CHAPTER ONE
"C ome on, Taffy. Get moving! It ' s almost time to leave for school and you haven ' t done your exercises yet. How do you ever expect to become a fashion model if you don ' t keep your figure trim? "
" Coming, Mother. " I groaned as I hurried down the stairs from my bedroom. Can ' t she ever let up? I thought. She was sitting at the kitchen table in her bathrobe with her blond hair still in rollers. It was hard to believe she still wore rollers. They went out with the hula hoop.
" Don ' t forget your ballet lesson after school, " she went on, " and that reminds me. " Her coffee cup stopped in midair, and her face brightened. " I just heard about a wonderful diction coach in New Haven. I ' m going to call her today and see if she can take you as a student over the summer. Then when we line up some television commercials for you, you ' ll be able to do your own speaking parts instead of letting someone else do the voice-overs. In fact, I ' ll bet we ' ll be able to get you some jobs doing voice-overs for other girls. It ' s going to be thrilling for you to be in show business, honey. " She paused and gazed off into the distance. " Just as it was for me when I was one of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. "
My mother was still talking as I raced past her into the family room and hurried through my exercises. Fashion model. Television commercials. Voice-overs. Radio City Rockettes. That was all she ever thought about.
Not me. I had plenty of other things to think about, especially since this was the last week of classes before the summer. I finished my exercises, grabbed my books, and headed for school. I was finally leaving grade school behind and going into junior high, I thought with satisfaction. No more Mark Twain Elementary. No more Jana Morgan and her snobby friends and their big deal club, The Fabulous Five.
The thought of Jana made me bristle. Ever since I could remember she and her friends, Beth Barry, Melanie Edwards, Christie Winchell, and Katie Shannon, had caused me one problem after another, but Jana was definitely the worst. In fifth grade she started a club against me called The Against Taffy Sinclair Club, but this year in sixth grade it was the absolute pits. She still tried to turn everybody against me, including Randy Kirwan, the boy I like. Not only that, The Fabulous Five were all jealous of me because of my looks. Can I help it if I have naturally blond hair and blue eyes? They are also jealous because I had a part in a daytime drama called Interns and Lovers that was on network television last fall and was seen by millions of people all across America, and now I was going to get modeling jobs, first here in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but later on probably even in New York City. I guess I could understand why they were all jealous of me. But still, Jana was my number one enemy, with each of her friends tying for second place.
But what did they know, anyway? They certainly didn ' t know as much about me as they thought they did. And they never would, either. I ' d see to that.
" Ha! " I said out loud. " They think they ' re so smart when really they ' re just a bunch of immature babies. " Thank goodness there would be lots of new kids at Wakeman Junior High this fall. I wouldn ' t have to be bothered with Jana or the others anymore. I sighed. This was Tuesday, and school would be out on Friday. Just four more days to go.
Alexis Duvall ran up to me the instant I stepped onto the school ground. " Hi, Taffy. Did you hear the news? Clarence Marshall doesn ' t think he ' s going to pass. Wouldn ' t that be gross? Being left behind in grade school while everyone else goes on to junior high? "
" It would serve him right for being such a jerk, " I said, remembering how he had tried to plaster one of his slobbery kisses on me at Kim Baxter ' s pool party last summer.
" I know, but wouldn ' t it be gross? " she insisted. Then she looked toward the school building and added under her breath, "
"C ome on, Taffy. Get moving! It ' s almost time to leave for school and you haven ' t done your exercises yet. How do you ever expect to become a fashion model if you don ' t keep your figure trim? "
" Coming, Mother. " I groaned as I hurried down the stairs from my bedroom. Can ' t she ever let up? I thought. She was sitting at the kitchen table in her bathrobe with her blond hair still in rollers. It was hard to believe she still wore rollers. They went out with the hula hoop.
" Don ' t forget your ballet lesson after school, " she went on, " and that reminds me. " Her coffee cup stopped in midair, and her face brightened. " I just heard about a wonderful diction coach in New Haven. I ' m going to call her today and see if she can take you as a student over the summer. Then when we line up some television commercials for you, you ' ll be able to do your own speaking parts instead of letting someone else do the voice-overs. In fact, I ' ll bet we ' ll be able to get you some jobs doing voice-overs for other girls. It ' s going to be thrilling for you to be in show business, honey. " She paused and gazed off into the distance. " Just as it was for me when I was one of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. "
My mother was still talking as I raced past her into the family room and hurried through my exercises. Fashion model. Television commercials. Voice-overs. Radio City Rockettes. That was all she ever thought about.
Not me. I had plenty of other things to think about, especially since this was the last week of classes before the summer. I finished my exercises, grabbed my books, and headed for school. I was finally leaving grade school behind and going into junior high, I thought with satisfaction. No more Mark Twain Elementary. No more Jana Morgan and her snobby friends and their big deal club, The Fabulous Five.
The thought of Jana made me bristle. Ever since I could remember she and her friends, Beth Barry, Melanie Edwards, Christie Winchell, and Katie Shannon, had caused me one problem after another, but Jana was definitely the worst. In fifth grade she started a club against me called The Against Taffy Sinclair Club, but this year in sixth grade it was the absolute pits. She still tried to turn everybody against me, including Randy Kirwan, the boy I like. Not only that, The Fabulous Five were all jealous of me because of my looks. Can I help it if I have naturally blond hair and blue eyes? They are also jealous because I had a part in a daytime drama called Interns and Lovers that was on network television last fall and was seen by millions of people all across America, and now I was going to get modeling jobs, first here in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but later on probably even in New York City. I guess I could understand why they were all jealous of me. But still, Jana was my number one enemy, with each of her friends tying for second place.
But what did they know, anyway? They certainly didn ' t know as much about me as they thought they did. And they never would, either. I ' d see to that.
" Ha! " I said out loud. " They think they ' re so smart when really they ' re just a bunch of immature babies. " Thank goodness there would be lots of new kids at Wakeman Junior High this fall. I wouldn ' t have to be bothered with Jana or the others anymore. I sighed. This was Tuesday, and school would be out on Friday. Just four more days to go.
Alexis Duvall ran up to me the instant I stepped onto the school ground. " Hi, Taffy. Did you hear the news? Clarence Marshall doesn ' t think he ' s going to pass. Wouldn ' t that be gross? Being left behind in grade school while everyone else goes on to junior high? "
" It would serve him right for being such a jerk, " I said, remembering how he had tried to plaster one of his slobbery kisses on me at Kim Baxter ' s pool party last summer.
" I know, but wouldn ' t it be gross? " she insisted. Then she looked toward the school building and added under her breath, "
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