Fabulous Five 003 - The Popularity Trap Read online

  "I can't believe it!" said Melissa, jumping to her feet. "First you pollute the school and now you pollute the football team!"

  Christie ignored Melissa and tried to concentrate on the game. She didn't want to think about the stickers right now, and what they could mean to her campaign.

  The teams went at each other again. Gradually Wakeman edged the ball toward the Black Rock goal line. Suddenly Christie saw Randy roll to the right and fake a pitchout to Scott.

  What's he doing that for? she wondered. But then the Black Rock players went for Scott, and Randy cut back, splitting two defenders and crossing the goal line standing up. Shane kicked the extra point, and the green numbers on the scoreboard said: Wakeman seven, Visitors zero. The crowd went wild, and Christie and Jon hugged each other.

  Wakeman lined up to kick off to Black Rock. Suddenly one of the officials blew his whistle and stopped the game. He walked over to one of the Wakeman players and looked at the back of his helmet.

  "What's going on?" asked Jon. "What are the officials doing?"

  The officials, in their white-and-black-striped shirts, had gone over to the Wakeman bench and were talking to Coach Bledsoe. The coach was looking back and forth between the officials and the players. He walked over to Scott and turned him around and looked at the back of his helmet. Throwing up his hands, he went back to the officials. The Wakeman crowd went silent, as if they were all holding their breath.

  "Uh-oh," said Katie, clenching her teeth. "Scott should have asked the coach if it was okay to put the stickers on the back of the helmets."

  "Oh, no," said Christie, turning to Jon. "What will the officials do to the players?"

  "Make them take the stickers off. I hope that's all. There's not supposed to be any advertisement on the players. I guess they could make them forfeit the game."

  "It'll be your fault if we lose, Christie Winchell," said Melissa from the next row. Christie turned and gave her a drop-dead look.

  "It wasn't your idea," Katie said, putting her hand on Christie's knee. She looked worried.

  Christie bit her lower lip. She couldn't believe the stickers with her name on them were causing all this trouble. On the bright side, they might damage her campaign and give the mystery candidate an even bigger edge. But what if they cost Wakeman the game? How could she live with that?

  The officials huddled for some time and then went back to talk to Coach Bledsoe. The crowd had gotten so quiet, thought Christie, that you could hear a kernel of popcorn drop.

  Jon squeezed her hand as the public address system crackled to life. "The Wakeman Warriors are penalized fifteen yards for illegal uniforms. The penalty will be assessed on the kickoff."

  A giant "WHOOSH!" went up as the Wakeman spectators let out their collective breath. Christie leaned against Jon in relief. Then she watched the jubilant Wakeman players take the stickers off their helmets and go on to win the game fourteen to seven.

  CHAPTER 16

  Christie walked into the school on Monday morning with the rest of The Fabulous Five. Her friends were all hyper about the election and her chances of becoming president, but Christie had something else on her mind—Curtis. What if he revealed that he was the mystery candidate too soon and blew the whole thing? She knew she would be nervous all day, especially when everyone saw the new posters. Would he be able to keep his mouth shut?

  Jon, Curtis, Whitney, and she had gone to Curtis's house yesterday to make posters that said, MYSTERY CANDIDATE TO BE REVEALED AT BUMPERS MONDAY AFTER SCHOOL. It had been fun, and with all four of them working on Curtis's campaign, Christie had the feeling that it just might work, and she wouldn't be elected. Now she had her fingers crossed behind her back as they walked down the hall where kids were gathered around one of the posters that Curtis and Whitney had put up earlier that morning.

  "Can you imagine the nerve?" Katie's voice sounded frantic. "Everyone will vote tomorrow morning in homeroom, and whoever this clown is, is going to wait until after school today to reveal his or her identity. Okay, guys. We've got to put on a big push for Christie while we still can."

  "Right," agreed Jana. "We all have to talk to everyone we know today. We can't let this mystery candidate win."

  "I'll talk to Scott and some of the other boys," said Melanie.

  Katie looked at her with exasperation. "After your idea about putting stickers on the football helmets, I think you'd better be careful with the players."

  "Well, if Scott had only checked with the coach like he was supposed to . . ." Melanie pleaded.

  "It doesn't matter now," said Jana. "What matters is getting Christie elected."

  "Would it really be that bad if someone besides me or Melissa were to win?" asked Christie. She had been listening to their conversation and trying desperately to think of some way to discourage them. "I thought we were mostly interested in beating Melissa."

  "That's true," said Beth. "But who knows who this mystery candidate really is. I mean, it could be someone worse than Melissa—like Taffy Sinclair, for instance."

  "Or somebody gross like Clarence Marshall," said Melanie, wrinkling her nose.

  "So, what if it's someone terrific?" offered Christie. "What if all the posters are right and this person is hardworking and popular and deserves to be president?"

  "But we don't know that the mystery candidate is someone terrific," argued Jana, "and if it turns out to be someone horrible and you stop trying to win, Melissa will win for sure. She'll get all of Riverfield and then part of Mark Twain and Copper Beach. Your staying in is the only way the mystery candidate can have a chance."

  "And don't forget all the kids who might vote for Melissa just to go to a party at Laura's," cautioned Katie. "You'd be letting everybody down if you let that happen."

  Christie knew in her heart that Jana and Katie were right. She hadn't thought about it before, but she had to keep running to keep Melissa from getting votes. And if she backed out, everyone would think that she was afraid to run against Melissa. She wanted to find the happy medium, but just as always, things were out of control, and she was being swept along. Oh, Jon, she thought, I hope our plan works.

  The after-school crowd at Bumpers was enormous. Christie, Jana, and Beth had to squeeze through the people at the door.

  "Over here! Over here!" Melanie waved and shouted above the din from the booth where she and Katie were saving seats.

  Christie looked around the room. Every booth and bumper car was packed, and kids were standing in the aisles. Jon was near the counter talking with Tony Sanchez and Bill Soliday, and Curtis and Whitney were on the other side of the room talking to Mandy McDermott and Darcy Holyfield.

  Christie gulped. This was the big moment. She was frightened. What if she had been wrong about Curtis's being the best candidate? What if Curtis did something foolish in front of everyone? She would die.

  Whitney looked at Christie and nodded slightly when kids finally stopped coming in the door. Then she walked over and said something to Mr. Matson. Christie looked nervously at Jon, and he gave her a reassuring smile. Then the music playing on the old Wurlitzer stopped.

  Everyone turned to see what was going on. Suddenly, over the sound system came the blare of trumpets, and people looked at each other and snickered.

  Christie cringed. Oh, no, she thought. Is Curtis going to make too big a deal out of this? Will everyone laugh?

  At that moment Whitney stepped forward and waited calmly for everyone to stop talking.

  "I have the honor and the pleasure," she spoke clearly and with pride in her voice, "to announce the name you have all been waiting to hear." She paused for effect.

  "The name of the person whom we from Copper Beach and, I'm sure, you from Mark Twain and Riverfield all know and respect.

  "The name of the seventh-grade person who has already made a name for himself at Wakeman.

  "The name of the person who knows the most about what is happening at school.

  "The name of the mystery candidate."
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br />   Kids started to applaud, but she held up her hand and the room got quiet again.

  "The name of the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE SEVENTH-GRADE CLASS OF WAKEMAN JUNIOR HIGH IS . . . CURTIS . . . ELWOOD . . . TROWBRIDGE!"

  The room remained in stunned silence for a long moment. Christie's heart sank within her. It was worse than she could ever imagine. It seemed that nobody could believe that the mystery candidate was Curtis!

  Finally, after what seemed like ages, Mandy and Darcy started whispering to each other. And then gradually other kids began talking and whispering until a buzz of voices filled the room, but no one was saying anything to Curtis, who stood beside Whitney with a look of horror growing on his face.

  "CUR-TIS! CUR-TIS! CUR-TIS!" shouted Jon, raising his fist in the air each time he said it. Tony Sanchez and Bill Soliday looked surprised at first but then shrugged and joined in the chant.

  "CUR-TIS! CUR-TIS!" The shout filled the room, and Curtis's look of horror turned to an ear-to-ear grin.

  "ME-LIS-SA! ME-LIS-SA!" shouted Laura, Tammy, and Funny, sticking their chins in the air in defiance. Slowly other Riverfield kids began to join them.

  "ME-LIS-SA! ME-LIS-SA!"

  "CHRIS-TIE! CHRIS-TIE!" shouted Jana as Katie, Melanie, and Beth picked up the chant.

  "CHRIS-TIE! CHRIS-TIE!"

  Soon the room was filled with the mingled shouts of "CHRIS-TIE!" "ME-LIS-SA!" "CUR-TIS!" "CHRIS-TIE!" "ME-LIS-SA!" "CUR-TIS!"

  CHAPTER 17

  Jana, Katie, Beth, and Melanie were waiting at The Fabulous Five's special place by the school fence when Christie arrived.

  "Well, today is the big day, Christie," said Melanie. "Whatever happens, I think we ran a great campaign."

  "I still think Christie's going to win," said Beth. "She's really popular."

  "She sure is," answered Katie. "The only thing that has me worried is Laura's promise to have a party for everyone who votes for Melissa if she wins."

  "I agree," said Jana. "But I couldn't tell from all the shouting at Bumpers yesterday, when Whitney announced Curtis was the mystery candidate, which one of the candidates is the most popular. I just wonder who is really behind Curtis's campaign. I can't believe he and Whitney thought that up and did all those things by themselves. Besides, Curtis has too big an ego to keep a secret like that."

  Christie took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "It was Jon and me."

  Her friends went silent and turned to her with stunned looks on their faces. Their eyes were as big as saucers.

  "You?" said Melanie in disbelief. The others stared at her with their mouths open.

  "What do you mean, it was you?" asked Katie.

  "Yeah? After all that work," said Beth.

  Christie's heart almost burst at the feeling of having betrayed her friends.

  "Wait a minute," said Jana softly. She looked deeply into Christie's eyes, and Christie gave her a silent plea for understanding. "Why did you do it, Christie?" Jana asked.

  "I'm sorry, really I am. But I just don't want to be class president. I know you want me to be, and I appreciate your confidence in me. But if I were president, I'd have to give up things I really want to do, and I'm tired of doing that.

  "My mother keeps pushing me to make good grades so I can be better than my brothers. My dad wants me to play competition tennis. The teachers all expect me to set an example for everyone else because I'm a principal's daughter. And now you want me to be class president and make all kinds of changes that you want. I love you all, but I don't want to do that." Christie's chin quivered and a tear ran down each cheek.

  "Oh, my gosh," said Melanie.

  "We didn't understand," said Katie, putting her hand on Christie's arm.

  "Oh, we're so sorry," said Jana. "How could we have been such idiots?"

  Her four friends gathered around Christie, locking her in a gigantic hug.

  "You've got to forgive us," said Jana, holding Christie by the shoulders. "We got carried away and weren't thinking about you the way we should have."

  Christie inhaled deeply and gave them a weak smile. "I know. And I didn't want to disappoint you, either. Or my parents. I had a talk with them this morning, too. At breakfast. I knew I had to prepare them in case I lose the election today."

  "Gosh," said Jana. "That must have been hard."

  "Not as hard as I thought it would be," Christie admitted. "They really do care about me, and they said they didn't realize that they were pushing me so hard. Dad even said he didn't mind if I played tennis just for fun from now on." She paused a minute. "I believe them. I just hope they remember not to push so hard the next time something comes up that they want me to do."

  "You could still win," said Melanie.

  "Sure," said Christie. "But you know, Curtis is a good candidate when you think about him. He is all the things Jon and I said on the posters and on the tape. I even think someday he may be a senator. Maybe even president."

  Melanie and Beth looked at each other, covering their mouths and giggling at the thought.

  "That was Jon's voice on the tape?" asked Jana.

  "That's right," said Christie, laughing, too, at the thought of Jon's muffled voice and mysterious laugh.

  "Okay!" said Jana, taking command. "This is what we're going to do. We've got to talk to as many Mark Twain kids as we can before we vote in homeroom. Tell everybody to vote for Curtis. Tell them THE FABULOUS FIVE said so." She held up high five, and the others hit it and cheered.

  Christie worried all morning. Her friends had run around the school as fast as they could stopping every Mark Twain seventh-grader they saw and telling them to vote for Curtis. Randy Kirwan, Scott Daly, and Keith Masterson joined in to tell as many boys as they could. Jon and Whitney talked to the Copper Beach kids and told them that Christie wanted them to vote for Curtis. But would it be enough? She was still afraid she or Melissa might be elected when she marked her ballot during homeroom.

  The cafeteria was noisier than usual when she went in for lunch. Her friends looked at her sympathetically when she sat down with them.

  "Well, we did our best," said Katie.

  Christie smiled at her and nodded. She was lucky to have four such great friends. If she had just not been so afraid of hurting them and had said what she was really thinking in the beginning, the five of them would have figured another way to beat Melissa and The Fantastic Foursome. She would know better next time. She would stick to the happy medium the way Jon had suggested and be more honest about her feelings. The thing that counted most was that The Fabulous Five were sticking together, as always.

  "ATTENTION PLEASE," a voice came over the public address system. "FOLLOWING ARE THE RESULTS OF THE SCHOOL ELECTIONS."

  Christie went tense as the names of the officers for the ninth and eighth grades were announced. Her hands went clammy as the announcements started for the seventh grade.

  "TREASURER—RICHIE CORRIERRO."

  A cheer went up around the table where Richie was sitting, and he stood up on the bench and waved his clenched hands in victory.

  "SECRETARY—ELIZABETH HARVEY."

  Everybody from Riverfield began yelling and clapping.

  "VICE PRESIDENT—MANDY MCDERMOTT."

  A cheer went up from another part of the room for Mandy. "PRESIDENT—"

  Christie had been holding her breath until she thought her lungs would burst.

  "—CURTIS TROWBRIDGE."

  She let out all the air she had been holding as Jana, Katie, Beth, and Melanie started pounding on her just as if she had won, and all five of them yelled for joy. She looked across the room and saw Jon with a big smile on his face. You know, she thought, I never knew losing could feel so good.

  Two tables away she saw Laura turn to Melissa and frown. Uh-oh, thought Christie. The Fantastic Foursome may have lost the election, but they had to know that The Fabulous Five had thrown their support to Curtis. They wouldn't stand still for defeat by The Fabulous Five for very long. It was anyone's guess what they would try
next.

  Christie climbed into bed that night thinking that her day had been practically perfect. Curtis had won the election, and her friends and her parents all understood. And to top things off, Jon had taken her to meet his famous parents this evening. Wow, she thought. I'll be the envy of half the seventh grade.

  Chip Smith and Marge Whitworth were really hyper. She had wondered if all television personalities were like that—acting as if they were on stage all the time. They were nice, but she could see how it would be difficult living with them.

  After they had left his house, Jon had smiled at Christie and said, "Now that you've rescued my brain, how about tutoring me in tennis and helping me improve my backhand? It's pretty rotten."

  "Sure," she had replied, returning his smile. "But I'll have to warn you that I may not be able to bring you all the way up from rotten to fabulous. You may have to settle for happy medium."

  Now, snuggled under her covers, Christie thought about finding a happy medium. It made a lot of sense to her. She was herself instead of the person everyone had wanted her to be. Jon was himself, too, and not a cop-out. Everyone was happy—her friends, her parents, even Jon's parents. So, there was only one more thing that she absolutely had to do. Tomorrow she would begin concentrating on tennis and especially on improving Jon's wonderfully rotten backhand.

  CHAPTER 18

  Katie Shannon chewed on her pencil and watched Mona Vaughn and Matt Zeboski acting up in English Lit class. They were whispering and giggling together every time Miss Dickinson's back was turned. Didn't they know that they would get into trouble if she caught them? Katie thought with a frown. Maybe even get a detention?

  She sighed and turned her attention back to her book and the story the class was supposed to be reading while their teacher wrote the homework assignment on the board. But she couldn't concentrate. This was Katie's big week. Her excitement had been growing and growing. Tomorrow they would announce the students who had been selected to be on the Teen Court, and her name just might be one of them. She could hardly stand the suspense.