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

bustling up. "What color crayon
would you like?" she asked, handing Melanie the other supplies she needed
for her rubbing.
    "Gold," Melanie said proudly. "This is my
great-great-grandmother's tombstone."
    Mrs. Clark nodded appreciatively. "Have you learned a
lot of interesting things about her from your family that you can share with
the class?"
    Melanie swallowed a giggle. "Yes . . . um . . . I think
so."
    The teacher gave her a gold crayon, nodded again, and moved
on.
    Melanie busied herself taping the heavy paper over the
lettering, wishing again that she could talk to Cordia.
    "If you were here," she said softly, "I'd
tell you about my boyfriends and ask you how to get them to pay more attention
to me." Melanie sighed. "Shane didn't even look at me when he was
telling the story about Igor on the bus," she went on. "I don't think
he likes me anymore."
    She picked up the gold crayon and gently rubbed it against
the surface, watching the letters and numbers magically appear on the paper. "And
Scott acts as if I'm invisible. I'll bet you'd know what to do. You were a real
expert on things like that."
    Suddenly she pushed too hard and her crayon zipped right off
the edge of the stone, landing in the grass. When she reached for it, she
noticed for the first time that Scott was working on a rubbing only two stones
away. Had he chosen that tombstone on purpose so that he could be near her?
    Melanie giggled as she reached for the crayon. It was almost
as if she had received a message from Great-great-grandmother Cordia to look in
that direction. Otherwise she might not have noticed him for ages.
    The idea gave her a creepy feeling and she started to work
on her rubbing again when another thought occurred to her. Maybe Cordia was
answering her questions about her boyfriends. Maybe she was saying that Melanie
should flirt with Scott even though he had been ignoring her. Maybe she was
even saying that she should concentrate on Scott and forget about Shane—at
least for now. Of course, she thought gleefully. That has to be it! The rotten
mood she had been in earlier suddenly disappeared.
    Melanie smoothed her long hair with one hand. Then she took
a deep breath and called as sweetly as she could, "Hi, Scott, what color
crayon are you using?"
    "Green," he replied matter-of-factly, but Melanie
was certain she could detect a tiny smile playing around the corners of his
mouth. She had been right. She was supposed to flirt with him, after all.
    "Mine's gold because this is where my great-great-grandmother
is buried," she bragged. "Come here a minute and I'll show you how
gorgeous this rubbing is going to be when I'm finished."
    Scott got to his feet slowly, but Melanie couldn't help
noticing that he reached her in an instant and knelt beside her in the grass.
Then he took a long look at the rubbing as if it were the most interesting
thing he had seen in a long time.
    "Yeah, that's really nice," he said, darting quick
looks at her out of the corner of his eyes.
    Melanie had to fight down an urge to giggle with delight.
What would I ever have done without Great-great-grandmother Cordia? she
wondered.
    She scooted a little bit closer to him and said softly, "Her
life was sooooo romantic. I know because I read all of her love letters.
They're tied together with a pink ribbon, and my grandmother keeps them in an
old trunk."
    "Wow," said Scott, looking at her in astonishment.
"But didn't you feel funny reading them? I mean . . . aren't they kind of
personal?"
    Melanie's mind raced to find an answer. She didn't want him
to think she was a snoop. "Don't forget what Mrs. Clark said about
learning things from studying our ancestors," she said quickly. Then she
added coyly, "I'm learning a lot of things about love from reading her
letters."
    Scott fidgeted slightly, then raised his eyes to meet hers. "You
are?" he asked shyly, but Melanie was sure she detected a hopeful sound in
his voice.
    She nodded, glancing gratefully at Cordia's gravestone