Baby-Sitters Club belongs to Ann M. Martin

"I'll be off during Spring Vacation," said Dad.

"Really?" I asked getting excited.

"So, I figured I'd go to Iowa with you," replied Dad.

"Swell," I said hugging him.

I'd be leaving Friday and plan to pack tomorrow. My three best friends, Kristy Thomas, Kayla and Kaylee Willis are coming with us. Even my boyfriend, Logan Bruno, is joining us. I'm Mary Anne Spier and I'm fifteen years old. I'm a tenth grader at Stoneybrook High School here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

I'd invite my stepsister, Dawn Schafer, but she'll be in California to visit her father, Jack; stepmother, Carol, and younger brother, Jeff. Plus, my stepmother, Sharon, has to work late during the entire Spring Vacation. Dad raised me on his own when Mom passed on when I was very young. I was raised by my mom's parents in Iowa until I was eighteen months old because Dad was too depressed and wasn't able to handle me for awhile.

Sharon recently got divorced, which is why she's here with Dawn. When I included Jeff from California, means he wasn't here for long. That's why he ended up moving back there. It was tough on Dawn since her family is split in half.

Dawn and I were the ones who found out Dad used to date Sharon when they were in high school before they broke up by Sharon's parents. They ended up dating again and several months after Jeff moved back to California, they got married! It's fun to have a stepsister like Dawn.

After growing up on Bradford Court, Dad and I moved over onto Burnt Hill Road to live with Sharon and Dawn. My cat, Tigger, joined us. I've had him since last year for my birthday.

I also have two adopted siblings, Carlos Peters and Meredith Sousa from London, England. Carlos lost his family seven years ago. His oldest brother had a scarlet fever and his older sister & parents were all killed in a car accident. Meredith lost her dad when she was younger and her mother & only sister a year ago. They were killed in a tourbus crash.

Carlos can't go to Iowa. He was going to a basketball camp, which is taken place at Stoneybrook High School. Meredith got invited to go on another trip with her friend, Andy Ottoman to Paris, France where his family came from two months before we started high school.

I have breathing issues and diabetes. They're not really hard to handle, but breathing issues can be a pain because my inhaler doesn't always work or it would go empty.

I'll be moving to Maine soon. Dad got promoted and transferred. Our house hasn't gotten sold yet.

Kristy, who used to live next door to me, moved to join a stepfamily before I did. Her stepfather, Watson Brewer, is the millionaire and the owner of the mansion across town. He already had two children of his own, Karen and Andrew, from his previous marriage. Kristy has three brothers; Charlie, Sam, and David Michael. Mr. Thomas left the family when David Michael was much too little to remember his father.

Kaylee and Kayla are the African-American. They grew up in New York City. They have six siblings. As matter a fact, they're identical twins. She recently got leukemia. It was her second time having leukemia. She lived the first time when my friends and I did a fundraiser to raise money for cancer.

That night, we had Chinese for dinner. My stomach was bugging me and wasn't hungry at all. So, I took Tums and felt a little better after that. I went to bed early so I can get better.

A few hours later, I woke up in the middle of a bad dream I was having. I had this terrible fair memory and it got stuck in my mind when Kayla collapsed at a fair in New York City. I couldn't attend any of the fairs anymore to get rid of it. I kept having nightmares worrying I could lose Kayla someday. That's a very scary thought.

The next day, Dad was getting out of work at about noon and would start his vacation. He told me he was going to pick me up from school today. I didn't mind. Kristy was going to come home with me tomorrow after school for our afternoon flight. That made sense for her to do.

"Have you decided to fly or drive yet?" asked Sharon.

Dad told her we were going to fly. Mrs. Willis was going to take us to the airport for our four pm flight.

"Okay," said my stepmother.