Disclaimer: The usual stuff on the BSC characters that they belong to Ann Martin and all...and in addition, the characters Laura McCall, Melissa McConnell, Tammy Lucero, and Funny Hawthorne belong to Betsy Haynes, not the current author. So do the groups Fantastic Foursome and Fabulous Five and so does Wakeman Middle School. And so do Jana Morgan and Randy Kirwan and the other characters who are part of the Fabulous Five clique...so enjoy this part where the BSC meets the Fantastic Foursome, who are BIG rivals of the Fabulous Five.

The BSC Legacy - Book 1: Brave New World of High School

By: CNJ

PG-13

8: Tale Of Two Groups

Abby:

After that Friday's BSC meeting adjourned and we lined up several sitting jobs for Saturday and the next week, we grabbed our jackets and headed out toward Aster and Dusker's. Anna was with us, so she joined us. Jessi and Mallory would be coming for Thanksgiving next week and we couldn't wait to see them again. We decided to eat, then head to a movie.
"I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away," Claudia told us.
"Who's doing what?" I asked as we started to eat.
"We have a bunch of cousins and three aunts, two uncles and my other grandmother coming," Kristy told us. "And that doesn't count our step-relatives."
"Speaking of steps..." Mary Anne put in. "Dawn is coming next week."
"Alll riiight..." several of us chimed in. Dawn is our honorary BSC member. I know Mary Anne misses her deeply. Dawn lived here in Connecticut for a while, then moved back out west last year.
"I have an aunt and three cousins coming," Stacey added.
"We're going over to my aunt Peaches' house," Claudia put in. "I'm really looking forward to seeing Lynn. Lynn is Claudia's one-year-old cousin. We ate and talked until movie time came. We then grabbed our things and headed toward the theater.
"All in favor of Bridges Over Rivers say aye," Kristy announced as we stood by the growing line. She along with me said "AYYYE!" "How about Joy Luck Club?"
"AYYYYYE!" the others vouched for that one, so Joy Luck Club won out. As we stood in line, we spotted a couple of kids we knew.
"Don't look now, but there's Cokie with that guy again," Claudia told us in a low voice. Kristy grinned. I also saw Emily Bernstein with two friends I didn't know. We waved and she waved back. I spotted a couple ahead of us who looked vaguely familiar. The guy was tall, had dark wavy hair and smiled at the girl occasionally. The girl, who was almost as tall as the guy, was leaning on the guy and her long, wavy, medium-brown hair cascaded over his arm. Once in a while, they kissed in a smooch.
"The ultimate couple," a dark-haired girl in front of us said, noticing our curiosity.
"You know them?" I asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, I go to Burkeview High with them," The girl turned toward us. "That's Jana Morgan and Randy Kirwan. They've been a couple since sixth grade." She smiled at us. I noticed that she was with two other friends. Then her dark eyes widened in recognition. "Heeey, you're that Baby-Sitters' Club from Stoneybrook High!"
"We are," Kristy grinned proudly.
"Hey, wow, is it true that you guys sort of have a mini-business and parents call you there for baby-sitters?"
"Yeah," Claudia grinned. We told her a little bit about our club and introduced ourselves.
"I'm Tammy Lucero," the girl introduced herself. By then, her friends were looking over at us. "And these are my friends Melissa McConnell and Laura McCall."
"Hiii," we all said. Laura was tall and had a sandy blond braid that started from the top of her head, a lot like the braid Claudia had tonight. Melissa was lighter blond and rather quiet. She gave us a tight, nervous smile and I wondered if she was shy. Tammy told us a little about herself, including the fact that they'd had another friend named Funny Hawthorne who'd moved away last summer. They also added that they called themselves the Fantastic Foursome, but didn't do stuff like baby-sitting.
"Oh, you must miss her," Mary Anne said softly.
"We do," Melissa spoke up. As we talked, we got closer to the booth.
"We made it at the right time," Kristy muttered, looking back at the growing line behind us. The line now almost reached the bookstore at the corner. "Hey, Tammy," Kristy directed back at her. "You know that couple you told us about up there? Jana and Randy...we've seen Jana with a group of four other friends at Aster and Dusker's a few times...are they a club like us? Do they baby-sit or anything?"
"We were wondering if they had meeting and stuff," Claudia put in. "Maybe we could exchange tips and ideas if they do."
"Yes and no," Tammy laughed. "They are a club, but they don't baby-sit or do anything worthwhile like that." I saw Laura glance over at Jana and Randy and smirk. "They call themselves the Fabulous Five and are big deals at Burkeview...well they're trying to be. They were huge deals at Wakeman Middle. Jana and Randy won the most Popular Couple at Wakeman. Then there's her best friend Beth the one with the hair in spikes. She's always acting wild and dramatic and wears these weird combinations of clothes.
"I know who that is," Claudia put in. "Is she an artist?"
"Not really," Tammy told us. "She's into dramatics and wants to be an actress. Then there are Katie Shannon, the redhead who's an extreme feminist. She doesn't even like it when guys open a door for a girl."
"Hey, so am I," I told her. Katie sounds like my kind of girl. Tammy rolled her eyes at Laura and Melissa, then told us about Melanie Edwards, who was "the biggest flirt at Burkeview High" and Christie Winchell, who was a "brain."
"Hey, look out for those girls," Laura put in as Jana and randy bought their tickets and went in. "They were our enemies at Wakeman and just want to take over Burkeview now." After they got their tickets and went on we looked at each other, then bought our tickets, stopped to get candy bars, sodas, and other good junk food, then headed into theater 7.
"I think we should be careful when we meet any of those two groups," Mary Anne whispered. "They could try to butter us up to side against the other group. It made me kind of nervous feeling the competition between the two groups."
"I suspect they're both chasing popularity," Kristy leaned over. "And want to cut the other group down." Just as the lights turned down for the movie, Cokie came in with her twenty-something boyfriend and sat five rows behind us. She saw us and gave us a smirk similar to the one Laura had given Jana and Randy.

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Kristy:

Isn't it bizarre how after a movie ends, almost everyone tries to stuff themselves out of the exit and cram up the doors? Well, tonight was no exception. We and two adult couples and another group of teenage friends were the only ones who stayed put to wait out the crowd while the others squashed themselves through the door. Then, once the crowd thinned out, we headed toward my house. Two of my cousins were in town and were there. We sat in the den and talked. Shannon Kilbourne joined us a few minutes later. Brenda, one of my cousins, had a put lizard that she'd brought with her and showed us.
"It's cute!" Mary Anne cooed. And it was a cute thing. It was small, smooth, and had a marble-like green color. Its tiny forked tongue licked out at us as we stroked its silky scales.
"Her name's Gretchen," Brenda told us. Gretchen lowered her eyelids and peered at us sleepily. "Wanna go to bed, honey. Time for bed; you're tired..." Brenda talked to Gretchen as if the lizard were a little kids as she took Gretchen back to the cage. Just then, someone knocked at the front door. Shannon opened it and three girls from her school peered in.
"Ohhh, there you are," one said. "Got the cards?"
"Yeaaaah..." Shannon sighed, then waved goodbye at us and headed out with them, I guessed back to her place. We talked a while longer about Thanksgiving and about the two groups from Burkeview.
"Who are they?" Linda, my other cousin, asked. "Why do they call themselves the Fantastic Fivers are something?" We all looked at each other and shrugged.
"Sounds like a popularity competition," Brenda added. "At my high school, we had three cliques like that." Brenda's eighteen and in her first year of college, so she'd been through the gamuts of high school life. "The three cliques were always vying for the top spots in plays and stuff like that. I think one of the groups called themselves the Supreme Girls are something like that." It was almost midnight, so my friends headed home. Brenda offered Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey a ride home. As I got ready for bed, I thought over the group dynamics of school, I was glad the BSC wasn't competitive with any other group in school like some other groups are.