Ann Martin - Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn

out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun. ..."

She sang the entire song. She knew every word, was right on pitch, got the timing right, and even added a few hand gestures.

Myriah had an amazing voice.

Mary Anne was impressed. She was so impressed that she told Myriah about the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant.

"And you think I could be in it?" Myriah asked, awed.

"Sure," replied Mary Anne. "Why not?"

"I don't know," Myriah said slowly.

"Have you ever seen a pageant before?" Mary Anne asked her. "On TV or something? Like MissAmerica or Miss Universe?"

"Yes," replied Myriah.

"Well, wouldn't you like to be in one for girls? You'd get to dress up and sing or dance. And if you won, you'd wear a crown."

Myriah wasn't saying anything, but her eyes were growing rounder by the second.

"Could I be in it, too, Mary Anne Spier?" asked Gabbie. (She calls everyone by their full names.) Gabbie had stopped dancing. She came over to the couch, where Mary Anne was sitting, and climbed into her lap.

"Oh, Gabbie, I'm afraid not," Mary Anne told her. "You have to be five years old to be

in the pageant. You have to be five or six or seven or eight. And you're two."

"I'm almost three," Gabbie said hopefully.

"I know, but you need to be five."

"Yuck, yuck, yuck," Gabbie replied, sliding out of Mary Anne's lap. But she didn't seem too upset.

"You know," said Myriah excitedly, "there are lots of things I could do in the pageant. I know ballet for real. I mean, I've taken lessons. Gabbie just plays in my old shoes. She won't take lessons until she's three. But I know all the positions and I can dance to 'Waltz of the Flowers.' I know gymnastics, too. And I can act! I took creative theater. I was the baby bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I had to say, 'Who ate my porridge?' and 'Look who's sleeping in my bed!' and some other stuff."

Mary Anne was as excited as Myriah by then. "We'll have to ask your mom about the pageant, though," she reminded her. "You'll have to work in order to get ready for it. And you might need some new clothes."

Both Mary Anne and Myriah were on pins and needles waiting for Mrs. Perkins and the baby to come home. As soon as they did, Mary Anne, Myriah, and Gabbie all rushed to them.

"What a welcoming committee," said Mrs. Perkins with a smile.

"I missed Laura Loo, Mommy," Gabble said.

"And Mary Anne wants to ask you something," Myriah spoke up.

"Yes?" said Mrs. Perkins as she unzipped Laura's little jacket. She placed the baby in an infant seat.

Mary Anne nervously explained about the pageant and said she'd help Myriah get ready for it. She wondered if maybe she should have mentioned it to Mrs. Perkins before she got Myriah all excited. What if Mrs. Perkins said no?

As it was, she didn't say yes right away.

Mary Anne and Myriah glanced at each other.

"Please can I be in it?" Myriah asked. "Mary Anne will help me."

Mrs. Perkins frowned. "Yes, you can be in it, honey - " she began.

"Hurray!" shouted Myriah.

"- and I'll be happy for Mary Anne to work with you. But I want you to remember something. I want you to think about this."

"Okay."

"You, too, Mary Anne," said Mrs. Perkins.

Mary Anne nodded.

"In any pageant,, or in any game or contest, there are winners and there are losers. You might be a winner, Myriah, and that would be

wonderful. Daddy and Gabble and I and even Laura would be very proud of you. But you might be a loser, too. There are going to be lots more losers than winners. And I want you to know that we'll be proud of you if you lose. We'll be proud of you for having the courage to be in the pageant, and for the work and rehearsing you'll do."

"I know," said Myriah, giving her mother a hug. "Thank you."

"One more thing," said her mother. "I think you should know that for some girls, this pageant won't be just fun and games. I hope it'll be fun for you, but for others it will be work. They'll take it very seriously. You might be competing against girls who have been winners in other pageants, or who have won beauty contests or talent contests. They'll know how pageants work. And they might - just might - not be very friendly. I want you to understand what you're getting into, that's all. Okay?"

"Okay," said Myriah. She smiled happily. (She was missing four teeth.)

Myriah really had listened and paid attention to what her mother said. But Mary Anne hadn't. Not much anyway.

As it turned out later, she should have. So

should all of us baby-sitters. We kept talking about how winning wasn't important - and not one of us really believed it. The fact is, Mary Anne knew - she could feel it - that she was going to be the one to sponsor the winner of the Little Miss Stoneybrook crown. She would prove that she was the best babysitter of all.

Chapter 8.

Claudia had been sitting forCharlotte quite a bit. Not as often as Stacey had sat for her, but a lot. On Friday afternoon, she showed up right after school.Charlotte greeted her at the door with, "Did you bring the Kid-Kit? Did you bring the Kid-Kit?"

Claudia hadn't. She felt terrible. She was sure Stacey would have brought the Kid-Kit.

"I'm really sorry, Char," she said. "I was - "

"And we were right in the middle of Mr. Popper's Penguins, too."

Actually, that may have been one reason (a subconscious reason, if you know what I mean) that Claudia hadn't brought the Kid-Kit. She may have forgotten it on purpose. Claudia is not a great reader. Her favorite books are Nancy Drew mysteries. ButCharlotte is this smart, smart little kid who has skipped a grade and may actually be a better reader than Claudia. Even so, she loves to be read to. Imagine Claudia having to spend a lot of time reading out loud. Oh, well.

The point was, Claudia didn't have the Kid-Kit with her, and she felt bad and so didCharlotte .Charlotte is an only child who's a little shy and doesn't see her parents that much. They loveCharlotte to bits, but her mother is

a doctor and her father has some other important job so they're both just very busy.

Claudia tried to take the sting out of forgetting the Kid-Kit. "Are you playing with Becca a lot these days?" she asked. (Becca is Becca Ramsey, Jessi's little sister. The Ramseys moved into Stacey McGill's house, which is close toCharlotte 's.)

"Yes," said Charlotte, and she lowered her eyes.

"But?" Claudia prompted her.

"Well, I just can't help it,"Charlotte blurted out. "Every time I go over to her house it reminds me of Stacey."

"Oh," said Claudia. "That must be hard. I know you miss Stacey."

"Yeah,"Charlotte agreed. "I do."

"So do I. She was my best friend."

'She was my best friend, too," saidCharlotte .

"You know what I miss most about her?" Claudia asked.

"What?"

"I miss how she was just always there. You know what I mean?"

"I'm not sure,"Charlotte replied honestly.

"Well," said Claudia slowly, "I mean that I could call her any time for any reason. I could go to her with any problem. Or with any good thing that happened. I could count on her for

fun or help or sympathy or anything. I guess that's what a best friend is."

"Exactly!" criedCharlotte , sounding grown-up. "We had fun together, but sometimes Stacey helped me with problems. And a couple of times I helped her! Really."

"I believe you," said Claudia.

"Boy, do I miss her."

"Yeah."

Claudia and Charlotte were beginning to feel pretty depressed. Claudia told me that they were just sitting on the floor in the living room.Charlotte was picking at the rug, and Claudia was pulling at a thread on her pants. Luckily, Claudia got an idea that she knew would cheer both of them up.

"Hey!" she cried. "I know! Let's go to my house and call Stacey!"