Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 027

"You know what I'm talking about. Those disposable picnic bowls and those plastic spoons?" she said. "Your mother had called me up and asked me where to get them. Well, I happened to go to the store myself and bought plenty. More than enough. So tell your mother I'll give them to her." "Oh," I caught on. "Bowls." Derek gave us an odd look. I guess it was obvious something was going on.

"And do you think your mother would like, maybe, some bagels and cream cheese?" Mrs. Masters asked. "I could bring over some of those, too." "Bagels and cream cheese?" I considered that. "I think my mother would love bagels and cream cheese. That's a great idea. She could have them Saturday morning with her breakfast." "And does she need milk?" asked Mrs. Masters.

Derek looked from his mother to me.

"Is your mother sick or something?" he asked.

"Who? My mother?" I said guiltily. "No, she's fine. Why?" "Oh," Derek looked puzzled. "It just sounds like she can't get to the store by herself or something." "Oh, you know how mothers are," Mrs. Masters said airily. "Sometimes they like to have milk with their bagels." It wasn't quite an answer and it didn't make much sense, but Mrs. Masters gave me a last wink and breezed out the door.

"You two sound cuckoo," said Derek.

"Cuckoo," Todd echoed. "Let's play cuckoo bird." Since neither Derek nor I knew any game called "cuckoo bird," and the truth was Todd probably didn't, either, we decided to play Chinese checkers instead.

While we were setting up the board, Derek asked me about Swan Lake.

"Are you excited about the last audition?" he asked.

"Not really," I answered. "I'm not thinking about it much." "Why not?" asked Derek.

"I'm just not," I said. I wanted to change the subject. "But I am thinking about starting modeling like you suggested. And I do want to ask you some questions about how you got started here in Stamford." "Okay," Derek said.

I had plenty of questions and Derek had plenty of answers. He told me the names of some people I might call and what to expect if I went in to talk with them.

"The agents'll take you through it step by step," he said. "They'll tell you what kind of work you'd be good for, and they'll even set you up with a photographer if you want." "A photographer?" I asked.

"For head shots and things like that.5" "Is that expensive?" "Yeah, but you make the money back on your first job." "Right," I said. This was sounding a little complicated, but Derek didn't think so. He was just getting started.

"First they'll probably get you newspaper work and then magazines and then commercials. And then you'll probably land a TV series, just like me." "Right." I laughed.

"That'll be great!" Derek was serious. "Then you'll have to move out to L.A. You could stay at my house as long as you want. I'm sure Mom won't care. You could be sort of like a sister." "Then you could baby-sit for us all the time!" Todd cried out.

"She might not have time to baby-sit," Derek said seriously. "Once she's got the TV series, she'll be taping all day." Todd's face fell.

"Couldn't you baby-sit just sometimes?" he asked.

I gave him a hug.

"Sure," I said. "But don't count on my coming out to L.A. any time soon. Maybe when I'm older and out of school or something. Right now I think I'll just try to get some work in Stamford." Derek jumped one of his Chinese-checker marbles over three of mine.

"Gotcha!" he said.

I guess I hadn't been paying much attention to the game. My head had been spinning with all these new show biz plans. Forget ballet, I was thinking. Being famous and on a TV series was starting to sound like a lot more fun.

I stretched my legs out on either side of me on the floor.

"Oh, yeah. Don't forget to tell these agents that you're a ballerina," Derek reminded me. "That's a real plus." "A ballerina," I said vaguely. "Yeah." After the sitting job (Derek creamed me three times at Chinese checkers and even Todd beat me once), I did my usual sprint over to Claudia's house for the Wednesday meeting, which again turned into mpre of a planning session for the party.

Claudia had the invitations she had made spread out all over the floor. Everybody was crowded around them, ooh-ing and ah-ing. The invitations were very clever. Claudia had cut the cards into the shape of TV sets and she had drawn a picture of a cereal commercial on the screens.

"Start your day the party way," she had written on the inside. And then she listed all the necessary information. Since there was still work to be done on the invitations, Mary Anne and Dawn helped Claudia write out the in-sides, and Kristy and Mallory got busy copying onto envelopes names and addresses from the class list Mallory had brought.

I looked over Mallory's shoulder and scanned down the list of names. "Ricky, Betsy, Amy, Tommy," it read. I looked down the names again. There was no one named John.

"Hey," I said, picking up the list. "How come the Superbrat isn't on here?" "Oh, yeah," said Mallory. "I tried to call you. When I asked Nicky about John, he looked completely confused. He said there's no kid by that name in the class." "No John?" I said. "There's gotta be." "I told him it was the kid who was the Superbrat. I mean, I didn't use that word, but I said the kid who was really bothering Derek." "Well, what'd Nicky say?" "He didn't know what I was talking about. He said all the boys had been bothering Derek for awhile, but that had pretty much stopped and that Derek has a lot of friends now." "Hmm," I said. I tried to think back on what Derek had told me. "Maybe he never actually said that John was in his class. Maybe John is from a different class or even from an older grade." "That could be it," said Mallory.

Since my friends had grabbed up all the invitations and there was nothing much for me to do, I stationed myself by the phone and took calls. In between calls, I placed my leg up on Claudia's bed to stretch it out. Without knowing I was doing it, I started humming the music from Swan Lake.

Mallory looked over and smiled.

"Practicing to be a swan?" she asked.

"Hmm?" She jolted me away from my thoughts. "Me? No," I said. "Actually, I was thinking of some calls I have to make. Derek gave me a lot of new tips." Around me, my friends worked away on the invitations, and though I half listened to their conversation, I wasn't fully in the room. In my mind, I was somewhere in Stamford, in a. fancy agent's office. A box of glossy head shots was at my side and the agent was handing me a contract.

"I'll make you a star, kid," he was saying. He lit a cigar and slapped me on the back. "You've got the face. We'll plaster your picture in every magazine across the country." My face. In every magazine across the country. I heaved a big sigh. I probably wouldn't even have time to be in Swan Lake.

Chapter 13.

Party day! Saturday arrived quickly. Well, "quickly" might be putting it mildly. Actually, it arrived like a runaway train. There were lots of last-minute plans to get straight, and everybody in the club was calling everybody else.

Mallory called Kristy about the guest list.

"Nicky says that most of the kids are going to be able to come. Do you think we need another few cartons of juice?" Kristy called Mary Anne about the benches.

"We'll push the picnic tables together and borrow some more from the neighbors, but we're short five chairs. Can you bring some of those folding ones?" Even as late as Saturday morning, the phone calls were still going strong. On her way to the party, Claudia called Kristy from the doughnut shop.

"Do you think kids like chocolate doughnuts better than coconut?" she asked.

"Who cares, Claudia?" Kristy snapped. I guess Kristy had plenty to think about already. "Get them all. Get an assortment!" For my part, I had set my alarm for very early that morning. The day was going to be a big one for me. I not only had the party in the morning, I had my final audition (yipes!) right after. I slipped down to my barre in the basement to wake up my sleepy and very tight muscles. Mmmmm. It always feels so good to get stretched out.