Ann Martin - Mallory On Strike

this old baseball cap with a picture of a collie on it.

Kristy loves sports. In fact, the walls of her bedroom are covered with posters of gymnasts and football players and even a few Olympic posters. I guess you can tell that she's pretty much of a tomboy. Kristy's also got a big mouth, which sometimes gets her into trouble, and she can be pretty bossy at times. But she's a lot of fun, and she's terrific with kids. In fact, she coaches a^softball team called Kristy's Krushers. The Krushers sometimes play Bart's Bashers, who are coached by none other than (the extremely cute) Bart Taylor. He's sort of Kristy's boyfriend and lives in her neighborhood but goes to a private school. (All of the regular BSC members go to Stoneybrook Middle School.)

My family, which at this moment is driving me crazy, is huge and so is Kristy's. But her family is all mixed up like a crazy quilt. (You know those quilts that are made of funny shapes and colors pieced together with no real design?) She has two older brothers in high school named Sam and Charlie. Then there's David Michael, who's much younger. He's seven.

Right after David Michael was born, Kristy's father walked out on the family, leaving Mrs. Thomas with four kids. Then guess what. Mrs.

Thomas met Watson Brewer — a genuine millionaire! They got married, and the entire family moved from their smallish house (Kristy used to live on Bradford Court across from Claud) to Watson's mansion on the other side of town.

Now here's where things become mixed up like a crazy quilt. Watson has two little kids from his first marriage, Karen and Andrew, who are seven and four. They stay with the Brewers every other weekend, and Kristy adores them. But then Kristy's mom and Watson adopted Emily Michelle, a Vietnamese girl. She's two and a half. And since the family was getting so big, Nannie, Kristy's grandmother, moved in to help run the house and take care of Emily. (Nannie is not what you'd picture — prim and proper like some old ladies. She wears pants and goes bowling.) So when everyone is there, the house is pretty full.

Claudia Kishi is, as I told you before, the BSC's vice-president. Claud is artistic, ultra-trendy, and gorgeous. She's Japanese-American and has these beautiful almond-* shaped eyes and shiny black hair that is soooooo long and straight. She wears it a million different ways: a French braid down her back, double and triple French braids with sparkly ribbons woven into them, or sometimes just

pulled up on one side with a wide barrette that she made herself. She makes her own jewelry out of clay or papier-mache. Sometimes she'll wear a pink flamingo in one ear with a palm tree in the other, and then put a tiny gold monkey on top of the palm tree. (She has two holes pierced in one ear.) Claudia can wear anything and it looks great. Like she'll wear polka dot leggings with a short red skirt. Then she'll wear a long-sleeved T-shirt with a black vest (covered with cool pins that she's made herself) over that. Sometimes she decides to go fifties and wears penny loafers with white anklets.

Claudia may be cool, but she's a pretty lousy student. Her teachers say it's because she doesn't try hard enough. It doesn't help that her sister, Janine, is a certified genius. (I'm not kidding. She has an IQ of 196!) Janine is sixteen years old and already takes classes at Sto-neybrook University. While Janine spends most of her time at her computer, Claudia keeps busy working on her art, reading Nancy Drew mysteries (which she hides from her parents because they think she should be reading important books), and eating junk food. She's crazy about junk food and hides snacks all over her room: Mallomars in her dresser drawers, M&M's in her jewelry box, pretzels and Tootsie Pops in her shoes. With all of

those sweets, she's never had bad skin in her life. It's not fair!

Anyway, Claud lives with her parents and her sister and, until recently, her beloved grandmother Mimi. Mimi died awhile ago, and this was hard on Claud and the rest of us. We adored Mimi and miss her very much.

Luckily for Claud, her best friend and the BSC's treasurer, Stacey McGill, is back in Sto-neybrook for good. (We hope.) Stacey was one of the original four members of the BSC, and she used to live in the house where Jessi lives. (Now Stacey lives in the house right behind me!) Recently her dad got transferred back to New York City (where Stacey was born and grew up) and then something went wrong between her parents. They wound up getting a divorce, and Stacey and her mom moved back to Stoneybrook. So Stacey spends vacations and certain weekends in New York City with her father. She's very sophisticated and wears wild clothes and Claudia's homemade earrings (everyone in the BSC has pierced ears except Kristy and Mary Anne). She has clear blue eyes and her blonde hair is usually permed and always in the absolute trendiest style.

Stacey has one big problem (besides her parents' divorce). She has diabetes. That means that her body can't process sugar, so she has to stay on a very strict diet. She can't eat

sweets, except for controlled amounts of fruits, and she has to give herself (are you ready for this?) injections of insulin. EVERY DAY. I couldn't do it. No way! I hate shots. But Stacey has to. If she's not extremely careful she could go into a diabetic coma. (Not long ago, she got really sick when she wasn't eating right and her blood sugar went crazy. She had to be put in the hospital in New York.) But Stacey is a strong person and manages to cope pretty well.

Mary Anne Spier is the club's secretary, and she's also Kristy's best friend. They grew up together, and they even look a little bit alike. They're both short, with brown hair and brown eyes. But they are also very different. Mary Anne is quiet and extremely romantic. She's a good listener and is very sensitive (actually, she cries a lot). Mary Anne was an only child until her dad recently married Dawn Schafer's mom (which I'll tell you about in a minute). Mary Anne's mom died when Mary Anne was really young, and Mr. Spier had to raise her all by himself. I guess that's what made him so strict. He barely let her do anything, or go anywhere. He even told her what she could and couldn't wear.

For a while, Mary Anne dressed like a first-grader, and it really embarrassed her. But then things changed. Mary Anne finally proved to

her father that she had grown up, and he let her choose her own clothes (which are much trendier now). Then she met cute Logan Bruno and they started going out. (Mary Anne is the only member of the BSC to have a steady boyfriend!) She and Logan have had some problems, but they seem to have worked things out, and we're happy that's so. Logan, who's from Kentucky and speaks with this really great drawl, is an associate member of the BSC. That means he doesn't attend meetings. (That's okay with me. Even though I like him, it's nice not having boys at club meetings.) But he can be called on to baby-sit in a pinch. Shannon Kilbourne, a friend of Kristy's, is also an associate member.

Mary Anne's other best friend (and stepsister) is Dawn Schafer. Dawn is the BSC's alternate officer, which means if a club member gets sick or is out of town, she can take over that person's position. It's a big responsibility, but Dawn can handle it. She has a lot of self-confidence.

Dawn is absolutely gorgeous. She has this L-O-N-G blonde hair that is almost white from being in the California sun (which is where she's from — southern California). She has blue eyes and is a very acute dresser. I mean, Dawn wears whatever she wants: three different colored T-shirts at once with lots of

necklaces (plus she has two holes pierced in each ear) and a short jean skirt. Her style is trendy but casual.

Dawn wouldn't be caught dead with a Twin-kie or a hamburger in her hand. She is a real health food nut. You know, rice and beans and sprouts and that kind of stuff.