Fabulous Five 005 - The Bragging War (8 page)

"Okay, Beth Barry, repeat after me," said Jana.
The Fabulous Five were meeting in Jana's room on the Saturday afternoon after
the concert, just as they had when they were in Mark Twain Elementary. Beth was
facing her four friends and had her right hand in the air. "I, Beth Barry,
do solemnly swear . . ."

Beth repeated the words. "I, Beth Barry, do solemnly
swear . . ."

"That I will not tell any more wild stories . . ."
continued Jana.

"That I will not tell any more wild stories . . ."
answered Beth.

"That will in any way make my friends look dumb,"
said Jana.

"That will in any way make my friends look dumb,"
Beth finished the oath. Her left hand was behind her where her friends couldn't
see it, and her fingers were crossed. After all, she reasoned, if she hadn't
told Trevor Morgan that she was an Indian, The Fabulous Five would never have
gotten to go on stage and sing with Brain Damage and win the bragging war with
Laura McCall.

"Okay, everybody, I think we have now gotten through to
Beth. She may have finally learned her lesson," said Jana. The four of
them gathered around Beth and hugged her.

"Please, stay out of trouble," said Christie. "You're
such a cute kid, you don't need to tell stories to get attention."

"That's right," agreed Katie. "We love you
just the way you are, big mouth and all, but we can do without your stories."

Beth stuck her tongue out at Katie. "My Indian story
did turn out pretty great, didn't it?"

"Yeah," said Jana, "Score a big one for The
Fabulous Five. Did you see the faces of Laura and her friends when Trevor had
us up on the stage? I thought Laura was going to burst into flames."

"I did, too," said Melanie.

"When all's said and done, Beth, I guess you did pull
it out," Christie admitted.

"Terrific," said Beth and a sly smile slowly
spread across her face. "And now that we've settled that, I want to talk
to you about the plight of the American Indians."

Jana sank into her seat in family living class just as the
final bell rang. She was breathless from running because she had stopped
between classes to tell her friend Funny Hawthorne that she was going to be
maid of honor at the wedding of her mother and Pink in two weeks. She had tried
her best to sound happy about the wedding—happier than she really felt.

Mrs. Clark was calling the class to attention. "Boys
and girls," she was saying. "I'm pleased to announce that you are all
about to become parents."

Jana stared openmouthed at her teacher. Around her, other
kids giggled or made gasping sounds.

"That's right," said Mrs. Clark in response to
their surprise. "Each one of you is going to be mother or father to a
darling baby and learn what it's like to have the responsibilities of
parenthood. You may decide to be a single parent, or pair up with someone in
this class so that your baby will have both a mother and a father and you will
have someone to share that responsibility with. But it must be someone from
this
class, not Mrs. Blankenship's class, because you'll be graded together on the
project."

Rats! thought Jana. That meant she couldn't be partners with
her boyfriend, Randy Kirwan, because he was in Mrs. Blankenship's class. She
had dreamed so many times of their getting married when they grew up and having
kids of their own.

"The choice is up to you," Mrs. Clark went on. "But
whichever decision you make, you must bring a stuffed animal or doll to class
Wednesday to be approved as your child and begin treating it as if it were a
real baby."

"I'm not going to change any diapers," yelled
Richie Corrierro from the back of the room.

"Oh, yes, you are," Mrs. Clark corrected him. "At
least three times a day, but I'll explain more about your jobs as parents when
you bring in your children on Wednesday. Between now and then, be thinking
about choosing your children and your partners."

Jana sank back in her chair.
Parents
,
she
thought. That was suddenly becoming the most important word in her vocabulary.
Her mother was getting married in two weeks, and she was going to have a
stepfather. Did that mean she would never get to see her natural father again?
And now she was going to have a baby of her own to take care of, and she couldn't
be parents with Randy because he was in another class. Would all of it be too
much for her to handle? Find out in
The Fabulous Five #6:
The Parent
Game.