Taffy Sinclair 004 - Taffy Sinclair and the Romance Machine Disaster Read Online Free PDF

Romance Machine and the matchup. I could hardly wait to get the results. I needed them to prove to Joel and Keith and everybody else that Randy and I were meant for each other and that our romance was nothing to joke about. I wasn ' t the only one who was antsy, though. All over the room kids were squirming in their seats.
    " Attention please! " said Wiggins. She was using her general ' s voice, which meant that she had noticed how antsy everyone was, and she had picked up a stack of green and white striped papers off of her desk.
    She cleared her throat. " All right, boys and girls. The moment has arrived for each of you to find out which boy and which girl in this class you have the most in common with. I will give you exactly five minutes to talk among yourselves and compare results. BUT, " she raised her finger into the air like an exclamation point, " remember that these answers are completely confidential, and it is entirely up to you to decide whether you want to tell anyone who you matched up with. "
    Everybody was squirming again. I looked at my four best friends, exchanging nervous looks with each one of them and thinking that a person would have to match up with someone pretty drippy to keep it a secret from everyone.
    Wiggins was walking up and down the rows handing out folded papers with names on the front of them. Twice she stopped near me, and both times I almost grabbed the paper out of her hand as it shot by me and went to someone sitting close by. I could hear kids giggling and whispering as more and more of them read their matchups. I was beginning to worry. Where was mine? Had my questionnaire gotten lost?
    Finally Wiggins handed me a folded paper with my name on it. I held my breath. What if I didn ' t get Randy ' s name? What if I got someone weird like Curtis Trowbridge or Clarence Marshall? My hands were shaking as I opened the paper. I squinted my eyes almost shut and looked out through the slits at the two names:
    BETH BARRY AND RANDY KIRWAN
    I nearl y collapsed with relief. I had b een right all along. I knew that Randy and I had a lot of things in common. Now the Romance Machine had proved it. And best of all, now everybody would know it.
    " Psst. Jana. Who did you get? "
    It was Beth. I didn ' t even try to control the smile that spread over my face. " You, " I said, " and you know who. " I nodded toward Randy. I didn ' t have the nerve to look at him yet. " Who did you get? "
    Instead of Beth, I heard another voice coming from the other side of me. " I got Randy Kirwan, " gushed Alexis Duvall.
    " Me, too. "
    " I got Randy ' s name. "
    It was as if there were an echo in the room. A few girls, like Melanie, were saying other boys ' names, but girls all over the room were saying that they got Randy Kirwan. I sat there in shock. How could a thing like that happen? There must be a mistake. I had Randy ' s name, and surely he had mine. I sneaked a look at him out of the corner of my eye. His face was as red as fire.
    " Hey, Jana. I got your name. Whose name did you get? "
    It was Curtis Trowbridge. I pretended that I hadn ' t heard him. It was bad enough that he got my name, but why did he have to say it out loud in front of the whole sixth grade?
    " Hey, Jana. I said that I got your name, " said Curtis.
    Taffy Sinclair turned around and gave me an icy smile. I could tell she was glad that Curtis was making an idiot of me. " I got Randy Kirwan, too, " she said.
    I felt hot all over. I wouldn ' t have been surprised if I had started breathing fire and smoke. How dare Taffy Sinclair say that she had Randy ' s name. She couldn ' t. Randy didn ' t care about her. He cared about me. Well, I would show her a thing or two. I ' d show everybody.
    " Whose name did you get, Randy? " I challenged, still ignoring Curtis Trowbridge.
    " He probably got Jana Banana ' s name, " said Joel Murphy. He was looking at me and laughing as if he thought getting my name was some kind of joke.
    " Yeah. Jana Banana, " taunted