Disclaimer - I don't own The Babysitters Club or any of the characters.
Author's Note - This is my first story and any constructive criticisms and idea are welcome but I have my first few chapters planned out. Please e-mail me at blazeflametthotmail.com with the subject: 'One Smile'. This Chapter is written in the 3rd person.
Please note: It takes me a while to get into a story so this first chapter isn't that good, please bear with me and give me a few chapters to get into it. Thank you.
Now onto the story:
One Smile Can Change Everything
Chapter 1 - Kristy's Return
Kristy had been away at an all-girls summer sports camp that her Mom and Watson had offered to send her to - she'd had a choice - sports camp or staying at home for yet another boring summer in Stoneybrook and although she hadn't wanted to leave her friends and the Babysitters Club, the idea of playing sports for the whole summer and meeting new people had persuaded her. Marginally. Of course, she knew that she could trust Mary Anne, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Mallory and Jessi - the other BSC members - but she still had her worries about the welfare of the club.
These worries however were long forgotten by the time the end of Kristy's sports camp rolled round. To celebrate the end of the camp, a whole series of games were organised and each camper got to choose one sport to participate in with professional equipment and uniforms, naturally Kristy chose baseball. The huge baseball game was organised and the participants of the camp were allowed to invite family and friends to watch the game they were in. Kristy, of course invited all the Thomas/Brewers and the whole BSC, including Shannon. Logan, however couldn't make it, he was on vacation.
However, due to the timings of the game and the long journey from Stoneybrook to New Jersey, no one would actually see Kristy before her game. But everyone left early from Stoneybrook and arrived in plenty of time. Everyone Kristy invited got seats on the first base side. Kristy had kept in contact with everyone via phone calls and letters and they knew she would be playing first base so everyone wanted to see her.
Finally the game started and the players trooped out onto the field. It was announced that Kristy's team, the Cougars, were batting second. One by one, girls stood at home plate and swung at a variety of pitches, many made contact with the ball. It was quite an exciting game but by the end of the fifth inning, no one had seen or heard anything of Kristy.
During the sixth inning, it was the Cougars' turn to field and at first base was a shortish, brown-haired girl with writing on the back of her uniform. Stacey McGill, a BSC member and a friend of Kristy's noticed this and leaned forward, squinting, to try to read the writing, "Thomas," she muttered. She nudged Claudia Kishi, "Hey, it says 'Thomas' on the back of the first base player's uniform. Do you think it's Kristy?"
Claudia squinted and like Stacey leaned forward to read the writing, "It definitely says 'Thomas'," she said triumphantly, "might be her. Should we call her to see if it is?"
"Why not?" Shannon Kilbourne, who was sitting on the other side of Stacey, asked.
"Yeah, go for it," Stacey replied.
Claudia took a deep breath and flicked a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. "KRISTY!" she bellowed. The first-base player didn't even flinch. Claudia knew that she wasn't as loud as Kristy and didn't have as good an outdoor voice but..."She must have heard that!" she exclaimed, not to happy.
"Claud," Mary Anne Spier said gently, "there are probably many people who have the surname 'Thomas'. It might not have been her."
"Yeah, you're right. It probably wasn't her."
"We'll see her after the game remember, then she'll be at our club meeting on Monday." Mallory Pike reminded her.
"Yeah, it'll be good to see her again," Jessi Ramsey said, smiling.
None of the BSC members were particularly interested in baseball, (except for Logan Bruno, Mary Anne's boyfriend who wasn't there) so they all practically zoned out after they gave up looking for more Thomas's. But there was one thing that brought them back to Earth in the ninth inning. An announcement suddenly blared over the speakers, "Next up to bat is Kristy Thomas!"
All the BSC sat bolt upright, looking towards the home plate where the same shortish, brown-haired girl was holding a bat and staring down the pitcher. Dawn Schafer, who had been very quiet, felt a flutter in her stomach. She'd woken up with an upset stomach that morning and almost didn't go. However, Mary Anne, her stepsister, persuaded her to go. "Come on," she'd said, "we haven't seen Kristy all summer and you know how good it'll be to watch her play baseball and see her again."
"All right," agreed Dawn, reluctantly. After a while, her stomach had felt a lot better and was fine for most of the day but now she could feel the tingling pain again.
The bases were loaded and two outs. Shannon glanced at the scoreboard. The score was tied, 8-8, in the ninth inning, this was the last chance the Cougars had to win! She repeated this to the BSC members.
"Woo! Go Kristy!" Claudia whooped, "Bases loaded, two outs!"
"Gee, no pressure," Stacey mumbled.
But Kristy appeared not to hear. The pitcher pitched, she swung and missed. The second time the ball was too low. Kristy altered her grip on the bat and concentrated harder. This time, she made contact with the ball. It flew deep into right field where the fielder had to run to get it.
Kristy dashed round the bases, sending everyone home ahead of her. She was close to home base now and she could hear the fielders communicating to each other and she knew the ball was on it's way to home plate. Kristy ran faster and she reached the base a second before the ball landed in the catcher's glove.
The BSC members were all waiting outside in the parking lot for Kristy. Dawn mentioned something about an upset stomach and went to find a restroom. Eventually she did find one, but her stomach was still fluttery when she came out. She left the bathroom and nearly walked into a girl with brown hair coming out of the door opposite her labeled 'Locker Room'.
Dawn gasped and looked carefully at the girl. "Kristy?" she asked.
Kristy turned around. "Dawn?" she replied, breaking into a smile when she saw her Californian friend. She dropped the sports bag she was carrying and she threw her arms around Dawn and they hugged tight until Dawn drew back to take a proper look at Kristy.
"Is that you?" Dawn asked in amazement, "you look so different!" She gasped again and gripped her stomach which was starting to ache again.
"Woah, you OK?"
"Yeah, fine."
Kristy, who used to be the shortest in the club, was now as tall as Dawn. She had filled out a lot more and was now a lot curvier and muscular ('probably from playing sport all summer,' Dawn thought). She had a dimple in either cheek when she smiled and even her smile was different, sort of crooked and lopsided and, well, cheeky was the word that came to Dawn's mind. Her deep brown eyes shone and had an unfamiliar twinkle in them.
Dawn didn't notice that she was staring at Kristy with her mouth open, gawping. Her jaw was practically scraping the ground.
"Er, Dawn," Kristy brought Dawn back to Earth, "you're staring at me."
Dawn swallowed hard and blushing a little, tucked a strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear, "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I'm just amazed at how different you look."
Kristy swung her bag onto her shoulder, "Yeah, well, don't worry, I'm still the same old Kristy." She grinned. "So how is everybody? How's the BSC?" she asked as they started to walk back to the parking lot.
Dawn grinned, "Everyone's great, they're in the parking lot waiting to see you. The club's running great, plenty of business. Been a bit shorthanded, but we managed." Kristy nodded, knowingly. Dawn looked a little sheepish, "Wasn't the same without you though."
Kristy laughed and said, "What was it like being President then?"
"Not too bad, but it'll be nice to go back to being the Alternate for a while."
They had reached the parking lot by now and suddenly, a loud cheer was raised. Everyone, Kristy's family, the BSC, Mrs. McGill and Mrs. Pike (who had driven the BSC there) were cheering. The BSC ran to greet Kristy and gave her hugs and pats on the back and congratulated her endlessly. Finally, once they were done, Kristy's whole family were surrounding her and the BSC stood back staring in disbelief at how much she had changed.
"Amazing," breathed Stacey. Mary Anne sniffled and nodded, overcome with emotion at seeing Kristy again.
While Kristy's family went to collect Kristy's luggage from the main camp, she chatted with her friends.
"So Kristy," Claudia said, biting into a pretzel, "were on first base in the sixth inning?"
"Yeah," Kristy looked puzzled, "why?"
"We were shouting to you. And cheering you on when you were batting in the ninth inning."
"Oh," Kristy looked sheepish, "I didn't hear you, I couldn't even see you - any of you. But I knew you were here." She added quickly.
"What was the food like? Did you like it?" asked Mallory.
"Was it better than Camp Mohawk?" Jessi asked.
"Did you meet any nice guys?" Stacey slyly asked.
"The food was good. I liked it. Yes, it was better than Camp Mohawk. It was an all-girls camp but we met some guys from the boys' camp. Yes, they were nice but Bart's my boyfriend." She gasped for breath.
All the BSC huddled around Kristy asking questions. Kristy was grinning and glowing with happiness. She looked at everyone in the BSC, she was glad that she was back with them. 'The people at camp are nice,' she thought, 'but they don't compare to my BSC friends.'
Dawn, who was becoming paler by the minute, broke from the group and with one hand on her stomach and the other covering her mouth, she ran back to the restroom. She stumbled through the door and into the first stall she came to and was violently sick in the toilet.
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What do you think? R&R and e-mail me at blazeflametthotmail.com with the subject: 'One Smile' if you have any questions or suggestions.
Thank you
GalaxyAxle
