Ann Martin - The Truth About Stacey

home. . . . Oh, I see. Well, would you like to speak to our president? . . . Okay. . . . Sure. And I — I'm really sorry."

Mary Anne's face wasflaming . She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece, and as she passed the receiver to Kristy she whispered, "Leslie never showed up on Saturday. She didn't even bother to call theKellys ."

Kristy took the phone, her eyes closed, steeling herself for the conversation with Mr. Kelly. "Kristy Thomas here," she said after a moment, "club president. . . . Yes, Mary Anne just mentioned that. I feel terrible. Leslie never told me she wasn't going to be able to keep her appointment with you. If she had, I would have sent over one of our other fine sitters. . . . I hope you can accept our apologies. . . . Sure. . . . Sure. Okay, good-bye."

Kristy hung up the phone. I couldn't tell whether she was angry or scared or embarrassed. Maybe she was all three. She kept still for so long that at last I said, "He was really mad, right?"

"Yup.He and his wife had tickets to see his wife's brother perform in a concert inStamford . When Leslie didn't show up, he called her house, but no one was home. TheKellys had to scramble around trying to get someone to watch their kids. At last they left them with a

neighbor, but by the time they reached the concert hall, they'd missed twenty minutes of the concert."

"Uh-oh," said Claudia.

"Why didn't they just call one of us?" I asked.

"Simple," snapped Kristy. "They didn't trust us, and why should they? Mr. Kelly was only calling now to make sure we knew what Leslie had done. I have a feeling theKellys won't be calling the Baby-sitters Club again."

"Oh, great," I said, letting out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding. "Wait'11 word gets around about this."

The phone rang again. Nobody made a move to answer it. Finally, I picked it up on the third ring. "Hello, the Baby-sitters Club," I said glumly. "Stacey McGill speaking. . . . Yes? . . . Oh, no, you're Adding! I mean, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. We had no idea. Maybe you'd like to talk to our president. . . . Okay, hold on." I handed Kristy the phone, whispering, "I don't believe it. This is Ms. Jay dell. Youknow, the other new client? The woman Janet was supposed to sit for? Janet didn't show up, either."

It was Kristy's turn to be furious. She jerked the phone to her ear, eyes flashing, and had to unclench her jaw before saying (fairlyciv -

illy), "Kristin Thomas speaking."

I'd seen Kristy mad before, but never that mad.

She carried on pretty much the same conversation with Ms.Jaydell that she'd had with Mr. Kelly a few minutes earlier. The only difference was that Ms.Jaydell and her husband hadn't been able to find another sitter, and had missed out on a cocktail party.

When Kristy hung up the phone, she burst into tears. It was the first time I'd ever seen her cry.

"Well, that does it," I said, handing her a tissue from the table by Claudia's bed. "What're Janet and Leslie's phone numbers? I'm going to call them right now. They're really hurting us."

"No," said Kristy, wiping her eyes. "Don't call them. I want to confront them face-to-face. We'll talk to them in school tomorrow. This wasn't any accident. They missed those jobs on purpose. I'm sure of it."

"But why?" asked Claudia.

"Beats me," said Kristy. "Who's going to help me face those traitors tomorrow?"

"I am!" I said.

"I am!" said Claudia.

We looked at Mary Anne. "Couldn't we

confrontthem over the phone?" she asked.

"Over the phone is not a confrontation/' I said firmly.

"We have to be face-to-face."

"We do?"

"Yes, we do."

"All of us," added Kristy."The whole club.United."

"All right," said Mary Anne at last.

None of us was looking forward to school the next day. We walked together in the morning,traveling about as fast as snails.

"When are we going to confront them?" I asked Kristy as we reachedStoneybrookMiddle School .

"Yeah," said Claudia. "We don't have any classes with them."

"We're going to confront them right now," Kristy replied. "I know where their homerooms are. We're going to wait for them."

"An ambush," said Mary Anne.

Janet and Leslie were not in the same homeroom, but the rooms were just across the hall from each other. Kristy and Mary Anne waited by Janet's room; Claudia and I waited by Leslie's.

After about five minutes of standing around, I spotted them down the hall."Psst! Kristy!"

I said. "Here they come.Both of them."

"Hey," Claudia whispered to me. "Look who's with them."

I looked. It was Liz Lewis. "I thought they didn't like Liz," I said.

"I know." Claudia frowned.

We watched the girls stop for a moment, talking earnestly. Then Liz waved to them and disappeared into a classroom.

Janet and Leslie saw us before they reached their homerooms. They nudged each other, laughing.

The members of the Baby-sitters Club converged on them.

"Where were you yesterday?" Kristy demanded.

"Hey (snap, snap), what kind of a greeting is that?" asked Janet. She must have had twelve pieces of gum in her mouth.

"I'm not kidding," said Kristy. "I want to know where you were, and I want to know why you didn't show up for your Saturday sitting jobs. Our club is known for responsible baby-sitters."

"So what?" saidLeslie.

"So what!" exclaimedKristy. "You're giving us a bad reputation. We're going to have to ask you to leave the club."

"Fine with us," replied Janet. "We," she

addedwith a smirk, "are members of the Babysitters Agency." She and Leslie burst into hysterical laughter.

"But — but — " stammered Kristy.

"We had you completely fooled!"

"You're rats!" I cried suddenly."Both of you. You did this to make us look bad! That's — it's — it's dirty. It's not fair."

Janet and Leslie couldn't stop laughing. And I couldn't stop accusing. "You're liars! And — and dirty businesswomen!"

"Whoa," said Leslie. "Get that.Dirty businesswomen.Pretty high-class talk."

"And probably rotten baby-sitters/' Kristy added.

Leslie took someoffense at that. "We are not rotten baby-sitters," she said, bristling.

"Well, what do you call a baby-sitter who doesn't show up for a job, and doesn't call the parents to explain why?"

"Hmm," said Leslie. "Janet, what would you call that sitter?"

"I'd call her anything except late for dinner!"

Leslie and Janet doubled over with laughter at their stupid joke.

"Shut up! Shut up!" cried Kristy. "I hope you realize you're in big trouble."

"With who?" said Janet, stilllaughing.

"With . . . with the parents.I'm going to

callthem and tell them exactly what happened. Then they'll call their friends, and their friends will call their friends. Word will get around. You'll be sorry."

At last the girls stopped laughing. "You wouldn't dare/' said Janet, at the same time Leslie said, "No, you'll be sorry, tattletale."

"Me? Why should I be sorry?" asked Kristy.

"Because," replied Leslie, "Liz and Michelle will be interested in your plans. They'll just have to work a little harder to be the best sitting agency in town. But they won't mind that/'

"You —" exclaimed Kristy, simmering " — you are pigs!"

Janet snapped her gum. "Sorry, kids." She and Leslie separated and walked into their classrooms.

Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and I were left standing in the hall. For the second time in two days, Kristy began to cry. The rest of us surrounded her and walked her into the nearest girls' room. It was pretty crowded, but we huddled in a corner and no one paid much attention to us.

"I'm so embarrassed," Kristy wailed. "It isn't fair. That was a really rotten trick. Besides, a baby-sitting club was my idea, not Liz's. We worked so hard on our club. And even when