disclaimer: they're ann's.
The room was dead silent for a good ten seconds, although naturally to me it felt like an eternity.
Then Stacey spoke up: "I second the motion."
Then Claudia.
And finally, Mary Anne, whose eyes were moist, finally cast her vote in the fate of the BSC--it's over.
I sighed. "Motion carried."
"Are you all right, Kristy?" That was Mary Anne, who'd just put one arm around my shoulders; her brow furrowed in concern.
That's Mary Anne--always the first to pick up on my feelings. Sometimes it seems that she exceeds everyone, even my mother, in gauging my feelings accurately. It's no wonder--we've been best friends sense we were in diapers.
Also, Mary Anne is super-sensitive and is always looking out for others. Her ex-boyfriend, Logan, used to tease her about crying so easily, but her sensitivity is probably the reason why she was the first member to have a boyfriend.
Logan. At first, I thought Mary Anne had lost her mind when she dumped him. Like it was just because her house had burned down and she like something in her life wasn't working, and she blamed that feeling on Logan. I still think Logan is the best boyfriend Mary Anne ( or any girl) could ever have: he's smart, funny, good-looking, and really athletic. But it was Mary Anne's decision to make, not mine, and I see now that dumping him was what she needed in order to grow as a person.
She's become so much more self-confident as of late.She even told off Cokie Mason. At first her father, Richard, wasn't too happy with the changed Mary Anne. He mistook her newfound independence for rudeness. But her stepmom, Sharon (mother of the California BSC member, Dawn), set him straight. Mary Anne is doing better than she has been in a looong time.
Stacey, on the other hand, has always been really self-assured. I guess she needs it. Stacey has had to deal with more things than other kids who are just starting high school. In addition to having divorced parents and growing up in the Big Apple, she has a disease called diabetes. Her pancreas doesn't function correctly; and if she eats sugar, it goes straight into her bloodstream. So she has to keep her blood sugar low by not sweets. But if her blood sugar gets too low, that's also a problem. Stacey has to stick to a strict diet and give herself shots of insulin every day. There are all sorts of health problems that can develop when you have diabetes, but Stacey always seems optimistic.
Her life isn't all hypodermic needles and doctor's visits, though. She is also super-stylish, and she can be boy-crazy. She's had a lot of boyfriends, and the two main ones on her mind right now are Jeremy Rudolph, whom Claudia also wanted, and Ethan, the boyfriend she had before him. When she and Jeremy broke up, it seemed as if she was going to go back to Ethan. And she did, for a time, this summer. But the problems that she broke up with him because of in the first place were still there, and now she's satisfied with just being friends. And she doesn't mind starting high school a "free woman."
Claudia's starting high school with Alan Gray as her main squeeze. Claudia's always seen things different from the rest of us--she's an awesome artist with a dress sense to match. Now she's added another unique attribute to her list: she is seriously dating Alan Gray, the former bane of my existence. Our feud has cooled down now that he's dating one of my best friends, but I still can't believe that anyone could look at Alan and want to make out with him.
Don't tell Claud I said that, though!
While Claudia's lovelife is secure, her schoollife is not. School hasn't even started yet, and Claudia is already worrying whether or not she can keep up. She's never been good in school, and high school is going to be even tougher than Middle School. In addition to the work, her older sister, Janine, is going to be a senior, and it's going to be hard to see Harvard, Princeton, and MIT knocking down the Kishi's door when Claudia is praying that she will be able to get in anywhere in four years.
I think that's one of the reasons why Claudia felt that she could no longer be apart of the BSC. I guess Mary Anne and Stacey had their own reasons as well, but I really think that main factor is that we're all getting older. I seem to be the one getting older the slowest, though. I'm still more interested in doing activities with children and baby-sitting than going to parties. Plus, I was the last BSC member to get my period. I just got it that summer.
So there I was, thinking about my friends and how slowly I was going compared to the rest of them when I realized that while I had been day-dreaming, my friends had enveloped me in a group hug. For some reason, this made me feel worse.
"Enough emotion," I said. "We have closing business to take care of."
"Like what?" Claudia asked. Our club had let our clients know that we weren't going to be taken as many jobs a long time ago. But I don't think they were prepared for our club to be gone completely.
"Well, obviously, our clients need to be informed. So do Abby, Jessi, Mallory, Dawn, Shannon....and Logan."
Mary Anne blanched a little, but she straightened up quickly and pulled out the record book. "Should we send out a mailing to all our clients, or tell them in person?"
"I think we should tell them all in person, or at least on the phone," Stacey offered. "It's much more personal that way."
We all agreed. At that moment, the telephone rang. Claudia answered it. "Hello, Baby-sitters Club. Oh, hi, Mrs. Arnold. Um, well, I hate to say this but: the BSC has decided to disband."
It felt just like last year when the Yankees lost the World Series. I was born in Yankee Stadium, the BSC was born in me.
The room was dead silent for a good ten seconds, although naturally to me it felt like an eternity.
Then Stacey spoke up: "I second the motion."
Then Claudia.
And finally, Mary Anne, whose eyes were moist, finally cast her vote in the fate of the BSC--it's over.
I sighed. "Motion carried."
"Are you all right, Kristy?" That was Mary Anne, who'd just put one arm around my shoulders; her brow furrowed in concern.
That's Mary Anne--always the first to pick up on my feelings. Sometimes it seems that she exceeds everyone, even my mother, in gauging my feelings accurately. It's no wonder--we've been best friends sense we were in diapers.
Also, Mary Anne is super-sensitive and is always looking out for others. Her ex-boyfriend, Logan, used to tease her about crying so easily, but her sensitivity is probably the reason why she was the first member to have a boyfriend.
Logan. At first, I thought Mary Anne had lost her mind when she dumped him. Like it was just because her house had burned down and she like something in her life wasn't working, and she blamed that feeling on Logan. I still think Logan is the best boyfriend Mary Anne ( or any girl) could ever have: he's smart, funny, good-looking, and really athletic. But it was Mary Anne's decision to make, not mine, and I see now that dumping him was what she needed in order to grow as a person.
She's become so much more self-confident as of late.She even told off Cokie Mason. At first her father, Richard, wasn't too happy with the changed Mary Anne. He mistook her newfound independence for rudeness. But her stepmom, Sharon (mother of the California BSC member, Dawn), set him straight. Mary Anne is doing better than she has been in a looong time.
Stacey, on the other hand, has always been really self-assured. I guess she needs it. Stacey has had to deal with more things than other kids who are just starting high school. In addition to having divorced parents and growing up in the Big Apple, she has a disease called diabetes. Her pancreas doesn't function correctly; and if she eats sugar, it goes straight into her bloodstream. So she has to keep her blood sugar low by not sweets. But if her blood sugar gets too low, that's also a problem. Stacey has to stick to a strict diet and give herself shots of insulin every day. There are all sorts of health problems that can develop when you have diabetes, but Stacey always seems optimistic.
Her life isn't all hypodermic needles and doctor's visits, though. She is also super-stylish, and she can be boy-crazy. She's had a lot of boyfriends, and the two main ones on her mind right now are Jeremy Rudolph, whom Claudia also wanted, and Ethan, the boyfriend she had before him. When she and Jeremy broke up, it seemed as if she was going to go back to Ethan. And she did, for a time, this summer. But the problems that she broke up with him because of in the first place were still there, and now she's satisfied with just being friends. And she doesn't mind starting high school a "free woman."
Claudia's starting high school with Alan Gray as her main squeeze. Claudia's always seen things different from the rest of us--she's an awesome artist with a dress sense to match. Now she's added another unique attribute to her list: she is seriously dating Alan Gray, the former bane of my existence. Our feud has cooled down now that he's dating one of my best friends, but I still can't believe that anyone could look at Alan and want to make out with him.
Don't tell Claud I said that, though!
While Claudia's lovelife is secure, her schoollife is not. School hasn't even started yet, and Claudia is already worrying whether or not she can keep up. She's never been good in school, and high school is going to be even tougher than Middle School. In addition to the work, her older sister, Janine, is going to be a senior, and it's going to be hard to see Harvard, Princeton, and MIT knocking down the Kishi's door when Claudia is praying that she will be able to get in anywhere in four years.
I think that's one of the reasons why Claudia felt that she could no longer be apart of the BSC. I guess Mary Anne and Stacey had their own reasons as well, but I really think that main factor is that we're all getting older. I seem to be the one getting older the slowest, though. I'm still more interested in doing activities with children and baby-sitting than going to parties. Plus, I was the last BSC member to get my period. I just got it that summer.
So there I was, thinking about my friends and how slowly I was going compared to the rest of them when I realized that while I had been day-dreaming, my friends had enveloped me in a group hug. For some reason, this made me feel worse.
"Enough emotion," I said. "We have closing business to take care of."
"Like what?" Claudia asked. Our club had let our clients know that we weren't going to be taken as many jobs a long time ago. But I don't think they were prepared for our club to be gone completely.
"Well, obviously, our clients need to be informed. So do Abby, Jessi, Mallory, Dawn, Shannon....and Logan."
Mary Anne blanched a little, but she straightened up quickly and pulled out the record book. "Should we send out a mailing to all our clients, or tell them in person?"
"I think we should tell them all in person, or at least on the phone," Stacey offered. "It's much more personal that way."
We all agreed. At that moment, the telephone rang. Claudia answered it. "Hello, Baby-sitters Club. Oh, hi, Mrs. Arnold. Um, well, I hate to say this but: the BSC has decided to disband."
It felt just like last year when the Yankees lost the World Series. I was born in Yankee Stadium, the BSC was born in me.