Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 032

And when I say the woman was leading the girl, I mean she was leading her. The girl was lagging several paces behind and looked as if she didn't want to be out walking or holding anyone's hand. Plus, she looked sort of ... odd. She moved strangely, holding her head to one side and looking ahead out of the corners of her eyes. And she took quick, short steps in a stiff, uncomfortable way, and flapped her free hand in front of her face.

"Hey," I said to my friends. "Who're they?" I pointed down the street. "Are they new here, too?" "No," replied Claudia, looking slightly surprised. "Don't you remember the Felders? They live around the corner." I thought for a minute. I did vaguely remember a Mr. and Mrs. Felder, but no little girl. "Is that their daughter?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Claud. "Susan. She's been living at a special school, but I guess she's home now. That's probably why you don't remember her. Because she's been away. The Felders don't have any other kids." "Oh," I said, frowning. I watched Susan and her mother turn a corner. Then I went back to watching the Aussies. So did Dawn and Claud. We watched until the other dub members began to show up. When everyone had arrived, it was time to start another meeting of the BSC. I surveyed the club members. Everyone was ready.

Chapter 2.

I feel very lucky. Not only do I have an interesting family, but I've got the most terrific group of friends you can imagine. There are seven people in the BSC - Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, Dawn Schafer, Jessi Ramsey, Mallory Pike, and me. (Two other people who are sort of club members, but who don't usually come to meetings, are Logan Bruno and Shannon Kilbourne. I'll tell you more about them later.) My best friend in the club is Mary Anne Spier. For the longest time, Mary Anne and I lived next door to each other and across the street from Claudia. In fact, since we're all thirteen, we were born around the same time and grew up together. Then I moved to a different neighborhood and then Mary Anne moved, but that barely changed our friendship.

Anyway, considering we are best friends, Mary Anne and I sure are different. For one thing, I hate to admit it, but I have sort of a big mouth. My mouth has gotten me into trouble more times than I care to mention. I never mean to be rude or insulting, but things pop into my head and I can't help saying them. That's just the way I am. Also, I'm a tomboy and I love sports, especially softball. I even coach a softball team of little kids here in Stoneybrook. The team is called Kristy's Krushers.

I'm only just beginning to be interested in boys, and I don't care too much about clothes. I dress for comfort, which means that I almost always wear jeans, a turtleneck shirt, and running shoes. If it's cold out, I add a sweater, usually a pullover. If I feel like it, I wear a baseball cap. My favorite one has a collie on it. (Before David Michael got Shannon, we had a collie named Louie, who was the best dog in the world. But Louie got very sick and we had to have him put to sleep.) Well, I'm off the subject. What I'm trying to get at is how different Mary Anne and I are, so let me tell you about Mary Anne.

Mary Anne Spier is as quiet and shy as I am outspoken and outgoing. She's sensitive, romantic, and a good listener. Often, if one of us has a problem, we take it to Mary Anne. She may not have an answer, but she listens so sympathetically that you feel better just because you've told her about whatever is wrong. Mary Anne is also a big crier. She cries at movies (sad ones and happy ones), when her feelings are hurt, when someone else's feelings are hurt, or when people are angry. We've all gotten used to this.

Despite the fact that she's shy, Mary Anne is the first one of us to have a steady boyfriend. He's Logan Bruno, one of our associate club members! Logan and Mary Anne were made for each other. Logan has a great sense of humor, and he understands Mary Anne and her feelings and moods. He wouldn't mind, for instance, if they went to a school dance and Mary Anne suddenly felt too shy to dance.

Mary Anne's family used to be the exact opposite of mine, but now it's similar. See, Mrs. Spier died years ago, when Mary Anne was really little. So Mary Anne grew up with just a dad - no mom or brothers or sisters. And her dad was very strict with her, I think because he was trying to prove that he could be both mother and father to his daughter. He made up all these rules about how Mary Anne had to dress and wear her hair, when she could use the phone, where she could go with friends, and how she could spend her money. Then, almost a year ago, Mary Anne began standing up for herself. She showed her father that she wasn't a little girl anymore, but a responsible young adult, so he loosened up. Not long after that, Mary Anne began to dress more stylishly and she started going out with Logan.

Then the unexpected happened. Mr. Spier met Dawn Schafer's mother and recently they got married! No kidding. It turned out that he had known Mrs. Schafer in high school (when she was Sharon Porter) and they'd been in love. But Mrs. Schafer had moved to California, married Dawn's father, had Dawn and her brother, Jeff, and then decided to get divorced. After that happened, she moved her kids back here to Stoneybrook, where she'd grown up, and the rest is history. Mary Anne and her father now live in the Schafers' house (it's bigger than theirs was) and Mary Anne has a stepmother, a stepbrother, and a stepsister - Dawn. Mary Anne, by the way, just happens to be Dawn's best friend! Two things that are the same about Mary Anne and me are that we like animals (Mary Anne has a kitten named Tigger), and we look sort of alike. We're both short (I'm actually the shortest girl in my whole class), and we both have brown eyes and brown hair. Mary Anne is more apt to do things with her hair, though - to French braid it, or to wear headbands or hair ribbons or bows. I don't think I'm as pretty as Mary Anne is.

Maybe I better tell you about Dawn next, since you've already heard a little about her family. I'll start by saying that Dawn is drop-dead gorgeous - but I don't think she knows it or would care much about it if she did know. Dawn has the longest, palest blonde hair I've ever seen. Ifs the color of corn silk, and if it grows much longer, she'll be able to sit on it. (Well, maybe that's an exaggeration.) She has sparkly blue eyes, is tall and slender, has two holes pierced in each ear, and dresses in a style that my friends and I call California casual.

"Casual" is a pretty good way to describe Dawn herself. She's very laid-back. For the most part, she doesn't care what people think of her and just sort of goes her own way. (I'm hoping a little of that will rub off on Mary Anne.) Dawn does have chinks in her armor, though. Every now and then, something will cut deep enough so that Dawn feels hurt or anxious. But not often. She's easygoing, a caring stepsister to Mary Anne, and a good friend to the rest of us.

As I mentioned before, Dawn grew up in California. Moving to the East Coast was hard for her. Not only did she leave her father behind, but she misses the warm weather. Dawn is happiest when July and August come to Stoneybrook. Maybe because of California (or maybe not) Dawn is also a health-food nut. So's the rest of her family. They don't eat meat or junk food, and they love vegetables, fruit, and gross stuff like tofu.

Oops, I've gotten off the subject again. Anyway, Dawn, Jeff, and their mom moved to Stoneybrook - but Jeff, who's nine or ten, was never happy here, so he finally moved back to California to live with his father. I know Dawn was terribly hurt then. Her family was split in half and separated by three thousand miles. But she's happier now that she has another family. At first, everyone had some problems getting adjusted, but Mary Anne's organized, finicky father turned out to be a good husband for Dawn's disorganized, scatterbrained mother. And Dawn loves having a sister. She had always wanted one.