Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 042

Okay, so Kristy is the president, Claudia is vice-president, Mary Anne is secretary, and Stacey is treasurer. You might be wondering where that leaves Dawn, Mallory, and me. Well, Dawn is what we call an alternate officer. That means that any time one of the others can't make it to the meeting, Dawn fills in for them. She has to know how to do everyone else's job.

Mallory and I are junior officers, which really doesn't mean much at all, except that we're younger and that we can only sit during the afternoons. This is fine with me - I don't know if I'm really ready to sit in some strange house alone at night! (I do sit for my own brother and sister at night, and Mal sits at her house - but that's different.) There are also two other members whom I haven't told you about. They're associate members, and they don't come to meetings. But they do take jobs, when the rest of us are all booked up - and that's been a big help more than once. Logan Bruno, Mary Anne's ex-boyfriend, is one of the associate members. (He's really nice - and you should hear his neat Southern accent. He moved to Stoneybrook from Louisville, Kentucky, and he sounds like someone out of Gone With the Wind. He and Mary Anne are still good friends, by the way.) The other associate member is Shannon Kilbourne, this girl who lives in Kristy's new neighborhood. I don't know her too well, but she seems nice.

So there I was, sitting by Mallory on the floor of Claudia's room, ready for the meeting to start. Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn were all sitting cross-legged on the bed. Kristy was in the director's chair, and Stacey was sitting in Claudia's desk chair, leaning way back in it. She looked like she was about to topple over any minute.

"Did you see that outfit Jennifer Cooke had on today? I mean, she looked like a cross between Princess Di and Minnie Mouse!" said Claud all of a sudden.

That was all it took to make Stacey - and the chair - fall over. Stacey was fine. She just lay there on the floor, laughing until she was almost crying. "Who does she think she is, anyway - just because she's won some beauty pageants. All that makeup - it's too much!" 1 was giggling, trying to imagine the outfit Claudia had described, when Kristy spoke up. "Order!" she said. It was 5:30. And our meetings always start on time.

Stacey got up from the floor and brushed off her jeans. She was wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to stifle her laughter. Kristy gave her a Look, which meant straighten up, but Stacey was too far gone. You know how it is when you're not supposed to be laughing - like in the library, or during science class - but you can't stop? That's how Stacey was.

She just kept shaking her head and saying "Minnie Mouse" and then breaking into giggles all over again. Kristy looked a little annoyed.

Luckily for Stacey, the phone rang then. Kristy dove for it. "Baby-sitters Club," she said, answering it. Then, "Sure, Mrs. Perkins. No problem. I'll call you right back." Kristy hung up and looked around the room. The phone call had given Stacey the chance to get serious. "Mrs. Perkins needs a sitter for Laura," said Kristy.

Laura is a baby. We usually sit for her and her two big sisters. "What about Myriah and Gabbie?" asked Mallory.

"The Perkinses are taking them to that big show in Stamford," said Kristy. "You know," she continued, "the one with Minnie Mouse on ice skates." That did it. We all clacked up, including Kristy, and laughed until we were rolling on the floor. We didn't stop until the phone rang again.

We were busy handling calls and setting up jobs for awhile, so I had to wait for a chance to tell everybody about the disastrous rehearsal I'd had that afternoon. But finally there was a lull in the action, and I told the awful tale.

"Oh, Jessi!" said Mallory. "Did you just die of embarrassment when you had to come out barefoot? I would have." 1 admitted that it had been pretty bad. "But the worst thing was that Madame Noelle was mad at me," I said.

Mary Anne smiled sympathetically. "You really care a lot about what she thinks of you, don't you?" she asked.

"I know how that is," said Claudia. "It's like if I don't finish a project in time for art class. I hate it when I let my teacher down." "But it all worked out okay, right?" asked Dawn. "I mean, you found your toe shoes and everything. But I wonder about that note." I nodded even though the note didn't have me all that worried. "It's just that I hate starting out a new production with a rehearsal like that," I said. Everybody was being so nice. There's nothing like supportive friends when you're feeling like a total loser. I noticed, though, that Kristy hadn't said anything. Maybe she just wasn't that interested in my ballet stories.

"Well, it's all over now," I said, getting ready to change the subject. I didn't want to make Kristy mad at me for taking up so much meeting time.

"Right, Jessi. Next time will be better," said Kristy quickly. "Now listen, you guys. I've got a great idea." Everybody groaned, just to tease Kristy. How can anyone get so many great ideas all the time? No wonder she wasn't interested in my story - she'd been waiting impatiently the whole time, dying to tell us about her latest brainstorm.

"It seems to me that we haven't done anything really special with the kids we sit for lately," said Kristy. "You know, there hasn't been a big party, or a carnival, or anything - not for a long time." "That's true," said Dawn. "But what can we do that would be new and exciting?" "Are you ready for this?" asked Kristy, grinning. "We're going to have - a pet show!" She looked around the room. "I was remembering that Louie was in a pet show once," she continued. (Louie was this great collie that Kristy used to have. I never met him, though: He died before I moved here.) "It was at the library, and it was really fun. Louie won second prize! I was so proud of him." Everybody loved Kristy's idea.

"The kids are going to think this is the greatest," said Mallory. "It'll be a chance to get together and show off their pets. But where should we have it? We need lots of room," "I was thinking it could be in Dawn and Mary Anne's backyard," said Kristy. "It's one of the biggest yards, and their house is pretty close to a lot of the kids' houses." "Sounds great!" said Dawn. "I'm sure my mom won't mind." "How are we going to let everyone know about this?" asked Stacey. "It's going to take a lot of planning." "I'll make invitations," said Claudia. "We'll send them out to all our clients to let them know the time and place. We'd better pick a date a few weeks away, though - everybody's going to need time to get ready for this." "We're also going to need prize ribbons, refreshments, and all kinds of other stuff," said Mary Anne. You could practically see the gears turning as she considered the details. She's a great organizer.

We worked on plans for the pet show for the rest of the meeting (between phone calls, that is). And I got so caught up in the whole thing that I almost forgot about my horrible rehearsal.

Almost, Chapter 5.

When the time came for the second rehearsal of The Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora was Princess Prepared. As I unpacked my dance bag in the dressing room, I almost had to laugh. I'd brought not just my spare toe shoes, but a spare dance outfit. The entire thing.

Two pairs of pink tights. Two black leotards. Two hair-ties (it wouldn't do to have my hairtie disappear and have to dance with my hair in my face - Mme Noelle would be furious). Two pairs of leg warmers (one white, one purple) and two baggy old gray sweat shirts, for warm-ups. I wasn't taking any chances.

As I changed, I watched my stuff like a hawk. When I walked across the room to check my hair in the mirror, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody went near my bag. I must have looked pretty paranoid. But I didn't care. Knowing that I had everything I needed for class made me feel safe. I was sure that everything would go smoothly that day.