Tammy the Little Mermaid, Part Four

I'm in a posting mood. Here are THREE chapters for your reading ... enjoyment? (Is that the right word?)

Later on, I'll post Chapter Twelve by itself, but it's so very dramatic that it deserves its own entry! For now, read on -- if nothing else, just to see how many times I can use the words "grinned" and "snickered" and "hissed" in the same post.

Chapter Seven

Right before practice started, Tammy went down to her room and realized that it was still a dump. Well, she thought, I guess the first step to becoming the best Ariel possible is to get back on Mr. DiBiaz and Trisha's good sides. So Tammy was going to do something she very rarely did ... work. (What, is she "too pretty" to do it the rest of the time?) She was going to clean up her room.

Janine and Christina had remade their beds, and Christina had picked up her jewelry (can't leave those prized earrings lying around), so Tammy didn't have to worry about those. She started with the clothes. Tammy hung up all of the sweaters and blouses and dresses. She even neatly organized them by color. Then she folded the sweatshirts, T-shirts, and jeans, and placed them in the dresser drawers.

(Yuck, the clothes have been just sitting there on the floor for a day now, not to mention Tammy's grubby hands were all over them. Wash them!)

"Next," she muttered. "Personal belongings." Tammy organized all of her roommates' books and stationery. She straightened their makeup and fixed their posters on the wall. She even straightened up her own belongings, vacuumed, and dusted. The room couldn't have looked any better. So it was on to Trisha's.

Tammy knocked on the supervisor's door, feeling a little scared. She was answered by a cheerful, "Who is it?"

Tammy took a deep breath and replied, "It's me. Tammy."

The door opened, and Trisha stood over Tammy, frowning. "You!" Trisha snarled. "What'd you come for? To sass some more?"

"No," Tammy replied calmly. "I've come to apologize."

"Apologize?" Trisha's face softened.

"Yes. I'm really sorry about how I yelled at you yesterday. I won't do it again. I even cleaned up my room." (I thought she was ordered to clean it up, anyway.)

"You did? Oh, Tammy, how sweet! Thank you so much! I didn't expect you to apologize."

"Yeah, well ... I'm sorry."

"Oh, I forgive you! But, dear, hasn't practice started? You'd better run along!"

"Practice! Oh, yeah! Bye, Trisha!" Feeling like an idiot, Tammy dashed downstairs. She couldn't believe she had forgotten practice! How was she supposed to make a good Ariel if she didn't even remember the rehearsals?

Oh, well, she decided. At least I have a good excuse.

Meg and Stella were onstage. Stella was filling in for her! "Excellent job, Stella," Mr. DiBiaz was saying. "Wonderful. Magnificent. You should..."

"I'm here!" Tammy interrupted before he could say anything else.

The orphans turned around and groaned.

"Tammy," Mr. DiBiaz scolded. "Why are you late?"

"I was cleaning my room," Tammy replied, grinning. "Sorry."

"Cleaning your room? Oh, good, good. It's okay, then. Just don't be late again. Now go on up there."

Stella gave Tammy a look that could have killed Freddy Crougar (that's how I spelled it in my notebook) as Tammy bounced on upstage. "I was hoping you'd run away or something," she hissed. "You're always ... around. Bugging me!"

"I know," Tammy grinned. "It's fun."

"ANY TIME NOW, GIRLS!" Mr. DiBiaz boomed.

"Yes, Mr. DiBiaz," Tammy said quickly. "Okay ... where are we?"

Nobody answered.

Mr. DiBiaz sighed. "Start where you enter with Meg, about to enter that ship."

"Okay. Cool." Tammy took a deep breath and began belting out lines. She was clear, strong, and believable. Meg, who had been giving an outstanding performance before Tammy showed up, was still good, but was now having a little trouble following along. (I'm not very up on my theater lingo, but it sounds like Tammy is overacting or "upstaging" Meg or doing something else not-quite-right. Or maybe Meg just sucks.)

However, when the scene was done, Mr. DiBiaz was positively beaming. "Wonderful, girls!" he cried. "Simply wonderful! That was the best I've seen so far! Tammy, you are a true actress."

"Thanks!" Tammy smiled.

"Meg, you were terrific, too, but you need to work on your lines. Well, we'd best move on. Triton? Oh, Triton is a boy, of course. So is Sebastian ... so, Tammy and Meg, stay onstage, and we need fill-ins for Triton and Sebastian. Volunteers?"

"I will! I will!" Beth cried, jumping up and down and waving her arm.

"Okay, Beth. You will be Triton, and Sebastian ... I think Erin can fill in for him."

"Fine," Erin said. She and Beth walked onstage. "Do you have a plan or something?" Erin whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yes," Beth whispered back. "You'll see."

Beth, or "Triton", had the first line. She and Erin ("Sebastian") (we know ... Mr. DiBiaz just told us) exchanged some more lines, normally and regularly. Then Tammy came in. She said her line normally. Beth was supposed to say something angrily back to Tammy. But instead she said cheerfully in gibberish, "Oonsta quail packton?"

"Huh?" Tammy replied. Oh, she realized. She's trying to confuse me! Well, I won't let her.

Tammy read her line from the script, as if Beth had read hers. Then Meg had a line. She said it in gibberish. Tammy said her line back normally. This went on for awhile -- Beth, Meg, and Erin reading in some strange language, and Tammy acting as if there was nothing wrong. (Isn't she professional.) Finally, Mr. DiBiaz cried impatiently, "Beth Harris, Erin Wells, Meg Billman ... what in the world are you three saying?! READ THE WRITTEN LINES! Tammy, good job. Now, you four, go on, and SPEAK ENGLISH!!!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" Tammy smirked.

"Shut up," Beth muttered back.

***

Beth was sitting on her bed, thinking of ways to ruin the play for Tammy. But it was getting harder.

"You know," she said to Wendy, who was on the bunk above her doing schoolwork. "It was working. I swear it was. But today..."

"I know," Wendy replied. "I hate to admit it, but she really is good."

Beth sighed. Tammy was good. Beth would never admit it to anybody, but the reason she disliked Tammy so much -- or one of the reasons -- was because she was so good. And not just at acting. Tammy was so pretty, by far the prettiest girl at the orphanage. She was also confident, multi-talented, and always seemed to be in a good mood. (Beth so secretly loves Tammy.) Plus, when she arrived at the orphanage, almost everyone had taken a liking to her. And during the few activities the orphans had with boys, the boys always seemed to be attracted to Tammy. Tammy was one of those girls who was instantly popular wherever she went, and Beth had to try hard to become even sort of popular.

It just isn't fair, Beth thought, frowning. Tammy has everything. It's about time someone else had something!

Chapter Eight

The next day, right before rehearsal, Tammy decided to really introduce herself to Brett while she had the chance. She found him in a corner, studying his lines.

"Um..." Tammy cleared her throat, feeling stupid.

Brett looked up. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," Tammy replied. "I'm Tammy Morris. You probably know that, but we haven't really gotten a chance to talk to each other."

Brett grinned. "We should, shouldn't we? We're the two main characters, and we don't even know each other." (You auditioned all of three days ago.)

"Yeah, well, with the people here, that's kinda hard," Tammy said, sitting down. "How many of your lines do you know?"

Brett shrugged. "Actually, not that much. I've been really busy lately. I have soccer practice almost every day. I'll probably quit that soon. But it's that time of the year where my school's doing all these things, and every time I sit down to practice, someone starts talking to me. (What? Make sense, Brett.) Not that I mind that you're doing it," Brett added quickly.

"Am I bugging you? I'll go somewhere else..."

"No, it's okay," Brett interrupted. "Stay here. We need to go over some of our lines together."

"Oh, okay. Where do you want to start?"

"Um..." Brett flipped through his script. "We really don't have that many lines together, since you don't talk and all. So I guess we can start on the ship, when you first do talk."

"Great." Tammy found the page, and she and Brett exchanged a few lines, filling in for Ursula and the other characters. Then the actual practice started. Tammy was surprised to find that she was a little disappointed that she and Brett had to stop. Brett was definitely cute, but he was also really nice, and he actually seemed to appreciate her, unlike Beth and all those other stupid orphans.

"I saw you flirting," Beth hissed when Tammy was down in the audience, waiting for her turn.

"I wasn't flirting," Tammy replied. "I was just talking."

"Yeah, right. Just talking," Beth grumbled. She ws interrupted by a loud, "CUT! SAY THE RIGHT LINES!" so she stopped talking to Tammy and started to think of some more ways to ruin the play for her. It was hard, though. That Brett guy had been talking to Tammy, and it seemed like he liked her.

Another thing she has, Beth thought sullenly. I'll have to ruin that, too.

"BETH! BETH HARRIS!" Mr. DiBiaz boomed. Some orphans and boys snickered, Tammy the loudest.

"What, Mr. DiBiaz?" Beth asked quickly, shooting Tammy a dirty look.

"You need to fill in for Scuttle. Brandon Douglas isn't here."

"Why me?" Beth wondered.

"Because you did such a good job filling in for the parts yesterday ... that is, when you were speaking English."

"Oh," Beth muttered. Great, she thought. Now he thinks I'm some fill-in queen. Well, that's Tammy's fault, too!

"BETH! WE'RE WAITING!"

Beth stepped upstage, then realized something. "How can we be doing Scuttle's part if Meg and Ariel aren't onstage?" (I love how she can't even say Tammy's name.)

Mr. DiBiaz sighed impatiently and shouted, "BECAUSE, IF YOU'D BEEN LISTENING, YOU'D KNOW THAT WE'RE GOING OVER EACH PART INDIVIDUALLY!"

"Then why don't we just skip Scuttle?" (She has a point...)

"ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HARD TIME?!!"

"No." Down in the audience, Beth could see Tammy laughing. I am going to get her for this, Beth thought, her cheeks burning.

After she read Scuttle's part, Beth sat back down, next to Stella. "Did you hear her?" she hissed in Stella's ear.

"Yeah," Stella nodded sympathetically.

"I have to get back at her. I can't believe she laughed at me like that!"

"What are you going to do?" Wendy asked excitedly, overhearing.

"I don't know," Beth admitted. "But it's going to be something good."

***

After the practice, Tammy walked over to Brett. "Jeez, your orphanage leader's mean," he greeted her.

"Mr. DiBiaz? He's not that bad. He's just a strict director."

"Yeah, well, the way he yells, you'd think he wants to make us all deaf. He didn't yell at you, though. You do really good on your part."

"I do?" Tammy smiled, pleased.

"Yeah. You're definitely the best one here."

Tammy sighed. "That's not what everyone else here thinks."

"Are you kidding? Brandon and Scott and them think you're great. Ms. Fairsburg even said you should join our drama club." (Oh, yeah, those boys have a drama teacher. Why isn't she directing this masterpiece?)

"She did? Well, it's the people at the orphanage..."

"Oh. I think you're good. I've gotta go now, though. Our buses are leaving. Sorry."

"It's okay. Can we, like, go over our lines some more on Monday?"

"Sure! Bye, Tammy."

"Bye!" Tammy watched Brett leave. She felt like she was floating on air. Here was someone who finally wasn't mad at her. It was a cute guy, too! And Brett was so nice. He treated her like a friend, and not like a conceited snob who only thought of herself.

(Gee, I wonder why people treat you like that, Ms. I-love-looking-at-myself-in-the-mirror?)

Tammy realized she would have to wait four more days to see Brett again. But just thinking about him would be good enough. She had been unhappy since Tuesday morning, until she met him. Brett liked her, too! It felt like a good dream. And hopefully, Tammy thought. I'll never wake up!

***

Brett Jamison climbed onto the bus and sat down next to his best friend, Kevin Sumner. He was feeling dazed. That Tammy girl -- she was nicer than he thought she'd be! She was cute, too. Brett was surprised to find that he actually couldn't wait to see her again.

"Why were you hitting on Ariel?" Kevin asked him.

"I wasn't hitting on her. She came up to me first." Brett rolled his eyes. "Besides, we were just talking."

"Talking? Mmm-hmm," Kevin said jokingly. "Brett's in love," he added, punching Brett's arm.

Brett snickered. He hated it when people did stupid stuff like that.

"She is cute, though," Kevin said. "Seriously. She's probably the best-looking one there."

"I know," Brett replied irritably. He didn't want to talk about Tammy. He wanted to think about her. It was strange. Usually Brett couldn't stand it when, like in TV shows, people acted like they weren't sure if they liked someone and it was a big mystery. But Brett wasn't sure if he liked Tammy that way or not. Sure, she was pretty, and nice, and easy to talk to. But she was also kind of mysterious. How come no one at the orphanage liked her? Was she some sort of criminal? Brett made a mental note to find out more about her.

(Whatever. Like he wouldn't just care about her "hot" looks.)

All of a sudden, Sam, the bus driver who tried to be cool, shouted, "Did any one of you studmuffins meet any fine babes?"

"Brett did!" Kevin shouted back.

"Shut up, Kevin," Brett muttered. But it was too late. Practically the whole bus whirled around and started crying immature things like, "Ooh!" "It's Ariel! He likes Ariel!" "What's she like, Brett?" "Are you two going out?"

"No, we're not going out," Brett replied angrily. Jeez! You couldn't even talk to a girl at his school without being bombarded with dumb, annoying questions.

Courtney (a boy!) Cromwell, a geek that was sitting in front of Brett, turned around and grinned at Brett, showing silver braces. Brett tried to ignore him, but Courtney kept grinning, so finally Brett snapped, "What do you want?"

Courtney just sat there, grinning. Finally, he squealed quickly, "Brett's got a girlfriend!" Him (sic) and his best friend Sammy Aarons burst into giggles.

"She's not my girlfriend," Brett muttered. They were just friends. Weren't they?

***

Tammy got through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday alright, although she didn't think she would. The orphans' immature cracks about her and Brett didn't faze her. They just made her more eager to see him!

"Are you going to flirt some more today?" Christina asked when they were getting dressed on Monday morning.

Tammy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. If I feel like it."

"How come you're not moping around and messing up people's rooms?" asked Janine.

"Because," Christina answered. "She thinks she has a boyfriend now. He doesn't like you, Tammy."

"Then how come he was talking to me?" Tammy retorted.

"He was just trying to be nice," Christina shot back.

Tammy just smiled. Brett liked her. It was only obvious. And as long as Brett liked her, it didn't matter what anyone at the orphanage thought.

Chapter Nine

During the school day, though, Tammy realized something. What if Brett was just trying to be nice? After all, Tammy had made the first move. Brett hadn't come over to her. (Aw, like any conceited person worth her salt, Tammy is secretly insecure.) So Tammy decided to make sure. Before practice started, she sat down casually in a corner of the stage, pretending to study her lines.

Uh-oh, she thought after a few minutes. He's not coming over!

So she had been just imagining it. Tammy sighed. What else could go wrong?

Calm down, she told herself. Maybe he's shy or something. Or maybe he's talking to someone about something important.

That was it. He had to tell someone something important.

Tammy went back to her lines. Sure enough, after a minute or two, she saw Brett start to walk toward her. Happily, Tammy put her script down.

"Hi!" she cried.

"Hi," Brett replied. "Uh ... how come you're all by yourself?"

Oh, no, Tammy thought anxiously. He probably thinks I'm some loner!
(Heaven forbid!)

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "It's easier to study by myself, I guess."

Brett looked relieved. "I agree. But does that mean you don't want to practice with me?"

"Yes, I do!" Tammy exclaimed. "Studying with one other person is easy, too."

Brett grinned. "Okay. Let's start where we started before."

After Brett and Tammy practiced, and the regular rehearsal was over, they sat around and talked some more. Then Brett left, and once again, Tammy felt happier than she had in days. Brett was the perfect Erik! And becoming the perfect Ariel was going to be no problem for Tammy, with the perfect Erik.

On Tuesday, Tammy spent the whole day doodling Brett's name all over everywhere. It had been a whole week, and every single orphan was still mad at her. But they didn't matter anymore.

Wednesday came pretty fast. Tammy daydreamed through all her classes -- about Brett, and what a good team they were going to make. After school, she practically ran to the auditorium. There was Brett, and he went over to her right away! He liked her! Thursday and Friday went pretty much the same as Tuesday and Wednesday. Tammy was starting to like Brett more and more. The orphans could be invisible, for all she cared!

But Beth Harris was not feeling the same way. On Saturday, she called Tammy's worst enemies -- Stella, Wendy, Tami, Janine, and Christina -- into her room. (Isn't it Wendy's room, too?)

"What's this all about?" Stella asked, plopping down on Brenda's bottom bunk and fingering an eyeless teddy bear.

(What a weird sentence. I hate the word "plop.")

"Tammy," Beth replied grimly.

"Her?" Tami snickered. "I forgot all about her. Thanks a lot for reminding me!"

"Well, I'm sorry. But have you noticed her lately?"

"You mean her and Brett," corrected Wendy.

"Tammy and Brett. Exactly."

"She thinks he likes her," said Christina. She paused. "Does he?"

"I'm not sure," Beth admitted. "But she sure likes him."

"I saw her scribbling his name all over her dumb assignment," snickered Stella.

"And she is such a flirt," Tami added. "Has anyone noticed that she always makes the first move?"

Looking satisfied, Beth nodded. "I have."

"He does seem to like her, though," Wendy said slowly. "He talks to her."

"Maybe he's just being polite," spoke up Janine.

"Possibly," said Beth. "But there's also a possibility that he might like her. So," she continued, "I need to come up with another plan."

"That petition?" Stella suggested.

Beth shook her head. "No, I've given up on that. I'm thinking more in terms of something to do with Brett and Tammy."

"Cool!" Wendy cried. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I don't know. That's why I have you guys in here. I need your help."

"Our help?" Janine asked skeptically. "Why?"

"Because we're the ones who hate Tammy the most!"

"But Christina and I share a brain!" Janine cried seriously. (Okay, what the f*ck?)

Beth snickered. "Do you want her to be the star of the play and brag even more, or not?"

"Not!" Janine replied emphatically.

"Okay. Then I need your help. Are the rest of you in on it?"

"Yeah," the four girls replied in unison.

"Okay. Good. So we need to think of a plan."

The six orphans sat in silence for a few minutes, deep in thought. Finally, Wendy suggested, "Ruin her costume in front of him?"

Beth shook her head. "Nah. It has to be really bad, because it has to embarrass her, and conceited snobs don't get embarrassed very easily."

Tami snickered. "We can cut all her hair off."

Beth grinned. "Good idea, but we'd probably get in trouble."

"Hmm," thought Stella out loud. "We can ... we can tell him ..."

"Tell him she's a murderer!" cried Christina.

Janine, Stella, Tami, and Wendy laughed. But Beth looked serious.

"Not bad," she said slowly. "Not bad at all."

"I'm so sure. What would she be doing at an orphanage?" Stella asked.

Beth rolled her eyes. "We're not really going to tell him she murdered someone. He'd never believe that. But we can tell him something..."

"What? What?" the others cried.

"I don't know! I need your help. It has to be really bad, you guys."

The girls thought some more. "Tell him she's a psychopath?" giggled Janine.

"That wouldn't embarrass her. She's just say 'how immature' or something and start flirting some more."

The six orphans sat in silence. "We're never going to think of anything!" Wendy cried in an exasperated voice.

"Yes, we will," Beth argued. "And it's going to be terrible."

"She won't commit suicide or anything, will she?" Tami asked worriedly. (!)

Beth snorted. "Her? She's too snobby to end her own life."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Stella shrieked, "I've got it!"

"You do?" Beth cried eagerly.

"Yeah! Why don't we tell him she's..." (Stella lowered her voice to a whisper) "... under a terrible spell, and is really a guy in disguise?"

"Sick!" everyone screeched, giggling.

"Don't giggle!" Beth practically yelled back. "If we don't want Tammy to be in the play, then we have to come up with the perfect plan to humiliate her. This is serious. Now let's get ... to ... work!"

(Oh, are these girls lame. And speaking of serious, Beth has some serious issues...)

***

On Monday, Tammy memorized about ten more lines. Then she walked up to Mr. DiBiaz's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" he shouted. Tammy did.

Mr. DiBiaz was sitting at his desk, flipping through a catalogue. He looked up and cried, "Tammy! You're just who I've been looking for!"

"I am?" Tammy asked, surprised.

"Yes! See this? It's our costume catalogue! I want you to come choose a costume."

Tammy shrugged, walked over to Mr. DiBiaz, and peered over his shoulder. The page was full of costumes that all basically looked the same. They all had green "fin" bottoms and purple tops, but the greens and the purples were in different shades.

"I don't know," Tammy said after looking at them for a few minutes. "Besides, don't we have costume designers?"

Mr. DiBiaz rolled his eyes. "Yes, but they need a pattern. Which one?" (Why not let the costume designers pick? Though I'm not sure why they have costume designers to begin with, being that later in this story, the costumes are delivered in a box.)

"That one," Tammy decided, pointing to the costume closest to Ariel's in the movie The Little Mermaid.

"Okay! Great!" Mr. DiBiaz excitedly marked a fat black check mark next to the costume. "So ... what was it you came in here for?"

"Oh ...um ... Mr. DiBiaz?"

"What?" he replied impatiently.

"Do you have those boys' phone numbers?"

Mr. DiBiaz glanced at Tammy suspiciously. "Yes, I do. Why?"

"Well..." Tammy fiddled with the beads on her jacket. Mr. DiBiaz was very strict when it came to things like this. Finally, she just blurted out, "Can I have Brett's?"

"Brett? Brett Jamison's number? Why?" he pressed.

"Well, he's Erik, and I'm Ariel, and we kinda should study ... shouldn't we?"

Mr. DiBiaz's face broke out into a smile. "Of course you should. I was afraid you ... well, never mind." (What, Mr. DiBiaz?) He sounded amazed. "You know, Tammy, you are very dedicated. When we cast you as Ariel, I knew you would do good, but I didn't think you'd do this good."

"Thanks!" Tammy grinned, pleased.

"When you first started out," Mr. DiBiaz continued, "you were good, but a bit of a troublemaker. But you've come so far. You know all your lines, don't you?"

"Most of them," Tammy replied, a little impatiently. She wanted to get out of there and call Brett!

"Well, I guess you'd better go and call Brett. I wouldn't want to keep a star actress waiting!"

"Yeah. Thanks, Mr. DiBiaz!" Tammy hurried off before he could say anything else. The phone was in the downstairs get-together room. Luckily for Tammy, no one else was in there. She dialed Brett's number and waited while the phone rang.

"Hello?" a woman's voice said cheerfully.

"Hi! Is Brett there?"

"Yes. Hold on a second, please."

There was a pause. Then Brett's voice said, "Hello?"

"Hi!" Tammy said again. "It's Tammy."

"Tammy!" Brett cried happily. "How are you?"

"Pretty good," Tammy replied.

"Cool. How come you're calling?"

"Um ... I just wanted to talk."

There was a pause, then sounding slightly uncomfortable, Brett muttered, "Oh."

Oh? Tammy was confused. Why did he sound so ... different all of a sudden?

"Is it okay if I call?" Tammy asked uncertainly.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Brett replied, sounding normal again. "It's just that ... well, never mind."

"Okay..." There was a silence. This wasn't at all what Tammy hoped it would be. She was about to say that she heard Mr. DiBiaz calling when Brett started to tell her about something that happened at his soccer practice that day. Eagerly, Tammy listened. Then, she told Brett about something. Soon, they were laughing and joking like old friends. They talked for fifteen minutes, which was Fruitville's limit.

"Well," Tammy said at last. "It was nice talking to you. Can I call again sometime?"

"Yeah! Sure! Call tomorrow!" Brett sounded happy, too.

"Bye, Brett."

"Bye, Tammy."

Tammy hung up the phone. She just wanted to go on hearing Brett's voice forever! He was so nice. They were going to be the perfect couple!

***

Brett hung up the phone. She was so confusing! At first he wasn't sure he liked the idea of Tammy calling at all. But once they got to talking...

Brett sighed. Tammy had almost everything. She was pretty. (We KNOW!) She was a good actress. She was nice, and funny, and ... the list went on and on. So why didn't the other orphans like her? She certainly wasn't shy. And it couldn't be because she was an orphan, because they were orphans, too.

What if she asks me out? Brett thought anxiously. He didn't know what he'd say if that happened.

"I'll think about that when the time comes," Brett muttered to himself.

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Coming up: Tammy and Brett have a date (and speak in painfully bad "romantic" dialogue) and Beth and her minions finally come up with a plan to put Tammy in her place!