Fabulous Five 015 - Melanie's Identity Crisis Read online

  Just then Mrs. Clark came bustling into the room. "Good afternoon, class," she called. "How many of you filled in at least part of your family trees? Let me see hands."

  Hands shot up all over the room. In fact, as she glanced around, Melanie could only see two kids who had not raised theirs, Funny Hawthorne and Joel Murphy. Joel was late handing in his homework half the time, she mused, so it wasn't strange that he hadn't filled in his family tree. But why hadn't Funny?

  Melanie looked closely at her. Funny's usually smiling face was serious now and her eyes were downcast. That's strange, thought Melanie. Jana had told her that Funny's real name was Karen Janelle Hawthorne, but her family had nicknamed her Funny because of her sunny disposition. She had liked to laugh so much when she was a baby that they had started calling her Funny, and the name had stuck. Melanie couldn't remember ever seeing her before without a smile on her face.

  "Good," said Mrs. Clark. "I'm glad so many of you have gotten started because the next thing you're going to do is get to know the relatives on your charts."

  Melanie blinked in surprise. Had her teacher been reading her mind about her great-great-grandmother? But how could she possibly get to know someone who had been born and died years ago?

  Across the room Clarence Marshall asked almost the same question. "How can we get to know someone who's dead?"

  "That's a very good question, Clarence," said Mrs. Clark. "We're going to do what other good detectives do, ask questions."

  A few kids giggled, and someone whispered loudly, "But if they're dead, how are they going to answer?"

  "I heard that," Mrs. Clark called out good-naturedly. "The answer is, you're going to talk to the people in your family who are still alive and ask them to tell you any stories they know about the ancestors on your chart. You can ask your parents or your aunts and uncles or even your grandparents or great-grandparents, if they're still alive. In fact, sometimes it's more fun to talk to older relatives because they can remember people and things that no one else in the family even knows about."

  For the next few minutes Mrs. Clark gave them suggestions for ways to talk to their relatives about the ancestors who especially interested them, and Melanie began to make plans to find out about Great-great-grandmother Cordia. Had her girlfriends accused her of being boy crazy? Melanie wondered, feeling instant sympathy for this relative who had lived so long ago. If they did, I certainly know how she felt, Melanie thought. It was going to be fun to find out about her. Maybe she would even be able to find out something about the boys Cordia had liked. Wouldn't it be weird if any of them were named Scott or Shane or Garrett? she thought, and almost giggled out loud.

  But who should she talk to first about Great-great-grandmother Cordia? Her mother had told her all that she knew about her illustrious ancestor. Maybe she should ask her own grandmother if she knew any stories.

  When the bell rang ending classes for the day, Melanie headed for her locker. Seeing Funny Hawthorne ahead of her, she called, "Hey, Funny. Wait up."

  Funny glanced over her shoulder and slowed up when she saw Melanie, but she didn't stop to wait. And she still wasn't smiling.

  Melanie surged forward to catch her, wondering what had Funny so upset. They were friends, but not best friends because Funny belonged to a rival clique called The Fantastic Foursome, so she couldn't just ask Funny what was wrong. Maybe she should just talk about school and give Funny a chance to tell her what was troubling her on her own, if she felt like it.

  "Isn't the genealogy project fun?" Melanie began, remembering too late that Funny hadn't filled out any of her family tree.

  "I don't see anything fun about it," grumbled Funny. "If you ask me, it's dumb."

  "Oh, you won't think so once you get started," Melanie assured her. "I found out that I had this great-great-grandmother who was always getting into trouble with her friends because she was boy crazy. Isn't that wild? I can hardly wait to find out more about her and some of the others, too. Maybe then I'll understand myself better."

  "Big deal," muttered Funny.

  "But Funny," Melanie insisted, surprised at Funny's reaction. "You've probably got some pretty interesting relatives, too. You ought to at least find out who they are."

  Funny stopped beside the table where the hall monitor sat during classtime and slammed her notebook down on it. Glaring at Melanie, she opened the notebook and pulled out a sheet of paper that she held up for Melanie to see.

  "It's your genealogy chart, and it's blank," said Melanie. "So why are you showing it to me?"

  Without answering, Funny began tearing the paper in half. After she ripped it down the middle, she put the two pieces together and tore them in half, too. Next, she tore those pieces into dozens of tiny pieces and threw them into the air like confetti. Then she stomped off down the hall, leaving Melanie staring after her.

  CHAPTER 3

  Melanie stood helpless for a moment, watching the bits of paper drift downward like snowflakes and wondering what to do. Obviously Funny was upset over the genealogy project, and it was just as obvious that she didn't want to talk about why. But still, Melanie reasoned, at a time like this, Funny needed a friend, and none of her Fantastic Foursome friends were anywhere to be seen.

  Melanie gave one last glance around as Funny ducked into the girls' room at the far end of the hallway. The crowd was already thinning as kids went to their lockers and then headed for home. Or for Bumpers, she thought. She had told her friends she would meet them there. I'll still make it to Bumpers right after I talk to Funny, she assured herself as she hurried down the hall and pushed open the bathroom door.

  Funny was standing by one of the sinks, staring at the water faucet, but no water was coming out. Melanie let the door close behind her and stood there without saying anything for a moment, hoping Funny would look up and start the conversation herself. She didn't.

  Finally Melanie took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry if I said something that upset you. I didn't mean to. Honest."

  Funny shook her head and then raised her eyes to look at Melanie in the mirror. "It wasn't your fault." She shrugged apologetically. "It's the genealogy project. I just don't want to do it, that's all."

  Now it was Melanie's turn to look down. She didn't know how to respond to Funny. She had already mentioned how much fun it was going to be to learn about their ancestors and find out more about themselves, and that had made Funny angry. What more was there to say?

  "It's because . . ." Funny's voice trailed off so that Melanie couldn't hear the reason she gave.

  "What did you say?"

  Funny fidgeted from one foot to the other and chewed her lower lip. "I said"—she paused, sighing deeply—"it's because I'm adopted. I don't know much about my birth family, and what good will it do to find out about the Hawthorne ancestors? I'm not like any of them anyway. Some family tree, huh?" she grumbled.

  Melanie looked away from Funny, trying to hide her embarrassment and fumbling for something to say.

  "Oh, it's okay," said Funny. "I've just never told anybody. The Hawthornes adopted me when I was a tiny baby, and I forget about it myself most of the time. But now that Mrs. Clark has started this stupid project, I don't know what to do."

  "Have you talked to your parents about it?" asked Melanie. Then she winced, wondering if the word "parents" had been the right choice.

  "No," said Funny. "I was afraid that if I brought up the subject, they'd think I wanted to know about all that other stuff, and it might hurt their feelings. We're pretty close, and I'd die if they got the wrong idea. They might think I didn't love them."

  Melanie nodded. She could appreciate Funny's feeling that way. She remembered the warm glow she had gotten the night before when she had been joking with her mother and father about which one of them had given her good looks and which one brains. It would be awful if they ever thought she cared about someone else.

  "I know I could just go ahead and fill out the family tree with my Hawthorne family just to get a g
ood grade in Family Living," Funny went on. "But this genealogy project is making my life just too confusing. Instead of finding out who I am, the way Mrs. Clark said we would, I'm starting to feel like a nobody. I don't really belong to anyone."

  Melanie's eyes widened and she rushed to Funny. "Oh, no. You can't feel that way! You're a super person. Everybody likes you because you smile all the time and cheer people up. Don't say you feel like a nobody."

  Funny looked startled for an instant, then seemed to smile in spite of herself. "Thanks," she said, giving Melanie's hand a warm squeeze. Glancing quickly at her watch, she added, "Eeek! I'd better get out of here. My friends will be wondering what happened to me."

  "Mine, too," agreed Melanie.

  The girls said good-bye and went to their lockers, and as they turned in different directions in the hall, Melanie called out to Funny that she would see her at Bumpers. But when Melanie arrived a little while later and spotted Laura McCall, Tammy Lucero, and Melissa McConnell sitting on stools at the counter, Funny wasn't with them. She's feeling better so she'll be here, Melanie told herself, but even though she kept an eye on the door, Funny never arrived. I guess she wasn't feeling that much better after all, Melanie told herself.

  As she walked home a little while later, Melanie thought about Funny's predicament and sympathized with her all over again. Funny had said that she felt like a nobody. It must be awful to feel that way, she mused.

  CHAPTER 4

  Shane caught up with Melanie a block from school the next morning. He was puffing and panting as if he had run all the way from home.

  "Hey, what's up?" she asked as he slowed beside her. "You usually beat me to school by at least fifteen minutes."

  He looked worried as he shook his head. "It's Igor. I've been holding his claw most of the night. Finally the sun came up and he dropped off to sleep."

  "Is he still pining away for a girlfriend?" she asked, trying her best to swallow the giggle that was bubbling up in her throat. She didn't want Shane to know that she burst out laughing every time she thought about a lovesick iguana.

  "Yeah," said Shane. "We thought we had it figured out. The pet shop at the mall said we could put him in the pen with their iguanas if we promised to buy whichever one he took an interest in, and we were sure he'd find someone he could relate to there." He gave Melanie a quick look. "Iguanas are sensitive, you know. Just any girlfriend won't do."

  "Really?" asked Melanie.

  Shane nodded. "Anyway, we put his collar with his identification tags on him and took him out there as soon as my folks got home from work yesterday, but it was a disaster."

  "A disaster?" Melanie echoed. "Weren't there any girl iguanas at the pet shop?"

  "Oh, there were plenty of girls," Shane assured her. "That wasn't the trouble. There were plenty of boy iguanas, too, and they jumped on poor Igor the minute he started getting friendly with one of the girls. It's a good thing we didn't just drop him off and head back home. If we hadn't hung around a few minutes and been there to rescue him, he might have been killed."

  "Wow. Is he okay?"

  Shane nodded again. "He's okay, but he's really in a blue funk."

  Melanie gave Shane a sympathetic look. "I can certainly see why he'd be depressed," she said.

  By now they had reached the school ground, and Shane waved good-bye and peeled off toward a group of boys congregated near the baseball diamond. Melanie watched him go, shaking her head. Sometimes she wasn't sure just how seriously to take the things he said. And she couldn't help feeling a catch in her throat when she thought that all he seemed to want to talk to her about was Igor.

  "Why are you standing over here all by yourself?"

  Melanie was startled by Beth's words. She blinked and looked at her friend, who was bounding toward her from the direction of the rest of The Fabulous Five.

  "Don't tell me you have amnesia and don't remember your name, who your best friends are, or where you stand every morning before school," Beth quipped.

  Melanie gave her a sheepish grin. "No, I was just talking to Shane. You wouldn't believe what he told me about his latest attempts to find a girlfriend for Igor." Melanie repeated Shane's story for Beth, and they both had a good laugh. "Come on," said Melanie. "I just remembered my name, who my best friends are, and where I always stand before school every morning."

  When they reached their usual spot by the fence, which was becoming a gathering place for more than just The Fabulous Five, Joel Murphy was talking.

  ". . . so that's why I need an extra copy of the family tree."

  "I missed that," said Melanie. "Why do you need an extra copy of the family tree? Did somebody chop yours down?" she added, and then laughed at her own joke.

  Joel rolled his eyes toward the sky. "Get serious," he said. "I need two copies because I have two fathers, my real dad and my stepdad. I can't get all those names on one sheet."

  "Joel, that's silly," insisted Jana. "You only need to trace the family you're related to. I have a father and a stepfather, too, and that's what I'm doing. You didn't get any genes from your stepdad."

  Joel looked at Jana out of the corner of his eye and then shrugged. "I thought if I turned in two, maybe I'd get a better grade."

  Just then the first bell rang, and Melanie headed for her locker. What Jana had said about herself and Joel's not being related to their stepfathers made her think about Funny again. Poor Funny. She didn't have any choice about which family she would trace. It would have to be the Hawthornes. And when she did, she still wouldn't know anything about herself. It was no wonder she felt like a nobody.

  Melanie thought about Funny a lot during the morning, and by the time lunch period arrived and The Fabulous Five were sitting at their table in the cafeteria out of earshot of anyone else, she had decided to talk to them about Funny's predicament. She would ask them to keep it a secret because she didn't want to betray Funny's confidence. But just the same, she felt that Funny needed help, more help than she could give her alone.

  "Gosh, I didn't know she was adopted," said Christie when Melanie had finished telling them the story. "I feel sorry for her."

  "I don't," piped up Katie. The others gave her strange looks and she added, "Not because she's adopted anyway. Lots of people are. It's no big deal. I only feel sorry for her if she's having trouble handling it."

  "I didn't know she was adopted either," said Jana. "But it wouldn't have made any difference in how much I like her. I'll have to admit, though, I thought she had been acting strangely for the past couple of days. She's usually so bouncy and full of fun, but now that you mention it, she's been awfully quiet lately."

  Melanie sighed. "Since she confided in me, I feel as if I ought to be able to give her some good advice, but I can't. I don't know any more about what she should do than she does."

  "Do you know what I think?" asked Katie in a voice that made the others put down their sandwiches and look at her. "I think she should definitely talk to her parents. I mean, after all, they're . . . well, they're her parents. I'm sure they're prepared for her to have questions about herself, and they've probably got some answers ready for her."

  "You're right," agreed Melanie, and the others nodded. "It's really the only thing that makes sense. If anyone can help her, they can."

  "I agree," said Christie. "I'd go to my parents if I was worried about something like that."

  Melanie felt better. Since Funny was in her Family Living class the last period of the day, she could talk to her then. She could get to the classroom early and wait outside the door until Funny showed up. She'd figure out exactly what to say when the time came.

  CHAPTER 5

  "Hi, Funny. Can I talk to you a minute?" Melanie called as she saw Funny coming toward the Family Living classroom.

  Funny's expression was still uncharacteristically sober, but she brightened a little when she saw Melanie. "Hi, Mel," she said, smiling faintly and heading in Melanie's direction.

  Melanie cleared her throat nervousl
y. She still hadn't figured out exactly the right words to use. "I've been thinking about your genealogy project. You know . . . why you don't want to do it," she began.

  Funny looked at her sharply, and Melanie went on before she could lose her nerve. "I think you should talk to your parents. Maybe you could just show them the chart, explain the project, and let them take it from there. They're smart. They'll know what you're thinking, and they'll understand how you feel. After all, they love you, don't they?"

  "But that's just the point," Funny insisted. "It might make them feel bad."

  "Maybe. But maybe not, too. They've known since they adopted you that someday something like this might come up."

  Funny sighed. "I know you're right," she said. "It's just that it's going to be hard."

  Melanie reached out and gave Funny's hand a warm squeeze. "'Tell you what," she said brightly. "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. And my toes! And my ears! And my eyes!" At that she crossed her eyes and made a goofy face, which sent Funny into peals of laughter.

  "Oh, Melanie. You're a terrific friend. I'll talk to them tonight and tell you what I find out in the morning."

  Funny was still smiling when the two girls got to class and took their seats. Melanie was pleased to see Funny back to her old self, but she hadn't been kidding her when she said she would keep everything crossed that she possibly could. It would be awful for Funny if her parents did actually get upset.