Taffy Sinclair 011 - Nobody Likes Taffy Sinclair Read online

  Taffy flashed Mr. Neal a big smile and sat down, ignoring Laura and her friends.

  When the bell rang ending homeroom, Mr. Neal held up his hand for attention. "Thanks, all of you in pajamas, for not snoozing in class."

  Taffy laughed along with everyone else and then scooped up her books and headed into the hall. She had taken only a few steps when she felt a tug on her arm and heard a voice say, "Wait up, Taffy. I've got to have your autograph."

  It was Mona Vaughn, and she nearly dropped her books as she danced along beside Taffy and dug into her notebook for a sheet of paper at the same time.

  "Here. Sign this," she said around the pencil sticking out of her mouth as she thrust the paper toward Taffy. "It'll be worth a fortune someday."

  Taffy smiled and took the paper, glad that at least someone thought she was special. Shaking her head as Mona took the pencil out of her mouth and offered it to her, she said, "I have a pen right here."

  Taffy couldn't help comparing this to the Saturday she had signed autographs in a Los Angeles mall while they were filming a shopping scene. It certainly was different. She sighed, then signed Mona's paper in big, swirling curlicues and handed it back to her with an appreciative smile.

  Mona's eyes were glowing. "Thanks, Taffy. I'll treasure this forever. Honest. I really will."

  If only everyone felt that way, Taffy thought wistfully as she watched Mona hurry on down the hall.

  Taffy was on her way to the cafeteria for lunch when she finally spotted Cory ahead of her in the crowded hall. He was walking with Craig Meacham, the drummer in The Dreadful Alternatives and the boy Shawnie had been dating while Taffy was in Hollywood. Taffy and Shawnie had promised each other that they would double-date the very first weekend that Taffy was back in town, but what if Cory didn't want to date her anymore?

  The thought made her panic, and she walked faster, trying to push her way through the crowd and catch up with him. She darted between two eighth-grade girls in matching quilted bathrobes, murmured a quick apology for bumping them, and called out, "Cory! Wait up!"

  Cory glanced back over his shoulder and stopped, causing the wave of kids moving in the same direction to veer around him. His face broke into a smile. "Taffy! I've been looking for you all morning."

  Taffy couldn't remember when she'd felt so happy or so relieved. "I've been looking for you, too," she replied breathlessly. "Hey, don't you know that this is Pajama Day? Where are your pajamas?"

  Craig Meacham got a sly grin on his face. "He's wearing them."

  "Wearing them?" said Taffy. "He's wearing jeans."

  Craig put a hand over his mouth, pretending to speak confidentially. "He sleeps in his underwear," he said loudly, and then broke up laughing.

  Taffy felt her face turn tomato red. What a humiliating thing for Craig to say in public. She wondered if Cory was as embarrassed as she was. She was too afraid to look at him.

  "See you two lovebirds around," called Craig. Still laughing, he disappeared into the crowd.

  They moved slowly toward the cafeteria in uncomfortable silence for a moment until Cory finally cleared his throat a couple of times and said, "So I guess you got the filming finished okay?"

  Taffy nodded. She took a deep breath while she got up the courage to look at Cory. To Taffy's relief he was smiling at her.

  "Everything went super," she said, smiling back, thankful to get the conversation away from pajamas and underwear. "I'll tell you all about it when we have more time. It was just unbelievable. We even had a wrap-up party the last night at Raven Blaine's beach house in Malibu."

  The mention of the handsome teen idol made her heart stop for an instant. She could see the sweep of Raven's jet black hair across his forehead and the sparkle of his dark eyes as he looked at her, and her hand instinctively went to the star necklace she was wearing. But why had she mentioned his name again? Especially to Cory? She had already had one disaster today with Laura McCall and her friends. She didn't need another one. Besides, Raven Blaine is history, she told herself sternly, and Cory is now. She blinked away the memory of Raven and looked back at Cory.

  "Raven Blaine has a beach house in Malibu? Wow! Maybe I should be jealous."

  "Oh, no," Taffy assured him, the words almost sticking in her throat. "Don't be silly. Raven and I were just good friends."

  Cory seemed satisfied, and her feeling of relief came back. Cory was the boy for her, and he was here. That was the only thing that mattered.

  "You said you had been looking for me all morning," Taffy reminded him. "Anything special?"

  Cory nodded. "It's about this weekend," he said. "Would you like to go to a movie Friday night? I know you just got home and everything, but . . ."

  "I'd love to," Taffy said quickly.

  "Great!" Cory grinned and looked relieved at the same time. "Well, I've got to go now. The guys are waiting. Talk to you later."

  Taffy watched Cory bound toward the cafeteria. Life at Wakeman Junior High had just gotten one hundred percent better.

  CHAPTER THREE

  As Taffy stood in the hot-lunch line, she looked around for Shawnie. They had agreed to meet in the cafeteria at noon, and Taffy had hoped that Shawnie would get there first to hold a table. But she was nowhere in sight. Taffy frowned. She couldn't spot an empty table anywhere, either. Oh, well, she thought. Shawnie will be here any minute.

  Sliding her tray along in front of the steam table, Taffy selected a taco salad, a brownie, and milk. Then she paid the cashier and stepped aside to look for Shawnie again.

  "Where is she?" Taffy murmured as she scanned the tables one by one. No Shawnie. She absolutely was not in the cafeteria.

  What on earth could have happened to her? wondered Taffy. Is it possible that she got sick during class and had to go home? Oh, my gosh. Then who am I going to sit with?

  Taffy tried not to panic, but the idea of eating alone on her first day back at Wakeman made little shivers race up her spine. She glanced around for a friendly face as she moved slowly among the tables. Alexis Duvall, Lisa Snow, and Marcie Bee were deep in conversation when she went past their table, and they didn't look up. She could feel Jana Morgan and Katie Shannon's eyes on her as they waited for the rest of The Fabulous Five, but naturally, they didn't invite her to sit with them.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cory and his friends at a table near the wall. She would die if he saw her wandering around with no place to sit. Why didn't someone at least speak to her? Suddenly she realized she was heading straight for The Fantastic Foursome, and she made a quick left. The last thing she needed was another run-in with Laura McCall and her friends.

  Why wasn't there at least an empty table? Taffy felt her face turning a bright crimson. Her appetite was totally gone, and she was thinking seriously of throwing her lunch into the trash and getting out of the cafeteria before the situation got any more embarrassing when she heard someone call her name.

  "Taffy! Over here!"

  Taffy frowned when she looked around and saw that it was Kimm Taylor who was shouting at her. Kimm motioned toward a table near the door that was being vacated by some eighth-graders. "Come on, Taffy. Would you hold the table while Shawnie and I go through the line?"

  "Sure," said Taffy as she put her tray down. She glanced at Shawnie, who was nearby, standing at the end of the food line, and asked, "Where have you been?"

  "Sorry we're late," said Shawnie. "Kimm and I had to stop in the girls' room for a minute."

  Taffy nodded, trying not to let her irritation show. What was Kimm Taylor doing with Shawnie again, anyway? Didn't she realize that Shawnie and Taffy were best friends, and that they hadn't seen each other for six long weeks? "You'd think she'd give us some privacy to catch up," she muttered under her breath.

  She was nibbling at her taco salad when the two returned to the table. Shawnie sat down across from Taffy, and Kimm slid in next to Shawnie.

  "Remember what I told you last week about how Marcie Bee made such a fool of herself ove
r Derek Travelstead in math class?" Kimm asked Shawnie, who nodded. "Well, you should have seen her today."

  "Really? What did she do this time?" asked Shawnie around a bite of tuna salad sandwich.

  "Well . . ." Kimm said from behind a hand and looking around in case someone at another table was listening. "She actually passed him a note asking him who he liked and saying that—get this—a friend wanted to know."

  "You're kidding!" shrieked Shawnie. "What did Derek do?"

  "Nothing," replied Kimm. "He just looked at her as if he thought she was nuts. It was hysterical."

  Taffy watched the two girls giggle wildly. She had never felt so left out in her life.

  "I didn't know Marcie liked Derek," she offered in a weak voice.

  "Oh, that all started while you were in Hollywood," Shawnie assured her. "Didn't I write you about it?"

  Taffy shook her head.

  "Sorry," said Shawnie. "I must have forgotten. But wait till you hear this, Taffy. It's hysterical." Then she turned back to Kimm. "So what did Marcie do then? Freak out?"

  "Naw," said Kimm. "The bell rang before she could do anything else. I can't wait till class tomorrow."

  As Shawnie and Kimm concentrated on their lunches, Taffy's mind was racing for some way to get into the conversation. Should I tell them more things about Hollywood? No, she thought. Now wasn't the time. Still, she had to think of something. She felt like a total outsider. They could talk all day about things that had happened while she was gone, and there was no way she could join in.

  Suddenly an idea popped into her mind. Cory, she thought. That's it!

  "Guess what, guys. Cory asked me to go to a movie Friday night," she announced proudly.

  "Terrific!" said Shawnie. "We can double-date, the way we planned. Craig asked me, too."

  Taffy smiled triumphantly at Kimm. "Shawnie and I decided a long time ago that we wanted to double just as soon as I got home from Hollywood."

  Kimm looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. "I'm surprised Cory asked you to a movie," she said. "He's already seen everything playing at Cinema Six."

  Taffy's eyes flared in anger. How do you know? she wanted to shout. Just because you sing with his band doesn't mean you know everything about him! Instead, she said in an icy voice, "Well, maybe he doesn't care about that as long as he's with someone he really likes."

  If Kimm realized that Taffy was angry, she didn't let on, but Taffy could see Shawnie squirming nervously.

  No one said much more during lunch, and Taffy was beginning to wonder if she had been wrong to snap at Kimm. She hadn't meant to make Shawnie mad, just let her know that she wasn't exactly thrilled to have Kimm around all the time. Didn't Shawnie realize that it hurt to come home and find your best friend hanging around with someone else?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  "Want to go to Bumpers?" Shawnie asked, stopping by Taffy's locker after school.

  Shawnie's big smile perked up Taffy's spirits a little. All afternoon she had been worrying about whether her anger in the cafeteria would make Shawnie change her mind about their friendship.

  "Unfortunately, Cory and Craig won't be there," added Shawnie. "I just saw Craig, and he said the band was going to practice."

  This time Taffy's spirits soared. That meant Kimm wouldn't be at Bumpers, either.

  "In fact," Shawnie went on as Taffy got her books out of her locker, "the band has started using every spare minute to practice. The plan is to sound big-time so that they can get more jobs."

  "I guess I can identify with that," Taffy admitted as she pulled her jacket off its hook. "On the set we practiced our lines for hours and hours before they rolled the cameras, and sometimes . . ."

  Taffy stopped in midsentence. Shawnie was listening with a sort of glazed look in her eyes. Of course she doesn't understand what I'm talking about, Taffy thought. Nobody would who hasn't been on a movie set and seen what happens, and Shawnie's just trying to be polite. She's really more interested in what's going on around good old Wacko. Sighing, Taffy said, "Let's go on to Bumpers. Okay?"

  "Sure," said Shawnie. "We'll have to hurry, anyway, if we're going to get a seat." Shouldering her backpack, she fell into step with Taffy, and her eyes began to gleam. "On the way you can tell me more about Raven Blaine. He's so totally, TOTALLY awesome on the screen, but what's he really like in person?"

  "Oh, Shawnie, I wish you could meet him."

  "Ditto, I'm sure," Shawnie interjected, and giggled. "Come on. Tell me something secret about him. Did he kiss you?"

  Taffy pictured Raven in her mind and answered, "Not yet, but I know he would have if I'd stayed there. Oh, Shawnie, he's so sensitive. Really. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true." She bit her lower lip for a moment, wondering if she should say more, but after all, Shawnie was her best friend. "Promise you won't tell, and I'll tell you his real name."

  "You mean Raven Blaine isn't his real name?" exclaimed Shawnie. When Taffy didn't answer, she added, "Okay. Okay. I promise I won't breathe a word to another living soul. Now, tell me everything."

  "Well," Taffy began, "his real name is Len Butterworth, and he's totally shy around girls."

  "Oh, come on," said Shawnie. "I've seen him on TV. There's nothing shy about him."

  "That's because he's playing a part," Taffy insisted. "He can say or do anything when he's acting, but when he's just being himself, he's shy. When he sent me a bouquet of roses, and even this gold star necklace, he was too shy to sign 'Raven' on the card. Instead, he signed 'Len.' I didn't know his real name then, and I thought they were from someone else."

  "Wow," said Shawnie, getting a dreamy look on her face. "That's so romantic. I mean, a famous star who likes you so much, he sends you presents but is too shy to sign his name. That sounds like a movie plot."

  Taffy opened the door to Bumpers. "I'll tell you more later, okay? And don't forget," she added as she remembered Kimm, "you promised you wouldn't tell anybody."

  Shawnie nodded, and the two of them began searching for a table.

  "Quick!" Shawnie shouted. "Somebody's leaving that bumper car. Grab it."

  She was pointing to a green bumper car near the center of the restaurant that two ninth-grade boys were leaving. The bumper cars were relics of an old amusement park ride and were what gave the place its name. Taffy plunked her books in the seat and scooted inside an instant before a group of kids coming from the back of the room could get to it. "Whoa. That was close," she said as Shawnie sat down beside her.

  "Oh, hi, Taffy. I heard you were back."

  Taffy looked up to see Alexis Duvall and Lisa Snow stopping beside the bumper car. It was Alexis who had spoken, and Taffy couldn't help remembering that neither Alexis nor Lisa had even so much as spoken to her in the cafeteria. Still, she thought, they're being friendly now.

  "Hi, guys," Taffy replied. "What's been going on?"

  "Absolutely nothing," said Alexis.

  "You can say that again," agreed Lisa. "This place is a snore, totally dullsville."

  "Gee, you should have been in Hollywood with me," Taffy said eagerly, as a crowd of kids began to gather around the bumper car. "Things were anything but dull." She raised her voice so that everyone could hear. "There were lots of teenagers in the cast, and we went to the beach and did tons of fun things. I even went to a party at the director's Beverly Hills mansion, and Patrick Swayze was there!"

  "Big deal," she heard someone mutter.

  Taffy winced, knowing the remark had been meant for her. Someone must be jealous. The rest of the crowd looked interested.

  "You probably know some of the other stars in my movie," she went on. "Raven Blaine was in it. He may be one of the biggest stars in the world, but in person he's really kind and sensitive. Paige Kramer was in it, too. Remember her? She used to star in her own weekly TV show called Daddy's Little Darling. We got to be terrific friends."

  "Wow! It sounds like all your Hollywood friends are better than your friends back here in good old boring Wack
o!" challenged Tammy Lucero.

  "Right," said Marcie Bee. "I'm surprised you'd even sit with Shawnie, now that you have big-deal movie stars for friends."

  Taffy looked at them in shock. She opened her mouth to reply, but Shelly Bramlett cut her off.

  "Oh, I just love my new friends," Shelly said in a falsetto voice, which Taffy knew was supposed to be an imitation of her own voice. "They're all sooooo famous!"

  Laughter broke out around the room.

  "Hey, guys. Wait a minute," Shawnie yelled over the noise, but no one was paying any attention to her. Then turning to Taffy, she said, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

  Taffy couldn't speak. She tried to hold back the tears gathering behind her eyes. What's the matter with everybody? she wanted to shout. Why didn't they understand that she was just explaining about her life in Hollywood? The stars she had met may have been famous, but they were just regular kids.

  Picking up her things, she followed Shawnie outside into the refreshing air.

  "Oh, Shawnie. Why did they say all those things?" she cried.

  Shawnie put an arm around her shoulder. "I guess they think you're bragging, that you think you're better than they are, now that you've made a Hollywood movie."

  Taffy was silent for a moment. Then she sighed and looked sadly at Shawnie. "But it just isn't fair," she began. "Can you imagine how awful it is to have something wonderful happen in your life and not be able to talk about it because everyone thinks you're bragging?"

  "You can talk to me about it," Shawnie said softly. "I won't think you're bragging."

  Taffy looked at the sincere expression on Shawnie's face. Surely Kimm Taylor couldn't wreck their friendship.

  "Thanks, Shawnie," said Taffy. "You're a good friend. But I still don't understand what's wrong with everybody else."

  "They'll get over it," offered Shawnie. "It's just that nobody from Wakeman Junior High has ever gone off to Hollywood to make a movie before. And hearing about it makes some kids feel like big fat nothings."