Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 123

"We still have the giant cookies," I reminded her. "And everybody's probably eaten dinner so they won't be that hungry." "People do seem to be having fun," Janine observed. "I guess it's all right. I think I'll try to match person with fact." I smiled. "Okay," I said. I headed for the den. The star team was already there, filling out their sheets.

"Is there a prize?" Rick called to me as I passed his group in the living room.

"First choice at pizza," I said.

"I hope you ordered sausage and bacon. We're ripping through these questions." "Claudia, no fair if you work with your team. You know all the answers," said Kristy from the dining room.

"That's right," yelled Pete, "no fair." "I promise I won't help anybody," I assured them.

Then I heard it and my heart practically stopped - the sound of breaking glass coming from the direction of the living room.

Chapter 11.

Either Janine was faster than me, or she was already in the room when it happened, because she was on her knees picking up pieces of the shattered vase when I arrived - along with just about everyone else in the room.

"Be careful of the broken glass," Josh warned me.

Mal was standing back, staring at Janine and the vase, her face bright red and her eyes shiny with tears. "I'm so sorry," she said, "I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz." Why couldn't it have been anyone other than Mal? I thought.

Jessi hurried to Mal's side and put an arm around her. Stacey, Abby, Kristy, and Mary Anne squeezed through the crowd to join her too, reminding her that it was an accident.

"Maybe you can glue it back together," Logan suggested.

"I don't think so," Janine said, shaking her head.

"It's just a vase," I said, trying to convince myself as well as everyone else. "Don't worry about it." Still, I could barely stand to look at all the tiny pieces scattered over the floor. What would Mom and Dad say?

"You are absolutely correct, Claudia," Janine said, standing up. "We'll clean this up so that no one is injured, and it will be fine." She smiled weakly.

"I'll clean it up," Mal offered.

"Let me show you where the broom and dustpan are kept." Janine led her into the kitchen.

The doorbell rang. I wondered who hadn't yet shown up.

Joanna, Kristy, and Austin were standing at the open front door by the time I reached it, each one holding a pizza box.

"We need money," Kristy called to me.

I wove my way through the crowd again and found the money Janine had set aside for pizza. By the time I'd paid for it, the only thing left was a slice of Canadian bacon and pineapple. I decided to wait for cookies.

"Here, I saved you a piece." Josh appeared at my side and handed me a slice of pepperoni. I bit into it and kept walking.

"Claudia," he called after me. "Come in here with me for awhile." "Can't," I said with my mouth full. I kept walking.

Mal and Jessi were still in the living room, cleaning up the glass. Joanna and Jeannie had taken up a spot on the steps, while Austin, Rick, Pete, and Logan were watching sports news on the TV. What had happened to the teams?

"Claudia, could you please join me in the kitchen?" Janine yelled through the crowd.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I'd fought my way to the door.

"We have depleted the food supply," Janine announced.

"We still have cookies," I said.

"But I've had several requests for more pizza. If we'd only known exactly how many guests..." It was too late to worry about that. I'd thought I knew how many.

"What do we have on hand? I'll bet we can find something." I pulled open the pantry door. There was an unopened jar of hearts of palm, some pineapple, tomato sauce, and a can of beans.

"There's frozen pizza dough," Janine said.

"Then we'll make our own pizza." I pulled the cans out of the pantry and lined them up on the counter. "It takes, what, ten or fifteen minutes to cook?" "We haven't got any mozzarella cheese." I joined Janine in front of the fridge.

There were, however, a few slices of American cheese. "We can use this. It'll be a Kishi special." "I'll see what I can do." Janine turned on the oven and took out our pizza pan.

I found some carrots and a carton of health-dip in the refrigerator. I scraped the health-dip into a bowl and cut up the carrots. There was also cold spaghetti, but I didn't think that would interest anyone.

"Maybe the smaller cookies should be dessert rather than a prize," I said.

Janine slipped her pizza, into the oven. 'Announce the cookie-decorating competition now. It's becoming very noisy in there." I'd been so busy trying to figure out what to feed everyone that I hadn't noticed the noise. Now, however, I realized the party was much louder than it had been.

I picked up the three giant cookies and the decorating supplies that Janine had collected and carried them into the dining room. Shira, Stacey, and Rick were walking around balancing pizza boxes on their heads. I checked to make sure there weren't any breakables around.

Mal and Jessi were still in the living room. The glass was cleaned up, and they were sitting on the sofa, talking. "We're going to decorate cookies now. Find your team," I said. They looked up and nodded but kept talking.

In the den, another group, led by Shannon, was singing what sounded like camp songs. "Cookie time," I said, "in the dining room." The boys in the group immediately jumped up and ran for the door.

Before I could explain that the cookies were for decorating, Austin had broken one and was handing out the pieces.

"I love these!" I heard Anna say. She opened a jar of colored sprinkles and poured some into her hand.

"Let me try some," said Erica, taking the jar.

"Icing in a spray can!" Pete squirted some into his mouth.

"That's gross," Kristy said, grabbing it.

"I didn't put my mouth on it," Pete said. "It's good. Have some." He reached for the can and pressed the nozzle, causing a line of icing to ooze out onto Kristy's arm.

"Yuck!" she said, but she licked it off.

"The icing tastes good on cookies too," said Abby. She took the can from Kristy and sprayed some on a piece of cookie, then ate it.

Emily took one of the icing cans and made a face on a cookie. Abby tried to press red hots into a cookie and it broke, sending pieces shooting across the dining room table.

"Hockey!" yelled Pete, sliding the biggest piece back. Others joined in, and cookies flew back and forth and onto the floor.

I looked for Janine, wishing the "official chaperone" would step in and help me get the party back on track.

"What's wrong?" Josh was at my elbow.

"It's a little crazy in there," I said, trying not to sound too worried. "Where's Janine?" "I saw her going upstairs with Shira and some other people a few minutes ago," Josh said. "Want me to go find her?" The timer on the oven buzzed. "Would you take the pizza out of the oven?" I asked Josh. "I'll find Janine." I ran upstairs.

Janine was in her bedroom in front of the computer. Shira, Joanna, and Jeannie were leaning close to the screen as Janine showed them something. They were supposed to be mixing with my BSC friends! What were they doing up here?

"Janine?" I said from the doorway. She looked over her shoulder. "Can you come downstairs?" "We'll be finished here in a minute," she said. The group broke into laughter as something moved across the screen.

"But Janine -" "Claudia, I said in a minute. Relax and enjoy your guests." Easy for her to say. I hadn't had a chance to talk to anybody. And I'd totally ignored Josh.

I heard the sound of a television and realized someone was in my parents' bedroom. I rushed to the end of the hall. "Hey, guys, you need to go back downstairs," I said to Rick, Pete, and Erica. "You can watch TV in the den." "But Logan made us turn this off down there, because Mary Anne wanted to watch a movie," said Rick. "This is the death match of the WWF and I don't want to miss it." "This bedroom is off-limits," I said in a firm voice.