SHS Freshman Year
Mary Anne
Chapter 1
This morning I woke up in a barn.
If you didn't know anything about me, you might find this a little strange, but I can tell you that its not. Last year, the old farm house that I lived in with my father and Sharon, my stepmother, was burned to the ground. The good thing was that none of my family, including Tigger, my grey tiger-striped kitten, were hurt. The bad thing was that we lost all but the clothes we were wearing. It was a tough time for all of us. So were we now homeless and living in a barn, sleeping on hay? Absolutely not. You see, after much deliberation by dad and Sharon about moving to Chicago for a fresh start, we found out that the Goldman's, neighbours of my good friend Claudia Kishi, were looking to rent out their house while they spent some time away. It was while we were there when dad came up with the idea to renovate the barn into a new home.
So, now you know a little about me, I should properly introduce myself. Hi, my name is Mary Anne Spier and I'm thirteen years old and I'm about to start my first year at Stoneybrook High School, or SHS for short. Thirteen and starting high school you may ask? Well, only for another three weeks. I'm the last of my friends to celebrate their fourteenth birthday. I'll tell you more about them later, I promise.
So, back to my morning. It was Monday. It was also the last day of summer vacation. I was lying in bed day-dreaming about the last two months since I graduated from eighth grade at Stoneybrook Middle School, after what seemed like an eternity. This afternoon I would be gathering with some of my friends in Claudia's bedroom. At the start of summer, I wouldn't have though that there was anything special about that. After all, we've held meetings of the Baby-Sitters Club there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since the beginning of seventh grade. However, by the middle of summer, my friends and I decided to disband the club. We were very sad, but at the same time, a little relieved. We were developing new interests and new friends. Some of our members had already moved on. When our club was at it's peak, we had seven members, two associate members and an honorary member! By the time we graduated from SMS, we were back to our original four members, so I guess the end of the club was already imminent.
Kristy Thomas, our fearless leader and president extraordinaire, decided that we weren't going to go out quietly. And when Kristy decides something, she has a way of making people listen… and spend the hottest weeks of summer vacation making fliers, banners, invitations, and posters to advertise our event, under her watchful eye. But honestly? No one really minded too much. We were pro's at organising talent shows, carnivals, fund raisers and mini-camps, so one little party was nothing.
Or so we thought.
Our first problem was location. We normally held large club events in our barn, but now my family had set up permanent residence there, we had to find an alternative. Kristy's house, well, mansion, was certainly big enough, but a little to far away for all of our charges to travel each day… yes, we had recruited them to help in our preparations. We eventually decided on the playing field of Stoneybrook Elementary School, home of Kristy's Krushers, the softball team she coached for the young kids in the neighbourhood who could politely be described as 'beginners'. Watson, Kristy's stepfather, had organised a large marquee for shade, and the kids could run around and made a mess outside to their hearts content.
The other problem was harder to solve. The reaction of our charges and their parents to our decision to end the BSC. The parents were the first to come around. They understood that we would need more time to concentrate on the pressure of our high school workload. We assured them that they could still call us individually to hire a sitter. Instead of having to call at a certain day and time, they could call whenever they needed to. They weren't happy, but they understood.
Our charges were a different matter. Many of them took it personally. Jackie Rodowski and his brothers started a petition to keep the club together, and got two full pages of signatures! Jamie Newton cried for three days. Vanessa Pike wrote of her dissatisfaction in verse, and her sister Claire threw a tantrum, shouting 'Nofe Air! Nofe Air!' so loudly you could here it at the other end of the McGill's residence. Karen Brewer, Kristy's little stepsister, decided she'd start her own club, but changed her mind when Charlotte Johanssen was voted President rather than herself. Eventually, they all got caught up in the party planning spirit, and nearly forgot what was happening. Of course, there were tears on the day… and not just from myself! That was about three weeks ago now. I've had a couple of sitting jobs since then, and I know my friends also have, but no where near the number that we did with the club. I guess some of the parents have already started finding alternatives. It's amazing that losing something that seemed like the most important thing in our life for such a long time is not having as much impact as we would have imagined.
There is something else that I've lost recently that has had a big impact. Well, someone, anyway. My boyfriend Logan. Or, ex-boyfriend I should say. As my friends will quickly remind me, we have broken up and gotten together before, but this time, I know it's different. When we first got together, I was extremely shy and withdrawn. Maybe this is the result of growing up with a really strict father – he picked my clothes, made me wear my hair in braids, and always set limits on where I was allowed to go and when. Or maybe my mother had a similar personality? This, I don't know, as she died when I was a baby. Even though dad has loosened up and we are much closer than we used to be, he still doesn't like to talk about her. If she was anything like her own mother, my Grandma Baker, she would have been warm and giving.. Recently, Grandma Baker came out from Iowa to stay with us, and brought with a box of my mothers belongings from when she was growing up.
Back to Logan. I still admit that he's absolutely gorgeous – he looks like Cam Geary, my favourite star, but he's very controlling. For a long time, I was happy for him to make all the decisions – when we went out, where we went out – if his football team was playing, he expected me to drop my plans to come along and watch him; if we went to a restaurant, he'd choose our orders for us. I never realised until recently that he was acting just how dad used to. Things did get better for a while, but after the fire, Logan decided that I needed someone to take care of me again. This time, I was strong enough to stand up for myself and end the relationship. At first, things were really awkward between us at school, but before we graduated we had a good chat, and decided to be friends.
In theory, this was fine, but in practice, we really haven't seen each other since school ended, other than when Kristy decided as former-associate member of the BSC, it was Logan's duty assemble the marquees for our party. He let it slip that day that he had gone out on a number of dates with Erica Blumberg, another girl in our year, who getting to be good friends with Claudia. Of course, I was a little shocked, but I wasn't heart-broken over it, so it makes me think that it was the right time to end our relationship. Sigh.
The final weeks of summer, I've spent with my step-sister Dawn. Where was Dawn during the fire? In California, living with her dad, her new stepmother Carol, her ten year old brother Jeff and her baby half sister, Gracie, of whom Dawn carried around a thousand photos. Before Dawn was my step-sister, she was my best friend. I don't think I can really say that about her any more, we're both changing as people, but we try to stay close. So how did friends become sisters? Well, through a little research, we found out that my dad and Dawn's mom went steady throughout high school, and broke up when Sharon went to California (under the advice of her parents, who didn't approve of dad). Dawn moved to Stoneybrook with her mother in the beginning of seventh grade after her parents divorced, and with a little encouragement from the two of us, our parents started dating, and after what seemed like forever, decided to get married. During this time, Jeff moved back to California to be with his father, and by the middle of eighth grade, after moving back and forth, Dawn went too.
Dawn has been the best person to talk with to prepare for the trials of high school life. Right after she moved back to California, her school, Vista, moved the eighth graders into the high school building. I've been shocked about some of the stories she's told me…wild parties, drinking, kids at school making out in the hallway… and close friends going their separate ways.
I got jolted out of my thoughts by Tigger, who was now meowing incessantly to be fed. I picked him up and carried him downstairs, passing by Dawn's room, now empty, except for her dolphin figurines, her winter clothes and various posters, all with a 'save the planet' theme. She had returned to California the night before last, and wouldn't be back for some time. I filled Tigger's bowl, and then scanned the refrigerator to find something for my own lunch. Rather than moping over Dawn's departure, I decided to think positive, and make myself a hamburger with extra-bacon, because, after all, there was no one else home to complain about the meat content.