Then she screwed up her
face and asked, "
Bricks?
Why on earth would you want to bring
bricks to school?"

"Actually, I may need to bring some boards, too,"
he said thoughtfully. "But I'll definitely need to bring bricks. They're
for a karate demonstration I'm giving at the school assembly tomorrow. Did you
know that I'm a brown belt and that I can smash bricks with my bare hands?"

His eyes were gleaming as he grinned at her, and she felt a
queasy sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Smash bricks?" she
whispered, unable to believe the words.

"You bet," said Brian proudly. "Actually, I
can smash concrete blocks, but they shatter and make a bigger mess than bricks.
Hey, I've got an idea. Would you like to come onstage with me and be my
assistant?"

A snicker from nearby jolted Melanie, and she looked around.
To her horror, a crowd was gathering and kids were listening to their
conversation, and right in the center stood The Fabulous Five's archrivals, The
Fantastic Foursome. Tammy Lucero, Melissa McConnell, and Funny Hawthorne were
standing around Laura McCall, who looked as if she were having the time of her
life at Melanie's expense.

"Go ahead, Mel," called out Alexis Duvall. "Maybe
you can wear a cute little short skirt like they do on TV."

Some other kids burst out laughing at that, and Melanie
wanted to die. She knew that Alexis was only joking, but this was no joking
matter. And to say it in front of The Fantastic Foursome only made things
worse.

"Thanks, Brian, but . . . but loud noises give me a
headache," she offered with a shrug. It was a lame excuse, but it was the
best she could do under the circumstances. He looked disappointed so she added,
"You can talk to my mom about the bricks. Okay?"

When Brian had gone and most of the other kids had wandered
off, leaving Melanie and her friends standing alone, she sighed deeply. "A
karate demonstration smashing bricks. Can you believe that?" she said.
Then she looked pleadingly at each of her friends and added, "Somebody
help me think of something to do about him. I have a terrible feeling that this
is only going to get worse."

By now everyone at school knew about the teen taxi. Kids
came up to Melanie everywhere she went. But instead of asking her the question
she had expected—how does it feel to have a mother who runs a taxi service to
and from Wakeman Junior High?—they all wanted to know about Brian Olsen.

"How can you let a drip like that ride with you every
day?" asked Mona Vaughn, stopping Melanie outside her English class. "I
mean, doesn't your mother screen kids or anything?"

"No," Melanie grumbled. "She'll let anybody
ride if they pay the money."

"But Brian Olsen!" protested Sara Sawyer, who had
walked up just in time to hear Mona's question. "He's such a Neanderthal."

"Tell me about it," Melanie said with a sigh.

At lunchtime it was even worse. Funny Hawthorne came sailing
up to The Fabulous Five's table carrying her hot-lunch tray out in front of
her. Then she bent down and whispered something to Jana, who rolled her eyes
and made a face.

"What was that all about?" asked Beth.

Jana looked at Melanie as if she hated to speak, but then
she said, "Funny said Joel Murphy and Clarence Marshall are giving Scott
Daly a hard time about Brian's riding to school with Melanie."

"What!" shrieked Melanie, rising up off the bench
and dropping her sandwich.

"Calm down," said Christie. "You know how
boys are. Besides, if they see that they're getting to you, they'll tease him
more than ever."

Melanie sank back to her seat, but she didn't pick up her
sandwich. She couldn't eat. Not if one of the boys she liked was getting teased
over Brian Olsen. Actually, she had liked Scott longer than any of the other
boys she had crushes on, which made him special. She was going to have to do
something about Brian and do it fast, before her entire love life went down the
drain.

"Maybe your mom won't let Brian bring bricks in the van
tomorrow, and he'll have to find another ride," offered Katie.

"Fat chance," scoffed Melanie. "She's so
desperate for riders that she would probably let him bring a baby elephant, if
he had one."

"What about the stuff you told the other kids?"
suggested Jana. "You know, about your mother's being a reckless driver and
always being late?"

"No, Brian would never fall for that," said
Melanie, shaking her head. "He's already ridden with Mom once. She was a
model driver, and she got to his house exactly on time."

"There has to be something you can do to get rid of
him," said Christie. "You're such an expert on getting boys to notice
you. You've even memorized seven tips for flirting. Don't you know anything
about reversing the whole thing?"

"Yeah," said Jana. "How do you turn guys
off
?
"

Melanie bit her lower lip and thought over Jana's question.
It was true, she had made it practically a lifetime project to learn how to
attract boys. And Christie was right about the seven tips for flirting, too.
She had not only memorized them, she could even say them backward. But never
once in her whole life had it ever occurred to her to get a boy to
stop
liking her. She hadn't considered the possibility that she would ever want to
do a thing like that.

"Wow," she said just above a whisper. "I don't
have the faintest idea, but if there are ways to get guys, surely there are
ways to get rid of them, too."

"Let's think about this. Maybe we could help,"
said Katie. "After all, The Fabulous Five sticks together. We could ask
some boys what girls do that bug them the most, especially things that would
make them stop having a crush on someone. I'll ask Tony, if you want me to."

"Great idea," chimed in Jana. "I'll ask
Randy."

Melanie's eyes got wide with excitement. "I could even
ask some guys myself," she said. "In fact," she added with a
twinkle, "it's the kind of information that we ought to have anyway. Who
knows when somebody else might need it?"

The girls finished their lunches talking about how they
would approach all the boys they knew really well and ask them to name their
biggest complaints against girls.

"Not just silly stuff, but stuff that keeps them from
asking girls out," Katie reminded them.

"As soon as we get a list made, I'll try every single
one of them on Brian Olsen!" Melanie vowed. "If that doesn't get rid
of him, nothing will."

The first boy Melanie talked to was Shane Arrington. He was
in her biology class right after lunch, and they walked into the room at the
same time.

"Shane, what do girls do sometimes that bugs you the
most?" she asked.

Shane looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "What
really bugs me is when girls gossip. I really hate to hear them saying nasty
things about other girls."

"Oh, yeah?" she said casually, making a mental
note to write his reply in her notebook. That was actually a useful thing to
know about Shane, even if she didn't have a problem with Brian Olsen. She would
be extra careful not to say anything bad about
anybody
when she was
around Shane from now on.

Next she stopped at the drinking fountain between classes
and talked to Curtis Trowbridge. "Say, Curtis, what do girls do sometimes
that really makes you mad enough not to like them anymore?"

"Who, me?" said Curtis, as if he couldn't imagine
anyone's asking him a question like that. "Well, probably what I hate most
is when they talk about other guys. You know, how handsome they are, what jocks
they are, things like that," he answered with an embarrassed smile.

Melanie couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, too.
Curtis certainly wasn't handsome. And he wasn't a jock. What he was, was a
genius, and fellow-genius Whitney Larkin was the only girl Melanie knew of who
had ever liked him for a boyfriend. But still, she couldn't imagine anyone
being mean enough to talk about how much of a hunk someone else was in front of
Curtis.

Between her next two classes, Melanie spotted Garrett Boldt
in the hallway. She couldn't believe her good luck. In fact, it was perfect. It
would give her a chance to start up a conversation with him, which she had been
dying to do ever since he had agreed for her to be his assistant. She could
also get some information she could use to get rid of Brian.

She looked around nervously. Garrett was an eighth-grader
and a lot more sophisticated than the other boys she had talked to. What could
she say?
Hi, Garrett. What bugs you most about girls?
Eeek! she thought.
He'll think I've lost my mind.
Hi
,
Garrett. If you liked a girl a lot
,
what would she have to do for you to change your mind?
No, that wouldn't
do either.

I'll just have to wing it, she thought desperately as she
raced down the hall after him.

"Hi, Garrett," she called. "Wait up."

"Oh, hi, Mel," he said, giving her a friendly
smile and slowing down until she caught up. "How's it going?"

"Great," she said. "By the way, I'm doing a
project for social studies," she lied, hoping her face wasn't as red as it
felt. She could never tell a lie without blushing. Not even a teensy white lie.
"I was wondering if you'd answer a question for me."

"Sure," said Garrett.

Melanie nibbled on her lower lip and then plunged on. "If
you could name the one thing that would make you stop liking a girl, what would
it be?"

Garrett looked at her quizzically for a moment. "Must
be a new project this year," he said. "I don't remember anything like
that last year."

"Oh, it's new all right," she assured him. "And
really interesting. I'll tell you more about it later."

"Okay," he said, nodding. "Now back to the
question. I guess the one thing that bothers me most is when a girl reneges on
a promise. I really hate it when she says she'll do something and then she
doesn't do it. I don't know why some girls are like that. Do you?"

"Gosh, no," said Melanie. "That's awful. I
mean, when you make a promise, you should keep it. I can see why that would
bother you."

Garrett nodded and then glanced around at the dwindling
crowd in the hall. "Gotta go," he said, taking off at a run. "The
bell's going to ring any second. Hey, but Mel," he called back over his
shoulder. "I just remembered. I'm supposed to shoot some pictures of the
drama club's rehearsal tomorrow after school. Meet me in the yearbook room
right after the bell. Okay, assistant?"

"Sure," she called after him, almost choking on
the word. Tomorrow after school? She watched him disappear into a classroom,
wishing she could crawl into a hole in the wall and hide. She had really blown
it now. What was she going to do? How could she tell him that she had to ride
in her mother's teen taxi every day after school? After what he had just said
to her, how could she possibly explain that she was going to renege on her
promise?