DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Baby Sitters Club, Toyota, Nissan, or Microsoft.
A/N-This is something that's been sitting in my notebook, unfinished for a while. I will update OFF TO HOGWARTS eventually, I promise!
April 4, 2008
Dear Journal,
Wow. I was just looking back on some of my old journals from what seems like forever ago. So much has changed.
The Baby Sitters Club? Huh. Forget that. High school changed us. I mean, Claudia and Stacey, Mary Anne and Kristy, Jessi and Mallory, all best friends, making up the Baby Sitters Club, friends forever? Ha, that's funny. Now Mary Anne and I hang out a lot, mostly with Grace. Yes, Grace Blume, Cokie's ex-friend. Cokie moved to Utah after eighth grade. Jessi is now in New York. That wasn't here plan though. That wasn't what she wanted.
It pretty much started with Stacey. The giant-egoed Manhattan girl went wherever popularity led and, and I just…didn't follow. Would you? She went from my best friend to someone I was disgusted to look at. So what if I didn't want to be a cheerleader? To a normal person it would be whatever. To Stacey it was a crime. I caught her talking behind my back a couple of times, and just dropped her as a friend, and she dropped me as her. There were no fights, it was just…over.
Kristy? I guess she got tired of being a tomboy. She followed Stacey. And when it meant telling Mary Anne she was an immature, useless crybaby, so be it.
And Mallory. Ugh. Well, she came back from Riverside the next year. Jessi was ecstatic, so happy to have her back. But it soon became clear that Mallory hadn't come back for friendship. She wanted to prove that she was popular, that she had what it took to be beautiful. She said some pretty nasty things to Jessi too; hurtful, racial things that make me mad just thinking about them. Jessi moved to New York three weeks later, happy to be with her Dance NY friends and Michael. His wife died in 9/11, but that brought Michael and Jessi closer than ever.
So today I sat at my lunch table and thought. Mary Anne sat down with a salad and some Vitamin water.
"So, are your parents getting you that car they promised?"
I smiled. I was almost seventeen, and I had gotten my license. My parents promised that if I got my grades up and kept them good, they would get my a new car. Not used, new. It was incredible bribery, but I took it. A new car for a couple more hours of studying? Um, who wouldn't take that?
"Yeah, I'm hoping to get an SUV, something big so I can take you and Grace around in, plus it would be great for Lynn, Kim, Michael, and Caitlyn when we go to the zoos and everything." Lynn, Kim, Michael, and Caitlyn are my cousins. They're Peaches's and Russ's kids and real cute. Lynn is 4, Kim is 2, and Michael and Caitlyn are twins, only 18 months old.
"Really Claudia, you're getting a new car?" The sickeningly sweet voice of Stacey McGill came tough upon my ears, sending triggers of hate rushing through my body. "Well, with your grades, I expect that you'll be driving around in a four times used, beat up 1940 Toyota that gets 11 miles per gallon," she said, remembering my poor grade back in middle school.
"Nothing like my baby," said Kristy. "A silver 2009 advance Nissan Convertible with real leather interior, 40 gigabyte hard drive that allows to pause and replay the radio, voice commands with Synch, by Microsoft, all while getting an affordable—not that I need to worry about affording anything—40 miles per gallon."
As Kristy was lamenting on about her amazing car, Grace had come up behind her. She was holding a lunch tray loaded with all sorts of food. When she spotted Kristy and Stacey, all decked out in their designer clothes glory, she made a disgusted face. Then she cocked her head to the side and appeared to be thinking, her eyes focused on the back of Kristy's head. They suddenly glanced down at her tray. She saw me watching here and raised her eyebrows and smiled. She picked up the lemon meringue pie and looked at me. I glanced at Stacey and Kristy but they were now too busy describing Stacey's fabulous car to Mary Anne to be worried about anyone else.
Grace walked up and tapped Kristy on the shoulder. I saw Kristy smile as she turned, as to impress anyone who might want to talk to her. She was surprised when she turned into a lemon pie. Grace had held it strong and right in front of her face.
"What are you doing?" yelled Stacey.
"Oh, Stacey, are you jealous?" Grace asked in a sickly sweet voice. "No pie for you, with your diabetes. How about some nice…salad?"
Here I might add that Grace absolutely DROWNS her salad in dressing. "It's the only way to get flavor out of leaves," she always says. So the look on Stacey's face when she realized that she was practically swimming in dressing was priceless. I wanted to take a picture, put it on a keychain, and look at it when I was upset, and it would make me feel better no matter what.
But that was today. The Baby Sitters Club and the friendships within it are gone. I don't think they ever meant that much. I was never really close to Kristy, and her ideas were…not that great, actually. I mean, everybody said her two best ideas were the BSC and the Krushers. But remember when Mary Anne had nannies watch her all the time? Well, didn't Mr. Spier call an agency with a network of sitters, and they sent one to watch his kid? Uh, yeah. Kristy just had the memory of that when her "Great Idea" came around. And the Krushers? Didn't she start the team after she saw Bart's Basher and was told he didn't have room? Well, hmm. Let's think. Do you think that maybe…Bart had the idea of a makeshift softball team before her? Why yes, he did! Yeah, great ideas.
So here I am, sitting in my room. I have to go downstairs for dinner soon, where my parents will check my midterm that the school mailed out to see if I do get my car. After, no matter what, I'm calling Mary Anne and Grace. When you have best friends, you know. The person gives you the feeling that they would never leave you, and I didn't have that with Stacey. She did leave me, but Mary Anne was so sweet, so caring, I felt that she would punch someone in the face for her friends. And Kristy was so controlling, so "do it for me" that I never really felt any close friendship. But Grace is so understanding, but in a goofy way that makes you feel good about yourself through jokes and crazy hijacks. They never followed the curse of popularity, and I love them—and myself—for it.
Love,
Claudia
So? What'd you think? Should it stay a oneshot or should I add to it? Review, my little munchkins, with all your ideas!!