Free Fabulous Five 015 - Melanie's Identity Crisis by Betsy Haynes Page A

out.
    Melanie didn't say anything for a moment. How could she tell
Funny what was really bothering her? She couldn't admit that the reason she had
wanted to spend the night was to spy on Funny and her family.
    "There's nothing wrong," Melanie said at last. "It's
just that I can't help noticing how cheerful your parents are."
    "Yeah, I know what you mean." Funny giggled softly
in the dark. "My mom, especially. She can always find something to smile
about."
    "Not my mom," grumbled Melanie. "Especially
where I'm concerned. All she ever does is yell at me."
    Now it was Funny's turn to be silent, and Melanie wished she
could say more, but she could never tell Funny the truth about what was
bothering her.
    A little while later, tiny, gurgly snores told Melanie that
Funny was asleep, but it was much later before she was able to close her own
eyes.

CHAPTER 13
    Funny and her mother dropped Melanie off at home on their
way to the library the next morning. Breakfast with the Hawthornes had been as
cheerful as dinnertime had been the night before. Melanie moped around the
house all morning, thinking about how Funny's parents treated their chosen child and wondering why she had spied on the Hawthornes in the first place.
Because now that she had the proof she had been looking for, she felt worse
instead of better.
    She wished that she could talk to someone about her problem.
She had tried to talk to The Fabulous Five at school the day before, but they
had thought she was jumping to conclusions. "But they don't know how it
feels," she whispered to herself.
    She sat down at her desk and began to make a list of all the
ways she could think of that her parents had proven over the last few days that
they didn't love her. One, her mother hadn't been at home when she got sick and
needed to come home. Of course, she had come straight to school and insisted
that Melanie go home and then to bed once she had found out. But what else
could a mother do?
    "Melanie! Will you come down here right now and put
your sleeping bag away!"
    Melanie stiffened at her mother's angry voice. Big deal, she
thought. Can't she ever give me a chance to do things on my own? I was going to
put it away in a few minutes.
    Putting down her ballpoint pen, she scuffed down to the
foyer and scooped up the sleeping bag. Then she hauled it down to the basement
and stuffed it into the closet.
    The puppies were asleep in a furry pile. Rainbow was lying
outside her box this time, and Melanie couldn't resist stopping to pet her.
    "I'll bet you don't yell at your puppies the way my mom
yells at me," she said, and chuckled.
    Rainbow wagged her tail and gazed at Melanie lovingly.
Giving her dog one last pat, she went back up to her room to work on her list
again.
    Two, her parents paid a lot more attention to Jeffy than
they did to her. Of course she was older and needed some independence
sometimes, but still . . .
    "Melanie! You left the basement door open! Get down
here this instant!"
    Exasperated, Melanie sighed loudly. "Why doesn't she
just close it herself?" she muttered out loud.
    When she got to the kitchen, her mother was standing in the
middle of the floor with her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her
face.
    Melanie opened her mouth to protest, but something caught
her attention on the floor. Puddles. She gulped hard and began to count them.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Eight little puddles scattered
all around the kitchen floor.
    "Thanks to you," her mother went on, "the
puppies got upstairs. I want this all cleaned up immediately."
    Melanie nodded and went to get a bucket and a mop. There was
no way she could argue this time. She was just finishing mopping the floor when
the doorbell rang.
    "I'll get it! I'll get it!" Jeffy screamed.
    The next thing Melanie heard was Gran Pennington's cheerful
voice. "Is Melanie here? I've brought something that I'm sure she'll want
to see."
    "In here, Gran," Melanie called. She put the mop
in the bucket and