Kristy's New Friend
Mary Anne and I were walking to school when we first saw her. She was the most gorgeous brunette ever, sitting in the Patterson's convertible, next to Michelle Patterson herself. I mean, she had straight brown hair, stunning blue-green eyes, the perfect face, huge breasts, curvy hips, and great clothes. I'm sure she was a perfect size 4. Michelle had a pretty bad reputation at SHS, but Mary Anne and I were sure Michelle's sister was traveling abroad with her aunt and uncle. Her name was Shelley. "Do you think that's really Shelley, Mary Anne said. "It has to be," I replied. Mary Anne looked at her a little more. "Wow," Mary Anne said. "She sure doesn't look like Michelle's sister." When we reached the school, we waited to greet Shelley. As she walked out of the car, she looked pretty shy. I expected her to start acting like she was in a shampoo commercial, flipping her hair around and smiling. Instead, she shuffled slowly towards us. She smiled at us, and I felt special, like she had chosen me to be her friend, even though she barely knew me, like she thought I was worthy. "Hi," she said. "Do you know where room one-oh-twelve is?" She smiled shyly. Mary Anne smiled back and said, "Right by the gym, near the sixth-grade lockers." "Oh, okay. Wait," she said, like she was remembering something. "Are you guys Kristy and Mary Anne?" "You remember us?" "Yeah, of course. How's Claudia?"
I looked at her and replied, "Claudia's fine." Claudia's our friend. I'll tell you more about her later. It was shocking that Shelley remembered us. She was never in our class, and she'd only met Mary Anne, Claudia, and I. I'm sure you're wondering about me. Well, my full name is Kristin Amanda Thomas. I have shoulder-length brown hair that I wear in a ponytail, and brown eyes. I'm thirteen years old, and in the eighth grade. I like to keep my wardrobe simple. I always wear jeans, a turtleneck, a sweater, and sneakers. I'm always coming up with great ideas, not that I'm bragging, and I'm known for being a bit bossy, and having a big mouth, which gets me in trouble sometimes. I'm the president of the Baby-Sitters' Club. It's this small organization I started last year, in seventh grade.
The idea for the Baby-sitters Club came to me when my mother has having trouble finding a babysitter for my younger brother David Michael. I felt sorry for David Michael, as well as my mother. In a flash, I had my great idea; to form the Baby-sitters Club. I formed the club with herself, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey as founding members. I love sports, and even coached a softball team for small children and called it Kristy's Krushers, which includes many of the club's sitting charges, a while ago. Now, the club is smaller than it was before, since we lost members. Since then, we cut down on meetings, too.
When I was six, my father walked out on my family, including my mother, Elizabeth, and three brothers, Charlie, Sam, and David Michael. My mother later married Watson Brewer, a millionaire who resided on the upscale end of Stoneybrook. Initially, I loathed Watson, but gradually opened up, and accepted him. When Elizabeth and Watson married, we moved into his mansion, where we lived with Watson and his cat, Boo-Boo, and when the custody granted, two children from his previous marriage, Karen and Andrew Brewer. We later adopted a two-year-old girl from Vietnam, whom they name Emily Michelle Brewer. Kristy's grandmother, Nannie moved in to help raise Emily Michelle, and generally help the rest of the family.
I have little interest in boys but I found myself attracted to Bart, a boy who also happens to coach a softball team, Bart's Bashers, in Stoneybrook. Later on, we broke up due to the strong feelings Bart maintains for me, which I'm unable to reciprocate.
Anyway, we decided to introduce Shelley to some of our other friends. Claudia happened to show up by Mary Anne's locker, where we all hang out. Claudia Kishi's the vice president of the Baby-Sitters' Club. She has long jet black hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and a creamy complexion, even though she's obsessed with junk food. Claudia is Japanese-American, and she's a really great artist. She's also a really funky dresser, who wears clothes that would look horrible on any of us great on her. Today, she was wearing '50's-style cat's-eye glasses frames, a plastic barrette in the shape of an alligator, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and bell-bottoms. She isn't that great at school, though, particularly at spelling. At one point, she was doing so badly, she had to go back to seventh grade, until she brought up her grades. The worst part is, though, her sister, Janine, is a genius with an IQ of 196. Claudia's room is the official home of the BSC, because she has a private phone line. She hands out candy at meetings, as well as healthy snacks for Stacey, who is diabetic. Stacey is Claudia's best friend since they both like fashion, although Stacey is a little more sophisticated.
Mary Anne Spier is my closest friend, even though she's not like me at all. Mary Anne looks a lot like me, though, but her hair's shorter. She's pretty short, and she wears reading glasses. Mary Anne is super organized, which is why we made her the club secretary. She's really shy, and sensitive. She's also a good listener. She has a kitten named Tigger. She used to have a steady boyfriend named Logan, but now she's single. Her dad used to be really strict, but since he married our old friend Dawn's mom, Sharon, he really loosened up. Their house burnt down, but they had it rebuilt, so they moved back in.
Stacey walked in right then, with all our other friends. Stacey McGill is the treasurer of the club. She has blonde hair, sometimes permed, blue eyes, she's slender, and tall.
A native New Yorker, Stacey moved to Stoneybrook in the seventh grade when her dad's job transferred him. She quickly became friends with Claudia because of their love for fashion and boys. They are known to be the best dressers at Stoneybrook Middle School (Stacey is the more sophisticated dresser, while Claudia is more funky). Stacey dots her I's with hearts. One of Stacey's most notable traits is that she has diabetes, and has been hospitalized several times as a result. Stacey's position as the club's treasurer is because she is gifted in math and science, has a logical mind, and is in the SMS Mathlete Club.
The McGills move back to New York City because Mr. McGill's company transfers him again. Stacey becomes an honorary member of the BSC. Her parents fight and finally divorce and Stacey is stuck with the choice of whether to move back to Stoneybrook with her mom or stay in New York City with her father. She decides to move back to Stoneybrook with her mom, to much happiness of the other BSC members. When she returns she is greeted with a "Welcome Home Party" which many of her favorite charges attended.
Stacey dates several, often older, boys, including Robert, a boy on the Stoneybrook Middle School basketball team. They later break up after Robert begins seeing a girl named Andi Gentile behind Stacey's back. She also briefly dates Kristy's fourteen-year-old brother, Sam.
Logan Bruno was Mary Anne's boyfriend for a long time. He moved here from Louisville, Kentucky before eighth grade. He has a job as a busboy at the Rosebud Café, and he's a real jock. He seems like something's different with him, but that's not my business.
Shannon lives in my neighborhood. She used to go to Stoneybrook Day School, but since it closed down due to lack of funding, so now she goes to SMS. She has wavy dark blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and high cheekbones. She is an overachiever, and she has two sisters named Tiffany and Maria.
Bart goes here now, too. He used to go out with me, but now we're just friends.
Dori Wallingford is a friend of Stacey and Claudia. She's pretty smart, and sophisticated. She's totally boy crazy, and she's on the cheer squad.
Cary Retlin is this total nut, who helps me with protests sometimes. He's pretty funny, too. He likes me, but I'm not sure about him.
Pete Black is a popular jock, who likes girls a lot. He jokes around, and can be pretty stupid too.
Alan Gray is a geek, in a good way, who's always joking around and goofing off. He can be pretty sweet, though, like when he asked me to the dance last year.
Abby Stevenson is a lot like me, but she has awful allergies, and she's pretty funny.
We all walked to homeroom together, and Shelley walked to the office. She got to homeroom a little later, Mrs. Washing a note. Mrs. Washing stood up and said, "Everyone, say hello to Shelley Patterson. There are no announcements, so Shelley can use this period to tell us about herself." Shelley turned to face the class, and Alan got this weird look on his face. Shelley smiled, and said, "Hi, I moved here from Guatemala, where I've lived for the past year. Before that, I spent most of my elementary school education in Canada, and I went to sixth grade in Alaska. Don't worry, I'm nothing like Michelle, but I do like fashion, as well as junk food, sports, reading, jokes, and movies. Even though I haven't ever taken a long walk on the beach, I'd like to." We all laughed.
Shelley blushed a little, and smiled. Then she went to sit down. The seat next was next to Alan, who was still staring at her with this dopey look. "Hi," Shelley said, tucking her hair behind her ear. Alan fell out of his seat. We all laughed, except for Shelley.
She leaned over, and asked, "Are you okay?" Alan seemed fine, albeit extremely embarrassed. She helped him up, and then the bell rang. We met outside of homeroom. "So, guys," Shelley said. "Can you introduce me to some people at lunch?" "Sure," Stacey said. "We'll meet you by Mary Anne's locker."
"OK, cool," Shelley said. "See you guys around." Shelley was so nice. I just couldn't wait until lunch!
I raced to Mary Anne's locker, excited to see Shelley. Sure enough, she was right there laughing with Mary Anne. "Here I am," I shouted. "Hi," she yelled back. Then Claudia and Stacey showed up, and we set off. "First off," I said. "This is Stacey. She moved here from New York in seventh grade. She's pretty cool, and sophisticated. She's just a tad boy crazy, too." Stacey smacked my arm, and we all laughed. We walked to the cafeteria, and stopped at our table, where we all hang out. We had gotten there early, before lunch started, since gym got out early. Bart stood next to me as we walked to our table. Then he whispered in my ear, "Alan likes Shelley. We're gonna get them to sit together. Is that cool?" I whispered back, "Yeah. Does everyone else know?" Bart nodded. When we reached the table Bart said to Shelley, "Hi, I'm Bart. I used to go to Stoneybrook Day, but now I go here. I'm pretty into sports, too." Shelley nodded, and said, "Cool, Sox or Phillies?" "Sox, all the way," he replied, and he sat on Mary Anne's left, with me on her right, and Stacey on his left, and Shelley on her right. Logan showed up, and sat next to me. Shannon sat next to Logan. Dori sat next to Shannon, Cary sat next to Dori, and Pete sat next to Cary, and finally, Alan sat next to Shelley. Shelley turned bright red. Logan introduced himself by saying, "I'm Logan Bruno. I'm pretty infamous for being a boy baby-sitter." Shelley smiled with her mouth closed, and said, "I baby-sat a lot for the past two years. How do you get jobs around here?" Logan told her all about the Baby-Sitters' Club. She nodded, and when he was done, she said, "Sounds cool. Can I join?" I looked at her and said, "Sure. Show up at Claudia's room on Fridays at five-thirty. The club's hanging out at Claudia's tonight. You can come." "Cool." Then, Shannon said, "I'm Shannon. I'm in every academic club at SMS. I live in Kristy's neighborhood." She and Shelley shook hands. Dori told her all about cheer squad, she talked sports with Pete, and joked around with Cary. Then, she turned to look at Alan. She tucked her hair behind her ear again, and smiled, teeth and all. Alan blushed. "So, is it you," she asked. "Al-al-alan is I," he stammered. Shelley stood up. "I'm gonna get lunch. I'll be back. Are you going to get your lunch, Alan?"
"Y-y-yeah," Alan stammered again as he followed Shelley to the hot lunch line. When they came back, Shelley had a large plate of French fries and nothing else. It was a bit weird, but I was the only one who noticed. Alan kept stealing fries off her plate, and she just laughed, which made him blush more. Then, five minutes before lunch was over, Shelley went to the bathroom. Then, Grace Blume, this girl in our class, rushed to the bathroom, too. I went to go see what was up, and then I poked my head in the girls' room. I heard someone in a stall throwing up. Yuck!
I closed the door, and seconds later, Shelley walked out, looking better than ever. Grace came out after Shelley. "Shelley, are you okay," I asked. "Yeah, why," she replied, looking nervous. "Are you sick?" "No, I'm not sick." "But I heard you throwing up." "That wasn't me." Grace snarled, and said, "She wasn't throwing up, okay?"
Shelley looked at me and said, "I have to get to English. I'll see you at Claudia's." Shelley walked away quickly, and Grace ran off to Cokie's locker. Grace looked really upset. I wonder why.
I was the third one at Claudia's. Stacey had gone to Claudia's after school. They were talking when I walked in. I just plopped down, and started worrying about Shelley. I didn't even notice Mary Anne walk in. Shelley didn't look sick. I heard on CNN once though, about supermodels that stick their fingers on their uvulas, and make themselves throw up. It really damages their respiratory and digestive systems. It's called bulimia. I know sometimes that's how they avoid anorexia. They binge on junk food, and then throw it all up. Gross, I know. Could Shelley be doing that to stay thin? That didn't seem like something Shelley would do, but I barely knew her. I knew sometimes girls with family or social troubles do it too. Maybe Michelle made Shelley throw up because she made her so sad? Or Shelley hated having to leave Guatemala? I was so busy thinking about I didn't notice that Stacey was trying to talk to me. She finally threw a pita chip at me. "What's wrong," Stacey asked. "It's something I'm not sure about. I'm not sure if I should talk about it, or if it's true," I replied. "You should tell us," Mary Anne said. "Maybe we can help."
"Okay," I said. "I think Shelley is a bulimic. I think I heard her in the girls' room, throwing up. But she didn't look sick." Everybody nodded seriously. Stacey then said, "We should talk to her. And ask about who was throwing up." Just then, Shelley walked in. "You guys," she said. "Do you know that redhead from the bathroom? The snobbish one?" "Yeah," Claudia said. "Do you mean Grace?" "Yeah, it was Grace," I said. "Well," Shelley said. "I think she's bulimic." "What," Mary Anne said. "Kristy, she was the one you heard throwing up." "What," I said. I was shocked. Grace Blume was the second, now third prettiest girl in the eighth grade. Cokie was formerly the prettiest, until Shelley came today. Shelley was prettier on the inside, too, which is the main reason. "Should we help her," Shelley said.
"Yeah," we all said, nodding. "We should put our minds on something else," Claudia said. "Like Alan Gray. As in, what do you think of him, Shelley? Do you like him?" "Not like that," Shelley said, blushing, and obviously lying. "Come on," I said. "He likes-mmphh!" Claudia slapped her hand around my mouth. "It doesn't matter," Shelley said. "Because I don't like him like that. And besides, I know who Shannon likes."
"Who does she like," I asked. "Logan Bruno," Shelley said. All of us looked shocked, and then we all laughed. "Shannon…and…Logan," Mary Anne gasped between laughs. Claudia laughed so hard, she fell off her bed. That made us all laugh harder. "ALAN GRAY," Stacey shouted. I laughed so hard, tears rolled down my face. Shelley was barely breathing. Then the phone rang. Mary Anne took a deep breath, and said, "I'll pick up the phone." Mary Anne picked up the phone, and said, "Hello?" She put her hand over the listening end, and said, "It'ssssss Alllll-annnnn. He wants to talk to Shellllllll-ey." "Ooooooooooo," we all said. Claudia started humming the theme from A Summer Place, and we all joined in. Shelley blushed, and grabbed the phone.
"Hello," she said. "Hi, Alan. I had a great day. Sure, I'll be at lunch tomorrow. Yeah, sure. Okay, bye." "Ooooooooooo," we said. "So," Stacey asked. "Do you have a lunch date?" "No," Shelley said. "He just wants me to sit next to him again." "Alan and Shelley, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Shelley blushed. We all talked about Logan and Shannon some more, but I was still worried about Grace. What was up
Grace was walking to the eighth-grade girls' bathroom when we stopped her. Stacey spoke first. "We know what's up with you. Why?" Grace rolled her eyes. "You guys are so lame. This is none of your business." "We're worried about you," Shelley said, looking honestly concerned. "What's wrong?" Grace sighed. "We can't all be perfect size bitches like you, Shelley," and then as she began to cry, "some of us have to work for it." Shelley looked at her, and said, "Grace, you're not fat. We're probably the same size. Why do you feel this way?" Grace cried some more, and said, "Everybody knows I'm fat. Magazines say so. TV says so. Movies say so. I want to look like this." Grace pulled out a picture of a supermodel. She was scary thin, like so thin it was creepy. "Grace," Shelley started. "Do I look like that?"
Grace shook her head. "She's the prettiest person ever." "Then," I said. "How come nobody looks like her?" "She looks like that," Grace snapped. "And so do other models." "Grace," Claudia said. "She's airbrushed." Grace cried some more, and Shelley put an arm around her. "Look at yourself," Shelley said. "Why don't you think you're pretty?" Grace looked up. "You…you think I'm pretty?" Shelley nodded along with us. "Then I won't throw up anymore, unless I need to." Shelley gave Grace a high-five, than we all walked to Homeroom. Shelley sat in her seat, next to Alan. "I wonder what's going to happen between those two today," Claudia said, smiling. Stacey smirked, too. "They'd make such a cute couple," she said. We all watched Alan and Shelley. First we watched Shelley stare at Alan, smiling like she scored the winning point in a baseball game, then she turned away. Then we watched as Alan looked at her like she was Pamela Anderson. Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang. The whole time in class, Clarence King had this evil look on his face. We found out why. As soon as Alan stood up, while Shelley was watching, Clarence pantsed him in front of the whole class. A few guys laughed. I stared in shock, as did the rest of the girls, except for Shelley. She was practically paralyzed with embarrassment, and her face was scarlet. She looked like she accidentally caught a glimpse of Alan's, um, things. Looking the situation, she probably did. Mrs. Washing scoffed, and left. Alan pulled up his pants and ran out. Shelley slowly walked out, still in shock. We all followed her out.
Later at lunch, we all went to the bathroom, because Shelley wanted to tell us something. "You guys," she said. "I'll admit it. You're right." "About what," Stacey smiled. "That I like somebody, but I can't tell you who," Shelley said, blushing. Claudia and Stacey high-fived. Mary Anne and I clapped. "So, anyway," Shelley said. "Let's go." Shelley sat next to Alan as we scattered about. Shelley blushed as she was looking at Alan, and Alan was more embarrassed than ever. I mean, his face turned burgundy when Shelley sat down. Shelley finally said something. "It must have been awful." Alan turned to look at her. "Yeah," he said. Just then, I noticed Alan had pollen in his hair. "You have something in your hair," Shelley said. "Where," Alan said, his face going from burgundy to magenta, as he felt around his hair. Shelley smiled, and shyly said, "I'll help you." Then, she ran her fingers through his hair, and pulled the pollen out. In response, Alan's stomach gurgled. Shelley laughed, in a friendly way. "Wanna chip?" Alan took it. She smiled at him. Claudia grabbed Stacey, Mary Anne, and me, and took us to the bathroom.
When we got there, Claudia said, "So, I have a plan." "What," I said. "We are going those two as close together as possible." Stacey squealed. "We activate the plan tomorrow. Stage 1 is the Love Bus. I already have that laid out. Shelley will be sitting by herself behind Stacey and me, in front of Mary Anne, and you, in the center of everything, as usual, than Alan chases the bus; Shelley stares, and then looks away, Alan gets on the bus, sees Shelley alone, hopefully sits next to her, and then cute awkwardness ensues. Shelley and Alan are more attracted to each other, and by the end of the week, we have a date, people!" Mary Anne giggled with delight. "That is so romantic," she said. "What if they end up being sweethearts?" We all squealed.
Will Shelley and Alan ever get together, and is it meant to be? Find out in The Baby-Sitters Friends #2 Claudia the Matchmaker.