Taffy Sinclair 008 - Taffy Sinclair and the Melanie Make-Over (3 page)

I
forgot all about Melanie and my other friends and sort of floated into the Special Events Room, even though I
'
m sure it looked to everybody else as if I was walking. Laura MacLeod had actually smiled at
me.
Not out of a picture in a magazine, either, but right here in Tanninger
'
s Department Store. It was all I could do to keep from breaking out in a great big grin. Chairs were lined up against the two facing walls of the long narrow room. The door was at one end, and at the other was a speaker
'
s podium. Laura MacLeod stood there waiting for us all to find seats.

She was tall, probably five feet nine or ten, and incredibly thin. She had long blond hair that brushed
her shoulders and eyes that were twice as blue as Taffy Sinclair
'
s. She was dressed in all white—slim, white leather slacks, an oversize white sweater with leather trim that matched the pants, white heels, and gobs of gold jewelry. Draped casually over a chair just behind her was a white fur jacket. Anyone seeing her for the first time would be able to tell that she was a celebrity even if they didn
'
t know her name and that she was a famous model.

I scurried to a chair and sat down, not even waiting to see if my friends sat by me. I couldn
'
t take my eyes off Laura MacLeod long enough to look around. Then I felt a jab in my ribs and heard Beth whisper loudly in my ear,
"
Taffy isn
'
t here!
"

At that very instant the door flew open and in walked Taffy Sinclair. If I hadn
'
t known better, I would have thought that Beth
'
s words were some kind of cue, because she entered the room as if she were on a stage and were the star of the show. I could almost hear trumpets announcing her.

"
Hi, Laura,
"
she said in her icky sweet voice.
"
I
'
m so sorry I
'
m late. I hope I didn
'
t miss anything.
"

"
Oh, hello, Taffy! Come on in,
"
Laura said, smiling.
"
We were just getting started. Why don
'
t you sit over here by Melanie. In a little bit I
'
ll let you two girls demonstrate some of the things I showed you last night.
"

The things I showed you last night!?
Melanie hadn
'
t said a word about that. She had gotten private modeling lessons at Taffy Sinclair
'
s house, but she had tried to make us think that the evening was no big deal.

Every girl in the room, including me, shot pois
on-
dart looks at Taffy and Melanie. You could have heard a pin drop. Taffy just sat there looking smug. I knew she was enjoying every minute of the attention she was getting from Laura, and she certainly didn
'
t care that the rest of us were hating her. In fact, it was plain to see that she was enjoying that, too. Then I looked at Melanie. At first she seemed a little embarrassed and awestruck over being singled out by Laura MacLeod in public, but after a minute her expression changed, and it looked as if she was starting to enjoy the attention just as much as Taffy.

"
The first order of business is taking roll,
"
Laura announced. Even her voice was beautiful.
"
Instead of saying
'
present
'
when your name is called, please stand up. That way we can begin to get acquainted since several schools are represented.
"

There was a lot of squirming and giggling as we all began looking self-consciously at each other. Taffy and Melanie and my other best friends and I were the only ones from Mark Twain Elementary.

"
Amanda McDermott,
"
Laura called out.

A tiny girl with blond hair who had been talking to Darcy before class jumped out of her chair.
"
Call me Mandy, please,
"
she chirped, and sat back down.

"
All right, Mandy,
"
Laura said cordially.
"
Molly Colby, Jana Morgan, Kim Delehanty, Kristin Gish, Melanie Edwards, Heather Clark
. . ."

One by one we bounced up and sat down again like rubber balls.

"
. . . Leah Stein, Katie Shannon, Beth Barry, Tammy Lucero, Darcy Holyfield, Susan Brodrick, Megan Hampson, and
"
—Laura paused and looked glowingly at Taffy—
"
Taffy Sinclair.
"

Taffy stood up slowly and gazed around the room as if she was making sure everyone saw her. Then she sat down again just as slowly, perching daintily on the edge of her chair. It was all I could do to keep from throwing up.

"
And I
'
m Laura MacLeod, but please, call me Laura.
"

Her voice pulled me away from looking at Taffy Sinclair, and I settled back to gaze at Laura and try to imagine what it would be like to be that beautiful.

"
Welcome to Runway to Beauty,
"
she said.
"
For the next three weeks I
'
m going to share some secrets with you about becoming beautiful, poised, and confident. This course can make a big difference in your life. It can help you become the person you
'
ve always wanted to be.
"

Her words made me feel all tingly, as if a hundred daddy longlegs spiders were racing up my back. They also made me think about Randy Kirwan and how impressed with me he was going to be.

"
What are some o
f the times when you feel self-
conscious or embarrassed?
"
asked Laura.

Mandy
'
s hand shot up. Laura nodded to her and she said,
"
Whenever I have to walk across a room and everybody is looking at me.
"

"
Good, and what else?
"

Susan, a chubby redhead, sprang to her feet.
"
Whenever I have to talk to somebody and . . . whoops! Just like now. I goof up.
"

Everybody laughed and started nodding. Laura was nodding, too.
"
We
'
ve all been through that. Anything else?
"

I slowly raised
my
hand.
"
When I feel grungy and ugly, no matter how hard I
'
ve tried to look nice.
"
I don
'
t know why I said that out loud, except that I couldn
'
t help remembering how awful I always felt next to Taffy Sinclair. I couldn
'
t imagine how she stayed so perfect all the time, and if Laura MacLeod could teach me the secret, I wanted to learn it.

"
That
'
s just the sort of thing we
'
re here to talk about,
"
Laura said triumphantly.
"
Let
'
s get started. We have lots of work to do.
"

She picked up a stack of booklets that said
"
Runway to Beauty
"
on the outside and passed out one to everybody. She told us to put our names on them and to bring them to class each time because they would be like textbooks for the school. Then she said she had some important things to tell us.

At first I thought it was going to be a long three hours. She started out talking about personality development, good manners in public and on the phone, and things like that. I couldn
'
t help squirming in my chair through some parts. It
'
s not that I was bored, because I wasn
'
t. I guess I was just a little antsy. Anyway, finally she told us to stand up.

"
Now we are going to work on visual poise,
"
she said.
"
To be more specific, we
'
re going to practice dealing with the situation Mandy brought up. We
'
re going to learn how to walk across a room when everyone is watching.
"

I sprang to attention. Now we were getting to the good stuff, the stuff I could use to impress Randy.

Laura stepped to the center.
"
The first thing to remember is to let your eyes go first.
"

Giggles raced through the room as we looked at each other and shrugged. Probably everybody was imagining the same thing I was: a pair of eyes dropping out of a face and rolling across the floor.

Laura smiled.
"
By that I mean, look toward the spot you
'
re going to walk to.
"

"
Or the person,
"
offered Megan.

"
That
'
s right. Or the person. Then hold your head up; keep your shoulders low; pull in your tummy; relax your arms and let them hang by your sides; take a deep breath and walk in small, even steps. Always step out on your right foot first and put your heel down and then your toe. That
'
s all there is to it! You
'
ll glide across the room and look wonderful doing it.
"
Then she demonstrated, and she was right. She looked terrific.

Laura smiled around the room confidently, but my heart sank. How could I remember all of that? Look at where you
'
re going. Hold up your head. Pull in your tummy. Take a deep breath, then relax your arms at your sides. Or was it the reverse? Relax your arms at your sides and take a deep breath? It was no use. I would never be able to do it. If I tried to remember all of that, I would probably fall flat on my face right in front of Randy.

"
We
'
re all going to practice in a moment,
"
said Laura.
"
But first I
'
d like to ask Taffy and Melanie to demonstrate what I
'
ve just told you. Okay, Taffy. You go first.
"

Taffy stood up and then said as prissy as you please,
"
First I
'
m looking at the spot I
'
m walking toward. Now I
'
m holding my head up and keeping my shoulders low. I
'
m tucking in my tummy, letting my arms relax by my sides and taking a deep breath. Now I
'
m stepping out with my right foot and putting my heel down first and then my toe.
"
She walked the whole length of the room looking absolutely perfect. Then, as if that weren
'
t enough, she turned around and walked back to her chair.

"
Very good, Taffy,
"
said Laura.
"
Now, Melanie. Will you show us your walk, please?
"

Melanie stood up and walked across the room. She didn
'
t talk about what she was doing, and she wasn
'
t quite as good as Taffy, but there was no doubt about it, she was good.

Next Laura called us up one by one. Nobody did it right. Darcy swung her arms. Heather forgot to look where she was going. Kim took long, bouncy steps. But I was the worst. I forgot to hold in my tummy. It stuck out so far and was so round that I probably looked like a beach ball with legs. I was so embarrassed I thought I
'
d die. Only Taffy and Melanie were perfect.

I slouched down in my seat and thought about how I had almost made up with Melanie before class began. Miss Perfect, the teacher
'
s pet, I thought. I was glad I hadn
'
t made up with her. Not only that, maybe I never would
.

W
hen modeling class was over, my three friends and I ducked out without waiting for Melanie and headed for my apartment, where we could talk things over and get a snack. Modeling school had made all of us absolutely famished. I put an entire package of cheese curls in a bowl and set it in the middle of the kitchen table and then started looking for sodas.

"
Did you see how
skinny
Laura MacLeod is?
"
asked Beth, scooping up a handful of cheese curls with one hand and plopping them into her mouth one at a time with the other.

"
I
'
ve read that models have to be that skinny,
"
offered Christie.
"
Otherwise nobody will hire them. They work really hard to stay that way.
"

"
I
'
ve read that, too,
"
I added, handing everyone a can of soda.

"
So do actresses,
"
said Beth.
"
I
'
d give anything to be that skinny. In fact, I
'
m starting on a diet right this minute. If Laura can do it, I can!
"
With that Beth pushed the bowl of cheese curls across the table and almost into Christie
'
s lap.

"
Maybe she
'
s naturally thin,
"
said Katie.
"
Some people are, you know.
"

"
Not that thin,
"
said Beth.
"
Besides, I
'
ve read articles about how models practically live on nothing but lettuce leaves and mineral water. They sacrifice for their profession. I think that
'
s beautiful. I
'
m going to sacrifice for my profession, too. Don
'
t try to talk me out of it.
"

"
So when
'
s the funeral?
"
Katie asked sarcastically.

"
What funeral?
"
demanded Beth.
"
I
'
m not going to kill myself. I
'
m just going to lose a little weight.
"

"
The funeral
'
s for your brain, and it
'
s already dead if you
'
re going to eat only lettuce leaves and mineral water. Dieting like that is dangerous. Haven
'
t you ever heard of anorexia or bulimia?
"

"
Don
'
t be silly,
"
scoffed Beth.
"
This is nothing like that.
"

"
I could stand to lose a little weight myself,
"
I said. I had to agree with Beth. I knew about anorexia and bulimia, and they had nothing to do with us. Katie was just trying to put a damper on things again.

"
Why don
'
t you put away the cheese curls and see if you have any apples or anything?
"
Christie suggested brightly
"
We could all stand to trim down a little.
"

"
Terrific idea!
"
I cried.
"
We can weigh in on my bathroom scale and keep track of how much we lose as a project for The Fabulous Five.
"
Then, looking at Katie, I added,
"
This isn
'
t a matter of having eating disorders or whatever they
'
re called. It
'
s a matter of becoming the most gorgeous girls in Mark Twain Elementary. Isn
'
t that what The Fabulous Five is all about?
"

Katie shrugged.
"
I guess so,
"
she conceded.
"
As long as we don
'
t overdo it. There
'
s another problem, though. Without Melanie, we aren
'
t The Fabulous Five anymore.
"

"
Maybe we
'
ll just have to be The Fabulous Four,
"
I said.

Just then there was a knock at the door. I rushed in to the living room and looked out through the peephole.
"
It
'
s Melanie!
"
I gasped.

She has a lot of nerve showing up here after the show she put on at modeling school, I thought, and I could hear my friends murmuring among themselves in the kitchen as I opened the door.

"
Hi,
"
Melanie said in a quiet voice.
"
I thought you guys might be here. May I come in?
"

"
Sure,
"
I said offhandedly.

"
I know you
'
re all really mad at me for spending so much time with Taffy Sinclair,
"
she began.
"
And I
'
m sorry, too. Being best friends with you and part of The Fabulous Five is more important to me than anything . . . even being a model.
"

It was obvious from the look on Melanie
'
s face that she was truly repentant. I wanted to run to her, throw my arms around her, and give her a big hug, but I hung back, waiting to see what my other friends would do. I didn
'
t want everybody to think I was just a big pushover.

It was Katie who broke the ice.
"
Here. Have an apple.
"
She picked an apple up from the counter where I had laid them to answer the door, and she tossed it to Melanie.
"
The Fabulous Five has a new project. Losing weight.
"

Melanie grabbed the apple out of the air, looking astonished for an instant, and then started laughing as we all rushed to tell her about weighing in and keeping track of our weight.

I felt a million times better now that we were friends with Melanie again. I couldn
'
t help remembering all the fun we had had and all the secrets we
'
d shared. The Fabulous Five could never be the same without her. Besides, I thought with satisfaction, Melanie had been losing weight and getting prettier all through sixth grade. Our new project would be perfect for her modeling career.

I smiled to mys
elf. Too bad for Taffy Sinclair.