I do not own the Baby-Sitters Club, Ann M. Martin does.
I was with Marci and our two friends, Kathi and Patti, at a diner for dinner around the corner. Kathi and I ordered a cheeseburger, Patti had chicken tenders, and Marci had a hamburger. We even shared a hot fudge sundae for a dessert. I'm Mary Anne Spier, by the way, and we're all thirteen years old and attend Stoneybrook Middle School, which is here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut, for eighth grade. I live with my father and my stepfamily. I grew up on Bradford Court. Dad and I lived alone after Mom died long time ago.
My stepmom, Sharon Schafer, used to be Dad's girlfriend in high school. She has two children, Dawn and Jeff, from her first husband. The kids were born and raised in California where her mother was for college. They all came here after a tough divorce. Jeff was miserable here and moved back to California not long before Sharon and Dad got married. Dawn's my stepsister and one of my best friends.
Marci used to be my worse enemy, but now, she started to be nice to me since we started rehearsing for Annie that we did. She played Pepper and I played Annie. Why? She thinks I was the one who changed her. Don't ask how I did that. But she loved my acting and singing skills. The only thing I never liked about her was she'd try to steal my boyfriend, Logan Bruno, and when she asked me to be her friend, I made her a deal: no more stealing Logan.
Except for one tiny problem, my dad forbids me and Dawn to hang out anyone who is too immature for us and I might get in trouble if he heard about it, so I had to keep Marci a secret for time being. After the diner, I headed home. Patti and Kathi are awesome, I asked them if I should use them without mentioning Marci in avoid trouble, they didn't mind that.
After dinner, we headed home. When I got back, I went to the diner to get comfy.
Dawn came by and said, "I hope you didn't forget to tell your dad that you weren't going to be home for dinner."
"Why would I forget to do that? He always knew. I always tell him the night before and I'd remind him at breakfast or when I call him," I told her.
Dad trusts me, so he doesn't ask me where I'd go for dinner or who I would be with since I'm usually with one of my friends.
"If he ever finds out you've been with M-a-r-c-i, he will never trust you again," said Dawn.
She's been driving me nuts! Marci invited me to spend the day with her tomorrow, but I told her I'd be with Dad for the entire day for a father-daughter, she understood.
"I'm going to be with Dad for a bit," I said.
I headed down to see Dad, who was in the den, when he looked up with a smile.
"What's up, honey?" asked Dad.
"Nothing much. I went to the diner with Kathi and Patti," I said. "We even shared a hot fudge sundae for a dessert."
"That's good," said Dad.
He had already met and approved them. Neither of them is immature. In the middle of the night, I was feeling nauseous, but I drank some water to make it go away, which it did. 2 1/2 hours later, I had that nausea feeling once again. Plus, I got a headache and started to feel dizzy. I also started coughing. What else is new? Uh-oh. I got up rushing to the bathroom and started vomiting.
Dad came in to comfort me and said, "It's okay, honey."
The next day, I felt worse. My headache was getting bad and was still feeling dizzy. Luckily, Dad and I aren't going out until later in the afternoon anyway.
"Girls, time to get up for school," said Sharon.
When I got up, I could hardly keep my balance straight. Luckily, I was able to go straight to the bathroom and started puking again.
"I should keep Mary Anne home from school. Excuse me," said Dad as he came in within two seconds later to comfort me. "It's okay, Mary Anne, I'm here. I'm letting you stay home from school today."
After that, I felt so dizzy that I could barely walk properly, so Dad had to help me out.
"How's your headache?" asked Dad.
"Worse. I'm still feeling dizzy as well," I said.
"I'll give you a bucket in case you need it. I'm off today, so I'll be home with you," said Dad.
"Thank god we're not leaving until later this afternoon," I said.
"We'll see how you feel first otherwise we have tonight and tomorrow night, okay?" asked Dad.
"Fine by me," I answered.
He did leave the bucket with me. That afternoon, I felt better enough to spend the day with Dad, which is a good thing because I needed fresh air.