Fabulous Five 017 - Celebrity Auction (6 page)

Beth couldn't believe it. Only seven students showed up.

Shane Arrington was the first one there, coming in at five
minutes after one and scooting into the booth beside Melanie.

"Igor couldn't make the meeting, but he said to tell
you he wants to help, too," said Shane with a big grin.

"Oh?" said Beth with a laugh at the mention of
Shane's pet iguana. "How is he going to help?"

"Hey, he's going to write letters," said Shane,
sounding as if everyone should know that. "He's planning to write to Benji
and Mr. Ed and the whole crew of
Wild Kingdom.
Oh, yes, and Alf. Igor
says he and Alf are on the same wavelength."

Beth nodded. "It figures," she said. This time
everyone was laughing. "But those are all male animals. I thought he'd be
writing to Miss Piggy or someone like that. Isn't he still looking for a
girlfriend?"

"Miss Piggy?" shouted Shane, sounding offended. "You
can't be serious. I'll have you know that Igor has a real eye for beauty. Miss
Piggy couldn't qualify as his girlfriend in a million years."

They joked about Igor's love life for a few minutes until
Curtis Trowbridge and Whitney Larkin hurried in, holding hands and apologizing
for being late. They pulled up chairs and sat down, joining the conversation.
Ten minutes later Garrett Boldt arrived, carrying his camera slung over his
shoulder and grinning broadly.

Beth looked at her watch. It was past one-thirty. Where was
everybody? She had even allowed herself to hope that Keith might be there, but
he wasn't. She sighed. Altogether, The Fabulous Five had probably talked to
almost one hundred kids. Not all of them had been crazy about the idea of
donating the money from the auction to the school, but lots of them had seemed
interested in working on the project. She took a deep breath, telling herself
not to panic, and trained her eyes on the front door.

At ten minutes to two, three ninth-graders walked in. They
were Kaci Davis, Pam Wolthoff, and Jennifer Wray. Beth watched as they gazed
around the almost deserted fast-food restaurant and finally sauntered over to
the group.

Well, at least the three of them are popular, and they are
ninth-graders, Beth thought. If we can get them fired up, maybe they can
influence a lot of other kids to join us.

Finally Dekeisha Adams and Alexis Duvall straggled in.

"Sorry we're late," said Dekeisha. "We had
decided not to come, but then we changed our minds."

Beth groaned inwardly. "Why weren't you going to come?"

Dekeisha shrugged. "What's the use? We'll be lucky if
we get any donations. Those big stars don't care about kids like us. And
besides, why should we go to all that work when the whole thing wasn't even our
fault?"

"Yeah," muttered the ninth-graders in unison.

Beth wanted to cry. Trying to explain things to the kids at
Wacko was as hard as trying to explain them to adults. She couldn't forget her
father's words.
What you kids won't come up with to get attention from rock
stars.
Suddenly an idea occurred to her. She cocked an eyebrow and looked
at the others.

"But just think, you'll get to personally write to your
favorite rock stars, movie stars, and television stars," she said. "You
can even sign your own name to the letters."

The other members of The Fabulous Five stared at her, and
Melanie's eyes got wide and she opened her mouth to speak, but Beth jabbed her
with an elbow, giving her a look that said,
Keep quiet.

Melanie eyed her suspiciously, but she didn't say anything.

"I think what we need is a personal approach to appeal
to the big stars," Beth went on. The words were coming so fast that they
were getting ahead of her thoughts, and she wasn't sure when she opened her
mouth just what would come out. "Mr. Bell has agreed to let us use school
stationery, so the letters will still look official. But if all of us choose
our favorite stars to write to and do our best to make our letters convincing,
it would be better than any old form letter. I'll bet we'll get terrific
results."

"Hey, it sounds great to me," said Pam.

"Me, too," said Kaci excitedly. "When do we
get started? Do you have the addresses yet? I already know who I want to write
to. Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I want to ask them what it's like to be
big stars and brothers, too."

Katie choked on her soda and turned her face away from the
others. Beth knew she was trying to keep from laughing. Beth didn't want to
look at Jana, but she couldn't help it. The expression on Jana's face said
snow
job
as plainly as if she had written the words across her forehead with a
felt-tipped pen. Still, Beth knew that she finally had everybody's attention.
She couldn't stop now.

"But that's only part of what we have to do," she
added quickly. "You've all heard how Steve Melchior and his friends are
enjoying our misery and laughing because the adults in this town are blaming
all of us for what happened."

Everyone nodded and frowned.

"So what?" asked Jennifer. "Who's going to
turn them in?"

"
They
are," Beth said, pounding her fist
emphatically. "They're going to turn themselves in. But it's up to us to
figure out a way to make them do it."

What do I mean, it's up to
us?
Beth thought as she
looked out at the blank stares coming to her from everyone in the room. It's
really up to me if it's going to be done, and I'm going to have to think up
something fast.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll think of something," Beth
assured them. She didn't want to blow the progress she had just made on the
celebrity auction. But at the same time, deep inside she knew that one way to
convince kids that the auction was worthwhile was to make sure the blame for
the vandalism was placed squarely on the persons who did it.

By the time the meeting was over and The Fabulous Five left
Bumpers, Kaci, Pam, and Jennifer had volunteered to spend the rest of the
afternoon at the library copying addresses out of
The New Address Book.
They promised to get at least one hundred more and to help pass them out at
school Monday morning to other students who were willing to write letters.

Beth said good-bye to her friends and headed home, knowing
that she should be thinking about Steve Melchior and his crowd, but Keith was
on her mind instead. He had barely spoken to her since Thursday morning on the
school ground when he had tried to tell her that he had forgotten their date
the night before and she had refused to believe him. She had so hoped that he
would come to the meeting at Bumpers. As angry as she got at him sometimes, he
was still the only boy she had ever kissed and the one she liked best in the
whole world.

"I'll call him the minute I get home," she
promised herself. "I will if Brittany isn't on the phone," she
grumbled.

When she reached home, she was relieved to find that
Brittany had gone out with her friends and the telephone was all hers.

"Hi, this is Beth. Is Keith there, please?" she
asked when Mr. Masterson answered the phone.

"Sure. Just a minute, Beth. I'll call him."

Beth stood in the upstairs hallway, nervously bouncing on
her toes as she waited.

"Hello?" Keith said a minute later.

"Hi," she said shyly.

There was a moment of silence and then he said, "Who is
this?"

Beth's heart stopped. "It's me. Beth. Didn't you
recognize my voice?"

"Oh, well, all you said was 'hi.' How was I supposed to
know it was you from only one syllable? Right?"

She frowned to herself. This call certainly wasn't going the
way she had wanted it to.

"So what have you been doing all day?" asked
Keith, his voice softening. Beth had the distinct feeling that he was trying to
tell her he was sorry for not recognizing her voice.

"I've been working on the celebrity auction all day
long," Beth said. "Wait until I tell you the plans we've made."
She spent the next five minutes telling him about the addresses they had
collected so far and about how Mr. Bell was going to let them use school
stationery and postage for the letters and the school gymnasium for the auction
itself. By the time she finished talking, she was almost breathless. "Isn't
it exciting?"

"Sure," said Keith with a definite lack of
enthusiasm. "It should keep you busy for the next few weeks."

Beth winced. She was remembering how they had actually
broken up for a while when she got the lead in the school play. Keith had been
upset that the play took so much of her time. She thought that they had worked
that problem out and that by now he understood that even when she was busy with
other things, she still liked him. But maybe she had been wrong.

Thinking fast, she said, "I'm not busy now. Why don't
you bring the Brain Damage tape over and we'll listen to it? I got my allowance
today so we could even order in a pizza."

There was another silence on the line. Finally Keith said, "Sorry.
I can't come over right now."

"Why not?" Beth knew her voice sounded
exasperated, but she couldn't help it. That was exactly how she felt. "What
are you doing at four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon that's so important?"

"I have company," Keith said.

Beth rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Well, just tell
them they have to leave because you're going somewhere," she insisted. "Who
is it? Tony Sanchez? Randy Kirwan? Scott Daly? They won't care. They're your
friends."

Keith didn't answer.

"Are you still there?" Beth asked after a minute.

"It's a girl," he said. His voice sounded
unbelievably cheerful.

Beth swallowed hard, but she couldn't utter a sound so she
silently hung up the phone.

Fifteen minutes later Beth was sprawled across her bed
crying into her pillow when she heard the telephone ringing. I hope it's not
for me, she thought angrily.

From the instant Keith's words had sunk in, she had been
trying to figure out
why.
Why had he invited another girl over to his
house? Had Beth been right before when she suspected that he didn't like her
anymore? Maybe that was why he had laughed so hard when he squirted green slime
in her hair. But why did he have to hurt her like this? Why couldn't he just
break up the regular way?

"Beth! It's for you!" Todd shouted through her
bedroom door.

"I don't want to talk to anyone," she yelled back.

"It's a boy," he called, and pounded on her door.

Beth slowly raised her head. A boy? Who would that be? she
wondered. Surely not Keith.

"Come on!" Todd boomed. "I need to use the
phone."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and then blew
her nose. Maybe I'd better answer it, she reasoned. It might be someone calling
with a great new idea for the celebrity auction.

"Hello," she said a moment later.

"Hi, Beth." It was Keith. "I just wanted to
tell you that what I said before—about not being able to come over because
there was a girl here—well, it was just a joke."

"A joke?" Beth asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I guess it wasn't very funny, was it?"

Beth puffed out her cheeks and let out a big breath, trying
to figure out what to say.

"I still can't come over, though," he added
quickly. "But maybe I can come over one night next week and bring the
tape. Okay?"

"Sure," Beth murmured.

"I'll see you at school Monday. Bye." Then he hung
up.

Beth listened to the dull buzz of the dial tone and stared
at the phone. She had been terribly hurt when Keith told her that a girl was at
his house. She was still hurt, even though he said now that it wasn't true. But
she was also confused. Totally confused.

"What is his problem anyway?" she asked herself as
she hung up the phone and stomped back to her room.

She had no sooner closed the door than she heard the phone
again. If it was Keith, she wasn't going to talk to him this time, she vowed.

"Hey, Beth," yelled Todd. "It's for you
again. When am I ever going to get to use this phone?"

Beth stuck her head out the door. "If it's Keith, I don't
want to talk to him," she said.

Todd dangled the receiver by the cord and gave her a
disgusted look. "It's a girl. Someone named Kaci, and she says it's
important."

Beth raced to the phone. "I'll hurry," she
promised Todd. "Hi, Kaci. This is Beth. What's up?"

She heard Kaci sigh on the other end of the line. "Jeez,"
Kaci said. "We can't copy all these names, and the copy machine charges a
quarter per sheet. I mean, there are
thousands
in this book, and kids
are only going to want to write to their favorites anyway. Who's going to write
to the President or the governor? Nobody
I
know! I say we just get a few
and quit."

"But, Kaci, we have to get donations that adults will
buy if we're going to raise enough money."

"Well, Jennifer and Pam and I think it's a drag. We've
copied a bunch, and we have the ones we want to write to, so we're going to
quit now. Maybe you can find someone else to do the rest. Bye."

Beth broke the connection and handed the phone to Todd, who
had been leaning against the wall and drumming his fingers impatiently the
whole time she talked to Kaci.

"Here," she said. "Believe me, you can have
this. If I get any more calls, tell them I've gone to the moon."

Back in her room, she pulled the list of names and addresses
The Fabulous Five had gotten at the library Thursday night out of her notebook
and scanned it, thinking that there were at least a few who would appeal to
adults, thanks to Katie's mother. Maybe she could get her friends to go with
her to the library again tomorrow afternoon and copy more. If they were going
to begin giving them out at school Monday morning, they needed more addresses
than they had now.

As she looked at the list, one name sprang out at her as if
it were a flashing neon sign.
Brain Damage.
Trevor Morgan had been so
kind to her before. And patient. And understanding. He had seemed like a real
human being. She giggled. Of course he was a real human being. It was just that
everyone always thought of humongous stars as somehow being different from
everyone else.

"What if I write to him myself? Today?" she said
out loud. "What if I explain about the vandalism and what adults are
saying about us kids and that we've got this idea for a celebrity auction"—her
voice was growing louder with excitement—"but what if I also tell him
about what a hard time I'm having with the other students? Would he understand
and try to help me? Would he even
care
?
"

She would have to wait until Monday if she used school
stationery, so she pulled out a piece of her own. It had been a birthday
present from her grandmother and had her name at the top and the theatrical
masks of comedy and tragedy in the lower left-hand corner. She took a deep
breath and began to write, pouring out her heart and soul to Trevor Morgan.

Beth had made quick calls to Christie, Melanie, Katie, and
Jana, asking them to meet her at the library at two o'clock Sunday afternoon.
They had all agreed, and as she stood in front of the ornate stone building
with the four pillars across the front, she wasn't sure if she was shivering
more from being nervous or from the cold. Copying names and addresses for the
celebrity auction was only part of the reason she had asked them to meet her.
The other was Keith. She wanted to tell them about the decision she had made.

"You're going to
what
?
" shrieked
Melanie as the five friends sat down at a table in the reference section to
copy addresses.

"I'm going to break up with Keith," Beth repeated
firmly. "I think he wants to. That's why he's doing so many immature
things. He just doesn't know how. Or else he doesn't want to be the one to do
it." She went on to tell them about the latest incident—Keith's saying
that he couldn't come to her house because he was entertaining a girl.

"Some joke," muttered Katie. "I think I'd
dump him, too, if he pulled something like that on me."

Beth winced at the word
dump.
It was the last thing
in the world she wanted to do. Keith had been her boyfriend since sixth grade,
but his behavior was making it impossible to do anything else.

"It's going to be tough," said Christie, looking
at Beth sympathetically. "At least it was for me when I broke up with Jon
last fall."

"So when are you going to tell him?" asked Jana.

"He said he would bring the Brain Damage tape over some
night this coming week. I guess that would be the best time. Unless, of course,
he was just saying that he would bring it over to get himself off the hook
today. If he doesn't come over by Tuesday or Wednesday, I guess I'll have to
call him myself."

An atmosphere of gloom settled over the table as the girls
began gathering addresses from
The New Address Book.
Every once in a
while Beth could feel one of her friends giving her a sympathetic look.

She sighed and tried to concentrate, but she couldn't help
thinking about how her problems were piling up. Not only was the celebrity
auction off to a slow start, it was up to her to come up with a way to get
Steve Melchior and his friends to turn themselves in. The police couldn't seem
to catch them, so what was she going to do? Walk up to them and say, "Hey,
Steve, I think you ought to turn yourself in"? Fat chance. And now she had
to break up with Keith. If she ever needed help, it was now.

Beth spent a restless night thinking about her problems. Of
all of them, coming up with a way to expose the vandals seemed the hardest. She
had talked it over with The Fabulous Five at the library, and no one had any
ideas. Still, they all agreed that it was just as important to catch the ones
responsible for the damage as it was to raise the money to pay for it.

But on the way to school Monday morning, she had an idea.
Strangely enough, it occurred to her while she was thinking about Keith. She was
remembering some of their conversations over the past few days, and she
recalled Keith's mentioning that Mr. Dracovitch was one of the few teachers who
really seemed to appreciate how hard the Wacko students had worked to clean up
the mess. And, Keith had added, his science lab had been especially hard hit.
Science lab, Beth thought. Why hadn't she made the connection before? If there
was anyone who could help them trap the culprits, the science teacher could.
The more she thought about it, the more a plan to trap Steve Melchior and his
bunch unrolled in her mind. It was so simple it was beautiful, and it just
might work, with Mr. Dracovitch's help.

"Hey, guys," Beth called out to the rest of The
Fabulous Five as she raced toward the spot by the school fence where they
waited. "Let's give out names and addresses of celebrities later. We need
to see Mr. Dracovitch before the bell rings."

"Dracula?" shouted Melanie. "What for?"

As the others gathered around her, Beth explained her plan
to them. The more she told them the more excited they got. They were all
nodding their approval of her plan by the time she was finished explaining it.

Mr. Dracovitch was writing a formula on the board when the
girls got to his room. As usual, he was wearing his shiny black toupee and
looking as much like Dracula as ever.

Beth cleared her throat loudly when they stepped inside. "Mr.
Dracovitch? Could we speak to you for a moment?" she asked hopefully.

Turning around slowly, Mr. Dracovitch gave them a big smile.
Beth blinked and looked at his mouth. Even though she knew he was just a
regular person in a black toupee and not really a vampire, she always
half-expected to see fangs when he smiled.

"Certainly, girls. What can I do for you?" he
asked kindly.

"We need your help," she began, "as a
scientist
."

Interest flashed in Mr. Dracovitch's eyes. "Why,
certainly. How can I help?"

The girls took turns relating the story of the celebrity
auction and how difficult it was to get other students to participate because
the vandals had not been caught, and the boys and girls of Wakeman thought
adults were blaming them all.

"You see," Beth finished, "everyone's
convinced they know who did it, but nobody wants to fink. Besides, without
proof, it wouldn't do any good anyway. That's why we thought of you. We had
this idea and wondered if you'd help us with it."

"Hmmmm," said the teacher as they explained the
plan to him. His eyebrows arched, and he gazed off into the distance for a
moment and then turned back to the board. Hurriedly he erased the formula he
had been writing there and began scribbling new ones.

Beth squinted and tried to read them, but the symbols were
strange to her.

After a few moments he faced them again. He was shaking his
head and rubbing his chin. Then a smile crept over his pale face and laugh
wrinkles formed at the corners of his eyes. "Yes," he said. "I
think this plan of yours will work very well. Very well."

Beth grinned back and stopped herself, just in time, from
jumping forward and hugging the teacher.