Fabulous Five 015 - Melanie's Identity Crisis Read Free Page B

She didn't know how
to respond to Funny. She had already mentioned how much fun it was going to be
to learn about their ancestors and find out more about themselves, and that had
made Funny angry. What more was there to say?
    "It's because . . ." Funny's voice trailed off so
that Melanie couldn't hear the reason she gave.
    "What did you say?"
    Funny fidgeted from one foot to the other and chewed her
lower lip. "I said "—she paused, sighing deeply—"it's
because I'm adopted. I don't know much about my birth family, and what good
will it do to find out about the Hawthorne ancestors? I'm not like any of them
anyway. Some family tree, huh?" she grumbled.
    Melanie looked away from Funny, trying to hide her
embarrassment and fumbling for something to say.
    "Oh, it's okay," said Funny. "I've just never
told anybody. The Hawthornes adopted me when I was a tiny baby, and I forget
about it myself most of the time. But now that Mrs. Clark has started this
stupid project, I don't know what to do."
    "Have you talked to your parents about it?" asked
Melanie. Then she winced, wondering if the word "parents" had been
the right choice.
    "No," said Funny. "I was afraid that if I
brought up the subject, they'd think I wanted to know about all that other
stuff, and it might hurt their feelings. We're pretty close, and I'd die if
they got the wrong idea. They might think I didn't love them."
    Melanie nodded. She could appreciate Funny's feeling that
way. She remembered the warm glow she had gotten the night before when she had
been joking with her mother and father about which one of them had given her
good looks and which one brains. It would be awful if they ever thought she
cared about someone else.
    "I know I could just go ahead and fill out the family
tree with my Hawthorne family just to get a good grade in Family Living,"
Funny went on. "But this genealogy project is making my life just too
confusing. Instead of finding out who I am, the way Mrs. Clark said we would, I'm
starting to feel like a nobody. I don't really belong to anyone."
    Melanie's eyes widened and she rushed to Funny. "Oh,
no. You can't feel that way! You're a super person. Everybody likes you because
you smile all the time and cheer people up. Don't say you feel like a nobody."
    Funny looked startled for an instant, then seemed to smile
in spite of herself. "Thanks," she said, giving Melanie's hand a warm
squeeze. Glancing quickly at her watch, she added, "Eeek! I'd better get
out of here. My friends will be wondering what happened to me."
    "Mine, too," agreed Melanie.
    The girls said good-bye and went to their lockers, and as
they turned in different directions in the hall, Melanie called out to Funny
that she would see her at Bumpers. But when Melanie arrived a little while
later and spotted Laura McCall, Tammy Lucero, and Melissa McConnell sitting on
stools at the counter, Funny wasn't with them. She's feeling better so she'll
be here, Melanie told herself, but even though she kept an eye on the door,
Funny never arrived. I guess she wasn't feeling that much better after all,
Melanie told herself.
    As she walked home a little while later, Melanie thought
about Funny's predicament and sympathized with her all over again. Funny had
said that she felt like a nobody. It must be awful to feel that way, she
mused.

CHAPTER 4
    Shane caught up with Melanie a block from school the next
morning. He was puffing and panting as if he had run all the way from home.
    "Hey, what's up?" she asked as he slowed beside
her. "You usually beat me to school by at least fifteen minutes."
    He looked worried as he shook his head. "It's Igor. I've
been holding his claw most of the night. Finally the sun came up and he dropped
off to sleep."
    "Is he still pining away for a girlfriend?" she
asked, trying her best to swallow the giggle that was bubbling up in her
throat. She didn't want Shane to know that she burst out laughing every time
she thought about a lovesick iguana.
    "Yeah," said Shane.