Fabulous Five 005 - The Bragging War Read Online Free Page A

boys would have to go home
before bedtime and also that her parents had said she couldn't invite anyone
else. Her excitement grew as she watched Lisa and Kim race off to spread the
word about the terrific party they were missing, and she had to keep reminding
herself that it wasn't really going to happen. It was only a harmless story she
had made up to outdo Laura McCall.

CHAPTER 5
    "You told them WHAT?" shrieked Katie. Beth had
motioned her four best friends to her locker when the first bell rang and
everyone was getting their books. She had explained her plan, and Katie
exploded. "There isn't even going to BE a slumber party, much less a party
with BOYS!"
    "Pipe down!" insisted Beth. "We have to
outbrag Laura, don't we? Besides, how is anybody going to find out? They'll all
be at Laura's. We could pretend to do anything we wanted to, and they'd
never know the difference."
    "Yeah . . . but . . ." fumbled Melanie.
    "You should have seen the look on Lisa's and Kim's faces
when I told them," Beth interrupted happily. "They were absolutely ILL.
And Whitney Larkin, of all people, wanted to make up an excuse to back out on
Laura's party and come to our party instead. Don't you see? Now we look like
the big deals, and Laura and her friends look like the losers."
    "It is sort of funny," admitted Jana. "Yesterday
Laura had everybody all fired up to go to her party, and now, they all wish
they were coming to ours."
    By lunchtime it seemed to Beth that every girl in seventh
grade wished she could be invited to Beth's nonexistent slumber party. Heather
Clark and Melinda Thaler, seventh-graders from Riverfield, stopped Beth in the
halls between classes to ask if what they had heard was true. The two girls had
tried out for cheerleading along with Beth and Melanie, and Beth thought they
looked more disappointed now because they couldn't come to her party than they
had when they didn't make the squad.
    Other girls had talked to her in classes during the day.
Some of them were upset that they had been left out, and others were sorry that
they were going to Laura's party instead of Beth's. But it was the reaction of
Laura herself that made Beth the happiest at cheerleading practice after
school.
    "Does Laura know about our fake party yet?"
Melanie asked when Beth trotted out to join her on the gym floor.
    "I don't know," admitted Beth, "but I'd be
awfully surprised if someone hasn't told her."
    Just then Laura came breezing out of the dressing room with
Tammy Lucero. Beth swallowed a giggle. Tammy was not only one of the members of
Laura's exclusive clique, but in most people's opinion, she was the biggest
gossip in the seventh grade. If anybody in The Fantastic Foursome had heard
about Beth's boy-girl slumber party yet, it would be she.
    Tammy was several inches shorter than Laura, and she had to
skip to keep up with her tall friend's long strides. Beth watched in amusement
as Tammy bounced along talking a mile a minute.
    ". . . and wait until I tell you what I just heard . .
." she was saying to Laura.
    "Okay, girls. Attention, please," called Miss
Wolfe, interrupting Tammy in midsentence. "Time to stop talking and start
the varm-ups. Get into position for the leg-spread exercise."
    Tammy tossed the German gym teacher a look of disgust and
plopped down on the padded mat beside Laura. It was obvious to Beth that Tammy
was bursting with news for her friend. It was also obvious that Tammy was
avoiding looking in hers and Melanie's direction even though they were sitting
opposite one another in a large circle on the floor. She knows, Beth
thought, and she felt so terrific that she wanted to laugh out loud.
    The girls spread their legs as far apart as possible, and
Miss Wolfe led them in the exercise, counting out loud to ten as they touched
chins to right knees and held the count. Next they touched chins to left knees
for a ten count and then reached forward to rest their chins on the mat between
their legs, and again, Miss Wolfe counted to