"Come on, the bus will be in here any minute!"

Kristy stood with her arms across her chest, impatiently waiting for Abby to gather up what she needed from her locker. They had just finished soccer practice.

"Chill out Kristy, we'll make it. And if not, we'll walk home or something," Abby said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't understand how I am friends with someone so laid back," Kristy remarked, smiling.

Abby finished up at her locker, and picked up her backpack. "It must be my irresistible charm. Now come on Kristy, I thought you were worried about missing the bus."

Suddenly, Abby took off running down the hall, and Kristy followed her laughing. They arrived outside just as the bus was pulling into the school parking lot.

Abby grinned and Kristy "I told you we would make it."

The girls climbed up the stairs of the bus, and settled down for the ride home. Kristy tried to get Abby to work on the discussion questions that they needed to do for their English class, but she was more concerned about talking about soccer, and the other girls on the team. It wasn't that big of a deal though, because they normally did their homework together at night anyways.

As the bus pulled onto McLelland Court, Kristy and Abby gathered up their things.

"Are you coming over for dinner?" Kristy asked. "I think that Watson is grilling tonight. It should be good."

Abby shrugged her shoulders "I think that my mom is going to be home for dinner tonight. I kind of want to spend time with her Anna."

The bus pulled to the side of the road, and the girls remained on the sidewalk talking. Across the street, Bill and Melody Korman were playing with Hannie and Linnie Papadakis. They waved to Kristy and Abby.

Kristy reached out to Abby and gave her a quick one handed hug. "Is your mom still spending a lot of time in the city? More than usual?"

Abby looked down at the ground. "Yeah. She's even thinking about getting an apartment there. I think she just wants to spend more time with that James guy."

"Do you really think that she has a thing for her assistant?" Kristy asked, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, he's so much younger than she is."

"I don't know," Abby said glumly.

"Well you're always welcome at our house. You can come over for dinner if your mom decides to stay in the city. Anna too," Kristy said.

"Thanks, we might. I'll call you later so we can meet up to do homework," Abby said, turning around and walking in the direction of her house.

"Okay. Bye!"

"Bye."

Kristy walked up the driveway to her house and let herself in the side door. Walking inside she was greeted by Emily Michelle, who was coloring in the living room while Nannie straightened up the living room, dust rag in her hand.

"Hi sweetie, how was school and practice?" Nannie asked.

"Kristy!" squealed Emily Michelle, clapping her hands.

"It went well," Kristy said, stopping to admire Emily's picture. She turned again to Nannie. "How was your day?"

"It was busy." Nannie said, picking up some toys that were strewn about the floor. "This house certainly doesn't clean itself. You better get upstairs and put all your things away, dinner will be ready soon."

"Okay, I'll be down in a little while," Kristy said over her shoulder as she began to walk up the stairs.

In her room, Kristy set down her backpacks and sat down at her desk. She didn't plan to start working on her homework right away, but she wanted to figure out everything that she had to do for the night. She thrived on organization.

Sitting at her desk, she looked at a picture that she had propped up against her desk lamp. It was a picture of everyone in the Babysitter's Club before they had broken up. Kristy smiled when she looked at it. Eighth grade had really been a great year. She missed the club a lot, more than she would admit anyway. Things certainly weren't the same without it.

Kristy heard a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said.

"Dinner's ready," said Elizabeth, opening the door and stepping into the room.

"Ok, thanks."

Kristy stood up from her desk and walked to the door. Her mom had waited for her, and put her arm around her as they walked downstairs together.

Kristy smiled when they reached the kitchen. It was chaos, as usual, but that was what she loved. She sat down next to and David Michael, and waited for dinner to be served.

Watson walked up to the table with a plate of chicken that he had made on the grill, "Is anyone in here hungry?" he asked, smiling, while Nannie was setting down a bowl of rice, and some vegetables.

"I am!" said David Michael

"That's my boy!" Watson said, giving him a pat on the back.

As soon as everyone was seated, they began to pass the dishes around so that everyone could take what they wanted.

"Don't take more than you can eat," warned Elizabeth, who was watching David Michael heap rice on to his plate.

"I want as much as Sam," David Michael explained.

Watson took a sip from his glass and looked over at his wife. "He's a growing boy Elizabeth, let him be."

Sam gave David Michael a grin. "You can try to be as cool as me, but it's not going to work."

Kristy snickered. "I think he's cooler than you already."

"Oh yeah Kristy? Then I bet you didn't know that Stacey is going to go on another date with me this weekend," Sam shot back.

"It's not going to last," Kristy sang back

Sam shot her a mean look, but before he could say anything, Elizabeth stopped him.

"Would it be possible for us to have a family meal without fighting?" she asked. "Just once?"

"I no like fighting Mommy," Emily Michelle said, shaking her head from side to side.

"You are a good girl sweetie," Elizabeth said, smiling. She looked at the rest of her children "Maybe we could all learn something from Emily Michelle."

Kristy and Sam smiled sheepishly at each other, and the meal continued with everyone talking about what had gone on that day, and anything else that was on their mind. Watson seemed more spirited than usual, teasing all of the kids, and causing a lot of laughter.

Soon enough dinner was over, and the kids, along with Watson and Elizabeth scattered, leaving Nannie to clean up the kitchen. Once upstairs, Kristy went to the phone in the hallway to call Abby and figure out where they wanted to do their homework. She had been trying to get permission from her mom and Watson for a phone in her room, or a cell phone, since the school year had started, but so far she had not gotten through to them. She was still working on them though.

Kristy leaned against the wall and waited for someone to answer the phone. After three rings someone answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Abby? It's Kristy."

"Hey! I was just about to call you. Are you ready for some serious homework fun?" Abby asked.

Kristy grinned. "I'm always ready. How did dinner go with your mom?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Actually, she decided to stay in New York for the night. Anna and I made pizza for dinner."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that. Why don't you come over here and do homework then? Tell Anna that she can come if she wants."

"I think that she is going to Shannon's house tonight. But I'll be over in a few minutes," Abby said.

"Great!" Kristy responded. "Just come right up to my room."

"Okay," said Abby. "Bye."

"Bye."

Kristy hung up the phone and was about to go back to her room. Before she left the hallway, she heard the muffled voices of two people arguing. She followed them to the end of the hallway, right outside her parent's bedroom. She held her ear to the door for a few minutes, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She was still there when Abby came running up the steps.

"What are you doing?" she asked, puzzled.

Kristy held her finger to her lips, and led Abby into her bedroom, closing the door behind them.

"Mom and Watson are fighting in their room. I was trying to listen, but I couldn't figure out what they were saying," she explained.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Abby comforted "Parents fight all the time."

Kristy sat down on her bed and wrung her hands nervously. "I know. Maybe this is dumb, but I always get worried when Mom and Watson fight. It reminds me of when I was little, and Mom would fight with my real dad. The fighting kept getting worse and worse, and eventually he left. I hate fighting."

"Nothing like that is going to happen to your mom and Watson," Abby assured. "They're better than that. Come one, let's start our homework. You need to focus on studying and forget all about it."

Kristy stood up from her bed and moved to her desk, taking everything that she needed to work on out of her backpack.

"You're right," she said decidedly.

"I always am," Abby said smiling.

Kristy smiled back, and the two of them worked together for the next couple of hours. Just as Abby had predicted, Kristy soon forgot about the fight between her mom and Watson.