Taffy Sinclair 009 - The Truth About Taffy Sinclair (3 page)

At
morning recess everybody was talking about the big locker disaster. Everybody, that is, except Jana and her friends. As usual, they were standing by the fence acting as if they were too good to associate with anyone else.

"
Can you believe the nerve of those three boys?
"
Lisa Snow was saying to a group of girls as I walked up.
"
Sneaking back into the school like that and messing up the lockers.
"

"
I ought to make them pay for my Billy Joel poster,
"
complained Kim Baxter.

"
Didn
'
t you get it back?
"
asked Sara Sawyer.

"
Yes, but one corner was torn off!
"

"
Did everybody get all their things back?
"
I asked as casually as I could.

"
Sure,
"
said Lisa.
"
Is something of yours still missing?
"

I didn
'
t answer for a moment. I knew that any of them might have my diary. Just because they acted friendly sometimes didn
'
t mean that they wouldn
'
t love to get their hands on it if they could.
"
I
'
m not sure,
"
I said, deciding not to take any chances.
"
I can
'
t remember if I left something in my locker last night or if I took it home.
"

A couple of girls shrugged, but no one mentioned finding anything that might be mine. Then Sara started talking about Curtis Trowbridge
'
s party.

"
I wonder what a party at Curtis
'
s house will be like, anyway?
"

Kim made a face.
"
He
'
s such a nerd. You don
'
t suppose we
'
ll have to work crossword puzzles or play games on his computer, do you?
"

Everybody laughed at that.

"
I guess we
'
ll find out Friday night,
"
said Lisa.
"
Everybody is going.
"

I took a deep breath to keep my heart from pounding. No one had said anything about boys, but if
everyone
was going, that had to mean them, including Randy Kirwan. I was trying to think of a way to bring up Randy
'
s name without being too obvious when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"
Hi, Taffy. Are you going to Curtis
'
s party?
"

"
Oh, hi, Mona,
"
I said. I knew she would be able to hear the disappointment in my voice, but I couldn
'
t help it. Mona Vaughn was nice and everything, but she was really the pits when it came to looks, even now that Jana and her friends had given her a new hairstyle. She still didn
'
t know how to dress or walk across the room like a model or any of the
important
things. Even her hair didn
'
t look that great. To make matters worse, she followed me around most of the time. It was embarrassing to be seen with someone who always looked like a walking disaster. Anyone who didn
'
t know better would think that we were close friends.

"
Taffy, I asked if you
'
re going to Curtis
'
s party,
"
Mona said, interrupting my thoughts.
"
I hope so, because I am.
"

"
I don
'
t know yet,
"
I answered.
"
I may have to audition for a television commercial Friday night.
"
Then seeing the opportunity I had been looking for, I added,
"
Besides, Curtis will probably be the only boy there.
"

"
Oh, no, he won
'
t,
"
Lisa said eagerly.
"
All the guys are going. Keith Masterson and Scott Daly and Randy Kirwan and
. . ."

She was still naming off boys, but the instant she said Randy
'
s name, I tuned her out. I didn
'
t need to hear any more. If Randy would be at Curtis
'
s party, then so would I! No matter how many auditions my mother might have set up. I would get a new outfit. Maybe a new hairstyle. All I had to do was convince my mother that I needed all that for a photo session or an audition or something. She would go along with anything if she thought it would help me get into show business. Still, I had to get busy and make plans. There were only three days left until the party—and my last chance to make the right impression on Randy before school started again in the fall. Handsome Randy. Wonderful Randy. The boy of my dreams.

I stood in the hot-l
unch line at noon and watched Jana and her friends out of the corner of my eye. They always brought their lunches, so they went right to their table instead of standing in line. They always sat at the same table, too. One in the corner where they could watc
h everybody else and talk about
them. Today they were talking about me. Me and my diary.
I could tell by the way they stopped giggling every so often and looked in my direction. Then they would put their heads together and start giggling again.

I couldn
'
t believe how slowly the lunch line was moving. I tried to ignore them, even though my ears were burning, and concentrate on the choices at the steam tables ahead of me. Meat loaf. Yuk. Fish sticks. Gross. The only thing that looked good was the chocolate pudding.

I paid for the dish of chocolate pudding and a carton of milk and looked around for someplace to sit. Jana and her friends were still at their table. I certainly didn
'
t want to sit with them. Sometimes I sat with Alexis Duvall and her friends, but today her table was full. Lisa and Sara and Kim and Marcie and even Mona were sitting there. I would have squeezed in at their table if only one of them had looked up and smiled at me or waved me over, but no one did. I sighed and pretended not to notice them either. They were just like all the other girls in Mark Twain Elementary, jealous of my looks and my new career in modeling and television.

I stood there holding my tray and feeling like an idiot for absolutely ages before I spotted an empty table by the door. It was beside the garbage can, and sometimes when kids threw away lunch bags or apple cores and their aim was bad, the stuff landed on that table. That
'
s why it was empty. I didn
'
t care. There was nothing on it today, and I could sit with my back to the rest of the cafeteria.

Jana and her friends can talk about me all they want to, I thought as I nibbled at my chocolate pudding. I
'
ll show them a thing or two at Curtis Trowbridge
'
s party Friday night. I
'
ll be so gorgeous that Randy Kirwan won
'
t be able to take his eyes off me. And I
'
ll talk to him, somewhere in a dark corner where we can be alone, and I
'
l
l be so sweet and so nice that—

"
Hey, Taffy.
"

The voice interrupted my dream just as I was getting to the best part. I glared at Beth Barry, who was standing beside my table, smiling and looking innocent. Her other friends were there, too, pitching their lunch garbage into the trash.

"
What do you want?
"
I muttered.

"
I just wondered if you got your dirty magazine back,
"
she said, and then snickered.
"
Since it didn
'
t have your name on it, we put it on the table with all the other leftovers, and when I looked for it at recess, it was gone.
"

"
That was not mine, and you know it,
"
I said.
I could feel my anger rising toward the danger point. How dare she say a thing such as that? Besides, Beth knew as well as I did that Miss Wiggins would never leave a magazine such as that on a table in her classroom.

"
But you said that you lost something important,
"
insisted Jana.

Jumping to my feet, I glared straight at her.
"
You know very well that it was my diary and not—
"
I stopped cold, slapping my hand over my mouth the instant I realized what I had said. I hadn
'
t meant to say a thing such as that. How could I have slipped? How could I have let them trick me?

Melanie gasped.
"
Your DIARY!
"
she shrieked so loudly that kids all over the cafeteria were stopping what they were doing and looking at us.

"
I was just kidding,
"
I said quickly. Then I shrugged and tried to act casual, as if I couldn
'
t care less about what they thought.

"
Sure you were,
"
said Katie, and she exchanged knowing looks with Christie.
"
Of course, you
really
lost it,
"
she went on as if that were the only thing that made sense,
"
and you
'
re scared to death that whoever has it will read it.
"

"
Yeah,
"
Beth added, grinning deliciously at me over her shoulder as she and the others headed for the door.
"
And tell the whole world the
truth
about Taffy Sinclair.
"

I stood there watching them leave the cafeteria. The chocolate pudding was swirling around nauseously in my stomach. Little did they know, I thought, just how true those words were. I had written everything in my diary. I had told it all my secrets as if I were talking to my best friend. My thoughts. My feelings about everybody, including Randy Kirwan. Not only that, I had written all about my troubles with Jana
Morgan and The Fabulous Five.

W
ord that my diary was missing spread like wildfire. On the playground after lunch kids were looking at me and some were even pointing and giggling. Jana and her friends were the worst. They didn
'
t even
wait to go out by the fence to gather into a huddle and start whispering. I knew what they were whispering about. Me and my lost diary. I also knew that they had it. Otherwise, why did they make such a big deal of mentioning that they had found a dirty magazine? I was sure that they had really found that magazine, too, and were using it to cover up the fact that they had my private, personal property.

I whirled around and hurried back inside the building, walking fast so that they would think I had important business. I hoped they would think I was going to the office to tell on them. But as soon as I got around the corner and out of sight of the front door, I crumpled against the wall and closed my eyes. I had to find a way to get my diary back before they read it and decided to get even with me for what I had written.

Suddenly I was flooded with memories.

Dear Diary:

Today was the most wonderful day of my life. Today I caught Jana Morgan doing something that could get her into a lot of trouble.

Miss Wiggins told our class that her wallet was missing. After school I walked into the girls' bathroom and there was Jana—hiding the wallet. I thought about telling on her. She would get into so much trouble, and it would serve her right! It would pay her back for all the mean things she has done to me.

But then I got a better idea. In fact it's the greatest idea I've ever ha
d. Tm going to blackmail her!!
!

I cringed when I remembered that entry in my diary and realized all the trouble I could get into. I
had
blackmailed Jana. Just the way I had said I would, but things had worked out very differently than I had expected.

Dear Diary:

At first blackmailing Jana was a lot of
fun. I made her do my math homework every day. She hated that, and all I could do was laugh.

But then Alexis noticed us talking together a lot and asked me if Jana and I had started to be
friends. She said she thought it was super since we had been enemies for so long.

I hadn't really thought about people's thinking we were friends. But the more I thought about it
,
the more I liked the idea. I can't explain why. I just did. That's when I started blackmailing her even more. I made her carry my lunch tray and walk around the playground with me.

Other kids noticed us together, too, including Randy Kirwan. He was horsing around on the playground when we walked by, but he stopped and watched us. I had been dying to know exactly what he was thinking.

I sighed. It wouldn
'
t make any difference if anyone thought Jana and I were friends—not if Jana showed that part of my diary to Miss Wiggins or to Mrs. Winchell, the school principal. After all, Jana hadn
'
t stolen the wallet. She had found it. And blackmailing is a crime. They might call the police, and I might get sent to jail or to reform school.

As I stood there, I heard the front door open and then footsteps heading up the hall in my direction. What if it was Jana? What if she had followed me into the school to tell me that she had my diary and that she had already opened it and read it—especially the part about being blackmailed? What if she was on her way to show it to Mrs. Winchell at this very instant?

Panic. I looked around. What could I say I was doing in the deserted school during lunch period? Where could I hide? There wasn
'
t time to run down the hall and duck into the girls
'
bathroom. Besides, Jana would know I was running away from her if I did that.

I took a deep breath. I wouldn
'
t give Jana Morgan the satisfaction of thinking that she was getting to me, even though she definitely was. Slowly I opened my shoulder bag and began rummaging around in it, trying to give the impression that I was doing something very important. I would have to distract her, get her mind off the diary, I thought as I listened to the steps coming closer.

I know! I decided with a smile. Jana is so jealous of me she can hardly stand it. She pretends she isn
'
t, but she is. I
'
ll just tell her that I have to call one of the local television stations—no, I
'
ll say a national network—
about my big audition and that I
'
m looking in my purse for the number. My smile turned into a delicious laugh. That should do it.

"
Hi, Taffy. What
'
s so funny?
"

My heart almost stopped as Randy Kirwan came around the corner and stopped beside me. It wasn
'
t Jana, after all. It was Randy, and he was giving me a gorgeous smile. Had
he
followed me into the building? Had he seen me come inside and decided that it was the perfect chance to talk to me? Alone?

I had to think fast.
"
Nothing
'
s really funny,
"
I said, smiling back at him.
"
I was just trying to imagine what Curtis
'
s party will be like Friday night. I think it
'
s going to be a ball. I can hardly wait.
"

Randy looked surprised.
"
You
'
re going? That
'
s terrific. But Curtis was telling everybody that you couldn
'
t come because you had to try out for some television commercial or something like that.
"

"
Oh, I
'
ll be there,
"
I assured him.
"
In fact, that
'
s why I came into the school. I have to call the TV station and tell them I can
'
t audition Friday night because I have something much more important to do. I
'
m looking for their phone number. It
'
s somewhere in my purse.
"

I was trying as hard as I could to look casual, to act as if this sort of thing happened every day, but my hand was shaking so badly that I plunged it into my purse.

When I looked at Randy again, his eyes were glowing with admiration.
"
Wow. Do you mean that you would give up something as important as a chance to be on television again just to come to a party?
"

"
Of course.
"
I could feel my confidence rising. Randy thought I was special. He didn
'
t even have to say it out loud for me to know. I wondered for a fleeting moment if my hair looked okay. Then I flashed an even bigger smile and said,
"
This isn
'
t just an ordinary party. All my
best
friends are going to be there.
"

I don
'
t know if he got the message that I meant him when I said that my best friends would be there or not, because just then Scott Daly charged down the hall yelling to Randy that a game of touch tag was starting on the playground.

After the two of them left, I stood there tingling all over as I thought about what Randy and I had just said to each other. He was glad that I was going to the party! He even thought I was special for giving up an audition to go.

I had to go to Curtis
'
s party. That
'
s all there was to it. It could be the most important night of my life. There were only two things that could spoil it. Two
big
things. The television audition—if I couldn
'
t convince my mother to let me go to the party instead. And my diary—if I couldn
'
t get it back before Friday
night
.