Ann Martin - Hello, Mallory

she's not a very good student. Which is unfortunate, since her big sister Janine is a genius. Claudia and Janine live with their parents and their grandmother, Mimi. The club meetings are always held in Claudia's room because she has a private phone and a private phone number. (Lucky duck.) I think that's also why she's the vice-president.

Mary Anne Spier is the club secretary. Mary Anne is petite and neat and precise. Her job is to keep the record book in order, and she's good at it. Mary Anne may not be the most fun of all the baby-sitters, but I think she's the nicest. She's sensitive. (Maybe she's shy, too. I'm not sure.) And she's patient. You know you could go to Mary Anne if you had a problem or needed help with your homework. One funny thing is that she's almost the exact opposite of Kristy — yet they're best friends. Kristy is loud and sometimes bossy, Mary Anne is quiet and never, ever bossy. Kristy likes to be the center of attention, Mary Anne once ran away from her own surprise birthday party. However, Mary Anne does look a little like Kristy, with her wavy brown hair and brown eyes, but she dresses better. She's not really trendy, but at least she puts on something besides the same jeans all the time. On the day of my first meeting, she was wearing a

baggy yellow sweater with a silver squiggle pin near the collar, a short skirt made out of sweat-shirt material, yellow tights, and ballet slippers. Not outrageous, though, and I know exactly why. Mary Anne lives with her dad and her kitten, Tigger. Her mom died a long, long time ago, and I think Mr. Spier is strict with Mary Anne sometimes. He even used to make her wear her hair in braids, but he's much better about things like that now.

The last club member is Dawn Schafer. She's also the newest. She and her mom and her younger brother Jeff moved to Connecticut less than a year ago. They moved because Dawn's parents got divorced. And they moved all the way from California! Poor Dawn. I'd hate it if I had to move to California, but Dawn seems pretty happy here. Her brother Jeff is a different story. I know because he's a friend of the triplets. They say he's been in lots of trouble in school lately, and that all he wants is to move back to his dad. That must be hard on Dawn — to think that her brother would rather live with her father than with her and Mrs. Schafer. Anyway, Dawn is the treasurer of the club. Stacey used to be treasurer, but when she moved away, Dawn took over for her. (I'm not sure what Dawn's job used to

be. Nothing too important, I guess. Maybe she was just another sitter.) Dawn has long, pale, pale, pale blonde hair. I've never seen such long hair. It goes way down her back. She wears kind of casual clothes, like baggy jeans with the cuffs rolled up, shirts with the tails out, and big belts. And get this — she lives in a house that might be haunted and has a secret passage!

That's everybody in the club. Four thirteen-year-old, eighth-grade girls. They were sprawled around Claudia's room by the time I — the lowly eleven-year-old, sixth-grade girl — arrived.

"Hi," I said nervously, giving a little wave.

"Hi, Mallory," Dawn replied warmly. (I know Dawn pretty well since she lives right near me.)

"Hi," said Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne.

They sounded friendly. Even so, I felt completely out of place.

"Have a seat," said Kristy.

I looked around to see where the other girls were sitting. Kristy, who was wearing this visor and had stuck a pencil over one ear, was perched on a director's chair. Dawn and Mary Anne were lounging on Claudia's bed, and Claudia was kneeling on the floor, frowning,

pawing through a pillowcase. Suddenly her frown turned to a smile and she yanked a handful of Tootsie Pops out of the pillowcase, then shoved it under her bed.

"Here they are!" she exclaimed.

She handed one to me as I sat gingerly on the floor. It was hard to find a comfortable position in my short jumper.

"Thanks," I said.

Claudia passed around the candy. Everyone took a lollipop except for Dawn, who tries to stick to health food.

"This is the first thing you should know about the club," Kristy said to me with a grin. "Our vice-president is a junk-food addict. She has stuff hidden all over her room. Lucky for us, she never minds sharing."

All I could do was smile. I couldn't think of a thing to say.

Kristy's grin faded. She rubbed her hands together in a businesslike way. "Well," she said, and I noticed that the others sat up a little straighter and paid attention. "We wanted you to come to the meeting today, Mallory, for two reasons. First, so you can see what our club is like and how it runs, and second, so we can decide, if, um, if . . ."

I knew she meant if I was good enough to be a part of the club, but I couldn't say so, and

I guess she couldn't, either. Not tactfully, anyway.

"What she means," Dawn spoke up, "is so we can get an idea of how much, um, how much . . ."

"How much experience you've had," Mary Anne finally filled in. She looked pleased with herself.

"Right," agreed Kristy, brightening. "And to find out how you handle certain situations. That kind of thing."

I nodded. "Well, I've been taking care of my brothers and sisters for years. I know how to change diapers and I know how to fix formulas. I've always —"

Ring, ring.

"I'll get it!" cried Kristy, Dawn, Mary Anne, and Claudia, all lunging for the phone.

Claudia reached it first.

I watched with interest. This was probably what a club meeting was really about.

"Good afternoon. Baby-sitters Club," said Claudia, sounding quite grown-up. "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. . . . Tuesday? I'll get right back to you. . . . Okay. 'Bye." Claudia hung up and turned to the rest of us. "Mrs. Perkins needs a sitter for Myriah and Gabbie next Thursday from three-thirty to five-thirty."

Mary Anne was thumbing through the re-

cord book. She opened to the appointment calendar. "Claudia, you're the only one free. Want the job?"

"Sure!" she said.

"Oh," Kristy broke in. "Mallory, why don't you go with her? It can be a trial job for you, so one of us can see how you do."

"Okay!" I replied happily.

Claudia called Mrs. Perkins back to tell her who'd be sitting.

"And that's pretty much what we do at the meetings," Kristy said to me. "Just take job calls like that one and assign sitters. Oh, and collect dues and discuss problems."

I nodded again. Suddenly I remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you," I said, feeling proud. "On Saturday, I babysat for six of my brothers and sisters by myself."

"You did?" said Dawn, looking impressed.

"How come?" asked Kristy.

I explained about Nicky's accident.

Kristy's eyes narrowed. So did her lips as she set them in a straight line. "Mallory," she said coolly. "That accident shouldn't have happened. You were in charge of Nicky. You should have been watching him."

"But I —"

"We can't have accidents happening when we're on the job," Kristy went on. She looked

at the other girls and they nodded in agreement.

"Mallory," Dawn said gently, "we have to be really careful about who we accept in the club. We've had some trouble in the past — with sitters who weren't too reliable."

"But I am reliable," I said. "And I was watching Nicky. And I know everything about taking care of kids." I probably shouldn't have said that last sentence, but I was desperate. There was this sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Well, there's one way to find out about that," said Kristy, frowning thoughtfully. "We'll give you a test. Can you come back tomorrow to take it?"

"S-sure," I stammered. A test? 1 had to take a test? "What kind of test?" I asked.

"It'll be a ... surprise," said Kristy, and I knew she didn't have any baby-sitting test ready. She was going to have to make one up.