Free Fabulous Five 001 - Seventh-Grade Rumors by Betsy Haynes Page B

arguing about at the lockers when
Melanie overheard them a couple of days ago. Maybe Funny hadn't wanted to spy,
but Laura had forced her.
    The more Jana thought about it, the more convinced she
became. Who would suspect a happy, carefree person such as Funny? A bubblehead?
Hadn't Funny followed her into the girls' bathroom the day they met and started
the conversation herself? Sure, she had Jana's schedule card, but she might
have been just waiting for an opportunity like that. And hadn't Funny been
terribly anxious to turn her back on her old friends and make friends with
Jana?
    It all fit like pieces to a puzzle. Laura and the rest of
The Fantastic Foursome were probably laughing their heads off at Jana and The
Fabulous Five. And then she remembered the snatches of conversation she had
heard when Funny and Laura were talking to the boys in the hall. Movie . . . tonight . . . Bumpers. The rumors were right. Laura McCall was sending
Funny to spy on The Fabulous Five, just as she had suspected, but that was only
part of her plan.

CHAPTER 14
    The sidewalk in front of the theater was crowded with kids
from Wakeman Junior High when Jana and her three friends arrived half an hour
before time for the movie to begin. Jana's spirits rose even though she had
still not been able to reach Beth or to resolve her doubts about Funny
Hawthorne.
    Some boys she didn't know were horsing around, but most kids
were either waiting in line to buy tickets or standing around in small groups
talking.
    "Hey, Jana!" It was Curtis, and he skidded to a
stop beside her. He was all smiles as he pushed his glasses up on his nose and
waited expectantly for her to answer.
    "Hi, Curtis," she said.
    "Mark Twain kids are sitting on the left side," he
told her. "Do you want me to save some seats?"
    Jana shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm not sure how many
of us are sitting together. We'll see you inside."
    She looked past Curtis and scanned the crowd. Randy and his
friends had just gotten their tickets and were going in the door.
    "There's Jon Smith standing over there by himself,"
said Christie. She was pointing toward a boy leaning against the building. "Isn't
he cute?"
    Jana glanced at him and then smiled at Christie and nodded.
Jon Smith was medium height with medium brown hair and a medium build. Nothing
great, compared to Randy Kirwan, and he certainly didn't look as if he had
celebrities for parents. But , she thought as she looked him over
for a second time, he wasn't so bad either.
    Alexis Duvall and Lisa Snow were in the ticket line and
waved when Jana looked their way. There were lots of kids from her old school
here. She was relieved that they wouldn't be outnumbered, since it was a Friday
night tradition for Mark Twain seventh-graders to sit on one side of the
theater and Riverfield seventh-graders to sit on the other.
    Finally Jana spotted Laura McCall and her three friends.
They had just piled out of a small red sports car that was pulling away from
the curb, and they were coming across the street toward the theater with Laura
in the lead and the other three trailing behind her. She looked terrific in
tight-fitting jeans and a fringed western jacket. It was obvious from the way
her eyes darted around that she was looking for someone—someone she intended to
impress. Jana had the sinking feeling that she knew who that someone was.
    By this time her friends had noticed The Fantastic Foursome
also.
    "Look out. Here they come," Katie buzzed in Jana's
ear.
    "Laura had better leave Scott and Shane alone,"
warned Melanie.
    Just then Jana's eyes met Funny's. Jana wanted to look away,
but Funny gazed at her with such a pleading expression that she couldn't. Jana
raised her hand in a brief wave and allowed a smile to flicker across her face.
Then she led her friends toward the ticket line before Funny could respond.
    It was World War Three inside the theater. The two schools
were squared off at each other over a chasm of empty seats in the middle.