Fabulous Five 007 - The Kissing Disaster Read online

  THE FABULOUS FIVE #7

  THE KISSING DISASTER

  BETSY HAYNES

  BANTAM BOOKS

  NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND

  RL 5, 009-012

  THE KISSING DISASTER

  A Bantam Skylark Book / April 1989

  Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1989 by Betsy Haynes.

  Cover art copyright © 1989 by Ralph Amatrudi.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  ISBN 0-553-15710-8

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CW 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

  CHAPTER 1

  Melanie Edwards stifled a yawn. Biology class sure was boring. She tuned out the lecture and started to study her teacher instead. Mr. Dracovitch was tall and thin with a pale complexion, and he wore a toupee that was too dark and too shiny and was always pulled down too far on his forehead. It was no wonder that the kids called him Dracula behind his back, she mused, and made up gruesome stories about what happened to the poor creatures in the cages lining the walls of his biology lab. There were a variety of rodents such as mice and hamsters, plus two crows and a green garden snake.

  "Class, tomorrow you will begin dissecting the eyeball of a cow."

  Mr. Dracovitch's announcement pierced Melanie's dreamlike trance and made her sit up abruptly. The eyeball of a cow! she wanted to shriek.

  In the seat beside her, Elizabeth Harvey made a face and moaned, "E-e-e-y-e-w."

  "Gross!" and "Yuck!" came from several directions, and Shawnie Pendergast turned green, covered her mouth with both hands, and made a quick dash out of the room.

  Mr. Dracovitch waited for the furor to die down before speaking again. "Yes, you heard me right. I did say the eyeball of a cow. But I guarantee that you'll all be fascinated by what we learn, and I want you to read Chapter Thirteen in your textbooks tonight in preparation."

  Melanie looked longingly at the door through which Shawnie had made her exit. Her own stomach had lurched a couple of times, too. Cut up the eyeball of a cow? Maybe her mild-mannered biology teacher was the infamous Count Dracula, after all.

  "For this project," Mr. Dracovitch went on, "I will divide the class into teams. Each team will consist of two students and will have one eyeball to dissect together."

  Melanie was certain she saw an eyebrow raise menacingly when he said the word "eyeball," and she shuddered at the thought of actually having to touch such a thing.

  "These students will be partners," Mr. Dracovitch said. "Bill Soliday and Sara Sawyer. Eric Silverman and Elizabeth Harvey. Tammy Lucero and Chandra Sharp. Shawnie Pendergast and Joel Murphy. Shane Arrington and Melanie Edwards. . . ."

  Melanie shot to attention for the second time. Shane Arrington was going to be her partner? Cool, gorgeous Shane? He was one of several boys she had crushes on, and he was definitely the most interesting. His parents were hippies, which probably accounted for his laid-back personality, and he had a pet iguana named Igor, whom he claimed was his best friend. On top of that, he could pass for River Phoenix's identical twin any day of the week. It would be worth touching the eyeball of a cow to be partners with Shane. Well, she thought, almost.

  Catching her glance from across the room, Shane gave her a thumbs-up signal. Melanie returned it with a smile and then looked quickly at Tammy Lucero to see if she had noticed. She had, Melanie thought gleefully. Tiny, dark-haired Tammy had the reputation of being the biggest gossip in the seventh grade. Usually that was a pain, but not now. Tammy was also a member of The Fantastic Foursome, the clique that was the rival of The Fabulous Five, which was what Melanie and her four best friends had called themselves since fifth grade. Laura McCall, the leader of The Fantastic Foursome, had a big crush on Shane. Naturally Tammy would report back to Laura that Melanie and Shane were partners.

  Melanie could hardly wait to meet her friends at Bumpers after school and tell them about the project and about Shane. It seemed strange to be the only member of The Fabulous Five to be taking biology. In Mark Twain Elementary they had done absolutely everything together, even though they had totally different personalities.

  She knew that her friends thought she was boy crazy because she had crushes on so many boys. She could almost hear Katie telling her so for the zillionth time when she heard how excited Melanie was to have Shane for her biology partner. Melanie put up with their opinions in silence, even though she considered herself romantic—not boy crazy.

  Certainly she was more romantic than Katie Shannon, who was a feminist and a member of Wakeman Junior High's newly organized Teen Court. Katie pretended not to like boys at all, but everybody knew that she secretly liked Tony Calcaterra.

  Jana Morgan, the unofficial leader of The Fabulous Five, was a little bit romantic. Her boyfriend was Randy Kirwan, who was one of the nicest, handsomest, and most popular boys in seventh grade. Jana even admitted once that she used to keep a poster-size picture of Randy on her bedroom wall so that she could gaze at it while she fell asleep at night.

  Beth Barry was too busy acting theatrical to be romantic. She and Keith Masterson went out sometimes, but mostly she talked about Drama Club and about the plight of the American Indians.

  Melanie used to think that Christie Winchell, the fifth member of the clique, was romantic, but that was when she and Jon Smith had first started seeing a lot of each other. Now it seemed that all they did was play tennis. How romantic could that be?

  Her friends' attitudes toward boys and romance were more than Melanie could understand, but they were still her best friends, and she rushed into Bumpers after school, anxious to find them and tell them her news. In the doorway she hesitated for a moment. Things hadn't been quite the same between them lately. Katie was preoccupied with Teen Court, and Jana spent half her time with Funny Hawthorne, her seventh-grade coeditor on the yearbook. But wait until I tell them about the cow's eye, she thought. They'll absolutely die.

  Bumpers was noisy, as usual. The after-school crowd from Wacko, as most kids called Wakeman Junior High, filled the booths, tables, and bumper cars to overflowing, and kids gathered in the aisles, beside the order counter, and around the huge old Wurlitzer jukebox. The brightly painted bumper cars were relics from an ancient amusement park ride and had given the fast-food restaurant its name.

  "Hi, Mel," someone called as she pushed her way through the crowd.

  "Hi, Alexis," she called back to Alexis Duvall, who was sitting at a crowded table and was almost hidden by the tidal wave of kids surging past.

  "Listen, Melanie," Alexis shouted. "Are you going to the meeting about the seventh-grade dance in the morning?"

  Melanie nodded. There was going to be a dance just for seventh-graders in a month, and the first meeting for kids interested in helping organize it and serving on committees was being held before school the next morning. As excited as
Melanie was about the dance, she was more interested in talking to her friends right now.

  "Can't talk now," she said apologetically. "Have you seen any of The Fabulous Five?"

  "Over there," said Alexis, raising one arm like a periscope and pointing toward the far corner of the room.

  Melanie nodded and lip-synched "thank you" along with the lyrics of a song blasting from the jukebox. Alexis was breaking up with laughter as Melanie headed toward her friends.

  "Hi, gang. Guess what?" she yelled above the noise as she slid into the booth beside Jana.

  "Hi, Melanie," said Jana. "Gosh, would you let me out? I need to talk to Funny about some yearbook stuff."

  "Don't you want to hear my big news?" asked Melanie.

  "I'd love to, Mel, but can't it wait? I really have to talk to Funny. It's important."

  Without answering, Melanie slid out of the booth.

  "Thanks," said Jana. "See you later."

  Melanie frowned at the back of Jana's head and then sat down again, scooting toward Christie.

  "You won't believe what old Dracula told us today," Melanie said to Christie, who was staring at a spot on the table. "We're going to have to dissect the eyeball of a cow. Isn't that gross?" She waited for Christie's reaction.

  Christie didn't look up. It's awfully noisy, Melanie thought. Maybe she simply hadn't heard. Then Melanie noticed a faraway look in her eyes.

  "Christie," said Melanie, bending closer to her friend. "Earth to Christie. Do you read me?"

  "Oh, hi, Melanie." Christie's eyes came into focus and she looked surprised to see Melanie sitting there. "Maybe you can give me some advice."

  Melanie shrugged. "Sure. If I can."

  "It's about Jon," Christie began. "I can't decide if I should help him out on his tennis serve or pretend I don't know what he's doing wrong and keep on beating him. I know winning isn't everything, but it's sure fun. What do you think?"

  "Isn't that sort of cheating?" snapped Melanie. Christie hadn't heard a single word she had said about Mr. Dracovitch and the biology project. She had been too busy thinking about Jon and his tennis serve.

  "Mmmmm." Christie nodded and drifted back into her dreamy state.

  Melanie was fuming. She hated being ignored, especially by her best friends. Well, maybe Katie and Beth would listen, she thought. But when she glanced across the table to where they had been sitting only moments before, they were gone. They had vanished into thin air. Two of her best friends in the whole world had left without so much as a word.

  Melanie slumped against the back of the booth. Nobody seemed to care about her anymore. Not one of her friends wanted to hear what she had to say. The same thing had already happened twice this week and a couple of times last week. Those other times she had thought that maybe what she had to talk about was just too boring. But dissecting the eyeball of a cow? How could anybody call that boring?

  Melanie scooted out of the booth and headed for the door. She thought about stopping to talk to Alexis about the dance but changed her mind. Even though Alexis seemed interested in talking to her—unlike some people she could name—she wanted to get out of there. She had to think about the awful question that had been nagging at her lately. Was it possible that after all The Fabulous Five had meant to each other, they were starting to break up?

  CHAPTER 2

  After dinner Melanie turned to Chapter 13 in her biology book, but she couldn't concentrate on the assignment. Her thoughts kept turning to stories she had heard about how different things were in junior high and how sometimes friendships changed or, even worse, ended altogether.

  In elementary school everyone had known everybody else, and friendships had been special. But suddenly in junior high, things weren't the same anymore. Seventh-graders came together from several schools around town, and sometimes you wouldn't have a single class with your best friends, or for that matter, with hardly anyone you knew. It could be pretty lonely at first, until you made some new friends. Maybe that was what was happening to the other members of The Fabulous Five. They were making new friends and leaving her behind.

  Take Jana, for instance, she thought. Until lately Jana had always been the problem solver, the one who could keep the group together. But now she was spending most of her time working on the yearbook, The Wigwam, with her new friend Funny Hawthorne. She hardly had any time for The Fabulous Five anymore.

  The same went for Christie. She used to prefer her Fabulous Five friends over the tennis court, where her father was trying to turn her into a professional player. Now she was spending every waking moment playing tennis with Jon Smith.

  Katie couldn't talk about anything except the cases that came before Teen Court and how she was wiping out problem behavior at Wakeman Junior High practically single-handedly. What she wouldn't talk about was Tony Calcaterra, the repeat offender who had a crush on her.

  Even Beth had gone off on a tangent lately. Ever since she had met Trevor Morgan, the lead singer with the rock group Brain Damage, and found out how badly American Indians had been treated, she was trying to help educate the public about it. Beth hadn't given the American Indians a second thought back in Mark Twain Elementary. She had mostly only cared about her friends.

  The Fabulous Five had been a real club then with weekly meetings on Saturday afternoons in Jana's bedroom. They had collected dues and had T-shirts printed that said THE FABULOUS FIVE across the front, and they had worn them to the meetings. Everybody in school had known how special their friendship was. But now, they went to football games on Saturday afternoons, and there didn't seem to be time for meetings. They had outgrown their old T-shirts and had not gotten around to getting new ones. And Melanie couldn't help wondering if their friendship was special anymore.

  She yawned and noticed that while she had been thinking about her friends she was also doodling in the margins of the page in her biology book showing a diagram of a cow's eye. She winced. She should be reading Chapter 13. Dracula would expect everyone in the class to know what was going on tomorrow. He might even pop a quiz.

  "So what?" she said out loud, slapping the book shut. "Saving The Fabulous Five is more important than any old cow's eye, quiz or no quiz. This is a crisis."

  Melanie bounded down the stairs and headed for the kitchen phone. She knew she should get permission from her parents for what she was about to do, but they had taken her six-year-old brother, Jeffy, out for ice cream. It was a reward for not crying when the pediatrician had given him a booster shot earlier in the day. First things first, she thought as she dialed Jana's number and listened to it ring. She would talk to her mom and dad later.

  She hardly gave Jana time to say hello. "Jana, this is Melanie. I'm having a sleepover Saturday night. I thought we'd have a Fabulous Five meeting at the stroke of midnight. Stuff like that. Can you come?"

  "Wow, Melanie, that sounds great. The only trouble is . . ." Jana's voice trailed off, and Melanie braced herself for what was coming. "I promised Mom and Pink that I'd go bowling with them. They go every Saturday night. Remember?"

  "Oh, sure," mumbled Melanie. Remember—how could she forget? Jana was always complaining about how boring it was that her mother and new stepfather never did anything else on Saturday night. They went bowling week after week after week. And now she was going along? It was incredible.

  "Anyway, Pink is going to teach me how to throw something besides gutter balls," Jana added with a nervous laugh. "I think it's going to be fun."

  After they hung up, Melanie reminded herself that ever since her mother's marriage to Pink, Jana had seemed preoccupied with adjusting to the new situation at home. Maybe that was why she was going bowling with them, Melanie reasoned, not because she had lost interest in The Fabulous Five.

  Next Melanie called Katie. "How about sleeping over at my house Saturday night?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful.

  "I'd love to, but Teen Court is having a pizza party Saturday night," said Katie. "I thought I told everybody."

 
"You didn't tell me," Melanie grumbled. But then, nobody tells me anything anymore, she thought of adding. Instead she asked, "Is Tony Calcaterra going to be there?"

  "Of course not," Katie insisted. "This party is just for judges."

  "Oh, right," said Melanie slyly. "He just gets into trouble and has to come before the court so often that I've started thinking of him as a member. Talk to you later. Bye."

  Melanie hung up before Katie could blow her stack. Everybody teased Katie about Tony. She had a crush on him, too. She just wouldn't admit it.

  She punched in Christie's phone number a little slower than she had the other two. Christie was probably going out with Jon on Saturday night. Still, she reasoned, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

  "Oh, rats," said Christie upon hearing Melanie's invitation. "Wouldn't you know it? That just happens to be the night when Jon's parents invited us to the TV station to sit in on an interview they're taping to play on the air Sunday afternoon."

  Melanie sighed with irritation. Jon's parents were Chip Smith and Marge Whitworth, both big-deal personalities on the local television station.

  "Boris Becker is coming through town," Christie went on excitedly, "and it's the chance of a lifetime to meet him. You do know who Boris Becker is, don't you?"

  "Of course," huffed Melanie. Everybody knew who Boris Becker was. He was the German tennis star who had taken Wimbledon and a bunch of other big tournaments while he was still a teenager. Everyone had heard of him.

  There was only one person left to call: Beth. Melanie grabbed a handful of brownies from the plate on the counter and stared at the phone. Should she risk rejection again? she asked herself as she stuffed an entire brownie into her mouth. Four times in one evening was a lot of rejection to handle. Still, she had to do something to keep The Fabulous Five together.

  Beth's father answered and went to call Beth to the phone. While she waited, Melanie listened to the racket in the background. Music was playing. People were talking. Agatha was barking. What a madhouse, she thought. But then with five kids and an Old English sheepdog in the family, it wasn't surprising.