Ann Martin - Stacey's Broken Heart

As we talked, I checked out my image in the mirror. Even though I wore sunblock, I was tan. Cool. I know it's not supposed to be great for your skin, but my eyes always look bluer when I'm tan. I quickly picked out my blonde shoulder-length perm with my fingers and turned back to the conversation.

"I get tan even though I wear sunblock," Abby complained.

"You're lucky," said Kristy.

As this talk went on I started to think how lucky I was to have good friends like my BSC pals. Even when we have light conversations like this, I feel so warm and at ease. Totally accepted. My BSC friends know me well and like me as I am. It's a great feeling.

But before I go any further, let me tell you about the BSC and its members. First, a crash course in BSC history. Ready?

It all started with Kristy Thomas's great idea.

The idea was: have a single phone number where parents can contact several qualified baby-sitters at once. This saves parents from having to call all around town looking for a sitter. Simple, but brilliant. Most of Kristy's many ideas are like that.

In the beginning, the several qualified babysitters were Kristy (of course), her best friend Mary Anne, their good friend Claudia, and me. I'd just moved to Stoneybrook and become friends with Claudia. She was the one who suggested me for the club. We put up fliers advertising the club, listing Claudia's phone number since she has her own private line. Then we sat in her room and waited.

We didn't wait long. The phone started ringing almost immediately. In no time, we were so busy that we invited Dawn — who had moved from California to Stoneybrook — to join. Things were going great.

Then, disaster struck.

Not disaster, really. But it felt like it at the time. Dad's company transferred him back to Manhattan, so my family had to pack up and leave. The BSC was then short one member, but had more clients than ever. That was when Mallory and Jessi came on as junior BSC officers. They're junior because they're younger (eleven) than the rest of us, who are thirteen.

Things during my short stay in Manhattan

were interesting, to say the least. The bad news was that Mom and Dad split up. The good news was that I returned to Stoneybrook with Mom. It was good, too, because although I'm wild for Manhattan, I missed my Stoneybrook friends terribly. I was glad to be back and they were happy to have me. Club business was booming and they needed me badly.

Not long afterward, I left the club for awhile. That's because I got the crazy idea that the girls in Robert's group were cooler than my BSC friends. What a laugh! When I think that I almost lost my true friends because of those girls, it gives me the chills. Once I saw how wrong I'd been I rejoined the dub. Kristy let me come back on probation (which meant I was on trial), but now I'm as in as ever before.

After I rejoined the BSC, Dawn moved to California permanently. (She missed it too much.) We have a new member now, Abby. She's Dawn's replacement (not that anyone could replace Dawn, but you know what I mean).

Now that you know our history, here's how the club works. We meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from five-thirty until six. Clients call during that time. The person nearest the phone answers and takes down the client's information (name, number, how

many kids, when, where). We decide who should take the job and then call the client back.

It sounds simple, and it is, but it takes a lot of planning and organization to keep everything running smoothly. That's the reason we each have official club titles and responsibilities to go along with those titles.

As you know, Kristy Thomas is president. This is partly because she thought of the dub and partly because the club-needs someone strong, organized, and . . . well, bosslike to keep it going. (Is bosslike the same as bossy? I think so.) Kristy is all those things and is very dedicated to the club. On top of that she constantly overflows with great ideas.

One of her ideas was to keep a club notebook, a journal in which we write about our sitting jobs. It's a great reference when you need to know about a certain family you'll be baby-sitting for.

Her other very important idea was the record book. That's where we keep the schedule of who is baby-sitting where and when. We also have our personal schedules in there. For example, the book says when I'll be in Manhattan with Dad, when I have a doctor's appointment, and so on. That way if I'm not available to work on a certain day, it's in the book. In the back of the book is official information about our clients: addresses, phone numbers, the rates they pay. There's even special information about our charges such as allergies or their likes and dislikes.

Also under the category of great Kristy ideas come Kid-Kits. These are boxes full of fun stuff to bring on baby-sitting jobs. Each of us has our own and we keep them stocked with things such as stickers, coloring books, arts and crafts materials, and games. Kids love the Kid-Kits, though we don't bring them all the time. We tend to use them to smooth the way in difficult sitting jobs. We use our club dues to refill the boxes once in awhile.

Speaking of dues, I'm the club treasurer. I got that job because I love math and I'm good at it. I have the sometimes unpleasant duty of collecting dues every week. Everyone grumbles on dues day, but it's necessary. We use the money to contribute to Claudia's phone bill. We also pay Kristy's brother Charlie to drive Kristy and Abby across town since they live farther away than the rest of us. If there's anything left over, we restock Kid-Kits or buy anything else we might need. Then, if we have enough money (as treasurer, I decide this) we can do something fun such as go to the movies or have a pizza party.

Our vice-president is Claudia. Her main contribution is the use of her phone and her

room. She's also a kind of hospitality officer, providing snacks and soda for everyone. She always makes sure there's a healthy snack for me, which I appreciate a lot.

Mary Anne is our secretary. After Kristy, she has the second most important job (in my opinion). She keeps track of the record book, seeing who is available for jobs and then recording the jobs in the book. She's unbelievably good at it, and has never made a mistake.

We also have an alternate officer. That's the person who has to know everyone's club job and be ready to take over if someone is not at a meeting. Before she left, Dawn was the alternate. Now Abby is.

As I mentioned before, Jessi and Mallory are our junior officers. They're only allowed to baby-sit during the day (or in the evenings for their own families). That frees the rest of us to take night jobs, so they're a big help.

Now I'll tell you a bit about the members of our club. Again, I'll start with Kristy. Once Dad and I went to see a play called The Mouse That Roared. The title always makes me think of Kristy. At first glance she looks a little mousy — petite with straight brown hair, plain, sporty clothes, no makeup. But she sure can roar. She lets you know exactly what she's thinking. She's not at all shy about it even if her opinion is unpopular or a little insulting.

This domineering personality allows her to take charge of things easily. She really keeps the club moving. (No one goofs off or breaks rules with Kristy around.) She also coaches a little kids' softball team called Kristy's Krushers, which gives her plenty of roaring opportunities.