Disclaimer: I do not own the Baby Sitters Club or any of its "sister" books. The Baby Sitters Club belongs to Ann M. Martin and Scholastics. I am simply borrowing their characters for a non-profit writing.
Thanks to: Ann M. Martin for writing such a great book series and Christopher Pike for inspiring me with his book, Remember Me. Without these two, this fanfic would not be.
Prologue
(ZodiacRain, 6-12-06)
Dawn Schafer stepped into her house, waving goodbye to her boyfriend. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hideaki!" she cried as she stepped into the house.
Locking the door, she paused to reflect on what a great boyfriend she had. Hideaki Eddy Nishisawa was a Japanese-American who had recently moved to California from New Mexico. Hideaki was 16, just like Dawn, and went to the same school as her.
Hideaki and Dawn had only a few things in common, and one of those things was their complex family. Dawn had a mother, father, two stepparents, a baby brother, a step sister, and a half-sibling. Half of her family- her mother, stepfather, and step sister- lived in Connecticut. She currently lived with the other half of her family. Hideaki's mother was deceased, but before she died, she divorced his father and got married to his stepfather. Hideaki had a stepfather, a stepmother, a father, four stepsiblings, and one adopted sibling.
Another thing that Dawn and Hideaki had in common was their love of the environment and love of the beach. Both were members of the school's environmentalist club, and both were beginning surfers. They also loved children; Hideaki was an associate member of the We Love Kids Club. That, however, was where their similarities ended.
Dawn had long, blond-white hair, while Hideaki had short, jet-black hair. Hideaki's Asian complex strongly differentiated from Dawn's California stereotype looks. Dawn preferred casual clothes, but Hideaki preferred clothes from fashion magazines. Hideaki was the calmest, coolest guy; despite his hectic schedule, he rarely seemed to worry. Dawn didn't have any jobs outside of babysitting and her summer job at a local health food store. Hideaki, however, shuffled being a babysitter, animal shelter volunteer, McDonalds cashier and the perfect boyfriend around. Sometimes this created a lot of stress between Hideaki and everyone else (including Dawn), and there had been calls in which Dawn almost broke up with Hideaki, but, for now, they were the perfect couple….
As Dawn set down her keys, her mind began to wonder. She was thinking about her friends, both Connecticut and Californian. After Ducky had died in a car crash, things seemed sorrowful in California. Ducky had been the one who introduced Hideaki to Dawn…. Dawn missed Ducky so much….
Dawn knew that she wasn't the only one dealing with a death, though. Dawn remembered the email she had gotten from Mary Anne only a couple of weeks ago…. Stacey's father had been murdered. Poor Stacey actually saw the murder…. Luckily, they caught the murderer and Stacey recovered relatively quickly.
Another unpleasant memory filled Dawn's head. Claudia's older sister, Janine, had been accepted to Harvard University only a year before. Even Claudia was excited for her sister as she stepped on board the plane…. Janine never made it to Harvard, however. The plane had crashed in an unexpected storm.
Dawn decided to think of something else, like Hideaki. Hideaki was the perfect boyfriend… caring, loyal and cute, unlike that jerk Logan. Logan had dumped Mary Anne a year ago… at Logan's school's prom! Sense then, Logan had gone out with just about every girl he could get near. The last email Mary Anne had sent talked about how Logan started making out with Shannon the second she approached them. Obviously, Shannon and Logan was a couple.
Logan wasn't the only one who acted cruel toward her stepsister, Mary Anne. Abby had grown distant with the former Baby Sitters Club, until, eventually, Abby became friends with Cokie, of all people. She even participated in Cokie's cruel mind games.
So much had happened in three years. Kristy, according to Mary Anne, was still best friends with Mary Anne. Mary Anne was a straight A student and had become the secretary of the school's student council. She currently had her eyes set on a boy named Jeremy Himeshtiker. Jessi eventually came to high school, staying friends with Mary Anne, but also becoming friends with every member of the dance club. Mallory… hm, Dawn hadn't heard about Mallory in a long time. She probably was still in her boarding school.
Oh, yes! How could Dawn have forgotten? Kristy and Mary Anne planned a Baby Sitters Club reunion. Claudia, Stacey, Jessi, Abby and Shannon promised to attend. Of course, Logan couldn't attend as he was a guy; Mallory and Dawn, herself, could not attend as they weren't in Connecticut.
The reunion would consist of a simple sleepover at Mary Anne's house. Actually, Dawn noted, the sleepover should have taken place tonight. It was a perfect night for a sleepover, at least in California- it was Friday, and the summer heat lasted late into the night. She wondered how the sleepover was going.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Dawn looked at the clock; it was almost 11:00. Who would be calling this late at night? It couldn't have been Hideaki; Hideaki couldn't have gotten home so quickly, and he didn't like late-night calls. Dawn picked up the phone. "Hello, Schafer residence. Whom may I ask is calling?"
"D-dawn?" A voice sniffled over the phone.
"Mary Anne! What are you doing?" Dawn cried. "It's almost 3 in Connecticut- Are you all right?"
Mary Anne started sobbing on the other end of the phone. "D-dawn, Kristy- she- she's d-d- DEAD!"