Fabulous Five 017 - Celebrity Auction by Betsy Haynes

they stared at each other for a
moment. Beth felt as if a steel hand were squeezing her heart. Keith was the
only boy she had ever really liked, and she had just told him that she didn't
want to go with him anymore. But at least she had put it into words. His
actions had been telling her for a long time that he felt the same way.
    Finally Keith looked down. "Okay," he said with a
shrug. "If that's how you feel."
    Beth nodded, praying that the tears she felt wouldn't spring
into her eyes and give her away. Then she turned and walked slowly down the
hall.
    She stumbled through her afternoon classes, barely aware of
what was going on in them and completely forgetting to mention the fingerprint
to anyone. After school, she avoided her friends, even though she had told them
she planned to break up with Keith. She just wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
When she got home, she tiptoed up to her room, relieved that no one was in the
kitchen to stop her and ask about her day. Brian's music was going full blast
in his room, and when she slipped into her own room and closed the door behind
her, what she saw there made a lump form in her throat.
    "Agatha," she cried, jumping into the middle of
her bed where her shaggy friend waited with her nose between her paws. "Oh,
I'm so glad you're here. You knew I needed you, didn't you?" she said,
hugging the huge dog and letting flow the tears she had held back since that
awful conversation with Keith.

CHAPTER 16
    The next day, the rumor that Mr. Dracovitch had one of the
vandal's fingerprints and was testing it was flying around Wakeman like crazy.
Beth heard it herself from Shawnie Pendergast when she stopped at the drinking
fountain between two of her morning classes.
    "Dekeisha Adams told me she actually saw Mr. Dracovitch
looking at a piece of broken plate under a microscope. The boys must have left
it when they trashed the cafeteria," said Shawnie. "Those jerks weren't
as smart as they thought they were."
    "Right," said Beth. "That's what I heard,
too." She smiled to herself. Since so many kids were talking about it,
surely the word would spread to Steve Melchior and his crowd soon, if it hadn't
already.
    She didn't have to wonder long. As she was closing her
locker after school, John Mauhl and Jay Romberg walked hurriedly past her. They
looked worried, and she heard Jay ask John, "What's Melchior mad about?"
but she couldn't hear John's answer as they went out the exit.
    Beth clutched her books to her chest and scampered after
them just in time to see the two boys meet Steve Melchior and Tucker Cobler in
a corner of the outside wall of the school. Steve looked very angry, and he was
waving his arms and shouting at the others. Beth ducked behind the gum tree and
listened to what he was saying.
    "Which one of you stupid idiots took his gloves off? Was it you, John? Were you afraid you'd get your gloves all dirty?"
    "No, I didn't do it," John protested, holding his
hands up. "I had them on the whole time."
    "Me, too," said Tucker.
    Steve looked at Jay. "Hey, no! Not me, man. I kept my
gloves on."
    "Well, somebody fouled up, and it wasn't me," said
Steve angrily. "And now we've got to do something about it."
    Steve's voice faded and Beth peeked from behind the tree to
see what they were doing. They were huddling with their heads together, and
Steve was telling the others something she couldn't hear. Beth took the
opportunity to sneak away. She had pushed her luck far enough.
    When she reached the street, she let out the breath she had
been holding and did a little dance step. Her plan was working. Now, the rest
of it was up to Steve and his crowd. Somehow she just knew they would come
through for her. She did another little dance step and headed for Bumpers.
     
    "Hi, sweetheart," Mrs. Barry greeted Beth when she
entered the Barry kitchen later. Beth had met the rest of The Fabulous Five at
Bumpers and had told them about what she had seen and overheard behind the gum
tree. They all agreed to