Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 094

Her creativity overflows to her unique fashion sense. For instance, today she wore a long-sleeved tie-dyed shirt that she'd dyed herself. Under it she had on black leggings onto which she'd sewn patches of the tie-dyed material. Her silky, long black hair was tied back with a matching tie-dyed scrunchy.

Claudia looks great in her unusual outfits. It doesn't hurt that she's completely gorgeous. She's Japanese-American with the greatest hair, smoothest skin, prettiest dark almond eyes, and a knockout smile.

I can't understand how she can look so great and eat the way she does. Claudia is a total junk food nut. Her parents don't approve of her eating habits so she stashes junk food all over her room. You have to be careful where you sit; you might be squashing a pack of Twinkies or a bag of Doritos.

Claudia's biggest problem is school. She just can't seem to find anything to like about it other than art class. She's so involved with her art that other classes don't interest her. Considering that her older sister Janine is a genius (with a super I.Q. score to prove it), Claudia's parents are shocked by (and sometimes unhappy about) Claudia's dislike of school. They're on her back to study all the time. Claudia tries but schoolwork just isn't for her.

"Claudia, it's almost time for the meeting. You better start organizing this stuff," Kristy said. "Do you have the sandwich bags?" "I have wax paper bags," said Claudia, tak- ing a cardboard box from her top drawer. "They're more biodegradable." She opened the box, pulled out some bags, and started sorting equal amounts of doilies, red paper, and everything else into each bag. "Putting together these valentine kits was a great idea," she told Kristy.

"Thanks," said Kristy. "I figured it would be fun for the kids." That's Kristy, queen of the great idea. She's not shy about sharing her ideas, either. In fact, she's not shy about anything. We seldom have to wonder what Kristy is thinking. She's always happy to tell us.

Kristy doesn't look particularly impressive. She's petite with straight, shoulder-length brown hair. She's not especially interested in clothing. Jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt or sweatshirt are her usual attire.

But, in Kristy's case, looks are deceiving. Kristy is very impressive. She has a big, bold personality. Sometimes her bossiness can be a bit of a pain, but she keeps this club running like clockwork. She's also got a good heart and is a loyal friend. Besides, Kristy can be a lot of fun. Some of her great ideas involve activities - such as sleepovers, plays, and pizza parties - that are a blast.

Kristy's life hasn't always been easy. Her father just walked out on her family after her younger brother was born. That left her mother to take care of Kristy, her younger brother David Michael, and her two older brothers Charlie and Sam. Her mother managed well enough, though I suppose it must have been hard. Then, one day, Kristy's mom met this guy named Watson Brewer and soon they fell in love.

And Watson turned out to be a millionaire.

Before long, wedding bells rang and Kristy's family moved across town to Watson's mansion. You got it - mansion! That big mansion came in handy, too, because Kristy's family started to grow. First, Watson and Kristy's mom adopted a baby girl named Emily Mich-elle who was born in Vietnam. (She's two and a half now.) Then Kristy's grandmother, Nannie, moved in to help look after Emily Michelle. Kristy also acquired two younger stepsiblings, Karen, who is seven, and Andrew, who is four. They live at Kristy's every other month. When you add assorted cats, dogs, and goldfish, it makes for a pretty busy household.

"Am I on time?" asked Mary Anne, rushing breathlessly into the room. She checked Claudia's digital clock. "Five twenty-five. Phew!" she said.

Kristy is a stickler for punctuality. Our meetings start at five-thirty sharp. If we're late we get the Kristy Look, an icy stare of disapproval.

Mary Anne caught her breath and pulled the club record book from her backpack, preparing for our meeting. The record book contains everything she needs to know in order to schedule jobs. All of our schedules as well as the names and phone numbers of our regular clients are carefully noted. Any other important information is in there too, such as clients' allergies or special needs. As club secretary, Mary Anne keeps track of it all and, amazingly, has never made a scheduling mistake.

"Dawn called last night," Mary Anne reported. "Isn't it strange to think that she went to the beach yesterday, while we were here freezing?" As she spoke about Dawn (the club member who left and went to California), Mary Anne was smiling, but I had to wonder how she was really feeling. She and Dawn are very close. She took Dawn's departure the hardest of all. You see, they aren't only great friends, but they are stepsisters.

Dawn and Mary Anne became stepsisters by reuniting their parents, who had once been high-school sweethearts. While browsing through an old yearbook, they discovered that Dawn's mother had dated Mary Anne's father when they were in high school. But then Dawn's mom went to California to go to col- lege, where she met and married Dawn's father. Back in Stoneybrook, Mary Anne's father married someone else - Mary Anne's mother.

Got that so far?

Anyway, as you know, Dawn's parents divorced. Her mother came back to Stoneybrook with Dawn and Jeff, Dawn's younger brother.

Since Mary Anne's mother died when she was a baby, her father was raising Mary Anne by himself. So, as you may have figured out by now, both Dawn's mother and Mary Anne's father were free to get back together again.

After much coaxing from their daughters, Mary Anne's dad, Richard, and Dawn's mom, Sharon, began to date, then eventually married. Mary Anne and her father moved in with Dawn and her mother. (By then, Jeff had already moved back to California.) Becoming a new family had its definite and unexpected pitfalls. For example, Dawn, who is tall with long white-blonde hair, has strong opinions about a lot of things, including food. She can't stand junk food or red meat. Mary Anne, on the other hand, feels ill at the sight of barbecued tofu. But they ironed out their differences and everything seemed to be going great. That's why it was so shocking when Dawn announced her decision to move back to California to live with her brother, her dad, and her dad's new wife, Carol. It was some- thing she felt she really had to do. I sympathized with her because she really agonized over the decision.

I think Mary Anne is still getting over it, although she tries to have a good attitude. She's very sensitive and cries easily. The up side of her sensitivity is that she's a great friend, really tuned in to other people's feelings. The down side is that her feelings are easily hurt.

You can tell Mary Anne is sweet just by looking at her. She's petite, like Kristy, with big brown eyes that look even bigger now that she's cut her brown hair short.

Even though Mary Anne is quiet and shy she was the first one of us to have a steady boyfriend. Logan Bruno is a great guy. He has sandy blond hair and a southern accent left over from when he used to live in Kentucky. He's an associate club member, which means he sometimes takes fill-in baby-sitting jobs when the rest of us are booked.

Our other associate member is Shannon, as I've already mentioned. I like her a lot, even though she attends private school and is so busy that I don't see much of her. She's cute with curly blonde hair, the bluest eyes, and high cheekbones. She lives near Kristy and has two younger sisters.

I glanced at the clock and watched it turn from 5:29 to 5:30. Uh-oh. Abby, Jessi, and Mallory were still missing. They were doomed to get the Look.

Kristy checked the clock and frowned deeply. "All right, we might as well get started," she grumbled, obviously unhappy to have three members missing. "Mary Anne, would you check the record book and - " "We're here!" Mallory interrupted, flying into the room just ahead of Jessi.