Ann Martin - Logan Likes Mary Anne !

Dr. Johanssen smiled at her daughter. "I better get going," she said. "I've got a couple of patients to look in on at the hospital, and some work to do in the children's clinic. Mr. Johanssen will be home around six, Stacey. You know where his office number is. Oh, and if you don't mind, could you put a casserole in the oven at five o'clock? You'll see a blue dish in the refrigerator. Just set the oven to three-fifty, okay?"

"Sure," replied Stacey.

As soon as Dr. Johanssen was out the door, Charlotte took Stacey by the hand, led her into the living room, and pulled her onto the floor. She opened the Kid-Kit eagerly and began pulling things out: a coloring book, a connect-the-dots book, crayons, Magic Markers, drawing paper, Candyland, ("Too babyish," remarked Charlotte), Spill and Spell, a Barbie doll, and at last the Paddington book and the Oz book. Underneath them she found one more book, a Dr. Seuss story called Happy Birthday to You.

"Hey, what's this?" asked Charlotte, opening the cover. "I never saw it before."

"I just added it to the Kid-Kit," Stacey told her. "I liked that book a lot when I was younger."

Charlotte glanced at the busy pictures and the funny words. "Let's read this instead," she said.

"Instead of Paddington?" asked Stacey.

"Yes. I like birthdays." Charlotte settled herself in Stacey's lap, even though she's almost too big to do that, and Stacey began to read.

Now, Charlotte is perfectly capable of reading to herself. After all, she skipped a grade. She's incredibly smart, but she loves to be read to. So Stacey read her the long, stiry story.

When she was done, Charlotte leaned her head back and sighed. "That's just the way I'd like my birthday to be."

"When is your birthday?" asked Stacey.

"In June. I'll be nine. I can't wait."

"But you've just turned eight."

"I know. But nine sounds like a good age to be. It sounds so grown up."

Stacey smiled. She remembered when she longed to be nine. "It's almost Mary Anne's birthday," she told Charlotte. "She's going to be thirteen."

"Really?" squealed Charlotte, twisting around to look at Stacey.

"Yup."

"Gosh. Thirteen is old."

"She'll be a teenager."

"Is she going to have a party?"

"You know, I don't know," said Stacey. "Probably not."

"How come?" asked Charlotte.

Stacey shrugged. "Well, maybe she'll have a little party. Us baby-sitters will go over to her house or something."

"You guys should give her a party."

Stacey thought about that. But before she could say anything, Charlotte rushed on, "No, no! Hey, I've got it! You should give her a surprise party!"

"Oh, I don't know, Char."

But Charlotte was so excited that she didn't hear Stacey. She stood up and began jumping up down. "Really, Stacey! A surprise party. You invite all of Mary Anne's friends to come at one time, and you invite Mary Anne for half an hour later. Then everybody hides in the dark, and when Mary Anne comes over, you switch the lights on," (Charlotte made a great flourish with her hand), "and everybody jumps out and yells 'surpri-ise'!"

Stacey smiled. "Charlotte, thaf s a really terrific idea, but Mary Anne is shy. I don't think she'd like to be surprised that way."

"She wouldn't?"

"No. She doesn't like being the center of attention — you know, having everyone look at her."

"Oh." Charlotte sat down again. "How'd she like just a little surprise?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe you could have a regular party but bring out a surprise cake for Mary Anne."

"You know, that's not a bad idea. I've been wanting to give a party anyway. I don't think Mary Anne would mind a surprise cake. After all, we're only doing it because we like her. She should feel flattered."

"Yeah," said Charlotte. "What kind of parry

would you tell Mary Anne it was?"

"Just a party, I guess. Back-to-school, or something like that. A chance for all our friends to get together after the summer."

What Stacey didn't tell Charlotte was that she was already thinking about the guest list — and the list included boys.

At home that night, Stacey began to make plans. My birthday was on a Monday, so Stacey asked her parents if she could have a party at her house the Friday before. Her parents gave her their permission. They especially liked the idea of the surprise cake.

Stacey started her guest list: Kristy, Claudia, Dawn, and me (of course), Dori Wallingford, Pete Black, Howie Johnson, Emily Bernstein, Rick Chow. She didn't worry about whether there were an equal number of boys and girls. She was going to tell each person to bring a date! Stacey's party would be one of the first boy/girl parties our class ever had!

The next day, Stacey made other lists:

Food — potato chips and dip, pretzels, Dor-itos, M&M's, pizzas, soda, a big salad (more for Stacey and Dawn than anyone else) and a large birthday cake to be ordered from the Village Bakery.

Supplies — paper plates, cups, napkins, etc.

To do — start calling guests, check tape col-

lection, buy me a birthday present.

Stacey's plans were elaborate. She told each guest except me that she was giving a party and was going to surprise me with a cake. The guests were supposed to buy a present and keep quiet about the cake. Stacey told me only that she was giving a party. She hinted (not very subtly) that I'd probably want to ask Lo-gan.

I got so caught up in the idea of inviting Logan that it never dawned on me that the party would have something to do with my birthday.

And that, of course, was just what Stacey had been counting on.

Chapter 10.

The Remember September Dance was on a Friday. Dad had not only given me permission to go with Logan, he'd seemed happy about it. In fact, he'd given me his Bellair's Department Store charge card and told me I could buy a new outfit.

When he handed me the card, his eyes looked sort of teary. I hugged him tight.

A few days later, the entire Baby-sitters Club went to Bellair's to find an outfit for me. We descended on the store after school. Everyone began pulling me in different directions.

"Shoes," said Claudia.

"Juniors," said Dawn.

"Underwear," said Stacey.

"Sportswear," said Kristy.

"Sportswear!" the rest of us exclaimed.

Kristy shrugged. "This isn't the prom, you know. You might find a nice sweater in Sportswear. Or an accessory."

"We'll keep it in mind," said Dawn. "Lef s go to Juniors first. You can find a dress there, Mary Anne. Then we'll buy shoes to go with it."

"And underwear," said Stacey.

"If necessary," I added.

In the junior department I tried on a green sweater dress that made me look like a mermaid, and a yellow sweater dress that made me look as big as a house. Then Qaudia handed me a full white skirt with the words Paris, Rome, and London, and sketchy pink and blue pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Tower Bridge, and other stuff scrawled all over it. She matched it up with a pink shirt and a baggy pink sweater. I would never, ever have tried on that skirt, but with the shirt and sweater it looked really cool.

In the shoe department we found white slip-ons with pink and blue edging that matched the pink and blue in the skirt. I'd never have looked twice at those shoes, either, but with the rest of the outfit they were perfect.

I charged everything, and talked Stacey out of the underwear department and Kristy out of the sportswear department. I'm not much on shopping, and I'd spent enough of Dad's money already.

I might have felt calm and cool while we were shopping on Thursday. I was even feeling okay while I did my homework that night. But the next day during school my stomach began to feel queasy, and by that afternoon I was a nervous wreck.

"I must be crazy," I told my friends as school let out. "I'm going to a dance and I don't know how to dance. And what if Logan and I can't think of anything to say to each other? What if I stomp on his feet while I'm trying to dance? What if I spill something on him?"