Free Fabulous Five 005 - The Bragging War by Betsy Haynes

Laura leading Jana?
She wasn't asking all these questions for nothing. She tried to catch Jana's
attention to warn her.
    It was then that Laura asked the killer question. "Does
he like you?"
    "Me?" Jana answered with a laugh and a confused
look on her face. "Of course he likes me. We're cousins, aren't we?"
    Beth sank in the booth. She thought she knew what was coming
next.
    Laura grinned like a cat playing with a mouse. "If he
likes you so much, why don't you ask him to come by Bumpers Friday after school
and see all the fans he has here before the concert?"
    "Yeah, Jana," Melissa McConnell joined in. "Why
don't you ask him?"
    All the kids who had been listening cheered and yelled, "YEAH,
JANA! ASK HIM! ASK HIM!"
    Jana's face went white. "I said he's too busy. He has
to practice and set up his sound equipment and things."
    Laura had caught her mouse. "He has a road crew to do
that. Besides, is he too busy even to do a teensy favor for all of his fans at
Bumpers? I thought you said he loves his fans."
    "I did but . . ."
    "Come on, Jana," Tammy Lucero said with a sly
grin. "You aren't hiding something, are you?"
    Jana looked as if she could die.
    Beth had to help her friend. "She will ask him,"
she burst in. "And I'll bet he comes and signs autographs for everyone
here."
    Jana looked at Beth in shocked disbelief.
    The word spread through Bumpers like wildfire. Everyone
starting cheering and slapping Jana on the back and telling her what a great
person she was. Only Beth sat back in silence, stunned at her own super
extralarge mouth.

CHAPTER 16
    "This special meeting of The Fabulous Five has been
called to decide whether we're going to lynch Beth Barry or tar and feather her
and run her out of town," said Jana. The Fabulous Five were in Jana's
bedroom, and Beth had never seen Jana look so angry.
    "I vote for tarring and feathering," said Katie. "Lynching's
too fast."
    "What about strangling her with one of Brain Damage's
guitar strings?" asked Christie. "I can't think of anything more
appropriate."
    "I think we ought to make her eat her words until she
bursts," volunteered Melanie.
    "With her big mouth, she'd never get full," said
Katie.
    Beth felt as if she were falling into a bottomless pit. She
had just been trying to help Jana when she told everyone at Bumpers that Jana
would ask Trevor Morgan to come by and sign autographs. She hadn't even meant
to say it. It had just come out that way. And then every single person in
Bumpers had come over to their table to tell Jana that they couldn't wait to
see Trevor Morgan in person and to get his autograph. When The Fabulous Five
were finally alone, Jana had demanded an immediate meeting, and they had
marched Beth to Jana's apartment.
    "Beth, what were you thinking about?" asked
Jana. She was practically in tears. "You should have known this would
happen. Now what are we going to do? You know I don't know Trevor Morgan. There's
no way I can get him to come to Bumpers. Except at concerts, people can't get
within a hundred feet of a rock star. I'm going to look like a fool."
    "The Fabulous Five are all going to look like
fools," said Katie. "You're actually doing what The Fantastic
Foursome couldn't do—make us look bad."
    Beth held back tears of her own. "I'm sorry. Really I
am. Every time Laura McCall made a big brag, I couldn't stand it. I just had to
show her up because she was trying to show us up. Before I knew what was
happening, it turned into a full-fledged bragging war."
    Jana looked at her sadly for a moment. "Beth, Beth,
what are we going to do with you? Your wild stories were okay at Mark Twain
Elementary where everyone knew you and how dramatic you liked to be. But people
don't know you that well yet at Wakeman. They think you mean what you're
saying. Now you've got us all in trouble. Come on, gang, think. Is there any
way we can straighten this out without looking too foolish?"
    "I don't know," said Christie. "You know you
said that you were related to Trevor Morgan