Taffy Sinclair 008 - Taffy Sinclair and the Melanie Make-Over by Betsy Haynes Page B

Melanie the way the rest of us were doing, and darting nervous glances around the room as if she were afraid someone would accuse her of making Melanie faint. Not only that, she didn ' t seem the least bit interested in Melanie or how she was feeling. That seemed strange to me, especially since she had been acting as if the two of them were such great friends.
    A moment later Darcy appeared with a paper cup of water. " I got it in the beauty parlor next door, " she said proudly.
    I forgot about Taffy and helped Melanie sit up a little. Then I held her head as she drank. I was glad to see that the color was coming back into her face. But that time Laura had come back.
    " I feel okay now, " said Melanie, trying to sit up. " Honest I do. I just got a little dizzy for a minute. That ' s all. "
    " That ' s super, but I don ' t want you to get up yet anyway. Your mother is on the way. As for everyone else, " Laura said, raising her voice so that the whole class could hear, " I ' m going to dismiss class for today. I think we ' ve had enough excitement, and you can practice walking and work on the list in your workbooks. I ' ll see all of you next Saturday. "
    She shooed us out of the room so quickly that I didn ' t have time to say anything else to Melanie. Still, I don ' t know what I would have said. She was hanging around with Taffy now and had even dressed like Taffy ' s twin and come to class with her. She didn ' t look at me once until after she fainted.
    Christie and Beth and Katie came home with me again. Mom had left a note on the fridge that she had gone shopping, so we had the apartment to ourselves.
    I tossed my jacket into my room and flopped down on the sofa. " I wonder what happened to Melanie? " I asked.
    " She said she just got dizzy doing the exercises, " said Christie. " That happens to me sometimes if I stand up too fast, but I ' ll have to admit, I ' ve never fainted. "
    " She ' s probably been hanging around Taffy Sinclair too much, " Beth said sarcastically. " That could make anybody sick enough to faint. "
    We all laughed at that, and I could see that my friends felt the same about Melanie and Taffy ' s becoming friends as I did.
    " Forget Melanie for now, " I said. " What about Mona? She really needs our help, you know. "
    " Only she doesn ' t want our help, " said Katie, shaking her head.
    " That ' s only because she doesn ' t understand, and we approached her in the wrong way, " I insisted. " She thinks we feel sorry for her. "
    " Well, don ' t we? " asked Christie.
    " Sure, but . . ." My voice trailed off. Maybe my friends were right. Maybe we were wasting our time. Maybe Mona was a lost cause, anyway. Then I remembered how she was always trying to get Taffy ' s attention and how Taffy ignored her. In some ways, it made me think about my father and how I had been trying all these years to get his attention. I had done all sorts of desperate things. Once I even wrote him a letter and pretended that I was on my deathbed. I knew how it felt to be ignored.
    " I think we should try again, " I said. " Only this time we have to think of a way to convince her that we really want to be friends. "
    " She really is okay, " said Beth. " She ' s always nice to everybody. "
    " And remember how she stuck up for Taffy that time we planted the note for Wiggins to find when Taffy was trying to blackmail you? " Katie asked, looking straight at me. " She said that just because Taffy had done something wrong, that didn ' t make it right to do something wrong to Taffy. "
    " We should have noticed sooner that she would make a good friend, " Christie said softly.
    " I ' ve got an idea, " I said. " Let ' s call a special meeting of The Fabulous Five for Monday after school and invite Mona to come. We won ' t ask Melanie, though. Not the way things are. Anyway, clubs are special. Everybody knows that, including Mona, and you don ' t invite someone to come to your club meeting just because you feel sorry for her. "
    Everybody