Fabulous Five 032 - Class Trip Calamity (2 page)

"Man, this is cool!" shouted Richie Corrierro as
Shawnie opened the bottle of wine and began pouring a small amount in everyone's
paper cup.

"Yeah, cool!" shouted Clarence, and several others
echoed his words.

Jana watched as Shawnie made her way around the room. Most
kids were holding their cups out to her when she came near. Only a few didn't,
and she couldn't see Randy well enough to know if he did or not because too
many kids were in the way.

"None for me," said Katie when Shawnie approached
The Fabulous Five. "I want to stay in complete control of myself."

Shawnie shrugged and started to pour wine in Melanie's cup,
but Katie wasn't finished talking yet.

"I think you just brought out the booze to get everyone
to make fools of themselves."

"Lighten up, Katie," grumbled Beth. "It's
just one little sip."

"Right," murmured a few others. "This is fun."

Shawnie pretended not to hear as she continued filling paper
cups. Katie frowned, but she didn't say any more.

Jana looked down at the pale liquid in her cup and tried not
to grin. As much as she knew she shouldn't be doing this, she couldn't resist
feeling sneaky and a little brave. It was fun. And wasn't everybody else doing
it, too? Except for Katie, of course, but Katie loved to be different.

"Who's going to make the toast?" asked Tammy
Lucero.

"I will!" shouted Clarence, jumping back onto the
footstool and almost spilling his wine.

"Not
you
again," said Dekeisha. "I
think our toast should be the new cheer Beth made up last night at Bumpers."

"Hey, that's perfect," said Alexis. "Go on,
Beth."

Beth bowed theatrically as boys and girls moved aside,
clearing a spot for her in the center of the room. Then she handed her paper
cup to Alexis and raised her arms into the air and shouted:

Hey! Hey! What can we say?
We won't be the babies for one more day!
Instead we'll be
the biggest and the best!
Yea! Yea! For Wakeman Middle School!
We
de-SERVE
it!

There was a quick gulp as everyone downed the wine, and then
the cheering began again. Jana started to cheer, but her throat burned, and she
made a face instead. What an awful taste! she thought. How can anyone really
like this stuff?

Feeling a tap on her arm, Jana looked around to see Melanie
holding out her cup.

"Do you want mine?" Melanie asked barely above a
whisper.

Jana shook her head. "Are you kidding? It tastes
terrible. But what's the matter? I thought you were dying to try it."

"I was, but . . ." Melanie hesitated, looking
around to make sure no one else was listening. "I started to drink it, and
then I remembered how one little goof can cause so much trouble."

"What do you mean?" asked Jana.

"Super kisser," Melanie said solemnly.

"Oh, yeah." Jana sighed. "I see what you
mean." It was no wonder Melanie had chickened out, she thought. Melanie
had believed that a couple of little kisses after The New Generation's rock
concert wouldn't hurt anything, either. And boy, had she been wrong. But that
was different. How could one little sip of wine hurt? Jana blinked, remembering
what her own father's drinking had meant to their family, but she pushed that
memory out of her mind. She didn't want to think about that right now. Besides,
the party was getting lively again.

"BDOCs!"
shouted Clarence, wadding up his
cup and throwing it into the fireplace. A shower of cups followed his.

Someone had turned the music back on, and a few kids had
started to dance again. Beth was standing beside Jana, and she started snapping
her fingers to the beat and humming along. "Wow," she said, "this
party is a blast now that everybody has loosened up."

The next thing Jana knew, Beth had moved away from her
friends. "I think I'll have another little drinky poo," she called
out, slurring her words and pretending to be drunk.

"Oh, no," Jana said, turning to Melanie. "Beth's
getting theatrical again. She's doing a drunk routine."

Beth picked up the empty wine bottle and held it upside down
over her cup. "Oh, well," she remarked, grinning as everybody
watched. "I guess I'll have to tell jokes instead. Does anybody know what
you get when you cross a turtle with Dracula?"

Kids started gathering closer around Beth.

"No," replied Joel Murphy. "What do you get?"

"The world's slowest vampire!" she announced
triumphantly.

The crowd roared with laughter.

"Uh-oh. They're encouraging her," said Melanie,
muffling a giggle. "You'd think they'd know better by now."

Beth bowed low to the applause and pretended to stagger a
little. "So what do you get when you cross an elephant with a jar of
peanut butter?"

This time she didn't wait for anyone in the crowd to ask. "You
get an elephant that sticks to the roof of your mouth!"

When the kids started laughing again, Jana grinned at
Melanie and motioned toward the refreshments with a nod. "Let's see what's
left to eat. This could go on all night."

"How could you be hungry?" asked Melanie. "I
saw you eat three slices of pizza and a couple of brownies. I only had two
slices of pizza and one brownie, and I'm stuffed!"

Jana grinned at her friend. "I have a tapeworm, and I
need to feed it," she said matter-of-factly.

Melanie rolled her eyes and followed Jana as she threaded
her way through the crowd toward the refreshments on the bar. Actually, Jana
wasn't hungry, either. It was an excuse to find Randy and see what he was
doing. It had been almost an hour since they had danced, and with this big
crowd she had lost track of him. She was a little worried that he might be mad
at her for drinking the wine, if he saw her do it. And she didn't know if he
had tried it himself. She knew one thing—she wouldn't be able to relax until
she found out.

I'm just being paranoid, she told herself sternly. He's
probably just hanging around with some of the boys. Still, ever since they had
broken up temporarily to date other people, she had been extra cautious about
taking their romance for granted.

Of course the breakup had been her idea, and the whole plan
was just to make sure they really cared about each other. But still, that was
when he spent so much time with Sara Sawyer, who told everybody that she'd had
a crush on him practically forever.

Jana frowned. She had been worrying that he might be staying
away from her because he was mad at her for drinking the wine. It hadn't
occurred to her until just this second that he might be with another girl.

"And come to think of it," Jana mumbled to
herself, "where is Sara Sawyer right now?"

Jana grabbed a handful of pretzels and scanned the crowd at
this end of the room. "You haven't seen Randy anywhere, have you?"
she asked Melanie.

"Not for a whi . . . whoops!" said Melanie, her
eyebrows shooting up. "Uh-oh. Don't look now. He's talking to the enemy."

The enemy?
Jana whirled around. Randy was just a few
feet away, deep in conversation with Laura McCall. Jana's heart almost stopped.
She turned back around quickly, not wanting anyone to see her staring at them
and think she was jealous.

"Laura probably trapped him into talking to her,"
Jana whispered to Melanie. "I'm sure he'll manage to get away from her in
a minute."

Melanie nodded and didn't say anything.

Jana munched on a pretzel. She was keeping her back to
Randy, but Melanie was standing so she could see everything.

"What's happening?" Jana asked impatiently.

Melanie shrugged. "Same."

Jana rolled her eyes in disgust. Maybe I should stroll over
there and break it up, she thought angrily, but she knew she would never do a
thing like that. She shot a questioning look back at Melanie.

"Same," Melanie repeated. "She's really
giving him an earful. Hold it. Laura's walking away." Her face broke into
a smile. "Okay, Jana, he's all yours."

Jana nodded, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
Surely nothing was going on between Randy and Laura, Jana thought, not that
Laura wouldn't love to break us up.

A moment later Randy walked toward her. "Hey, there you
are. I was wondering what happened to you."

"I saw you," Jana replied, trying hard to keep
anger out of her voice, "but I didn't want to interrupt you and Laura."

Randy sighed, and Jana knew instantly that she hadn't fooled
him. He knew she was mad.

"Come on, Jana," he said. "Laura's not so
bad. You and your friends ought to give her a chance. She has problems like
everybody else, you know."

Jana had to bite her tongue to keep from giving him a nasty
answer. "Why don't we dance once more," she said instead. "It's
almost time to go home."

"Sure," agreed Randy, his easy smile returning.

He didn't mention Laura again during the rest of the party
or when he took her home and kissed her goodnight, but Jana had an ominous
feeling that Laura McCall was up to something, as usual.

As Jana headed for her locker at school Monday morning,
everybody was still talking about Shawnie's party. And when Shawnie herself
arrived at school, Sara Sawyer, Lisa Snow, and Dekeisha Adams were waiting at
her locker.

"Hey! Hey! What can we say? Shawnie Pendergast saved
the day!" they shouted, imitating Beth's cheer. All four girls broke up
laughing.

"That was such a
cool
party," said Lisa,
and Sara and Dekeisha nodded happily.

"Well, we have something big to celebrate, don't we?"
asked Shawnie. "If you think that was something, just wait until next year
and see what kind of parties I give then."

Jana watched from across the hall. What did Shawnie mean by
that? she wondered. Two bottles of wine instead of one?

"Why the funny expression?" Beth asked, coming up
beside Jana.

"Oh, it's just Shawnie. She's feeling like such a big
deal over the party."

"I'm not surprised. I had a blast," Beth told her.
"She's probably the most popular girl in Wacko after Saturday night. And
Katie said she just heard Tammy Lucero telling a bunch of kids that Shawnie
should be class president next year because she's so cool."

"Well, I had fun, too, but the more I think about it, I'm
not so sure serving wine was very cool," replied Jana. When Beth didn't
argue, Jana glanced at her and was surprised to see a faraway look in her eyes.
"What's the matter, Beth? Is something wrong?"

Beth didn't say anything for a moment. "Not really. At
least I don't think so. Except . . ." Shrugging helplessly, she said, "Oh,
I don't know what to think. Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course I can keep a secret," Jana said. "I'm
your best friend, remember?"

Beth looked sheepish. "I know. I didn't mean it that
way. It's just . . . well, it's sort of private."

"Maybe it will make you feel better to talk about it,"
offered Jana.

Beth nodded. "You're right. Here goes. It happened
about ten o'clock Saturday morning. For once in my life I was home alone. Dad
was playing golf. Mom and Alicia had gone shopping. Todd had slept over at a
friend's house. Brittany was getting her hair cut, and Brian was at work at the
supermarket. I mean, it was heaven! Until the doorbell rang."

Beth paused—probably for dramatic effect, thought Jana—but
at the same instant the first bell rang for classes.

"Oh, my gosh. I don't have time to finish telling you
right now," gushed Beth. "I'll see you in the cafeteria at noon."
She slammed her locker shut and dashed down the hall, leaving Jana shaking her
head and staring after her.

"It's something private and it happened when the
doorbell rang?" Jana mumbled to herself as she hurried to her own
homeroom. What kind of sense did that make?

For the rest of the morning Jana had trouble concentrating.
Between listening to the rave reviews most kids gave Shawnie's party and
wondering about Beth's mysterious experience, it was impossible for her to keep
her mind on class work.

When lunchtime finally arrived, she grabbed her lunch bag
out of her locker and raced to the cafeteria. Beth was already there, sitting
at The Fabulous Five's favorite table with Katie and Melanie and nibbling on a
tuna sandwich.

"So, what happened when the doorbell rang?" Jana burst
out when she reached the table. "I've been going crazy all morning
wondering about it." Then, realizing that Katie and Melanie might not know
what she was talking about, she put her hand over her mouth and said, "Oops.
Did I blow it?"

Beth shook her head. "It's okay. I was going to tell
them, anyway." While Jana took out her jelly and cream cheese sandwich and
began to eat, Beth told the others the part of the story that Jana had already
heard.

"There was this big truck sitting in the driveway from
some parcel service, and a man standing on the front porch with a huge package."
Beth drew an invisible package in the air that was at least three feet high.

"Gosh, what was in it?" asked Melanie.

"Well, first off, it wasn't for me," replied Beth.
"It was for my mom. She orders stuff from catalogs all the time, and I
just figured it was something like that. I signed for it and started dragging
it into the foyer when I noticed a rip in the side of the box. Naturally, I had
to look in."

Beth paused, glancing around to see if she had everybody's
complete attention.

"Don't stop now," shouted Katie, and some girls at
the next table looked around to see what all the commotion was about. "What
was in it?"

Beth's expression got serious, and she took a deep breath. "Disposable
diapers," she said softly. "A ton of them, and they were addressed to
my mom
.
"

Nobody said anything for a moment.

"Do you think . . . ?" Jana ventured, but she
couldn't finish the sentence. Surely the Barrys weren't going to have another
baby. They had five kids already.

"I don't know what else to think," replied Beth.
Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I mean, why would a big package of
disposable diapers come for Mom unless . . . ?" Her voice trailed off
glumly, and she looked first at one of her friends and then at another as if
searching for a better explanation. "I wanted to tell you Saturday night
at the party, but I just couldn't," she added.

"I don't think it would be so bad," offered Katie.

"Me, either," said Jana. "I'd love to have a
baby around."

"No, you wouldn't," Beth retorted. "I can
remember when Alicia was a baby, and it was not fun! Besides, since I'm the
middle child, nobody pays any attention to me as it is. Boy, talk about getting
lost in the crowd."

Jana tried to keep from smiling. She remembered all the
times Beth had done crazy things to get her parents to notice her. Jana's
favorite was the time Beth wanted to ask her parents' permission to have a
slumber party, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise. That was when she used
Halloween makeup to make herself look as if she'd been in an accident. She got
her parents' attention, all right, but they grounded her for that one.

"How does your mom look?" asked Melanie.

"The same," said Beth. "Believe me, the first
thing I did when she and Alicia got home was check her out. She's as skinny as
ever."

"Well, what about Brittany?" asked Katie. "Could
they be for her?"

Beth thought a moment and then shook her head. "Brittany's
pretty crazy, but not
that
crazy."

"Well, what did your mother say about it when she got
home and saw the box?" Jana asked.

Beth looked sheepish. "She didn't see it. I hid it in
the garage under a pile of old rugs."

"You
what
?
" exclaimed Katie.

"I hid it. I just wasn't ready to deal with babies and
stuff right now. I wanted to think about it a little first and talk to you
guys. I'll give it to her . . . later."

Just then Dekeisha Adams ran up to their table, interrupting
the conversation. "Hey, guys, guess what I just heard! A bunch of kids are
going to bring drinks on the class trip this weekend."

"You're kidding!" cried Jana, instantly forgetting
all about Beth and her problem.

"No, I'm not," insisted Dekeisha. "See that
group of kids over by the tray return? Well, that's what they're talking about."

Jana and her friends turned in unison to look. Clarence
Marshall was talking a mile a minute to about a dozen kids, including Shawnie,
Laura and her three best friends, Keith Masterson, and Richie Corrierro.

"You should hear what they're saying," Dekeisha
went on. "Clarence and Laura say they can get all they want from home
without anybody's knowing it. Richie and Keith say they can get some, too, and
Shawnie is even going to try. Then, they say, they're going to sneak it on the
bus in thermoses and drink it right under the teachers' noses. Doesn't that
sound cool?"

"No, it doesn't," said Jana. "It sounds
awful." The party Saturday night had been one thing, she thought, but
taking booze on a school trip was something else altogether.

"They'll never get away with it," Katie added,
lifting her nose in the air. "Do they think the teachers are stupid? They're
bound to smell it."

"Oh, they're planning for that," Dekeisha assured
her. "They're going to bring breath mints and chewing gum and air spray
and things like that. They'll get away with it, all right. Just you wait and
see. Gotta go now. Catch you later."

The Fabulous Five watched in shocked silence as Dekeisha
hurried away.