Ann Martin: Baby-Sitters Club 123

Jessi and Mallory continued to pore over the book. They're our junior officers, and they're best friends. Both are in sixth grade and can only baby-sit in the afternoons unless it's for their own siblings. They share a love of horses and books, and each is the oldest kid in her family. So they have plenty in common. By the way, there are eight children in Mal's family, four girls and four boys, including identical triplets. There are three kids in Jessi's family.

"Mal, you're free Thursday afternoon. Want to baby-sit for the Rodowskys?" Mary Anne asked after checking the schedules in the record book.

When Mal looked up, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She shook her head, her reddish-brown curls swinging, then buried her face in the book again.

Stacey and I exchanged glances. Things hadn't been going well for Mal lately. Not long ago some of the crueler kids in school started calling her "Spaz Girl." I'd hoped it would blow over, but the nickname spread through the entire school. Maybe this experience will find its way into a book someday. That's what Mal wants to do - write and illustrate children's books.

Mal is lucky to have Jessi as a friend to help her through this. They've been friends since Jessi's first day of school in Stoneybrook. (The Ramseys moved here from Oakley, New Jersey.) In addition to the interest in books and horses she shares with Mal, Jessi loves dancing. She studies ballet seriously and is very talented. She even looks like a dancer - tall and graceful, with her black hair often pulled back from her face in a bun. Jessi has a younger sister, Becca, and a baby brother, John Philip, Jr., better known as Squirt.

There are two other members of the BSC, associate members who don't regularly attend meetings but who handle our overflow jobs. One is Shannon Kilbourne, the only one of us who doesn't attend Stoneybrook Middle School. She goes to Stoneybrook Day School. Shannon lives on Kristy and Abby's street. She's very involved in activities at her school, so she doesn't have time left for any more regular meetings.

Finally, there's Logan, who, as I mentioned, is Mary Anne's boyfriend. He's cute, with blondish-brown curly hair and blue eyes. He's also funny, and wonderfully understanding, and he has the greatest southern accent. Logan used to live in Louisville, Kentucky, and you can still hear it in his voice.

"What time are we meeting tomorrow night?" Mary Anne asked Stacey and me. "Logan has a football game in the afternoon and he needs time to clean up before we go out."- "I'd hope so!" said Stacey. "Ethan is coming in on the four-fifteen train from New York. Mom and I are going to pick him up at the station, then take him back to the house. We might drive around town too, since Ethan's never been here." 'Are you nervous?" I asked. Stacey was twisting her blonde hair around her finger, something she doesn't often do.

'A little," she admitted.

I understood. Ethan is fifteen and the rest of us are thirteen, except Josh, who is still twelve. "We won't embarrass you, will we, Mary Anne?" "You won't and I won't. I can't speak for Logan or Josh," she said, smiling.

"Josh is looking forward to going out with all of you," I said. I hoped. "I'll talk to him tonight and make sure he knows what's expected of him." "Don't do that! You don't want to make him nervous. Josh is fun. He'll be fine. And so will Logan. It's just that Ethan is used to New York and we're in Stoneybrook," Stacey pointed out.

"We're adjourned - " The phone interrupted Kristy's announcement. She reached out and picked up the receiver. "Baby-sitters Club," she said. "Yes, it's Kristy, Mrs. Korman. . . . I'll check the schedule and call you back to tell you who your sitter will be. Thanks for calling." Kristy dropped the receiver back into the cradle. "Who's available to sit for the Kormans tomorrow afternoon? Bill and Melody only. Mr. and Mrs. Korman are taking Skylar to a special baby gym class." I waited for someone else to speak up. I was free, but between the pile of homework waiting for me and the big date tomorrow night, I wasn't sure I had time.

"I'll take it," Abby volunteered. "And I'll even call Mrs. Korman to tell her." "Do you want to ride home, or are you running?" Kristy asked as Abby dialed the Kormans' number and everyone else prepared to leave.

"Mrs. Korman? What?" Abby held the phone to one ear and clamped her free hand over the other. "It's Abby Stevenson. I'm available to baby-sit for you tomorrow." She listened, then repeated, "What? . . . Okay, see you then." Abby hung up, shaking her head. "Whoa! Sounds like a war zone at the Kormans'. Melody was crying and Bill was yelling. I could barely hear a word Mrs. Korman said. I hope they reach some kind of truce by tomorrow afternoon." Chapter 3.

I looked at the telephone sitting on my night-stand. Janine was checking the math problems I'd managed to finish in the hour we'd been working together. I still had six to go, but I wanted to make sure I was doing them correctly before I went any further. If it was going to take her awhile, maybe I could sneak in a call to Josh. My parents had made it a rule that I had to finish at least some of my weekend homework on Friday. In the past, I'd had a habit of leaving everything until Sunday night and then feeling as if I couldn't face it because there was so much. I wasn't technically finished with what I needed to do tonight, but I had done a fair amount.

I stood up, stretched, and took three steps toward the telephone.

Janine's head snapped up. "Where are you going?" "I need to call Josh and tell him what time we're going out tomorrow night," I said.

"Claudia, you're aware of the restrictions on your use of the telephone before you complete your homework assignments," Janine reminded me.

I rolled my eyes. Janine sometimes talks as if she's choosing words out of a special genius dictionary, especially when the subject is schoolwork.

"There are a few principles in this assignment that need further clarification. Come sit here and we'll discuss the issues that are contributing to your errors." Janine patted the seat of my desk chair. "Don't be discouraged. You're doing an admirable job, especially in light of the fact that this concept was only recently introduced. Your errors may simply be a matter of too little attention to detail." Something I'm sure my sister would never be guilty of. I sat down. "Don't you have anything better to do than help me with math on a Friday night? I could have started with history or English. Mom and Dad offered to work with me." Looking at Janine's face, I felt bad for asking that question. She'd broken up with her boyfriend, Jerry Michaels, recently. Even though it had been Janine's idea, they'd gone out for a long time, so I'm sure it wasn't easy.

"I don't mind spending the evening with my sister." Janine smiled and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Jerry was a person whose presence in my life expanded geometrically rather than arithmetically, taking up more time than one person should." I nodded, not quite sure what she meant, but realizing, now that I thought about it, that she used to spend more time with Jerry than with anyone else. I thought of Josh again. I wished I had more time to spend with him. But as Janine might say, time is a constant. There's only a certain amount of it.

"How about adding a little C12H22OU to this equation?" Janine asked.

I leaned over and looked at my math paper. "Which one?" Janine laughed. "C12H22O11 is the chemical compound for sucrose. The main component of your ... junk food." "You want some candy?" I asked. Janine can be so weird. Why didn't she just say candy?

"What kind do you have?" "Snickers." I opened the middle drawer in my desk, reached to the back, and found two candy bars.

"Thank you." Janine unwrapped hers and began to nibble.