Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 060

But I got over that. I was very mature. I refused to be ruffled.

"Ucccccchhh! What happened to you?" My ruffles came back.

Just my luck. Of all the people to run into first, it would have to be Alan Gray.

In case you don't know, Alan is known by many as the Jerk of Eighth Grade (and that's one of the nicer names). Why? Let's just say maturity is not his strong point. Plus he's been trying to get back at the entire BSC ever since he lost a bet to Kristy and had to be her personal slave for a week.

"Hello, Alan," I said calmly.

"Well, at least they didn't scalp off your voice box!" was Alan's witty response.

"No, they didn't," I replied, heading for the hallway. "See you." The day was off to a wonderful start.

I managed to escape to my locker without anyone else seeing me. But just as I opened it, I heard a wolf whistle behind me.

Now I was upset. Hadn't Alan said enough already? Why did he have to follow me? I turned around, not knowing whether to yell at him or cry.

It was Logan.

"Who's the new girl?" he said with a smile.

I smiled back. "Hi. You still like it?" "Love it. I still can't believe how different you look!" With a straight face, I replied, "What was wrong with the way I looked before?" "No - I meant - well, you know - " "You thought I was ugly, and you didn't tell me?" Logan had this hurt-puppy look on his face.

He was taking me so seriously. "No! I didn't mean that - " I couldn't stand it any longer. I started to giggle- "Ohhhh, you're in trouble." Logan wrapped his arm around my neck, pretending to get me in a headlock. I ducked away, laughing. (Logan may be a semi-jock, but he's gentle as a mouse.) Standing just to our left were Bruce Scher-merhorn and Justin Forbes, two eighth-graders I know. Their jaws were practically scraping the ground. "Mary Anne Spier?" Bruce said.

"Hi," I replied.

"Wow . . . hey," Bruce said.

Wow . . . hey? Well, he was smiling and nodding, so I guess that was meant to be a compliment. I said, "Thanks," and linked arms with Logan.

We walked together to my homeroom, which happens to be about twenty-seven miles away from my locker. Which meant we had to pass a lot of people on the way.

Now, finally, was the Moment of Truth. The Great Unveiling.

You know what? Some people didn't even recognize me! Erica Blumberg kept giving Logan this suspicious glance, as if he'd found a new girlfriend. Shawna Riverson walked right by me.

I'll tell you when I really started feeling good. It was when Cokie Mason actually dropped her books and gasped. (Cokie used to have a major crush on Logan. She dated him, back when he and I had split up.) "Hi, Cokie," I said nonchalantly.

"Wow, you look fantastic!" she exclaimed.

Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. She did give me my second Wow of the day.

"Thanks!" I said.

Well, "thanks" was the word I used most on the way to my homeroom. I felt like a movie star. Imagine, me, drab old Mary Anne! No one had ever fussed over my looks before. And now everyone was paying attention. One of the teachers even came out of her classroom to compliment me.

To tell you the truth, it was a little embarrassing. Logan said my face was like a blinking red stoplight. But by the time we finally turned the last corner to my homeroom, I was enjoying myself.

That was when I saw Claudia, Kristy, and Stacey. They were walking toward us, chatting. My heart started racing. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces. "Hi!" I called out.

Stacey looked up. "Hi, Mary Anne. Hi, Logan." She raised an eyebrow. "It's shorter than I thought. Did Joyce do it?" She didn't seem surprised at all, "Yeah," I said. "Um . . . did she mention it to you or something?" "No," Kristy said. "Dawn did." Ooooooh. It figured. I should have specifically told her not to say anything! Not that it would have mattered. She knew I'd wanted to surprise Logan, and that hadn't stopped her.

"I can't believe you went to the hairdresser without us," Claudia said, with a scolding sort of smile.

"I'm sorry," I replied. (I couldn't help it, the words just flew out of my mouth.) "Well, what do you think?" Claudia and Stacey gave each other a Look. Kristy smiled and shrugged. "Mary Anne, you knucklehead . . . we said that cut wasn't you." Kristy was trying to sound as if she were joking, but she meant it. I knew that tone of voice.

Some best friend.

"It's okay," Claudia said.

"It'll grow out," Stacey added.

Funny, their comments were sort of mean, but they didn't look mean. Their faces even showed a bit of sympathy. Sympathy! I think that was the worst thing of all. "Yeah," I said. "I guess." "Oh, well," Kristy said, looking at her watch. "See you at lunch." " 'Bye," I said.

" 'Bye," the other three said.

I felt awful as I watched them walk off. It was as if they had taken my heart out and stepped all over it.

"They're nuts," Logan whispered. "I think they're just jealous." I didn't believe that for a minute. Maybe all those people in the hallway had been lying to me, just trying to make me feel good. "Logan, do you really like my hair?" Logan held my shoulders gently and looked me in the eye. "I really do. But that shouldn't matter. Mary Anne, you don't need to listen to what anyone says. You're the one who has to like it. If it makes you feel good, that's what counts." Leave it to Logan. He was right. I liked the way it looked, I liked the way it felt. "Yeah," I said. "Thanks." "Okay, I better go before the bell rings. 'Bye." " 'Bye!" As he turned to leave, I saw Dawn sitting in homeroom. She caught my eye, then looked away.

Suddenly I remembered the BSC meeting that afternoon. "Oh - Logan?" I called down the hall.

"Yeah?" he said, turning back around.

"Are you coming to the meeting?" "I hadn't planned on it. Why? You want me to?" How did he know? I smiled and nodded. "I don't think I can face it alone. You know . . ." "Okay!" he said. "Anyway, I'll see you at lunch. 'Bye!" " 'Bye!" T walked in the classroom. I could tell right away that Dawn had heard me. She was shaking her head and staring out the window, with a teeny little smirk on her face.

Chapter 8.

The weather report had predicted heavy snow for Tuesday. They were right about the heavy part, but they were wrong about the snow. Freezing rain fell the whole day long. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't feel warm or dry - inside or out.

So there was Claudia, inside the Arnolds' kitchen, cold and bored silly. Marilyn was practicing scales over and over, Carolyn was still working on her contraption, and the last drizzlings of the storm tapped against the windows.

After listening to the clanking downstairs, Claudia was getting curious. She went to the top of the basement stairs and shouted, "Do you want something to eat?" "No!" Carolyn shouted back.

"I can bring it down." "No!" "Can't I just come down?" "NO! I told you this is top secret!" Claudia rolled her eyes. "But you let Mary Anne and Marilyn see it a few days ago." "I wasn't working on the secret stuff back then! Please leave me alone!" "All right." Claudia slunk back to the kitchen table. In her shoulder bag was a Nancy Drew book she'd just finished reading. With a sigh, she pulled it out and started reading it again.

By the end of the first chapter, Marilyn finished practicing. She bounced into the kitchen and said, "Let's go see the time machine!" "Noooooo!" Carolyn screamed from the basement.

"I think she means no," Claudia said.

"What a party pooper," Marilyn replied with a pout. "I know, let's invite someone over!" Good idea, Claudia thought. Stacey was sitting at the Braddocks', just a couple of blocks away. "We could try Matt and Haley," she said. "I don't know if Stacey'll want to take them out in this weather, though." "The rain's almost stopped!" Marilyn squealed. "Call them up!" It turned out that Stacey was happy to bring the kids over. In a few minutes she and the Braddocks appeared at the door, soggy but excited.