Fabulous Five 006 - The Parent Game Page 4

  "All right, let's continue. Shane, what do you have in the box?"

  Jana had been wondering about the box ever since Shane had brought it into the classroom. It had two or three holes punched into it on each side.

  Shane untied the string and gently reached into the box. Out came a large iguana with its legs and tail protruding through a small diaper. Its tongue flicked out at Mrs. Clark, and she pulled back in surprise.

  "IGOR!" everyone in the class shouted. "It's Igor!"

  Jana threw her head back and laughed as everyone in the room shrieked at the sight of Shane's pet lizard. I should have guessed that Shane would try to use Igor as his baby, she thought.

  Mrs. Clark was struggling to regain her composure. "Shane Arrington, what is that?"

  "It's Igor," said Shane with a cool smile. "He's my iguana."

  "Humph!" Mrs. Clark said softly. "Live animals are not to be used in the Family Living project, Shane. You will just have to choose something else."

  "Gee. He really wanted to be a part of it," said Shane. Then he spoke to the lizard. "Sorry, old buddy. I told you it wouldn't work."

  As they were leaving class, Shane came up to Jana. "Hey, Jana. Would you like to be partners?"

  "Partners?" Jana echoed in surprise. Being partners with Shane would probably be lots of fun, and now that Randy was going to be partners with Taffy, it was probably all right if she had a partner, too. "I guess so," she said, "but only if we don't use Igor, as Mrs. Clark said. And . . ." she added, remembering what Katie had been telling Melanie about boys trying to get out of all the work, "if I don't have to take care of it all the time."

  "That's cool," he answered. "I believe in equal opportunity. Remember my folks were liberated a long time ago."

  Jana knew his mother and father had been hippies in the sixties and still wore beaded headbands and patched jeans, so it was probably true.

  "When I'm playing football, you can take care of them, and when you're working on the yearbook, I'll take care of them. Otherwise we'll switch off evenly."

  "That sounds okay." A warning bell went off inside her head. "Them? But Mrs. Clark said Igor can't be used."

  "I know," Shane replied with a grin. "But I thought it would still be fun to have a boy and a girl. Your bunny can be the girl, and my dinosaur can be the boy."

  "Dinosaur?" asked Jana incredulously.

  "Sure. Don't worry. He's stuffed. I asked Mrs. Clark about him just now, and she said okay."

  Jana smiled weakly and headed for her next class. Oh, brother, she thought. First Igor and now a dinosaur. What am I getting myself into?

  CHAPTER 8

  Jana wadded the sheet of stationery into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket next to her desk. The pink bunny her father had given her sat on the desktop in front of her, and Rex, Shane's dinosaur, was in the chair next to her bed. He had said that he'd named it Rex because that's what it was—a Tyrannosaurus rex.

  The whole thing seemed like a story out of a little kids' picture book to Jana. Both of the stuffed animals were dressed in makeshift diapers she had made from clean dustcloths, and they had soda bottles with rubber nipples on them filled with the make-believe formula that she had prepared. She had even filled out the schedule on their feedings and things.

  What made it even more weird was the way Rex looked. Rex was the biggest stuffed animal Jana had ever seen. He was green with a purple belly and a yellow tuft of hair sticking up from the center of his head, and the wacky look on his face was positively stupid.

  Jana shook her head in disbelief at the dinosaur and pulled another sheet of stationery from the desk drawer. She tried starting the letter for the third time.

  Dear Father:

  I am writing this letter to tell you about Mom and Pink's wedding. I am sure you will be just as happy about it as I am.

  Jana paused and looked at what she had written. Did it still seem too formal? Or was it too casual? She didn't want him to think that she was dying to see him, because she wasn't. But she also didn't want him to think that she hated him, because she didn't think she did. She didn't really know how she felt—about him, about Pink, about the wedding, about any of it—but she knew someone should let him know about the wedding.

  Pink is a very nice man.

  Would her father think she meant that he wasn't a nice man? She crossed out the last sentence and thought for a moment.

  It will be nice to have a man around the house to help Mom with things.

  If he thought that was a slam about his not being around, well, he could just think it. He hadn't even come the one time he had written to say that he would.

  They are getting married one week from Saturday.

  Would he think that was an invitation for him to come to the wedding? No, of course he wouldn't. Children of people getting married didn't send out invitations. She didn't know if he even cared that her mother, his ex-wife, was getting married. He hadn't cared enough to keep up the alimony and child support payments, and her mother had quit trying to collect them a long time ago. There had been times when her mother sat at the kitchen table with the bills, and Jana knew she was worrying about having the money to pay them. Why should he start caring now? Why was she even writing the letter to him anyway?

  She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. Probably for the same reason that I keep putting off getting my dress, she thought. It was hard to admit it to herself, but she knew that getting the dress would mean that everything was set. All the details were taken care of, and the wedding would take place. That was okay for her mom. In fact, it was super for her.

  "But what about me?" she whispered. Just as tears started to well up in her eyes, she was aware of Rex, smiling at her from his chair.

  Jana glanced at the green and purple dinosaur again and smiled back at him, in spite of herself. Shane had said that Rex was the only stuffed animal his parents had given him as a baby. He said for a long time he had thought Rex was his big brother. He was only kidding of course, although Melanie, who was with them at the time, had believed him.

  Her thoughts went back to the letter. What else should she say to her father? How are things going? I'd like to see you sometime?

  "Jana?" her mother spoke from the doorway.

  Jana slid her school notebook over the letter. "Oh, hi," she answered stiffly.

  "May I come in?"

  "Sure."

  "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

  "Just my homework."

  "My, that's a big dinosaur. Where did you get that?"

  "It belongs to Shane Arrington. It's a Tyrannosaurus rex, and it's supposed to be one of our make-believe babies for the Family Living project. We decided to have a boy and a girl."

  "Oh, I see," said her mother, chuckling as she looked Rex over. "And your rabbit is the other baby?"

  Jana nodded and wished she had not put the bunny her father had given her where her mother could see it.

  "Do you have a minute to talk, Jana?" she continued. "We just have to set a time to find you a dress. Since evenings are out, and we talked about Saturday, can we make it definite?"

  Jana shrugged as the old feelings of resistance returned. If she could just put off shopping for a dress until she got her feelings sorted out. "Now I've got the problem of what to do with Rex," she offered hopefully.

  "Rex?"

  "Yes, the dinosaur. That's what Shane named him. I can't leave him and my bunny alone, and he's almost too big to lug around the mall."

  Her mother stared at the stuffed animals. Rex seemed to be smiling back at her with his idiot grin. "You can't leave them at home?"

  "No, not without someone to sit them. That's one of the rules. Remember? I told you about it," she said sharply, and then wished she could bite her tongue. Her mother was so preoccupied with the wedding that she couldn't concentrate on anything else. "You can leave them with a sitter, but it can't be a parent," she explained patiently. "If I did and Mrs. Clark found out, I could get an F on the
project."

  "Can't you get Shane to take care of them?"

  "Oh, he will, but I said I'd take care of them when he's playing football, and he'll take care of them when I'm working on the yearbook. The other times we'll take turns. There's a game with Trumbull Saturday afternoon."

  Her mother looked frustrated again. "Jana, we have just got to get you a dress. Can't one of your friends sit for you?"

  "They'll all be at the game, and they've talked everyone who isn't going into sitting for them."

  "Well," her mother sighed, "we'll just have to take your babies shopping with us."

  "But Rex is so big."

  "Jana, don't you want to get a new dress for the wedding?"

  Jana ducked her head so that her mother couldn't see the expression on her face. "Sure I do, Mom. It's just that I've got problems." Why couldn't she understand? "I'm not doing it on purpose."

  Jana's mother looked at her. "Jana, honey, don't you like Pink anymore?"

  Jana looked at her in astonishment. "Of course I do."

  "Well, the way you're acting, I'm beginning to wonder."

  "The way I'm acting? I just have school things that I have to do, and now I have to take care of Shane's dumb dinosaur. I didn't invent them. They have nothing to do with Pink."

  "Well, young lady, we're going shopping Saturday morning for a dress, and that's final." Sparks flew out of her mother's eyes. "We'll just have to manage to do it with the animals." She stood up and looked down at Jana.

  Jana fought back tears. "Okay," she said weakly. Her mother turned and left abruptly.

  As the door closed, the tears gushed and spilled down Jana's cheeks. Her mother hadn't spoken to her like that since she was a little kid and had done something naughty. And now she felt as if she were being treated as if she were a little kid again.

  She took the unfinished letter from under the notebook and wadded it up and threw it at the pink rabbit. It bounced and ended up on the floor. She stared at it for a few moments, then got up and retrieved it. She spread it flat on the desktop and tried to press the wrinkles out of it. A tear splashed on the paper and made the ink run. Why couldn't her mother understand?

  CHAPTER 9

  "Wow, Jana, are you so lucky! It's not every girl who gets a chance to be maid of honor at her own mother's wedding." Christie was holding her bunny and was grinning from ear to ear.

  Jana couldn't help smiling to herself. It must have been the millionth time one of her friends had said that.

  The Fabulous Five were standing by the fence, and Jana had her pink bunny in one arm and her books in the other. Rex was sitting on the ground next to her. He was so big that he came almost up to her waist. His eyes, which were made of plastic with loose black spots in them, were crossed, making him look dumber than ever. Melanie had Scott's walrus, Beth had her panda bear that looked raggedy because her dog, Agatha, had chewed on it. And Katie was carrying her Sheena doll. All of the make-believe babies had on diapers made out of assorted cloths.

  "And think of all the flowers and beautiful music and the wedding vows. I get weepy thinking about it," said Beth. "It will be a church wedding, won't it?"

  "I think they should go on a honeymoon," said Melanie before Jana could answer. "Maybe to Hawaii. It's sooo romantic there."

  "Have they signed a prenuptial contract?" asked Katie. "Will your mother keep a separate bank account? I don't think it's wise to mix all the money. It allows the man to take control, if you're not careful."

  "Of course I'm excited," answered Jana. "And they can't really afford to go on a honeymoon. It will be a small church wedding. And I don't think they've signed any contract, Katie. Not everyone thinks like you do."

  "Well, it pays to be safe. After you're married it's too late."

  "Look who's talking as if she's been married a zillion times and knows all about what to do," Christie countered.

  "The way you talk, Katie," added Melanie, "it sounds as if marriage is a war."

  "Have you gotten your dress yet?" asked Beth, and Jana felt sure she was changing the subject before the argument between Katie and Melanie got out of hand.

  "Not yet," she admitted. "I guess I keep putting it off. It's going to seem really strange to have Pink as a permanent member of the family."

  "It'll be okay," said Beth, putting a reassuring hand on Jana's arm. "Just think how long you've known him. It isn't as if he's a stranger, or anything."

  Jana nodded. "You're right." She tried to sound confident, but she could feel her chin begin to quiver. Quickly she added, "Anyway, we're going shopping for my dress on Saturday before the game. Would any of you guys like to sit with a dinosaur and a bunny while I go shopping?"

  "He's cute," said Melanie, running her fingers through the shock of yellow hair that stuck straight up from Rex's head. "Anything Shane has would have to be darling."

  "I'm afraid I'm busy," said Katie.

  "Me, too," added Beth, and the others nodded.

  "Oh, well," said Jana with a shrug. "Thanks anyway."

  "Hey, I thought you were going to send us invitations to the wedding," said Christie. "I haven't gotten mine yet."

  "Me, either," said Melanie.

  Beth and Katie joined in the chorus asking Jana what had happened to their invitations to the wedding.

  "Eeek!" said Jana. "I was so busy with the parent project and the yearbook that I forgot to send them. I'll get them out tonight. I promise."

  "Look over there," said Katie.

  Taffy Sinclair was coming onto the school ground next to Chad Wallace, and she was carrying the big white bear in the tutu that Jana had seen on her bed. They had barely walked through the gate when Chad saw Garrett Boldt and two other eighth-grade boys and left Taffy standing alone. She looked around, saw The Fabulous Five, and headed for them with a huge grin on her face.

  "Hi, Jana, Melanie, Beth, Katie, and Christie," Taffy said, smiling so big that she was showing her crooked bicuspid. "Oooh, it takes a lot of breath to say all your names at one time. Maybe I should just say 'The Fabulous Five.'" She smiled sweetly, and there was an excited sound in her voice.

  Taffy continued, "Did you see me with Chad Wallace? Can you believe he walked me to school? He tried to make it look as if he ran into me by accident, but I think he was waiting for me." She looked at Jana as she spoke as if she especially wanted her to hear.

  "That's really something, Taffy," said Jana. "Most eighth-grade boys ignore seventh-grade girls."

  "Garrett Boldt is interested in me," interjected Melanie. "He almost asked me out."

  "Oh, Jana," Taffy said, as if it were an afterthought. "I talked to Randy. He said he would be my partner on the Family Living project. Now Laura can't steal him from you. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. I'll be glad to," she said, smiling sweetly. "That's what friends are for. Well, I've got to turn in some homework. I'll see you girls later. Maybe we can eat lunch together. Bye, bye."

  The Fabulous Five stared after her. "She wants to eat lunch with us," said Katie. "I never thought I'd hear her say that."

  "Me, either," agreed Beth. "And she said, helping friends is what friends are for. Can you believe it?"

  "Hey, look, guys," said Christie. "People do change, you know. Maybe even Taffy can."

  "She has been acting differently lately," admitted Jana. "She did fix it so Laura McCall can't be Randy's partner. She was walking with Chad Wallace, so she must be interested in him and not Randy." Katie looked doubtful. "Katie, you don't trust anyone. Remember how you're always saying people should be fair?"

  "I know, I know," said Katie. "But I can't help it with Taffy."

  "But what could she be up to?" Jana asked.

  "I don't know," said Katie. "But I just don't trust her."

  "Hey, that's some ugly boyfriend you've got," called a ninth-grade boy. He pointed to Rex as Jana squeezed through the crowded hallways after the bell dismissing classes.

  "Yeah, I bet he's a terrible kisser," said his friend. />
  Jana ignored them. Those were the kind of comments she had heard from eighth- and ninth-graders all day long. At the moment she was trying to find Shane, who was supposed to take the two stuffed animals while she went to the yearbook staff room. It would be a relief to get rid of them for a while, thought Jana. It would be hard enough taking care of one baby all day, but when you had two and one of them was almost as big as you were, it was really hard.

  Rex and the bunny were a pain, but a lot of other kids were having as much trouble. Tammy Lucero had to fend off boys who wanted to break open her piñata to see if there was any candy in it. Jana had seen Taffy struggling with Monique, her big bear, but at least she only had one animal and had one arm free to carry her books. Clarence Marshall walked around all day with a smile on his face and his mouse sticking out of his shirt pocket. Now and then he would reach up and squeeze it, and everyone would yell, "Child abuse!" or "Mouse abuse!"

  Suddenly she spotted Shane. "There you are!"

  "Hi, Momma!" he said gleefully. "How are the kids?"

  "Fine, but it's your turn to take care of them, remember? Where have you been hiding?"

  "I haven't been hiding." He feigned a hurt look. "I've been working hard all day at the office, and now I come home and you don't even have dinner ready."

  "Silly," she said, laughing. "Here, take your kids and the schedule. Don't forget to change them and give them their formula."

  Shane saluted and picked up a baby in each arm.

  Jana arrived at the yearbook staff room just as Funny did. Funny was carrying a green bunny with red stripes circling it, and it had very long legs with straps on the bottoms of its feet.

  "When I was a little girl, I'd stick my feet in the straps and dance all around the house with Petey," she said, holding the rabbit's feet up for Jana to see. "Actually, I still do it now and then." She giggled.