Caroline Cala - Best Babysitters Ever

First published in USA 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

First published in Great Britain 2019 by Egmont UK Limited,

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,

3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016

Text copyright © 2019 Alloy Entertainment, LLC

Cover illustration © 2019 Sarah Hoyle

First e-book edition 2019

ISBN 978 1 4052 8814 9

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1820 2

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record of this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

TO All THE WILD GIRLS –

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in USA 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company First published in Great Britain 2019 by Egmont UK Limited, The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016 Text copyright © 2019 Alloy Entertainment, LLC Cover illustration © 2019 Sarah Hoyle First e-book edition 2019 ISBN 978 1 4052 8814 9 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1820 2 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record of this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet. Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

Dedication TO All THE WILD GIRLS – PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

CHAPTER ONE: MALIA

CHAPTER TWO: DOT

CHAPTER THREE: BREE

CHAPTER FOUR: MALIA

CHAPTER FIVE: DOT

CHAPTER SIX: ALIA ALIA ALIA

CHAPTER SEVEN: BREE

CHAPTER EIGHT: ALIA (NOT MALIA)

CHAPTER NINE: DOT

CHAPTER TEN: MALIA* (*THE “M” IS SILENT!!)

CHAPTER ELEVEN: BREE

CHAPTER TWELVE: MALIA

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DOT

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MALIA

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: BREE

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MALIA

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DOT

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: MALIA-BECAUSE-CLEARLY-NOBODY-IS-GOING-TO-SAY-ALIA-SO-WHATEVER

CHAPTER NINETEEN: DOT

CHAPTER TWENTY: MALIA

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: BREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: DOT

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: BREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: MALIA

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: BREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: DOT

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: MALIA

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: BREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: MALIA

CHAPTER THIRTY: DOT

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: MALIA

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: BREE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Back series promotional page

CHAPTER ONE: MALIA

Technically,the Baby-Sitters Club was someone else’s idea. But Malia was the one who stole it, and she thought it was okay to be proud of that.

The epiphany came during the worst week ever. Monday started off with an algebra test where she left half of the answers blank, followed by gym class, where she walked many, MANY semi-aerobic circles around the basketball court, upon which Connor Kelly – aka the only boy worth loving – was practising free throws. Malia was wearing her new silver leggings and the ultra-curling mascara she’d borrowed from her best friend Bree Robinson even though it made Bree freak out because sharing mascara could apparently lead to eye infections. But Connor didn’t look at her once.

On Tuesday morning, Malia walked to school – yes, walked, on foot like some kind of pilgrim – because her evil big sister, Chelsea, cast her out of their regular carpool. One of Chelsea’s dumb friends had a science project that was taking up Malia’s usual spot in the back seat, and so she was left without transportation.

Like that wasn’t bad enough, on her way down the front path, she dropped her phone, and the screen shattered into a billion little pieces. Malia could already hear her mom’s voice the moment she saw it. “Ma-li-a,” she’d say, drawing the name out like some kind of swear word. “You have to learn to be more responsible.” Every time she said Malia’s name, no matter the occasion, it sounded like it was laced with disappointment. After all, Malia wasn’t turning out anything like Malia Obama, the brilliant first daughter after whom she was named. Instead, she was destined to be Malia Twiggs, which anyone had to admit sounded kind of bootleg. This is what led her to rebrand herself as “Alia”, a campaign that had been met with moderate success. Malia was still constantly correcting people for including the M . But she had faith that eventually it would stick.

It was only October and so far, seventh grade was turning out to be all kinds of meh. Even Malia’s once-favourite pastime – killing time at the Playa del Mar Mall – had become insanely depressing. She and her friends wandered in endless loops, eating food-court chicken, and looking at all the things they had no money to buy. Her mom called it “window shopping” and said it was good for building character, but Malia called it “torture,” since that’s what it actually was.

To make matters worse, seventh grade wasn’t bad for everyone. Seemingly all of her classmates were bringing their A game, like Sheila Brown, whose thirteenth birthday party had featured an actual elephant, and Charlotte Price, who’d hosted the most lavish bat mitzvah the world had ever seen. Thanks to her high-flying classmates, Malia’s own upcoming birthday was hard to look forward to. Her typical plan – a backyard party with her two best friends – was usually the highlight of her autumn, but this year, such a gathering would pale in comparison. Malia had yet to come any closer to realizing how to make her joint-birthday-party dreams a reality.