CHAPTER 2
"I don't know why you're so shocked," Janine said as she poured a glass of milk for herself.
"It's not like she's eating…octopus on pizza," I said as I popped a forkful of lettuce into my mouth.
"Ewww!" Jessi squealed.
"I know, give us a break, Claudia. If you could put M&Ms on pizza, you would," Kristy added, taking a sip of her soda.
"M&Ms…hmm…maybe not," Claudia said slowly. "Maybe not. I don't think that would taste very good. But still, Janine…I can't believe YOU like anchovies, too!"
"Too? Who else here likes anchovies?" Mr. Kishi asked as he put a slice of plain cheese pizza on his plate, which he placed on a tray.
"Kristy does," Claudia replied.
"Gross," Abby said under her breath.
"My dad likes them," Mal put in. "And doesn't Bart like anchovies, too?"
Jessi nudged her. "Oops!" Mal blushed. "Sorry, Kristy."
Kristy let out a huge sigh and dropped her slice of pizza on her plate. I stifled a laugh.
"Well, you girls enjoy! We're off to see a movie in the living room," Mrs. Kishi said. She and Mr. Kishi and Janine carried their trays out of the room.
Once they were gone, Mary Anne spoke up. "I forgot to ask them. What movie are they going to watch, Claud?"
Claud shrugged. "I really don't know. Something about ancient Greece or Egypt…I think it's a documentary. I'd rather watch Lenny grow hair, myself." Lenny is Claudia's old rag doll. Mary Anne had brought her downstairs and propped her up on a chair.
I thought it was generous of the Kishis to let seven girls (and a doll) take over their kitchen. But then again, they've always been really nice about Claudia having her friends over three times a week. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from five-thirty until six for meetings of the Baby-sitters Club.
The Baby-sitters Club. It's more of a business than a club, really. We're very popular among the parents of Stoneybrook because we are wonderful, reliable baby-sitters (it's true!) and our club runs very efficiently.
There wouldn't even BE a Baby-sitters Club without Kristy Thomas. When she was in the seventh grade, she came up with her great idea after watching her mother have trouble finding a sitter for her little brother, David Michael. (She also has two older brothers, Charlie and Sam). Kristy thought, why not make one phone call and reach a network of experienced sitters? Voila! The BSC was born!
Kristy is a really effective president. She's dynamic, smart, opinionated, and take-charge (and okay, she's a little bossy). Even though she's short, and cares nothing about fashion (jeans and T-shirts are her uniform, and long brown hair is plain), she makes her presence known. She is full of creativity, a real idea machine. She dreamed up the club notebook, in which we write up all our jobs, and Kid-Kits, boxes filled with old toys and games that we bring with us on jobs. She even coaches a softball team for little kids called Kristy's Krushers. Bart Taylor (does that name sound familiar?) coaches their rival, Bart's Bashers.
Kristy used to live on Bradford Court, across the street from Claudia. Remember when I said Kristy never sees her father? That's because he walked out on the family when David Michael was just a baby. (I know--what a jerk!) It was tough, but Kristy's mom raised the family all on her own. When she met and married Watson Brewer (who is a real live millionaire--honest!), the Thomases moved across town into his mansion. It's a good thing the house is so big--it gets pretty crowded. Kristy's mom and Watson adopted Emily Michelle, an adorable two year old from Vietnam. Kristy's grandmother, Nannie, moved in to help take care of her. Karen and Andrew, Watson's kid from a previous marriage, live with the Brewers sometimes, and the place is also overrun with pets.
When Mary Anne Spier, the club secretary, visits the Brewer mansion, it takes her awhile after to recover from the chaos. For the longest time, she lived with only her father in their house on Bradford Court. Mary Anne and Kristy have been best friends since they were babies, even though they couldn't be more different. Kristy is loud and outgoing, while Mary Anne is quiet and shy. They do look alike--Mary Anne also has brown hair and eyes--but she wears it in a shorter, trendier style. While Kristy and Bart no longer see each other, Mary Anne has been in a relationship with her boyfriend, Logan Bruno, a very cute guy from Kentucky, for awhile now. (Logan is one of the club's associate members--he takes jobs when the rest of us are unavailable, but doesn't come to the meetings. Shannon Kilbourne is another associate. She lives in Kristy's neighborhood and goes to a private school, Stoneybrook Day School). As secretary, Mary Anne is in charge of scheduling our jobs in the BSC record book, which holds all our clients' information. It's a task made for Mary Anne--she's very neat and organized. She definitely inherited these things from her lawyer father, Richard.
Speaking of Mary Anne's father, Mary Anne didn't always have a cool haircut and a great boyfriend. In the past, Mr. Spier wouldn't have allowed it. He used to be really, really strict. You see, Mary Anne's mom died when she was just a baby, and Mr. Spier didn't want to make any mistakes in raising her. So he turned into the King of Rules. He made her dress in little girl clothes and wear her hair in braids. Finally, Mary Anne confronted him and convinced him to start treating her like a middle-schooler. Her dad finally loosened up. Not only that, but he also got remarried--to his high school sweetheart, the divorced Sharon Schafer. They got married and Mary Anne and her dad moved into Sharon's farmhouse on Burnt Hill Road. Mary Anne gained a stepmother, a stepbrother, and a stepsister.
Mary Anne's stepsister was her friend first--and also a member of the club! Yup, Dawn Schafer is Mary Anne's other best friend and the club's first alternate officer. She took over the job of any officer who had to miss a meeting. Recently, Dawn moved back to California to be with her father and brother Jeff (who had moved back long before she did). We all love Dawn, and miss her, but Mary Anne misses her the most. Dawn's a real California girl, though, with her blonde hair, blue eyes, California casual style of dress, and love of health food and the beach--so we know that living there makes her happy.
We invited Abby Stevenson to take Dawn's place after she left. Originally from Long Island, Abby moved to Stoneybrook and onto Kristy's new street with her twin sister Anna and her mother. (Abby's father died in a car accident when she was nine). Abby and Anna are identical, but like Kristy and Mary Anne, they have very different personalities and interests. Anna's a quiet musician and Abby is outgoing and sports-obsessed. We all really like Abby. She's hilarious and always keeps us laughing at meetings.
Our two junior officers, Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike, are another set of best friends. Unlike Kristy and Mary Anne, though, they look nothing alike (Jessi's black with cocoa-colored skin, and Mal has pale skin, red hair, and glasses). What they do have in common, though, is an incredible amount of talent. Jessi's an amazing ballerina, and Mal's an aspiring writer and illustrator. They also share a love of reading and horses (and reading horse stories!), and are the oldest kid in their families. But Jessi has a younger sister and brother, and she moved to Stoneybrook from Oakley, New Jersey. Mal has lived in Stoneybrook all her life and has seven (yup, seven!) brothers and sisters, three of which are identical boy triplets. Being a junior sitter means their parents won't let them baby-sit at night, unless it's for their own families, and Jessi and Mal love to complain about this. They take on a lot of the daytime jobs, though, which allows us older sitters to take the nighttime ones.
And that leaves MY best friend, Claudia Kishi. Like Mal and Jessi, we're a best friend pair that look nothing alike. I have blue eyes and blonde hair, and Claud has long, black hair and brown almond-shaped eyes. We are both are obsessed with clothes and shopping, and are some of the coolest dressers at SMS. We're also boy-crazy. Claudia has had a few serious boyfriends, and is currently involved with Josh Rocker, a seventh-grader. Me? I've been in LUV quite a few times, but right now my heart belongs to Ethan Carroll, who lives in New York City. I met him while I was baby-sitting for the Walkers, this family I used to sit for a lot, and we hit it off right away. He's a talented artist, incredibly cute, a lot of fun…what's not to love? Lately, though, I had been feeling a little lonely, because Ethan's been really busy with his art classes in NYC and we don't talk on the phone or visit each other as much as we used to. I haven't told Claudia that, though.
Claudia's a huge fan of Nancy Drew mysteries and junk food of any kind. I can't have any of it because of my diabetes. Basically, my body can't process sugar correctly, and I need to inject myself daily with insulin. I bet I know what you're thinking---ew, ew, EW! Well, it sounds gross, but I'm used to it. I have to deal with it for the rest of my life, anyway. And Claudia is always more than willing to provide me with non-sugary treats during our meetings. That's her unofficial job as vice-president of the club. Her official duties are to provide her room and private phone line for us three times a week.
What's my job? I'm the club treasurer, naturally. I keep track of our money and collect the club dues every Monday. We use some of those dues to pay Charlie regularly for driving Kristy to and from meetings. The rest of it goes to Claudia's phone bill, supplies for our Kid-Kits, and slumber parties…like the one we're having now!
And that's the Baby-sitters Club. We're an interesting, diverse bunch, don't you think?
I realized I had been daydreaming and not paying attention to what Kristy was saying. "Who knows, they might have kids. Do we have any spare BSC fliers?"
"I probably have one crammed in my desk," Claudia replied.
Kristy shot her a look. "It should be on your bulletin board."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
Kristy raised one eyebrow. "Earth to Stacey," she said. "Haven't you been listening to the conversation?"
"Sorry," I said. "I spaced out for a minute."
"We were talking about the new family moving down your street!" Mal piped up.
"Watson told me today. I'm not sure how he heard about it. Anyway, they'll be moving in next week."
"Cool!" Mary Anne said.
"I'll say. New neighbors!" I added. I'd have to tell Mom. Maybe we could go introduce ourselves when they arrived.
"I hope they're interesting," Abby said. "What if they're like, elderly? Oh, I have nothing against old people, they're tons of fun. But I think it would be awesome to sit for some new kids and introduce them to our charges."
Kristy pounded her fist on the table. "Yes! I'm glad someone's with me!"
"Kristy, who was AGAINST you?" Claudia asked distractedly, picking a mushroom off her slice of pizza.
"What if it's a house full of cute boys?" I teased.
Mary Anne giggled. "If so, I'm sure Ethan would LOVE to hear about it."
"Oh, Ethan," I said lightly. I laughed, hoping it didn't sound forced. Claudia glanced at me, but I pretended not to notice.
"This is to…to…cute boys, old folks, and little kids!" said Mal, taking a slice of pizza out of one of the boxes and raising it in the air.
"To little kids, old folks, and cute boys, in that order," Kristy said pointedly.
"Whatever," said Jessi, raising her slice.
We all followed suit and then "clinked" our slices together in a toast. It's a BSC tradition.
Sometimes the simplest things can seem exciting when you live in a town like Stoneybrook. I really wanted to know: who were these new people?