Fabulous Five 020 - The Witches of Wakeman (6 page)

Beth didn't want to see Keith by just running into him
sometime during the next day. She wanted to talk to him when she had time to be
casual and talk things out.

She arrived at school earlier than usual. Instead of meeting
The Fabulous Five at their spot by the fence, she looked around for Keith. He
wasn't in any of his usual spots. She saw Jon and asked him if he'd seen Keith,
but he shook his head.

Where was he?

She didn't give up looking until the first bell sounded and
she had to move into the school with the rest of the kids. After stopping at
her own locker, she headed for Keith's. It stood closed and locked. Beth
sighed. She guessed she'd have to see him in social studies first period. She
walked into her social studies ahead of all the other kids, hoping Keith would
arrive early, too, so she could talk to him without any other kids listening.

But soon the other students began trudging into the room,
dropping books on their desks and milling around, talking to one another. A
couple of kids asked her about the Halloween show, and Marcie Bee wanted to
hear all about the curse. Beth answered them with one eye on the classroom
door. But still no Keith.

It wasn't until the final bell rang beginning the school day
that Beth realized finally that Keith wasn't coming to school that day. He must
be sick.

That's funny, she thought. He seemed okay last night on the
phone. He didn't sound as if he had a cold or anything. What was wrong? She
swallowed hard. Could he have been so mad at her that he faked being sick just
to avoid seeing her at school? That seemed a little farfetched, but she couldn't
think of any other explanation.

The idea depressed her. She had wanted to get the discussion
with Keith out of the way so she could relax a little. But that wasn't going to
happen—not for a while, anyway.

The school day dragged on and on. Days later, it seemed, the
final bell sounded, and Beth headed for the auditorium for rehearsal.

"Okay, folks, listen up," Mr. Levine said when
everyone had arrived. "We have only five practices left before our final
dress rehearsal a week from tomorrow. In the meantime, we must work even harder
than we have before. I'm very pleased that most of you have memorized your
lines and are giving your best at rehearsals. Keep up the good work—"

"—and wear squeaky shoes," Molly interjected.

"Right," Mr. Levine said. "We can't afford
any more disasters before our performances."

"My wand hasn't shown up yet," Laura reminded Mr.
Levine.

"I made you a new one," Molly piped up. She
reached into a paper bag and brought out another wand. Laura raced over to see
it. She studied the wand, which, like the original, was made from cardboard,
painted gold, and sprinkled with gold glitter.

Laura sighed loudly. "Well, I suppose this will have to
do."

"Laura," Molly said in the tone she would use with
a spoiled child, "this is
exactly
like the one you lost."

"I didn't
lose
it!" Laura said angrily. She
looked directly at Beth. "Someone took it!"

Beth rolled her eyes at Molly and shrugged.

Mr. Levine spoke up. "It's a beautiful wand, Molly.
Thank you for your extra work."

"No prob, Mr. L.," she said, and walked backstage.

"I'd like to start rehearsal today by working on the
Snow
White
skit," Mr. Levine said. "Those of you not in that skit may
wait quietly backstage or wait quietly in the auditorium."

Beth decided to move backstage and see how the crews were
doing.

"Mel," Beth said when she found her friend
backstage in the dim light. "Are all the props and costumes ready?"

"Just about," Melanie said. "All we need now
are a couple of . . ." Her voice trailed off as something caught her eye
over Beth's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Beth asked, and turned to see what
Melanie was watching.

Paul Smoke, standing next to Robin's bat cage, looked angry.
He was talking in low tones to Shirley, but he was obviously very upset about
something.

"I told you over and over!" Paul was saying. Then
he lowered his voice, and they didn't hear any more.

"What do you suppose is wrong?" Melanie whispered.

"I don't know," said Beth. "Probably a
brother-sister type of fight. I have them with
my
brothers and sisters
all the time."

Shirley looked angry, too, and she stalked away from Paul
and right past Beth and Melanie without even saying hi. Paul turned back to the
bat cage, jaw set tightly and eyes blazing.

"Wow, he sure looks mad," said Melanie.

Beth nodded and sauntered over to Paul, pretending she hadn't
just seen Paul's fight with his sister.

"Hi," she said casually. "Is Robin ready to
show his stuff?"

"I think so," Paul said stiffly. He seemed to be
studying the clasp on the cage door.

"Your magic act will be one of the highlights of the
show," Beth said.

Paul smiled a little. "Thanks, I hope so."

Robin was hanging upside down on the little branch in his
cage. Paul lifted the bat out and held him up.

"Is he raring to go?" Beth asked jovially.

Paul looked up at her and grinned. "I'd say he's just
about as excited as I've ever seen him."

Beth laughed, relieved that Paul seemed over his anger.

The rehearsal went well, and Beth felt good that the
production seemed to be improving steadily. And there were no surprises, no
missing objects or heads rolling across the stage, no disasters.

After rehearsal, Beth walked straight home. Maybe Keith had
called.

"Hi, Mom. Any calls for me?" she asked hopefully
as she came through the front door.

"Nope, afraid not," her mother said.

Beth trudged upstairs and stopped in the hall, staring at
the phone.

Just then Todd came out of his room and walked past her. "Well,
if it isn't the Wicked Witch of the West," he said sarcastically.

"Drop dead," Beth muttered, and stared at the
phone again.

"Ring," she begged when Todd was out of earshot. "Come
on, phone, ring."

But the phone sat stubbornly silent.

Beth reached out, hesitated, and then picked up the
receiver. She dialed Keith's number, her heart pounding.

The phone was answered by a familiar voice. "Hi, Keith,"
Beth said.

There was a short silence, then Keith said, "Hi."

"You weren't at school today. Were you sick?"

"No. I had a dental appointment in the morning. I came
back after lunch, though."

"Oh," Beth said. "Um, look, Keith, could I
come over and talk a little bit?"

Keith hesitated again. "Not tonight. I'm busy."

Beth's heart sank. "Oh."

"But you could come tomorrow night," he offered.

"About seven?"

"Yeah, that would be all right."

Beth hung up and sighed, heading for her room. Keith didn't
sound all that friendly, she thought. But then, he wasn't exactly unfriendly,
either. At least he'd agreed to talk to her tomorrow night.

She'd have to get through a whole night and a whole day at
school tomorrow, she thought, flopping backward onto her bed. It seemed
forever.

She wondered if she'd live that long.

The next day Beth didn't hear a single word that was said in
any of her classes. All she could think about was Keith and talking to him that
night. She just hoped they could be alone for a while without anyone in his
family getting in the way.

Beth saw Keith in math class. They both looked at each
other, but neither of them spoke. She decided that he, too, was saving whatever
he had to say until they were alone.

Over and over, Beth rehearsed in her mind what she would say
to Keith when he opened his front door. She thought up several openings that
might work:

Maybe something sincere like:
Hi
,
Keith. I really have
missed you. I'm sorry about being in such a bad mood lately.

Or maybe, something with an excuse:
I'm sorry
,
Keith
,
but I've been so busy with school and rehearsals every night and memorizing
my lines and everything . .
.
I just got kind of grumpy
,
I guess.

Or maybe something funny:
Keith
,
it was
incredible! I was kidnapped by a band of roving crabby people! One of them
impersonated me for a while
,
but I escaped
,
and they all ran
away. I'm back now. So what's new?

Beth sighed and slumped against the back of her chair. None
of them were right. She decided she'd better just wait and see how Keith
reacted to her and say whatever came to her.

She worked hard during the rehearsal and concentrated as
well as she could. She was pleased that the show seemed to be going so well,
even if everyone was acting strange.

All the kids were walking around in squeaky shoes, and some
of them were limping because of the pennies they had in them. Everyone was
muttering to themselves, "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us."
Beth thought it was pretty dumb to believe in the superstitions, but it was
kind of fun, anyway. It was like a game they were all playing.

When Beth got home, she found her mother working at her
kitchen desk.

"I think I'll skip dinner tonight," Beth said.

Her mother gave her a worried look. "Are you sick?"

"No, I 'm just not hungry. By the way, I'm going over
to Keith's house at seven."

"Could there be any connection between your loss of
appetite and going over to Keith's?" asked her mother.

"Oh . . . no," Beth said nonchalantly.

"Well, love," said Mrs. Barry, "I think you'd
better eat anyway."

Beth sighed. Parents hardly ever understood when you were
going through a crisis.

"Okay," she said resignedly, and wandered off to
her room.

At seven o'clock sharp, Beth pressed the doorbell at Keith's
house. Keith answered. He wasn't exactly smiling, but he looked a little glad
to see her.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," Keith responded, opening the door for her. "Come
on in."

Beth followed him into the family room just off the kitchen.
A fire was lit in the great stone fireplace at the end of the room.

They both settled in at opposite ends of the couch.

"Keith . . ." Beth said hesitantly, wondering
whether to begin with an apology.

"Beth," Keith interrupted, "I want to show
you something that I found."

She looked at him in surprise.

Keith got up and moved to a table at the far end of the
room, picked up a magazine, and returned to sit next to her.

"It's a movie magazine," said Beth, frowning. Why
would he want to show her that?

"There's a section in it I think you'll really be interested
in." He leafed through the magazine until he found the place he was
looking for.

"These are pictures of actresses that this magazine
considers the best, most interesting, and most beautiful in the history of
films," Keith said.

Beth leaned over to see. As she looked at the movie stars, a
smile formed on her lips. She was getting his point.

"See," Keith said, "here's an actress from
the silent film days, Lillian Gish." The lady was posed next to a tree.
Her hands were spread near her face as if she were frightened. Ms. Gish was a
very small, thin woman. And very pretty.

"This is Jean Harlow," said Keith. "They
thought she was a really sexy lady back in the thirties." Beth saw the
actress was thin and not big-chested.

"Here's Myrna Loy," Keith continued. "And
here's Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly and Natalie Wood."
He pointed to each one in turn. "Do you notice anything about them?"

He didn't have to point it out to Beth. They were all
slender
and
beautiful
!
Beth got a sheepish look on her face. She knew all
these actresses. She had seen their pictures dozens of times. But somehow it
had never occurred to her that they didn't have big chests. It had never
mattered because they were the best. And wasn't that what she wanted to be, she
reminded herself, the
best
?

"Katharine Hepburn had a big love affair with one of
the greatest actors of all times, Spencer Tracy," Keith said. "People
still talk about them as a couple: Hepburn and Tracy."

"Oh, and here are some actresses I've seen in movies,"
said Beth excitedly. "Michelle Pfeiffer. I think she's one of the most
beautiful women I've ever seen."

"Me, too," said Keith, grinning.

And Michelle Pfeiffer was so thin!

"And Meryl Streep," said Keith, pointing to
another picture. "She's
a fantastic
actress."

Beth beamed at Keith for a moment before saying anything.

"Thanks, Keith," she said softly. "You're
right. This is just what I needed. Thank you for showing it to me." She
leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'm so glad you're not mad at me," Beth said. "I
know I've been pretty hard to get along with the last couple of weeks."

Keith pretended to be surprised. "What?
You
,
hard to get along with? Come on."

Beth grinned, and Keith put his arm around her neck in a
headlock. Beth squealed and they fell back into the cushions shrieking and
laughing.

"Uncle!" Beth screamed. "I give up! Uncle,
uncle!"

Keith stopped and pulled her close and kissed her softly.

"Okay, Barry," he said forcefully. "No more
talking about Laura McCall, okay? You're prettier than she'll ever be."

"You won't say that when you see us in the
Wizard of
Oz
skit. Laura will be in a gorgeous dress with a tiara and wand, and
I'll
be dressed in black with green makeup and have a terrible wart glued on my
nose."

"Mmmm, yummy. I love girls with warts."

"Beast!" said Beth, laughing and hitting him with
a pillow.

He grabbed the pillow away from her. "Barry, you're weird,"
he said teasingly.

"You know, you're right," said Beth, feeling truly
relieved for the first time in days. "So you've got a weird girlfriend.
What does that mak
e you?
"

He slugged her with the pillow.