The BSC Legacy - Book 3: When Numbers Really Count

By: CNJ

PG-13

9: New Confidence Rising

Abby:

AAABBYYYY!" Two voices called as I slipped several huge envelopes into one mailbox late that October.

I jumped, had to put my feet on the ground to avoid falling over, and turned to see Claudia and Kristy racing up on their bikes with another huge stack.

"We got more from Mainview and Burkeview High!" Claudia pulled out a huge envelope.

It was windy and chilly, so I had to hold it down while she pulled out a marker and addressed it to the New York Times. We barely managed to stuff the letters inside and seal and stamp the envelope.

"Think the New York Times will actually publish this?" Kristy asked.

"We can hope," I shrugged.

We biked down toward Claudia's neighborhood, then I stopped at another mailbox and put it in.

"My big hope is that at least some of the papers catch our message that it's really not fair how teenagers are portrayed even if our letters don't get put in...hi, there..." I waved at a scarecrow on somebody's lawn.

Halloween's just a week away. I'm glad we're mailing the letters this week, so we can get ready for the huge Halloween bash that Cindy Zimmerman's having at her house. I still have one more week to decide what I'm going to be.

Dawn:

"Speaking of which..." Kristy muttered at the Halloween bash, when I mentioned the In crowd a week later. There were several of them there and none of them were dressed up.

"Kids are standing up to them now," Mary Anne said softly. "They're not as afraid of the In clique as they were last year."

It turned out to be a rather neat party. A lot of kids stopped to talk to us and ask us a little about baby-sitting. Finally, Caitlin came up to us.

"HIII!" We greeted each other.

"Hey, you're doing it; you're winning!" she told us, swaying to the beat, her long dress waving. She was dressed as a pregnant bride.

"Winning what...?" Stacey asked.

"Winning against that In clique," Caitlin told us. "I think this Operation Today's Good Youth is giving you clout!" She hi-fived us and we clicked cups. "Cheers...to the Baby-Sitters Club."

"Let's hope we can get the media to listen to us," I said. "That's where we really have a stake."

"Oh, they will," Caitlin reassured us. "With what, twenty thousand kids writing in. They can't ignore us."

"I hope not." Mona sipped her drink. "You still think we have twenty thousand? It kind of doesn't feel like it. I still wish I could've gotten more Burkeview kids. There were just about twenty-five of them."

We had just come out of the back entrance from the "haunted" closet when Riles Greer passed and he and Simone Trentwood turned and slowly looked at us through narrowed eyes. Mary Anne's brows slanted as her hand went to her mouth and she tried not to whimper.

"Heyyy, what's this latest little crusade you diaper-changers are on this time?" Riles sneered.

"They brainwashed most of the kids to send in dirty diapers as some statement that they didn't like how the 'establishment' portrays teens!" Cokie Mason's voice jeered from down the hall.

"Shut up, Cokie!" Simone sniped.

"Yeah, go someplace where you're wanted," Riles sneered at her.

Cokie gave him a disgusted look and ran back down the hall, muttering something about stupid morons...

"It's Operation Today's Good Youth," Kristy told him. Of course they howled with laughter.

"Ohhh, today's Good, Sweet Innocent Youth movement has begun!" Riles howled.

"Actually, it's for your own good," I told him. "If you listen to the media, you see negative images of today's teenagers."

We really had nothing to lose now that most of the kids were behind us. Let the In clique ridicule their heads off.

"Remember you all got busted at the Planetarium back in freshman year on that field trip," Kristy barreled on. Simone and Riles quit laughing and gave us a cold stare. "Think about it. If those guards had a worse image of teenagers than they already had, your asses would be in juvie hall."

"Yeah," Emily Bernstein's voice chimed in. Susan Perry and several others came out of the haunted closet in time to catch the last part of our exchange.

"Butt out!" Simone snapped, but there were now about twenty kids crowded around, juniors and seniors and some of them were from other schools.

"So unless you want to end up there, maybe you should clean up your acts," Will Atker put in.

"This is more than just a crusade," Abby told them. "It's a social change and most of the kids wrote to the editors of all the area papers. If you two want to add yours, you're welcome to do so. If not...it's your choice."

Simone and Riles looked around, I guess realizing that they were outnumbered now.

Riles muttered something about, "...we'd better hit a real party or somethin'..." The two of them fled out the door.

"Wow," Abby whispered. "We told them off."

"We sure did," Susan put in. Kids whooped and backslapped, giving each other hi-fives.

"Better get back and see if there's more food!" Claudia called.

"Good..." Abby added. "My throat went dry when we stood up to Riles and Simone."

We went back to the main part of the house to eat, talk, and dance more. Looking around, I noticed a lot of kids intermingling more and not as divided into groups. Even we the BSC wave around and talked to different kids.