"Shopping," I replied breathlessly. I dropped my backpack in the middle of the floor, feeling as if I might never move my shoulders again. After throwing the other two books on my bed, I stretched my arms toward the ceiling and rolled my shoulders.
"Buy a lot?" Kristy asked, staring at the backpack.
"Nope. Books," I replied, making a face.
Kristy nodded. Luckily, my BSC friends understood my situation. I'd worried that when I moved to seventh grade, things might change. Staying close to somebody who's in a different grade, or goes to a different school, can be difficult. But they stuck by me all the way. I guess that's one good test of friendship.
So what's the BSC all about? I'll start at the beginning. Kristy, of the director's chair and pencil, is the founder and president. One afternoon, back in seventh grade, she watched her mother trying to find a baby-sitter for her little brother, David Michael - calling one sitter, being turned down, hanging up, and calling the next sitter on her list. Like a lightning bolt, it hit Kristy. Wouldn't it be easier to find a sitter if there was one number you could call to reach several people at once? That's the idea behind the BSC.
As I mentioned earlier we meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon from five-thirty (on the dot) until six, in my room. (I'm the only one in the club with a private phone on a separate line. That's what landed me the job of vice-president.) Parents call and request a sitter. The person who answers the phone takes down the information about the job - what time, how many kids, and so on. Then we figure out which of us can take it and call the client back to tell him or her who will be coming.
The BSC is as much a business as it is a club, and Kristy keeps the business humming. She's constantly coming up with new ideas to improve the way we work. For example, it was her idea to have a club notebook, in which each of us writes about every job we take. This is one of my least favorite club activities. I love the jobs, but writing about them is a different story. Still, I like to read what everyone else writes, and it's very helpful to know what's going on with all of the kids for whom we babysit.
Kristy also invented Kid-Kits. Those are cardboard boxes filled with books, hand-me-down toys, and other supplies we sometimes take with us on jobs. We each decorate our own and customize the contents. Mine, for example, has a lot of art materials in it. Kid-Kits are very useful on rainy days, with new clients, and when something new or different is going on in a family.
The one thing that Kristy seldom has a new idea about is her clothes. Just as she sits in the same place at every BSC meeting, she wears a variation of the same outfit just about every day. Kristy's closets and drawers are full of jeans, T-shirts, turtlenecks, and running shoes.
Kristy used to live across the street from me on Bradford Court. She'd lived there forever with her mother and her three brothers, Char-15 lie, Sam, and David Michael. Charlie and Sam are in high school, and David Michael is a second-grader. Mr. Thomas left the family when David Michael was just a baby. Kristy hears from him every now and then. Not long ago, the Thomases made a big move - to a mansion across town. Why? Her family suddenly needed more room. Mrs. Thomas married a really nice guy named Watson Brewer, who happens to be a millionaire with a house big enough for all of them. "All of them" means the extra people who came along with Watson: Karen and Andrew, Watson's children from his first marriage, live with them in alternate months. And after Watson and Kristy's mom were married, the Brewers adopted Emily Michelle, a two-and-a-half-year-old who was born in Vietnam. Then Kristy's grandmother, Nannie, moved in to help. Plenty of pets share the house too - maybe enough to fill a small kennel.
Food! I needed food. I found a bag of M&M's in my desk drawer, ripped it open, and poured out a handful. Yum! Chocolate helped. I passed the bag to Kristy, who was talking quietly with Mary Anne. One of my duties as vice-president of the BSC is to make sure everyone is fed. And that's no problem because I keep a "healthy" supply of junk food (and other food).
When Kristy came up with the idea for the BSC, she asked Mary Anne and me to join it. Back then, Mary Anne also lived on Bradford Court, next door to Kristy. They've been best friends practically since they were born. Mary Anne's mother died when Mary Anne was a baby, so for a long time her family was just her and her dad. Mr. Spier was pretty strict. He made rules for Mary Anne about how she had to dress, how she could wear her hair, and how late she could stay out. It wasn't easy for Mary Anne - she's one of the shyest, most sensitive people I know - but she stood up to her dad and he loosened up a little. Mary Anne cut her brown hair, bought some new clothes, and was given the same curfew the rest of us had.
Then even bigger changes took place in her family. Mary Anne made a new friend, Dawn Schafer, who had moved to Stoneybrook from California. Together they found out that their parents, Mary Anne's widowed father and Dawn's divorced mother, had dated in high school. They did some matchmaking and before long Mary Anne had a new stepmother, Sharon; a new stepsister (and best friend), Dawn; and a new stepbrother, Jeff. Mary Anne, Mr. Spier, and Tigger (Mary Anne's kitten) moved into the Schafers' old farmhouse, and began life as a blended family. After awhile, Dawn decided to return to California and live with her dad. (Jeff had already made that move.) That means Mary Anne and Dawn are long-distance sisters now, but they're still close. They talk on the phone and visit whenever they can, but they miss each other a lot. When Dawn lived here, she was a BSC member too. She's our honorary member now. When she visits, it's as if she's never been gone.
Mary Anne is the BSC secretary. She's in charge of the club record book, where we keep track of all our schedules, clients' names and addresses, ages of the kids for whom we babysit, rates we charge, and any other special information about the children. She's the perfect person for the job because she's very organized (and she knows how to spell).
Mary Anne used to be the only one of us with a steady boyfriend. His name is Logan Bruno. Now I'm seeing Josh, and Stacey McGill, another BSC member who's also my best friend, has an "older" boyfriend from New York City, Ethan Carroll. The following night the six of us were going on our first triple date, and I couldn't wait.
"Did you buy anything this afternoon?" Stacey asked, as she moved my books aside and sat down on the bed next to me. Mallory Pike and Jessi Ramsey had come in with her. They sat on the floor, looking at a book Jessi held on her lap.
"Not one single thing," I answered. I hadn't even had time to try on the paintbrush earrings. I dug around in my desk a little more, pulled out some pretzels, and handed them to Stacey. I keep a special stash of healthier snacks for Stacey because she can't eat sugary junk food. Stacey has diabetes, a condition that interferes with the way her body processes sugar. If she eats certain things, she can become very sick. As long as Stacey is very careful about her diet, monitors her blood sugar level, and gives herself daily injections of insulin, she's fine. But it's something she'll have to deal with her whole life.
Stacey moved to Stoneybrook from New York City when we were in seventh grade, and we invited her to join the BSC not long after she arrived. Stacey is tall, thin, blonde, and beautiful. Like me, she loves fashion, but her look is more grown-up and sophisticated than mine - or anyone else's in the BSC. It's the New York influence. Stacey moved back to New York after she'd lived here awhile. Then her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved back to Stoneybrook. Stacey's dad still lives in New York City, and she visits there often. That's how she met Ethan.
Math is one of Stacey's strong points, so naturally she's our BSC treasurer. She collects dues from us every Monday. We use the money to pay Charlie for driving Kristy and (usually) Abby Stevenson to our meetings, to pay for part of my phone bill, to buy supplies for our Kid-Kits, and to fund special events for our charges. Sometimes, when we have a little extra money in the treasury, we spend it on a pizza party.
Kristy looked at my digital clock. It read 5:29. Just then, Abby burst into the room.
"I'm not late, am I?" Abby said, breathing hard.
Kristy stared at Abby for a moment. "Nope." When the clock clicked over to 5:30, she said, "The meeting will come to order." Abby sank to the floor, then stretched her legs out in front of her. She leaned forward, touching her face to her knees. I'd seen Jessi do that lots of time, but never Abby. "What?" she asked as she straightened up and found all of us staring at her. "I need to cool down. I ran today, but I'm a little off. I should have made it here with more time to spare." She continued to stretch.
Abby is our newest BSC member. She recently moved to Stoneybrook from Long Island with her mother and her sister, Anna. They live on Kristy's street. Abby and Anna are identical twins. They have totally different interests, though. Abby loves sports and outdoor activities, while Anna is a serious musician. We invited both Abby and Anna to join the BSC, but Anna decided she wouldn't have time to babysit and practice the violin as much as she likes. Abby is our alternate officer, which means she takes over the duties of any club officer who might be absent. She has asthma and is allergic to a long list of foods and other stuff, but she doesn't let any of that slow her down for a moment. Abby's dad died in a car accident when she was nine. She doesn't talk much about it, but it must be hard. Losing people you love is always difficult. I know because my grandmother, Mimi, died not long ago. She lived with us, and we were very close. I still miss her.
The phone rang almost as soon as Kristy called the meeting to order. Stacey answered, and the BSC was open for business.
Jessi and Mallory continued to pore over the book. They're our junior officers, and they're best friends. Both are in sixth grade and can only baby-sit in the afternoons unless it's for their own siblings. They share a love of horses and books, and each is the oldest kid in her family. So they have plenty in common. By the way, there are eight children in Mal's family, four girls and four boys, including identical triplets. There are three kids in Jessi's family.
"Mal, you're free Thursday afternoon. Want to baby-sit for the Rodowskys?" Mary Anne asked after checking the schedules in the record book.
When Mal looked up, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She shook her head, her reddish-brown curls swinging, then buried her face in the book again.
Stacey and I exchanged glances. Things hadn't been going well for Mal lately. Not long ago some of the crueler kids in school started calling her "Spaz Girl." I'd hoped it would blow over, but the nickname spread through the entire school. Maybe this experience will find its way into a book someday. That's what Mal wants to do - write and illustrate children's books.
Mal is lucky to have Jessi as a friend to help her through this. They've been friends since Jessi's first day of school in Stoneybrook. (The Ramseys moved here from Oakley, New Jersey.) In addition to the interest in books and horses she shares with Mal, Jessi loves dancing. She studies ballet seriously and is very talented. She even looks like a dancer - tall and graceful, with her black hair often pulled back from her face in a bun. Jessi has a younger sister, Becca, and a baby brother, John Philip, Jr., better known as Squirt.
There are two other members of the BSC, associate members who don't regularly attend meetings but who handle our overflow jobs. One is Shannon Kilbourne, the only one of us who doesn't attend Stoneybrook Middle School. She goes to Stoneybrook Day School. Shannon lives on Kristy and Abby's street. She's very involved in activities at her school, so she doesn't have time left for any more regular meetings.
Finally, there's Logan, who, as I mentioned, is Mary Anne's boyfriend. He's cute, with blondish-brown curly hair and blue eyes. He's also funny, and wonderfully understanding, and he has the greatest southern accent. Logan used to live in Louisville, Kentucky, and you can still hear it in his voice.
"What time are we meeting tomorrow night?" Mary Anne asked Stacey and me. "Logan has a football game in the afternoon and he needs time to clean up before we go out."- "I'd hope so!" said Stacey. "Ethan is coming in on the four-fifteen train from New York. Mom and I are going to pick him up at the station, then take him back to the house. We might drive around town too, since Ethan's never been here." 'Are you nervous?" I asked. Stacey was twisting her blonde hair around her finger, something she doesn't often do.
'A little," she admitted.
I understood. Ethan is fifteen and the rest of us are thirteen, except Josh, who is still twelve. "We won't embarrass you, will we, Mary Anne?" "You won't and I won't. I can't speak for Logan or Josh," she said, smiling.
"Josh is looking forward to going out with all of you," I said. I hoped. "I'll talk to him tonight and make sure he knows what's expected of him." "Don't do that! You don't want to make him nervous. Josh is fun. He'll be fine. And so will Logan. It's just that Ethan is used to New York and we're in Stoneybrook," Stacey pointed out.
"We're adjourned - " The phone interrupted Kristy's announcement. She reached out and picked up the receiver. "Baby-sitters Club," she said. "Yes, it's Kristy, Mrs. Korman. . . . I'll check the schedule and call you back to tell you who your sitter will be. Thanks for calling." Kristy dropped the receiver back into the cradle. "Who's available to sit for the Kormans tomorrow afternoon? Bill and Melody only. Mr. and Mrs. Korman are taking Skylar to a special baby gym class." I waited for someone else to speak up. I was free, but between the pile of homework waiting for me and the big date tomorrow night, I wasn't sure I had time.
