Fabulous Five 018 - Teen Taxi (7 page)

Brian was quiet again on the ride home, and Melanie's
depression deepened. She knew that she should try to fix things between them.
She should apologize. Or if she couldn't do that, she should ask someone else
to give him the message that she was sorry for acting like a jerk. But what if
she did and he started liking her again? Her mind reeled at the thought of more
brick-smashing demonstrations where he yelled out her name, or of him chinning
himself for her again in front of the entire student body. Or worst of all, of
anyone's thinking that she liked him back. As badly as she wanted to make
things right, she didn't want that to happen.

Maybe if I just ignore the whole situation, it will go away,
she told herself. Maybe he'll forget all about me. Maybe he'll even get
interested in somebody else. But one look at the forlorn expression on Brian's
face told her that he wouldn't. Not very soon, anyway.

For the next few days, Melanie had a lot of other things to
occupy her mind. Two eighth-graders and a ninth-grader signed on for the teen
taxi. Counting herself, that made seven junior-high passengers, which was the
limit the van could hold, and except for the tension between her and Brian,
trips to and from school took on a party atmosphere. Her mother was ecstatic,
and Jeffy was running around the house shouting about all his new friends, and
Melanie was miserable.

More of the puppies went to new homes, also. Scott was taken
by an elderly friend of their neighbor's, Mrs. Miller, and Melanie consoled
herself that the old gentleman was lonely and that Scott would be a good friend
to him. Christie was chosen by Jeffy's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Strickland,
who promised they could visit her anytime they wanted. But the hardest time
came one afternoon when Melanie came home from riding her bike to Jana's and
her mother met her at the door.

"There is a family downstairs with the puppies,"
she said, "and I think they're going to take Katie."

A lump the size of a tennis ball filled Melanie's throat. "Katie?"
she whispered in disbelief. Red-haired Katie had become Melanie's favorite, and
she had laughed and told herself so many times that the little dog's
personality was identical to Katie Shannon's. Little Katie was always in the
middle of everything, growling at the boy dogs and making sure that she got her
fair share of the puppy food.

"Why don't you go down and meet them?" her mother
said gently.

Melanie took a deep breath and willed the tears not to fill
her eyes. Of course she wanted to meet them. She couldn't send Katie home with
just anyone. She counted off the steps as she went down, not wanting to look at
the man and woman and small girl about Jeffy's age who stood beside Rainbow's
box.

"Hello," said the woman when Melanie approached. "I'm
Mrs. Hayward. This is my husband and my daughter, Janelle."

Melanie cleared her throat and said in a shaky voice, "Hi,
I'm Melanie Edwards."

She glanced at Janelle, who was cradling Katie on her
shoulder, but the little girl's face was solemn and her eyes were brimming with
tears. Melanie frowned. If she wanted a puppy, why wasn't she smiling? Maybe
she didn't even like dogs and would be mean to little Katie.

"Janelle's feeling sad," Mrs. Hayward explained. "Last
week Maxie was hit by a car and killed. Maxie was Janelle's best friend. We got
him as a puppy when she was just a baby so they had been together forever."

Melanie looked back at the sad little girl as sympathy
filled her heart. "Oh . . . I'm sorry," she almost whispered. Then
she took a deep breath and knelt beside Janelle, stroking Katie's curly red
head. "I call her Katie," she said, "because she reminds me so
much of one of my best friends, Katie Shannon. She loves to play, especially
tug-of-war."

Just then Katie stuck out her tiny pink tongue and licked
Janelle squarely on the nose as if to say she liked the little girl. Janelle's
face lit up and she planted a kiss on top of Katie's head and pressed her cheek
against the little dog's head. Melanie smiled in spite of the ache in her
heart. Katie was going to have a good home.
She was going to be loved.

Melanie didn't have to worry about talking to Brian on the way
to or from school now. With the teen taxi so full, she always had someone else
to talk to. Not only that, Jeffy was the center of attention, hopping from one
teenager to another and loving every minute of it. It was almost impossible to
get him to sit still and buckle up except when he sat with Brian and admired
his muscular arms and chest. Jeffy liked everybody, especially the girls.

"I think he's learning to flirt," said Holly
Davis, one of the new riders. "Look at the way he rolls his eyes and grins."

It was true, thought Melanie. Jeffy was so busy showing off
and clowning for the others that she barely had to deal with him at all, and
her mother didn't seem to mind that he sat with first one and then another of
the riders as long as he buckled up.

One afternoon after they had delivered all their passengers
and were home again, her mother looked thoughtful and then said, "Mel, do
you remember when we were starting up the taxi and I needed your help and that
I told you eventually we'd work things out so that you wouldn't have to give up
your social life?"

Melanie nodded. What was her mother getting at? she
wondered.

"Well, I've decided that Jeffy is so well taken care of
by the boys and girls who ride with me that it isn't necessary for you to come
along anymore, if you don't want to. I appreciate all the help you've given me,
but now you're free to go to Bumpers with The Fabulous Five or help your friend
Garrett out with his photography assignments or do whatever you wish."

Melanie's mouth dropped open, and she stared at her mother,
who looked back at her with genuine appreciation shining on her face.

"Gosh . . . thanks . . . I mean," Melanie
sputtered.

"Without you, I never could have gotten my business
going," Mrs. Edwards said proudly. "And I'm the one who's doing the
thanking. You don't know how much making the teen taxi service work has meant
to me."

Melanie saw tears fill her mother's eyes, and the guilt that
she had tried to push out of her mind while she was sabotaging the teen taxi
came rushing back in.

"Mom," she said softly. "There's something
you ought to know. It's my fault that Shawnie and Kevin canceled. I told Shawnie
that you were a bad driver and Kevin that you were always running late. It's my
fault that Michelle canceled, too. She's awfully shy, especially around boys,
so I told her that . . ." Melanie cleared her throat, wishing there was
something else to say. Sighing, she said, "I told her she'd have to sit on
a boy's lap because the van was so crowded."

"What?" gasped her mother. "Melanie Edwards!
Why on earth did you do a thing like that?"

Melanie closed her eyes. She had to tell her mother the
truth. There was no other way. "I was embarrassed about the teen taxi. I
was afraid kids would tease me and make fun of you, saying my mother was a taxi
driver."

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Edwards frowned to herself. Then
she looked at Melanie with concern and asked, "And did they?"

Melanie shook her head. "I guess I was worried for
nothing," she confessed. "And Shawnie even said she thought the teen
taxi was
cool.
"

Her mother chuckled and put her arm around Melanie's
shoulder. "I guess everything worked out all right then, didn't it?"

Melanie tried to smile, but she couldn't. "Not quite,"
she said. "There's still Brian. He had a monster crush on me and was
telling everybody at school that we were making out in the back of the van."

"Oh, Melanie!" Her mother sounded shocked. "That's
awful. No wonder you were upset. But Brian wouldn't do a thing like that.
Someone must have told you that just to be mean. He's a darling boy, and so
strong. Why, as much as you like boys, I'm surprised that you don't have a
crush on
him.
"

Melanie looked away quickly, crossing her eyes in
exasperation. Why did parents always have such rotten taste?
"Mu-THUR!"
she groaned. "Brian Olsen's not my type. Anyway, everything's okay now. I
. . . I had a talk with him."

Mrs. Edwards's face lit up. "Wonderful, sweetheart. I
can always count on you to do the right thing."

Melanie cringed and her guilty feeling came back again. If
only her mother knew that the talk she had had with Brian had been anything but
the right thing to do. What would she think if she knew that Melanie had said
everything she could to make him
not
like her anymore? She was still
fumbling for words to end the conversation when the telephone rang. Grabbing
the receiver, she said, "Hello. Edwardses' residence. Teen taxi service,
our specialty. Melanie speaking." Her mother's smile told Melanie that she
was pleased.

The caller was a man and he asked for Mrs. Edwards. Probably
someone else about the puppies, she thought as she handed off the phone and
escaped up the stairs to her room.

She paced the floor, too antsy to do homework. On the one
hand, right after she confessed to her mother about trying to sabotage the
taxi, she had turned around and stretched the truth about how she had handled
Brian. But on the other hand, her prayers had been answered. Now she could get
her social life back on track, and she wouldn't have to face Brian twice a day
in the taxi. Maybe now she could even forget about the mess she had made of
that situation. I'll call my friends, she thought, and tell them the good news.

Halfway down the stairs she met her mother coming up, and
the grin on her face was bigger than ever. "Melanie, guess what?" she
shouted.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"I'm going to be a celebrity," Mrs. Edwards said
with a laugh. "That was the local newspaper. They're coming here in the
morning to do a story about the teen taxi. They're sending a photographer, too.
Isn't that exciting?"

"Gosh, Mom, that's terrific. What did they say?"
asked Melanie.

"They said that they had heard about the taxi and
thought it was a great idea and that I deserve recognition for providing such a
badly needed service. I don't know what to think," she added with an
embarrassed laugh. "I never expected anything like this."

Melanie gave her mother a hug. "They're right, you
know. You do deserve recognition. Gosh, I'm really proud of you."

A little while later, after she had called her friends and
given them all the good news, she telephoned Garrett.

"Hi, Garrett," she began shyly. "If you still
need an assistant to help with your photography assignments, I can do it now.
And I can explain all about the teen taxi."

They talked a long time, and before they hung up he said he
really wanted her to help him. He even said that he'd take pictures of the teen
taxi for the yearbook.

Melanie drifted back into her room and stretched out on her
bed. In spite of how great everything was turning out, there was still one
thing that bothered her. Brian Olsen. Why, oh, why, she asked herself, can't I
get Brian out of my mind?

The Edwards household was a madhouse the next morning with
the newspaper reporter interviewing her mother and the photographer snapping
pictures of the van. Jeffy was beside himself with excitement and mugged for
the photographer every chance he got. Melanie watched it all with growing
pride. She was sorry now that she had tried to sabotage the teen taxi, but at
least everything had worked out for the best.

When the people from the newspaper finally left, she went
back upstairs for her books. She paused by her desk and opened her notebook,
pulling out the page where she had written the turnoffs and crumpling it into a
ball, which she tossed in her wastebasket. It was no wonder that Brian hated
her now. Those were terrible things to do on purpose, and she had lain awake
most of the night making up her mind about how to set things right. Crossing
and uncrossing her fingers three times for luck, she hurried back down to the
taxi.

When she got inside the van, she looked longingly at the
seat she usually sat in. Maybe she should wait until another time to put her
plan into action. She was going to Bumpers after school, but maybe she could do
it tomorrow morning. No, she decided, straightening her shoulders. She wouldn't
feel better until she got it over with.

She sat down on one end of the bench seat where Brian
usually sat. If he would sit down beside her, they could talk on the way to
school, and she could finally tell him the truth about how she felt.

As usual, Shawnie was the first passenger to be picked up,
and Jeffy jumped into her lap and jabbered excitedly about the morning's
events. Melanie tried to join in the conversation, but the closer they got to
Brian's house the more nervous she got. Would she be able to say it right? What
if he became angrier than ever?

Her heart was racing when they turned into his street, and
the blood was pounding in her ears when the van pulled into his driveway. Her
eyes were glued to the van door as it swung open. Brian stepped inside, closing
the door behind himself, and absently headed for his usual seat. He gave her a
quizzical frown when he noticed her sitting there.

Melanie turned to look at him. He was staring out the
window.

"Hi, Brian," she said through quivering lips. "You
don't mind if I sit with you this morning, do you?"

He seemed to think the idea over for a second and then shook
his head. So far, so good, she thought, and took a deep breath to start her
speech.

"Hey, Brian. Show me your muscles!" shouted Jeffy.
"Can I come and sit with you?"

"Not now, Jeffy," Brian answered. "Maybe
later."

They rode along in silence for a few minutes, but she knew
there was no use putting it off. She had to talk to him, and she had to do it
now.

"Brian, I think I owe you an apology," she began,
saying the words slowly. He turned to look at her, but his expression was
blank, so she couldn't guess what he was thinking.

"Actually, I
know
that I owe you an apology for
acting like such a jerk and saying so many dumb things. I didn't mean to hurt
your feelings."

Frowning, Brian shook his head. "I couldn't believe
that was you talking. I always thought you were a great person, but then you
began sounding so conceited and so . . ." Brian shrugged. "I couldn't
understand what was going on. I mean, I
really
liked you before that."

"I know," Melanie said gently. "That was just
the problem. Don't get me wrong. I was really flattered that you liked me so
much, but the truth is I like someone else and I was trying to make you
not
like me so much. I overdid it," she said, trying to look truly sorry.

Brian didn't say anything for a minute. Finally he looked at
her sadly and said, "Why didn't you just say so?"

"I don't know. Honest, I don't. But I really am sorry."

Just then the van pulled to a stop again to pick up Kevin
Walker-Noles. Kevin got in, calling out a greeting to everyone inside, and
Melanie held her breath. She wanted Brian to accept her apology and say he
understood, but would he? If only their conversation hadn't been interrupted by
the stop at Kevin's house.

Once Kevin was seated, the taxi inched out into traffic
again, and Melanie glanced at Brian out of the corner of her eye. He had
twisted around and was looking out the back window.

Turning back to her, he said, "I could have sworn that
I heard someone honking at us. Guess I was wrong."

"Do you believe me when I say I'm sorry?" Melanie
asked, getting their conversation back on track as quickly as she could.

Brian nodded. "I'm sorry, too," he said, "especially
that you like someone else."

"Then, you forgive me?" she asked anxiously.

"Sure," he said, grinning broadly.

Melanie relaxed and sank down in the seat. Smiling to
herself, she thought about how things had worked themselves out. Brian wasn't
mad at her anymore
and
he wouldn't be doing those dumb things to show
off for her in front of everyone now that he understood. Best yet, she could go
to Bumpers after school with her friends and no one would tease her about
Brian.
Finally,
she thought, my life is getting back to normal.

Suddenly Melanie was aware of honking, and she and Brian
both turned to look out the back window at the same time.

"Hey, it's another van, and it's honking at us,"
she cried.

"Yeah, and it has CHANNEL 2 painted on the side,"
shouted Brian.

"Oh, my gosh. Mom! Pull over to the curb!" Melanie
called out to her mother. "We're going to be on television!"

Mrs. Edwards eased the teen taxi out of traffic and brought
it to a stop with the Channel 2 van right behind. An instant later the door
flew open and Marge Whitworth, the anchorwoman from the television station,
climbed inside followed by her cameraman.

"We just heard about your new taxi service. Do you mind
if we ride along and tape a segment for tonight's news?" she asked.

"Of course not," chirped Mrs. Edwards. "Be my
guest."

As the van started up again, Melanie leaned back and closed
her eyes. Being honest with Brian had been the right thing to do. Other things
were going right, too. The teen taxi was not only a success, but her mother was
going to be famous. It might be starting small with the local newspaper and
television appearances, but maybe next week
People
magazine would call
or Johnny Carson. Who knows, she thought, maybe she'll even make
Saturday
Night Live.

Just then Brian nudged her. "Smile," he whispered.

"What?" she asked, opening her eyes and then
sitting up with a start.

"I said, smile," Brian answered. "We're going
to be on TV."

Melanie tried to smile, but her lips felt instantly stiff
and inside she was groaning. The cameraman was pointing his Minicam directly at
them, and she could see by the red light on the front that the camera was
rolling. How could this be happening? Especially now, when she had just gotten
Brian Olsen out of her life. They were going to be on TV, all right, sitting
close together in the backseat of the van. Everyone in the world would see
them. At least everyone in Wakeman Junior High.

"Oh,
no,
" she muttered under her breath.
"Here we go again."