Fabulous Five 012 - Katie's Dating Tips (4 page)

Riding to school with Willie the next morning, Katie chose
her words carefully and then said, "Mom, if you want my advice, I'd
mention the Ramses the Great exhibit when you're in the teachers' lounge today
at noon. You know, just bring it up casually. Mention that you're dying to see
it but that you'd hate to go alone. I'll bet there are other teachers in the
same boat who would love to go with you."

Willie's face brightened. "You know, you're probably
right. That's a terrific idea."

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. Of course I'm right, she
thought. And one of them is undoubtedly Mr. Newkirk. She was tempted to mention
his name to Willie now, but she didn't dare. It might jinx the plan. Anyway,
Mr. Newkirk would probably jump at the chance to take her to see the exhibit.
Then,
with luck
, she would see how nice he is and forget all about Mr.
Dracovitch.

Katie left her mother in the parking lot and met the rest of
The Fabulous Five at their favorite spot by the fence, immediately telling them
of the new developments.

"Wow!" shrieked Christie. "Your mom and Dracula?
That's a riot."

"Don't you dare laugh," Katie warned. "I'll
die if he asks her out."

"There's no doubt about it. The kids in this school
would tease you within an inch of your life," said Jana.

"Yeah, he's so . . . so . . . weird," said Beth.

"He is not," Melanie protested. "I keep
telling you, it's just an act he puts on. You guys misunderstand him."

"Then so does everybody else," added Christie.

"My only hope is that Mr. Newkirk will get on the stick
and ask her out before she gets too carried away with Mr. Dracovitch,"
said Katie. "I even suggested to her that she mention the Egyptian exhibit
that she's dying to see to the other teachers in the lounge at lunchtime. I
just hope Mr. Newkirk takes the hint."

"You could make sure he takes the hint," said
Christie.

"What do you mean?" asked Katie.

"You went to see him before school yesterday morning to
talk about your mom. Why not do the same thing today?"

"Christie, you're a genius," said Katie. "Why
didn't I think of that?" She glanced at her watch. "I'd better hurry
before the bell rings. I'll see you guys later."

Katie raced into the building and took the stairs two at a
time, arriving out of breath at the door to Mr. Newkirk's classroom.

The sound of her panting must have told him she was there,
because he looked up from his desk and motioned her in before she could say a
word.

"Good morning, Katie. I'm glad you stopped by," he
said pleasantly. "I want you to know that your mother is doing an
excellent job with her classes. I hope she's enjoying herself as well."

"Oh, she is," said Katie, nodding emphatically. "She's
having a great time. And she really appreciates how helpful you've been, too."

Mr. Newkirk smiled. "That's nice to hear. Did she
mention if there's anything she needs or anything else I can do for her?"

Katie paused, biting her lower lip. This was the opening she
had been hoping for. Why hadn't she planned what to say next? She took a deep
breath and plunged ahead.

"Oh, everything's fine
at school.
In fact, this
is the best thing that's happened to her in a long time. You know how it is
with writers. They work
alone
all the time. At
home.
She almost
never
gets out. In fact, she's been dying to see the Ramses the Great exhibition at
the Natural History Museum, but of course, she doesn't want to go
alone
.
"

She had been afraid to look at Mr. Newkirk's face while she
was talking, but now she glanced up quickly. She was hoping to see some sort of
reaction, something like the light bulb that flashes on in cartoons when one of
the characters gets a brilliant idea. But there was no light bulb flashing over
Mr. Newkirk's head. In fact, his expression was almost blank, and Katie had the
sensation that she had been talking to one of the stone statues in the museum.

Finally Mr. Newkirk cleared his throat nervously and said, "Well,
I'm glad she's benefiting from being at school. Ramses exhibit, eh? Hmmm."

Just then the first bell rang, and Katie said goodbye and
headed for her homeroom. She knew she must be absolutely glowing with pleasure.
There was no doubt about it. Mr. Newkirk had gotten the message. It was obvious
that he was a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it himself. Or maybe
he had thought of it, and he had been trying to get up his nerve to ask her all
along. It didn't matter which. She felt totally confident that when Willie mentioned
the Ramses the Great exhibit at lunch today, Mr. Newkirk would make his move.

As Katie got closer to the science room, her nose began to
twitch. Mr. Dracovitch was at it again. Awful fumes, smelling like a
combination of rotten eggs and old sneakers, seeped out from under his door and
made her eyes sting.

Coming toward Katie, Daphne Alexandrou put her hand over her
nose. "Pe-e-e-YEW!" she cried.

Other kids in the hall were making faces and pointing toward
the science room, too. Some were grumbling about Mr. Dracovitch and his gross
concoctions, but most were simply hurrying to get away from the smell.

Katie ducked her head and walked faster. How could Willie
possibly be interested in him? she wondered, shaking her head in amazement. She
would have to pin her hopes on Mr. Newkirk's asking Willie to the exhibit at
the museum at lunchtime to bring her mother to her senses.

The morning went quickly, and Katie was heading for the
cafeteria when she remembered that she still had to put the finishing touches
on her letter to the editor for last-period English class. Even though she had
worked until well past her bedtime the night before, she still had to write the
final paragraph and make a clean copy to turn in.

Christie was waiting for her by the cafeteria door. "I'm
going to skip lunch today," Katie said as she hurried to Christie. "I've
got to finish my letter to the editor." Then, digging in her purse, she
pulled out some coins and added, "Will you get me a carton of lemon
yogurt? I'll meet you outside in a little while and eat it before the bell
rings."

The two girls parted, and Katie headed for the media center.
If she hurried, she might even make it to the cafeteria before her friends
finished their lunches. She found an empty table and had just gotten the draft
copy of her letter out of her notebook and started composing the final
paragraph when Beth and Christie burst through the door and rushed to her. "You're
not going to believe this," exclaimed Beth, her eyes as big as saucers. "You're
just going to die!"

"That's right," said Christie. "You'd better
come to the cafeteria
right now
.
"

Katie shook her head. "I don't understand. What's
wrong?"

"Do you know who has lunchroom duty today? Mr.
Dracovitch!" Beth sputtered. "He's in there right now eating his
lunch, and your mother is in there, too, eating with him!"

"Yeah," insisted Christie. "And you should
see how they're smiling at each other. The kids could start a food fight, and I
don't think Mr. Dracovitch would even notice."

Katie stared at her friends. Then she opened her mouth to
answer, but no words would come out.

Katie scrambled to gather her books and papers and follow
Christie and Beth out of the media center. Surely her friends were mistaken,
she thought. Willie wouldn't do a thing like this to her, would she?

"Hurry," called Beth, who was out in front. "We
don't want them to leave before we get there."

They sped toward the cafeteria, slowing slightly to pass the
hall-monitor's desk so that they wouldn't be called back for running. Even
during lunch period running in the halls was considered a major crime.

There was a round window like a porthole in each of the
swinging doors leading into the lunchroom, and Katie zeroed in on one of them,
craning to see the table at the far end of the room where the teacher with
lunchroom duty usually sat.

She couldn't believe her eyes. There they were. Mr.
Dracovitch, tall and thin, with his pasty complexion and incredible Dracula
wig, and her own beautiful red-haired mother, nibbling on sandwiches and
giggling together like a pair of lovesick teenagers.

Katie threw a hand over her eyes and leaned against the
wall. "What am I going to do?" she moaned.

When the last bell rang for Katie's English class, the
students were still milling around the room, comparing letters and arguing
about whose cause was most important.

Only Katie sat silently in her seat with her arms crossed
and a grumpy expression on her face. This was the only class all afternoon
where someone hadn't made a big deal out of her mother and Mr. Dracovitch's
being together in the lunchroom. But that was only the half of it. She had
finally finished her letter to the editor, but she was nervous about turning it
in. Her mother would probably come unglued when she read it. Still, Katie
reasoned, it was something she felt very strongly about.

"Okay, people," called Miss Dickinson as she came
sailing into the room followed by Willie. "Time to settle down."

There was a lot of shuffling as kids took their seats and
got ready for class to start. When the room quieted down, Willie stood beside
Miss Dickinson's desk and asked the class, "Did you enjoy this writing
assignment?"

All around the room kids started nodding and talking at
once.

"I
loved
it," cried Shawnie Pendergast.

"Me, too!" shouted Joel Murphy.

"It's the first time in my life that I liked writing,"
chimed in Mona Vaughn.

"Good," said Willie. "We're going to begin
the class today by letting some of you read your letters out loud."

Katie gulped and then scrunched down in her seat, ducking
out of her mother's line of vision. It had never occurred to her that she might
have to read her letter out loud.

Fortunately for Katie, the chaos started all over again.
Hands rocketed into the air as kids clamored to be the first to read. Some kids
even waved their papers at Willie as if getting her attention would somehow
insure their chances of being called on. Katie kept her eyes down, counting on
her mother to choose students who were anxious to read.

Willie pointed to Mona Vaughn. "Since this is the first
writing assignment you've ever enjoyed, I think you should read first,"
Willie declared.

Mona looked surprised for an instant and then stood, holding
her letter out in front of her as she read. "'Dear Editor,'" she
began proudly "'I would like to protest the large amount of homework
assigned every night to the students of Wakeman Junior High. We students work
very hard during class and deserve a break at night and on weekends, but the
teachers just keep piling it on. I'm sure that if someone gave them homework so
that they could see how it feels, they would understand, and then they would
stop giving so much homework to us poor students. Yours truly, Mona Vaughn.'"

"Right on, Mona!" shouted Matt Zeboski over the
applause of the rest of the class.

Miss Dickinson rose to her feet at the back of the room,
frowning at Matt like a storm cloud, and even Willie shot him a warning glance.
When everyone was quiet again, Willie said, "Very nice, Mona. As you can
see, your complaint has a lot of support among the members of the student body.
Sometimes you won't realize how many people agree with you about something
until you take a public stand on it. Now, who would like to be next?"

Tony Calcaterra was leaning so far out of his desk to wave
his paper at Willie that it almost touched her. "Okay, Tony," she
said, shaking her head. "Let's hear it."

Tony grinned as he got to his feet. "Thanks, Ms.
Shannon," he said. Then he cleared his throat and began reading. "'Dear
Editor. I am writing this letter to complain about the food in the school
cafeteria. It is so gross that it is even hard to swallow. Many students agree
with me, and a lot of them are writing to you about the same subject. I hope
that you will take our complaint seriously and do something about it. You may ask,
what can be done? We have a suggestion about that, too. We think that the cooks
should conduct a taste test for students and let us pick the food we like best
to be served in the cafeteria. Yours truly, Tony Calcaterra.'"

This time the applause was thunderous. Joel Murphy was
grasping his throat with both hands and making gagging noises, and four or five
other boys were waving letters in the air and yelling, "Listen to mine!
Listen to mine!"

"How many of you have written about the food in the
cafeteria?" Willie asked once she had restored order.

Nine boys raised their hands. Katie was starting to relax.
If her mother called on all nine of them, it would take up the rest of the
class period, and she wouldn't have to worry about being called on to read. Willie
was talking to the class again, and Katie tuned in just in time to hear her
mother say, "I think there's time for one more letter. Katie, why don't
you let us hear yours?"

Katie bolted upright. Her mother was looking straight at her
and so was everyone in the class. They were all staring at her as if they expected
her to read something extraspecial since she was Willie's daughter.

She coughed to hide her embarrassment and looked down at her
letter. It began:
Dear Editor, I
would like to protest the behavior
of a certain teacher at Wakeman Junior High.

"Katie?" her mother said questioningly. "Would
you begin, please?"

Katie still couldn't look up. Her hands were beginning to
tremble, making the black letters seem to move around the page like columns of
ants. How could she read this out loud? What would the others think of her?
Especially Tony? And what about her mother? Willie would be terribly angry and
probably embarrassed, too.

Finally she took a deep breath and began to speak. "Dear
Editor, I would like to add my complaint to the others you have received about
the food in the school cafeteria. . . ."