Ann Martin - Stacey And The Mystery Of Stoneybrook

I threw on my bathrobe and ran for the door. It was my best-friend-in-New-York, Laine Cummings, carrying a huge, bulging bag from Zabar's. Zabar's is only the most incredible deli in the world. Everybody goes there on Sunday mornings to get bagels, fresh cream cheese, and all kinds of other goodies.

Laine and I pulled everything out of the bag, arranged it on the table, and proceeded to eat and gossip until it was time for me to catch my train.

I'd just started thinking again about that purple jacket, when the conductor came strolling through the car.

"Stoneybrook, all for Stoneybrook, get off here!" he said.

I jumped off the last step of the train right into my mother's arms. She gave me a huge hug.

"I've missed you so much, sweetie! How was your weekend?"

As we walked to the car, got in, and started home, I gave her a blow-by-blow account of my visit to New York. As she listened to the details of that wonderful Saturday I could see her mouth tighten a little.

"Do you mean to tell me that he really took the entire weekend off?" she asked. "I can't believe it."

I hadn't told her about the computer sounds that morning, but I didn't want to go into it now, even though I could see that I hadn't made her feel so great by telling her all about the terrific time I had.

"Mom, I missed you, too. Let's go into the city together sometime soon. Remember how much fun we used to have in the cosmetics department at Bloomingdale's?"

She laughed. I'll bet she was thinking of the day we tried on at least fourteen different types of perfume each.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, I ran up to my room to unpack. It was good to be back — after all, Stoneybrook is really my

home for now. After dinner, I called Claud to tell her about my weekend.

"Oh, Stace, I can't believe you didn't at least try for the jacket!" she cried. (Claudia loves clothes as much as I do. Maybe even more.)

"But wait'll you see my sunglasses. They're to die for, I'm telling you."

We talked for awhile until my mom called up the stairs to let me know that it was time to get off the phone.

" 'Bye Stace! See you in school tomorrow," said Claudia.

"And at the meeting, too," I reminded her.

Claudia and I, along with our other Stoneybrook-best-friends (all five of them!) belong to the Baby-sitters Club. The club is really a business — a baby-sitting business, of course — but I'll tell you more about it later.

As soon as I hung up the phone, I headed up to bed. I was beat! Those "Fun-Filled Action-Packed Weekends" sure can take a lot out of you.

Chapter 2.

I'd been planning to walk over to Claudia's for the Baby-sitters Club meeting the next day, but for some reason I'd been running late from the second I got up that morning. I guess I'm not used to going back and forth between my two "worlds" — New York and Stoneybrook. It takes me awhile to readjust every time I come back from a weekend away.

I started out the day by oversleeping. I gobbled my breakfast, threw on any old outfit I could find (the same white .jumpsuit with a pink shirt and — oops! — red socks), and practically ran all the way to school. It seemed as though I was rushing around all day, and now here it was, almost 5:30, dub meeting time, and I was still at home.

I grabbed my bike and hopped on. I knew I could still make it on time if I pedaled fast. As I rode, I thought about everyone I would see over at Claud's. I'd really been lucky to

find so many great friends when I moved to Stoneybrook. If it hadn't been for the Babysitters Club, my life would sure be different.

The BSC was all Kristy's idea. That's Kristy Thomas, president of the club. She's always coming up with excellent ideas, but this one has to be the best.

It all started at the beginning of seventh grade. At the time, Kristy lived with her mom; her two older brothers, Sam and Charlie; and her little brother, David Michael. Her mom was divorced: Kristy's dad walked out on the family years ago. Kristy never even sees him. Isn't that awful? I thought my parents' divorce was the pits, but at least I get to see my dad pretty often.

Anyway, Kristy and her brothers used to baby-sit for David Michael most of the time, but when they couldn't, Mrs. Thomas would have to make a ton of phone calls to try to line up a sitter. One night as her mom was doing this, Kristy had one of her Brilliant Brainstorms. What if parents could reach a whole bunch of experienced sitters with just one call?

And so the Baby-sitters Club was born. Kristy got together with Claudia, as well as Mary Anne, who lived across the street and was Kristy's best friend. They immediately decided that they needed more than three people in the dub, so Claud suggested me. We had met in school and were already becoming friends. Claudia was elected vice-president, mainly because we hold our meetings in her room. Plus she has her own phone with a private line — very important for the dub. Mary Anne became secretary because she's neat and organized, and I took on the office of treasurer, because I'm good at math. We'd meet three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. During our meetings parents would call us to line up sitters.

The dub has worked perfectly since Day One, but believe me, it has been through some major changes, and so have all its members. I'm not the only one who feels like my whole life has been turned inside out and upside down in the last year or so. Also, the BSC has grown a lot since it started. Besides the original members, there're now also Dawn, Jessi, and Mallory. Not to mention Logan and Shannon . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Let me go back to Kristy. Besides being brilliant, Kristy can also be bossy at times, and occasionally (I hate to say it) a little babyish. Kristy's small for her age and is kind of a tomboy. She wears the same thing every day: jeans, a turtleneck, a sweater, and running

shoes. But Kristy's all right. She's had a crazy year or so, and I'd have to say she's dealing with it really well.

While Kristy was starting the dub, her mom was falling in love with a real, true millionaire named Watson Brewer. They got married, and Kristy moved across town to live in his — get this — mansion. She wasn't crazy about Watson or the move at first, but she did like Watson's kids, her new stepbrother and stepsister, Andrew and Karen. And just as the two families were starting to become one, Kristy's mom and Mr. Brewer decided to adopt Emily Michelle, a two-year-old Vietnamese girl. (She's adorable.) And then Kristy's grandmother, Nannie, moved in to help take care of Emily! So it's a pretty full house right now, especially when you throw in Shannon, the Bernese mountain dog puppy, and Boo-Boo, the fat, mean, geriatric cat. But they all seem to be getting along well, and Kristy likes her new house, new family, and new neighborhood better all the time.

As I mentioned before, Claudia Kishi (my best friend, remember?) is the vice-president of the dub. Claudia is, well. . . gorgeous. She's Japanese-American and has L-O-N-G silky black hair, a perfect complexion (despite her incurable junk-food habit), and almond-shaped eyes. And if there's anyone in town who's a wilder, more sophisticated dresser than me, it's got to be Claud. She's a really talented artist, and she's always putting together the most outrageous outfits, then accessorizing them with even more outrageous jewelry, which, of course, she's made herself.