Part 1 (2/2)

”I guess so,” Mom said slowly, watching him. ”It's hard to tell. We'll keep our eyes on him.”

As soon as breakfast was over, things became hectic. Charlie and Sam got in the station wagon and left for the high school. Mom and Watson drove off, in separate cars, to their jobs. And David Michael and I waited at the end of the drive for our school buses. It was only 7:45, but I felt like I'd been up forever.

David Michael's bus was right on time. He climbed on and waved good-bye to me from a window in the very back. He loves to sit in the backseat. My bus should have been just behind David Michael's, but it wasn't. By 7:55, it was later than it had ever been. It better hurry, I thought. Homeroom starts at 8:30. Sharp.

For awhile I worried about what to do if the bus didn't come at all. Call Stacey's house? Stacey's mom was one of the few I knew who didn't work and might be at home. Then I wondered how long I should wait before I called anybody.

Before I reached any decisions, something interesting happened. The front door of a house across the street opened and a girl about my age stepped out. She was carrying a knapsack, and wearing a blue plaid jumper over a white short-sleeved blouse. She walked down her driveway and stood across the street from me. She must have been waiting for a bus, too, but not mine. I was the only girl in this neighborhood who got picked up by the bus to StoneybrookMiddle School.

The girl and I eyed each other, but didn't say anything.

A few minutes later, three other girls joined the first one. They were all wearing the exact same outfit - a private-school uniform. They were slender, three of them had blonde hair, and they were wearing makeup and stockings. They looked sleek, sophisticated, and self-con- fident. They stood in a huddle, whispering and giggling. Every now and then one of them would glance over at me.

Where, oh, where was my bus?

I tried not to look at the girls. I pretended the cover of my notebook was absolutely fascinating.

But the girls would not allow me to ignore them. One of the blondes, who wore her hair in a cascade of thick curls, called to me, ”You're Mr. Brewer's new kid, aren't you?”

”I'm one of them,” I replied warily.

”Are you the one who's been sending those fliers around? For some baby-sitting club?”

”Yeah,” I said. (Every now and then our club tries to find new people to baby-sit for, so we send around advertis.e.m.e.nts. We'd put one in every box in my new neighborhood not long ago.) ”What does your little club do?” asked another blonde.

”What do you think?” I replied testily. ”We baby-sit.”

”How cute,” said the blonde with the curls.

The others giggled.

”Nice outfit,” called the one non-blonde, putting her hands on her hips.

I blushed. Too bad I'd chosen the jeans with the hole in the knee that day.

10 .

But if there's one thing to be said about me, it's that I have a big mouth. I always have. I'm better about controlling it than I used to be, but I'm not afraid to use it. So I put my hands on my hips and said, ”Your outfits are nice, too. You look like clones. Sn.o.b clones.”

Lucidly, just at that moment, my bus finally pulled up. I chose a seat on the side of the bus facing the girls. I lowered my window. ”Good-bye, sn.o.bs,” I shouted.

” 'Bye, jerk-face,” the curly-haired blonde replied.

I stuck my tongue out at her, and then the bus turned a corner and they were gone from sight.

Chapter 2.

”Thanks, Charlie! See you later! 'Bye!” I slammed the car door.

Charlie backed down the Kis.h.i.+s' driveway as I ran to their front door and rang the bell. It was time for our Monday afternoon meeting of the Baby-sitters Club.

Janine Kis.h.i.+, Claudia's older sister, answered the door. Janine has never been one of my favorite people, but lately she's seemed a little better than usual. The thing about Janine is that she's so smart. She's always correcting everybody.

But that day, all she said was, ”Come on in. Claudia's upstairs. Dawn and Mary Anne are there, too.”

”Thank you,” I replied politely. But I didn't go straight upstairs. I stopped in the kitchen to say h.e.l.lo to Mimi, Claudia's grandmother. Mimi had a stroke over the summer, but she's getting much better. She can't use her right hand, so she's learning to do things one-handed. When I looked in on her, she was stirring something at the stove.

”Hi, Mimi,” I greeted her.

”Kristy. h.e.l.lo. How nice to see.” Mimi's native language is j.a.panese, and her speech was affected by the stroke, so she has a little trouble speaking. ”How things in your new neighborhood?”

”Okay, I guess. I don't know that many people.” For some reason, I was embarra.s.sed to tell her what had happened at the bus stop that morning.

”You will get to know new people,” Mimi told me confidently. ”That I am sure.”

”Thanks,” I said and ran upstairs. On the way I heard the doorbell ring. It must have been Stacey. Good. She was right on time. The five of us could begin our meeting.

”Hi, you guys!” I called as I entered Claudia's room.

”Hi!” Claudia, Dawn, and Mary Anne were lying on the floor, looking through our club notebook. When Stacey came in behind me, the five of us scrambled for places to sit. Claudia dove for the bed, followed by Stacey. Dawn and Mary Anne remained on the floor, and I settled myself in the director's chair, put on my visor, and stuck a pencil behind one ear. I always get the director's chair.

I am the president.

I looked at the other members of the Babysitters Club: Claudia Kis.h.i.+, Mary Anne Spier, Stacey McGill, and Dawn Schafer. All present. I guess I should introduce them. But first I should tell you how our club works. We hold meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from five-thirty until six, and our clients know they can reach us at Claudia's house then. They call when they need sitters, and one of us signs up for the job. Simple. Our clients like the fact that they're pretty much guaranteed a sitter when they call, and we like all the jobs we get. Of course, we have an awful lot of clients now (we've been in business for a year), and sometimes we're so busy that none of us is able to take on a job. Then we call Logan Bruno. Logan is our a.s.sociate member, sort of our safety. He doesn't come to meetings, but he likes to baby-sit. He's also Mary Anne's boyfriend.

The club officers are our vice-president, Claudia; our secretary, Mary Anne; our treasurer, Stacey; and our alternate officer, Dawn. Claudia was chosen as vice-president since she has her own personal telephone and phone number. Because of that, we decided to hold our meetings in her room. Claudia works hard for the club, since she has to take a lot of job calls that come in while we're not having meetings. Here are the essentials about Claudia: Likes - art, mysteries, baby-sitting, boys. Dislikes - school. Looks - beautiful, j.a.panese, exotic. Dress - very trendy and cool, often outrageous. Personality - outgoing, sometimes feels inferior to Janine. (Who wouldn't?) Mary Anne, our secretary, is my best friend. Before I moved to Watson's we lived next door to each other for years and years. We were babies, kids, and almost teenagers together. Right now, Mary Anne is changing. I think she's growing up a little faster than I am. And she has another best friend (Dawn). We're alike in a lot of ways and different in a lot of ways. For instance, my likes - sports, baby-sitting, TV. Mary Anne's likes - baby-sitting, movie stars, animals. My dislikes - you already know them. Mary Anne's dislikes - crowds of people, being the center of attention. Looks - we're both small for our age, and we both have brown eyes and medium-length brown hair. Dress - I couldn't care less. Mary Anne is just beginning to care, but she needs a lot of help from Claudia and Stacey. My personality - outgoing, big mouth, friendly. Mary Anne's personality - cautious, sensitive, shy. (She has a boyfriend. I don't.) Mary Anne's club job is to keep our record book up to date. The record book is where we write down our clients' names, addresses, and phone numbers, list the money we earn (that's really Stacey's job), and most important, schedule our baby-sitting jobs.

Stacey McGill is sort of a newcomer to Stoneybrook. Until a year ago, she and her parents lived in New York City. They moved here just before we began school last September. Stacey is sophisticated and smart. Sometimes she seems years older than me. She and Claudia are best friends. Stacey's likes - boys, clothes, baby-sitting. Dislikes - doctors. (Stacey has diabetes and has to go to doctors pretty often. She also dislikes the strict diet she has to stay on so as not to allow too much sugar in her body.) Looks - wild blonde hair, thin, pretty, older than her age. Dress - as trendy as Claudia, but a little less outrageous. Personality - outgoing, very grown-up, sensitive to other people. Stacey keeps track of the earnings of us baby-sitters, and is responsible for the dues we put in our club treasury.

Finally, there's Dawn, who's more of a newcomer to Stoneybrook than Stacey is. She moved here from California last January with her mother and younger brother after her parents got divorced. Dawn's job as alternate officer is to take over the duties of any other officer if someone gets sick or has to miss a meeting. Dawn's likes - health food, suns.h.i.+ne, babysitting, ghost stories. Dislikes - junk food, cold weather. Looks - the longest, palest, s.h.i.+niest, silkiest blonde hair you can imagine. Dress - whatever she feels like. Dawn is an individual. Personality - confident, doesn't care what other people think of her.

And that's the five of us. Together we make a pretty good team.

I realized that my friends were looking at me, waiting for me to begin the meeting.

”The meeting will now come to order,” I said, even though we already were in order. ”Stacey, how much money is in the treasury?”

”Give me your weekly dues first,” she replied. (Monday is Dues Day.) Each of us handed Stacey a dollar.

”We've got nine dollars and eighteen cents,” she reported.

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