Fabulous Five 028 - Breaking Up (8 page)

Jana didn't see Beth again until gym, which was the last
period before lunch. Jana got her gym basket out of its slot in the locker room
and headed toward the row of benches where the girls changed into their shorts
and shirts for class. She was already in a grumpy mood from being snubbed by
The Fabulous Five before school and from hearing Shawnie's malicious gossip,
and she was certainly in no mood to answer questions from Tammy Lucero, who
plopped her gym basket down beside Jana's.

"What's this I hear about you and Keith Masterson
sneaking around behind Beth's and Randy's backs?"

Tammy had a catty grin on her face, and it took everything
that Jana had to keep her cool. Tammy was the biggest gossip in Wakeman Junior
High, and the last thing Jana needed was Tammy getting on her case.

Just then Beth came into the room. "It's true,"
she said in a deadly serious voice. "And that's just about as low as
anybody can get."

Tears stung Jana's eyes as she looked straight at Beth. "You
can't believe that," she said just above a whisper.

"I can't believe anything else," answered Beth,
her eyes locked with Jana's as they stood like statues facing each other across
the room.

The locker room was filling up now as more girls rushed in
to change into their gym clothes. Most of them glanced at Beth and Jana, and a
few reacted by whispering or giggling among themselves, but there wasn't time
to do much more than scramble into their shorts and shirts and rush into the girls'
gym before the second bell.

The locker room was empty of everyone except Jana and Beth
when the bell rang. Still, neither of them had moved. Jana's heart was pounding
as she tried to project all of her hurt and misery through her eyes. Surely
Beth would see how awful she felt and know deep in her heart that Jana could
never do the things Beth had accused her of.

Suddenly the door from the gym burst open, and Miss Wolfe,
the physical education teacher, strode into the room.

"Vy aren't you girls dressed and on zee floor?"
she demanded in her thick German accent.

The spell was broken.

"Sorry, Miss Wolfe," Jana mumbled, unbuttoning her
blouse and reaching for her gym shirt.

Neither girl looked at the other as they quickly changed
clothes and joined the rest of the class on the gym floor. After the class was
over and Jana was dressed again and hurrying to her next class, she couldn't
even remember whose basketball team she had been on or if she had scored any
points.

At lunchtime, Jana wasn't hungry. Besides, she didn't know
whom she would sit with if she went into the cafeteria. Instead she pitched her
lunch into a trash can and went outside to sit on the steps and think.

This whole mess was Keith's fault. Why did he have to have a
crush on her, anyway? She didn't
want
to be his girlfriend! And even if
she did, she would never do a thing like that to her best friend!

The more she thought about the lies Keith was telling, the
angrier she got. When kids started drifting outside after lunch, she spotted
Keith coming out with Joel Murphy. Jana jumped to her feet and watched as they
headed toward the baseball diamond where the boys usually congregated this time
of day. She clenched her fists as she saw him horsing around with Joel as if
everything in the world were perfect. Well, it wasn't! Not only that, he was
the one who had gotten her into this mess, and he was the only one who could
get her out of it.

"Keith!" she called. "I need to talk to you!"

Keith grinned at her and then said something to Joel before
trotting in her direction.

"Not
here,
" she grumbled. "Do you want
everybody to see us?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jana frowned at Keith and then glanced around the school
ground. The coast was still clear, since most of the kids who had come out so
far were eighth- and ninth-graders.

"Over here," she instructed, motioning him around
the corner toward the back of the building. Kids hardly ever went back there
because that was where the trash dumpsters were located, and they didn't always
smell terrific.

"Who are we hiding from?" Keith asked.

"As if you didn't know." Jana spat the words back
at him. "Listen, Keith, everybody thinks you and I have been sneaking
around behind Beth's and Randy's backs. In fact, I've even heard that you're
the one spreading the rumor. You've got to tell them it isn't true!"

Keith gave her a cocky grin. "Why should I do that?"

Jana drew in a sharp breath and exhaled angrily. She was
getting more furious by the minute. "Because it
isn't
true! You
know that! And nobody will believe
me
!
"

Keith thought for a moment, his grin getting wider. "I've
got an idea. Why don't I come over tonight and we can talk about it?"

"Keith!"
Jam exploded. She stepped forward,
stopping so close to him that their noses almost touched. She opened her mouth
to shout at him, to yell at the top of her lungs that she would never go out
with him even if he were the last boy on earth. But fury bubbled up inside her
and choked off the words.

Just then she heard giggling and spun around to see Tammy
Lucero and Laura McCall peeking around the corner of the building.

"Will you look at the lovebirds hiding behind the
dumpsters?" cooed Tammy. Then she pursed her lips and made little
smooching noises.

"Riiiight," Laura said and nodded knowingly. "I
guess those rumors must be true."

Jana stared at them in astonishment. She didn't look at
Keith, but she was sure that he had a satisfied smile on his face.

How could I have been stupid enough to let this happen? she
thought in horror. Why couldn't I have waited until tonight and talked to him on
the phone?

But she hadn't waited. She had been too upset, and now Tammy
and Laura would be spreading new gossip all over Wakeman Junior High.

Jana picked up the mail from the mailbox in the lobby of her
apartment building as she headed home from school, not really expecting to find
anything for her among the usual assortment of bills and junk mail. It had been
an awful day, and she didn't need anything else to think about, anyway. But she
stopped in the middle of the stairway when she saw the airmail envelope banded
in red and blue among the other letters in her hand. It was from Christie, and
the words PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL were written across the bottom of the
envelope in Christie's neat handwriting.

She took the remaining stairs two at a time and hurriedly
unlocked the apartment door, pitching the rest of the mail and her books on the
kitchen counter and heading for her room. She flopped across her bed and ripped
open the envelope at the same time.

Dear Jana
,

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to answer your letter.
I needed to think about the situation between you and Randy for a while before
I wrote. I hope that by the time you get this, you and Randy are back together
and everything is okay again.

But just in case you aren't
,
here is how I feel.

I think it's important for kids to go out with as many
others as possible when they're just beginning to date. It helps them know what
kind of person is best for them. I know that dating both Chase Collins and
Connie Farrell has helped me
,
even though I thought I'd die when we came
to London and I had to leave Chase behind.

But I also think it's more important that no one get
hurt. You said that Randy really didn't want to date anyone else and that he
said he knew how he felt about you. That makes me wonder if you are so
determined to try your experiment that you are accidentally hurting Randy. I
know you wouldn't do it on purpose.

Please write back soon to let me know how things are
going. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Your friend,
Christie

Jana finished the letter and read it a second time through a
blur of tears. She had never meant to hurt Randy! How could Christie even
suggest such a thing? Standing up, Jana paced around her room. What was the
matter with everybody? Why couldn't anybody understand?

The ring of the telephone interrupted her thoughts. What
now? she thought angrily as she picked up the receiver.

"Hi, Jana. This is Randy."

Her heart stopped. "Randy?" she asked in a weak
voice.

"Yeah. Listen, there's something I need to tell you."

He sounded nervous, and Jana bit her lower lip. "What?"

There was a pause before he spoke. "I'm calling to
break the date we made for one month after the experiment started. That way you
and Keith can start going steady whenever you want to."

"Randy! What are you talking about? There's absolutely
nothing going on between me and Keith!"

"That's not what he says," Randy muttered.

Jana thought she was going to explode, and she couldn't stop
the words that tumbled from her mouth. "Okay, Randy Kirwan, go ahead and
break our date if that's what you want to do! I can see now that our experiment
was the right thing, after all, since you don't care enough about me to believe
me, and since you didn't waste any time getting a new girlfriend!"

"Sara Sawyer's not my girlfriend," he argued.

"Oh, sure. Tell me another one," Jana retorted. "I
see you together
everywhere
. I guess I'm the one who couldn't believe
the truth."

"Come on, Jana. Sara shows up everywhere I go. I don't
ask her to be there. She's nice, but I don't like her for a girlfriend."

Jana exhaled and narrowed her eyes. Whom did he think he was
kidding? "So what about the sleepover? Answer me that! I saw the list. You
signed up together."

Randy sighed heavily. "No, we didn't. I signed up
because you were going. I guess Sara saw my name, so she signed up, too."

Jana was silent. She wanted to believe Randy, but how could
she? If she could just talk to him the way they used to talk . . . But somehow
the words just wouldn't come out. Silence hung between them.

"Geez, Jana," Randy finally said. "Maybe the
experiment
was
a good idea, like you said. I found out things about you
I never knew before—like how
stubborn
you are! And maybe I would rather
go with Sara Sawyer, after all!"

Randy slammed down the receiver, leaving a ringing sound in
Jana's ear. Stunned, she stared at her telephone in disbelief. It wasn't just
an experiment anymore. The breakup was real.

Jana stood in the middle of her bedroom, staring into space
and seeing nothing. She was drained of anger now. All she could feel was a
terrible ache in her heart. After a while her gaze fell on Christie's letter,
still lying on the floor beside her bed.

She picked it up and read it again, stopping when she
reached the part that said,
That makes me wonder if you are so determined to
try your experiment that you are accidentally hurting Randy.

"Oh, no," Jana whispered. "What have I done?"

She let the letter flutter back to the floor as she
stretched out across the bed on her back and covered her eyes with an arm. Was it
true? Had she accidentally hurt Randy by being so stubborn?
Stubborn.
That
was the word Randy had used to describe her. And he was right.

Deep down I knew all along that I really care for Randy and
that the experiment wouldn't change anything, she thought, but I was too
stubborn to admit it even to myself. I had thought up this great idea, and I
was determined to stick to it, no matter what.

Jana took a deep breath and thought about Beth. I hurt her,
too, she thought. It really was my fault that Keith broke up with Beth, whether
I could admit it or not. I was stubborn there, too, and made things worse by
not calling off the experiment sooner or at least talking to Randy. When I saw
what was happening to my boyfriend and my best friend, why couldn't I just
swallow my pride and do something about it? Randy and I don't have to date
other people, at least not right now. Maybe later, when we're older and are
starting to make plans for our futures, but right now we should just be having
fun!

Jana's heart leapt, and she jumped up and raced to call
Randy, but her hand stopped as she reached for the phone.

I can't do that, she thought. It won't do any good. I'm in
this mess so deeply that it is going to take a lot more than just talking to
Randy. First I have to get Keith to admit the truth!

Jana was waiting for Keith when he got to school the next
morning, but she didn't say anything to him at first. She wanted a few more
kids to arrive. Jana watched the slow trickle of students onto the school
ground until she saw that the rest of The Fabulous Five were in their usual
spot by the fence and that Randy was among the boys who had congregated with
Keith near the gum tree.

Jana couldn't remember when she had been so nervous. Her
scalp prickled as if a dozen daddy longlegs spiders were dancing on her head.
But she was determined, too. This was it. It had to work, or she was doomed.

Taking a deep breath, Jana stepped to the center of the
school ground and shouted as loud as she could, "Keith, I have something
to ask you, and I want everybody to hear it!"

A surprised murmur rippled through the crowd, and kids
slowly moved forward, gathering around Jana. She could see the puzzled look on
Randy's face, and Beth, Melanie, and Katie were moving in closer. There was no
turning back.

Keith gave her a cocky grin. "Sure. Ask away."

"There's a rumor going around that you're telling
everyone that you and I were sneaking around behind Randy's and Beth's backs,
and that we planned the breakups so that we could go out together. Did you really
say that?"

Keith raised his arms in an exaggerated shrug. "Why
not? It's true."

Jana was totally flabbergasted, and her eyes bugged out in
rage. Incredible as it seemed, Keith was going to stick to his lies. She had
never imagined that he would do something so cruel. He's getting even with me
for turning him down, she thought. He's doing this to keep Randy and me from
ever getting back together.

"It is
not
, Keith Masterson, and you know it!"
She swallowed the bitter taste that had risen into her mouth and went on. "Did
you also say that we had a date last Friday night?"

"Hey, how could you forget a thing like that?"
Keith asked, strutting around and grinning at the other boys as if a date with
him had to be a totally unforgettable experience.

All of the boys laughed at Keith's joke except Randy.

"Gosh, you'd better refresh my memory," Jana said
sarcastically. "I can't seem to remember where we went." She knew she
was grabbing at straws, hoping he would say
something
that would prove
he was lying. So far he hadn't. She had been home alone Friday night while her
mom and Pink went bowling. She hadn't even talked to her friends on the phone.

Keith didn't answer for a moment. It was perfectly obvious
to Jana that he was stalling while he made up a story, but no one else seemed
to notice that. The crowd was quiet, waiting for his response.

"We went to Mama Mia's," he said at last. Jana
opened her mouth to explode again, but Keith raised a hand to stop her and went
on, talking to his audience as if he loved every minute of being in the
spotlight. "Jana didn't want to go anyplace where Wacko kids would see us
because she hadn't figured out what to tell Beth yet. That's why we went to
Mama Mia's."

Beth turned furious eyes on Jana, but Jana could only look
at her helplessly. Her idea of calling Keith out in front of everyone and
proving that he was a liar had backfired!

"We even hid out in the booth farthest away from the
window to eat our pizza," Keith went on.

Jana knew she was defeated. There was nothing she could say
that would convince even one single person that Keith was lying. She was so
wrapped up in her own misery that she almost didn't hear Randy's question.

"What kind of pizza did you order?" he asked
quietly. He had stepped out of the crowd and was staring hard at Keith.

Keith shrugged. "Large sausage with double cheese. So
what?"

Jana's mouth dropped open. At the same instant, Randy
grabbed the front of Keith's shirt and pulled him close. "You're a liar,
Masterson! Jana didn't go to Mama Mia's with you Friday night! I
know
she didn't!"

Keith pulled himself free of Randy's grasp and said with a
smirk, "Oh, yeah? Just how do you know that?"

Jana's heart was beating triple time. She knew what Randy
was going to say, but most important, she knew that he really did believe her
now and that he really did care.

Randy put his hands on his hips and looked at Keith with
disgust. "Because she doesn't
like
sausage pizza, even with double
cheese. You wouldn't know that, of course. What you also wouldn't know is that
she always eats pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom pizza. She's got
good
taste!
"

Keith's expression went rapidly from surprise to fear as the
crowd began to grumble.

"Hey, so I forgot what kind of pizza we had. Big deal!"
he said, scowling. "So I was wrong. Okay?"

"You were wrong, all right," snapped Randy. "And
you'd better never pull a trick like that again."

Jana stood awkwardly watching the two boys faced off at each
other, her heart in her throat, praying that neither of them decided to throw a
punch.

Slowly Keith began backing toward the school building,
muttering, "Big deal, big deal."

As the crowd began to disperse, Randy approached Jana. "Gosh,
Jana, I'm sorry I didn't believe you," he said softly. "I know Keith
can be a real jerk sometimes, but he really had me convinced until he came out
with that stuff about the pizza."

"That's okay," Jana told him, feeling suddenly
shy. "It was my fault, too. I shouldn't have been so
stubborn.
"

Randy's soft laughter broke the tension, and Jana laughed,
too. Everything was going to be okay between them now. She could feel it. "And
I really loved your line about good taste."

"Jana." Beth's voice was quiet beside her.

Jana turned to look at her friend, whose eyes were
glistening with tears. Katie and Melanie stood silently beside her.

"I knew Keith was a jerk sometimes, but I never dreamed
he'd pull something like that," Beth went on. "I'm sorry I blamed
you."

Sighing, Jana tried to find words to explain. "I
suppose you can guess most of it now. Keith was trying to get me to go out with
him all those times you saw us talking together. I couldn't tell you. I knew
how much it would hurt you."

"You should have at least told us," said Katie. "Maybe
Melanie and I could have thought of a way to handle it."

"I know that now," admitted Jana. "I hurt you
worse by keeping it a secret, Beth, and I hurt you guys, too, by not confiding
in you. I guess I was just . . . well"—she swallowed hard—"being
stubborn again. I expected you to believe me, no matter how bad things looked.
I shouldn't have done that. No friendship, not even ours, can take that kind of
strain."

Beth rushed up and gave Jana a gigantic hug. "I just
feel awful! I should never have believed those rumors. I should have known
better. Can we still be best friends?"

"Of course, silly," said Jana. She looked at each
of The Fabulous Five. "We're all still best friends. And, Beth, I'm
especially sorry about Keith."

Beth's face clouded. "Yeah, me, too." Jana thought
she saw Beth's chin tremble, but Beth sighed and said bravely, "Oh, well.
I guess I can live without him. I mean, I've always known he was immature, and
he's acted like a jerk
lots
of times, but . . ."

Jana squeezed her hand. She hoped with all her heart that
Beth could find someone as wonderful as Randy. But right now, she knew, Beth
hurt too badly to even think about anyone else.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" piped up Katie. "Why
don't the three of us fix a
très
gourmet dinner for Jana and Randy to
celebrate their getting back together. I've got some great recipes." Turning
back to Randy and Jana, she continued. "Melanie and Beth and I could cook
the food, set a romantic candlelit table, and then leave you guys alone."

Randy gave Katie a blank look. "What's a
tray
gourmet
meal?" he asked.

"Très,"
Katie insisted. "It's French
for very. A
very
gourmet meal. Don't you people ever pay attention in
French class?"

Randy looked at Jana, and she knew what he was thinking.

"Thanks, Katie," she said. "But if you don't
mind, we'll find a way to celebrate getting back together on our own."

Then she winked at Randy and slipped her hand into his, and
they walked away together.