Fabulous Five 006 - The Parent Game Read Free

got something serious to talk to you about, and I
wondered if you could come over," Taffy continued.
    "What is it?" Jana asked suspiciously.
    "I'd really rather not talk about it over the phone."
Taffy paused and then added mysteriously, "It has something to do with
Randy Kirwan."
    Jana's mind whirled. Why would Taffy want to talk to her
about Randy? Taffy had tried to steal Randy away from Jana several times in the
past, but since they started junior high, Taffy hadn't been up to her old
tricks. "What do you want to talk about Randy for?"
    "Like I said, it's too important to talk about
over the phone. But . . . "—she left the word hanging
dramatically for a moment—"if you don't really want to know . . ."
    "When should I come over?"
    "Right now would be a good time."
    Jana hesitated before saying, "I'll be right there."
She looked at the receiver in her hand after Taffy had hung up. The steady
drone of the dial tone sounded ominous.

CHAPTER 3
    Jana stood on the front porch of Taffy's house waiting for
someone to answer the door. Taffy lived in the nicer part of town, and it had
taken Jana a full twenty minutes to bicycle over. She wouldn't have come for
anything else that Taffy might have said except that she had something serious
to talk about that concerned Randy Kirwan. It was just like Taffy to want to
get Jana on her own turf without any of Jana's friends around.
    It's funny, Jana thought, she'd known Taffy since the first
grade, and the only time Taffy and she had come close to being friends was when
they had found Baby Ashley in a basket on the front steps of Mark Twain
Elementary. Baby Ashley had brought them close together for a short time, and
Jana remembered the warm feelings they had shared as they knelt over the
wiggling baby with her little hands waving and clutching at their fingers. It
hadn't taken long, however, for Taffy to go back to being her old self and
trying to hog the spotlight when the newspaper reporter came.
    The door was opened by Taffy's mother. "Oh, hello,
Jana."
    "Hi, Mrs. Sinclair." If Jana could feel sorry for
Taffy for any reason, it would be because of her mother. She was always pushing
Taffy into acting and singing classes and modeling jobs, and she had even
gotten her a role in one of the episodes of the TV show Interns and Lovers. Jana had to admit that Taffy had never looked better than in the death scene.
    Jana stepped into the foyer as Taffy came into the living
room. She couldn't believe it. Taffy was just as dressed up at home as she was
at school. She was wearing a pleated skirt and a sweater layered over a
gorgeous blouse, and her hair was pulled back with a bright blue ribbon. Seeing
her made Jana feel scroungy in the old jeans she had put on after school.
    "Hi, Jana," Taffy said, sweeping toward her.
    "Hi," responded Jana, trying to be friendly in
front of Taffy's mother.
    "Let's go up to my room."
    Upstairs Jana tried not to gawk. Taffy's room was big, like
the rest of the rooms she had peeked into on their way, and it had been
redecorated since the one other time Jana had been there. She had thought it was
pretty then, but now she was sure it was the most beautiful bedroom she had
ever seen. It was just as Jana imagined the bedrooms of movie stars would be.
There was a silky canopy that had its center attached to the ceiling and fell
in graceful folds to hide partially a large four-poster bed. In the middle was
a pile of beautiful stuffed animals with the biggest white bear Jana had ever
seen. It was dressed in a tutu and had a sparkly tiara on its head.
    Everything was white in the room, including the furniture
and the carpeting. Jana thought about her own little crowded bedroom with its
used furniture in the tiny apartment she lived in with her mom. After Pink and
her mother were married, she would probably even have to keep some of Pink's
bowling trophies on the shelves in her room.
    The walls of this room were covered with pictures of Taffy
posing in different