Taffy Sinclair 008 - Taffy Sinclair and the Melanie Make-Over (5 page)

"H
ow are we going to get back at them?
"
Beth demanded the minute we got outside for morning recess.

That was the same question I had been asking myself ever since Taffy and Melanie made that disgusting grand entrance into the classroom. But more than that, I had to get back at Taffy for flirting with Randy.

"
We could all show up tomorrow in mink coats, evening dresses, and diamonds,
"
I spat out.

"
I mean
seriously
,"
Beth
insisted. "
We can
'
t let them get away with a thing like that.
"

Nobody had any ideas, and I sighed and began drawing designs with the toe of my sneaker in the half inch or so of snow that lay like icing on the playground. Across the way, Taffy and Melanie were standing together, talking and laughing like crazy.

"
They
'
re probably planning their fabulous modeling careers,
"
said Katie.

"
Or worse, what they
'
re going to do to us next,
"
said Christie.

Just then I noticed Mona Vaughn huddled alone by the building. She looked miserable, and even though she was shivering from the cold, I had the feeling that was not all she was miserable about.

Nobody came up with any ideas during recess. I sank back into my seat feeling more depressed than ever and watched Randy enter the room. He didn
'
t even look at me as he hurried to his desk. Was he avoiding me? Had he been blinded by Taffy Sinclair
'
s beauty? Was he saving all his 1,000-watt smiles for her?

I shot a poison-dart look at the back of Taffy
'
s curly blond head four seats in front of me. She had to be the world
'
s biggest thief. She was always trying to steal Randy away from me, and maybe this time she was succeeding. She was also stealing Melanie away from The Fabulous Five. I was so angry with Melanie that for an instant I didn
'
t care. But then I thought of how without Melanie we wouldn
'
t be The Fabulous
Five.
Even if we decided never to speak to Melanie again, our club would be ruined. There would only be four of us. And we
'
d nev
er again be able to wear our T-
shirts that say The Fabulous Five.

By lunchtime we still hadn
'
t thought of any way to get even with Taffy and Melanie. We sat at our table feeling glum as we ate our fruit and hard-boiled eggs and carrot sticks, all except for Katie, who had a tuna sandwich again.

Just then Christie spotted Taffy and Melanie leaving the steam tables with their trays.
"
Will you look at that,
"
she said.
"
They
'
re having gobs of macaroni and cheese and chocolate sundaes!
"

I looked, and Christie was right. Then I looked back at my lunch.
"
Has anybody lost any weight yet?
"
I asked.

"
Not an ounce,
"
said Beth,
"
and I weigh myself twice a day.
"

"
Me, either,
"
said Christie.
"
Have you?
"

I shook my head.
"
Maybe lettuce leaves and mineral water are the right way to diet, after all.
"

I should have known that would set off Katie.
"
Don
'
t be ridiculous!
"
she said.
"
Good nutrition is the only way to weight control. Eat the proper things in the right amounts, and you won
'
t have to worry.
"

"
Tell that to Taffy Sinclair,
"
I said sadly.
"
Would you look at what she
'
s putting away. Not only that, her figure is like everything else about her—PERFECT.
"

We all turned to stare at Melanie and Taffy. They weren
'
t talking now. They were too busy cleaning their plates. As I watched Taffy take one dainty bite after another of deliciously fattening food, my mouth began to water. This is torture, I thought, and started to look away. But just then Mona stopped at their table. She said something to Taffy, who looked up at her with such a frosty look that Mona must have turned to ice. She just stood there for a moment as if she were frozen to the spot. Then she ducked her head and shuffled away.

I felt a stab of guilt as I watched Mona leave the cafeteria.
"
She needs a friend,
"
I thought.

"
Who needs a friend?
"
Beth asked.

"
Did I say that out loud?
"
I asked, smiling self
-
consciously.

Beth nodded.
"
You said,
'
She needs a friend,
'
as plain as day.
"

"
I was thinking about Mona,
"
I said.

"
She is kind of sad, isn
'
t she?
"
said Christie.

"
Remember how she stole money to buy a sweater she thought would impress Taffy Sinclair?
"
asked Katie.

We all nodded, and I could see that my friends were all thinking the same thing I was. Everyone had rejected Mona so completely that she was desperate to attract attention, even the wrong kind.

"
And remember how everybody said she started the fire in the girls
'
bathroom a few days ago? If you ask me, she gets picked on because she
'
s so homely,
"
I said.

Suddenly Beth giggled.
"
Wouldn
'
t Taffy just
die
if we started being friends with Mona!
"

The rest of us giggled, too, until Christie frowned and said,
"
Except . . . except that she
'
s so . . .
"

The rest of us stopped giggling then. Christie was right. It would be sort of embarrassing to be seen with her. Suddenly I got this great idea.

"
Remember how we said that she
'
s really a nice person and that what she needed was a little help?
"
I said.
"
You know, help with her hair. Stuff like that?
"
My friends all looked at me and nodded.
"
So let
'
s help her,
"
I suggested.

"
Yeah,
"
said Beth.
"
I get the picture. We could teach her to style her hair.
"

"
And help her match up her clothes,
"
said Christie, excitement ringing in her voice.

Katie nodded.
"
Even though they aren
'
t very nice, they would look oka
y if she knew how to wear them.
"

"
We could even teach her the things we
'
re learning in modeling school,
"
I said.
"
We will make her so glamorous that Taffy and Melanie will turn absolutely green.
"

Beth clasped her hands dramatically in front of her and declared,
"
We
'
ll turn an ugly duckling into a
swan
!
"

We
scooped our lunch stuff off the tables and into the trash and raced out of the cafeteria to find Mona. The first place we looked was the playground, but she wasn't there. Randy Kirwan, Mark Peters, Keith Masterson, and Clarence Marshall were over in one corner where the playground monitor couldn
'
t see them scooping up snow to make snowballs. However, it was so cold that hardly anyone else was out.

"
The gym
'
s open on cold days like this,
"
offered Christie.
"
Maybe she
'
s in there.
"

"
Or the Media Center,
"
said Katie.

"
Maybe she went to her locker,
"
Beth said.

"
Or the rest room,
"
I added.

"
Let
'
s split up,
"
suggested Christie.
"
Each one go
to the place you thought of.
"

"
What will we do when we find her?
"
asked Beth.

"
Let
'
s all meet by the drinking fountain in the front hall,
"
suggested Katie.
"
Whoever finds her can bring her along.
"

That sounded like a good idea to everybody, and we took off in separate directions to look for Mona.

I hurried down the hallway toward the girls
'
room and pushed open the door. Mona wasn
'
t there, but Taffy Sinclair was. She was standing all alone at the lavatory, dabbing the corners of her mouth with a damp paper towel. Being prissy, as usual, I thought. She glared at me in the mirror when I looked at her and tossed the paper towel into the trash.

Just then I heard a terrible gagging sound and the rush of something pouring into the toilet. Oh,
gross
!
I thought. Someone is throwing up.

"
Are you okay?
"
I called out. As awful as it sounded, I knew I ought to help.
"
Should I get Mrs. Winchell or the school nurse?
"

Again there was the sound of vomiting, and I started to fidget, jumping from one foot to the other. Whoever that was, she was really sick.

"
She
'
s going to be fin
e.
"

I looked over my shoulder at Taffy. She was the one who had spoken, and suddenly I knew who it was that was throwing up.

"
Melanie!
"
I gasped. Then I turned back toward the stall.
"
Melanie, it
'
s Jana. Do you want me to call your mom?
"
The moment I said that I caught myself. Melanie and I hadn
'
t spoken for ages. But still, we had been good friends for too long for me not to help her if she needed it.

The sound of the toilet flushing roared in the room and then died out as Melanie stepped out of the stall, looking embarrassed.

"
It
'
s okay,
"
she said.
"
Really it is. I just ate something I
'
m allergic to.
"

"
What?
"
I demanded.
"
I
'
ve known you for a long time, and I didn
'
t know you were
allergic to anything.
"

Melanie looked flustered.
"
Well, sometimes I
'
m allergic to macaroni.
"

"
And
cheese
."
Taffy added emphatically.
"
She told me that there are certain kinds of cheese that make her deathly sick. They must have used one of them to make the macaroni today.
"

I looked back at Melanie. She was nodding.
"
Well, okay,
"
I said.
"
If you
'
re sure you
'
re going to be all right.
"

Melanie nodded again, so I left. She seemed okay now, and I couldn
'
t exactly force her to go to the nurse or call her mom. For an instant I wondered why I hadn
'
t known that she was allergic to certain kinds of cheese. Then suddenly I remembered what I had been doing in t
he bathroom in the first place.
Looking for Mona. I took off for the drinking fountain where we were supposed to meet, feeling a little relieved. If I had been the one to find Mona, I wasn
'
t sure what I would have said.

As soon as the fountain came into sight, I could see my three friend
s clustered around it, but Mona
wasn
'
t with them.

"
Couldn
'
t anybody find her?
"
I called as I got close.

"
No,
"
said Christie with a shake of her head.
"
She must be hiding out somewhere.
"

"
Think, everybody,
"
Katie commanded.
"
Where could she be hiding?
"

"
What about our classroom?
"
I cried.
"
Wiggins is probably in the teachers
'
lounge having lunch with the other teachers.
"

"
That
'
s a super idea,
"
said Beth.
"
Let
'
s go!
"

We went charging
down the hall toward the sixth-
grade room. When we got almost there, we stopped and signaled each other for silence. Then we tiptoed to the door.

Mona was there, all right, at her desk with her head down on her arms. We couldn
'
t see her face, but we all exchanged concerned glances. It was plain to see that she was feeling miserable and alone.

I knew my friends could read my lips, so I began forming words without making any sounds.
What are we going to do?
I asked.

Beth
'
s eyes got big, and she raised her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. Christie just stared, first at me, then at Mona, and back at me again. Of course, Katie had an opinion.

Let's just go in and act friendly and natural,
she said, and from the expressi
on on her face I could tell
that she thought the rest of us were brain dead for not thinking of it ourselves.

We stood outside the door for a moment longer, getting up our courage, and then we filed into the room.

"
Hi, Mona,
"
Katie said in a cheerful voice as she went charging into the room with the rest of us behind her.
"
What are you doing?
"

If Mona was surprised to hear us there, she didn
'
t show it. She also didn
'
t raise her head.
"
Minding my own business,
"
she growled.

"
Gosh,
"
said Christie.
"
We thought maybe you
'
d like to talk to us and things
. . ."
Her voice trailed off and she looked around helplessly at the rest of us.

"
That
'
s right,
"
Beth chirped.
"
You know, sit at our lunch table and stand around the school ground at recess. We
'
d really like that, wouldn
'
t we?
"

Christie and Katie and I started nodding like crazy until we realized that she had her head down and couldn
'
t hear us nod.

"
Sure!
"

"
Yeah!
"

"
You bet!
"
we said, practically in unison.

Mona slowly raised her head and fixed her blazing eyes on us.
"
So, is this be-kind-to-Mona day or what?
"
she demanded.
"
Well, let me tell you something. I don
'
t need your pity. I
'
m not a charity case,
so leave me alone
!
"

Then she got up and stormed out of the room.