Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 031

Okay, on to Stacey McGill, our treasurer. Stacey and Claud are best friends and very much alike in some ways - but very different in others. They're alike in that they share a taste for wild clothes and jewelry, and they're both sophisticated and have sometimes-boy-friends. Stacey even has a body wave in her blonde hair, and pierced ears like Claudia's. Plus, she comes from New York City. Stacey, who is an only child, grew up there and lived in the city until her father's company transferred him to Connecticut. That was just before seventh grade. Stacey had lived here for about a year when the company transferred Mr. McGill back to New York. Then, Stacey had been there for less than a year when her parents decided to divorce. Her father wanted to stay in New York with his job, but her mother wanted to return to Stoneybrook. Stacey's parents said she could live with either one of them. It was a tough choice, but she finally returned to Connecticut and the BSC. She visits her father in New York a lot, though.

Life has not been easy for Stacey, as you can see. Apart from everything else, she has diabetes. That's a disease in which her pancreas doesn't control the level of sugar in her blood properly so Stacey has to do it herself with daily injections (yuck) of something called insulin, and by sticking to a strict diet. NO SWEETS. If Stacey doesn't do these things, she could get really sick. I mean, she could go into a diabetic coma. So far, she has taken very good care of herself. I like Stacey a lot. She is funny, and not at all stuck-up.

Well, I'm the club's alternate officer. (I'll explain that later.) You know an awful lot about me already. Let's see. What don't you know? I have extra long, extra blonde hair (it's almost white), and very pale blue eyes. I love mysteries, especially ghost stories, so I'm perfectly happy to be living in a centuries-old farmhouse with a secret passage in it that just might be haunted. I hate cold weather and love warm weather. Like Jeff and my parents, I adore health food and can't stand junk food. Some people think I'm weird, but I don't care - much. I like to think I'm an individual. I do what I want (unless it's going to hurt someone), I eat what I want, and I dress the way I want - a style my friends call California casual. I guess that style falls somewhere between Stacey's and Kristy's. Here's something you should know about my mom - she's totally scatterbrained, and she is not a good housekeeper. She's like the absentminded professor in that old movie.

Then there are Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike, junior officers in the club. Jessi and Mal are best friends. They're also sixth-graders, while the rest of us are eighth-graders. We all go to Stoneybrook Middle School. Mal and Jessi are both the oldest kids in their families, both love horses, both love to read, both think their parents treat them like infants - even though recently they were allowed to get their ears pierced (just one hole in each ear, of course) - and neither one of them has ever had a boyfriend.

But the similarities end there. Mal comes from a huge family (she has seven younger brothers and sisters), while Jessi comes from an average-sized family - one younger sister and a baby brother. Mal wants to be an author and illustrator of children's books when she grows up and is always writing in her private journal, while Jessi is thinking of becoming a professional ballet dancer. She takes lessons at a special dance school in Stamford and has even starred in some ballet productions. One last difference: Mal is white; Jessi is black. Jessi's skin color doesn't matter a bit to any of us, but it sure mattered to some people in Stoneybrook when the Ramseys first moved here. They gave Jessi and her family a really hard time. See, there are hardly any other blacks in Stoneybrook (Jessi is the only black student in the sixth grade), and some people wanted to keep it that way. They were downright mean to the Ramseys, but things have cooled off, thank goodness.

The last person who was over at Mary Anne's on that sunny day after the wedding was Logan Bruno. He's only sort of a member of the Baby-sitters Club, but since he's Mary Anne's boyfriend, he was invited to dish about the wedding with the rest of us. All us girls like Logan - but no one except Mary Anne likes him in that special way.

Logan is funny and kind. He enjoys sports. He cares very much about Mary Anne and doesn't mind when she's feeling extra shy. And he is drop-dead gorgeous. He looks like a movie star.

Logan's family is from Louisville, Kentucky. They moved here just before we began eighth grade. Logan has a younger sister and a younger brother. His family speaks with a southern accent. Logan says "Luevulle" for "Louisville" and "mah hayer" for "my hair." What's funny (sort of) is that his little brother, Hunter, has allergies, so he says "bah hayer" for "my hair" because his nose (doze) is always stuffed up! The eight of us dished for about two hours. Then everyone began to leave.

"Gotta go, you guys," said Logan, standing up. "I'm sitting at the Rodowskys' tonight." "Charlie's going to be here to pick me up any second," said Kristy.

Before we knew it, Mary Anne and I were alone. We'd been looking forward to ordering in a pizza for dinner and watching a scary movie on TV, but now I could tell that we both felt sort of empty. Our parents were away, and Mary Anne was about to spend her last night ever in her old room. And it didn't even look like her room anymore, since it was half packed up. We tried to make the best of things, though.

But I knew we were thinking about the next day, and wondering what, exactly, it would bring.

Chapter 3.

Moving day! Mary Anne and I woke up early that morning. To tell you the truth, we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Every time we heard the teensiest sound we were sure a robber was breaking into the house. You might think that I wouldn't mind odd sounds, since I like mysteries and sleep in a room with a hidden entrance to a secret passage in the wall - but my mother is always home at night. It's different when no adults are around. My mother probably couldn't get the better of either a robber or a ghost, but I always feel comforted knowing she's in the next room.

"Boy," said Mary Anne at 3:15 A.M., when we'd been awakened for about the thirtieth time, "you should have been living in Stoneybrook when Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and I thought we were being harassed by a phantom phone caller." "A phantom phone caller?" I repeated.

"Yeah. There was this guy who would call people's houses at night. If no one answered the phone, he'd come rob the house. The Baby-sitters Club was brand-new then, and us club members were scared to death. We were sure he was going to call sometime when one of us was sitting, figure out that no adults were around, and then come rob the house with MS in it!" "What did you do?" I whispered.

"Lots of things. One night I was sitting for David Michael because he had a cold, and Kristy and the rest of her family were out - probably visiting Watson, I don't remember. Anyway, I rigged up all these burglar alarms - and kept setting them off by accident. Once Louie set one off. Remember Louie? The Thomases' old collie? Anyway, that seemed like a really scary time, but when I think of it now, it's kind of funny." I giggled. Mary Anne and I felt better for about five minutes. Then we heard a c-r-e-a-k and we both shrieked.

Were we ever glad when Mom and Richard pulled up in front of the house at ten o'clock that morning. They'd already picked up Jeff.

Mary Anne and I flew out the front door. "Hi! Hi!" we called.

"What a nice, warm welcome," said Mom.

If she only knew. We were really just relieved.

"Well, now what?" I asked.

"Now we wait for the moving van," said Richard. "It should be here in a minute." The five of us stood around on the Spiers' front lawn.