Ann Martin - Mystery At Claudia's House

I was thinking this over, and checking that day's outfit (lace leggings, purple tie-dyed T-shirt dress, and purple high-tops) in the mirror, when I was snapped back to reality by Charlotte who was tugging on my sleeve.

"Becca and I want to make 'welcome back' cards for Derek. Can you help us?"

"Sure," I said. "That sounds like fun." I love working on art projects with kids. "Let's put down some newspaper, and then we can take out the poster paints and get crazy!"

Pretty soon we were sprawled out on the floor, making a big mess. (I had decided to make a card too, just for fun.) Charlotte covered her paintbrush with drippy red paint. "Derek's going to love this card," she said. "I'm making a picture of him as Waldo. You know, with those funny glasses and that spiky hair?"

Derek-in-person looks so different from Derek-as-Waldo. The first time I met him I could hardly believe Derek really was the same

person I'd seen on TV. In real life he's totally normal-looking, but on the show he gets laughs just by walking into the room.

"I like Waldo," mused Becca. "He's funny. But Lament! Lament is really special. He is so cute. Did you ever notice how big his eyes are?" I think one of the reasons Becca picked Lament to have a crush on is because he's African-American. Becca is, too. And she doesn't have too many black friends in Stoneybrook, because not that many black people live here. She used to live in New Jersey, in a more integrated town. Anyway, she probably likes Lamont because she relates to him and wishes she knew more boys like him.

It must be hard sometimes for Becca and her family. I'm friends with her older sister Jessi (she's in the BSC), and I know that when they first moved here people were actually mean to them. By now they've been accepted, but it wasn't easy at first.

Charlotte and Becca and I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing our cards and talking about Derek and his show. Just as we were cleaning up, Dr. Johanssen, Charlotte's mom, came home. It was already five o'clock by then, so I said my good-byes and headed back to my house to get ready for our club meeting, which is always at five-thirty and always in my room.

The house was quiet. I knew my parents were still at work. I also knew where I could find Janine. She was, as usual, in her room. Studying. What else is new? I stopped in to say hi to her, and then went into my own room, thinking I should tidy it up a little before the meeting.

As soon as I walked in, I noticed something strange. My room was messy, but that wasn't the strange thing. It's always messy. The strange thing was the way it was messy. It was different. Somebody else had made it messy, not me. On my desk, my papers were disorganized in an unfamiliar way. The makeup on my dresser was spread out differently than it had been that morning. And my closet door was hanging open even though I knew that, for once, I'd left it shut that morning.

I couldn't believe it! Had my room been burglarized, even though the rest of the house looked like it hadn't been touched? I started to panic. Then I looked carefully around the room and began to calm down. Nothing was missing. I could see that right away.

At that moment, my friends Kristy and Mary Anne arrived. I wasn't going to have time to put my room back in order because it was almost five-thirty and our club meeting was about to start.

Chapter 2.

"Can you believe this?" I said, gesturing at the mess on my desk and dresser.

"What?" asked Kristy.

"My room," I said.

"What about it?" asked Mary Anne. "It looks the same as always."

I had to laugh. "I guess it does. But this is a different kind of mess than usual. Someone was in here!"

"You're kidding!" said Kristy. "What did they take?"

"Nothing that I know of," I admitted. "But still — "

"Tell us .about it after the meeting,” interrupted Kristy. The other members of the club had arrived by then, and my digital dock had turned to five-thirty. Kristy is very punctual and always starts our meetings on time. She's also very focused, and never lets anything get in the way of club business.

Even though Kristy can drive me nuts sometimes, I'm glad she's our club president. If she weren't, I don't know if we'd ever get anything done. The rest of us would be happy to discuss school or the latest issue of People magazine for hours at a time, but Kristy keeps us focused on the club.

But that's not the only reason she's president. The main reason is that she thought up the idea for the club. Kristy's always having great ideas, and this was the most awesome. She figured parents would think it was convenient to be able to call one phone number and reach a bunch of good sitters — and she was right. Business has been booming since the day the club started. Here's how it works: we meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from five-thirty to six. We advertised those hours at first, with fliers, but we hardly ever have to do that anymore. Parents call to line up sitters, and we divide up the jobs according to who's available when. Simple, right? But it took Kristy Thomas to think of it.

Kristy's a real dynamo. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and she's short for her age. She's kind of a tomboy: Kristy loves sports, especially baseball. And she doesn't care much about clothes and makeup and all that. She wears nearly the same thing every day: jeans, a turtleneck, and running shoes.

Kristy has a big family, and it's much more complicated than mine. She has two older brothers and one younger one, plus a stepfather and his kids — a boy and a girl — from his first marriage. (Her stepbrother and stepsister don't live with Kristy all the time, though. Most of the time they're with their mom.) Also, her mom and stepdad adopted a little girl, so Kristy has a two-year-old sister, too. Plus, her grandmother lives with the family. It's a full house, but luckily Kristy's step-dad (whose name is Watson Brewer), is a millionaire — honest! — and their house is actually a mansion.

That's Kristy. Now, more about the club she organized. I'm the vice-president. Why? Well, mainly because we meet in my room-and use my private phone line for our business. I guess I don't have any real duties, unless you count supplying Ring-Dings and Ruffles. Oh, and I also take care of any business calls that come in during times when we're not meeting.

Mary Anne Spier is our secretary. She's Kristy's best friend, even though they are very different people. I think the only thing they have in common may be their looks: Mary Anne also has brown hair and eyes, and is small for her age. But while Kristy is outgoing, Mary Anne is more of a mouse. She's shy, and quiet, and very sensitive.

Everybody loves Mary Anne, because she's a good listener and a good friend. She's not very sophisticated, but in a way she's more mature than she seems. For example, she's the only one in the club who has a steady boyfriend! Also, she's very dependable, which is important for the club. As secretary, she takes care of a lot of little details. She keeps our record book up-to-date with all kinds of information about our clients. She also keeps track of everyone's schedule, so when a call comes in she always knows — at a glance — who's available.

Mary Anne's mom died a long, long time ago, and Mary Anne grew up with just her father. I know life wasn't always easy for Mary Anne or her father. But now Mary Anne has a new stepmom, and a new stepsister and -brother. More about that later.