Fabulous Five 032 - Class Trip Calamity (6 page)

Jana cringed at Tammy's words. "Did you hear that?"
she whispered to Randy.

Randy nodded, and Jana could see by his expression that he
felt as miserable about it as she did. Together they watched as the word spread
through the bus like wildfire. Some girls put hands over their mouths and
giggled. A few others gasped.

"What are we going to do?" Jana asked Randy.

He shrugged. "There's nothing we can do but stay out of
it."

Jana nodded and slumped back in her seat. She knew Randy was
right, but that didn't help much.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Derek Travelstead inch
out of his seat in the back and waddle up the aisle. When he reached Tony and
Shane, he held his thermos out toward them. "Hey, man. Have some!"

Tammy whirled around in her seat and shot Derek a fierce
look.
"Shhhhh!"
Then she put her hand over her mouth to muffle
the sound of her words and growled, "Get back to your seat before the
chaperons see you and figure out what's going on."

Derek crouched lower and whispered hoarsely, "I was
just gonna share this with my old buddies, Tony and Shane."

"You heard what she said," muttered Shane. "Get
out of here and stop being stupid."

"Hey, what's the matter, Arrington?" Derek said,
his voice getting louder. "I never thought you'd wimp out."

"It's probably because his old man's a chaperon,"
said Joel Murphy, who had left his seat in the back and come forward, too.

Shane scowled, but he didn't say anything.

Randy saw Jana looking at Shane with concern. "Don't
worry about Shane. He won't let anyone get to him."

Jana nodded and nervously bit her lower lip, peering through
the kids in front of her toward the front rows of the bus, where the chaperons
sat.
Come on
, she pleaded silently.
Somebody turn around and stop
this before it goes any farther.
But Mr. Neal, Mr. Arrington, and Mrs. Trowbridge
were all staring out the windows at the scenery.

"Have you seen anybody drink anything yet?" Jana
asked Randy a few minutes later.

"No," he replied.

"I haven't, either," she whispered. But she kept
her eyes firmly fixed on Laura, and a few minutes later saw Laura slowly
unscrew the top to her thermos.

Jana poked Randy in the side, then nodded toward Laura. "Can't
you give her a little more
friendly advice
?
" she grumbled.

"It wouldn't do any good," said Randy.

Suddenly from the back of the bus Clarence Marshall burst
into song. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall . . . ninety-nine
bottles of beer . . ."

Kids all over the bus started laughing, and several joined
in.

"If one of those bottles happened to fall . . . ninety-eight
bottles of beer on the wall!"

"Isn't this a riot?" said Tammy, bouncing up and
down in her seat.

"Right." Laura laughed. "How dumb can Mr.
Neal and the chaperons get?"

Jana had heard all she could take. She had been staring at
the back of Laura's head and seething with anger over Laura's putting the empty
bottle in her locker to make it look as if Jana were drinking. Fortunately,
Laura's little trick hadn't worked, and Jana had forced herself not to have it
out with Laura over that because it would only get Funny in trouble. But this
was too much. Leaning forward, she tapped Laura on the shoulder. "Laura
McCall, you'd better stop all this right now, before you get everyone on the
bus in a lot of trouble."

"Oh," cooed Laura, "is the little baby . .
." She stopped abruptly as Randy leaned forward also, fixing her with an
icy glare. "Hey, I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to," she added, trying
suddenly to look innocent. "Everybody's doing their own thing."

Jana looked around. She would have to admit that now that
the kids had actually started sneaking drinks, the chaperons were probably the
only ones who could stop it. And they didn't even know what was going on!

Although she didn't actually see anyone drinking, she did
see chewing gum and breath mints being passed around, and every so often she
would hear the soft hiss of a spray can, which she knew was room deodorizer.
Still, she felt certain she could smell the faint, sickly sweet odor of alcohol
in the air. Or is it my imagination? she wondered.

Sighing, she settled back and stared out the window,
wondering what was happening on the other buses. Were the kids sipping out of
their thermoses, too? Maybe not, she thought, since Laura and Clarence were the
real ringleaders, and they were both on her bus. But she couldn't forget about
Shawnie and some of the others who thought sneaking around under the teachers'
and chaperons' noses was going to be a blast. They were probably just as much
into it as the kids on this bus, Jana thought.

Then Jana remembered Beth and swallowed hard. When it came
right down to it, would Beth back off, or would she go along with the crowd?
Jana wished she could be sure that Beth would be smart, but nobody loved to
clown around and party more than Beth. If Beth didn't take the whole thing
seriously, she just might do the wrong thing.

Before long Jana noticed that the song was down to
fifty-seven bottles of beer on the wall, and the bus had entered the outskirts
of New York City, which meant the buildings were drab and squeezed together,
and the traffic was bumper to bumper.

When the bus stopped at a traffic light, Mr. Neal got up and
walked slowly down the aisle and back again. Kids snapped to attention, and
thermos bottles disappeared from sight as all eyes were riveted on the teacher.

Jana held her breath. Did he know? Could he smell it, too?

But her hopes faded when he reached the front of the bus
again, raised his hand for the singing to stop, and said, "We'll be there
in a little while, so I want you all to look around your seats to make sure you
have all your belongings—especially your lunches—because the buses won't be
coming on board the ferry with us." Laughter rippled through the bus.

"I also want you to remember your bus number. This is
bus number one . . . seven . . . two . . . six. Seventeen-twenty-six. Memorize
it. Write it on your arm. Do whatever you have to, but don't forget it. There
will be school buses from a lot of schools at the park when we get back, and we
don't want anyone getting lost and boarding the wrong bus."

By the time Mr. Neal had finished his instructions about
walking in an orderly manner from the buses to the dock, good conduct on the boat
and at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and all the other rules and
regulations pertaining to the day, they were pulling into the parking lot at
Battery Park.

"Hey, I see the Statue!" Curtis shouted, and
pointed to the middle of New York Harbor.

"Well, we got this far without any trouble," Jana
said to Randy as the bus pulled to a stop.

She hadn't been talking to Laura, but Laura must have
overheard her, because she turned around and looked at Jana with an air of
superiority.

"Of course," Laura remarked airily. "What did
you expect? Don't forget, we're the big deals on campus now."

Kids pushed and shoved their way into the aisles, and Jana
felt herself being swept along toward the exit. Once she was out of the bus,
she clutched her lunch bag and looked around for the rest of the Fabulous Five.
Randy had stopped to talk to Shane, but he had promised to meet her again on
the boat.

"Jana! Jana! You should have been on our bus!"
Melanie came running up to Jana, her face glowing. "Scott Daly and Keith
Masterson almost got caught."

"You're kidding," said Jana. "What happened?"

By this time Katie and Beth had joined them, and Melanie
pulled all three closer and said, "Keith had a thermos of stuff, and he
offered some to Scott. Scott was acting like a big deal and bragging about how drinking
it was nothing. Then he took a big swallow and almost choked! He was gagging
and spitting, and tears were squirting into his eyes. It was a riot."

"Oh, my gosh," said Beth. "Then what
happened?"

"Well, Miss Dickinson rushed back to see what was
happening. You could tell she was scared. She probably thought he was having a
heart attack or something. But when he saw her coming, he grabbed his own
thermos and acted as if he had just swallowed wrong and choked."

"But couldn't Miss Dickinson smell anything?"
asked Jana.

"Ha! Talk about quick thinking," replied Melanie. "Sara
Sawyer started squirting perfume all over the place and brushing her hair and
pretending that she was trying to look good before she got off the bus."

"Do you mean to say that Miss Dickinson got that close
and still didn't catch on?" Jana asked in disbelief.

"Exactly," said Melanie. "Whew! Talk about a
close call."

"Hey, everybody," said Beth. "Let's forget
about all that stuff and have fun, okay?"

"I'll go along with that," agreed Katie. "Let's
find Alexis. She wants to hang around with us today."

"So does Funny," added Jana. She was glad they were
changing the subject. And she was especially glad that Beth had suggested it.
Maybe she had worried about Beth for nothing, she thought with relief. And if
the other kids wanted to act up, let them, she thought. Nothing's going to
spoil our day.

They found Alexis and Funny, and all six girls locked arms
and walked toward the dock in a line. "How'd you get away from Laura and
the others?" asked Jana as they walked along.

"I just told her that I didn't want to be in on the
partying and neither did Alexis so we were going to hang out together for
today," said Funny. Then she giggled and added, "She'll probably
freak out when she sees that Alexis and I are with you guys. Don't worry,
though. I'll think of some big excuse."

"Hey, everybody, let's pretend we're a Broadway chorus
line," said Beth. She stopped and stuck out her right foot. "Everybody
start on your right foot."

Giggling, the others put their right feet in front, too.

"Now, when I say GO, step out on your right, and we'll
do one—two—three—KICK!" called out Beth. "Ready? Here goes.
GO!
One—two—three—KICK. One—two—three—KICK."

Jana had trouble juggling her lunch and thermos of juice and
hanging onto Beth's and Melanie's arms at the same time, but she managed, and
it was fun. Pretty soon other girls were running over to join the line, hooking
arms and kicking. Dekeisha Adams and Lisa Snow grabbed onto one end, and Marcie
Bee and Heather Clark got on the other. A second line formed behind them, and
even a few boys got into the act and started clowning around.

"Hey, look at me! I'm a ballerina!" cried Clarence
Marshall in a falsetto voice. He was hopping on one foot and twirling around,
waving to the crowd and blowing kisses.

Jana threw back her head and laughed. So these are the kids
who are going to be the big deals of Wakeman Middle School next year, she
thought. That's pretty funny.

As they got closer to the dock, they saw the huge ferryboat
pulling into its berth to discharge a load of passengers.

"Look! There's our boat!" cried Mona Vaughn. "It's
three decks high."

"I'm getting on the top deck!" shouted Joel
Murphy.

"Me, too," said Richie Corrierro and several
others.

"Wait a minute, everybody!" shouted Mr. Neal over
the noise of the crowd. "Line up over here for your tickets, and remember
how you're supposed to behave."

The homeroom teachers passed out the boat tickets, which
were the only tickets they would need during the entire trip, and a brochure on
both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. By this time the ferry had
unloaded its passengers and was ready to take aboard new ones.

"Hurry," Beth urged as The Fabulous Five, Alexis,
and Funny made their way toward the gangplank together. "I've seen three
other schools here already. We don't want them to get all the good seats."

They raced aboard on the lower deck and hurried up the
stairs to the second deck.

"Want to stop here?" asked Melanie. "There's
a snack bar on this deck."

"No, come on," urged Beth. "We want to be on
the top deck, where we can see everything. You can always come back down if you
want something from the snack bar."

Melanie made a face, but she followed Beth up the last
flight of steps and out onto the open deck. It was already getting crowded, and
the girls were lucky to find a place to squeeze in next to the railing.

"There they are," said Jana, pointing out first
toward the enormous statue of the lady holding a torch and then to a small
island that was mostly covered by a large brick building with a red roof.

"Oh, neat," exclaimed Katie. "Just think,
this is exactly what all those millions of immigrants saw when they began
coming to America a hundred years ago. Doesn't it make you feel special?"

Jana felt a tingle of excitement at Katie's words. It did
make her feel special. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it must
have been like to stand on the bow of an immigrant ship, instead of the Circle
Line ferry, carrying everything she owned in the world and praying that she
would be allowed to stay in this great country.

Even Melanie seemed impressed as she squinted into the
sunshine. "Wow. I bet it was really scary," she murmured.

The ride out to Ellis Island took only a few minutes. The
boat pulled up to the dock and let out its gangplank, and hundreds of
passengers poured ashore.

Jana had looked for Randy on the boat, but she hadn't seen
him. Now, on shore, the crowd seemed larger than ever.

"How am I ever going to find him?" she mumbled to
herself.

The girls wandered through the front doors of the main
building and into a vast, high-ceilinged room marked "Baggage Room"
on their maps. Jana steered Katie in the right direction, since she was busy
reading out loud from the brochure.

"'Basking in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, the
newly established Ellis Island Immigrant Station answered the lady's plea to "Give
me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,"
when it officially opened its doors to the world on Friday, January 1, 1892,'"
read Katie. "Isn't that a beautiful poem?"

"Yeah," said Jana, "but you'd better watch
where you're going."

"Hey, guys, there's a gift shop," Melanie cried,
pointing down a hallway to the right of the front door. "Let's go there
first."

"I'm broke," said Alexis.

"Me, too," said Jana, "besides, I want to see
this place. It's really pretty interesting."

"Yeah," agreed Funny. "Let's look at some of
the displays. We can always go to the gift shop later."

Katie, who had continued reading her brochure while the
others discussed the gift shop, suddenly stopped, her face radiant with
excitement. "Everybody! Listen to this. 'Perhaps it was fitting that a
fifteen-year-old Irish girl named Annie Moore was the first to be questioned in
the immigrant station's second-floor Registry Room, because America, like young
Annie, was in its adolescence.'"

Melanie made a face. "So?"

"
So?
What do you mean, so?" Katie demanded.
"Didn't you hear me? It says right here that the first immigrant to come
through Ellis Island was a woman!"

"Oh, Katie," groaned Jana, "you're too much."

The girls wandered through the baggage room on the first
floor, looking at examples of the funny, old-fashioned luggage the immigrants
had brought. They watched a movie and then went upstairs, following the route
the new Americans had followed as they were given medical exams and then told
if they could remain in America or had to go back home.

Finally, after the girls made a quick trip into the gift
shop to please Melanie, it was time to board the ferry again and head for the
Statue of Liberty.

"Isn't it awful that some of the immigrants had to go
back home just because they got sick on the ships on their way to America?"
asked Funny as they walked toward the ferry.

Jana nodded, but she didn't say anything. She had been
keeping an eye out for Randy as they'd toured the displays, but she hadn't seen
him. Now, as they boarded the boat, she thought she caught a glimpse of him
sitting in a chair on the second deck. He had his back to the railing and was
talking to someone, but she couldn't see who it was.

The crowd was moving at a snail's pace as it wound through
the bottom deck and toward the stairway leading to the upper decks. Jana tried
to press through the crowd, but all she got was angry looks from the passengers
ahead of her.

Finally she made her way up the steps and onto the second
deck. It was Randy. Her heart fluttered, and then almost stopped beating
completely.

Randy was there, all right, and he was engaged in earnest
conversation with Laura McCall.