Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 030

"Like this." Stacey showed the twins how to cut out frames from construction paper and glue them onto the pictures.

"Cool!" exclaimed Carolyn. Then she turned her picture over and wrote To Mommy and Daddy - Love, Carolyn. So Marilyn turned hers over and wrote, To Mommy and Daddy - Love Marilyn.

Stacey expected sparks to fly since Marilyn had copied Carolyn, but nothing happened. Each twin made and framed another picture. When they were done, Carolyn said, "I think I'll call Haley." Marilyn watched wistfully as her sister made the phone call.

"Come over?" Carolyn repeated into the receiver. "Sure. Let me ask Stacey first." Carolyn put her hand over the receiver and said, "Haley invited me over. Can I go? Claudia is baby-sitting there." "Sure," said Stacey.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Carolyn said, "Marilyn, do you want to come, too?" Marilyn's eyes widened. "Yeah!" "Okay," said Carolyn.

"Wait a sec," Stacey broke in. "I better talk to Claud." So Stacey and Claud had a conversation, and Claud said she didn't mind a bit if Stacey brought the twins over, "As long as they're not fighting," she added.

"No, no. Everything's fine," Stacey assured her. She put the Kid-Kit away, left a note for Mrs. Arnold, and she and the girls walked over to the Braddocks' house. It was a beautiful day and when they arrived, Stacey and Claud sat on the back deck and listened to the girls below them. Aside from the twins and Haley were Vanessa Pike and Charlotte Johanssen. Matt was playing at the Pikes'.

"You know," Stacey heard Haley say, "we should start our club. Right now. There are five of us. That's enough for a club." "You want me in your club?" squeaked Marilyn.

The other girls looked at each other. Finally Carolyn said, "Only if you won't be too bossy. We'll try you for three meetings. If you're too bossy, you're out. Okay?" "I guess." Poor Marilyn, thought Stacey. She -was on probation, but at least she'd been asked to join the club.

"What about your friend Gazelle?" asked Vanessa. "Do you think she'd want to join?" "You mean Gozzie?" replied Marilyn. "Oh . . . oh, I don't know. I mean, I don't think so. She, urn, she doesn't like clubs." "Okay," said Vanessa, shrugging.

Stacey looked at Claudia. "You know what?" she said quietly. "I bet Gozzie Kunka is an imaginary friend of Marilyn's. I think Marilyn made her up because she didn't have any friends." "Oh! I bet you're right!" exclaimed Claud. "I wonder if Gozzie will disappear now." "I doubt it," replied Stacey. "At least not until Marilyn's club probation is over and she can be sure she'll have real friends." Stacey and Claudia smiled at each other. And that night, Stacey called to tell me the news.

"You mean Gozzie Kunka is imaginary?" I cried. "I should have known. I just should have known. A foreign dignitary's daughter named Gozzie Kunka living in Stoneybrook. How could I have been so naive?" I couldn't help laughing. It was pretty funny.

Chapter 14.

Less than one week left until the wedding! I couldn't believe it. We'd made most of our plans, but there were still plenty of things to do.

"Imagine if we'd had the huge wedding we wanted," I said to Dawn in school on Monday. Since I'd had time to calm down about moving into her house, we were friends again. For one thing, Dad and Mrs. Schafer had both said that they would get rid of some of their furniture and combine the rest of it in Dawn's house.

"What will we do with the leftover stuff?" I'd asked.

"Store some of it in the barn," Dad had answered, "and probably give some to the Salvation Army." For another thing, I had actually seen Mrs. Schafer pat Tigger. So I felt a lot better about the cat business.

For a third thing, I'd decided that I did want to redecorate my room at Dawn's (but keep most of my old furniture), and Claudia had said she would help me. She had helped Stacey redecorate when Stacey moved back to Stoneybrook. She's good at that sort of thing.

Anyway, to get back to that Monday in school, Dawn replied, "I know. If we'd really wanted to do all those things, it would have taken about a year to plan for the wedding." "Yeah. Caterers, flower arrangers ..." "And dressmakers, tux rentals ..." We were becoming wedding experts.

"At least we're going to get new dresses after all," I said. The two of us had just joined the other BSC members at our usual table in the cafeteria. "You almost ruined that by taking back everything we'd said we wanted." Dawn giggled. She opened her lunch bag and pulled out a package of carrot sticks and a container of salad that definitely had tofu in it.

"Ew, ew. Gross! Health food!" cried Kristy, holding her nose.

Dawn looked over at the school lunch Kristy had bought. "I will never," she said, pointing to Kristy's Jell-O, "understand how people can eat something that jiggles." "Tofu jiggles," said Kristy.

"It does not. It's solid." To prove her point, Dawn poked her salad container. Nothing happened. Then she poked Kristy's plate. The Jell-O was practically dancing. And the six of us (Kristy, Dawn, Stacey, Claudia, Logan, and I) were hysterical.

"So what about your dresses?" Claudia said to Dawn and me. (Leave it to Claud to turn the discussion back to fashion.) "We're each getting a new one," I replied.

"But not matching ones," added Dawn, "since we aren't going to be bridesmaids. We'll just be sitting in the chapel with you guys." "And," said Dawn, "Mom picked out a beautiful pale pink dress with this beaded design all over it. It has a drop waist. It looks sort of old-fashioned - like something from the nineteen-twenties." "Neat," said Claud.

"And if you can believe it," I spoke up, "Dawn's mom talked my dad into buying a new suit and new shoes. Dressy ones, I mean. I don't remember the last time he bought a new suit or new shoes." There was a pause. Kristy poked at her Jell-O. "Well, now I can't eat this!" she cried.

"Why'd you have to say it jiggles?" she asked Dawn.

Dawn gave her a wry smile.

"So when's the big move?" Logan asked carefully.

Dawn and I glanced at each other. We both knew the subject was still touchy. I was reconciled to the move, but I hadn't forgiven Dad for not telling me about it earlier, or Dawn for just assuming I'd be delighted to move into her old house.

"It's sort of ongoing," I replied. "No 'big move/ Dad has already put some of our stuff in Dawn's barn." "Mom's put some things in there, too," said Dawn, "and had the Salvation Army pick up some other things." "And we'll move the rest of our furniture and cartons over on the day after the wedding, when our parents get back from the Strathmoore Inn," I added. "What a day that will be. My father will want everything put away and organized immediately, and Dawn's mom - " " - could let the stuff sit there for months," Dawn finished.

Logan squeezed my hand. "If I can help with the move, just let me know," he said softly.

Dawn and I walked partway home from school together that day.

"You know what we've never talked about?" she said. "I mean, what you and I and our parents have never talked about?" "What?" I asked.

"What we'll call our stepparents. I still call your father Mr. Spier and you still call my mother Mrs. Schafer." "I guess we could call them by their first names," I said, "but I'd feel really funny calling your mom Sharon." "And I'd feel funny calling your dad Richard." "We could call them Mommy and Daddy," I suggested, giggling.

"No, Stepmother and Stepfather!" said Dawn. "That would make everyone feel really comfortable." "How about Gertrude and Horace?" I said.

Dawn laughed so hard she started to cry. "Mary Anne," she said, "when we're not fighting, we have so much fun together. Don't you think we should share my room after all?

We could stay up late at night and talk with the lights out. We could share secrets. We could do our homework together. Isn't that what sisters do? I've always wanted a sister." "Me, too," I confessed.