Title: Age Difference
Author: Lauren
Pairing: Slight Charlotte/Stacey
Rating: PG
Summary: Stacey's first babysitting job for Charlotte.
Spoilers: Slightly for Kristy's Great Idea.
Author's notes: I don't have my copy of #1 with me at the moment, so this was based on memory. I know that during the fight toward the end of the book, Charlotte was mentioned for the first time in the series and I'm 90 sure that Stacey took the job, but that nothing else was said about it or Charlotte.
Also, this fic is a little dialogue heavy, but I hope it's still enjoyable.
Dedication: For Caitlin, without whom this wouldn't exist.
Disclaimer: the characters within do not belong to me.
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Charlotte knows she's smart. She knows she reads better than most kids in her second grade class and can spell and do math better. She can do lots of things better.
But she can't be brave better. She can't smile big for her mommy and daddy when they tell her she's going to have a new baby-sitter while they go out for a while. She can't help looking at the flyer for The Baby-sitter's Club and hate it for taking her parent's away.
Charlotte knows this is stupid. She knows her parent's have to work and that they'll come back. When she stays at her grandparent's her parent's have come back. But this is different, because this girl's only a few years older than charlotte. And no matter how big or pretty she might be, Charlotte knows that being seven and being twelve or thirteen aren't really that different.
So when the day comes that her mommy has her meeting and her daddy is still at work, Charlotte works extra hard. Extra hard at finishing her after school snack, at smiling big for her mommy and at not looking at the clock she just learned how to read every couple seconds.
When the doorbell rings, she jumps. Her mommy smiles and pats her on the head.
"Do you want to get the door?"
Charlotte shakes her head, her throat hurting too much to talk. Even if she tried to, she knows she'll cry and she won't do that.
Her mommy gets the door and she hears them talking in the other room. She bites her lip. Hard. It doesn't help.
A girl with blonde hair comes in. Her blue eyes might be pretty if she didn't look a little mad and out of breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm usually not this late.
"You're not late at all," Charlotte's mommy is saying.
"I meant to get here a few minutes early to meet you guys." She grins at Charlotte, but it's just as fake as Charlotte knows her own smile is.
This is Charlotte," her mom says. "Charlotte, this is Stacey."
"Hi," Stacey says.
"Hi," Charlotte whispers. She and Stacey share fake smiles, although Charlotte does have to admit Stacey's trying a little more.
"She's a little nervous," Charlotte's mommy says like she's not even there.
"Oh, don't worry. We're going to have a lot of fun." Stacey smiles to her mommy and they talk grown up stuff. Charlotte puts her empty milk glass in the kitchen sink so she doesn't have to look at Stacey and her pretty face.
"Charlotte, I'm going to go now, all right?"
"Okay." Charlotte runs to hug her, wishing she could keep her from leaving just by doing that.
"Have fun with Stacey, okay?"
She nods and her mommy pulls herself free. Charlotte can feel Stacey watching her without even turning around.
"Have fun girls!" Her mommy grabs her work stuff and leaves.
And it's very, very quiet.
"What do you want to do?" Stacey finally asks, sitting down at the kitchen table where Charlotte had been trying to read before she'd arrived.
"I don't know."
"Want to play a game?"
"Ummm… okay."
"Okay. Do you want to pick one out?"
Charlotte nods, even though she can tell Stacey doesn't want to play a game. She goes up to her room and comes back with Memory.
Stacey is still at the table when she gets back, reading something on a piece of paper and not even trying to hide how mad she clearly is. Charlotte stands behind her, so scared by her face that her voice has completely disappeared. Stacey crumples up the paper and finally looks up, noticing her.
"Oh! Did you get a game?"
Charlotte can only nod some more and set the cards on the table.
"I like this game," Stacey says, even though her face doesn't look like she does.
She starts dividing cards and they play without talking. Charlotte wins twice in a row but she's pretty sure Stacey's just grabbing cards without even trying to match them.
Stacey picks up the cards to shuffle them, without asking Charlotte if she wants to play again. One second they're in her hand and then they're slipping, going all over the table and the floor.
"Damn!" Stacey says, loud and harsh. Charlotte jumps, more from the noise than the word. "Sorry, sorry." Stacey doesn't sound sorry though, just frustrated. She bends to pick up the cards and Charlotte gets off her chair to help.
D-did I do something wrong?" She hands her cards to Stacey when they're both sitting down again.
"No, not at all."
Charlotte's brave-girl face can't hold out any longer and her lip quivers. It's bad enough her parent's are gone, but her new babysitter doesn't even like her and doesn't want to talk to her, just like the kids at school. She knew being twelve and being seven weren't that different.
"Th-then why are you so mad?" Tears make it hard to see Stacey's face anymore, but Charlotte is glad. She curls up in her chair, hiding her face behind her hair like she does when she's alone on the playground and the teachers don't even care.
"Charlotte…" Stacey's chair scrapes back from the table and her feet move fast across the floor. She comes over and bends down over her.
Stacey hugs her then, pushing the sticky hair off her face and brushing at the tears.
I am so sorry, charlotte, so sorry. Shhh."
Charlotte lets her self hug Stacey back, even though it must hurt for her to bend over like this. She cries a little more, because now that she's started she can't stop. But these aren't scared tears.
It feels okay, almost as good as when her mommy hugs her, like this with Stacey. Stacey strokes her hair and keeps saying how sorry she is.
"It's okay," Charlotte finally whispers, sniffing. She wiggles away.
"No, it's not." Stacey stands up, but doesn't go back to her own chair. "I let my problem get in the way of my job. That's not okay."
Her problems? "What kinda problems?"
"I had a fight with a girl at school."
"Does she not like you?"
Stacey sighs, looking sad herself. "I don't know. She used to, but then she wrote me this dumb note and – "
"Kids are mean," Charlotte decides. Stacey starts to nod and then appears to change her mind.
"Not all the time. Most are nice."
Charlotte looks at her like she's crazy.
"I'm the babysitter," Stacey shrugs. "I think I'm supposed to say that."
"Are you supposed to lie?"
Stacey looks confused. "No, of course not."
"Then don't say most kids are nice, 'cause they're not at my school. They call me crybaby because I'm kinda shy and get sad sometimes." Charlotte looks down, embarrassed.
"That's okay. I know a girl, Mary Anne; she's shy and kind of a crybaby. But I was a little… mean to her, so that's understandable."
"Did you swear at her?"
Stacey laughs, then looks sad again. "No, we just got in a fight."
"Did she write that note?" Charlotte points to the crumpled paper lying near the deck of cards.
"Claudia wrote the note." Stacey looks even sadder. "I wish I hadn't fought with Claud, she was so nice to me…"
"It's not hard to make up. You just apologized to me, do it with her."
Stacey looks surprised, probably 'cause most seven year olds don't know such a big word like apologized. Charlotte smiles a little, proud of herself.
"Do you want to play again?" Stacey finally sits down, changing the subject. Maybe Charlotte's advice isn't so good after all.
"Not really."
"Me neither."
"'Cause you're afraid you'll keep losing?" Stacey smiles, for real this time. She has a pretty smile when she means it.
"Hey, is that yours?" She suddenly reaches for the Ramona Quimby book Charlotte had gotten at school.
"Yeah, but I don't like it very much. Ramona's a boring girl."
Stacey laughs. "I might have some of my books from when I was younger at home. Do you want me to look and bring them the next time I come back?"
"You're coming back?" Charlotte's not quite sure how she feels about that.
"Maybe, if your mom calls the BSC – if there still is a BSC."
"BSC – Baby-sitter's Club? Did you guys break up?"
"I don't know, that's who I had the fight with, the other members."
"I hope you guys don't break up," Charlotte finds herself saying. "You should come back so I can beat you some more."
"Do you have Clue? I could beat you at that."
"I don't know, I'm pretty good."
"We'll see." She gets up and Charlotte does too, feeling kind of excited. Stacey suddenly stops, looking back at the table. "Wait, do you have homework? You should do homework first."
"I already did it," Charlotte says. "It was easy." Even though she'd been scared of Stacey, which seems kind of silly now, she'd been able to finish her math and spelling fast. As usual.
"That's good. Lead the way, Char.
Charlotte likes the way that version of her name sounds when Stacey says it. "Hey, Stacey?" She says as they leave the room.
"Yeah?"
Charlotte walks into the living room as they talk, "how old are you?"
"Twelve. You're seven, right?"
Charlotte nods and they start setting up the game. And soon, before either can win, her daddy gets home.
"Hey, Sweetheart." Charlotte launches herself at him, nearly overturning the game board. Even though Stacey has been nice and talked to her and has a pretty smile, she's still glad to have her parent's back.
"Thank you," her daddy says, trying to disentangle Charlotte from his legs, probably so he can give Stacey money.
"It was fun," Stacey says, cleaning up the game. Charlotte reluctantly lets go to help before her daddy gives her the 'you-know-better'-look. She notices that Stacey does look happier now, her blue eyes light and friendly. It makes Charlotte's stomach feel a little funny to watch them too long, so she looks back at the game pieces.
Her daddy pays Stacey and they share smiles again, both real and maybe a little special. "Bye, Charlotte. I'll bring those books next time."
"Bye, Stacey. I hope things are okay with your friends."
Stacey strokes her hair and thanks her. Then she leaves and Charlotte is almost sad.
Charlotte decides as she goes to help her daddy start dinner that being twelve and seven is very different. She wishes she were twelve so she could go to school with Stacey and share smiles with her every day. But having her baby-sit might be okay, instead. As long as it doesn't happen too much.