Fabulous Five 026 - Laura's Secret Read online

  "Yeah," answered Laura. How do you tell your dad you have cramps? It wouldn't be hard to tell your mother.

  "You look a little pale."

  "Oh, I'm okay," Laura assured him.

  He reached over and felt her forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever," he offered. "But maybe you're coming down with something. Why don't you go to bed a little early tonight?"

  Fat chance!

  "Maybe," Laura said.

  If only she could talk to her dad! She'd seen a medication advertised on TV that was supposed to help with cramps. She wished she could ask her father to go to the drugstore and buy some for her.

  Laura got up from the table and carried her plate to the sink. When she heard her father stroll into the living room to watch television, she breathed a deep sigh. Then she cleaned up the kitchen and got out the mixing bowl, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and other ingredients she needed. She turned the oven on to 350 degrees.

  By now the cramps were awfully uncomfortable. She crossed the living room and walked into the bathroom. Behind the closed door she took a couple of aspirin. That should help, she thought.

  When she left the bathroom and reentered the living room, her father looked up from the TV. "Laura?"

  "Yeah?"

  "You really aren't feeling well, are you?" he asked, frowning with concern.

  "Well, not really great, I guess," answered Laura.

  "What's the problem?" pressed her father.

  Dare she tell him? Had any girl on the face of the earth ever told her father she was having cramps?

  "Well—"

  "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked.

  "Oh." She shrugged, pretending it was nothing. "Just some, uh—cramps, I guess." She said the last three words very quickly and very softly.

  Her father's eyes darted away, and Laura could have sworn he turned a little pink. Was he embarrassed? She turned quickly and fled into the kitchen.

  Why did I tell him, she scolded herself. I'm an IDIOT!

  She furiously tossed ingredients into the bowl. Turning the mixer on high speed, she worked the spatula around the inside of the bowl.

  "Hon?"

  She suddenly realized that her father was right beside her.

  "What?" she said loudly, partly to be heard over the mixer, partly out of nervousness.

  "I thought this might help."

  He held up a bottle of milk of magnesia. A LAXATIVE! Her father held it up near his face as if he were selling it on a TV commercial.

  If Laura hadn't been so embarrassed, she would have exploded with laughter. Her father was hopeless!

  "Thanks, Dad," she murmured, her cheeks hotter than the oven. She grabbed the bottle, put it down on the table, and stared at the floor.

  "Uh, well," her father said, rocking nervously from foot to foot. "I brought a lot of work home from the office. I guess I'd better get at it."

  "Okay," Laura replied. The sooner, the better.

  Her dad left the kitchen, and Laura shook her head. Men! They're pitiful. It's amazing how dumb they can be about women.

  She started to laugh quietly. Then she thought of the way her father looked, holding up that silly bottle of milk of magnesia, and she laughed harder. A laxative for menstrual cramps! What a riot!

  She finished baking the cookies, then started a batch of brownies. When the brownies were finally in the oven, she hauled out the ironing board and plugged in the iron, pressing and spray-starching her dad's dress shirt.

  "Here's your shirt, Dad," she said when she'd finished, standing in the doorway to his room and holding up the hanger so he could see what a great job she had done.

  He looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. "Terrific. Hang it in my closet, will you, hon?"

  Laura heaved a sigh of fatigue, trudged into her father's room, and hung up the shirt. She was getting awfully tired. And she still had the cleaning to do.

  She took the brownies out of the oven, pulled the vacuum out of the front closet, and vacuumed the living room and the hallway.

  As she was putting the vacuum away, her dad stuck his head out of his bedroom. "I'm turning in early," he told her. "I want to be sharp for that presentation tomorrow."

  "Okay," Laura said. "Good-night."

  Going to bed sounds good to me, too, she thought. I'll finish up the kitchen and do the rest of the cleaning in the morning before I leave for school.

  She headed for her room and her soft, comfortable bed, daydreaming about having her friends over the next afternoon. She couldn't wait to see their reactions to the goodies that "Chantal" had slaved over!

  CHAPTER 3

  "Here we are, guys," Laura announced, grinning. She unlocked the apartment door and led Melissa and Tammy inside. "Let's party!"

  "Does anyone know where Funny is?" asked Tammy. "I thought she was supposed to be here, too."

  Laura shrugged. "She wasn't at her locker, but she knows we're having a party today. I'm sure she'll be here in a few minutes."

  Tammy plopped down on the living room couch. "Hey, Laura, when are Alexis, Marcie, Sara, and Lisa coming?"

  "Any minute," Laura answered. "They said they'd be here right after school. What do you guys want to drink?"

  Tammy followed her into the kitchen. "Chantal really keeps this place clean. Not even a spoon in the sink."

  Laura smiled. She nearly hadn't gotten the cleaning done this morning. She'd been so tired last night that she'd forgotten to set her clock radio. She'd awakened ten minutes later than usual this morning, and she'd still had dusting to do, dishes to wash, and her bathroom to clean.

  She'd managed to finish everything by skipping breakfast. Then, just as she was about to head out the door for school, she'd spotted a big pile of dirty clothes in one corner of her bedroom. She couldn't let her friends see that. After all, Chantal kept things spotless. She'd grabbed the pile of laundry and pitched it into her father's bedroom, slamming the door. She would gather it up again and do the wash after everybody left.

  Now Laura peeled the aluminum foil off the pan of brownies and the platter of cookies.

  "Wow!" said Tammy. "Those look wonderful." She took a cookie off the top of the platter and tasted it. "They're incredible." Then she raised an eyebrow and said in her most sophisticated voice. "Send my compliments to your maid."

  Laura laughed. "Sure. Why don't you take them into the living room, and I'll bring the drinks."

  There was a knock at the door, and Melissa ran to answer it as Laura entered the room with a tray of drinks.

  "Hi, guys!" Tammy cried. "Come on in. We've got the place to ourselves, as usual, and Laura's maid baked some terrific stuff."

  "Maid?" asked Alexis, walking into the apartment. "I didn't know you and your dad had a maid, Laura."

  "They sure do," said Tammy. "Look at this place—squeaky clean. And taste these yummy cookies."

  The girls settled themselves around the living room. Laura took drink orders from the new arrivals and hurried back into the kitchen. While she was pouring the soda, she listened to the conversation in the other room.

  "Laura lives a life of luxury, you know that?" said Tammy. "What a setup!"

  "Yeah," agreed Melissa. "This is living."

  "I thought only movie stars had maids," Lisa added.

  Alexis spoke up. "We have a maid."

  "Really?" three voices chorused.

  Laura frowned. Alexis would have a maid! And of course she's going to tell everybody about it.

  "If I had a maid," commented Tammy, "I could forget about chores and concentrate on more important things—like BOYS!"

  "Yeah!" cried everyone.

  Laura laughed in spite of herself and opened a bag of potato chips. She dumped half of the bag into a large ceramic bowl, put it on the tray with the drinks, and carried it out to the living room just as the doorbell rang again.

  "Must be Funny," she said, setting the tray on the table and hurrying to the door.

  Funny was breathless as she came in. "Wow,
what a bummer," she said.

  "What happened?" asked Laura. "Where have you been?"

  Funny shrugged off her jacket and looked at the others with exasperation. "Miss Dickinson kept me after class to talk to me about my giggling in English class."

  "Your giggling!" hooted Tammy. "It's about time someone mentioned it. You giggle all the time."

  "So what finally got you into trouble?" asked Laura.

  "Well, you know how dramatic Miss Dickinson can get sometimes when she's reading a poem out loud. You know, how she swoops around the front of the room as if she were on stage?"

  The others nodded.

  "Well, today she was doing that, and Joel Murphy ducked down behind Clarence Marshall and started imitating her. It was a scream. I just couldn't help it. I started laughing, and naturally Miss Dickinson saw me."

  "Did she see Joel, too?" asked Lisa.

  Funny shook her head. "And I didn't dare tell her, because she would want to know what he was doing that was so funny."

  "Well, you can laugh all you want to here," Laura told her, chuckling at Funny's predicament. "Sit down and have something to eat."

  "Hey, did you hear that Keith Masterson sat with Shawnie Pendergast at the game last weekend?" asked Tammy. She grinned. "I bet Beth Barry was furious."

  Laura laughed. "Serves Beth right. She's such a show-off. Did you ever see anybody wear such bizarre clothes?"

  Funny giggled. "I kind of like her style, though," she said, cocking an eyebrow. "She's got guts!"

  Laura snorted. "You'd never catch me wearing some of the combinations she comes up with."

  "I saw Keith sitting with Shawnie," said Marcie, "but I happen to know that Shawnie was just saving a place for Beth. Shawnie even sat with Beth and Keith for the rest of the game. Besides, doesn't Shawnie date Craig Meachem?"

  Tammy grinned impishly. "So what? Shawnie might've pretended she was saving a seat for Beth. But what she really wanted was to be near Keith. She was flirting with him like you wouldn't believe."

  The girls continued to gossip about kids at school while they devoured cookies, brownies, and chips, and drank soda.

  "Hey, did you get some new charms for your Wakeman bracelet?" Tammy asked Funny.

  Funny nodded, holding up her wrist and shaking it a little to make the charms clink together softly. "My mom gave me the one spelling Wakeman in cursive letters for my birthday last week, and Melissa gave me this jukebox."

  "I love those Wakeman charm bracelets," said Tammy. "I'm going to ask for one for Christmas."

  Laura was pleased that everyone seemed to be having a good time. Of course that was her reputation—she had great gossip parties, with no parents around.

  "What time is it, Laura?" asked Sara.

  Laura glanced at her watch. "Four-thirty."

  "Rats! My mom is picking me up in fifteen minutes," said Sara. "You know, she's starting to drive me nuts!"

  "Tell me about it." Melissa rolled her eyes. "My mother is like a drill sergeant."

  "Man, Laura," said Lisa, "I hope you know how lucky you are."

  "Right," Laura replied, forcing some enthusiasm into her voice. "I've got it pretty great."

  Alexis smiled. "I guess I'm pretty lucky then. My mother and I get along pretty well."

  "Really?" asked Funny in amazement. "Don't you ever argue with her?"

  Alexis shrugged. "I guess we argue sometimes, but it's never very serious. Basically, I think of her as a friend. I can tell her just about anything."

  Laura felt a wave of envy wash over her. It must be great to have a mother you can tell your secrets to.

  "Gee, your mother must be a very understanding person," Funny said.

  Alexis nodded. "She is. She still remembers what it was like to be in junior high."

  "Back in the dark ages." Funny chuckled.

  "Right," Alexis agreed, and laughed. "She had some of the same problems with boys that I sometimes have."

  Tammy's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "You talk to your mom about boys?"

  "Sure," Alexis answered. "She's saved me from doing some pretty stupid things."

  "Wow." Funny shook her head in amazement.

  Alexis turned to Laura. "Can I use your bathroom?"

  "Sure," said Laura. "Through my bedroom and to the right."

  Laura watched Alexis as she headed down the hall, and she wished for a moment that she could trade places with her. Not only did the Duvall family have plenty of money, but also Alexis was popular, and now it turned out she had a terrific mother. What more could any girl ask for?

  Laura hopped up, went out to the kitchen, and brought back the bag of potato chips. She emptied the rest of the chips into the ceramic bowl on the coffee table. "Anybody want more cookies?" she asked. "Or brownies?"

  "I thought you'd never ask," said Sara. "I could eat a ton of those terrific cookies."

  Laura headed for the kitchen, piled more cookies on the platter and returned to the living room.

  ". . . well, I heard that Mrs. Lemane had a facelift," Tammy was saving.

  The rest of the girls roared with laughter.

  "Are you kidding?" asked Funny.

  "Well, just look at her sometime," Tammy insisted.

  "But I don't take French," Lisa protested.

  "Okay, well, next time you see her in the hall," Tammy suggested, "go up to her and say something, and look at her face."

  Lisa frowned. "But what should I say?"

  "Just make up something," said Tammy. "The point is to get really close so you can examine her. Just look at the skin around her eyes. It looks really tight."

  The girls howled again.

  Laura looked around the room. Alexis was still gone. Uh-oh, thought Laura with a sudden stab of panic. What if I forgot to put out towels or something a maid would never forget to do? Jumping up, she headed down the hall and into her bedroom. She stopped short in the doorway.

  Alexis was standing still next to Laura's bureau, reading a scrap of paper that was taped to the mirror.

  Laura gulped. Her father always taped messages on her mirror when he was angry with her, and lately, since he was on edge about the promotion, he was angry with her a lot. She moved closer to the bureau and cringed as she read the note over Alexis's shoulder.

  Laura,

  What's the big idea of throwing YOUR dirty laundry all over MY bedroom? Is this some kind of new teenage rebellion? All I ask is that you keep the apartment reasonably clean, and I come home for lunch and find this! We'll talk about it tonight.

  Dad

  Laura froze.

  CHAPTER 4

  Laura's stomach lurched as she reread the part about keeping the apartment clean. Alexis turned to look at Laura, but didn't speak.

  What could Laura say? Her mind spun wildly until she suddenly came up with an idea.

  "Oh, Dad!" she scoffed, pretending to be impatient with her father. "It's the maid's day off, see, and I was just playing a little joke on him—"

  "But you said the maid cleaned the apartment and made all those snacks for us," said Alexis.

  "Well, she did, see," Laura fumbled, "but she did that yesterday. And I was supposed to straighten things up this morning so that she won't have too much to do when she gets back. Actually, that was when I decided to play this joke," Laura rushed on, hoping Alexis wouldn't see how flustered she was becoming, "but my dad has absolutely no sense of humor."

  Alexis looked skeptical.

  She doesn't believe me! Laura thought. I have to do something fast.

  "So what were you doing looking at private notes on my mirror, anyway?" Laura demanded, her voice rising with panic and anger. "I said you could use my bathroom, not snoop around my room!"

  Alexis took a small step backward. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've always liked the way you decorate your room, so I just stopped to admire it for a moment."

  "Yeah, right!" Laura snapped, reaching for the note and ripping it to pieces. "That's a pretty lame excuse, Alexis."


  "Really," Alexis insisted, obviously surprised by Laura's outburst. "I'm sorry, Laura." She paused and looked Laura in the eyes. "I won't tell anyone about the note on your mirror. Honest."

  Laura bit her lower lip. It was clear that Alexis still didn't believe her.

  Pulling herself up to her full height, Laura shouted, "You're a snoop, Alexis Duvall! You had no right to read my personal notes!"

  "I said I'm sorry," Alexis said evenly. Her face was turning red with anger. "I don't owe you any more than an apology!"

  Alexis stormed out of the bedroom and down the hall. Laura followed closely, terrified that she would tell the others about the note.

  Instead, Alexis grabbed her jacket off the couch and stalked out of the apartment without a word to anyone. The others watched, their eyes wide with surprise. Lisa, Sara, and Marcie said quick thank yous to Laura and left, too.

  Probably to run after Alexis and find out what happened, Laura thought angrily.

  "Wow, what happened in there between you and Alexis?" asked Tammy.

  "Yeah," said Melissa. "We could hear you yelling clear down the hall."

  What am I going to say? thought Laura. They're my best friends, but I can't let them find out that I made up the maid story. What would they think? Besides, Tammy would spread it all over school.

  "I found out Alexis is a snoop, that's what happened!"

  Funny wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?"

  "She was looking at my stuff!" Laura said indignantly.

  "So?" Tammy asked. "What's the big deal?"

  Laura raised her eyebrows. "I mean, she was going through my things!"

  "Going through your things?" echoed Funny. "What do you mean? What exactly was she doing?"

  A signal went off in Laura's head. STOP! Don't say any more!

  "Let's just forget it," snapped Laura. "I just want to forget that it ever happened."

  "Come on, Laura," Tammy urged. "We won't tell anybody."

  Funny and Melissa each shot Tammy a suspicious look.

  "I won't!" Tammy insisted. Melissa rolled her eyes.

  "I don't want to talk about it anymore," Laura said. "And I want you three to promise me that you won't tell anybody what happened here today."

  Funny shrugged. "Laura, we don't know what happened here today."