Fabulous Five 003 - The Popularity Trap Read Online Free Page B

we've got to take care of is those
stickers, and then we've got to have a meeting of The Fabulous Five and plan
Christie's campaign strategy. We can meet at my apartment after school. Has
anybody got any ideas about what to do about the stickers?"
    "I do," said Christie. She might as well join in
the planning if she was going to have to run, she thought. "Melanie, do
you still have all those big happy-face stickers you got for your birthday?"
asked Christie.
    "Yes. They're in my locker."
    "Why don't we write on them and stick them on over
Melissa's stickers?"
    "Great idea," said Jana. "If we hurry, we can
get it done before homeroom."
    "What will we write on them?" asked Katie.
    "I know," said Melanie. "'Vote for
Christie—She's Got the Connections.'"
    Christie's stomach turned over. She had to get them off that
kick before everyone in the whole school was calling her the principal's pet.
     
    Christie met her friends at their usual table in the
cafeteria. They had divided up the happy-face stickers and had each taken a
section of hallway where the seventh-grade lockers stood. Then they had
scurried around, slapping stickers on lockers, being sure to cover up Melissa
McConnell's stickers, all the way to the lunchroom.
    "We did it!" shouted Beth when all five of them
had reached the table.
    "The Fantastic Foursome are just simply going to die
when they see our stickers," Jana said with a confident laugh.
    Melanie giggled. "I put two on Shane Arrington's locker
and I even put one on Garrett Boldt's locker, even though he's an eighth-grader
and can't vote for Christie."
    "What a waste!" said Katie, glaring at Melanie.
    Christie listened to her friends' happy chatter, but she
didn't feel like joining in. She only ate half of her tuna sandwich and stuffed
the other half back into her lunch bag to put into the garbage. Her appetite
was gone. Now that those stickers were on the lockers, there would be no way to
back out of the election. She was definitely trapped this time, and what made
it even worse, she had helped.
    "Let's chip in our change and stop and get some more
stickers on the way to Jana's apartment," Beth was saying as Christie tuned
in again.
    "Good idea," said Jana. "I've got markers and
we can work at the kitchen table."
    "Can I bring my new album?" asked Beth. "We
can put it on the stereo in your room and turn it up so we can hear it in the
kitchen."
    "Sure," said Jana. "But what's Laura doing?"
    Christie looked toward the table where The Fantastic
Foursome were sitting. Laura McCall was half standing, with one knee on the
bench, and she was talking excitedly to Melissa, Funny, and Tammy.
    "She probably just found out about our stickers on top
of theirs," said Katie, laughing. "Boy, I'll bet she's mad."
    Laura glanced at The Fabulous Five and smirked. She was
flicking her long, blond braid back and forth the way a cat flicked the end of
its tail while it stalked its prey. Christie had a creepy feeling that what
Laura had been talking to her friends about wasn't stickers.

CHAPTER 6
    As Christie watched, Laura McCall turned to Funny, Melissa,
and Tammy and nodded. Tammy picked up a large brown paper bag that had been
sitting on the floor, and each of the girls dipped into it and pulled out
ribbons in bright shades of pink and yellow and green. Then they started
handing them out to all the seventh-graders in the cafeteria.
    "What are they doing?" cried Beth as Laura worked
her way toward their table.
    "Whatever it is, I don't like it," said Jana. "She's
putting one on Randy!" Laura was bending over Randy Kirwan and pinning a
ribbon to his sweater, and he was smiling at her.
    When Laura got to their table, she said with a sneer, "I'm
sure you'll want these, too." She tossed several brightly colored ribbons
into the middle of the table and with a flip of her long braid, went on to the
next table.
    Christie looked at the ribbons as if they were poison.
    "What do they say?" asked Melanie.
    "What do you expect them to say?"