Fabulous Five 023 - Mall Mania Read online

  The second the show was over, the room was filled with shouts of congratulations for Beth. Her friends and family had loved seeing her on TV.

  The telephone rang, and Todd raced off to answer it.

  "Hey, Beth," he said, returning a moment later. "Telephone. I think it's some guy named Keith." He grinned. "He probably wants to tell you how good you were."

  "Hey, Beth, you were incredible!" Keith said when Beth picked up the receiver. "You really made Wakeman look good."

  Beth's face turned red, and she was glad Keith couldn't see her.

  "Thanks," she replied. "Everybody worked hard this week. Did we look . . . well, you know, professional?"

  "Totally!" Keith answered. "You guys were great."

  A few minutes later Beth hung up with Keith. She felt so dizzy with happiness, she nearly floated back into the living room. Jana, Katie, Christie, and Melanie gathered around Beth while her family disappeared into other parts of the house.

  "Everyone will be talking about this show at school on Monday!" Jana said.

  "I can't wait to hear all the comments," Christie said.

  "Your outfit looked terrific," added Melanie. "So what are you going to wear next Saturday?"

  Beth stared at her friend a second. "Oh, my gosh," she mumbled. "I don't know. I didn't think past this show."

  "Let's go shopping," suggested Melanie. "Right now. We'll help you find another great outfit."

  Beth gulped. "I really do need something else to wear."

  Jana looked doubtful. "I don't know, Beth. Even if we found something, how would you pay for it?"

  Disappointment washed over Beth. "You're right, Jana," she said slowly. "I was so distracted I wasn't thinking. I can't possibly afford another outfit." Suddenly a glint appeared in her eye and she looked around the room at her friends. "There's no harm in looking though, is there?"

  CHAPTER 7

  "Ooh, guys," called Beth. She held up a blouse in a wild jungle print for her friends to see.

  "That's really you," said Christie. "At least before you became a TV co-anchor."

  "Right," said Jana. "You keep talking about more conservative clothes, like the kind you'd see Deborah Norville or Joan Lunden wearing."

  "Oh, I know," admitted Beth. "Right now I'm interested in professional clothes. But I could just die for this jungle-print blouse to wear some other time. And maybe those earrings over there," she added, pointing to a mannequin wearing long earrings that were shaped like parrots. "They're perfect!"

  Katie rolled her eyes. "You're a true shopaholic, Beth. You just love to buy clothes, period."

  Beth laughed. "I can't deny it." She glanced slyly at her friends. "Let's go to Whitley's."

  "Whitley's?" cried Jana. "I've never even been in that store! It's so expensive."

  "We'll just go in for fun," Beth said. "We won't buy anything."

  The others shrugged, and the five of them trooped through the mall to Whitley's. The salesclerk looked surprised to see them walk in.

  "May I help you?" she asked doubtfully.

  "We're just looking," Beth replied airily.

  "I see," the woman said, but she kept watching them.

  Beth looked all through their smallest sizes. The styles were gorgeous, but a bit too mature for her.

  "I don't see anything here," Beth said to the others. "Let's go."

  They headed for the door.

  "Hey, look at this stuff!" Melanie exclaimed.

  Beth noticed the salesclerk frown. She probably didn't like to hear Whitley's merchandise described as "stuff."

  Melanie was standing over a small table of discounted jewelry and accessory items. "What a great scarf!" she said, holding up the filmy material in shades of blue and purple.

  "Wow," Beth said. She took the scarf from Melanie and hurried to a nearby three-way mirror. Draping it over her shoulder, she struck a dramatic pose.

  "Isn't it di-vine?"

  The salesclerk rushed over. "May I help you?"

  Beth gazed at the woman. She thinks I'm going to wreck this scarf, she thought. She whipped the scarf off and found the price tag. Even on sale, it was very expensive.

  "I'm interested in this scarf," Beth said to the clerk.

  "It's beautiful," Melanie said. "You could wear it around your neck or shoulders."

  "It would look terrific with your blue dress," Christie suggested. "You could even wear it on TV."

  "That's right," Beth said slowly. "And it would be a lot cheaper than buying a whole new outfit."

  "May I wrap it up, then?" the woman asked curtly.

  It was very expensive, but Beth was annoyed at the clerk's attitude. She had as much right to shop in this store as anyone else! That clerk wouldn't treat Connie Chung this way, Beth thought. Or Barbara Walters. She giggled at the thought.

  "I'll take it," she said, handing it to the clerk.

  "Very well," the clerk said, taking the scarf. She turned and headed up to the cash register.

  "How are you going to pay for it?" Jana whispered to Beth.

  Beth stared at her friend, and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my gosh!" she said. "I got carried away! I have less than half the price with me, not counting the tax!"

  "You really want the scarf, don't you?" Jana asked.

  "Yes," Beth admitted, "but I have to put it back."

  Jana opened her purse. "I have some money."

  "I can't take your money," Beth insisted.

  "I can contribute some," volunteered Christie.

  "Me, too," Katie chimed in.

  "Hey, when you're famous," Melanie said, "I can say I lent you some money for your first TV series."

  Beth grinned. "Thanks, you guys. This is my last purchase for the show. I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

  The girls pooled all of their money and came up with just eleven cents over the price of the scarf plus tax.

  "Young ladies," the salesclerk said impatiently from the cash register, "are you ready?"

  "Of course," Beth said triumphantly. She strode up to the cash register and, with a flourish, handed her the money. "It's all there."

  When The Fabulous Five left Whitley's they walked down half the corridor before any of them spoke.

  "That lady was just too much," Beth said.

  "What a snob!" agreed Christie.

  Melanie chuckled. "Maybe you should have told her to watch The Wakeman Bulletin Board on Saturday and see her precious scarf on TV."

  Beth took out the scarf and unwrapped it from the tissue paper. She took a corner and let the scarf unfold itself, then draped it over her arm. "It's really beautiful."

  "It sure is," Jana replied.

  Beth looked up gratefully at her friends. "Thank you," she said softly. "You four are the best friends I could ever have."

  "Wow, you looked great on TV!" Dekeisha Adams called out to Beth when she walked into the school building Monday morning.

  Pam Wolthoff waved to Beth from her locker. "Hey, TV star! You were terrific!"

  Another girl called out, "Beth, you were really cool on The Wakeman Bulletin Board. Great job!"

  All day, in each of her classes, people came up to Beth to congratulate her on how well she had done on the cable show. It felt wonderful to be recognized for doing a good job, and even for looking good while she was doing it.

  That Monday during school was certainly one of the best days Beth could ever remember. She felt like a celebrity.

  "Hey, Beth," Shawnie said, catching up with her at her locker after school before the Media Club meeting. "Have you decided what you're going to wear during Friday's shoot?"

  "No," Beth replied, tossing her math book into her locker. "I haven't."

  Just then ninth-grader Andy Trudeau walked past and gave Shawnie's arm a squeeze. "You guys looked great on TV. Keep up the good work."

  Shawnie beamed at him. "Thanks, Andy. Beth," she whispered as he walked away, "everybody keeps telling us that we looked great. We have to wear coordinating outfi
ts again. Do you think you could convince your parents to let you get something new?"

  "No way," Beth said. "I couldn't get them to buy me a new outfit last week."

  "Well." Shawnie sighed. "We'll just have to go to Tanninger's and use my credit card again."

  Beth shook her head. "I don't think so. Everything at Tanninger's is so expensive and I already owe you and my friends in The Fabulous Five money."

  "Look," Shawnie said. "Let's go over there after the Media Club meeting today and see what's on sale. They always have a sale rack."

  Beth hesitated, thinking about how wonderful it was to hear how great she looked on TV. "Okay, Shawnie," Beth said finally. "Let's see what's on sale."

  "Great," cried Shawnie. "I'll see you in a few minutes at the meeting."

  As Shawnie hurried down the hall, Beth closed her locker door and leaned her head against it. "How do I get myself into these messes?" she murmured to herself.

  On Saturday she had told her friends she would wear the new scarf with her blue dress for the taping. But now after all the compliments she'd received today, she wasn't so sure the scarf was good enough.

  "Face it, Beth Barry. Katie was absolutely right—you're a hopeless shopaholic!"

  She turned and trudged down the hall toward the media center.

  CHAPTER 8

  Mr. Levine called the meeting of the Media Club to order. "From the comments I've heard today, The Wakeman Bulletin Board program on Saturday was an unqualified hit."

  "Was it ever!" cried Funny. "It's all the kids were talking about all day."

  "Yeah," said Jon, "and mostly they were talking about how great Beth and Shawnie were."

  Mr. Levine nodded. "I'll agree with that. Beth and Shawnie, you both did an excellent job. You looked like real pros in front of the camera. But, of course, all of you did a terrific job. Our co-anchors were more visible than any of you others, so I'm not surprised that they received the lion's share of the compliments. But I'm proud of each and every one of you."

  Everyone in the room seemed to beam in response to Mr. Levine's praise. Beth watched her fellow club members' faces and felt a warm glow. Mr. Levine had said she looked like a pro in front of the camera. That was the biggest compliment he could give her.

  "Everyone is expecting us to be really good again," said Funny, "so we can't sit back on our laurels. Let's make our next show even better."

  "Right!" exclaimed Paul.

  "You will all keep your jobs for the rest of the month," Mr. Levine reminded them. "Tim and Shane, we'll need your information by Wednesday again so Funny can write the script. Paul, your bat presentation was great, and very interesting. But we'll need something different for the ecology segment this week. Have any ideas?"

  Paul shrugged. "I've been thinking about it," he said. "How about doing something on recycling?"

  "Sounds good so far," Funny spoke up. "What did you have in mind?"

  "Well," said Paul, "we could remind the kids that it's important to save cans, bottles, newspapers, and stuff like that. And tell them where the recycling companies and drop-off boxes are located around town."

  Shane made a face. "You see a lot of that kind of information in the newspapers. Maybe we could do something more original."

  "Like what?" asked Paul.

  Nobody had any ideas.

  "I guess I'll just have to keep thinking," Paul said. "And if anybody comes up with any good ideas, please see me!"

  "Hey, that's what we're here for." Funny grinned. "To help one another."

  Funny was right, Beth thought. That's what had made this project so much fun and the show so good. Surely someone would come up with an idea for Paul before the taping on Friday. No one would want to see the ecology segment turn into a disaster. She gulped and glanced at Shawnie. Without her help and her plastic card, I would have been a disaster.

  "And speaking of helping one another," Mr. Levine said, "Shane has some relatives visiting, so he won't have time to make posters advertising this week's show."

  "Hey, are Igor's cousins coming over?" Tim teased.

  Everybody laughed, and Mr. Levine held up his hand for quiet. "Would any of you have time to do, say, one poster?"

  Jon raised his hand. "Anything for Igor and his cousins."

  "I'll make one, too," offered Beth.

  "Thanks, guys," Shane said. "Igor and I owe you one."

  "Good," said Mr. Levine. "With the ones Tim will make, we should have enough."

  When the meeting broke up, Beth left the media center feeling confident that the show would be really good again. If only she could get something decent to wear.

  Beth and Shawnie spent half an hour in the juniors department at Tanninger's before Beth found something she loved that was on sale. She stood in front of the mirror in the small dressing room and turned to the right and to the left. Instead of the scarf, she would wear this terrific navy blazer over her blue dress.

  "I would have never believed that I—Beth Barry—would ever buy something as conservative as a navy blue blazer," she said, shaking her head in amazement, "but this one is perfect!" Her smile faded a little. "Honestly, though, Shawnie, this will be the very last thing I buy. And I'll start paying your parents back right away. I promise!"

  Shawnie dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "Beth, the blazer really is gorgeous. And think about it this way—you didn't buy a whole new outfit, right? You're going to wear it with a dress you already have, and it was on sale."

  Beth nodded. It all sounded so reasonable when Shawnie put it that way.

  Beth turned again to her reflection and smiled. She was going to look classy again. She couldn't wait for Friday's taping.

  Beth pried off the top of the paint can. The paint was bright red, perfect for the poster.

  She had carefully lettered the sign in hollow block letters.

  WATCH THE WAKEMAN BULLETIN BOARD

  ON THE

  SPECTRUM CHANNEL, SATURDAY, 10 A.M.

  DON'T MISS OUT!

  ALL YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE WATCHING!

  She picked up the wooden stirring stick lying on the newspaper, dipped it into the paint, and began to stir. She glanced around at her father's basement workshop. What an amazing assortment of stuff! Tools hung on the pegboard over the workbench, Alicia's old high chair stood in the corner with a plastic sheet covering it, a box of wood scraps was pushed up against the far wall, and her dad's fishing gear sat at the side of the workbench.

  It wasn't exactly tidy. The work area was strewn with odd screws and bolts, and a short piece of fishing line was lying next to the paint can.

  Beth leaned over and picked up the line to move it away from her work area, but it slipped from her fingers and dropped into the red paint. Letting out a disgusted sigh, she dipped her fingers into the paint to retrieve the line.

  "Yuck," she muttered. "It's a good thing this paint is washable. Painted nails are one thing, but who needs painted fingers?"

  She dropped the wet fishing line on the newspaper to take care of later. Then she wiped the paint off her hands with a rag, took a small brush, dipped it into the paint, and began filling in the letters on her poster.

  When she finished nearly an hour later, she pushed the lid back onto the paint can and began to clean up. The red fishing line caught her eye. It was dry now, and Beth picked it up, dangling it by two fingers. It was such a pretty bright red. She almost hated to throw it away.

  An idea leapt into Beth's mind. If I cut the string in two pieces . . .

  She reached for a heavy pair of scissors on the worktable and snipped the piece of line in two. She took one of the pieces, which was now about four inches long, and put the two ends together so that the middle looped down.

  If I attached the ends to earring backs, she thought, they'd make a super pair of new earrings. Then another idea hit her. Maybe she could string buttons or beads on the line. She was sure she could find some in her mother's jar of extras.

  Beth quickly finished cleani
ng up and then went back inside the house, carrying the fishing line. In her mother's sewing basket she found two red, white, and blue buttons attached to a card that had originally held eight buttons.

  "All right," she said happily as she threaded each piece of line through the holes in one of the buttons. Next she hurried to the jewelry box in her room and took out the earring posts and backs she had stashed there a year ago when she'd bought a tiny package of them to repair some earrings that she'd broken. Next, she got out the jewelry glue and went to work.

  Stepping up to her mirror a little while later, she held the new earrings up to her ears. "Fantastic!" she cried. "Jewelry from junk." She grinned at her reflection. "Beth Barry, you're a genius. Wait till everyone sees your new earrings tomorrow." Then she added ruefully, "The best thing about them is that they didn't cost a cent!"

  CHAPTER 9

  "It's serendipity!" Christie exclaimed.

  "What kind of dipity?" asked Beth.

  "Serendipity," her friend repeated. "It's when you make a wonderful discovery by accident."

  "Well, whatever it's called, those earrings are terrific," said Melanie.

  The Fabulous Five had gathered at their meeting spot by the fence before school the next day. Beth was wearing her new creations.

  "I can't believe that you made such great earrings with nothing but junk from around the house," said Jana.

  "Right," agreed Katie. "I wish I had a pair."

  "I'll make you some," Beth offered.

  "Really?" said Katie.

  "Sure, I'll make each of you a pair," Beth promised. "Not only that, each pair will be an exclusive, one-of-a-kind design. Something that will fit your personality."

  Melanie beamed. "Can you make mine in the shape of hearts?"

  "No problem," Beth replied.

  Just then the bell rang, and the girls went into the building and separated to go to their classes.