Taffy Sinclair 009 - The Truth About Taffy Sinclair (5 page)

I
left Mona at the entrance to the school ground, saying that I had to look over my spelling words one more time before the bell rang. Actually, I wanted to make sure she had the chance to talk to Jana and her friends about my diary before she changed her mind or chickened out. Besides, the sooner I got it back, the better.

Just as I had predicted, she went straight over to the girls who were standing in their special spot by the fence. I leaned against a tree and opened my notebook to my spelling words, holding it up so that I could look over the top and watch without anyone
'
s realizing what I was doing.

Melanie was the first one to notice Mona walking toward them, and as soon as Melanie waved and called to her, the others acted glad to see her, too. I breathed a sigh of relief as they gathered around her and started talking. If anyone could find out about my diary, Mona could.

It was all I could do to lower my eyes and pretend to be looking at my spelling words. I had to stay cool and keep
anyone
from suspecting that I was spying on The Fabulous Five.

I counted to ten and looked over the top of the notebook again. They were still talking. They were even laughing. What was that all about? There wasn
'
t anything funny about their
stealing
my diary. Having something that belonged to someone else and refusing to give it back was just the same as stealing, I assured myself.

Maybe they were laughing about something that was written in my diary. I bit my lower lip and tried to think what it could be. I remembered some more problems I
'
d had with Jana and what I had written about them.

Dear Diary:

Today Jana Morgan's friends are mad at her, and
I'
m pretending to be her friend. I couldn't believe that she actually
fell for it and even said yes when I offered to teach her how to use body language to send messages to cute boys. Boy,
was that funny!!
! Her body language looked like baby talk.

I started giggling when I thought about how I had tricked her. She really had looked pretty strange when she wiggled her hips and batted her eyes at every cute boy in sixth grade. And Miss Wiggins had even seen her doing it and asked her if she felt okay. Yipes! I thought. Jana wouldn
'
t laugh if she read that. And she certainly wouldn
'
t tell anyone else about it. She
'
d be steaming mad.

I gulped and checked out The Fabulous Five and Mona again. They weren
'
t laughing now, either. They were huddled close together talking, but I couldn
'
t see their faces clearly enough to tell if they were happy or mad.

Looking away again, I began to worry about something else. If Jana really had read my diary, then she would know about all the things I had written about Mona. A shiver crept along my spine. I had only written the truth. And I never meant for
anyone
to see it, especially not Mona.

Dear Diary:

You should have seen how Mona Vaughn looked today. Her clothes were so old a
nd ugly that she looked like a b
ag lady.

Well, she did! I thought, as tears spurted into my eyes. It was the truth, but that didn
'
t mean she could help it. It didn
'
t mean she wanted to look that way, either. It just meant that was how she looked!

I cringed as I remembered another entry I had made a few days later.

Dear Diary:

I do
n't
know how Mona Vaughn can stand to be seen in public. Today she had on slacks that must have been three sizes too big and a sweatshirt with a hole in one elbow.

I'l
l bet she buys her clothes at the Salvation Army store. What is even worse, she doesn't seem to realize how embarrassing it is for me when people see us together.

This time my knees got weak. How would I ever explain a thing such as that to Mona? Jana would be just mean enough to show it to her, too, I thought.

Jumping to attention, I looked back at the spot by the fence where they had been standing a moment before, but now they were gone. I scanned the playground, but I couldn
'
t see them anywhere. How could they have disappeared so quickly? Where did they go?

I had to find out what was going on, so I closed my notebook and raced toward the building as fast as I could. Maybe Jana had taken Mona to show her where she kept the diary hidden. Maybe it was in her locker or in her desk in the sixth-grade room. Wherever it was, I had to follow them and find out for myself. Somehow I
'
d have to find a way to keep Mona from reading it and taking sides with The Fabulous Five.

Hurrying up the front steps, I had just reached out to open the front door when someone lunged in front of me.

"
Hi, Taffy!
"

It was Clarence Marshall, and he had a ridiculous grin on his face and a shock of dingy blond hair hanging in his eyes. As usual, one side of his shirt was tucked into his pants, but the other side was hanging out.

"
Hey, I just heard that you
'
re going to Curtis Trowbridge
'
s party, after all. I think that
'
s great. I
'
m going, too.
"

"
Gross,
"
I muttered under my breath, even though I didn
'
t really care if Clarence heard it or not. He was the most obnoxious boy in Mark Twain Elementary, and I wouldn
'
t be the least bit sorry if he got held back and couldn
'
t go on to junior high with the rest of us next year.

"
Would you move?
"
I asked impatiently.
"
I need to get inside. It
'
s important.
"

"
I even heard that Curtis
'
s parents won
'
t be home,
"
he said, completely ignoring the fact that I had asked him to move.

"
Will you get out of my way!
"
I demanded.
"
I said I need to get inside the school.
"

"
It
'
ll cost you a kiss at Curtis
'
s party,
"
he said slyly.

The instant he said that I shuddered, remembering how he had chased me around Kim Baxter
'
s swimming pool last summer until he caught me and plastered a sloppy kiss on the side of my face. I
'
d die if he ever did that again.

"
Clarence Marshall, I wouldn
'
t kiss you if you were the last boy on earth. Now, get out of my way before I call Mrs. Winchell.
"

Clarence moved, but he was still looking at me with an insolent grin on his face. I pushed past him and hurried into the building and down the hall toward the sixth-grade lockers just as the first bell rang.

I sighed. I was too late anyway, thanks to Clarence. If Mona and The Fabulous Five had been there, they were already gone.

I let myself be pushed along by the avalanche of kids that came roaring through the halls as soon as the bell sounded. I hardly even noticed the pushing and shoving and the yelling and screaming as I thought about my diary and the consequences I might face if anyone read it.

No one would understand. They would think that I was a mean and spiteful person who picked on practically everybody. That wasn
'
t true. In fact, it was the opposite of the truth. Everybody picked on me. Or they would, if I would let them.

I hurried down the hall, fighting back tears. My mother had said that kids were jealous of me and that I should hold my head up high and act as if it didn
'
t matter, and that
'
s what I always tried to do. Like ignoring it when someone stared at me. Or pretending I didn
'
t hear it when kids whispered behind my back. But even though I did those things just the way she told me, nothing ever seemed to help. Nothing! The truth was, nobody liked me. Nobody except Mona Vaughn, and now because I had written the truth about how she dressed in my private, personal diary, I had probably blown that, too
.

If
Mona had gotten the chance to read my diary, she didn
'
t give herself away in class. She even smiled at me when she came into the room. I looked again at her patched jeans and faded blouse and felt a rush of guilt over what I had written about her. She had less than any other girl in sixth grade. Why wasn
'
t she jealous of me like everyone else?

Miss Wiggins jumped up from her desk the second the bell rang. She was smiling so brightly that I wondered for an instant if she was as happy that school was about to be out as we were.

"
Class,
"
she chirped.
"
This morning we are going to dispense with our regular lessons and do a little housecleaning in preparation for the end of the school year.
"

A cheer went up all over the room. We would do practically anything to get out of lessons, even housecleaning.

Then she pushed two shoe boxes into the center of her desk, pulled off their lids with a ceremonious flourish and announced,
"
I am going to divide up the chores in a democratic way. In the box on my left
"
—
she paused and pointed to that box—
"
are all the jobs we need to get done. And in the box on my right
"
—
again she paused, p
ointing to the appropriate box—
"
are all of your names. When I pull out a job, I
'
ll also pull out the names of the team who will do it. Now, isn
'
t that fair?
"

Nobody said anything, and a few kids groaned. I wanted to groan, too, but I didn
'
t. It would be just my luck to get stuck with someone like Curtis Trowbridge or Clarence Marshall. I also noticed The Fabulous Five exchanging worried looks. They were so snobby that they would probably die if they didn
'
t get on teams together.

"
The first job,
"
Miss Wiggins went on,
"
is to straighten the art cabinet.
"

That would be easy, I thought, cleaning brushes and throwing away dried-out jars of poster paint. I crossed my fingers that she would call my name, but of course she didn
'
t.

"
Sara Sawyer and Melanie Edwards,
"
she announced.

Miss Wiggins dug back into the boxfull of jobs and pulled out another one.
"
The second job is to return material to the
Media Center.
"

I drummed my fingertips on my desk in boredom while she reached into the other box for names. That was an easy one, too, so of course I wouldn
'
t get it.

"
Randy Kirwan and Taffy Sinclair.
"

I jumped straight up in my seat when I heard my name, and my heart jumped even higher. Randy and I? Together? It was too wonderful to be true.

When I glanced back at Randy to give him a big smile, my gaze was stopped cold by five pairs of eyes. Every member of The Fabulous Five was glaring at me, and if looks could kill, I
'
d be dead. I didn
'
t care. I gave them my big smile instead and turned around to listen to Miss Wiggins assign the rest of the jobs.

"
Now, you two, this is what I want you to do,
"
she said a few minutes later. Randy and I were side by side at her desk, and I was trying my best to listen, but I couldn
'
t help wondering how we looked standing there together.
"
There are three stacks of books on the top shelf in the reading corner and several stacks of maps and papers on the table that need to go back to Mrs. Birney in the Media Center. She will know what to do with them. All you have to do is take them to her.
"

"
Okay, Miss Wiggins, that will be easy,
"
said Randy. Then he grinned at me and added,
"
I
'
ll carry the books since they
'
re heavier.
"

Kids were scurrying all over the room starting their jobs as we loaded up to make our first trip to the Media Center. Jana stuck her nose into the air and went to work washing the front chalkboard. I knew that she was just pretending not to see us.

As soon as we stepped into the hall my heart started to pound. I was totally alone with Randy Kirwan. Our footsteps echoed as we walked along the deserted corridor, and I tried desperately to think of something to say.

My mind was blank. I couldn
'
t believe such a thing could happen to me. I had never had trouble talking to boys in my life. In fact, boys were the easiest human beings in the world to talk to. It was
girls
who had always been the problem. But now when it was really important, my brain had turned to Silly Putty.

I sneaked a quick glance at Randy. He was walking along with that stack of books as if he didn
'
t have a care in the world. I racked my brain, trying to remember all the dumb rules I had ever heard for making conversation with a boy.

Number one, ask about a school assignment. I couldn
'
t do that. School would be out in a couple of days, and Wiggins had stopped giving assignments.

Number two, be funny. Tell jokes. Make him laugh. HA! At a time like this? Whoever made up that rule had to be kidding.

Rule three, compliment him. I swallowed hard. I could tell him how handsome he is. I could . . .

"
Curtis says he has big plans for his party Friday night,
"
said Randy, bringing me crashing back to reality.

"
Really?
"
I said out loud, but my mind was screaming,
The
party! Why didn't I think of that?
It only took me an instant to recover.
"
Well, I just hope that some of the rowdy kids don
'
t get into trouble,
"
I said slyly.

"
Why do you say that?
"
asked Randy.

"
Clarence Marshall says that Curtis
'
s parents aren
'
t going to be home.
"
I laughed nervously.

Randy turned his big blue
eyes on me for a moment, and my
heart almost stopped. Was he going to say something about our being together at the party? Or even being
alone together now that he knew
Curtis
'
s parents wouldn
'
t be snooping around?

Shaking his head, he said,
"
Don
'
t pay any atte
ntion to Clarence. You know how
he is. He
'
s always making up things to get attention. Alexis even said he
'
s been going around telling all the girls that he wants to kiss them at Curtis
'
s party. He
'
s probably even said it to you.
"

I nodded and fought down a blush. This conversation wasn
'
t going the way
I wanted it to. I would have to think of another approach to get Randy to say something about our being together Friday night.

We had reached the Media Center, and Randy balanced his stack of books on one arm and opened the door for me. He was
so polite. Not like some guys w
ho were icky polite. Curtis Trowbridge, to mention
one person in particular. Randy
just did nice things for people as if they came natural to him.

After we left the things with Mrs. Birney and headed back to the sixth-grade room, my mind was whirring as I went over the rules for making conversation with a boy again. I might never get a more perfect opportunity, and there were only enough books and papers left for one more trip to the Media Center. The only trouble was, even if I thought of the perfect thing to say, it probably wouldn
'
t do any good. Randy liked Jana. Everybody knew that, and whenever I closed my eyes and saw his face, hers was always there, too, making me miserable. Sometimes, when I was feeling especially miserable, I would write about it in my diary.

Dear Diary:

Today Randy took Jana to Mama Mia's for pizza after the football game. He didn't just sit with her when he got there. He asked her ahead of time, so it was a real date. And to make matters worse,
everybody
was there and saw them together.

Dear Diary:

It's Saturday night, and I'm really depressed. I
thought this time I had broken up Randy and Jana for sure. I thought I had fixed things so that he would ask me for a date to go to the movies with the rest of the gang. I was wrong. He asked her instead. They are together at this very minute and I'm home alone.

Dear Diary:

Randy Kirwan is the most wonderful boy in the world, but I don't understand why he likes Jana instead of me. I talk to him all the time to let him know how much I like him. I smile at him. What else can I do to make him see that it's
me,
not Jana, who is the perfect girl for him?

Just as we reached the classroom door, I got a brilliant idea. Randy liked to do nice things for people. It just came natural. Of course. That was it. I would ask him to do me a favor. And I had the perfect favor to ask him. I would have to stretch the truth a little, but it would be worth it. And if I worked it just right, he
'
d never be able to say no.

We loaded up with books and papers and started down the hall again. I took a deep breath to get up my nerve.

"
You were right about Clarence wanting to kiss me,
"
I began shyly.
"
In fact
. . .
"
I let my voice trail off as if I couldn
'
t stand to say any more.

Randy frowned.
"
What do you mean?
"

"
I haven
'
t told anyone,
"
I whispered.
"
Clarence is such a bully. But he
'
s always following me after school. And trying to kiss me when no one
'
s around.
"

"
That creep.
"
Randy stopped dead in his tracks.
"
Wait until I get my hands on him!
"

"
Oh, no. Don
'
t tell him that I told you. He
'
ll be really mad at me.
"

Randy stood there for a moment, and I could tell that he was thinking over what I had said. I could hardly breathe as I waited to see if my plan had worked.

"
Okay,
"
he said.
"
I won
'
t tell him, but meet me by the front door after school. I
'
ll walk you home, and I
'
ll do it every day until school is out. Let
'
s see Clarence try anything when I
'
m with you.
"

My feet didn
'
t touch the floor all the way to the Media Center and back. It had worked! Randy was going to walk me home from school for the rest of the week. Surely by the party Friday night he
'
d be my boyfriend instead of Jana Morgan
'
s. I would take him away from her if it was the last thing I ever did, and there wasn
'
t a thing she could do about i
t.