Fabulous Five 002 - The Trouble with Flirting Read Online Free Page A

you in the bleachers. Did you go to Bumpers after the game?"
he asked. "I looked around for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere."
    "I was there," Melanie assured him. "And I
saw you. Maybe I was in the ladies' room when you were looking for me."
Then she felt another blush creep up her face and she added quickly, "Combing
my hair."
    "I got some great pictures at the game," he said. "I'll
show them to you after I develop them if you're interested."
    "I'd love to see them. Are you going to develop them
yourself?"
    "Sure. I have my own darkroom," he said proudly.
    Melanie was so impressed that she didn't know what to say
next. Finally Garrett spoke.
    "Well, I'll definitely see you at school on Monday. You
will be there, won't you?"
    "You bet," said Melanie. "And I'll be sure to
say hello."
    After they said good-bye, Melanie hung up and then hugged
herself with joy. He had been looking for her, after all. Wow, she thought. It's
a good thing I didn't let him see me with Scott.
    "Who was that, dear?" called her mother from the
kitchen. "It didn't sound like Scott."
    Melanie wandered into the kitchen and watched her mother
lift hot chocolate chip cookies off a cookie sheet with a spatula and place
them carefully on a plate. She always thought of her family as being old-fashioned.
Her parents weren't divorced like so many kids' she knew, and her mother stayed
home and took care of Melanie and her six-year-old brother, Jeffy, baking
cookies and things like that.
    "It wasn't Scott," she said as she picked up a
cookie with two fingers and blew on it to cool it. "His name is Garrett
Boldt, and he's an eighth- grader."
    "An eighth-grader ? " her mother
echoed, raising one eyebrow to show her surprise. "Did you meet him at
school?"
    Melanie shook her head. "At Bumpers, and he asked
Christie for my name and phone number at the game today."
    She started to tell her mother the whole story, but just
then the phone rang again. "I'll get it," she sang over her shoulder.
Maybe it was Garrett calling again.
    "Oh, Melanie. I've just got to talk to you."
    It was Jana, and it sounded as if she was crying.
    "What's the matter?" Melanie asked. "Are you
okay?"
    "Yes . . . no . . . Oh, I don't know," said Jana. "It's
Randy. He got one of Laura's invitations in a red envelope, and he says he's
going to her party, even though he knows I wasn't invited."
    "You're kidding!" said Melanie. "I can't
believe Randy Kirwan would do a thing like that."
    "Neither could I, at first," said Jana. "I
thought he was just joking. But when I asked him if he really planned to go, he
said yes. He said all the guys were going just to see what one of Laura's
parties is like, and they would tease him if he didn't go, too. Of course he
tried to tell me that he wouldn't have any fun without me there, but I know he
was only saying that to keep me from getting mad. But I'll tell you something
else. It didn't work!"
    Melanie sighed. She couldn't blame Jana for getting mad. "If
Randy is going, then Scott is probably going, too."
    "Of course he is," insisted Jana. "They all
are. Scott. Keith. Randy. Every one of them. If Scott didn't tell you, it was
probably because you didn't ask him about it. He wouldn't want to admit it if
he didn't have to."
    Melanie thought a moment. She had chattered all the way home
from Bumpers, hardly gMng Scott a chance to say anything. Partly she had done
it because she was excited to have three gorgeous boys to like, and partly it
was to cover up her guilty conscience over not wanting the other two to see her
with Scott. But now that she knew for sure that he was going to Laura's party,
she was as angry at him as Jana was at Randy.
    "How dare those boys go to Laura McCall's party,"
Melanie said. "And if Scott Daly thinks he has me wrapped around his
little finger and can get away with a thing like that, he has another thing
coming. Besides," she added, and smiled to herself, "Garrett Boldt
called me a few minutes ago, just the way Christie said he would.