Taffy Sinclair 007 - Taffy Sinclair and the Secret Admirer Epidemic (7 page)

I
took my red jumpsuit out of the closet the next morning and laid it across my bed. Should I wear it or not? Then I got out my red socks and put them next to the jumpsuit. It was one of my favorite outfits. So what if I just happened to wear it today? That didn
'
t absolutely positively mean I was signaling my secret admirer that I liked movies.

Then I thought about the possibility that the notes were a trick. What if I showed up in red and everyone started laughing? What would I do then?

I had meant to call my best friends after I finished my homework last night and talk the situation over with them. But I had been so depressed over the way Mom had reacted to her
secret admirer note that I had never made the calls. She had talked to me again, before she left for work this morning, about not speaking to strangers and staying away from people who seemed to be just standing around. She was really upset.

Suddenly Keith Masterson
'
s face popped into my mind. He was my secret admirer. I couldn
'
t be more convinced if he had signed his name to those notes. I had to wear red today. I had to let him know that I wanted to go to the movie with him. For a moment I thought about Randy and how Taffy was flirting with him. It made me mad that she was taking advantage of the situation, but if Randy wasn
'
t going to ask me to go to the movie, there wasn
'
t anything I could do.

When I got to school, everything looked normal. Kids were standing in groups talking, and a bunch of boys, including Keith and Randy Kirwan, were racing around the baseball diamond. I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn
'
t really expected them to be lined up in front of the building just waiting to laugh at me if I showed up wearing red, but I hadn
'
t been certain that they wouldn
'
t, either.

Unfortunately, my feeling of relief didn
'
t last long. I had barely gotten to where my friends were standing near the fence when Taffy Sinclair came marching up to us. Mona Vaughn was following her, naturally, but Alexis and Lisa and Sara were tagging along, too.

"
Is it true that you
'
re telling everyone you have a secret admirer?
"
Taffy challenged.

"
I DO have a secret admirer. So what
'
s it to you?
"

Taffy just stood there with a nasty look on her face for a moment. Then she smiled confidently at Mona, who said in a meek voice,
"
Taffy doesn
'
t think the notes are real. She thinks you wrote them yourself.
"

"
What?!
"
I shrieked.
"
How dare you say a thing like that, Taffy Sinclair!
"

"
Everybody knows that Randy hasn
'
t asked you to go to the movie on Saturday,
"
she said.
"
You want everybody to think that it doesn
'
t matter because somebody else likes you. But it doesn
'
t take brains to figure out that you
'
re faking it.
"

"
Well, if it took brains to figure anything out, you
'
d be out of luck!
"
screamed Beth.
"
You
'
re just jealous bec
ause Jana has a secret admirer.
"

"
Ha!
"
Taffy snickered.
"
What kind of boy would be her secret admirer, anyway? It would have to be one who liked girls who went around for DAYS with a big fat hole in her hair right by her face.
"

I could feel my ears getting hot and my face blazing red. Taffy was talking about the time when I forgot to spit my gum out before I went to bed. It got stuck in my hair right above my left ear, and I had to cut it out with scissors. How dare she mention a thing like that! Especially since I had gotten a fabulous new haircut that eliminated the hole completely.

I dug around in my notebook until I found the notes.
"
See!
"
I shouted, holding them up in the air.
"
Here they are. Anybody can see that I didn
'
t write them myself.
"

"
That
'
s because they
'
re typed,
"
Taffy argued, ignoring the notes.
"
Any kid in the whole school can use the typewriter in the Media Center, so that doesn
'
t prove you didn
'
t write them. You
'
re just boy crazy, Jana Morgan, and you want everybody to think that boys are falling all over themselves for you.
"

"
Oh, yeah?
"
I blurted.
"
Well, I know who my secret admirer is, but I
'
d die before I
'
d tell you. So THERE!
"
With that I turned and stomped off toward the building. My friends went with me, leaving Taffy and Mona and all the others standing there.

"
Do you really know who it is?
"
asked Melanie, as soon as we were out of earshot.

"
Keith, of course,
"
I said.

"
Did he call you or something?
"
asked Christie.

"
No, silly. I told you, he looked at me five times yesterday. It
'
s him, I know it is.
"

None of my friends said anything to that. I knew they weren
'
t as sure as I was. It didn
'
t matter. Keith would be asking me to the movie soon—probably before today was over—and then they would be convinced.

"
I have to stop in the office for a minute before the bell rings,
"
I said, suddenly remembering that Mrs. Winchell wanted to see my notes.
"
I
'
ll tell you why later. See you guys in class.
"

I was thinking about Taffy Sinclair when I entered the school. I would show her that I had a real secret admirer if it was the last thing I ever did. I would flirt my head off with Keith Masterson if I had to, and I would make sure he saw that I was wearing red today. I was so busy planning my revenge on Taffy that I almost didn
'
t notice Randy Kirwan at the drinking fountain by the door. He looked up when I walked in and smiled, but for the first time in a long time it wasn
'
t his 1,000-watt smile.

"
Hi, Randy,
"
I said, smiling back.

"
Hi, Jana,
"
he said shyly. Randy didn
'
t usually act shy, and I couldn
'
t help thinking that he wanted to say something else. It couldn
'
t be about the movie Saturday; Scott had already said he wasn
'
t taking me. Was he trying to tell me that he didn
'
t like me anymore?

I swallowed hard. First Taffy had zeroed in on me, and now it was Randy
'
s turn. I had to get out of there. I didn
'
t want to hear what he was going to sa
y.

"
I have to go to the office,
"
I said. I whirled around as fast as I could, not paying any attention to where I was going. Suddenly I smacked into someone and went sprawling across the floor.

"
Hey, Jana? Are you okay?
"

When I looked up to see who was talking to me, I couldn
'
t believe my eyes. It was Keith Masterson, and he was reaching down to help me up. Not only that, but he had a worried look on his face as if he thought something terrible had happened to me.

"
Sure. I
'
m okay,
"
I said hastily. I felt like such a klutz.
"
Honest. I
'
m fine.
"

The worried look stayed on his face as he helped me to my feet.
"
Gosh, I
'
m sorry I bumped into you,
"
he said earnestly.
"
I guess I wasn
'
t looking where I was going. I
'
m really glad that you
'
re okay.
"
He was smiling at me, and it may not have been 1,000-watts, but it was close.

After Keith went on, I brushed myself off, thinking about all those movies where violins start playing just before two lovers kiss for the very first time. I had always thought those movies were mushy, but I had almost heard those violins when Keith helped me to my feet. I was more sure than ever that he was my secret admirer. The worried look on his face had proved that.

I had started on down the hall to Mrs. Winchell
'
s office when I suddenly remembered Randy. I glanced back toward the drinking fountain, but he was gone
.

Mrs.
Winchell looked up from her work and gave me a friendly smile.
"
Sit down.
"
She motioned to a chair beside her desk.
"
I
'
ll be with you in just a moment.
"

While Mrs. Winchell finished what she was doing, I looked around the office. It was just a regular principal
'
s office with bookshelves on one wall and big windows in the wall by the door so that she could look out into the reception area where Mrs. Lockwood, the school secretary, sat.

Finally Mrs. Winchell pushed the papers aside and looked up at me.
"
Tell me more about your secret admirer.
"
She was smiling kindly and looking very interested.

"
There isn
'
t really much to tell. First, I got this note.
"
I unfolded the first secret admirer note and slid it across the desk to her.

Mrs. Winchell read the note and then asked,
"
When did you get this one?
"

"
Tuesday. Right after afternoon recess. Then on Wednesday my friends and I began watching all the boys in class to see who looked at me the most. That
'
s why I know one of them has looked at me five whole times,
"
I said proudly.

Mrs. Winchell smiled.
"
When did you get the second note?
"

"
Yesterday, after recess again.
"
I handed her the second note.
"
Then I found this one stuck in my locker door after school.
"

Mrs. Winchell studied all three notes. Then she looked at me again.
"
You must be pretty confident that you know who your secret admirer is and that he
'
s someone you
'
d like to go to the movies with, since I notice you
'
re wearing red today, just as the note instructs you to do.
"

I nodded and whispered,
"
I think it
'
s Keith Masterson.
"

"
Oh,
"
she said knowingly.
"
Well. He certainly is a nice boy.
"

"
And cute, too.
"
I giggled.

Mrs. Winchell sank back in her chair. I could tell by her expression that she was going to say something else. I was right.
"
Jana,
"
she began slowly.
"
I
'
m not sure exactly how to say this, but I
'
d like for you to be a little careful about these notes.
"

Surprise must have shown on my face because she laughed nervously and said,
"
I don
'
t want to upset you. It
'
s just that . . . well
. . .
do you remember that I mentioned to you yesterday that you weren
'
t the only one at school who had received a secret admirer note?
"

I nodded and tried to swallow, but a big lump was growing in my throat.

"
There are certain things about your notes that are similar to the other person
'
s note,
"
she said gently.

"
Like what?
"

"
Well, for one thing, they
'
re all typed on school paper, and also the wording is similar. Two different people probably wouldn
'
t use the same words to express their feelings.
"

I knew what Mrs. Winchell was saying, but I couldn
'
t believe it. She was saying that someone was really playing a trick on me. That Keith Masterson wasn
'
t my secret admirer after all. I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling and asked,
"
Couldn
'
t somebody have gotten the idea from my note? Maybe they wanted to tell someone else that they liked them and just didn
'
t bother to make up new words.
"

Mrs. Winchell nodded.
"
That
'
s certainly another possibility,
"
she said kindly.
"
It
'
s also my responsibility to everyone in this school to make sure no one is doing anything unkind or harmful. I hope you understand that.
"

I did and nodded to Mrs. Winchell.
"
Who is the other person getting secret admirer notes?
"

Sighing, she said,
"
I
'
m afraid I can
'
t tell you that. The other person wants it kept a secret.
"

A secret? I thought. Then it couldn
'
t be Taffy Sinclair. She would want everybody in the whole wide world to know about it. But who could it be? And who would want to do anything unkind or harmful to this other person and me? I thought about Mom just then, too. I was remembering how paranoid she had gotten when she read her secret admirer note last night. She was sure someone dangerous was out to hurt us, when I was the one who wrote it all along.

That idea made me feel better. Probably Mrs. Winchell was misunderstanding, too. I certainly hoped so. I really wanted Keith Masterson to be my secret admirer and to ask me to go to the movie with him. Probably the other secret admirer just wanted someone to go to the movie with, too.

Mrs. Winchell handed back my notes and said I could leave. I thanked her and was headed for the door when she called my name again.
"
Jana, there was one more thing I wanted to ask about. Would you sit down again, dear? This will only take a minute.
"

I sat down on the edge of the chair and waited for her question. She sighed again, as if it was a hard thing for her to ask.

"
You were here after school yesterday using the typewriter in the Media Center. Isn
'
t that what you told me?
"

I nodded.

"
I don
'
t mean to be nosy, but what were you typing? Was it something you couldn
'
t do during the day?
"

I tried to look at her, but tears were blurring my sight. I knew what she meant. She thought I had sneaked back after everybody had gone home and typed those notes myself!

"
Please, Jana. It
'
s important that you tell me. As you know, the notes were all typed. I
'
m convinced they were typed on the school typewriter by a student. I don
'
t want to believe that you
'
re the one who typed them, so if you
'
ll just tell me what it was you were typing, we can get this unpleasant business over with once and for all.
"

"
I didn
'
t do it, Mrs. Winchell!
"
I sobbed.
"
I told you the truth.
"

"
Okay, Jana. I believe you,
"
she said softly, and handed me a tissue.
"
I didn
'
t mean to make you cry.
"

I blew my nose and stared at my left shoe. I still didn
'
t look up when she said again that I could leave, and I scurried out the door. She thought I was the one who wrote the notes. I knew I could never look her in the eye again
.