Fabulous Five 021 - Jana to the Rescue (2 page)

What should I say to her? Jana wondered. She wished she had
written a list of things she could talk about in her first meeting with the new
girl.

Oh, well, I guess I'll play it by ear, she decided. Just let
it happen.

She rushed into the girls' bathroom and ran a brush through
her hair. She wanted to make a good first impression.

Outside the office door, Jana stopped and took a deep,
calming breath. Then another. Okay, she thought, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
She opened the door.

Miss Simone looked up from her desk. "Ah, Jana,"
she said, smiling, "Mr. Bell and Mrs. Brenner are waiting for you in Mr.
Bell's office."

"Thanks," said Jana. She steadied herself and
walked in.

"Hi, Jana," Mr. Bell said cordially. "Come in
and sit down." He gestured to an empty seat next to his desk. Jana sat
down.

Sitting around the principal's office were three adults: Mr.
Bell, Mrs. Brenner, the counselor, and a pale, thin woman with dark hair.

Sitting next to the woman was a girl about Jana's age. She
was rather pretty, Jana thought, with large, dark eyes and shoulder-length
brown hair, although her hair looked as if it needed shampooing. She wore a faded
pair of jeans and a worn red jacket that was unzipped, revealing a plaid shirt
underneath. On her feet were ancient, worn-out sneakers. She was flexing her
feet nervously, and Jana noticed that one of the shoes was coming apart at the
front toe seam. The one detail that didn't go with the rest of her was the pair
of earrings she was wearing. They looked like real gold and were among the
prettiest Jana had seen. The girl's gaze swept quickly over Jana, then she
looked at the floor.

"Jana," Mr. Bell said, "this is Lizzie Flagg
and her mother. Lizzie's starting school here at Wakeman today."

"Hi," Jana said, and smiled.

Lizzie looked up at Jana and softly said, "Hi."
She didn't return the smile.

"Well," said Mr. Bell. "Mrs. Brenner and I
have worked out Lizzie's schedule to fit with yours, Jana. The only class she'll
have that will be different from yours is biology, which you don't have. That'll
give her a chance to meet some new people on her own."

"Okay," said Jana cheerfully.

She looked at Lizzie, who seemed incredibly bored as she
stared out the window, yawning. Mr. Bell looked around the room, and his gaze
stopped at Lizzie's mother.

"Do you have any questions for us, Mrs. Flagg?" he
asked.

Mrs. Flagg shook her head but didn't speak. Jana studied her
closely. Was she bored, too? No, it was something else, Jana decided. She
looked tired, incredibly frazzled, as if it took all her effort to sit in the
chair.

"How about you, Lizzie?" Mr. Bell asked.

Lizzie also shook her head.

"Well then, I think I'll excuse you two young ladies.
Jana, you should show Lizzie to her locker first, then go to your class."

"Here's Lizzie's locker number," said Mrs.
Brenner. She handed Jana a slip of paper.

Mr. Bell stood up. He reached out to shake Lizzie's hand,
but she only stared at him, keeping her hand by her side.

"Welcome to Wakeman, Lizzie," he said, slowly
lowering his own hand. "I'm sure you'll like it here. Your locker
combination is printed on your schedule card that Mrs. Brenner gave you."

Lizzie nodded slightly.

"I didn't hear the bell," Jana said as she stood
up. "Are we still in first period?"

"Period one will be ending in a few minutes," the
principal said. "If you hurry, you'll have time to stop by Lizzie's locker
on your way to second period class."

The two girls moved out the door and into the outer office.
Jana opened the door for Lizzie to go into the hall, but the girl didn't move.

I don't like the way this is starting out, Jana thought,
biting her lower lip. But she didn't say anything. Instead she hurried into the
hall and was relieved to see Lizzie trailing along behind her.

"I think you'll like Wakeman Junior High," Jana
said, slowing slightly to let Lizzie catch up. "Actually, most of the kids
call it Wacko." She laughed a little, and Lizzie glanced at her quickly
but didn't respond.

"The teachers here are really nice," Jana
continued, trying desperately to make conversation as they walked down the
hall. "You'll especially like Miss Dickinson, our English teacher."

Jana thought she saw Lizzie nod.

The bell rang then, ending the first period, and within
seconds, the hall was crowded with seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders
hurrying to their next classes.

"I remember I was really nervous on the first day of
junior high," Jana said quickly. She knew she was talking too fast, but
she couldn't help it. Lizzie's silence was getting to her. "But once you
get to know some of the other kids and the teachers, and you get involved in
school activities, you'll think it's great!"

Lizzie glanced sideways at Jana, then muttered, "Did
anyone ever tell you, you talk too much?"

Jana was stunned. "I wanted to tell you about Wakeman,"
she said in a small voice. "There are some things you'll have to know."

Lizzie stared straight ahead and didn't respond. Jana didn't
speak for a full minute—at least it seemed like at least a minute—but then
realized that she
had
to tell her about some of the day-to-day details
about Wakeman.

"Your locker is right around here somewhere," Jana
said. She scanned the long rows of lockers that ran down either side of the
hall. "Number twenty-three nineteen. Oh, here it is."

Jana walked up to the tall, narrow locker painted pale blue
and turned to Lizzie. A passing student jostled Lizzie, who scowled and pressed
her shoulder up next to the lockers to avoid contact with any more kids.

"Do you have your schedule card?" Jana asked.

Lizzie nodded but didn't move.

"Your combination is printed on the top right corner,"
Jana said.

Lizzie frowned but still didn't move.

Jana couldn't understand why Lizzie didn't open her locker. "Do
you want to hang up your jacket?" she asked, trying hard not to let the
exasperation she was feeling be heard in her voice.

"I want to
wear
my jacket, okay?" Lizzie's
voice was thick with hostility.

Jana winced. "Sure, okay," she said. "I just
thought you might like to open your locker and make sure the combination's
right. Once in a while, the office makes a mistake or the locker sticks. If it's
not okay, we can get it fixed right away."

"No," Lizzie said, her voice a little softer.

Jana nodded and forced herself to smile.

"Okay," she said. "Maybe we'd better get to
your biology class so that I can introduce you to Mr. Dracovitch. We have just
five minutes between classes, so you'll always have to hurry if you're going to
stop at your locker or the bathroom."

The two girls walked down the hall in silence. One minute
Jana wanted to scream in frustration. The next, she wanted to stomp off and let
Lizzie find her way around by herself. But she knew she couldn't do either.
This is what this project is all about, she reminded herself. Helping kids like
Lizzie feel at home in a strange school.

"Hi, Jana!" Alexis Duvall called out as she passed
them.

"Hi, Alexis," Jana answered.

"Wait till you take that math test," Alexis
shouted over the noise. "It's a killer!"

Lizzie hadn't even looked up to see the girl who spoke. She
kept her eyes directly on the floor.

"Oh, here's your biology class," Jana said. "Mr.
Dracovitch is a little weird, but everybody loves his class."

Jana led the way into the classroom, then turned to speak to
Lizzie.

"Come up front, and I'll introduce you," she said.

The classroom was already crowded with kids. Jana walked
briskly between two rows of seats up to the front of the classroom. The teacher
was writing on the board, his back to her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Dracovitch," Jana said.

The tall, slender man turned around. The paleness of his
skin and the black, shiny toupee that always sat too far forward on his head
made all the kids think of Dracula. In fact, everyone even called him Dracula
behind his back.

Jana and the rest of The Fabulous Five had thought that he
didn't know what the kids called him. But not long ago they discovered that he
wanted
the kids to think of him as Dracula in order to get them interested in
coming to his class and studying science.

"Yes, Jana," he said.

"I'd like you to meet your new student, Lizzie Flagg,"
Jana began. She turned around to gesture to Lizzie, but Lizzie wasn't there.

"Lizzie?"

"A phantom student, Jana?" Mr. Dracovitch said,
smiling devilishly. "Sounds like my kind of person."

Jana couldn't help grinning. "She was here just a
minute ago." "Excuse me, I'll be right back."

Jana rushed down between the rows of desks to the back of
the room. Students were milling around, chatting and getting ready for class to
begin.

"Lizzie!" Jana found Lizzie still standing in the
doorway, gazing into the hall. "Come up and meet Mr. Dracovitch."

Lizzie frowned but followed Jana up to the front of the
classroom.

"This is Lizzie Flagg," Jana said in a controlled voice.
"She's new today and has some classes with me, so I'm showing her around."

"Hello, Lizzie," Mr. Dracovitch said. "Glad
to have you join us. I think there's an empty seat in the back. You can sit
there."

Lizzie shrugged. "Okay."

She trudged to the desk located in the back of the
classroom, close to a window, and sat down. She stuffed her hands into the
pockets of her jacket. Jana hurried to her own class, relieved to get there and
face an entire class period without having to try to make conversation with
Lizzie.

The morning classes seemed to drag for Jana. She had known
that Lizzie might not be superfriendly, but this was ridiculous. She was
surprised and hurt at how hostile and angry Lizzie actually was. Jana kept
wondering what more she could do to make this new school experience go smoothly
for Lizzie.

At lunchtime, Jana led Lizzie to the cafeteria and showed
her where to get in the hot-lunch line. Jana paid for her own lunch, and then
Lizzie leaned far over to the side to block Jana's view. Jana could still see,
though, when Lizzie took out a card and slipped it in front of the woman
selling lunch tickets. The woman glanced at the card and nodded, and then
turned to the boy behind Lizzie to get his lunch money.

She didn't want me to see that she's on the free lunch
program
, Jana thought. That made Jana sad. There were quite a few
low-income kids getting reduced or free lunches, and it wasn't a big deal. She
had always thought it was a great program, that kids could always get a hot
lunch, no matter how much their parents earned.

"Let's sit over by the window," Jana said when
they had their lunch trays.

She smiled and waved at The Fabulous Five at their usual
table. She'd told each of them that on the new girl's first day she would sit
alone with her at lunch. Her friends had agreed that it would be a good idea
for Jana to spend some private time with her at first.

"How did you like your first morning?" Jana asked
Lizzie after they'd sat down.

Lizzie shrugged and took a stab at the meatball on her spaghetti.
"It was all right," she said, "if you like boredom."

"Yeah, it
can
be boring, all right," Jana
said. "But sometimes it's really fun. Mr. Dracovitch, for instance, can be
really interesting. Once he had his classes dissect a cow's eyeball!"

Lizzie dropped her fork with the meatball back into her
plate.

"Oops, sorry," Jana said, and giggled nervously. "I
shouldn't have mentioned that at lunch."

Lizzie made a face. "That's disgusting," she
mumbled.

"But what I meant was that Wakeman doesn't have to be
boring," Jana insisted. "There are a lot of activities you can get
involved in, too. I'm the seventh-grade coeditor of
The Wigwam
, our
school yearbook. Some of my friends are cheerleaders and in the school plays
and on the Teen Court."

"Uh-huh," Lizzie said, looking very bored.

"Maybe you'd like to get involved in some of those
activities," Jana added hopefully.

"Yeah, right," Lizzie said sarcastically. "Like,
I'd really like to be in a school play." She made a gagging noise.

"It was just a suggestion," Jana said in a small
voice. "Maybe you'll like your afternoon classes better, Lizzie."

Lizzie sat back in her chair and gazed at Jana for a moment.
'"Would you do me a favor, Jana?"

"Sure," Jana said, eager to help.

"Would you call me Liz instead of Lizzie?"

"Oh, sure, okay," Jana said.

Lizzie nodded and folded her arms across her chest. "Just
my good friends call me Lizzie."

"She was angry and mean all day!" Jana said. "She
thought school was boring. She didn't like our teachers. She said I talked too
much. And
then
she asked me to call her Liz instead of Lizzie."

"Why?" her mother asked, taking the casserole out
of the oven. "What's wrong with Lizzie?"

Jana raised her eyebrows. "Only her
good friends
call
her Lizzie," Jana said. "
Obviously
she has no intention of
ever letting me be a good friend."

Jana's stepfather, Pink, had just finished setting the
table. He strolled over to Jana and put his arm around her shoulder.

"The girl sounds as if she's built a wall around
herself," he said. "By telling you that only her friends call her
Lizzie, she's saying that she wants to keep you at a distance."

"Exactly," Jana said, shrugging to show her
exasperation. "That's the trouble, but why would she want to do that?
Doesn't she want to make new friends?"

"Maybe she feels insecure," her mother said. "The
name 'Lizzie' sounds a little younger, a little more vulnerable than 'Liz,'
which sounds more like a mature, independent young woman. Maybe she feels a
little threatened by her new situation and wants to be called by a more
sophisticated name."

"Maybe," Jana grumbled, but she wasn't convinced. Maybe
Liz was just a crabby person who got her kicks by hurting other people's
feelings.

"Dinner's ready," her mother called.

The three squeezed into their places at the kitchen table.

"Where does Liz live?" Pink asked.

"At a shelter for the homeless—Phoenix House,"
Jana said.

Pink smiled. "Good name," he said.

Jana frowned, trying to understand. "Phoenix? You mean,
the city in Arizona?"

"Well, originally the name came from mythology,"
Pink said, spooning a helping of casserole onto his plate. "A phoenix was
a bird. Only one phoenix existed at a time," he went on. "It lived a
very long time, and at the end of its life, it burned itself in a funeral pyre."

"That's sad," Jana said, putting down her fork.

"No, not really," said Pink. "Because another
phoenix rose up in its place, filled with youth and beauty. Because of its
rebirth, the phoenix has come to represent starting life over with renewed
strength and determination."

"I'm impressed, Pink," Jana's mother said,
grinning. "I didn't know you knew Greek mythology."

"My high-school English teacher, Mrs. Mortimer, gets
the credit. She pounded all that stuff into our heads during my junior year."

"Say, I have an idea," her mother said. "Why
not invite Lizzie—excuse me,
Liz
—over for dinner on Saturday?"

Jana thought a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, okay,"
she said. "It's worth a try, anyway. Maybe she'll see that I'm not so
awful, and she'll loosen up a little."

"I'll fix chicken and dumplings and green beans—"

"Oooh, invite her to come every night," Pink
teased. "If we get to eat like that when she comes, I like her already."

Jana's mother laughed.

"Thanks, Mom," Jana said. "I'll ask her
tomorrow at school."

"She'll need to check with her mother," Mrs.
Pinkerton said. "Tell her we can pick her up if she needs a ride."

"I can't wait to invite her," Jana said. "I
hope she says yes."

After supper Jana helped with the dishes and then went to
her room. She had just opened her lit book when the phone rang.

"Jana, it's for you!" Pink called from the living
room.

"Thanks, Pink, I'll take it in your bedroom," Jana
called back. She hurried into her parents' bedroom and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jana. It's Randy."

Jana's heart fluttered a little at the sound of Randy's
voice. He'd had that effect on her ever since the fourth grade. Jana had
noticed lots of other nice, cute boys in school, but none of them could ever
compete with Randy.

"Hi, Randy," she said softly.

"How did the first day go with the new girl?"

"Awful," Jana confessed. "She's . . . well,
she's not one of the friendliest people I've ever met, let's put it that way."

"Gosh, that's too bad," Randy said. "What's
her problem?"

"Mom thinks maybe she feels a little threatened," said
Jana. "I suppose because she's new. I'm going to invite her over for
dinner Saturday night and see if that helps."

"Good idea," Randy said. "Hey, I've missed
seeing you around this week. Want to meet me at Bumpers tomorrow after school?"

"Great! I'd love to."

"Super," said Randy. "See you then."

Jana nearly floated back to her room. She was going to see
Randy tomorrow after school, and she was going to invite Liz for dinner on
Saturday. She just knew that her mom and Pink could help win Liz over, no matter
how hard Liz might try to resist. Maybe things were looking up.

"Liz, these are my closest friends in the world,"
Jana said proudly the next day during lunch period. She hadn't gotten up the
nerve yet to ask Liz to her house on Saturday, and now Jana and Liz stood with
their trays next to the table where The Fabulous Five always sat. Liz was
wearing the same pair of jeans, plaid shirt, and jacket that she had worn
yesterday. "This is Beth Barry, Katie Shannon, Christie Winchell, and
Melanie Edwards," Jana went on. "The five of us make up The Fabulous
Five."

"Oh, yeah?" Liz mumbled. "What's so fabulous
about you guys?"

Jana winced inwardly. Why did Liz act this way? She wanted
her friends to like Liz and help her feel at home. But how could they when Liz
behaved like a jerk?

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Melanie cleared
her throat and glanced nervously from Beth to Katie to Jana, obviously hoping
someone would say something helpful.

"Sit down," Beth offered, and moved her tray over
to give Liz room. Melanie sighed loudly with relief, and Jana seated herself
across from Liz.

"It's very nice to have you here at Wakeman, Liz,"
Melanie said. Jana thought she sounded as if she were being dutifully polite,
saying something she didn't mean.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh," she said, looking
bored.

"No, it really is," Beth insisted. "It's
always great to meet new people." Around the table, the others nodded
eagerly.

"Liz, if you need help getting caught up in math, the
person to ask for help is Christie," Jana said. "She's really a whiz."

"Well, I don't know that I'm a whiz, but I'd be happy
to help you," Christie said sincerely.

Liz nodded but didn't say anything. She picked up the peanut
butter sandwich in front of her and took a tiny bite.

"And I'm pretty good in English," Jana said.

Still no response from Liz.

"What do you like to do?" Melanie asked Liz. "I
mean, what are your hobbies?"

Liz glanced at Melanie and then at Jana and finally at the
table. She looks scared, thought Jana.

"I don't have any hobbies," Liz mumbled. Jana
could barely hear her.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"I said, I don't have any hobbies! You deaf, or
what?"
Liz shouted, her eyes filling with tears. She grabbed her books
from the floor, stood up, and ran out of the cafeteria.

"What did I say?" cried Melanie, looking
bewildered.

"Mel," Jana said gently, "Liz lives in a
shelter for the homeless, remember? The last thing on her mind is a hobby."

Melanie gulped and blinked back tears of her own. "I'm
sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking."

"That's okay, Mel," Katie said. "I have a
feeling that Liz is pretty tough. I don't think your question killed her. We'll
just have to be more thoughtful about what she's going through and try to ask
the
right
questions from now on."

"She sure isn't easy to get to know," Jana said,
sighing. She got up and collected her own books. "I just wish I knew the
right way to handle her."

"Why don't you talk to some of the other kids who're
helping homeless students," Beth suggested. "Maybe they're having the
same problems."

"Good idea," Jana said. "I'll call Whitney
tonight. Excuse me now, guys, I think I'd better see if I can find Liz."

Jana left the table and hurried out into the hall. Miss
Dickinson, her English teacher, was walking toward her with an armload of books.

"Miss Dickinson," Jana said, "have you seen
Liz Flagg?"

"Yes," said the teacher. "She came running
this way. I was about to ask her to slow down, but she looked so upset, I
decided to let it go. I think she may have ducked into the girls' bathroom at
the end of the hall."

"Thanks," Jana said, and sped off in that
direction.

She found Liz in the last stall at the back of the restroom.
She recognized the old, worn sneakers under the door.

"Liz?" she called softly.

There was no answer.

"Liz, Melanie didn't mean to hurt you or make you mad,"
Jana said. "She feels really bad that she said the wrong thing. Won't you
come out so I can talk to you?"

"Go away," Liz said. "I don't want to talk to
you."

Jana sighed. "Liz, we just want to be your friends.
Honest."

"I don't need any friends," she said.

Jana tried to think of what she could say to make Liz feel
better, but then she considered the possibility that maybe Liz really
didn't
want to have friends at Wakeman.

"Okay," Jana said. "If that's what you want."

She turned and walked out of the restroom, hoping that Liz
might call her back. But she didn't.

Jana had planned to talk to Liz during one of their
afternoon classes. She wanted to reassure Liz that she was liked and wanted at
Wakeman. And she wanted to invite her to have dinner with her family on
Saturday.

She didn't get the chance, though, because Liz didn't show
up at any of her classes for the rest of the day.