Ann Martin - Kristy Power!

"Mr. Mor - I mean, Ted?" Rachel had raised her hand. "How do we decide who we're going to write about?" "Aha, good question," said Ted. "You don't. I do. In fact, I already have. Right now I'm going to pass back a sheet that gives all the details of this project, including pairings of biographers and subjects. I pulled names out of a hat last night, so it's totally random. You and your biography partner will each write about the other. You're going to get to know each other very, very well." I thought I heard a smile in his voice, but when I glanced at Ted his face was serious. Then I looked down at the paper that had landed on my desk, courtesy of Cary.

Mr. Morley's "random" method had created some interesting pairs.

Alan Gray and Cokie Mason. (Now Alan would have a chance to interview those emus.) Claudia and Jeremy. (Hmm .. .) Logan and Rachel. (It still seemed weird to hear Logan's name paired with any besides Mary Anne's.) Me and - Oh, no! I stared down at the paper in shock. In front of me, I heard Cary groan.

Was this some kind of sick joke on Mr. Morley's part? Or just a cosmic blunder? Whatever it was, it was a massive mistake. I couldn't possibly work closely with - Cary.

The one person I had no interest in learning about. In fact, I had negative interest in finding out anything about Cary Retlin's life. Nor did I want him learning anything about mine.

Cary turned to look at me, and for once he wasn't smirking. He looked as shocked as I felt. "This can't be," he said.

I shook my head. "No, it can't." I thought of the last time Cary and I had worked together, during a disastrous student-teaching episode. We'd cotaught a gym class, and we'd come very close to creating mayhem on a scale that would have gone down in SMS history.

Just then, the bell rang. Everybody grabbed their stuff and headed out - everybody but Cary and me, that is. We approached Ted's desk. He was busily straightening up a pile of papers, preparing for his next class.

Cary cleared his throat. "Uh, Ted?" he began.

Ted looked up. "Yes?" I jumped in. "There is no way - " Cary glared at me, "Absolutely no way - " "In a million years," I went on, "that the two of us - " "We can't possibly - " "There must be some mistake," I finished lamely.

"There isn't," Ted said firmly. "No mistake at all. You will be writing each other's biographies. Any other questions?" Cary and I gaped at each other.

"In that case, I'll have to excuse myself," said Ted. "I have another class arriving in two minutes." He smiled at us and went back to his papers.

I could have sworn I saw something mischievous in that smile.

Cary closed his mouth and I closed mine. Then we marched out of the room without speaking another word.

Chapter 8.

I was still in shock when I arrived at Claudia's house for our BSC meeting later that afternoon. But even in that condition, I couldn't help noticing an odd silence when I walked into Claud's room. Mary Anne wasn't there yet, but Stacey was.

In the old days (before Jeremy, that is), if you put Claudia and Stacey in a room together they'd start gabbing like mad about some sale at the mall or their parents or something. But that day I didn't hear a peep as I entered the room. Stacey was sitting at one end of the bed, leafing through the latest issue of Teenzine, and twirling a lock of her curly blonde hair. Claudia was sitting at her desk, stringing beads onto a leather thong.

"Kristy!" Claudia cried when I walked in. I thought I could hear relief in her voice. Was it that hard for her to be alone in a room with Stacey?

Stacey smiled. "What's up?" she asked. Her smile was for me only. I could tell that she was carefully avoiding eye contact with Claudia.

Ugh. It's no fun having two friends who are fighting with each other. And over what? A boy. Now, Jeremy's pretty cute, but still. He's just a boy. Is any boy worth losing your best friend over?

Mary Anne arrived just as I was settling in the director's chair by Claudia's desk. She glanced around the room, and I could tell she was taking in the situation. Our eyes met and she gave me the tiniest smile. I knew she felt the way I did about the rift between Stacey and Claudia.

"Well," I said as Claudia's digital clock clicked over to five-thirty, "I guess I hereby call this meeting to order." As if on cue, the phone rang. Claudia answered it. "Baby-sitters Club," she said. "Can I help you?" She listened for a few seconds. "Sure, Mrs. Newton. We'll call you right back, okay?" She put down the phone.

Mary Anne reached for the club record book, where she keeps track of our schedules. "What day?" she asked.

"Next Friday night. She needs a sitter while she and Mr. Newton go to a play in the city." Mary Anne ran her finger along the page she'd turned to. "Stacey and I are free." "Um," said Stacey, glancing at Claudia, "I'm not actually free. I - I have plans." We all knew what that meant. Stacey had a date with Jeremy, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it in front of Claudia. Even though they weren't best buds anymore, they were making an effort to be civil to each other.

I snuck a glance at Claud. She was concentrating on her bead-stringing, pretending not to listen.

"Well, okay," said Mary Anne. "No problem. I'll be glad to take the job. I haven't spent time with Jamie and Lucy in ages." She wrote her name in the book.

Claudia called Mrs. Newton back to let her know Mary Anne would be the sitter. After she hung up, there was an awkward silence in the room.

"So - " I said.

"I heard about - " Stacey started speaking at the same time.

"What?" I asked. "Go ahead." "No, you." I sighed. "I was just about to say that Claudia and I had a cool English class today." "That's what I was going to mention," said Stacey. "I heard that Ted gave your class an interesting assignment." From the way she was speaking, I knew she'd heard it from Jeremy. And I was sure Claudia knew that too. So Stacey probably already knew that Claudia and Jeremy were partners. And she probably wasn't happy about it. Stacey doesn't seem too comfortable with the fact that Claudia and Jeremy get along really well. I decided to ignore that issue and bring up my own problem. "Did you hear who my partner is?" I asked.

"For what?" asked Mary Anne.

I realized she didn't know anything about the biography project, so I backed up and explained it. She nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Anyway, guess who I'm stuck with? Mr. Eyebrow. Cary Retlin." Everybody groaned. For a moment it felt like old times, when we were all on the same side.

As usual, Mary Anne tried to be positive. You can always count on her to be sensitive and understanding. "Maybe it will be interesting," she said. "I mean, aren't you curious about what makes Cary tick?" "I couldn't care less," I insisted, even though I'd been wondering the same thing only the day before. "And I certainly don't want him probing my most innermost thoughts and dreams." "I won't tell him anything if he interviews me," Claudia promised. "Except maybe that story about when you threw up on the first day of school in second grade." I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her.

"Who's your partner, Claudia?" Mary Anne asked innocently.

Claudia stopped laughing. She mumbled a name.

"Who?" Mary Anne asked.

"Jeremy," said Claudia, a little bit louder. She avoided Stacey's eyes.

"Oh," said Mary Anne, with a glance at Stacey.

The room fell silent again.

I crossed my fingers and wished as hard as I could for the phone to ring. We needed a distraction.

Silence.

Suddenly, I remembered something. "Hey!" I said. "Guess what? Last night my morn and Watson agreed to let me throw a Christmas party. You know, a real party, with decorations and food and games and dancing and everything." I was excited. I've had plenty of parties, but most of them have been pretty basic. A couple of pizzas, a video or three, and a bedroom crammed with girls in sleeping bags. This party was going to be different, more like an adult party. And I was going to be in charge of everything, from making the food to deciding on the music. I wanted it to be perfect. I'd even started reading some of those slick home magazines - the ones I normally avoid like the plague - looking for tips on "holiday entertaining." "Cool," said Stacey.