Ann Martin: The Truth About Stacey

"Did those kids tease you because they saw you with a baby-sitter?. . .Charlotte?" I tagged along at her side.

"No," she said at last, sniffling. "They don't know you're my sitter."

"Why are you mad at me?"

Charlottestopped walking. "I'm not mad at you."

"Just upset because they teased you?"

"I guess."

"How come they teased you?"

"I don't know."

"They called you the teacher's pet."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey, listen, I got teased a lot last year."

"InNew York?"

"InNew York."

"Who teased you?"

"My best friend.Well, she used to be my best friend. Now she's my former best friend."

"Why did she tease you?"

"It's a long story."

"Don't you want to talk about it, either?"

"I guess not."

We were approaching the corner ofCharlotte 's street. She had stopped crying and was holding my hand again. Suddenly she squealed and pointed at something. "Look at that!"

I looked. All I could see in the dusky light was a bunch of helium balloons bobbing down the street toward us. I looked harder and realized that a person was behind them. Eitherthat, or the balloons were propelled by a pair of legs wearing jeans and sneakers.

The balloons spoke. "Hi!"

I peered around them. Holding tightly to a handful of strings was a pretty girl, probably a couple of years older than I, tall and very thin, wearing a sweat shirt I would have died for.

She separated a red balloon from the bunch and handed it toCharlotte . Then she turned to me. "I'm Liz Lewis," she said, "president of the Baby-sitters Agency. I hope you'll call me if you ever need a sitter for your little sister."Charlotte giggled. "The number's on the balloon. Later!" She walked on.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I suddenly felt cold through and through.

Charlottewas holding the balloon in both hands. She turned it around and read slowly, "The Baby-sitters Agency.Call Liz Lewis KL5-1162 or Michelle Patterson KL5-7548." She looked up at me."More baby-sitters? What's an agency, Stacey?"

"It's another long story. Come on. Let's go home."

I knew I'd be on the phone with Kristy again that evening.

Chapter 5.

Kristy was worried. She took the balloons as a personal insult. It turned out that she'd run into Liz that afternoon herself. Only Kristy had had the nerve to tell Liz who she was — president of the Baby-sitters Club, and therefore Liz's number one rival. According to Kristy, they had "exchanged words," which I guess meant that they had had an argument. But by the time I was talking to Kristy over the phone in the evening, all she could say was, "Why didn't we think of balloons? Why didn't we think of balloons?"

The very next day, though, Monday, something wonderful happened that took our minds off the agency — followed by something horrible that put our minds right back on it.

The Baby-sitters Club had walked home from school together. When we reached Bradford Court, Claudia went to her house to work on a painting for art class, and Mary Anne went to her house because she was supposed to bake cranberry bread for the Thanksgiving dinner she and her father would be sharing with Kristy's family (which included Watson, Kristy's stepfather-to-be and his two little kids; Kristy said it was going to be one interesting meal).

"Want to come over for a while?" Kristy asked me after Claudia and Mary Anne had left. (Not one of us had a baby-sitting job that afternoon.)

"Sure," I replied, eager for even a look at Sam Thomas.

We stepped up to her front door and Kristy took her house key out of her purse. Since her parents are divorced and Mrs. Thomas works full-time, Kristy is often the first person home in the afternoon. But when she put the key in the lock, she discovered that the door was open.

"That's odd," she murmured. "I hope David Michael didn't get here first. He hates to come home to an empty house." We walked into the front hall. Kristy's mother was there.

"Mom!What are you doing home?" exclaimed Kristy.

Mrs. Thomas smiled. "Hi, honey.Hi,Sta-cey ."

"Hi, Mrs. Thomas," I replied.

"Look who's here with me," said Kristy's mother.

''Who?" asked Kristy suspiciously.

"Come in the kitchen."

Sitting at the kitchen table was Jamie Newton. He was drinking milk andcoloring in acoloring book.

"Jamie!" cried Kristy. "Hi!"

"Hi there, Jamie," I said.

"Hi-hi," answered Jamie cheerfully.

"What are you doing here?" Kristy asked him.

Jamie glanced at Kristy's mother.

"Go ahead and tell them your news, sweetie/' said Mrs. Thomas.

"My mommy's having a baby," he announced. "She's at the hospital."

"Having the baby? Now?" asked Kristy, sounding dismayed.

"Kristy, I know you girls had plans for helping theNewtons out," her mother said, "but the baby started to come late this morning. Several weeks ago, theNewtons had asked me whether I'd be able to watch Jamie if the baby arrived at night or while you girls were in school. I told them I'd be glad to. When Mr. Newton called me at work to say that it was time for him to take his wife to the hospital, I told him just to drop Jamie by my office on the way."

"On the way!" said Kristy. "But you work inStamford ."

"I know. TheNewtons ' doctor is with theStamford hospital, though, so I really was on their way. Jamie worked very hard with me today, didn't you, Jamie?"

Jamie nodded proudly.

"He made a picture for the baby and read

somebooks and copied things on the Xerox machine."

"And we had lunch together," added Jamie.

"That's right," said Mrs. Thomas. "We ate in the cafeteria." She looked at her watch. "And now, girls," she said. "I'm leaving Jamie in your capable hands and going back to the office for a few hours."

I got the distinct impression that Mrs. Thomas hadn't gotten much work done that day.

"But Mom, wait! What about the baby?" askedKristy. "Don't leave us hanging!"

"Yeah!"I exclaimed. "What did Mrs. Newton have?"

"Sorry, no word yet. Mr. Newton promised he'd phone as soon as the baby is born. He knows to call here afterthree o'clock ."

"Well, how long does it take?" asked Kristy indignantly. "I mean,to have a baby?"

Her mother smiled. "It depends on the baby. You took twenty-four hours."

"Wow," I said.

"Twenty-four hours!" cried Kristy."Oh, no. I cannot wait that-long."

"Well, maybe this baby will come faster. Now listen, Jamie's going to stay with us until his father comes home from the hospital. Since he may be spending the night, why don't you get hispajamas and things, but stay around

herethe rest of the time. It'll be easier for Jamie than going back and forth. Here's the key to theNewtons ' house. I'll pay you for sitting this afternoon, by the way. And I'll be home by six-thirty." Mrs. Thomas kissed Kristy goodbye and waved to Jamie and me. Then she was gone.

"Well, this isn't exactly the way I'd thought things would work out," said Kristy, "but it is a pretty exciting afternoon."

"I'll say!. . .Hey, where are your brothers?"

"You mean Sam?" teased Kristy.

"We-ell. . . ."

"Let's see. Today's Monday so it's Charlie's day to watch David Michael. Oh, I bet he met David Michael at school and took him back toStoneybrook High to watch cheerleader practice. Sam's probably with them."

"Cheerleader practice?"

"Yeah.David Michael loves it. He comes home and shows us the cheers."

I giggled.

"So, Jamie," said Kristy. "What do you think? You're going to be a big brother pretty soon."

Jamie shrugged and continuedcoloring .

"What do you want?" I asked him."A brother or a sister?"

"Brother."

"Aren't you excited?"

Jamie shrugged again.

Kristy and I glanced at each other.

"You know," I said suddenly, not at all sure where the idea came from, "being a big brother is so important that I think you ought to have a Big Brother Party, Jamie."