Ann Martin - Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn

"Really?" saidCharlotte , looking up excitedly. "We could really call her? I could talk to her?"

"Sure! I call her all the time. My phone bill gets pretty big, but I earn enough money babysitting to pay for the calls toNew York . So let's go!"

"Oh! Oh, Claudia, I love you!" As Claudia and Charlotte got to their feet,Charlotte threw herself around Claudia in a fierce hug. "I love you," she said again. "This is great. Let's go!"

Claudia scribbled a note to Dr. and Mr. Johanssen telling them where she and Charlotte were, just in case one of them should come home early. Then she and Charlotte threw on their jackets and ran most of the way to the Kishis' house.

They arrived panting and out of breath, greeted Mimi, and ran up to Claudia's room.

"Where's the phone?" was the first thingCharlotte asked, looking around Claudia's bedroom.

The thing about Claudia is not that she's a slob exactly (Kristy's the slob), but that she's a pack rat. Since she loves art, she's always collecting things that might come in handy with her projects - interesting leaves, scraps of paper and fabric, corks, sponges, bottle caps, you name it. So sometimes it's hard to spot things amid the clutter. Plus, you never know what you might find buried somewhere.

Claudia knew right where her phone was, though, and she dialed Stacey inNew York . Of course, she had long ago memorized Stacey's number.

Charlotteperched on the edge of Claudia's bed while they waited for someone to answer the phone. "Oh, I hope she's there, I hope she's there," she whispered over and over.

Click.

"Hello, Stace?" said Claudia. (Charlotte's eyes lit up.) "Hi, it's me! I want to talk to you, but there's someone here who wants to say hi first."

Claudia handed the receiver toCharlotte . "Hello?"Charlotte said nervously. "Hi - Stacey? It'sCharlotte . Charlotte Johanssen. . . . Yes! Oh, I miss you, too! I miss you so much!"

Claudia watchedCharlotte 's face as she spoke to her beloved Stacey. She had never seen her happier.Charlotte told Stacey about school and friends and Becca and some books she'd read. At last she said, "I guess I better let you talk to Claudia now, huh? . . . Yeah, she is a good sitter. She baby-sits me a lot." (Charlottesmiled at Claudia.) "Okay. . . . Okay. . . . Yeah. ... I love you, too. 'Bye, Stacey."

Charlottegave the phone back to Claudia. While Claudia and Stacey were talking,Charlotte poked through the junk that was all over the room. After she looked through a box of scraps and a folder full of sketches and water-colors, she came across a copy of the Stoneybrook News. She settled down with it, turning the pages slowly.

Guess what the first thing she said to Claudia was when Claudia had finished her phone call. She said, "Look at this. It says here there's going to be a pageant in Stoneybrook. The

judges are going to choose a girl to be Little Miss Stoneybrook."

Charlottehad found the old copy of the paper, the one with the article about the pageant!

At that, Claudia raised her eyebrows. She felt left out, not having a kid to prepare for the pageant like Kristy and Mary Anne and I did.

"Yeah!" said Claudia eagerly. "It's for girls agesfive to eight . You could enter,Charlotte ."

"Me!"Charlotte exclaimed. "What for?"

"Don't you think it would be fun?"

"Not really. I'd rather read."

"If you won you'd get a crown and everyone would make a fuss over you and you'd probably get your picture in the paper."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. And guess who else is going to be in it - Margo and Claire Pike, Myriah Perkins, and Karen Brewer. You know, Kristy's little sister."

"They are?"

"Yup. Wouldn't you like to be in it, too?"

"I don't know. What would I have to do?"

Claudia told her about the poise and talent and beauty stuff. "The talent competition is really important," she added. "What can you do?"

"Nothing,"Charlotte said flatly.

"Nothing? Don't you take music lessons at school or something?"

"No. And I've never taken ballet or gymnastics."

"Can you sing? Almost everyone can sing."

"No way. Especially not in front of a whole bunch of people. All I can do is read. . . . Hey! Maybe I could read. You know, give a - what do you call it? - a dramatic reading. Or I could memorize something from a book - like the part in The Wizard of Oz when the cyclone comes. That is so, so scary. Or I could recite the part in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Violet Beauregarde turns into a giant blueberry. That's really funny."

"You know," Claudia said slowly, "that's not a bad idea. It's not like singing or dancing; it's different. The judges might like it. Do you want me to ask your mom if you can be in the pageant?"

Charlottescrunched up her face in thought. "I don't know," she said. "See, the thing is, I'm not pretty."

"Being pretty isn't the point," Claudia told her. "It really isn't. You have to have poise and talent and be smart."

"But you have to be pretty, too. I know you do,"Charlotte replied.

Claudia didn't answer her right away. The thing is,Charlotte is quite pretty, with big dark eyes and chestnut-colored hair, but Claudia knew how useless it is to try to convince someone that she's pretty when she thinks she's not. So all she said was, "This isn't just a beauty show, Char. I guarantee it."

It took a little more talking, but finally Claudia convincedCharlotte that they should ask if she could be in the pageant. Claudia knew she didn't have a very confident participant, but at least she had one.

And when they talked to Dr. Johanssen about it, she gave them her permission, along with the other usual stuff. She said that Claudia would take the responsibility of preparingCharlotte , and thatCharlotte should try not to be too disappointed if she lost.

So the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant gained another contestant.

Chapter 9.

I had no idea how caught up Claire and Margo had become in the pageant. I had told Mrs. Pike I would work with them a few afternoons after school. But apparently they were rehearsing and preparing on their own. As you can tell from Jessi and Mal's notebook entry, they spent all Saturday afternoon working on pageant stuff. I guess it got kind of annoying for Jessi and the Pikes. On the other hand, nobody gave the girls an easy time. According to Jessi and Mallory, this is how the afternoon went:

When Jessi arrived, the Pikes had just finished eating lunch. Nevertheless, Margo, who was standing in the middle of the living room, was holding a half-eaten banana in one hand and the copy of The House That Jack Built in the other (in case she forgot the words). She was rehearsing away in the banana-scented room.

"Thish ish the housh that Jack" (chomp, chomp, swallow) "built. This is the malt that lay in the" (bite, chew, chew) "housh that Jack bit. Thish ish the rat that - Oops." A piece of banana had broken off and fallen on the carpet.

"Ha, ha, ha! Hee-hee!"

Margo had an audience consisting of everyone in the house - Jessi, Mal, the triplets,

Vanessa, Nicky, and Claire. A few of the kids began to laugh when the banana fell apart.

"Mal, don't you think she ought to rehearse in the kitchen?" Jessi said. "It's awfully hard to get banana out of a rug. I know because Squirt smushed a big piece of one into the carpet in the den last week. I thought Mama was going to have a fit."

"Good idea," Mallory replied. "Margo, you better rehearse in the ki - Don't eat that! Don't you dare put that in your mouth!" she cried as Margo aimed the fallen piece of banana toward her lips. "It's been on the floor."

"Ew, ew, ew!" cried Claire.

"Ew, ew, ew!" mimicked Nicky.

"Aw, do I have to go in the kitchen?" asked Margo.

"Just until the banana is gone," Mallory told her. "And after that, no more bananas. You can't rehearse with them all afternoon. You'll make yourself sick. Concentrate on the poem."