My mother came into the front at that moment. "Claudia!" she said. "I thought I heard your voice. Have you completed some more Funky--" Then she caught sight of Claudia's face and cut herself off. "Stacey," she said. "You guys head into the back. I'll take your spot out here."

"Thanks Mom!" I called over my shoulder as I led Claudia into her office.

Claudia and I slumped together in one of the large, overstuffed chairs that Mom bought at a garage sale. "Now," I said. "What on earth is wrong?"

"Alan and I broke up," she said, not lifting her tear-streaked face.

"Oh honey," I said. "I'm so sorry. What happened?" I reached over to the desk and got a box of tissues and handed them to her.

"Thanks," she said, wiping her face. "Well, it's no secret that we've been fighting and stuff lately, and today after school, we were walking home. And we had just turned onto Locust Avenue when I asked him what he wanted to do this weekend. He goes, 'Claudia, I don't think this is working. I'm really sorry,'" and walked away."

"Wow," I said, not knowing quite else what to say. "Want stay over at my house tonight or something? Watch some chickflicks, pour over some fashion magazines?"

Claudia smiled for the first time since she'd arrived. "Sure," she said, scrunching up her tissue and leaning forward a little bit. "That'd be great."

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," I called.

It was my mother. "I'm sorry, but we really need you out there, Stacey."

I nodded. "Mom, Claudia's sleeping over tonight. Is that okay?"

"Sure," she said. "It's Friday, after all. No big deal."

"Thanks, Ms. Spencer," Claudia said. "I'm going to go home and get my stuff. What time should I be at your house?"

"Stacey goes home at 5. So by 5:30, someone will definitely be there," Mom replied.

Claudia nodded and left. I went back into the store and dived into the holiday rush.

**********************************

Claudia reached my house about five minutes after I did.

"Hey," I greeted her. "What do you want to do?"

"Watch a movie, I guess."

So we headed into the den, where, along with the TV, my mother and I keep our collection of tapes and DVDs.

"Let's get something decidedly cry-worthy," she suggested.

"Hmm.." I said. "'Dancer in the Dark?'"

Claudia wrinkled her nose. "Not THAT sad!"

I grinned. "Umm... 'The Way We Were?'"

"That sounds perfect," she agreed.

I popped it in the VCR and went into the kitchen to make popcorn. Claudia followed. "Your mom wasn't mad or anything, right?"

"Oh, of course not!" I said. "Why would you think that?"

Claudia sighed. "I don't know what to think anymore."

I gave her a quick hug.

"I mean," she started. "I'm no longer dating Alan, you're not talking to Kristy, Janine's applying to collges, the BSC has ended, we're not at SMS anymore..."

I nodded. "So much has changed since June." I went over to the fridge and pulled out a diet soda. My mom drinks regular soda, so I got out a can of Coke for Claud.

"Thanks," she said, and took it. She popped the top and took a sip. "I'm not trying to accuse you of anything or whatever, you know, by bringing up the Kristy thing. But it does kind of, um, bother the rest of the ex-BSC members."

"Really?" I said distractedly. I didn't feel like talking about Kristy. Truth is, I didn't really know why I was mad at her anymore. It was just that I hadn't talked to her for four months and I didn't know how to approach her.

"Yeah," she said. At that moment, the microwave beeped and the popcorn was ready. "Well," she said. "Time to watch the movie."

I poured it into a bowl and carried it into the den. Claudia followed and schlumped down on the couch.

"Popcorn?" she said.

"Check."

"Soda?"

"Check."

"Tissues?"

I held up a large box of Kleenex and grinned. "Check."

"Okay, I think we're ready." Claudia pressed play.