Ann Martin - Stacey's Broken Heart

you this. I mean, I really almost didn't call. But then I thought I should. You really should know. If a person doesn't have the whole story she can't make a good decision."

Kristy began making circles in the air with her hands, signaling me to wrap it up.

"Just tell me, Emily, please," I prompted, not sure I really wanted to hear what she had to say. Her nervousness was making me nervous.

"It's about Robert," Emily began. "Yesterday I was at the mall and I saw him with another girl."

My heart banged into my chest, hard.

"What girl?" I asked, wishing everyone weren't looking at me.

"I wasn't sure. I only saw her from the back. She had dark hair. Robert turned around, though, and I know it was him. They were having lunch at Casa Grande at the Washington Mall. My mother and I were shopping for school clothes and we went to Casa Grande for lunch."

"Th-thanks for telling me," I managed to say, despite the fact that I was totally shocked.

"Okay. Are you all right?" Emily asked.

"Fine," I lied.

"I hope I did the right thing," Emily said.

"You did. Thanks. 'Bye." I hung up and I must have looked pretty dazed.

"What's the matter?" Claudia asked. "What was that all about?"

Slowly, I told them what Emily had told me. "Robert with another girl?" Kristy scoffed.' "I don't believe it!"

"She saw them,” I told her. "And Robert told me he was playing basketball with Marty Bukowski yesterday. He definitely lied to me."

"It could just be a misunderstanding," Mary Anne said. "Remember when the kids thought Logan was going out with Kristy? And all the while Kristy was only helping Logan pick out a Valentine's Day present for me."

"Yeah, or maybe Robert had to talk to a friend who really needed him but he didn't think you'd understand, so he lied," Claudia . suggested.

Those possibilities made me feel a little better. But not a whole lot better. Something was up with Robert. I had to find out what.

During the rest of the meeting, my mind reeled with possibilities. Was Robert dating someone else? Was this a one-time thing, or was he about to dump me?

The phone rang several times but I didn't pay attention since I wouldn't be around to take new jobs. Who was this girl? Was it Andi Gentile? She had dark brown hair. Or maybe Jacqui Grant — the movie hopper — who has dark red hair. That was more likely. Jacqui

always flirted with Robert. Still, it could be Andi. I recalled how Robert had smiled at her the other day.

Before I knew it, it was time to vote on whether we thought Abby could handle the role of interim president. Mary Anne handed out slips of paper and we all took pencils from a cup on Claudia's desk. I voted yes. Abby seemed perfectly capable, even if she was a little overeager. After all, it was just for a week.

We gave the folded slips to Mary Anne. She counted six yes votes and one no vote written in Kristy's distinctive, neat handwriting.

"Way to go!" Abby cheered. "Thanks guys. You won't be sorry. I've been thinking about coming up with some great new project to breathe some life into this club. I'm going to think about it tonight and come up with something truly great! I'll call you all tomorrow and let you know what it is."

As everyone left, they said good-bye to Kristy and wished her a great vacation. To her credit, Kristy shook Abby's hand and wrote down the name of the hotel where she'd be in Hawaii. "You can call me there if you need me," she said.

"Thanks, but I don't think I will," Abby replied.

When everyone left, I stayed behind. "What

are you going to do?" Claudia asked, her face concerned and sympathetic.

"Spy," I said decisively.

"What?" Claudia cried.

"I have to know what's really going on with Robert," I said as I got off the bed and started pacing the room.

"Ask him," Claudia suggested.

"What if he lies to me again?" I replied. "He already has once. I can't leave for New York without knowing. Want to do some spying with me?"

"Not particularly," Claudia replied.

"All right, then I'll do it myself."

"Okay, okay," Claudia relented. "I'll go with you. What good is a best friend if she won't spy with you?"

"Thanks." I didn't like the idea of spying on Robert, either. But I had no choice. If I didn't learn the truth about this, I was going to go crazy.

Chapter 5.

Abby did come up with a fun idea for the club to get involved in. On Thursday morning, she called me and told me what it was. Her sister, Anna, is involved with an orphanage in Mexico. Anna's music class sends the children tapes of music they have performed. The kids from the orphanage write back. So, Abby's idea was for the BSC to put on a Mexican festival to raise money for the orphanage. She thought it would be something in which we could involve the kids we baby-sit for.

I said it sounded great to me but I wouldn't be in Stoneybrook on the day she wanted to hold the festival. Abby said she knew but she wondered if I wanted to get together that day to start working on it. "After all, I have to pull this off while I'm still president," she said with a laugh.

I said I really couldn't. Robert had called me that morning and wanted to go for a bike ride. I had told him I'd go, although I had no idea what it would be like now that I knew he had lied to me.

Abby then asked if she could spend money from the treasury for craft supplies. "I want to make piñatas for the festival," she told me.

I knew how much money was in there, so I told her she could take twenty dollars. "I think we should hang on to the rest of the

money," I said, "especially since you won't be collecting dues while I'm away."

"Yes, but we won't be paying Charlie to drive," she reminded me. "So how about another, ten? Thirty dollars would buy what we need."

"All right," I said. In her own way, Abby was as dynamic and persuasive as Kristy.

The bike outing with Robert that afternoon didn't go very well. I thought I was being myself, but Robert kept asking me what was wrong. Each time I said "Nothing." Somehow I just couldn't come out and confront him. I wanted to, but I was too chicken. What if he became insulted because I didn't trust him? What if he gave me an answer I didn't believe? I didn't want to go away for a week if things between us weren't right. So I left my questions unasked.

As soon as I came home, the phone rang. It was Claudia and she was dying to tell me what had happened during their first day of planning for the festival.

On short notice, Abby had managed to pull together a small crew of kids and BSC members to-start preparations for the festival. They met at the old barn behind Mary Anne's house.

That worked out fine for Mary Anne and Claudia, since they were scheduled to baby-

sit for Mrs. DeWitt. (There are seven kids in the DeWitt family, so Mary Anne and Claudia were sharing the job.) Mary Anne simply asked Mrs. DeWitt to drive the kids to her house instead of Mary Anne and Claudia going over there. "Glad to," Mrs. DeWitt told Mary Anne. "The kids are going bonkers with boredom. I can't wait until school starts. They'd love to get out of the house."

When Mrs. DeWitt remarried, she went from three kids to seven! They are: Buddy (eight), Suzi (five), and Marnie (two) (their last names are Barrett); Lindsey (eight), Taylor (six), Madeleine (four) and Ryan (two) (they're DeWitts). Can you imagine having two two-year-olds?