Fabulous Five 032 - Class Trip Calamity (7 page)

Jana hurried on past Randy and Laura, pretending she didn't
see them and making her way up to the top deck. Her heart was bursting. This
was supposed to be a special day, and Randy was spending all his time with
Laura McCall. She kept her face turned toward the water so that her friends
couldn't see the tears in her eyes, and if they noticed anything, they didn't
let on.

"I think I'll die if we don't get to eat pretty soon,"
lamented Melanie.

"Me, too," said Beth. "I'm starved."

"Miss Dickinson said that there are picnic tables by
the Statue and we can have our lunch there," said Alexis.

"Terrific," said the others.

Jana had completely lost her appetite, and it didn't return
when a few minutes later, they found a table in the shadow of the giant statue
and began spreading out their lunches. When they had come back down from the
top deck to get off the ferry, she had looked again for Randy and Laura.
Neither was there, and now Laura was with Melissa and Tammy at a nearby table,
and Jana had seen Randy talking to Scott Daly.

Jana had been gazing absently in Laura's direction, silently
brooding about all the time Laura had spent with Randy, but now Jana focused on
Laura's face. Something was wrong, but Jana wasn't sure what it was.

Tammy and Melissa seemed to be pleading with Laura about
something, but Laura wasn't having any part of it. Shaking her head angrily,
she cast her half-eaten sandwich aside and began taking big gulps from her
thermos.

Uh-oh, thought Jana. Laura's really going after that stuff.

Jana turned to Funny, who was sitting beside her and
watching Laura, too.

"Did you see what I saw?" Jana whispered.

Funny nodded. "I'm not surprised, though. Laura's been
acting strange lately. I think she's got trouble at home."

"Laura?" Jana asked in astonishment. A little more
sarcastically, she added, "I thought Laura had the most perfect home life
on earth."

"Yeah, that's what she wants everyone to think,"
said Funny.

Jana started to make a nasty remark, but she remembered the
incident a few months ago when Laura had tried to convince everyone that she
had a maid. Maybe things weren't as great for Laura as she tried to pretend.

"So what kind of problem is she having?" asked
Jana.

Funny looked at Jana apprehensively, then sighed. "Promise
you won't tell anyone, but I think something's wrong between Laura and her dad."

"Humpf," sniffed Jana. "I thought her dad
worshipped her and let her get away with murder."

"That's what everybody thought, including the rest of
The Fantastic Foursome," Funny said. "But ever since he got a big
promotion a few weeks ago, Laura's been talking about how he spends a lot of
evenings and weekends at the office, leaving her home alone. And when he is
home, his girlfriend, Trudy, is always there. If you want my opinion, I think
it's making Laura miserable."

"But what does that have to do with drinking?"
asked Jana.

"Who knows?" said Funny. "I really shouldn't
be talking about her problems to anyone—except I know I can trust you not to
tell anyone—but she really has me worried."

No one else heard their conversation. Melanie was gazing
around, probably looking for Shane, and Beth and Alexis were talking together.
As usual, Katie was munching on a carrot stick and reading the brochure on
Ellis Island and the Statue.

"Oh, my gosh. This is too good to be true!" she
cried, and Jana looked away from Laura to see what Katie was excited about now.

"Don't keep us in suspense," said Alexis. "What's
so great?"

"Listen to this," replied Katie. "You know
that poem I like so much? The one that starts, 'Give me your tired, your poor,
/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore—'"

"Yes! Yes! We know the poem," Beth said
impatiently. "So, what about it?"

Katie gave her a disgusted look. "Well, it just so
happens that it was written by Emma Lazarus
—another woman.
" Katie
made a sweeping gesture, taking in both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
"Do you realize that without
women
this whole place might not
exist!"

"Wow," said Melanie in a reverent voice. She
looked at both Ellis Island and the Statue and said, "That's really
special."

Funny's tinkling laughter rang out. "Oh, Katie. I can't
believe you sometimes."

"Well, let me tell you, women just don't realize the
important role they've played in history," Katie huffed.

Beth had been flipping through her brochure. Now she stopped
and pointed toward a page. "Unfortunately, here's one thing a woman didn't
do. It says here that the Statue of Liberty was designed and built by a man.
His name was Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. I guess we just can't win 'em all, can
we?"

Everybody laughed, including Katie.

"I'm ready to climb the stairs inside the Statue,"
Funny announced. "I'm going all the way up to the crown and look out."

"Me, too," said Melanie. "Yipes!" she
cried, doing a double take as she looked in her brochure. "It says here
that there are three hundred sixty-five steps that we have to climb."

"Right," chimed in Katie. "It's the same
height as a twenty-two-story building. There are some other interesting facts
in the brochure, too. Did you know that the Statue's nose is four feet six
inches long?"

Funny burst out giggling. "What a nose! Wouldn't you
hate to be up there when she sneezes?"

"Yeah," said Beth. Her eyes grew big as she
visualized the scene. "You'd end up on Manhattan Island, hanging on the
pointy top of the Empire State Building!"

The girls gathered up their lunch mess, tossed it into a
trash can, and headed for the base of the Statue, still reading statistics from
the brochure.

"Her hand is sixteen feet five inches in length,"
offered Alexis.

"And her fingernails are thirteen inches long by ten
inches wide," continued Melanie, holding out a hand and examining her own
nails. "Can you imagine how much polish it would take to do all ten?"

When they went inside the base of the Statue, they stopped
briefly to look at some of the displays and then headed for the stairs. There
was a line leading to the staircase, but it moved quickly, and soon they were
on their way up.

Jana felt a rush of excitement as she started the climb. The
clang of footsteps on the metal staircase and the voices of the climbers echoed
above her. Behind her marched Funny and Alexis and the rest of The Fabulous
Five.

The farther up they climbed, the quieter everyone got, and
soon they were puffing and panting with every step.

"I'm glad I didn't eat too much lunch," remarked
Jana when they stopped once about halfway up to get their breath.

"Me, too," agreed Alexis. "My stomach feels a
little funny as it is."

"Your stomach feels a little
me
?
"
Funny teased, and they all started up again.

They had climbed only a little farther when Jana heard
familiar voices ahead of them.

"Laura, what's the matter?"

"Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"

The voices belonged to Tammy and Melissa, and Jana turned
around to Funny and frowned.

"What do you think is going on?" Jana asked.

Funny shrugged. "I don't know, but it sounds as if
Laura has a problem. Maybe she slipped or something."

"Maybe," murmured Jana.

As they continued the climb, Jana listened for more sounds
from Laura or Melissa or Tammy. Something must be wrong with Laura for the
other two to shout so loudly, she thought.

Suddenly she heard Tammy again.

"Oh, Laura! No!"

Then there was a loud retching sound, and the smell of vomit
filled the air.

"Pe-YEW! Somebody barfed!" shouted a boy in front
of Jana.

"Yuck! Puke! It's running down the stairs!" yelled
someone else.

Jana and her friends stood plastered against the wall in
horror as slimy, yellowish vomit trickled down the stairs beside them.

Nobody on the staircase moved or said anything for a couple
of minutes. Then there was the sound of footsteps coming down from above. When
Jana saw that it was Melissa and Tammy helping Laura back down, she turned her
face away. She couldn't look at them, even though she felt a surprising rush of
sympathy for Laura. It must be the most embarrassing moment of her life, Jana
thought.

After the three girls had gotten past, the rest of the crowd
resumed the climb, holding their noses as they stepped carefully around the
mess on the stairs. And when Jana stepped into the crown and looked out one of
the openings, the sight was so beautiful that she temporarily forgot all about
Laura McCall.

"Look," she said to the others, "there's the
Verrazano Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn. Beyond it is the
Atlantic Ocean. That's the way all the immigrants' boats came in."

"Yeah, the boats from England definitely came that way,"
murmured Melanie.

She and Jana stared silently at each other for a moment.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jana asked.

Melanie nodded, and they said in unison, "Christie."

"I really miss her," said Melanie.

"Me, too," Jana told her. "I wish she was
with us right now."

"Don't forget, she's coming home this summer,"
said Katie, who was standing beside Melanie. "And one of the first things
she'll see when her plane gets to America is the Statue of Liberty!"

"Yea!" they all shouted.

"Hey, maybe she'll have to stop at Ellis Island,"
teased Beth, "and she'll be dressed like an immigrant and carry all her
stuff in a big wicker basket. I can see it all now. Her tennis racquet will be
poking out the top of the basket."

Jana shook her head and grinned. "There you go again,
Beth, getting totally carried away."

Because of the size of the crowd, they had to move quickly
through the crown and down again.

"It went fast, but it was still fun," said Katie
as they sat down on the grass outside the Statue to rest.

"Yeah, I loved it, too," added Beth. "Even if
Laura almost spoiled it by throwing up."

The girls nodded and exchanged glances, and then Katie
nudged Jana. "Uh-oh," she said, looking sharply to the left. "Randy's
motioning to me to get your attention."

Jana whirled around. Randy was standing beside one of the
picnic tables. He was alone, and he smiled when she looked at him.

"Hi, Jana. Can I talk to you?"

She stared silently at him for a moment. Part of her was
really mad at him for spending so much time with Laura. Another part of her was
hurt and disappointed that they hadn't spent the day with each other the way
they had planned. But the biggest part of her still cared about him too much
not to listen to his side of the story, so she excused herself from the others
and went to him.

"You're mad, aren't you?" Randy asked in a quiet
voice.

Jana sighed and answered him as honestly as she could. "I
don't want to be, but I guess I am . . . a little bit."

Randy nodded that he understood. "I guess I don't blame
you. I know we planned to be together today."

"Yeah," Jana said wistfully, "it was supposed
to be a pretty special day."

Randy shifted from one foot to the other. "And I
wrecked it by spending so much time with Laura."

All Jana could do was nod.

"I'm not sure I understand everything that's going on
myself," Randy began. "Laura's been acting pretty obnoxious in some
of our classes lately. I guess she could tell I didn't like it because she's
also been hanging around a lot as if she wants to talk about something. Maybe
explain. Or apologize. I don't know, but when I try to pin her down and find
out what's bothering her, she clams up."

"But didn't you tell me yesterday that you've tried to
give her a little friendly advice?" Jana reminded him.

Randy looked sheepish. "Yeah, she was yelling at Funny
in front of everyone in the hall a couple of days ago, and I told her I thought
she ought to cool it. Naturally she didn't listen."

"I know she thinks you're an especially nice person.
Everybody does. And I also know this isn't the first time she's come to you for
help. But what I can't figure out is why is she making such a big deal over
drinking?" Jana insisted.

Randy sighed. "I don't know for sure, but from little
things she's said about her life at home, my guess is that she and her dad are
having problems. She acts pretty miserable and I think that she's trying to get
attention. Actually I think she's desperate to get everybody to notice her."

Jana was thoughtful for a moment. "So what you're
saying is, she thinks drinking is cool and that looking cool will make her more
popular."

"That's pretty much the way I figure it," said
Randy. "And I guess she thinks that if she's popular, maybe the stuff at
home won't hurt as much."

"How can she think that?" Jana asked in
astonishment.

"Look at what happened at Shawnie's party," said
Randy. "The more some kids made idiots of themselves, the more other kids
cheered them on."

Jana sighed, but she didn't say anything for a moment. Then
she told Randy what Funny had said about Laura and her father. "In a way,
I know how Laura feels," she admitted. "It's really awful when you
love someone and they won't pay any attention to you. I've been trying ever
since I was three years old to get my father to pay attention to me."

"At least you were too smart to try to handle your
problem the way Laura did," said Randy, ruffling Jana's hair.

"Yeah," said Jana, "and you know what else? I
almost feel sorry for her."

"Me, too," said Randy, "but I just don't know
what else to say to her."

Jana shook her head. She didn't know, either.

Just then she heard someone calling her name. Dekeisha was
running toward them, and she looked upset.

"Jana! Randy! Did you hear about Laura?" Dekeisha
stopped beside them and grabbed her side, bending over to catch her breath.

"Sure," said Jana. "She threw up in the Statue."

"That's not all," Dekeisha gasped between puffs
and pants. "She got sick again in the ladies' room in the base of the
Statue. Miss Dickinson was in there, and now she
knows.
"

"What?" exclaimed Jana.

"That's right," said Dekeisha. "And the
teachers and chaperons have called a big meeting of everybody from Wacko over
by the picnic tables. Come on. We'd better get over there."

Jana glanced toward the picnic area. Kids were streaming
there from every direction. She exchanged worried glances with Randy, then fell
in step with Dekeisha as she headed that way, too.

"Can I have everybody's attention, please?" Mr.
Neal called out over the noise of the crowd when most of the Wakeman
seventh-graders had assembled by the picnic area. Just about everyone quieted
down, but a few boys near the back weren't paying any attention. "Listen
up, back there, okay?" he yelled. This time everyone stopped talking.

Jana's heart was beating a mile a minute, and she squeezed
Randy's hand. He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly.

"Something disturbing has happened today," began
Mr. Neal. He gestured to include the adults standing beside him, two other
teachers, Mr. Naset and Mrs. Clark, and the assorted parents who were along as
chaperons. Some nodded, a few frowned, and all of them looked very serious.

"It has come to our attention that some of you brought
alcoholic beverages along with you and were drinking on the bus."

There was a buzz of astonishment in the crowd as everyone
tried to look shocked and innocent. Jana noticed Shawnie, who was standing near
the grownups, shrugging and pretending to be totally amazed. A few kids farther
back smirked, and some giggled.

Looking around, Jana spotted Melissa and Tammy over to one
side, but she couldn't find Laura anywhere. Was Laura still sick in the ladies'
room, Jana wondered, or was she just too embarrassed to come out? Just then
Jana realized that Miss Dickinson wasn't with the parents and chaperons,
either. She must still be with Laura, Jana thought uneasily.

"This is something we will deal with more fully at
school on Monday," Mr. Neal was saying, "but for now, I'd like all
the girls to go with Mrs. Clark and all of the boys to go with Mr. Naset and
me. We're going into the rest rooms, and when we get there, I'd like you to
form a line and each one of you to go to the sink and empty anything that's
left in your thermos—no matter what."

Murmurs raced through the group, and Mr. Neal held up his
hand for quiet again.

"We're not going to ask any questions, but we want to
make certain that every single thermos is empty before we get on the buses to
go home. Any questions?"

From the tone of his voice, Jana knew no one would have the
courage to ask any.

"See you," called Randy as the boys and girls
separated to form lines and moved silently toward the base of the Statue, where
the rest rooms were located. Jana noticed that now no one was looking up at the
magnificent lady with her crown and torch, the way everyone had been earlier.
And probably no one was thinking about her job as the welcoming committee for
the immigrants coming to America, either. Or that this trip was supposed to be
one of the best days of the school year.

The line of girls passed Laura and Miss Dickinson coming out
of the ladies' room as they went in. Laura's eyes were red, and her face was
blotchy and streaked. Jana was amazed at how terrible Laura looked, but she
didn't say anything. She didn't even look at her friends. She had too many
thoughts racing around in her mind.

Sure, Laura has problems, Jana thought, ones that must seem
too big to solve by herself. She could even identify with some of Laura's
feelings. She certainly knew how helpless it felt to have a father who ignored
her most of her life, as if he didn't care about her or her feelings. And now
even her stepmother was ignoring her.

Jana tried to change the subject in her head, but she couldn't.
Memories were crowding in thick and fast. Like the time she had written her
father a terribly nasty letter just to see if he would answer, which he didn't,
and the time she had faked being sick and written him that she was on her
deathbed. He hadn't answered that time, either. Those were silly things to do,
but she was glad that she never tried anything as stupid as drinking alcohol to
get his attention. But Laura had, Jana thought sadly, and because Laura had
acted so dumb today, she had not only made a fool of herself, she had ruined
the whole class trip.

One by one the girls filed past the sinks under the watchful
eyes of Mrs. Clark and the women chaperons. Then they headed silently to the
ferry that would take them back to their buses and home.