ALMOST FIFTEEN By GRACE IRWIN Little Miss Redhead Under Summer Skies Almost Fifteen I / “How do I look?” Flopsy asked. Almost Fifteen By Grace Irwin \y Pictures by the Author ) ) > > Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company Boston 1938 New York ?Zn 1 Ini hi Copyright 1938 BY LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD COMPANY All rights reserved. No part of this book may be re¬ produced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper. < v ©ClA 1 19960 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1938 To my three nieces Phyllis, Sally Ann and Marcia CONTENTS I. Guest Towels 15 II. Flopsy Is Perplexed 41 III. Much Ado About Everything 64 IV. Initiation 89 V. Flopsy’s Black Eye 115 VI. Surprises for Flopsy 141 VII. Christmas Presents 160 VIII. High Finance 186 IX. Babbie to the Rescue 211 X. Flopsy’s First Evening Gown 239 ALMOST FIFTEEN Chapter One Guest Towels FLOPSY MOORE was almost completely satisfied with life on that dreary Monday afternoon after the Thanksgiving holidays. She sat, swinging her legs, on the wall which enclosed the grounds of the Alexander Hamilton High School. Her own head of shining curls, the color of burnished copper, was the only bright spot in the dismal scene. But Flopsy’s thoughts were gay as she waited impatiently for her schoolmates, Alice Holt and Fleurette Muldoon. It was fun being a Sophomore B, she decided, after having momentarily weighed the joys and sorrows of that advanced status, and then the important plan for the afternoon consumed all her attention. The three girls were to call on Mrs. David Stewart, their former Eighth Grade teacher, in her new home. Not one of them had seen Mrs. Stewart recently, but there was an even more exciting objective to this visit. For the first time the girls were going to see Mrs. Stewart’s very new baby! Flopsy could scarcely sit still as, speculating on the baby’s probable name, she watched the front doors of the High School carefully. Her purpose in being es¬ pecially alert was twofold. She not only wanted to see Fleurette and Alice at the first possible moment, but is 16 Almost Fifteen she was also anxious not to be seen by any of the teachers. She knew that it was strictly against the rules for her to sit on the wall, and in addition she had been excused from her last class because she had pleaded a headache. No teacher could be convinced that a really severe headache could have disappeared so quickly! There they were! Flopsy jumped to the ground and ran toward her friends. As she wriggled her way in and out among the groups of chattering students, she was stopped by three girls. “Wait a minute, Flopsy! Wait—” and one of them caught her by the arm. Flopsy stood still a little impatiently. She mustn’t, she simply mustn’t lose Fleurette and Alice. It would be terrible. “I want to pay my class dues—I keep forgetting— and forgetting—and forgetting!” The girl dug into her purse and handed Flopsy a dime. “I guess I’m paid up now.” “I guess you are,” Flopsy answered vaguely, her eyes still on Fleurette and Alice. Oh, she mustn’t lose them, she mustn’t. “And I’ll pay, too, while I’m about it,” one of the other girls opened her purse. “How much do I owe?” “Well—” Flopsy tried to control her impatience. “I really don’t know. I’ll have to look it up in my book. I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Fleurette and Alice were head¬ ing, at top speed, down a path in the opposite direc¬ tion! “Do you mind?” Flopsy apologized as she tried to get away, “I’ve simply got to catch up to Alice Holt. We have a date,” Guest Towels 17 “M pay for next month,” and the third girl started to put her hand in her pocket. “Oh, don’t please!” Flopsy begged frantically. “That makes it too—too—” she broke off. Jinks! This was terrible! She was having a fearful time keep¬ ing track of past dues and she simply couldn’t risk any further complications. The future accounting she must give as class treasurer was something that she didn’t care to contemplate. It made her head genuinely ache. It positively made her ill. Who were these girls, anyway? In despair, Flopsy felt she must take the time to ask their names, even if she were to lose Fleurette and Alice. “Tell me,” she went on, with what she fervently hoped was a business-like air, “what are your names?” Flopsy asked as though she were vitally interested, but this question seemed to annoy the three girls. “I am Lois Crane. You know me. You do, really. Don’t you remember? I helped you with your Latin one day last week.” “Oh, that’s right!” Flopsy tried to grin, but it was rather sickly. She didn’t remember. Anyway, how could this girl have helped her with Latin? No one in this wide world could. She was past all help. And she’d nearly have to break her neck to catch Fleurette and Alice. Flopsy groaned to herself, “Why don’t they stand still?” “And I’m Elsie Martin. I sit two seats away from you in French.” “Lois Crane and Elsie Martin,” Flopsy repeated slowly. She took a pencil out of her pocket, but its point was broken. She was going to write this down 18 Almost Fifteen immediately. That’s what her mother had ordered her to do. Write it down at once! “Lois Crane, Elsie Martin.” She looked for all the world as though she were writing the names on a page in her loose-leaf notebook. “You know,” she explained, still writing, “Alice Holt and Fleurette Muldoon and I are going to call on Miss Hilton, our Eighth Grade teacher at School Number Nine. And those two sim¬ pletons are supposed to be waiting for me. Look at them, just look at them racing up the street! I hope they trip!” Flopsy banged her notebook shut. “I’ll give you your receipts in the morning. Please, please ask for them,” she begged. She never yet had refused to give a receipt to anyone who had asked for it. She blithely tossed them around. Writing them out was quite the simplest part of this business of being treas¬ urer. “They are standing still now, Flopsy.” Lois smiled. Lois admired Flopsy. She really did want to stop and talk with her, and Flopsy’s failure to remember her name was completely forgiven. “Well, it’s about time. I had visions of falling right on my nose chasing them up the street.” Flopsy flashed a broad and dazzling grin, showing a dimple in one cheek. She touched her nose. “I’d hate to break my nose. It’s right in the center of the only face I have.” She started off, and then whirled about. “Thank you, Lois, and thank you, Elsie, very much for your dues. I’ll give you both receipts in the morning. But if I forget, just be sure to ask me.” Flopsy raised one hand in a salute. “Bye!” she sang out as she dashed up the street. Guest Towels 19 Lois and Elsie stood looking after her. “Let’s see if she catches them,” Lois commented. “I think she’s a riot. She keeps our Latin class in stitches. She’s taking first year Latin for the second time. She says she’s better than she was last year, but I can’t see how she can be. She’s terrible! I just switched to Latin this year, but I can help her,” Lois boasted. Flopsy, in an undignified sprint, had gotten within earshot of Fleurette and Alice. With her heart still pounding, she sputtered breathlessly, “What was the big idea of racing up the street? Why didn’t you wait for me, you idiots?” “Several girls said you ducked out of gym before the class was over, and Fleurette got it into her head that you’d said you’d meet us at Mrs. Stewart’s. Then we met some one else who said they had seen you waiting for some one. You’re an idiot yourself,” Alice almost snapped. Then they all laughed. The happy experience ahead of them put them all in good humor. The three girls swung up the street in radiant spirits. “We saw you, Flopsy Moore, back there talking to some girls as though you had all the time in the world.” “Just two girls paying their class dues. I was rip¬ ping! I am going to make a rule that you can only pay your dues during the meetings. This way is—” she hesitated. Not for anything would she admit that it was far, far too hard for her to keep her accounts in order! “It’s just a nuisance. I don’t carry my treas¬ urer’s book around with me—” “I don’t see how you keep anything straight,” Fleur- 20 Almost Fifteen ette laughed, “I’d get into a perfect mess. I bet if I were treasurer I’d be put in jail, and they’d throw the key away.” Flopsy looked at her horrified. What a ghastly thought that was! She shivered! But she did not care to go on with the subject. She changed it abruptly.