Fabulous Five 018 - Teen Taxi (5 page)

Now what am I going to do? Melanie asked herself over and
over again through her morning classes. Not only did Garrett Boldt believe that
something was going on between herself and Brian Olsen in the backseat of the
van, but if she canceled out on assisting him when he photographed the drama
club rehearsal after school, he would think she was reneging on a promise.

"I'm
doomed,
" she moaned to her friends as
they filed into the auditorium for assembly later after lunch.

Katie shook her head. "Why is it that your problems
always have something to do with boys?"

"Because boys are important," huffed Melanie. "Besides,
how would
you
feel if everyone thought you liked Brian Olsen?"

"I thought you were going to use all the turnoffs we
got from our boyfriends to get him to stop bugging you," said Beth.

"I am," said Melanie. "I just have to figure
out how."

They found seats near the back of the room, and Melanie was
just getting settled when Sara Sawyer, who was sitting in the row in front of
her, turned around and said, "Melanie Edwards. Is it true what I've been
hearing about you and Brian Olsen?"

Melanie's eyes bugged out and she scrunched down in her
seat, trying to be less noticeable. "What did you hear?" she
whispered hoarsely.

"Just that Brian is telling everybody that since he's
the only rider in the teen taxi, the two of you have gotten really well
acquainted. He's making it sound as if
something's going on
—if you know
what I mean."

"Of course I know what you mean!" Melanie said angrily.
"And it isn't true! And you can tell everybody that I said so!"

Sara shrugged. "Sure," she said, and then she
giggled and turned around.

Melanie could feel tears stinging her eyes and anger welling
up inside her like a volcano ready to blow. She was reaching forward to tap
Sara on the shoulder and give her a large piece of her mind when Mr. Bell
walked out on the stage to begin the assembly.

"Boys and girls," he began, "today we are privileged
to have a very special program. We are going to see a karate demonstration put
on by ten students of Mr. Hayashida's School of Karate, who also happen to be students
right here at Wakeman Junior High."

Mr. Bell paused and there was thunderous applause. Melanie
clapped, too, thinking that most kids would applaud for anything that would get
them out of class. She glanced at her watch, wondering how long the assembly
would last and if Brian would do something weird to embarrass her in front of
the whole school.

A tall, thin Asian man walked to the center of the stage,
where a large mat had been placed, and introduced himself as Mr. Hayashida. He
bowed respectfully to Mr. Bell and then gestured to direct the audience's attention
to ten teenagers, all wearing the traditional white pants and shirts with belts
ranging in color from yellow to brown, who were filing onto the stage. Melanie
recognized all of them, although she only knew three by name. Brian wore a brown
belt. He was the biggest and also the last one in the line, which stopped
behind the mat and then bowed to Mr. Hayashida.

Melanie drew in a deep breath and crossed her fingers for
luck. Then she looked at her watch again. Only two minutes had passed. She
half-listened as Mr. Hayashida explained that
karate
was a Japanese word
meaning "the empty hand" and that the reason it was called that was
that people who practice karate face the world without any kind of weapon
except for their disciplined minds and their skill. Then he announced that it
was time for the demonstration to begin.

Two boys and a girl came forward and showed the basic
exercises that prepared the students for more advanced moves. Next came a
demonstration on punching techniques, followed by four students who did
incredible kicks. Each time, the students bowed to Mr. Hayashida and then to
the audience before they began, and then they bowed again when they were
finished. While they were going through their routines, Melanie's eyes roamed
around the auditorium. She was too nervous about Brian's performance to be able
to watch the others. What if he wanted her to come up on the stage with him?
What if he asked where she was sitting? She'd be so embarrassed that she'd
probably die.

Finally the moment came that she had been dreading. Mr.
Hayashida bowed to the audience and said, "Now for the most important
moment of our demonstration. You will see an incredible feat of discipline and
skill. Brian Olsen, an advanced brown belt, will demonstrate
tameshiwara
,
the ancient art of breaking objects with his bare hands."

A ripple of surprise went through the audience, and Melanie
ducked lower in her seat. Next to her, Christie gave her a sympathetic look and
then reached across and squeezed her hand.

The crowd got quiet as Brian stepped forward and made his
bows. Then he carefully brought the bricks onstage and placed them in two
waist-high columns in front of him. Next he placed two boards across the top.
Melanie held her breath. So far he wasn't doing anything the least bit weird.
In fact, she had never seen such a look of concentration on his face. He
stepped back, holding his arm outstretched with the side of his hand above the
boards like the cutting edge of a knife.

Suddenly he let out a bloodcurdling yell.
"ELAAA-NEEE!"
Then he lunged toward the boards, bringing the side of his hand down on them in
a gigantic chop that broke them straight down the middle.

"Wow," she whispered, but the sound was lost in
deafening applause.

"Did you see that?" Beth asked, jabbing her in the
ribs with an elbow.

Mr. Hayashida held up his hand for silence as Brian prepared
for his next feat. This time he went to the side of the stage and returned with
another brick, which he placed across the top of the two columns where the
boards had been. Then he bowed again and assumed the same position as before.

"He can't really do that," Katie whispered. "It
has to be an optical illusion."

"ELAAA-NEEE!"
he yelled again as his hand
came crashing down on the brick, splintering it into a thousand pieces.

The crowd went crazy as Brian bowed to everybody and the
demonstration ended. Melanie left the auditorium with the others, feeling
totally confused. She had seen
The Karate Kid
, and she knew how much
hard work and discipline it took to become good. So why was it that Brian could
do something so special some of the time and yet he acted like a total moron
the rest of the time?

Maybe I'm being too hard on him, she thought. Maybe I should
give him more of a chance. Just then she heard a commotion in the hallway
behind her. Turning, she saw the crowd parting and Brian Olsen rushing forward.
He was out of breath, but he was coming straight toward her with a big grin on
his face.

"Brian, what is it?" she demanded.

"Here," he said, thrusting something into her hand.
"It's for you. I want you to have it."

Several kids had stopped to see what was going on, and he
stood there, panting heavily and waiting for her response. Melanie frowned.
What was he talking about? What did he want her to have? Looking down, she opened
her hand.

"A piece of brick?" she shrieked.

"That's right," Brian said proudly. "That was
really your name that I was shouting when I was up there on the stage, and I
broke it just for you."

Melanie sat in her next class trying to get the ring of
laughter out of her ears. She had been absolutely mortified that everyone who
had stopped in the hall to hear Brian give her the piece of brick had broken up
laughing, and she had muttered a fast "Thank you" to Brian and gotten
out of there as quickly as she could.

Now, sitting in Family Living class, she knew that there was
no way in the world that she could ride home with him in the van today. How
could she possibly face someone who had yelled her name when he smashed a brick
with his bare hands in front of the entire school and then said he did it for
her? Besides, she was determined to go along with Garrett when he photographed
the rehearsal of the drama club.

But how could she get out of riding home in the van? She
played the upcoming scene in her mind and saw herself hovering over Jeffy to
keep from having to talk to Brian.
Jeffy!
Why hadn't she thought of him
before? He just might be her out.

When Family Living class ended, she raced through the
crowded halls to the school office and slid to a stop beside Miss Simone's
desk.

"Could I use the phone? Please?" she begged. "I
have to call my mother. It's an emergency."

Miss Simone looked up from her electric typewriter and
regarded Melanie solemnly. "An emergency?" she said in a calm voice. "Perhaps
I can help you? Do you need to see the nurse?"

"Oh, no," Melanie assured her. "It's nothing
like that. It's just that my mom is expecting me to ride home with her after
school, and, well . . . something's come up . . ." Her voice trailed off
as she realized that what she was saying wouldn't sound like much of an
emergency to Miss Simone. "It's really important. Honest," she added,
putting as much sincerity into her voice as she could.

Miss Simone sighed as if to say that she had heard the same
story a million times before and pointed to the telephone on the attendance
desk. "You can use that one over there," she said. "And please
keep your conversation short."

Melanie thanked her and dialed her own number, cupping her
hand around the mouthpiece when her mother answered.

"Mom," she said just above a whisper so that Miss
Simone wouldn't be able to hear. "This is Melanie."

"Yes, dear. Is something wrong?"

Melanie could hear alarm in her mother's voice so she
quickly assured her that everything was okay. "I just need to stay after
school this afternoon to work on something. I'll explain later. It's really
important, and I wanted to ask you if it's okay."

"Melanie. You know that I need you to help me with
Jeffy while we have a passenger in the van," her mother said sharply. "We've
been through this all before. Of course you can't stay after school today."

Melanie took a deep breath. She had been prepared for her
mother to say that. "But Mom. You don't need me to take care of Jeffy. He
always sits with Brian, and Brian makes sure he has his seat belt fastened and
entertains him for the entire trip. I'm just in the way." Melanie winced
when she realized what she had just said. Saying that she was just in the way
was taking things a bit too far.

"You are not
just in the way
, young lady,"
her mother replied. "And I don't want you to get started making excuses
for not riding in the teen taxi. It's a very bad habit to get into when you
know that I'm depending on you for help. I want you to be on the curb when the
van pulls up today. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mom," Melanie mumbled, and hung up the
phone. There was no use arguing any longer. Her mother would never give in.

When the bell rang dismissing classes for the day, Melanie
hurried to the yearbook room. She knew her mother would be angry if she was
late showing up for the teen taxi, but she had to explain to Garrett that she
wouldn't be able to help him today.

Garrett was already there, and as usual, he was fumbling
with his camera, his tripod, and all his books.

Coming up beside him, she took a deep breath and started
talking before she could lose her nerve. "I'm awfully sorry, Garrett, but
I won't be able to be your assistant today. I'm not reneging on my promise. It's
just that my mom says that I have to ride along and take care of my little
brother while she's driving the teen taxi."

"What?" asked Garrett, screwing up his face in
disbelief. "You
have
to ride along?"

Melanie nodded. "It's true. Jeffy can be a little
monster sometimes."

"Is Jeffy the reason you're riding in the van, or Brian?"
Garrett challenged. Then he hiked the camera strap up on his shoulder, turned,
and walked away, leaving Melanie staring after him.

"But Garrett . . ." she whispered. She wanted to
run after him and explain some more, but her chin was quivering so hard that
she wasn't sure if she could talk. He
did
think that she was reneging on
her promise. But worse than that, he actually believed that she liked Brian
Olsen.

Melanie was furious as she stomped out of the building and
made her way across the school ground toward the teen taxi. Why hadn't her
mother let her stay to help Garrett? Then she wouldn't be in this predicament.
In fact, everything was her mother's fault, her mother's and the teen taxi's.
Some career. It was ruining Melanie's life. There was no way that she could
stop her mother from driving the taxi, but she could get Brian Olsen to leave
her alone.

As she approached the van, she was surprised to see Brian
already inside with Jeffy on his lap. She had half-expected to see him
demonstrating karate kicks on the sidewalk.

"Hi, Melanie," called out Jeffy. "Big Brian
is showing me the callouses on his hands. He has to have them to protect his
hands when he breaks bricks," Jeffy said, obviously proud of his knowledge.

Melanie nodded to Jeffy, but she barely looked at Brian as
she sat down. There was one thing she could do, she decided. She would throw
everything at him that the boys had said they didn't like about girls. If that
didn't do the trick, then she was definitely doomed.

She opened her notebook and peeked at the page where she had
written the turnoffs. "Okay," she whispered under her breath. "Here
goes."

Just before the taxi pulled away from the curb she moved
back in the van to the seat directly in front of Brian. She would have to be
careful that her mother didn't hear what she was about to say and come totally
unglued at her for acting obnoxious. Of course her mother didn't know what an
embarrassment Brian had become for her, she reasoned. And she wouldn't
understand even if Melanie told her.

Pasting a fake smile on her face, she asked in a voice too
soft for her mother to hear, "Brian, did you know that Laura McCall forces
her friends to do special favors for her or they can't be her friends anymore?"
It was the nastiest thing she could think of to say about any girl in Wakeman
Junior High, and besides, it was true.

Brian looked puzzled. "No," he said, shaking his
head. "Where did you hear a rumor like that?"

"Oh, everybody knows about it. At least, all the girls
do," she said.

Brian frowned slightly and went back to talking to Jeffy.
Okay for number one, she thought, and peeked at her list again. Number two was "superior
attitude." That would be easy.

Melanie glanced at her mother again, but Mrs. Edwards's
attention was on traffic, and she seemed oblivious to the conversation in the
back of the van. "Of course
I
would never treat my friends so
badly," she went on. "
I
happen to care about my friends.
Actually,
I
care about a lot of things. The homeless. The environment.
The war against drugs.
I
absolutely can't stand people who aren't
caring."

This time when Brian looked up, he shrugged and gave her an
embarrassed grin.

Melanie was beginning to feel exuberant. It was working.
Brian certainly wasn't giving her his dopey, lovesick grin now. "Or who
are insincere," she added. "I absolutely can't stand people who say
they care about something and then never do anything about it. I plan to do
something about the homeless, the environment, and the war against drugs just
as soon as I have time," she said, trying her best to sound totally
insincere.

By now Brian was squirming uncomfortably, and Melanie could
hardly keep from giggling out loud. She took a deep breath and thought about
what to say next. She would skip talking about her diet and about reneging on
promises for the time being. They would take some planning. Instead she would
go on to talking about other guys and to pointing out Brian's faults and bad
habits.

But which other boys would she talk about? A lump jumped
into her throat at the thought of Garrett. She couldn't possibly talk about
him. Not after what had just happened. And what about Shane and Scott? She
really liked both of them, and she would feel strange talking about them in a
situation like this. Before she had time to decide, her mother swung the van
into Brian's driveway.

"You kids will have to finish your conversation in the
morning," Mrs. Edwards sang out happily. "Here you are, Brian. Home
safe and sound."

Brian said good-bye to Jeffy, thanked Mrs. Edwards, and
ducked out of the van without a word to Melanie. Gleefully she watched him
slide the box containing the leftover bricks off the floor and close the taxi
door behind himself, thinking that she would definitely finish the conversation
in the morning. If Mom only knew, Melanie thought. In the meantime, she had
come up with another idea.

She made a beeline for the phone as soon as she got home and
dialed Shawnie Pendergast's number. Shawnie answered.

"Hi, this is Melanie Edwards," she began. Then she
looked around the kitchen to be sure her mother was out of hearing range. "Do
you remember the other day when we were talking about the teen taxi, and I said
that my mother was a rotten driver?"

"Sure," Shawnie replied. "That made me
nervous, and when I told my parents, they said I shouldn't ride with her."

"That's what I thought," said Melanie. "Well,
I have a confession to make. I was only joking. My mom's really a great driver,
and maybe your parents should reconsider letting you ride with her."

Shawnie sounded a little surprised, but she promised to talk
to her parents as soon as they got home, and Melanie scanned the phone book
looking for Kevin Walker-Noles's and Michelle Troyer's numbers, thinking that
if she could get a few more kids to ride in her mother's teen taxi, then even
if Brian Olsen continued to have a crush on her, he wouldn't be able to say
that anything romantic was going on between them in the backseat. She would
have
witnesses!

When she talked to Kevin, he said that he had noticed how
the taxi had been on time to school every day so far and that he definitely
wanted to ride. Before they hung up, he said that he would ask his parents to
talk to Mrs. Edwards.

As usual, Michelle didn't have much to say when Melanie
confessed that the taxi wasn't as crowded as she had said it would be, so
Melanie didn't really know if she would sign up again or not.

Melanie was feeling a hundred times better when she finished
the calls. She would talk to some other kids at school tomorrow and she would
get the flyers off the van floor and tape them on bulletin boards and even on
the mirror in the girls' bathroom. With any luck at all, she would have the van
filled in no time. She chuckled as she remembered how she had done everything
she could think of to keep her mother from starting the teen taxi in the first
place, and now, here she was trying her best to get riders so that she wouldn't
have to be alone with Brian Olsen.

She picked up her books and was heading for her room when
she passed the front door. At that instant the doorbell rang. Melanie set her
books on the bottom stair and opened the door. A tall man wearing a suit and
tie stood there, holding the hand of a little boy about Jeffy's age. Maybe he's
come to play with Jeffy, Melanie thought.

"Hi," she said to the man. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I think you can," he said pleasantly. "I'm
Mr. Dotson and this is my son, Jeremy. We've come about the puppies."

Puppies!
Melanie stared first at the man and then at
the little boy. She had forgotten all about the ad to give away the puppies.

"This is the right house, isn't it?" the man asked
apprehensively.

Melanie's first impulse was to say no and slam the door, but
she heard her mother in the foyer behind her.

"Who is it, dear? Is it someone about the puppies?"

Nodding silently, Melanie opened the door wider, and the man
and the little boy stepped inside.