Ann Martin - Mary Anne And Too Many Boys

Mr. Pike looked at Mrs. Pike. "I'll leave it up to you."

"Well, I don't know," Mrs. Pike began, "the swimsuits are packed now."

"We don't need our suits to play in the sand," Nicky said.

"You win." Mrs. Pike got up and started to clear the table. "I want to get going by eleven, though." She looked at Stacey and me. "We seem to have everything under control here. Is there anything you girls would like to do before we leave?"

"I think I'll play with the kids on the beach," Stacey said. "Who knows? Maybe you can get a tan on a cloudy day."

I caught up with Stacey as she was heading toward the porch. "There's something Va-nessa and I have to do in town," I said quickly. "Can you and Mal handle things here while we're gone?"

"Sure." Stacey looked puzzled but didn't ask any questions.

I told Mrs. Pike that Vanessa wanted one last trip into town. Then I nodded to Vanessa, who was clutching her poem in her hand, and we headed for Ice-Cream Palace.

I was feeling a little nervous by this time,

but Vanessa was very cool as we walked along the boardwalk. I found out that she had planned everything down to the second.

"Slow up a little," she said. "I want to get there exactly at ten-fifteen."

"You do? What happens at ten-fifteen?"

"That's when the other boy behind the counter takes his break. Chris is really busy then because he has to handle all the customers himself."

I was amazed at the way she had thought things out. "What are we going to do exactly?"

She smiled. "You'll see."

We peered in the window just as a sandy-haired boy flung his cap on the counter and headed out the front door. Right on cue, a bunch of giggling girls barreled into Ice-Cream Palace and nearly collided with him.

"Perfect," Vanessa said under her breath. "Chris will go crazy trying to wait on all those kids at once."

She grabbed my hand, and we sneaked in behind the girls. Chris was facing us, scooping out ice cream. Vanessa hung back for a moment, staying out of sight. She waited until he turned around to use the whipped-cream machine, and then she darted forward to toss the note on the counter. Before I knew what

had happened, the whole thing was over and we were outside.

Hearts pounding, we took a few steps and then stopped to hug each other. "We made it!" Vanessa cried.

"We made it," I echoed. I was glad to see she could smile about it.

Later that day, we were back in Stoney-brook. I was practically bouncing off the seat when Mrs. Pike pulled into my driveway.

"You did a great job, honey," Mrs. Pike said, handing me an envelope. I knew it contained a nice check, but that was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to run right inside and see everyone.

"Good-bye, Mary Anne!" shouted Stacey and the Pikes as I raced for the kitchen door.

When I burst into the kitchen, Sharon was standing at the sink. "Oh, I'm so glad you're back!" she said, giving me a big hug. "We really missed you."

"I missed you, too."

A moment later, Dad hurried in to hug me, with Tigger at his heels. "He's been meowing since you left," Dad said. "I think he was lonely."

I scooped up Tigger and cradled him in my arms. He started purring like a motorboat and

I knew he was happy to see me. And I was happy to be back. I looked around the kitchen as if I had never seen it before. Sea City had been fun, but it was great to be home.

"Where's Dawn?"

"She's upstairs lying down," Sharon said. "But she asked me to wake her up the minute you got back."

Dawn was napping in the middle of the day? "What's wrong? Is she sick?" I asked.

"She flew in from California yesterday and she has jet lag. She's been acting like a zombie. If you want to relax for a minute, I'll go get her."

I decided to make a quick phone call while I waited for Dawn to make her appearance. A moment later, Logan's warm voice came flowing through the phone wires.

"Hi, it's me," I said softly. I was trying to sound cool, but I couldn't keep the excitement out of my voice.

"You're back!" Logan exclaimed. He sounded really pleased, and I could feel myself grinning from ear to ear.

"I just got here."

"I missed you."

"Me, too," I assured him.

We made plans to see each other after dinner and said good-bye just as Dawn staggered

down the stairs in her bathrobe. She looked like she had been awake for forty-eight hours. Her face was pale, her eyes were glazed over, and her long hair was lifeless. "Hi there," she said.

"Hi yourself." I put my arms around her and squeezed her tightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Dawn opened her mouth in a jaw-breaking yawn and then collapsed on the sofa. "I'm okay. I just feel like I want to sleep for a year."

"I'll make you girls some cinnamon-apple tea while you catch up on things," Sharon offered.

"That would be nice, Mom." Dawn yawned again. When we were alone, she tucked a pillow behind her head. "Okay," she said. "You go first. I want to hear everything about Sea City."

"Everything?"

"You can start by telling me about Alex. And Toby — is that the boy Stacey was going out with? And I want to hear what happened with Vanessa." Dawn had obviously paid close attention to the postcards I'd sent her.

"This is going to take awhile," I said, settling down on the floor. Tigger immediately jumped into my lap. "The problem is there

were just so many boys. Things got so complicated."

"That's okay," Dawn said, waving her hand. "Start at the beginning and don't leave anything out. I'm not going anywhere."

I took a deep breath and plunged in. "It all started when we saw Alex and Toby on the beach. Or I should say, when they saw us. . . ."

Dawn and I talked until dinnertime, and afterward she sat on my bed while I unpacked.

"So you think Vanessa is over her broken heart?" she asked me.

"I'm sure of it. She handled it very well. I'm proud of her." I reached for a pile of T-shirts, and something white caught my eye. A piece of notebook paper was tucked between my shirts.

It was a poem from Vanessa, and my eyes misted over when I read it.

"Yes," I said softly. "I think Vanessa will be just fine."

About the Author

ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.

Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks are Bummer Summer, Inside Out, Stage Fright, Me and Katie (the Pest), and all the other books in the Babysitters Club series.

She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.