Ann Martin - Jessi's Gold Medal

was good for a few more minutes of giggles and squeals.

Next they ran inside for a snack. Stacey prepared bowls of fresh fruit with crackers. As they were eating, she noticed something strange on the floor — a big, light brown balloon in the shape of a hand. "What is that?" she asked Charlotte.

"Oh, one of Mom's surgical gloves," Char said. "She has boxes of them. Sometimes she lets me blow them up like balloons."

Stacey picked it up and tapped it into the air. "How about this game? Keep it up — whoever lets it fall loses!"

"Yeeaaaah!" Charlotte and Becca squealed. They ran outside, batting the glove upward. Stacey said it was the weirdest sight, seeing these two girls hitting a hand in the air.

By the time they finished that, it was starting to get dark. The three of them collapsed onto the grass with happy sighs.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Stacey said.

"Yeah," the girls agreed.

"You know, the events in the Mini-Olympics are going to be just like these," Stacey said. "So do you think you guys want to be in it?"

She said it innocently, and I think she expected the girls to say yes enthusiastically. But both of them became kind of quiet.

"I don't know," Becca replied. "Maybe." (It turns out that Becca was more interested in the idea of the Olympics than in actually being in them — but how was Stacey to know?)

Charlotte just shrugged and looked glum.

Before Stacey could say anything, Becca jumped up. "Uh-oh. I forgot, I promised Mamma I'd help set the table for dinner."

Charlotte and Stacey followed her down the driveway. Becca waved. " 'Bye! See you at school tomorrow!"

" 'Bye!" Char yelled back.

Char turned to go inside without even looking at Stacey. It was as if she were completely shut off inside.

"Char?" Stacey said, following her into the house. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh-huh," Charlotte said.

"Um, are you mad at me for something?"

Charlotte shook her head. "No . . . you're mad at me."

"I am?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "Aren't you?"

"Well . . . why would I be?"

"Because I don't want to be in the Mini-Olympics."

Stacey felt about two inches high. She realized she had been pushing Charlotte too hard. She hadn't meant to, but Charlotte felt awful. "Oh, Char . . . I'm sorry. I don't mean

to force you into something you don't like. Really. I —I just open my mouth too much. You don't have to be in the Mini-Olympics. I'll like you just as much either way."

"You will?" Charlotte said.

"Of course."

"Are we still 'almost sisters'?"

Stacey smiled a big smile. "You'd better believe it."

They both felt better. And Stacey vowed never to bring up the Mini-Olympics in front of Char again.

Chapter 9.

"They said yes!" Dawn screamed, as she and Mary Anne ran into Claudia's room.

"Yeaaaaa!"

You should have heard the noise. I could swear the windows rattled. Why? Because we had solved the biggest problem facing the Mini-Olympics: where to have it. We had talked about using Dawn and Mary Anne's big backyard, but we had to wait till they asked permission.

"Both Richard and my mom think it's a great idea," Dawn went on. "All we have to do is give them a date — any Friday after school or any Saturday during the day."

"That's perfect," Kristy said. "What about the Saturday after the SMS Sports Festival?"

"Perfect," Stacey said.

"Sounds good to me," I added.

"I move we do it then," Kristy said.

"I'll write it down," Mary Anne said, picking up the club record book.

"All in favor . . . ?" Kristy said.

"Must we, Kristy?" Claudia moaned.

"All in favor . . . ?" Kristy repeated.

"Aye," we said wearily.

"All opposed?"

No one answered.

"Motion carried. The official date of the Mini-Olympics will be the Saturday immediately following the Sports Festival."

" 'Immediately following7?" Claudia said with a sly smile. "What's wrong with 'after7?"

Kristy shot her a Look, but Claudia just handed her an open bag of pretzels and said, -"Sorry! Peace offering!"

Kristy grinned and grabbed a handful. "Offer accepted."

Mary Anne was scribbling in the record book. "So that's two weeks from this Saturday, right?"

"Wood," Kristy said. She meant to say "Right," but her mouth was full of pretzel.

Over a month had passed since I had suggested the Mini-Olympics — and the idea had caught on like wildfire! At least thirty kids had already signed up, and most of their parents had agreed to help supervise.

Pretty amazing, huh? Just call me Jessi, Idea Sponge II.

Riinnnng!

Claudia picked up the receiver. "Hello, Baby-sitters Club. . . . Oh, hi, Mrs. Hobart! . . . Yes. . . . Oh! Sure they can. . . . Uh-huh. . . . Uh-huh. . . . Two weeks from Saturday. . . . You're welcome. 'Bye!"

"Two weeks from Saturday?" Mary Anne said. "But we can't do a job that day — "

Claudia shook her head. "That wasn't about a job," she said. "Mrs. Hobart wanted to ask us if her boys could be in the Mini-Olympics."

"All of them?" I asked.

"The three younger ones. James wants to be in the three-legged race, Mathew wants to be in a regular race, and Johnny wants to do weight lifting."

"But he's only four!" Stacey commented.

"Well, Archie Rodowsky and Jamie Newton want to lift weights, too," Mary Anne said. "I think all the four-year-olds have been talking about that for some reason."

"We could get some kind of plastic weight set," Kristy suggested.

Mary Anne removed a folded sheet of paper from the record book. "I think we need to update our schedule of events . . . let's see, three-legged — James Hobart . . ."

"Oh!" Dawn said. "I sat for the Braddock kids last night. Haley decided to enter the

funny-face race, and Matthew wants to be in the Wiffle ball derby."

See what I mean? There were new entrants every day. I have to admit it was a boost to my ego. And I really needed one, considering how I was feeling about my synchro class.

"You know," Kristy said, "I think we should just let the kids enter as many things as they want. It'll be easier that way."

"You're right," Mary Anne replied, putting down her pencil.

"Hey, Stace, did you talk to Charlotte?" Kristy asked. (No one had read the notebook entry yet.)

Stacey nodded. "She's not going to be in it."

Kristy seemed shocked. "No? Why not?"

"She just doesn't like sports," Stacey said with a shrug. "Or crowds."

"What?" Kristy said. "Maybe we should talk to her again."

"I don't know about that, Kristy," Mary Anne said.

"She feels pretty awful," Stacey added.

"Yeah!" said Mallory. "So what if she doesn't want to be in the Mini-Olympics? Not everyone does, you know."

Wow. I'd never heard Mal stand up to Kristy like that. Us junior members usually keep a pretty low profile.

Something was still bugging Mal. For the last few weeks she hadn't been herself. I wished I didn't feel so distant from her, but between ballet class and after-school synchro, we just weren't seeing much of each other.

1 promised myself that I'd talk to her as soon as I could.

Kristy was pretty cool about Mal's reaction. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I get carried away."

"We can't all be big stars like you and Alan Gray," Stacey said mischievously, breaking the tense mood.

"I hear The New York Times is going to cover your event at the Sports Festival," Claudia added.

"What?" Kristy said. "You don't — not the — " Then her face turned red. "Hey, no fair, guys! Now you're ganging up on me!"

"It is news all over school, Kristy," Dawn said. "People are making a bigger deal out of it than the Summer Olympics."

"Uh, let's change the subject." (Kristy looked embarrassed, but I could tell she kind of liked the attention.) "How's your swimming class going, Jessi?"