Taffy Sinclair 004 - Taffy Sinclair and the Romance Machine Disaster (10 page)

"
I wouldn
'
t go to that football game if it were the last thing left on earth to do,
"
I said stubbornly.

"
Oh, come on, Jana. It
'
s going to be the best time ever. I caught Scott looking at me four times today, and Mark
Peters told Alexis that he got her name. He talked to her after school.
"

"
Big deal,
"
I grumbled.
"
Curtis Trowbridge already told me that he got my name, too. So what?
"

"
You
'
re impossible,
"
said Melanie.
"
Can
'
t you see that all the boys are getting tired of keeping their matchups a secret? I
'
ll bet Randy is getting tired of it, too.
"

I didn
'
t answer. Then I heard Melanie sigh.

"
You
'
d better change your mind and go to the game,
"
she said.
"
Everybody will be there. Especially Taffy Sinclair.
"

After we hung up I thought over what Melanie had said. She was right about one thing. Everybody would be at the game. And even though I didn
'
t want Randy anymore, it would be the same as handing him over to Taffy on a silver platter if I didn
'
t show up. I couldn
'
t do a thing like that. I would go to the game, but I would ignore Randy Kirwan. I w
ould ignore him if it killed me.

I
nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang again after dinner. I didn
'
t want to talk to anyone so I pretended not to hear it. After it rang a couple of times, Mom answered.

"
Hello,
"
she said in her regular voice. A minute later I noticed that she was practically whispering, and when I looked at her she gave me a sheepish grin and disappeared into the closet with the phone the
way I always do when I want some privacy. I shook my head. She was acting just like a teenager instead of a mother. Did love have that effect on grown-ups, too?

I didn
'
t know when I
'
d ever been so nervous. It had to be Pink on the phone. What were they talking about that was so private? I didn
'
t think they were fighting. At
least I couldn
'
t hear Mom yelling through the closet door.

What
seemed like ages later Mom came out. There was a glow on her face and her eyes
w
ere shining. She sat
down c
ross-legged on the sofa and just looked at me as a smile spread across her face.
"
I decided to forgive him,
"
she s
aid with an embarrassed shrug.
"
You
'
ll probably think I
'
m crazy, but I said I
'
d go to Ricardo
'
s with
him t
omorrow night.
"

I just stared at her. She
had been so angry at him. How co
uld she change her mind so quickly?

"
What do you mean, you decided to forgive him?
"
I asked.

"
Ta
lk
ing to him made me realize that I was only being stubborn because I was hurt, and I w
a
s hurt because he was p
l
aying hard to get. He admi
tted that he was being stubborn,
too, and playing hard to get because I wasn
'
t responding to all his attention. So because we were both so stubborn, we almost spoiled our chance to be happy together.
"

Mo
m's so l
ucky, I thought. If only Randy Kirwan were
as super
a person as Pink.

"
There is one thing I didn
'
t talk to him about, thou
gh,"
she said, and her eyes clouded.
"
Your father.
"
Then her face brightened again and she reached out, givin
g my
hand a warm squeeze.
"
But we
'
ll worry about that when the time comes,
"
s
he
said in a cheerful voice. Still, I couldn
'
t help feelin
g a
little bit funny right now.

The next morning was Saturday. When I called Melanie to tell her that I had decided to go to the game after all, she let out such a whoop that it almost blew out my left eardrum, cleared a path through my brain, and came out the other side of my head.

"
But don
'
t think I
'
m going to pay any attention to Randy Kirwan,
"
I warned.

"
Sure,
"
she said in a tone that told me she didn
'
t believe a word I said.

"
I mean it. I
'
ve had it with that boy.
"

After we agreed to meet by the gate at the junior high football field, I started getting ready. I had washed my favorite jeans and my best top the night before. My sneakers were a cruddy mess, but maybe nobody would notice them. Just as I was tying my sneakers, Mom knocked on my bedroom door.

"
I
'
m heading for the supermarket and the cleaners,
"
she called.
"
Have fun at the game.
"

"
Thanks,
"
I called back.

As soon as I heard the front door close, I raced to the bathroom and plugged in Mom
'
s curling iron. Then I dabbed on a tiny bit of her lip gloss. I wasn
'
t really fixing up for anyone. It was just that my hair looked nicer curled and the gloss would keep my lips from getting chapped.

My four best friends were waiting by the gate when I got there. Melanie was dancing around, hopping from one foot to the other.

"
Isn
'
t this exciting?
"
she said.
"
I can hardly wait to go to Mama Mia
'
s.
"

I couldn
'
t help but think about last Saturday when I had been the one with the special date. If only the computer matchup had never happened. Then maybe Randy would not have become so conceited, and we would be going to Mama Mia
'
s, too.

My friends and I headed for the section of the bleachers where all the kids sat. I kept my eyes down as we climbed up toward the top. I didn
'
t want to talk to anyone.

"
Hello, Jana.
"
It was Taffy Sinclair, and she was using her icky sweet voice.
"
Are you going to Mama Mia
'
s after the game?
"

Taffy and Mona were sitting beside the stairway. They were both looking at me as if I were the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Taffy was wearing lavender slacks—lavender is her favorite color—and the most gorgeous white rabbit fur jacket I had ever seen. Sunlight shone in her blond curls, and I remembered self-consciously the botched-up job I had done with Mom
'
s curling iron.

"
What
'
s it to you?
"
I snapped.

Taffy only shrugged and glanced toward the field, where our team had j
ust appeared and were lining up
for their warm-up. I stomped on up the stairs and sat down with my friends. Who did Taffy think she was, anyway? She was probably going to flirt her head off with Randy at Mama Mia
'
s, and she wanted to make sure I would be there to see it.

I sneaked a look down at the field, where the team was doing jumping jacks, and my eyes just automatically zeroed in on Randy. The red number twenty-two seemed to stand out on his white uniform more than anyone else
'
s on the team. At just that moment he looked up at me and flashed that 1,000-watt grin. I looked away quickly, even though I could feel my heart doing flip-flops the way it always did when he smiled at me. I could also hear a little voice in my mind. It was Mom, and she was confessing that she had been stubborn and that she was forgiving Pink.

Well, I
'
m not being stubborn, I told myself. It
'
s Randy
'
s fault. He
'
s the one who has changed.

In a few minutes the referee signaled for the game to begin, and I sat there wishing I had never come. I tried not to watch what was going on on the field, but I couldn
'
t help it. Every time our team had the ball, the quarterback threw it to Randy. And every time that happened, he ran toward the end zone and got jumped on by a zillion guys from the other team.

Finally, it was late in the fourth quarter. The score was tied, and our team had the ball down by the end zone. I was determined not to watch this time, so I stared as hard as I could at the back of Taffy Sinclair
'
s head. I wished my eyes could bore right through her curly perm and into her brain and tell her what I thought of the way she acted.

Just then Katie poked me in the ribs.
"
Look, Jana. It
'
s Randy. He
'
s hurt.
"

My heart stopped. I could see someone in a white uniform lying on the ground. A bunch of other players were gathered around him, but they all scattered when the coach and his assistant ran onto the field. The two men bent over him, but he didn
'
t move.

"
Are you sure it
'
s Randy?
"
I whispered, but already I had scanned the players standing along the sidelines and knew that number twenty-two was not among them.

"
I saw him get tackled,
"
said Katie.
"
It was awful. They hit him really hard.
"

It was as if time stood still as I watched the coach bending over Randy, but the sc
ene became more and
more blurry as tears filled my eyes. Randy was hurt. I couldn
'
t believe this was really happening. Finally the coach and his assistant helped Randy to his feet and guided him toward the bench, walking on either side of him like a pair of human crutches. I closed my eyes and said a little prayer that he would be all right.

Suddenly I heard somebody scream. I opened my eyes and saw Taffy Sinclair jump to her feet. Her face was positively green, and she was pointing toward Randy.

"
Blood!
"
she shrieked.
"
He
'
s bleeding! Yuk! Blood!
"
I gasped. Blood was pouring down his face and onto his jersey.

"
It
'
s just a bloody nose, everybody! Don
'
t get excited,
"
Curtis called up to the stands. Then he began scribbling furiously in his notebook, and I knew that Randy
'
s bloody nose would make the front-page headline in the next
Mark Twain Sentinel.

The coach helped Randy sit down on the bench and put his head between his knees. The water boy plopped an ice pack on the back of his neck, and the referee announced that our team had scored a touchdown on that play.

Taffy Sinclair streaked down the stairs and disappeared behind the bleachers.

"
I
'
ll bet she
'
s going to throw up,
"
Christie said gleefully.
"
She can
'
t stand the sight of blood.
"

I smiled and tried to stand up and look in the direction Taffy had gone, but my legs had turned to jelly.
"
Randy
'
s going to be okay,
"
I mumbled to no one in particular.

Randy stayed on the bench for the rest of the game, even after his nose stopped bleeding. I allowed myself to look at him once or twice after I reminded myself that it was only natural to be concerned about anyone who got hurt.

I was probably the only one who noticed that Taffy Sinclair never came back to the game, and that Mona Vaughn had disappeared too. All the way to Mama Mia
'
s all anyone could talk about was what a hero Randy had been for getting hurt and for scoring the winning touchdown at the same time.

My friends and I were practically the first ones to get from the game to Mama Mia
'
s. We planned to get a table near the door, where we could watch everybody come in. As soon as we stepped inside we stopped cold. There was Taffy Sinclair. She and Mona Vaughn had already gotten the best table in the place, the one closest to the door.

"
Hello, Jana,
"
she said in her icky sweet voice. She was smiling that nasty smile of hers.
"
Don
'
t you have a date with Randy today?
"

I knew what she was getting at. She might as well have gone ahead and said that it proved that Randy didn
'
t have my name after all. I didn
'
t answer her. I couldn
'
t. I might have said something awful if I had.

"
Come on, Jana.
"
Beth was pulling on my sleeve.
"
Just ignore her. We have to find a table before they
'
re all gone.
"

I looked around, and Beth was right. Kids were streaming in all over the place. We finally found a table near the back of the room. The only thing good about it was that it was close to the big round table where the football team usually sat.