Disclaimers: Ann M. Martin owns all the characters from the books. I stopped reading the books over a decade ago, so apologies if anything counteracts what was written after that point, like some Mallory leaving thing I've read about. I did put Abby in even though I only know about her from the internet, and I made up a new character even though she's basically useless, just because I thought it would be weird to not have changed at all in the past two years.
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My name is Kristin Amanda Thomas, but nobody calls me that except my mother – when she gets really mad at me. Everyone has called me Kristy since before I can remember. I live with my mother, my stepfather, my younger brother David, my two stepsiblings Karen and Andrew, my adopted sister Emily Michelle, and my grandmother. David is eleven, Karen is ten, Andrew is seven, and Emily Michelle is five. I have two older brothers: Charlie who is twenty and Sam who is eighteen. They both go to the University of Connecticut – Sam just moved out two weeks ago to start his freshman year. Also living in the house is Nannie, my grandmother (my mom's mom). She moved in with us when Mom and Watson adopted Emily Michelle, to help out. Like I said, Emily Michelle is five now, but they adopted her from Vietnam when she was two. Nannie doesn't have to do so much now that Emily Michelle is in kindergarten, but she's part of the family now, so she stayed. Luckily, my stepfather is a millionaire and we live in a gigantic house big enough for all six kids and Nana to have our own rooms.
I'm sixteen years old and I go to Stoneybrook High school with my friends. There are a few groups I mostly hang out with: the Babysitters' Club, and my sports teams, usually the one I am currently playing (field hockey in the fall, volleyball in the winter, and softball in the spring). The sports teams are relatively self-explanatory, so I'll focus on the other. The Babysitters' Club is something I started four years ago, when we were twelve. Baby sitting was what all of my friends did for extra money, but I saw that it took my mom forever to call around and find a free sitter. I thought it would be great if she could call one place and reach a whole bunch of sitters. So we got together three times a week, and parents could call us at those times and reach four sitters. By the time we graduated middle school, the club had grown to seven. In the past three years, the club has changed quite a bit as we get busier in high school, but the essence is still there. We now only have an official meeting once a week, on Wednesdays, but we have a dedicated cell phone that parents can call at any time to leave a message, and we talk to each other often to make sure we're all on the same page.
As you can imagine, my life is pretty busy. I have sports every day after school until 5, BSC meeting on Wednesdays immediately after that until 6, and then homework and/or babysitting. A significant part of weekends consist of sports or babysitting too. So I don't have time for much else. I haven't ever had a real boyfriend, and I've only been on a couple of dates. It doesn't really bother me though – sports are more fun anyway.
We have ten members of the BSC now. The original four are still here – Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, and me. There are three more members in our grade at SHS. Dawn and Abby have been members since eighth grade. Katie we didn't meet until high school, but she and Dawn became fast friends over a protest of cafeteria food, and she soon joined the BSC. In addition, Shannon is in eleventh grade, but attends SDS, a private school. We also have two younger members, Mallory and Jessi, who are in ninth grade now at SHS. They were invaluable the last two years, as the high school members' schedules got crazier. We're talking about getting some new younger members now that they are in high school. We have a lot of former charges who are now old enough to sit themselves.
Let's see, about the club members.
Mary Anne Spier has been my best friend since we were little, when we used to live next door to each other. When we were in the eighth grade, both of our parents remarried and moved. Mary Anne and I look sort of alike, since we both have brown hair and eyes, but she's much prettier than me. She also dresses much nicer. I mostly wear jeans and Tshirts, or sweaters when it's cold. I'm basically still a tomboy. I love sports, especially softball. I play on the school team and coach a kids' team called Kristy's Krushers in the summer. I'm still trying to figure out what's so exciting about boys. I sort of dated this guy named Alan Grey in middle school, but I wasn't as interested in him as he was in me, so that stopped. Since then I haven't had time really.
Where was I? Oh yeah. Mary Anne moved away from our old street too when her dad got remarried. Her parents aren't divorced like mine – her mom died when we were little. Her dad used to be really protective of her because of that, and he didn't even let her pick out her own clothes until we were in about seventh grade. I think he got a lot better when he got remarried – to Dawn's mom! Mary Anne still cries at the drop of a hat, but in some ways she's more grown up than me. She had a serious boyfriend for two years, but they broke up last year. Actually he used to be a BSC member, but now it's a bit awkward, so he isn't really in the club anymore. She's just starting to date a new guy now. Mary Anne has a real attention to detail, which is good because she is our secretary and basically keeps the club running. She keeps the club phone, knows our schedules, and schedules jobs.
Dawn Schaffer lived in California until she was thirteen and her parents got divorced. Her mom moved her and her brother Jeff back here to Connecticut. Dawn's father still lived in California, and her brother moved back to live with him after only living here for a short time. That made Dawn really sad, and she tried moving back too, and she switched back and forth a few times, but she ended up coming back here last year. I think she's actually going to stay here now, even though she is a true California girl. She's a vegetarian and a health freak, and she loves the beach and the sun. She's independent and doesn't really care what other people think about her, she has to be her own person. She used to have really long blonde hair, but she just cut it off to give to Locks of Love to make wigs for sick kids, so now she has a short little bob.
Claudia Kishi lived across the street from Mary Anne and me growing up, and is the only one who still lives there. Claudia is beautiful. She's Japanese-American and has long black hair. She's about the most creative dresser I know. She is an amazing artist, but she struggles with the rest of school. Her family really hates that, especially because her older sister, Janine, is a genius. Janine was the valedictorian the same year they wanted to hold Claudia back in ninth grade. Luckily they didn't hold her back after all, and she's still in our grade. Janine goes to Harvard now. Somehow, that actually helped take some pressure off Claud, not having her around every day for comparisons.
Stacey McGill had just moved here from New York City when we started the club, and she was friends with Claudia because they both are really into fashion and boys. I'm amazed they still find time to babysit, though it has to be during the day on the weekend, because they have dates almost every weekend night. Stacey is really a New Yorker, and while she likes us and the BSC, I think she will always miss it. She's always been a really fashionable dresser, which is probably part of why boys like her so much. She's had boyfriends all through high school, I think about five by now. All in a row of course, she would never cheat on any of them. Stacey also has diabetes, so she can't eat sugar. Her parents are divorced too, and her dad still lives in the city. She's always been a math whiz so she is our treasurer.
Abby Stevenson joined near the end of eighth grade. At first we had some trouble because we are both really outspoken. But we do share a love of sports, so eventually we bonded over that, once she realized that I was always going to win power struggles about the BSC. For other things, we probably alternate about equally. We're on the volleyball team together now too. Abby has a twin sister, Anna, who isn't in the BSC. She's pretty shy, even more shy than Mary Anne, but she doesn't cry as much. Abby and Anna are Jewish. They are identical, but sometimes we forget that because they are so different it's easy to tell them apart.
Katie Clark is our newest member, even though she's not the youngest. She went to a different middle school, and we didn't really know her until last year, when she got to be friends with Dawn. We usually invite new friends to be members if they seem to like kids. And our business is always growing. She lives with her dad, stepmom, and her half-sister, Julie, who's almost two. Her stepmom works a lot so she takes care of Julie a lot of the time. Katie is a vegan, which means she doesn't eat meat or anything made from animals. Since she's been friends with Dawn, I think our California friend has felt more at home, not always being the only one who isn't eating a hamburger!
Shannon Kilbourne has been in the BSC since eighth grade. When my mom married Watson and we moved to his house, Shannon was my first friend in our new neighborhood. She goes to Stoneybrook Day School, a private school. She originally joined as an associate member, which meant she didn't come to meetings but we could call her for a job if necessary, because she is really busy with other extracurricular activities. When we restructured the club and had fewer official meetings, she became a normal member. She lives with her parents and her sisters Maria and Tiffany.
The last two members of the BSC are Mallory Pike and Jessi Ramsey. They're in the ninth grade. Mallory is the oldest of eight kids! We actually used to baby-sit her when she was 10, but she was always more of a babysitter than a kid to watch, so when she was eleven she and her best friend Jessi joined as junior officers, which used to mean they could only sit in the afternoons or on weekends. Now, of course, that is not the case. Mallory has red curly hair, and she just got her braces off. She loves to read and is obsessed with horses. She's really excited to finally be in high school. The Pikes are not as frequent clients anymore now, because four of her siblings are in middle school, but sometimes we still sit for the youngest three if none of the older Pikes are available.
Jessi is a lot like Mallory, and she's also excited to be in high school. She's only got two younger siblings though, Becca, who's eleven, and Squirt, who's four. Becca is one of the girls we are considering as a new younger member, actually. She's a sweet girl. When Jessi joined the club, her family had just moved here from New Jersey, and she was having trouble fitting in at school because her family is black, and that's kind of rare around here. Luckily now people just see her as Jessi. She's also an amazing ballerina, and she goes to Stamford every day to take lessons, so that takes up a lot of her time. This summer she went to an intensive camp in New York City and we all went in to see her show at the end. When I watch her dance, I forget she's my friend because she's so incredible.
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A/N: This first chapter is kinda boring because I wanted to sort of get the feel like you are reading one of the books, and let's be honest - the first couple chapters in all the books were a yawn! But it'll get more interesting soon.