Read Online Fabulous Five 017 - Celebrity Auction by Betsy Haynes - Free Book Online

were coming so fast that they
were getting ahead of her thoughts, and she wasn't sure when she opened her
mouth just what would come out. "Mr. Bell has agreed to let us use school
stationery, so the letters will still look official. But if all of us choose
our favorite stars to write to and do our best to make our letters convincing,
it would be better than any old form letter. I'll bet we'll get terrific
results."
    "Hey, it sounds great to me," said Pam.
    "Me, too," said Kaci excitedly. "When do we
get started? Do you have the addresses yet? I already know who I want to write
to. Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I want to ask them what it's like to be
big stars and brothers, too."
    Katie choked on her soda and turned her face away from the
others. Beth knew she was trying to keep from laughing. Beth didn't want to
look at Jana, but she couldn't help it. The expression on Jana's face said snow
job as plainly as if she had written the words across her forehead with a
felt-tipped pen. Still, Beth knew that she finally had everybody's attention.
She couldn't stop now.
    "But that's only part of what we have to do," she
added quickly. "You've all heard how Steve Melchior and his friends are
enjoying our misery and laughing because the adults in this town are blaming
all of us for what happened."
    Everyone nodded and frowned.
    "So what?" asked Jennifer. "Who's going to
turn them in?"
    " They are," Beth said, pounding her fist
emphatically. "They're going to turn themselves in. But it's up to us to
figure out a way to make them do it."
    What do I mean, it's up to us? Beth thought as she
looked out at the blank stares coming to her from everyone in the room. It's
really up to me if it's going to be done, and I'm going to have to think up
something fast.
    "Hey, don't worry. We'll think of something," Beth
assured them. She didn't want to blow the progress she had just made on the
celebrity auction. But at the same time, deep inside she knew that one way to
convince kids that the auction was worthwhile was to make sure the blame for
the vandalism was placed squarely on the persons who did it.
    By the time the meeting was over and The Fabulous Five left
Bumpers, Kaci, Pam, and Jennifer had volunteered to spend the rest of the
afternoon at the library copying addresses out of The New Address Book. They promised to get at least one hundred more and to help pass them out at
school Monday morning to other students who were willing to write letters.
    Beth said good-bye to her friends and headed home, knowing
that she should be thinking about Steve Melchior and his crowd, but Keith was
on her mind instead. He had barely spoken to her since Thursday morning on the
school ground when he had tried to tell her that he had forgotten their date
the night before and she had refused to believe him. She had so hoped that he
would come to the meeting at Bumpers. As angry as she got at him sometimes, he
was still the only boy she had ever kissed and the one she liked best in the
whole world.
    "I'll call him the minute I get home," she
promised herself. "I will if Brittany isn't on the phone," she
grumbled.
    When she reached home, she was relieved to find that
Brittany had gone out with her friends and the telephone was all hers.
    "Hi, this is Beth. Is Keith there, please?" she
asked when Mr. Masterson answered the phone.
    "Sure. Just a minute, Beth. I'll call him."
    Beth stood in the upstairs hallway, nervously bouncing on
her toes as she waited.
    "Hello?" Keith said a minute later.
    "Hi," she said shyly.
    There was a moment of silence and then he said, "Who is
this?"
    Beth's heart stopped. "It's me. Beth. Didn't you
recognize my voice?"
    "Oh, well, all you said was 'hi.' How was I supposed to
know it was you from only one syllable? Right?"
    She frowned to herself. This call certainly wasn't going the
way she had wanted it to.
    "So what have you been doing all day?" asked
Keith, his voice softening. Beth had the distinct feeling that he was trying