A/N: You know how minor characters from some books just stick with you? Well, that was kind of my experience with the girls from book #87, "Stacey and the Bad Girls". Particularly the new characters – Heather Epstein, Mia Pappas and Jacqui Grant. Since, Jacqui has appeared in a few books, and Heather made some appearances in "Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend", but no Mia. But that's the thing – whenever Jacqui appears, Stacey always goes into "she got me in trouble for drinking at a concert". When she speaks to Heather, no mention. And I needed an explanation for why she was over it with Heather, but not Jacqui – granted, Jacqui's the worst and she has a thing for Robert, but still. So..

Plot: Takes place around Chapter 14 of "Stacey and The Bad Girls". After the concert, Stacey receives a call from an ex-friend...someone who maybe wasn't so bad.

Disclaimer: The italics are text from the book. I don't own the characters or text from the "Babysitters Club" books.

Of course, my Daycare Daphnes had disappeared. Each day I could walk out the door into an empty hallway.

It felt great.

I did not miss my "friends" one bit. Mom was absolutely right. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. And you know what the worst part of it was? Their silence in the security office. Even after they were caught, they still wouldn't back me up.

There was only one thing that made me even angrier. And that was the way Jacqui had tried to throw me under the bus. I didn't know who had put that flask in my jumper, but the way she'd been the one to tell the guard the jumper was mine made me think that it was her. I suppose, deep down, I'd known that Jacqui didn't like me. When I thought about the times I'd been hanging out with the girls, I could remember Jacqui making snarky comments that I thought were jokes, sideways glances I didn't think much of at the time, little twitches when I spoke, as if she was laughing at me.

But still, that was just Jacqui. I wasn't one bit sad to lose her. Sure, I didn't miss the others, but I was a little bit sad to realize that none of them actually wanted to be my friend. That they only got everything they wanted out of me until they couldn't any more.

Well, that was what I thought. Then I got a phone call from one of them that Wednesday, the day after I stopped being grounded. Mom wasn't home at the time.

I picked up. "Hello?"

"Stacey?" I recognized the voice on the other end of the phone.

"What is it, Heather?" I didn't mean to sound so curt, but this was one of the girls who had gotten me in major trouble. I didn't want to talk to her.

"Can I come over?" Heather asked. She sounded like she still expected me to be friends with her. However, I think she knew I was going to say no, so she continued "Please, Stace? I have to talk to you."

I gave a sigh. "Are the other girls with you?"

"No."

I relented, but I still didn't want her to come over. "Can't we meet at your house, if you need to talk to me?"

"Well, I'm...kind of grounded." Heather admitted. "I'm not even supposed to be on the phone to you. I think I could sneak out and meet you at the mall for about half an hour."

I couldn't help shooting down that idea. Meeting at the mall would just remind me of the times at Bellair's. I still hadn't told anyone about their ten-percent discount scam. But we agreed to meet just next to a playground nearby Heather's house.

We met at a bench. Heather was looking more nervous than I'd ever seen her. She'd sounded absolutely herself on the phone. But now, I wondered if I'd misjudged her. "Hi, Stace." she said, her voice shaky.

"Hi." I said, my voice unable to be upbeat around her any more. "What did you want to say?"

Heather wouldn't meet my eyes. She directed her gaze to the ground and mumbled something.

"What?" I said.

"I'm sorry!" she said, her voice clearer. She paused, and then added "I don't mean sorry for what I did at the concert. But I'm sorry what happened. We should've been honest with you. Sheila agreed with me – if you'd known, you wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble. We all knew you weren't the same as us – you're so good." She frowned. "To be honest, it was Jacqui. She wanted to show you up."

I narrowed my eyes, thinking back again to all the sideways glances, the comments, the teasing. "But why?"

"Because you're Robert's girlfriend." Heather said, not missing a beat. "She's had a major crush on him for months. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I felt really bad about her framing you when we got caught. And I'm sorry no one backed you up at the security office. I wanted to, but I was so scared. And Jacqui would've killed me."
Anger bubbled inside me. If Heather wanted to back me up, why would she listen to Jacqui and not me? What was the difference?

Heather read my expression. "You don't know what it's like to be part of that group all the time." she said pleadingly. "You haven't run into those kind of peer pressure things, like being into the right things...I had to train myself to love U4Me. I honestly wasn't really into it at first."

That threw me. That was something really different, something that I'd never come across with my BSC friends. We'd all been so different – to be honest, the only thing all of us had in common was that we were baby-sitters. I hadn't considered what it was like to be in a different set.

"The other girls probably wouldn't want me to tell you this stuff." Heather added, "But I had to. I trust you with this stuff. You won't tell, right?"

I nodded unthinkingly.

"It's just..." Heather said, "You might get some calls from the other girls, acting like the concert didn't happen. At least, I think Sheila will probably call you. Mia says she was embarrassed by how you acted about the discount, so I don't think she'll try to call you. And Jacqui knows how you'll react after she tried to frame you. And...and I guess I don't expect you to stay friends with me."

I looked her in the eye. "Thanks for warning me. But..." there was one thing that was bothering me. "There's something else. What do I say to Andi when she comes back and we're not hanging out?"

I saw a look in Heather's eyes that I hadn't seen before. Empathy. "You probably won't have to tell her." she admitted. "Jacqui might end up getting to her first and make it clear you're not hanging out with us. But you can stay friends with Andi – she won't just go by whatever Jacqui says about you."

I managed to smile after that, but sadly. "Thanks, Heather." I said, my voice a bit choked up. And then, we walked away.

She was right. We'd never be friends again, but all the same, that had taken courage. Although I wasn't going to hang out with Heather, I at least respected her, if not her other friends.

And that's why in "Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend", it seems as if Stacey has reached closure with Heather, but not Jacqui. Seriously, read the book again if you can – Jacqui just has a mean streak that Heather and Sheila lack. Mia has a slight one too.

Anyway, would you mind leaving me a little review?