Taffy Sinclair 011 - Nobody Likes Taffy Sinclair by Betsy Haynes Page A

have Movie Star Day, and everybody can come as a famous movie star. Then I ' ll put on a blond wig and come as Taffy Sinclair. " Dekeisha laughed good-naturedly over her shoulder and headed into the building.
    Taffy went in too, noticing immediately that lots of girls were wearing bedroom slippers. Some of the slippers were the floppy kind with open backs, but the most popular were the huge fuzzy ones that looked like animal heads. Almost all of the girls were wearing pajama-type outfits, but she noticed that most of the boys seemed to be wearing their regular clothes. Still, she felt terribly out of place as she made her way through the halls to her locker.
    " Look! There she is. The movie star! "
    Taffy felt a rush of excitement. She dropped the combination lock she had been working on and spun around to face the three eighth-grade girls who had stopped nearby. All three of them were dressed for bed. Taffy remembered seeing them around school before. She wasn ' t sure of their names, but she was glad that they had recognized her.
    " Did you really go to Hollywood? " asked one of the girls, who Taffy tho ught was named Josie something- or-other. She had brown hair that hung straight to her shoulders and wore a flannel granny gown and matching nightcap.
    " Oh, yes, " Taffy assured her. " I had the starring role in an after-school movie called Nobody Likes Tiffany Stafford. And I got to meet lots of famous movie stars, and I had my own chauffeur and limousine, and . . . "
    The tall blonde standing next to Josie nudged her and whispered something.
    Taffy blinked. Had she said something wrong? " But I still had to go to school. I had my own private tutor. " She paused again, feeling suddenly panicky. " Is there something special you ' d like to know about? " she asked.
    The girls exchanged glances. " No, " said Josie. " Not really. " The three of them stared at her for a moment, then moved on down the hall, leaving Taffy looking after them in puzzlement.
    " Why were they so rude? " she mumbled to herself. " I mean, they asked me if I went to Hollywood, didn ' t they? "
    She turned back to her locker and began working the combination again. " Fumble fingers, " she whispered in frustration as the lock failed to open. She spun it and began the combination again. It was left seven—right fifteen—left nine, wasn ' t it? she thought. Surely she hadn ' t forgotten it in just six weeks.
    " Left seven, " she murmured, " right fif . . ."
    " Oh, Taffy! There you are! "
    Taffy recognized the voice this time. It was Shawnie Pendergast, her best friend. Shawnie was walking up the hall toward her with Kimm Taylor, who was the singer for The Dreadful Alternatives.
    Taffy couldn ' t help chuckling. Shawnie had on a pajama sweatsuit with a teddy bear on the front and carried a matching bear under one arm.
    " I ' m so glad you ' re back! " Shawnie cried, racing up to Taffy and giving her a big hug. " It seems like six months since you left instead of six weeks. "
    " Oh, hi, Shawnie. Believe me, I ' m glad to see you, too, " Taffy assured her, and she meant it. After years of rivalry with Jana Morgan and her friends in The Fabulous Five with no one but homely Mona Vaughn to take her side, Taffy had discovered Shawnie Pendergast, and they had hit it off immediately. They both loved clothes and had long blond hair, although Shawnie also had a sprinkling of cinnamon freckles on her nose.
    Smiling at Shawnie, Taffy said, " I ' ve got so much to tell you that I don ' t know where to begin. " Then, rolling her eyes, she added, " There are some things that can ' t be put into letters, if you know what I mean. "
    " You bet I do, " said Shawnie, laughing, " and I can ' t wait to hear everything. Kimm and I have been talking about how exciting it must have been out there. You know Kimm, don ' t you, Taffy? "
    Taffy blinked at Kimm. She was wearing a beautiful red silk kimono, which looked especially nice with her long, straight black hair and almond eyes.